Nicholas II

‘The Bolshevik’ (1920)
by Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (1878-1927)
From the Collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

On 7th November (25 October, O.S.) 1917, the October Revolution began. It is officially known in Soviet historiography as the ‘Great October Socialist Revolution’, an illegal coup organized by the Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks. This tragic date was instrumental in the larger Russian Civil Warm which lasted from 1917–23. The Bolsheviks plunged the once great Russian Empire into an abyss.

Their crimes are unprecedented, and included the nationalization [a fancy word for robbery and theft] of the Imperial palaces and all their contents; the destruction of all monuments of emperors and tsars; tearing down tsarist symbols from buildings; placing a bounty on the heads of all members of the Russian Imperial Family, which resulted in the murder of more than a dozen grand dukes and duchesses and princes of the imperial blood.

It is important to note that while it was not the Bolsheviks who overthrew Emperor Nicholas II, they were indeed responsible for the end of both the monarchy and the Russian Empire, by ordering the murder of Russia’s last Tsar, his wife, heir and four daughters.

In January 1918, Lenin ushered in the First Red Terror, and thus setting the stage for his successor Joseph Stalin, who carried out his own Red Terrors.

The Bolsheviks persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church resulted in the desecration and looting churches and monasteries, followded by the closure and destruction of Orthodox places of worship. Thousands of priests, clergy, nuns and believers were persecuted, imprisoned and murdered.

During the First World War the Russian-Soviet artist Ivan Alekseevich Vladimirov (1869-1947) was living in Petrograd. He created a series of paintings and coloured drawings about life in Petrograd under the Bolsheviks, during the Revolution and the Civil War. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, he joined the the Petrograd militia and illustrated events of the Russian Revolution.

His works reflect his personal eye witness account of the savagery and brutality of the Bolsheviks during the 1917 revolution, the consequences of which resulted in the deaths, imprisonment and displacement of millions of innocent men, women, and even children, atrocities against the Russian Orthodox Church, and the destruction of Imperial and Holy Russia.

Vladimrov was just one of the artists who captured the atrocities of the Bolsheviks on canvas, but what about those who recorded the tyranny and horror of that time in words and photographs? English-language studies of Bolshevik atrocities are few and far between, however, there are a few noteworthy works to consider.

I have compiled a short list of 3 titles, which I highly recommend to those of you who are interested in early 20th century Russian history. They paint an accurate picture of the wanton path of fear, death and destruction left by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. All of the titles listed below can be ordered from your favourite bookseller or AMAZON, while second-hand copies can be found on eBay, Alibris and Bookfinder.

Historian Yuri Felshtinsky presents a revisionist view in Lenin and His Comrades: The Bolsheviks Take Over Russia 1917–1924 (2010), arguing that Lenin and his closest associates were effectively a minority of opportunists and “common criminals” who executed a successful coup d’état. According to Felshtinsky, this characterization of the Bolsheviks as gangsters suggests that the Communist regime was inherently unstable from its inception due to the circumstances of its rise to power.  This perspective challenges traditional narratives that portray Lenin and his comrades as heroic revolutionaries.

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‘Cursed Days’ by Ivan Bunin (1998), reflects the authors’ diary of the years 1918–1920 in Moscow and Odessa. It is regarded as one of the very few anti-Bolshevik diaries to be preserved from the time of the Russian Revolution and Civil War.

Bunin’s account of his last days in Bolshevik Russia recreate events with graphic and gripping intimacy. His scathing criticism of Bolshevik leaders is unparalleled, referring to them as “pitiful, dull, mangy-looking creatures.”

On hearing of the death of the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, in January 1924, Bunin gave an emotional speech in Paris, in which he dubbed Lenin “a degenerate by birth, who committed the monstrous crime of crashing the world’s most powerful nation and killing several million people.”

‘Cursed Days’ was originally published in 1925–1926 in the Paris-based ‘Vozrozhdenye’ newspaper (its final version was published by ‘Petropolis’ in 1936). The first English-language edition was published in 1998. ‘Cursed Days’, was banned in the Soviet Union until the late 1980s, it has since been published in 15 editions!

Bunin was the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1933). He was revered among White Russian emigres for his anti-Bolshevik views, and regarded him as a true heir to the tradition of realism in Russian literature established by Tolstoy and Chekhov.

Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin died in Paris on 8 November 1953.

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‘History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks’ (2009) is among my TOP 10 favourite reads. Author Sean McMeekin’s book, which draws on previously undiscovered materials from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and other European and American archives to expose some of the darkest secrets of Russia’s early days of communism.

Building on one archival revelation after another, the author reveals how the Bolsheviks financed their aggression through astonishingly extensive thievery. Their looting of imperial palaces, churches, the nobility included everything from the cash savings of private citizens to gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, icons, antiques, and artwork.

McMeekin’s prodigious research exposes the rape of the culture of Old Russia, and the Bolshevik plundering of her people. The reader is left feeling sorrowful and revengeful for the actions of these robbers.The author points out what a lax citizenship will allow, when a small band of violent rebels and thugs,set out to destroy your country, your culture, and your person.

This is an extraordinary story, a real page turner, and scholarship at its best! 

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‘Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime’ (1993) by Richard Pipes is the most definitive English language study of the Bolsheviks to date.

Pipes examines the Bolsheviks’ efforts to defend and expand their dominion during the Civil War, highlighting the destructive nature of this conflict and its impact on Russian society. The book discusses the crises faced by the Bolshevik regime, including political and economic failures, and the devastating famine of 1921, which tested the resilience of the new government.Pipes also addresses the cultural and religious policies implemented by the Bolsheviks, which were often aimed at reshaping Russian society according to Communist ideals.

Pipes argues that the Bolshevik regime represented a significant attempt to impose a master plan on the entire life of the country, a precursor to totalitarian regimes that would follow in Europe. He emphasizes that many of the techniques used by the Bolsheviks were later adapted by leaders like Mussolini and Hitler for their own purposes.

‘Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime’ is a massive 500+ page read, one which is hard to put down!

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Dear Reader, If you know of any other books on the Bolsheviks which you think of Lenin should be added to this list, please e-mail me at royalrussia@yahoo.com – PG

© Paul Gilbert. 10 June 2026