La revolución rusa

Orlando Figes marks a milestone in historiography with this essay on the most decisive political event of the 20th century: the seizure of power by Bolshevism in Russia. Without indoctrinating or manipulating, the author brings out before us the terrifying panorama that Lenin's Russia presented, portraying the father of Bolshevism as the political and organizational genius that he was, but without forgetting his absolute lack of political scruples, derived from the interpretation that made of Marxism. His obsessive and sectarian personality is decisive for understanding what happened in Russia from April 1917, when he returned there thanks to the permission granted by the German General Staff. Figes shows us a Lenin whose stubbornness bordered on hysteria every time a moment of political crisis brought up the question of power, the only thing that really mattered to him. Subtly intertwining the public and private spheres, Figes is inscribed in historiographic currents that, beyond the trajectories of leaders or general structures, emphasize the lives of ordinary people. Thus, he brings to light an overwhelming social reality, the result of a historical process that radically altered the trajectory of a people. Using the press, personal diaries and correspondence of those people who until now have remained in the shadows, Figes tells in a passionate way the great milestones of the Revolution, while giving us a shocking image of daily life.