The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917–1923, Revised Edition

by Richard Pipes

Here is the history of the disintegration of the Russian Empire, and the emergence, on its ruins, of a multinational Communist state. In this revealing account, Richard Pipes tells how the Communists exploited the new nationalism of the peoples of the Ukraine, Belorussia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Volga-Ural area--first to seize power and then to expand into the borderlands.

The Formation of the Soviet Union acquires special relevance in the post-Soviet era, when the ethnic groups described in the book once again reclaimed their independence, this time apparently for good.

In a 1996 Preface to the Revised Edition, Pipes suggests how material recently released from the Russian archives might supplement his account.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian History, Soviet Union

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Born in Poland, Richard Pipes fled the country with his family when Germany invaded it in 1939. After reaching the United States a year later, Pipes began his education at Muskingum College, which was interrupted in 1943 when he was drafted into the Army Air Corps and sent to Cornell to study Russian. He completed his bachelor's degree at Cornell in 1946 and earned his doctorate at Harvard University four years later.

Pipes taught at Harvard from 1950 until his retirement in 1996, and was director of Harvard's Russian Research Center from 1968-1973. A campaigner for a tougher foreign policy towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War, in 1976, he led a group of analysts in a reassessment of Soviet foreign policy and military power. He served as director of Eastern European and Soviet affairs at the National Security Council from 1981 until 1983, after which he returned to Harvard, where he finished his career as Baird Professor Emeritus of History.

Reviews

[Ben Eaves]

In one part Pipes compares the Transcaucasian Federative Republic to the Holy Roman Empire on the grounds that it was neither Transcaucasian, nor Federative, nor a Republic which at the very least made me laugh.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing about such a large and diverse entity as the region that was formerly the Russian Empire and trying to include its ethnicities and national movements in their variety is tricky by default. So you know going into such a book will require effort and patience. However, the book reflects the complexity of this era and how many voices were striving to be heard in this reorganization of this enormous territory

Pipes segues into Lenin's usage of the national movements to pursue his own ends after a discussion of various national movements, how Marx and Engels felt the idea of ethnic minorities was a non-issue, and how certain groups were trying to develop an idea of national self-determination to be followed. The models of territorial nationalism vs. extraterritorial nationalism are particularly intriguing, as are the particular and robust stances certain political movements took on the idea of nationalism.