Russia and The Soviet Union 1914-1945 Quotes

Feb Rev: “The February Revolution broke out…because the old regime had lost the ability to command authority”

Orlando Figes (Post-Revisionist)

Feb Rev: “The pressure of total war exposed the regime’s inability to manage the political and economic crisis”

Edward Acton (Post-Revisionist)

Oct Rev: “The October Revolution was not a popular uprising. It was a carefully prepared coup carried out by a small group determined to seize power”

Richard Pipes (Libertarian)

Oct Rev: “The masses of workers and soldiers supported the Bolsheviks because they believed the Soviets represented power.”

John Reed (Marxist)

Lenin’s Leadership: “Lenin believed in the dictatorship of a disciplined revolutionary party. The system he established became the foundation of the Soviet dictatorship”

Richard Pipes (Libertarian)

Lenin’s Leadership: “The Bolsheviks often acted pragmatically rather than ideologically. Their policies were shaped by the urgent pressures of the civil war and economic collapse”

Sheila Fitzpatrick (Revisionist)

Red Terror: “It was a deliberate instrument used by the Bolsheviks to secure and maintain their power”

Richard Pipes (Libertarian)

Trotsky: “Trotsky proved himself an outstanding organiser and strategist. Under his leadership the Red Army became the decisive force in the civil war”

Isaac Deutscher (Marxist)

Stalin’s Rise: “Stalin consolidated his authority through manipulation and intimidation. Once in control, he employed terror on a vast scale”

Robert Conquest (Liberal)

Stalin’s Control: “The Great Purge destroyed whole sections of the Soviet elite. Fear became the central mechanisms of political control.”

Robert Conquest (Liberal)

WWII: “The war united Soviet society in a struggle for survival. Popular patriotism became a powerful force behind the Soviet war effort”

Orlando Figes (Post-Revisionist)

Stalin’s Rise: “The doctrine of socialism in one country at least had the merit of describing things as they really were”

Ward (1993) - Post-Revisionist

Stalin’s Rise: “[Stalin] could stand back and watch his rivals dig their own graves, occasionally offering his spade to one or other of them”

Westwood (1973) - Revisionist

WWI: “The First World War both exposed and increased the vulnerability of Russia’s old regime”

Sheila Fitzpatrick (1994) - Revisionist

WWI: “In general, it must be admitted that we were unsatisfactorily prepared from a technical point of view”

Brusilov (1923)

WWI/Feb Rev: “Lack of supplies…bred anger, disillusionment, and revolutionary thinking among the men at the front, which eventually led to desertion and mutiny

Webb (2015)

Feb Rev: “Russia saw Nicholas as weak, in character and fortitude”

Hendrickson (2015)

Feb Rev: “…what made that kind of revolution possible was the protracted, disruptive, exhausting conflict of the First World War”

Robert Service (2009) - Post-Revisionist

Feb Rev: “If the Tsar had been willing to accept the demands of the Progressive Bloc, this act alone would have greatly narrowed the gulf within the ruling group”

David Christian (1991)

WWI: “[Tsar Nicholas] must find a way to remove the Empress from politics”

Michael Rodzianko (Duma President (1915)), cited by Golder (2017)

WWI: “The public applauded victories, but did not tolerate defeats…the regime’s legitimacy had become extremely shaky”

Sheila Fitzpatrick (1994) - Revisionist

Lenin: “Lenin’s advocacy of immediate armed uprising was passionate, but not entirely convincing to his colleagues in the leadership”

Sheila Fitzpatrick (1994) - Revisionist

Lenin: '“He, and only he, would forge the true path to socialism by means of his teachings, his directives, his constant supervision, and his personal example”

Tumarkin (1981) - Revisionist

Lenin/Oct Rev: “History will not forgive us if we do not take power now”

Lenin (10 Oct 1917), cited by Webb (2015)

Lenin/Oct Rev: “He began to claim that the Bolsheviks were justified in seizing power in the name of the people - peasants seizing land, soldiers deserting from the front, and workers seizing factories”

Kingston-Mann (1972) - Revisionist

Lenin: “Peasants were political game changers in 1917…they played key roles in urban uprisings”

Badcock (2017) - Post-Revisionist

Lenin: “The role of Lenin was crucial - his strong, determined leadership and prestige in the party meant that he could force through key policy decisions”

Corin & Fiehn (2011)

Lenin/Oct Rev: “There would probably not have been an October Revolution without Lenin”

Corin & Fiehn (2011)

Rasputin: “…with the onset of World War I and the removal of Tsar Nicholas II from the government, Rasputin had unchecked power”

Sherer (2023) - Post-Revisionist

Rasputin: “They viewed him as a puppet master, pulling the strings of the Tsarina”

Sherer (2023) - Post-Revisionist

Oct Rev: “No First World War. No October Revolution”

Robert Service (2009) - Post-Revisionist

Oct Rev: “The working class led the struggle of the whole people against the autocracy and against the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie…The proletariat were the prime motive force of the entire social and political development of the country”

Boris Ponomarev (1960) - Soviet

Stalin/WWII: “As Supreme Commander…Stalin led them to victory but at the cost of unimaginable losses”

Volkogonov (1997) - Post-Revisionist

Feb Rev: “…for all its spontaneity it sprang not so much from the will of the people as from the mere decomposition and collapse of the tsar’s government”

Richard Charques (1958) - Popular Revolution (Soviet?)

Feb Rev: “…had the war not intervened, the chances for survival of the autocracy…would not have been bad”

George Keenan (2002) - Post-Revisionist

Oct Rev: “Whatever grievances they may have harboured, the masses neither needed nor desired a revolution: the only group interested in it was the intelligentsia”

Richard Pipes (1995) - Libertarian

Oct Rev: “Lenin’s revolution was as much against other Soviet-based political parties as it was against the Provisional Government”

Orlando Figes (2014) - Post-Revisionist

Great Terror: “The Great Terror would not have taken place but for Stalin’s personality and ideas”

Robert Service (1997) - Post-Revisionist

Great Terror: “The terror of 1937-1938 was one of those great misfortunes, like war, famine…that periodically afflict mankind and simply have to be endured.”

Sheila Fitzpatrick (1999) - Revisionist

Trotsky: “What took everyone aback was his organisational capacity and ruthlessness as he transformed the Red Army into a fighting force.”

Robert Service (1997) - Post-Revisionist