Schapiro Leonard. The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State First Phase, 1917-1922

Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1977. — 418 p. — ISBN 0-674-64451-4 (cloth); ISBN 0-674-64452-2 (paper).A good resource for understanding how the Bolsheviks were able to seize power and hold it. As Schapiro relates, the success of Lenin's revolution was due not only to his own ruthlessness and determination but was also made possible by the disorganization and lack of resolve on the part of those groups that were allowed to openly voice political opposition in the early years of the regime. As with many single-party states in recent history (Nazi Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran), the eventual ruling party began by governing as part of a coalition that included other parties -- potential rivals that were eliminated in fairly short order. In the case of the Bolsheviks, members of other putatively socialist parties initially found a place within the coalition, and Shapiro spends a lot of time discussing the fates of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, as well as of various tendencies within the Bolshevik party itself, and he does a pretty thorough job of describing the legal intimidation and harassment that was used to silence these opponents as the regime consolidated its power. [Jerry Barmore]Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Second EditionThe Bolshevik Coup D’EtatThe Political Background
The February Revolution
The Bolsheviks in Action
The October Revolution
The Consolidation of Power
The Peace of Brest-LitovskThe Fate of the Opposition PartiesThe Left Socialist Revolutionaries
Left Communism
The Socialist Revolutionaries
The Legal Opposition: the Background
The Legal Opposition: the MensheviksTowards the Monolithic PartyEarly Dissensions in the Communist Party
The Military Opposition
The Beginning of the Crisis
Open Dissension in the Central Committee
The Kronstadt Revolt and the New Economic Policy
‘Putting the Lid on Opposition’ConclusionsLeninism TriumphantAppendicesSome Useful Dates
List of the more important Left Communists in 1918
Members of Central Organs of the Russian Communist Party 1917-1922Bibliography
Index