I am currently looking at a bunch of books for a project I need to do. I need to find two books, monographs (peer reviewed!), about the same topic but from different perspectives.
The two analysis types I want to compare are Queer and Marxist historiographies. While I was juggling a bunch of topics I settled on the Russian Revolution because I found this book:
Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent by Dan Healey
Clearly it fits my Queer analysis and all other criteria. I have not read it yet but the reviews make it seem good. The problem I am facing now is finding a Marxist historiography of the Russian Revolution, which you’d think would be easy but for some reason I cannot find a proper work. I did see Walter Rodney’s * The Russian Revolution: A View from the Third World* but I do not know if it is peer reviewed, and the publisher might disqualify it from being right for my project (Dan Healey’s book is published by University of Chicago Press). I don’t think it’s a bad book but I am certain my professor would disapprove. While I am not completely locked in to choosing a book from a historian I would prefer it as at my school there is a belief in the “supremacy of the historian” if that makes sense.
So my question is, is there a Marxist historiography of the Russia Revolution in book form? And if you are aware of Rodney’s book being peer reviewed I would appreciate the insight. My school’s library is useless and Reddit has not helped either (they keep giving Trotsky and 10 Days that Shook the World, these are fine and all but not for my project).
I’ll be honest, Trotsky’s massive tome (I think it’s over 900 pages) on the Revolution is actually pretty decent and is surprisingly free (for the most part) of his typical brain worms.
It’s a work I am willing to read but I don’t know if it’s good for the project. Is it peer reviewed? Also 900 pages is a lot to take on for a paper thats due mid December 😔
It was written by Trotsky so I don’t think the book itself was ever peer reviewed, and I don’t think Trotsky set out to write an academic book. That said, I do believe that it’s a source respected by historians. There’s also Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book on the Revolution. She’s an actual bourgeois historian but was a leading light among the “reform school”, i.e. Sovietologists that debunked the “totalitarian school” that tried to equate the USSR with Nazi Germany.
I was actually looking at Fitzpatrick as she was recommended here at some point (post for a while back) and even though I would have to change my analysis type from Marxist to reformist/social I think I am going to go with her. The book is not that long and gives an overview of the revolution so I think it’ll be good. Thank you for bringing it up and engaging with my post.
If it helps, the Dan Healey book covers the 1870s Tsarist era up to the 1930s. Marxist historiography tends to look at working class history of an era, don’t know if that helps at all.
I am quite embarrassed with the amount of questions and help I ask for, I feel like I should be able to do this on my own but I’m having a hard time. Although I am glad I was able to find one book on my own.
Don’t know if it fits, but did you check Neil Faulkner’s A People’s History of the Russian Revolution? Presumably he is Marxist historian.
I actually did see this book on a thread here on the Grad but when I was looking up reviews for it I found this: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/a-peoples-history-that-is-less-than-inspiring/
Which gave me pause, if it was anything like Howard Zinn’s book then I’d use it in a heart beat but this doesn’t seem like the best analysis of the revolution. Unless the review is completely wrong, of course.
Faulkner has a brief blog article on the meaning of the 1917 October Revolution. It might give you an insight. But judging from the review you linked, it doesn’t seem promising.
What about Christopher Hill’s Lenin and the Russian Revolution? Less than 200 pages, all in. Published by a reputable publisher, which would likely have required a review process. Hill was an historian. Not sure if it’s more about Lenin than the revolution but it’s worth a skim. I think there is a pdf available if you search the right places. At the least, it could give you some other sources to look through.
As you mention the need to use peer reviewed books—how are you making sure the requirement is meet? The trouble with monographs is that they don’t go through the same kind of ‘peer review’ as articles or (most of the time) chapters in edited collections. Have a look at the requirements for authors on Verso, Pluto Press, and e.g. Harvard UP for examples of what publishers ask for. You don’t want to be setting yourself a threshold that nobody really meets.
Edit: one way of finding a suitable book would be to search for you terms in your university library to find articles on the topic. List the authors (there probably won’t be many). One of the authors might have published a book on the same topic that isn’t obviously about gender/sexuality in the revolution but covers it in depth in a chapter or two.
I actually did remember Christopher hill and looked up his works, found that exact one and bought the ebook. While it is something I will read on my own time I don’t think it fits my project because, unfortunately, it doesn’t have a bibliography…
I was given no instruction as to how to check if a work is peer reviewed, at best I check the publisher, the author credentials, editors (regarding Rodney’s book, which I might have to use, at least for now), and the sources used. I also check reviews and see who made them, do they have “proper” credentials? As you can see, it’s a pain and there hasn’t been much direction given to us. I know the point is to increase our research skills, and I think I’ve done that, but I’m struggling on this part. I’m surprised it’s so hard to find Marxist historiography on the revolution, but here we are.
I have checked my school’s library system and Rodney’s book is there, which is neat.
