The Impossible Steve Smith Summary

In 1656, Pascal wrote, "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time". In other words, it's easy to be prolix but time, intellect, application and clarity are needed to be concise yet simultaneously informative. In this book, Steve Smith has achieved the "impossible": a perfect example of lucid concision in which he distills books that run to a thousand pages into around 180. "A Short Introduction" is just that and yet, Smith allows for statistical data (e.g., Red vs. White casualty figures, percentages of proletariat vs. peasants, etc) where necessary while also including his own enlightened perspective on the Bolshevik enterprise and yes: there are both good and bad points which should be acknowledged, regardless of one's own political philosophy.

Perhaps the prime catalyst was Russian involvement in WW-I. Russia was unequipped for battle against a sophisticated, determined professional army (Kaiserine Germany) backed by a large, modern, industrial economy. Yet, despite disaster after disaster, the Great Autocrat, Tsar Nicholas II, this arrogant, benighted and "divinely anointed" ruler was both intractable and sufficiently obtuse as to not recognize the unfolding debacle. A few concessions were made and then recanted. Thus, the stage was set. Kerensky's successor government was limited and ineffectual in dealing with soldier and peasant demands and, fatally engaged with General Kornilov to maintain power. By dint of iron willpower and absolute adherence to a carefully defined program, Lenin succeeded in undermining the Provisional Government. He was masterfully aided by the Petersburg Soviet under the brilliant and supremely capable Trotsky. Smith capably reviews all this and much more, yet keeps the story "on