Of the numerous books and articles published on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, S. A. Smith’s book Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis 1890-1928 stands out as one of the most comprehensive and informative treatises of that period. In this ambitious volume, Smith, a major historian of Russia, sets out to explain how the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, inspired by a radical democratic and egalitarian spirit, degenerated into the Stalinist totalitarian regime.

His book presents a panoramic and in-depth view of Russia’s epoch-making events in the years 1890-1928. It is a rich historical survey encompassing the older literature and the latest scholarly research based on the historical archives made available in the post-Soviet period. As the historian Ronald Grigor Suny pointed out, Smith “wrestled the events and personalities, policies and mass politics of the year 1890s to 1928 into a coherent and compelling story of the entrance of ordinary people onto the stage of history and the brutal, violent descent of Russia into dictatorship.” In light of the book’s vast material, this article will focus on the issues and events most widely discussed in political debates.