num_pages: 6
description: Martin Sixsmith continues his history of Russia from the tumultuous events of 1917 to the countrys re-emergence as one of the worlds most powerful nations. After the whirlwind of the revolution the Bolsheviks struggled to consolidate their victory. To rescue the economy and save the regime Lenin made concessions to the people. But after his death Stalin introduced forced collectivisation and industrialisation condemning the Soviet people to conditions worse than those experienced under the Tsars. Nikita Khrushchev reversed the worst excesses of Stalinism and in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on radical reforms of the communist system  unleashing unforeseen consequences that swept him from power and destroyed the USSR.Martin Sixsmith brings his firsthand experience of reporting from Russia in the 1980s and 90s to his narrative witnessing the critical moment when the Soviet Union lost its grip on power. He asks if the recurring patterns of Russian history can help us understand what has happened since 1991 when the promise of Western-style democracy aroused so many hopes for change.Eyewitness accounts archive recordings and personal testimony enrich his narrative as well as readings from Russian authors and historians such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vasily Grossman plus music by Stravinsky Prokofiev and others.The final 25 episodes from the landmark BBC Radio series first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 11 July to 12 August 2011.
language: English
title: Russia: The Wild East: A History, Part Two: The Rise and Fall of the Soviets
publisher: BBC Physical Audio