Examines the evolution of Lenin's thinking on the place of the Russian peasant in theory and in the potential reality of Marxist revolution.

A panoramic account of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath – animated by the lives, ideas and experiences of workers, peasants, intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries of diverse persuasions – October Song vividly narrates the triumphs of those who struggled for a new society and created a revolutionary workers state. Yet despite profoundly democratic and humanistic aspirations, the revolution is eventually defeated by violence and authoritarianism. October Song highlights both positive and negative lessons of this historic struggle for human liberation.

This first full-length treatment of Lenin's studies of Hegel presents Lenin as a major figure in Hegelian Marxism, providing a more nuanced portrait of his work than that of either official Marxist-Leninism or most Western accounts. "With impressive argumentation and wide-ranging scholarship, Anderson presents us with a Lenin that no one seriously interested in current debates over the relevance of Marxist theory to socialist practice can afford to miss." -- Bertell Ollman, author of Dialectical Investigations "An important contribution to grasping the conceptual roots of Marxist theory and practice." -- Tom Rockmore, author of Hegel's Circular Epistomology "Today Lenin looks like he did little more than prepare the way for Stalin. You will find the opposite view in this novel study. . . . I recommend the book to anyone seriously interested in Russia and revolution." -- George Uri Fischer, author of The Soviet System and Modern Society

Communist regimes are defined by dictatorial power, state planning, and active propaganda machines. In The Campaign State, Gregory Witkowski explores the intersection of these three elements in East Germany by focusing on mass mobilizations. He dissects the anatomy of campaigns and argues that while mass mobilizations are often perceived as symbols of strength, they also indicate underlying systemic weaknesses. By focusing on the ability of regimes to mobilize individuals to transform society, he explains both the durability and the ultimate demise of the German Democratic Republic. This study seamlessly blends an analysis of top-down campaign initiatives with the influence of such mobilizations on the grassroots level. For more than thirty years, East German leaders doggedly extended such mobilization efforts, yet complete success remained elusive. Witkowski reveals how local leaders, campaign participants, and peasants acted in ways both compliant and noncompliant with party goals to create societal change. Campaigns became a ubiquitous part of life under communist rule. Witkowski shows that such mobilizations were initially an integral part of state-planning efforts and only later became ritualized, as party portrayals of goals and accomplishments diverged from East Germans' lived experience. He argues that incessant campaigns exposed a substantial gap between rhetoric and reality in the German Democratic Republic that undermined the regime's legitimacy. This valuable and original study will appeal to scholars and students of German history, Communism, and state planning.

This is a guide to the vast amount of literature on the history of political thought which has appeared in English since 1945. The editors provide an annotation of the content of many entries and, where appropriate, indicate their significance, controversial nature and readability.

An examination of property rights reforms in Russia before the revolution reveals the advantages and pitfalls of liberal democracy in action—from a government that could be described as neither liberal nor democratic. The author analyzes whether truly liberal reform can be effectively established from above versus from the bottom up—or whether it is simply a product of exceptional historical circumstances.

- Excerpts from and citations to reviews of more than 8,000 books each year, from 109 publications. - Electronic version with expanded coverage, and retrospective version available, see p. 5 and p. 31. - Pricing: Service Basis-Books.