Grasping the Soviet Mind

...Admittedly, the younger generation is not to blame...

...His book demonstrates repeatedly the important role of accident, i.e., who was where and when at crucial moments, and who did (or more important, did not) do or say what was most required at specific instances...

...The inclination reflects the current notion that political matters, no less than physics or chemistry, must be subject to "scientific" laws, else they cannot be viewed as subjects worthy of academic study...

...Instead, they gravitate toward questions that, at least superficially, seem to be resolvable through quantification— involving production, trade, demographic curves, etc...

...The difference in approach is graphically illustrated by Schapiro's elegant and comparatively brief work, completed just before he died, which again examines the Revolutions of 1917...

...Indeed, the text confines the designation "Socialist" to the Mensheviks and the SR...

...Some were refugees from Eastern Europe, others had "come in from the cold" or were ex-Communists, while an important nucleus consisted of Mensheviks...

...This is sufficient of itself to make for a major gap between the two generations of scholars dealing with the USSR, quite apart from everything else mentioned...

...To some extent he rehabilitates such writers as Malaparte, who maintained that several events previously considered to be "revolutions" actually belonged more appropriately to the category of "coup d'etat...

...serious history, theclas-sics of political thought, philosophy, not to speak of political and human geography, are rarely taught at the high school level, and, sad to say, most colleges do not do justice to them either...

...It is a sad fact, however, that an irreplaceable resource appears to be vanishing with the passing from the scene of scholars who possessed an almost instinctive comprehension of the Soviet modus operandi, thanks often to real life experiences...

...Considering the preeminent role played by the Military Revolutionary Committees, here emphasized and discussed at considerable length, it is difficult to reject that view...

...Consequently, the newer entrants into the Soviet field shy away from efforts to interpret the foreign and defense policies of the leadership in the Kremlin, its internecine struggles, the precise nuances of its many pronouncements (employing a complex glossary derived from Leninist ideology)—in other words, the truly "political" aspects of the Sovietological profession...

...Leonard Schapiro was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the London School of Economics when he died, at age 7 5. We should be grateful to Great Britain for giving us this outstanding scholar, who combined deep insight into the Soviet phenomenon with clarity of language and uncommon wit...

...And he explores the sincere, albeit mistaken, belief of the masses that "Power to the Soviets" meant rule by a coalition of all of the Socialist parties, including the Mensheviks and both wings of the Socialist Revolutionaries (SR), rather than a monopoly to be exercised by the Bolsheviks in a short-lived arrangement with a small group of the Left SR...

...The author highlights Lenin's opportunism on the issue of land distribution to the peasantry as well...

...There are, to be sure, many new faces to be found among the professors and analysts of Soviet affairs...

...Schapiro avoids the pitfalls of determinism—of not only asserting that "what was had to be," but also awarding the victors the spoils and the accolade of History...

...The adjective is not intended to belittle more recent students of the Soviet Union...

...Occasionally the younger specialists have brought with them from their homes, or acquired through osmosis, a "gut understanding" of how the USSR's leadership functions...

...Stop any 100 individuals on the street, and 98 will tell you the Tsar was overthrown by the Bolsheviks...

...Yet Schapiro conscientiously reviewed additional sources that have become available fairly recently, and what he has given us is as enjoyable to read as it is thoughtful and incisive...

...In the absence of an environment that can compensate for these shortcomings political thinking tends to atrophy, if it ever develops...

...It may seem remarkable that anyone could shed additional light on a topic already written about extensively, and in so slim a volume...

...What they had in common was that rare "seventh sense," the ability to "think politically...

...Reviewed by Uri Ra'anan Professor of International Politics, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Leonard Schapiro's death last November constituted a serious loss for the constantly shrinking community of genuine Sovietologists...

...On the whole, though, such persons are the exceptions...