Abstract
Western scholars entered Soviet archives and libraries during the 1970s in search of new data and fresh perspectives on the formation and collective behavior of the Russian working class. These efforts have begun to bear fruit. Several studies have already appeared; others are in press. ' Two dealing specifically with workers? S.A. Smith's Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories 1917-1918 and Diane Koenker's Moscow Workers and the 1917 Revolution?provide the central focus for this essay. Taken together, the excellent studies by Smith and Koenker open up the possibility for a fundamental rethinking of the role of workers in the ?917 revolutions. In addition, I will comment briefly on Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's The Feb ruary Revolution: Petrograd, 1917, a book that is not, strictly speaking, labor history, but will nevertheless be of interest to those in the labor field.
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