John Reed Account Of Bolshevi Essay Research

John Reed, Account Of Bolshevi Essay, Research Paper

Essay Question 5:

How useful is the eyewitness account of the Bolshevik revolution by John Reed for an historical understanding of the Bolshevik revolution.

John Reeds, Ten Days that Shook the World immediately stands out as a crucial primary historical source on the Bolshevik revolution. His eye witness account of the events in Petrograd are important as the revolutionary actions that took place similarly replicated events that took place all over Russia. Reed creates an insight into the events, actions, feelings and emotions of the Bolshevik revolution that has not been replicated. There was no other similar documents to Reed s at the time and thus Ten Days stands out as one of the key primary sources on the time period. Despite scholarly debate as to the accuracy and excess emotion rather than fact in Reed s work, it is widely agreed that his text is crucial for a complete understanding of the Bolshevik revolution. As Bertram D. Wolfe writes, Whether because of or despite the dream which possessed him, as literature Reed s book is the finest piece of eyewitness reporting the revolution produced. 1

Immediately, in the preface to the book Reed makes clear the reasons why he has written the text. Just as historians search the records for the minutest details of the story of the Paris Commune, so they will want to know what happened in Petrograd in November 1917, the spirit which animated the people, and how the leaders looked, talked and acted. It is with this in view that I have written this book. 2 Here we see the sort of understanding he wants his readers to have achieved, an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik revolution with details on the spirit of the people and incredible insight on the leaders actions and beliefs during the revolutionary period.

Like all historical documents, Reeds is undoubtedly biased. He attempts to be a reporter of facts and events but in the preface admits that in the struggle my sympathies were not neutral. But in telling the story of those great days I have tried to see events with the eye of a conscientious reporter, interested in setting down the truth. 3 Thus (self-admittedly) there is an uncontrollable bias, where the author realises that his natural emotion at the events taking place around him will be reflected in his work.

Reed believed that the workers in Petrograd emerged triumphant largely because they depended only on themselves. He describes how the Bolsheviks faced opposition from the bureaucracy, the army, the diplomatic community, the bourgeoisie, and even the peasants as they tried to govern a divided country. Yet Ten Days ends on a jubilant note when a hastily elected Peasants Congress supports the revolution in late November 1917. Now the industrial workers and peasants are united, symbolically joined in mass support for their own revolution. This is the general argument in Ten Days and his emotions as an observer make this argument come to life convincingly. Lawson recognises this as Reed saw the world being changed, and he committed himself, not to an ideal or a dream, but to the classes which were engaged in changing the world, and proving, that the task could be accomplished.4

When analysing the importance of the source historically, many historians have praised Reed s work uncompromisingly. Historian George Kennan writes: Reed s account of the events of that time rises above every other contemporary record for its literary power, its penetration, and its command of detail. It will be remembered when all the others are forgotten. 5 Hicks also writes of the insight Reed is able to achieve in his time in Petrograd. The details Reed goes into give a presence to his writing. Everywhere, the Bolsheviks, at great popular meetings, at little gatherings in factories and barracks, in secret sessions at Smolny, worked and worked and waited for the time to strike.6 John Reed, with his poets eyes, missed none of it, neither the drama on the surface nor the deep-hidden issues.7

Similarly Duke points out how Reed is different to other historians because as a primary reporter on events at that time, he was surrounded by the people whom were undertaking this revolution. Reed s text is not a document written by a man in power such as Lenin or an advisor, but an onlooker, surrounded by the working class people of Russia. Accounts of the Bolshevik revolution document the overwhelming importance of Lenin s will in calling for a seizure of power. But Reed stresses the central role of the people rather than their leaders, insisting that the Bolshevik coup could not have come about without the support of the masses.8 This idea is illustrated in Ten Days. If the masses all over Russia had not been ready for insurrection it must have failed. The only reason for Bolshevik success lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most profound strata of the people. 9

When analysing the praise that this document receives one must take into account the fact that Ten Days has been labelled a classic. 10 With such a label comes a prejudice from readers that make criticism of the text hard to come by. A.J.P. Taylor is the author of the introduction for a 1977 reprint of the text and upon reading raving reviews of the text, readers can find it hard to create a critical mindset of the novel. Examples of this raving includ