Richard Pipes Books

Why have Russians chosen unlimited autocracy since the Middle Ages? Why is democracy unable to flourish in Russia? This work is an analysis of Russia's immemorial commitment to the theory and practice of autocracy. It demonstrates why the belief in autocracy remains the most formative and powerful idea in Russia's political history.

The book explores the intricate relationship between literature and society, delving into how literary works reflect and shape cultural and political landscapes. It features a collection of essays and critiques that highlight significant themes, authors, and movements, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of the literary world. With insights from renowned critics, the text serves as both an analysis of historical contexts and a commentary on contemporary issues in literature, making it a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts alike.

Youth -- War -- Khrushchev's speech -- Columbia University -- Trouble -- Canada -- Back home -- The December 1985 Memorandum -- Relations with Gorbachev -- Glasnost' -- Need of a fundamental break -- Role in foreign policy -- The 1939 Secret Protocol -- Attitude toward the United States -- Advocating presidency -- Accusations of treason -- Bolshevik crimes -- Dissolution of the Soviet Union -- Private life -- The August 1991 Coup -- Yakovlev's final thoughts about Russia and Russians -- Death

Lenin - the man, the revolutionary, and the world leader - has remained an enigma, part myth arising from the tumult of the Russian Revolution and part image carefully controlled for nearly seventy years by the leaders of the Soviet Union and their sympathizers abroad. The Unknown Lenin, containing long concealed documents from the Soviet archives, helps correct the myth and revise the image. Lenin emerges here as a ruthless, manipulative leader who used terror, subversion, and persecution to achieve his goals.

Analyzes the evolution of the Russian state from the 9th century to the 1880s. It describes the patrimonial state, and analyzes the failure of the peasantry, nobility, middle-class and clergy to stand up to the increasing absolutism of the tsar.

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ANDREY KURKOV A rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance. An absurd and superbly comic story, this classic novel can also be read as a fierce parable of the Russian Revolution.

Beginning with Plato and the first expressions of a utopian vision of a property-less society, Pipes describes communism's historical antecedents, through to Marx, Engels and the birth of communism' as a theory of class relations and a call to arms. He traces its spread to Russia and its adoption by young radical intellectuals led by Lenin, and explores why Russia, against all Marx's predictions, was such a fertile ground. He goes on to reckon brilliantly with the history of the Soviet Union, from the Russian Revolution and the Civil War, Stalin, Stalinism and the Great Terror, and the Second World War to the regime's decline and its ultimate collapse.Pipes also looks at communism in its global context, from its spread to China and the Third World to its reception in the West, the Comintern, and the world-wide power struggle known as the Cold War. Finally he analyses the roots of communism's catastrophic failures and the staggering human cost it inflicted on the world in the 20th century.

The book explores the tumultuous events leading to the establishment of the first modern totalitarian regime in Russia, highlighting a crisis within the tsarist empire. Utilizing newly released archival materials, it details the transformation of a conservative revolt into a revolutionary movement driven by visionary intellectuals. The narrative covers key figures, policies, and the brutal realities of the revolution, arguing that the resulting system was shaped more by Lenin's character and Russia's historical authoritarianism than by Marxist theory.

It is my considered judgement that, had it not been for the Russian Revolution, there would very likely have been no National Socialism; I will attempt here to distill the essence of my books The Russian Revolution and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime by raising the three central questions addressed in those volumes: Why did tsarism fall?