Product Description

This study analyzes the evolution of the Russian state from the 9th century to the 1880s, and its unique role in managing Russian society. The development of Russia was different from that of the rest of Europe. The natural poverty of geographical conditions made it extremely difficult to construct an effective regime, and a "patrimonial" state arose in which the country was conceived as the personal property of the tsar. The book describes the evolution of this regime, and analyzes the political behaviour of the principal social groupings, peasantry, nobility, bourgeoisie and clergy, and accounts for their failure to stand up to the increasing absolutism of the tsar. Only the intelligentsia were able to make such a stand, and the book shows how in countering this challenge, Russia developed into a bureaucratic police state.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267288 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Richard Pipes is a historian of Russia, and since 1990, has been Baird Emeritus Professor of History at Harvard University. His other books include The Russian Revolution and Russia under the Bolshevik Regime.

Customer Reviews

Excellent History
This is an extremely well-written and insightful history of the development of Russia before the revolution. Pipes, among other things, discusses the development of critical social and political institutions. This book was originally published at the height of the Cold War and what I find remarkable is how Russia continues to struggle today with many of the problems created in pre-Communist Russia.

Why Russians can't do without an authoritarian state.
What is interesting about this book is that it offers explanations for how it was that by the time of the revolution (and for that matter since except for Yeltsin's experiments) Russia completely failed to develop any kind of democracy. Pipes argues that the main reasons were:
1) Geographical. Russia has limited good soil and most of this only became part of a Russian state after the middle ages. Russia also has a short growing season and no natural borders. All these factors led to a lot of migration and a difficulty for any government in maintaining authority and getting taxes.
2) The influence of the Mongols whose occupation of the steppes in the middle ages and their repressive approach to government and tax collection provided a harsh but effective model for future Russian governments.
3) The influence of the Orthodox church which never challenged the state in any way through ten centuries
4) The fact that until quite recently in Russia's history there was no such thing as private property, everything belonged to the state. As a method of controlling the population the government also forbade citizens to move around freely. All movement of persons, all use of land was under the aegis of the state and continually monitored. This was the system the state developed of maintaining its authority and by the time of the Revolution it still had not been dismantled.

Pipes' book is incredibly well researched and he continually compares Russian development to western states to highlight the peculiar features of Russian society.

Anyone who has read about Russia in the twentieth century and wants to understand why Lenin and Stalin opted so readily for an authoritarian state, and why even after Gorbachev it has been so hard for Russians to embrace democracy might feel that in some way the Russians have a predilection for authoritarianism. Pipes traces the background, and it sheds a lot of light on the dilemmas of the Russian people.

Having said that it is not an easy book to read as it is full of facts and details about taxes, land ownership and class distinctions, but equally it is full of subtle and even blinding insights.

A good primer
This book is probably the best primer on Pre-revolutionary Russian history I've come across. If you've read all the narrative histories and are still confused about what the actual dynamics of tsarist Russia were, and how the path of it's development differed from that of Western Europe then this is a good place to orient yourself. Although I didn't agree with all of his conclusions, the author has attempted to answer some of the main questions which other historians have neglected or only superficially dealt with, such as how, in spite of it's outward appearance, did the Russian nobility differ from that of it's European counterpart? Why did Russia fail to develop a bourgeoisie? What was the legal basis of property relations in Russia? In a strange way, the methodology of this book owes more to Marx than I think Pipes would care to admit.

I only gave it four stars because the author has an annoying way drawing too many tenuous historical analogies between pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary events and individuals which have no bearing on the theme under discussion.

That said, it's well structured and relatively easy to read.