This concise, accessible introduction provides an analytical narrative of the main events a nd developments in Soviet Russia between 1917 a nd 1936. It examines the impact of the revolution on society as a whole--on different classes, ethnic groups, the army, men a nd women, youth. Its central concern is to understa nd how one structure of domination was replaced by another. The book registers the primacy of politics, but situates political developments firmly in the context of massive economic, social, a nd cultural change. Since the fall of Communism there has been much reflection on the significance of the Russian Revolution. The book rejects the currently influential, liberal interpretation of the revolution in favo r of one that sees it as rooted in the contradictions of a backward society which sought modernization a nd enlightenment a nd ended in political tyranny.