Russia as a developing society

Volume 1 The roots of otherness: Russian's turn of century.

Since the early nineteenth century two fundamental images of Russia competed in its historiographies: Russia as a backward section of Europe catching up with it along a single evolutionary ladder or else an Asian despotism. It was neither. Russia was the first in the specific category of countries named much later the 'developing societies'. It was also the first to produce the crises, the revolutions, and the cognitions specific to this type of social phenomena and first to begin to recognize itself as such. That is why, on a par with the impact of Russia as a superpower and a socialist model, for good or ill, it must be ever considered in its unique relation with the so-called Third World of today,

The book looks at the different yet related rhythms of Russian history at the turn of the nineteenth century, which introduced the crucial 1900 to 1930s' era of revolutions from below' and transformations 'from above'. It centers first on the Russian state, peasantry and capitalism, i.e. on the main power structure, on the way of living of 85 per cent of the population and on the most challenging dynamism of social transformation. It then considers the character of Russia's agriculture, and the political economy of Russia in toto. It ends with a discussion of the ideological context which made the Russian dissent unique and laid a foundation for a particular political history with its powerful echo in the world at large, but especially in the developing societies' of today.