Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885–1937

Barbara C. Allen, Ph.D. (2001), Indiana University Bloomington, is Associate Professor of History at La Salle University in Philadelphia, USA. She has published articles in Cahiers du Monde Russe, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, and Revolutionary Russia.

All interested in Russian and Soviet history, Modern European history, Labour history, Marxism, and Labour studies. Academic libraries, large public libraries, academic specialists and labour organisers.

“Allen’s book is life-writing at its best, and what a life! In twelve chapters Allen traces Shlyapnikov’s dramatic rise and fall. […] The book is a cracking good read. The drama is replete with touching and amusing personal detail and builds to a poignant, tragic end. Shlyapnikov’s story enriches our understanding of Soviet political history and Allen delivers a model for a new generation of biographical studies of the remaining neglected leaders of the Russian Revolution.”
Lara Cook, forthcoming inRevolutionary Russia (June 2016)

“Drawing on material from seven archives, five in Russia and two in the United States, as well as extensive conversations with the Shlyapnikov family, Barbara Allen has provided the definitive biography of Alexander Shlyapnikov and made a lasting contribution to Soviet history in its first two decades. […] a must for scholars in the field and is highly recommended for graduate students who will find the chapter introductions and conclusions an excellent guide to a complex and thorough work.”
Alexis E. Pogorelskin, University of Minnesota-Duluth, forthcoming in the journal Canadian Slavonic Papers (2016)

“Die Biographie ist eine exemplarische Studie über den Aufstieg und Fall einer Personengruppe, die gemeinhin unter dem Begriff „Altbolschewiki“ subsumiert wird. Schljapnikow steht stellvertretend für eine Generation von russischen Revolutionären, die im späten Zarenreich aufwuchsen und sozialisiert wurden, während der Revolution von 1917 an die Macht gelangten und im Bürgerkrieg obsiegten, nur um nach Lenins Tod allmählich ins Abseits gedrängt und später von Stalin vernichtet zu werden. Schljapnikows Lebensweg besitzt ein Veranschaulichungs- und Erklärungspotential, das zum besseren Verständnis überindividueller historischer Prozesse und Phänomene beitragen kann.
Barbara Allen hat den biographischen Ansatz vorbildlich angewendet. Ihr durchweg gut lesbares Buch sollte Osteuropahistorikerinnen und -historikern als Ermutigung dienen, der Biographie mehr Aufmerksamkeit zu schenken.”
Andreas Oberender, H-Soz-Kult, 12.11.2015

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Introduction

1. From the Old Belief to Socialism
2. Emigration and the Revolutionary Underground
3. Organising Workers in the Revolutionary Year 1917
4. Labour Commissar
5. Defending Soviet Power and Unions in Civil War
6. The Workers’ Opposition and the Trade-Union Debate
7. Early NEP and the Trade Unions
8. Appeal of the 22 to the Communist International
9. Factional Politics in the NEP Era
10. Late NEP, Industrialisation and Renewed Repression
11. Purged from the Party
12. Exile, Arrest and Prison

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index