Chris Read Asks if Lenin Ruled by Repressive Violence


Next talk to be presented by the Ealing Branch of the Historical Association


Brodsky's portrait of Lenin

October 29, 2024

Lenin is often described by critics as a dictator and the truth of that assertion is to be examined at the next meeting of the Ealing Branch of the Historical Association.

November’s talk is to be give by Chris Read Emeritus Professor in Twentieth-Century European History at Warwick University. His research has focused on two main themes, the intellectual history of the Russian intelligentsia between 1900 and 1925 and the social history of the Russian revolution.

He is author of numerous books, including Lenin: A Revolutionary Life (Routledge, 2005) and War and Revolution in Russia: 1914-22 (Palgrave 2013) and Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin (Routledge, 2017).

In his lecture ‘Violence and peaceful persuasion in Lenin's approach to the Russian Revolution 1917-24' he will discuss whether Lenin’s governance of Russia based mainly on repressive violence. Or was it, as his supporters maintain, through carefully nurtured support in the population of early Soviet Russia?

The meeting takes place on Tuesday 12 November at 6.30 pm at Twyford CofE High School, Twyford Crescent, Acton, (W3 9PP).

All are welcome to attend . Members pay £15 per annum and for visitors a donation of £5 per talk is suggested with no payment expected from students.

Meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of each month at Ealing Green Church at 7.30pm, with the exception of the November meeting which takes place at Twyford School at 6.30pm. Talks are live events but with the speaker’s permission the association aims to make a recording available afterwards to those registering on Eventbrite (the booking link will be available on our website one month in advance of each talk)

Programme - December 2024 - June 2025

2024

10 December AGM & Christmas Social

2025

14 January Dr Andrew Lownie, Senior Research Fellow in Modern British History at the University of Buckingham, ‘Issues in Writing Modern Political Biographies’

11 February Anne Fletcher, author, ‘Widows of the Ice: The Women that Scott’s Antarctic Expedition Left Behind’

11 MarchEmeritus Professor James Manor, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, ‘The Debatable Resilience of Nehru's Liberal Democracy in India ‘

8 April Julia Boyd, author, ‘Off the beaten track: researching and writing social histories of the Third Reich'

13 May Professor Rebecca Earle, University of Warwick, ‘What can you learn from a cookbook (other than how to cook)?’

10 June Dr Ismini Pells, Oxford Department for Continuing Education, ‘Maimed Soldiers, War Widows and the Human Cost of the English Civil Wars: stories from the Civil War Petitions project’

For more details of the association’s programme of talks for the coming season visit its web site.

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