Marx and Russia

Marx and Russia is a chronological account of the evolution of Marxist thought from the publication of Das Kapital in Russian translation to the suppression of independent ideological currents by Stalin at the end of the 1920s. The book demonstrates the progressive emergence of different schools of Marxist thinking in the revolutionary era in Russia.Starting from Marx’s own connections with Russian revolutionaries and scholars, James D. White examines the contributions of such figures as Sieber, Plekhanov, Lenin, Bogdanov, Trotsky, Bukharin and Stalin to Marxist ideology in Russia. Using primary documents, biographical sketches and a helpful timeline, the book provides a useful guide for students to orientate themselves among the various Marxist ideologies which they encounter in modern Russian history. White also incorporates valuable new research for Russian history specialists in a vital volume for anyone interested in the history of Marxism, Soviet history and the history of Russia across the modern period.

This fascinating study should be read by students and scholars of modern Russian history and those with an interest in Marx. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty., This is a lucid, well-informed, conceptually nuanced, and sensible study of a topic on which these qualities are often in short supply … This is a fine book, which will be interesting both to specialists and to students seeking a reliable guide to the ways in which Marx’s work was understood and misunderstood in Russia., By building on his years of research ... White has produced the best account to date of how Marxist ideas reached and developed in Russia ... Despite the large amount of material written on Lenin, Trotsky and, to a lesser extent, Plekhanov, White’s straightforward analysis and lucid writing style keep his discussions of these towering individuals fresh and engaging., An excellent survey of an important historical theme., In this beautifully written and thoroughly researched tour de force, White presents the findings of a whole life’s work on several connected themes: Marx’s thought, Marx and Russia, Marx’s reception in Russia, the Russian and European revolutionary movement, and the Russian Revolution. With characteristic clarity and wit, White demonstrates how inopportune deaths (Marx, Sieber), left the field open for a fundamental misconception of Marx’s work to take hold in Russia via Engels, Plekhanov and Lenin.

James D. White is Honorary Professor in the Department of Central and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the author of Red Hamlet: The Life and Ideas of Alexander Bogdanov (2018), Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution (2001), Karl Marx and the Intellectual Origins of Dialectical Materialism (1996) and The Russian Revolution 1917-1921 (1994).