The Cold War's leading conservative interpreter of Russian history who framed October as a coup
What occurred in October 1917 was a classical modern coup d'état accomplished without mass support... a surreptitious seizure of the nerve centres of the modern state, carried out under false slogans.
Polish-born American historian who became the intellectual architect of the 'totalitarian school' of Soviet studies. His magisterial two-volume history argued that the October Revolution was a coup by a tiny band of power-hungry intellectuals, not a popular uprising, and that Bolshevik rule was repressive and authoritarian from its inception. As head of Team B (1976) and Reagan's NSC Director of Soviet Affairs (1981–82), he translated his scholarship into policy, helping to shape the hard-line turn that many credit with hastening the Soviet collapse.
Career Timeline
- 1958–1996Professor of Russian History, Harvard University
- 1968–1973Director, Russian Research Center, Harvard
- 1976Head of Team B, CIA competitive analysis of Soviet strategic capabilities
- 1981–1982Director of East European and Soviet Affairs, NSC, Reagan administration
- 1990Published The Russian Revolution
- 1994Published Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime
- 1997Published Three Whys of the Russian Revolution