About the Book
What was communism?
And why did it collapse?
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a turning point in the twentieth century. The revolutions that swept through the USSR and Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s marked another turning point. Communism and its Collapse surveys the course of communism and addresses the many intriguing questions that the experience of communism has generated.
Focusing particularly on the USSR and Eastern Europe, this book examines the development of communist rule in historical and analytical terms and includes discussion of:
-- communism as a doctrine
-- the evolution of communist rule
-- the challenges to Soviet authority that came from Yugoslavia and Hungary and how communism was developed in Czechoslovakia and Poland
-- the complex processes bringing an end to communist rule in the 1980s
-- rival historiographical interpretations of the whole mechanism of change.
Communism and its Collapse is an essential introduction to the study of this crucial element of twentieth-century history.
Ranging from the Russian revolution of 1917 to the collapse of Eastern Europe in the 1980s this study examines Communist rule. By focusing primarily on the USSR and Eastern Europe Stephen White covers the major topics and issues affecting these countries, including:
* communism as a doctrine
* the evolution of Communist rule
* the challenges to Soviet authority in Hungary and Yugoslavia
* the emerging economic fragility of the 1960s
* the complex process of collapse in the 1980s.
Any student or scholar of European history will find this an essential addition to their reading list.