Modernising Lenin's Russia: Economic Reconstruction, Foreign Trade and the Railways by Anthony s> Heywood (review)

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754 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 include the records of the leading American businesses in Russia in 1914, Singerand InternationalHarvester,and one of Saul'smostinterestingfindings is how far their operations managed to keep going even in the most difficult times. Singer, despite having sufferedfrom being widely seen in Russia as a German company, still sold over six thousand sewing machines in the winter of I9I8-I9I9, while the Harvester factory outside Moscow continued to produce mowers and reapers in substantial numbers throughout. Also remarkableis the extent of medical and other relief provided by American agencies to German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russia in 1914-19 I7. Although financed by Germany, this programme was overseen by the American embassy, and no doubt gave the Red Cross and YMCA valuable experience for their later efforts in Russia in the more chaotic circumstancesof I917-1919. Quotations from the diariesand lettersof those involved in these later efforts,and in the militaryexpeditions to North Russia and Siberia, give a vividness and concreteness to Saul's review of these enterprises,as do the many and well-chosen photographs. At times, the reader gains the impression that Saul became somewhat overwhelmed by the mass of detailed informnation he had accumulated. The organization of the book, with many short subsections, is not as clear as it might be, and involves some jumbling of chronology. Some facts and quotationsare repeated, and one quotation is attributedwithin a few pages to an 'anonymous officer' and to an identified individual (pp. 372, 375) because it survivesin two differentcollections. There is a casual reference to 'Francis'(p. 39) before the American ambassador has been introduced. In suchways, the manuscriptwould have benefitedfromfurtherrevision. Nevertheless, this valuable work not only brings to light the activities of many individualAmericans in Russia in these years but also illuminatesthe big picture. It shows how various and importantwere the ways in which the wealthy businessman,Charles Crane, promoted American interestin Russia, and the influence that he and his extensive circle of friendsand clients had in shaping the views of the administrationas well as of the wider public. Closely associated with Crane was the Chicago professor, Samuel Harper, whose central role is very evident here. And although the making of policy at the highestlevels is not Saul'smain focus, his treatmentof it is well-balanced and persuasive. President Wilson's indecision about intervention and inclination to wait upon events is brought out well, as is the fact that it was the lack of successof the anti-Bolshevikforces,and the universallynegativereportsabout them fromAmericans on the spot, that prevented their receiving recognition and support. StCatharine's College, Cambridge JOHN A. THOMPSON Heywood, Anthony. Modernising Lenin'sRussia.Economic Reconstruction, Foreign TradeandtheRailways.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, I999. xviii + 328 pp. Notes. Tables. Illustrations.Bibliography.Index. ?45.?? $69.95. THEeconomic modernization of the Soviet Union had a dramaticimpact on the development of the Soviet experiment. One of the promises of this REVIEWS 755 experimentwas to deliver Russian society from its backwardnessand into the modern world. Early Soviet leaders, in particularVladimir I. Lenin, believed strongly in the modernization of the Russian economy in order to promote revolutionary goals. Anthony Heywood's book is a tremendous addition to the historicalliteratureon the early development of the Soviet economy with a special emphasis on railway development. This work is divided into three partscoveringrailway policyfrom1914 to 1924. The firstpartdiscussesthe importanceof imperialrailwaypolicy on the eve of the First World War. Heywood stresses the importance of railway development as the key factor for the successfulindustrializationof the late nineteenth century. One of the central questions of imperial railway policy and the new Bolshevik policy was the role of foreign investment in rail development. This was somethingthathad been practisedsince the beginning of rail development in Russia, but now with ideological changes, it was more controversial. In addition, the Bolshevik idea that the economy could be revived quicklyin the firstmonths of the revolution by dedicating significant time and resources (including gold rubles) to this part of the economy was unrealistic. However, Lenin, in particular, held close to the revolutionary vision with the hope that it would revitalize the devastated early Soviet economy. The second part of Heywood's work focuses on Leonid Krasin's...