first edition
(1935) · New York
by SOLOMON, George; Arno C. Gaebelein, ed
New York: Publication Office "Our Hope, (1935). First English Language Edition. Octavo (21cm). Original red cloth, titled in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket; 216,(2)pp. A tight, clean and unmarked copy, Very Good or better. In the scarce pictorial dustwrapper, toned, with a few discreet mended tears at folds and brief losses at base of spine and corners; just VG.
A critical account of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, by a Bolshevik insider. Solomon, though he describes himself as a rather ambivalent revolutionary, served as official Secretary to his friend Leonid Krasin, the First Commissar for Soviet Commerce and Industry, from 1918 to 1923. This account, written in self-imposed exile in Germany, provides a highly critical view of the consolidation of Bolshevik power immediately after the Revolution. Includes a new author's preface specifically for the American edition, in which he provides his justification for publishing this exposé: "...I was in a state of indecision as to whether I should reveal their [the Boksheviks'] workings...in the meantime the Soviet government continued its illegal practices. One terror after another fell upon the heads of the innocent Russian citizens...they made beggars of the peasants; millions were exiled and put to forced labor in the concentration camps; masses of people were shot without trial, not only of the intelligensia but also the peasants and working class...such cruelties have been executed as would cause even Torquemada, the deluded fanatic to grow pale..." A valuable first-hand revolutionary memoir, rather elusive in commerce – this is only the second copy we've seen or handled in thirty years, and the only copy we've ever seen in the original dustwrapper. [84364]. (Inventory #: 84364)
A critical account of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, by a Bolshevik insider. Solomon, though he describes himself as a rather ambivalent revolutionary, served as official Secretary to his friend Leonid Krasin, the First Commissar for Soviet Commerce and Industry, from 1918 to 1923. This account, written in self-imposed exile in Germany, provides a highly critical view of the consolidation of Bolshevik power immediately after the Revolution. Includes a new author's preface specifically for the American edition, in which he provides his justification for publishing this exposé: "...I was in a state of indecision as to whether I should reveal their [the Boksheviks'] workings...in the meantime the Soviet government continued its illegal practices. One terror after another fell upon the heads of the innocent Russian citizens...they made beggars of the peasants; millions were exiled and put to forced labor in the concentration camps; masses of people were shot without trial, not only of the intelligensia but also the peasants and working class...such cruelties have been executed as would cause even Torquemada, the deluded fanatic to grow pale..." A valuable first-hand revolutionary memoir, rather elusive in commerce – this is only the second copy we've seen or handled in thirty years, and the only copy we've ever seen in the original dustwrapper. [84364]. (Inventory #: 84364)
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