This book gives voice to the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of ordinary Russian people-workers, peasants, soldiers-as expressed in their own words during the vast upheavals of 1917. The documents in the volume are selected from the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow and other Russian collections and most have never been published before. They include letters from individuals to newspapers, institutions, or leaders; collective resolutions and appeals; and even poetry written by self-taught, lower-class authors.

Using a mixture of narrative and hitherto unpublished letters from workers, peasants and soldiers, Steinberg brings 1917 to life again. . . . The result is utterly fascinating. -- Alison Rowat, Glasgow Herald

"his volume will be particularly useful as collateral reading for graduate and upper-division undergraduate students in history and Soviet studies. -- History: Reviews of New Books

A wonderful achievement, a rare amalgam of excellent scholarship and original source materials. -- Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Chicago

A volume in the Annals of Communism series published by Yale University Press.