Storming the Gates: How the Russian Revolution Changed the World

The Russian Revolution ‘shook the world’ in 1917. It was the first time a socialist revolution had taken hold, putting the workers in power, seizing private property and society’s productive capacity. This was the basis for a rational, cooperative society. That revolution became the nemesis of the United States and other imperialist countries, which would not rest until its gains were undone. The Bolshevik Revolution inspired anti-colonial revolutions and national liberation movements around the world, lending solidarity and material assistance to them. As it emerged to be the second-largest economy in the world, the first to put a satellite and human into space, it became a valid counterweight to claims of capitalism’s superiority.Storming the Gates looks inside the revolution, from the early years to the last — not as a neutral observer, but a partisan for revolutionary change. Recounting the vast accomplishments, global impact, loyal followers, challenges and shortcomings, this book remembers ‘the Soviet Union not as the end of communism but as its first grand, real-life experiment.’Looking to the future, Storming the Gates examines what role a Bolshevik-type party can have in the 21st Century, and how it can once again shape history. “The single biggest event that shaped global politics in the 20th century was the Russian Revolution of 1917, which gave birth to the Soviet Union. The first socialist government’s existence was the pivot for world events in history’s most turbulent and dynamic century. The destruction of the Soviet Union 74 years later in 1991 has been the dominant factor shaping global politics ever since.”—from Storming the Gates