John Reed (1) (1887–1920)

Told by the young American social revolutionary on ground in Russia during the revolution this is probably as detailed book of the events taking place in Petrograd and Moscow during the crucial period of the revolution as we will ever have.

Rise of the Bolshevik's to power was not a clean cut by any means and we follow how various Socialist parties (Bolshevik's being on a a radical left end of the spectrum) fight for overall control of the army, navy and The Revolution. While it is very clear where the sympathies of John Reed are we are given views of the opposition (even conservatives and the ever "sneaky" and "backstabbing" bourgeoisie) although always with additional sarcastic comment or rather bad presentation of the speaker (bald, small in stature, horrible orator etc etc). But again we are given their views which is enormous contribution to narrative, especially considering that in today's political climate there is no way opposition would ever be given opportunity to say anything.

While underlying cause for the revolution were very difficult living conditions for more than three quarters of people in Imperial Russia nothing happened spontaneously (does anything?). It was not a unanimous rise of people and it took a while to get the correct direction and finally for Bolshevik's to take over everything.

As events progress there is no more place for compromise, enemies of the Bolshevik's are portrayed more and more like cartoon villains while Bolshevik's are portrayed as heroes for the people that are literary dropping tired off their feet but using superhuman strength to continuously push on 'til the ultimate victory.

And this would be my biggest issue with the book. But then again victors write history, right? I especially liked the author's faith in the fighters for the revolution (while clinging to the security pass in order not to be friendly fire casualty or forgotten casualty of conflict - in this remark very much like modern media but unlike them he truly believed in the cause and I understand him, you can never be too safe, right?).

That aside author manages to capture the hard living conditions of ordinary man, woman and child who are the true believers (and major victims int he entire process) here (politicians in this story (even through eyes of John Reed) are no different than politicians today - tyrants in disguise waiting for their chance to rule everyone else) - conditions under Tsar regime was horrendous for everyone not of noble origin and it was just matter of time when people will raise up in arms and bring everything down. When it comes to intelligentsia (or what we call today intellectuals) - they were as useful as they are today. Meaning they are not useful for anything but philosophizing and unable to do anything concrete. As a matter of fact when you think of politicians, intellectuals and so called experts (social or science) that are the loudest when situation is dire, we have exactly the same state today, right? Bunch of self-serving people that are only on the lookout for their own benefits and so disconnected from their very constituent that is sends chills through every sane men or women.

And this makes this book so sad and cautionary in retrospective. While reading it you cannot doubt the fire burning in John Reed and working class in general, their unwavering faith in Bolshevik party and their political goals. This makes it worse when one figures out that Bolsheviks will make a radical U turn in less than 20 years and defecate on all their ideals while doing it, even purging all the true believers, people aiming for true social justice and reforms, and finally ending up creating tyranny under the guise of democracy and democratic process.

This brings back events from the French Revolution, another revolution started due to outright atrocious conditions of life for lower classes that ate its own children in the end - deposed the King and his Court and somewhere in the process of passing power to the people (while using terror as everyday tool for solving political issues and venting out people that just did not get what they were promised) decided that Emperor is way to go and soon became all the opposite of what they fought for in the beginning.
As I see it only people benefiting from the revolution are people outside the countries where revolution takes place because governments decide that it is good thing to pay some attention to what is going on lower decks so same things do not happen in their own backyard.

Very important cautionary tale how noble intentions and reforms can very easily be overtaken by corrupting power-hungry forces. Again something to think about in these days, eh? Especially since economical division is becoming more and more visible even in our enlightened times.

Recommended to anyone interested in the period and inner events of the revolutionary process.… (more)

John Reed, a Harvard graduate from a rather middle-class background in Portland, Oregon, had a splendidly turbulent life as a labour activist associated with the IWW, a war correspondent in the Mexican Revolution and World War I, and most of all as a first-hand observer of the Russian revolution (his account in Ten days that shook the world remains his best-known work). Frequently shot at or arrested, constantly smuggling himself over frontiers, engaged in romances with several well-known revolutionaries, etc., etc. ... he was obviously very unlucky to meet his end so prosaically with a typhus infection in Moscow in 1920, but he was one of the very few Americans to get a grave of honour in the Kremlin.

This collection, originally issued by Seven Seas in the early sixties and republished in slightly expanded form by City Lights in 1975, brings together some of his early short fiction and a few shorter journalistic pieces from Mexico and Russia not previously published in book form. Ferlinghetti added his autobiographical essay "Almost thirty" (1917) to round out the collection.

I was most struck by the New York stories in the first part of the book, mostly written around 1910-1912, and obviously originating as lightly fictionalised versions of conversations he had with real prostitutes and homeless people on the streets of Greenwich Village. The slightly arch, Edwardian style is oddly reminiscent of very early P G Wodehouse, but the content is anything but "literary" in that sense: he is full of respect for the people he is talking to and lets them tell their own stories without a trace of patronising superiority, and without any squeamishness about telling it like it is. Nobody who read these stories would have had any doubts about what these women were doing to earn money on the streets (which is possibly why they remained largely unpublished for so long).

Elsewhere, Reed uses the same technique of letting his characters tell their stories in their own words rather more ironically: in "Mac - American" he lets an American in Mexico rant away over a series of drinks with no comment from the narrator, gradually revealing himself as more and more of a racist, up to the point where Mac tells us about the orgasmic pleasure of joining a lynch-mob. And in the back-to-back stories "John Bull in America", two British men on their way home to enlist in the Great War are left floundering, exposing the absence of any sane reason for wanting to fight.

The more directly political pieces seemed rather less original in form than these character-studies, but I was left with the strong feeling that I would like to read more from Reed. Which is always a good note on which to finish a book!… (more)

Ten Days that Shook the World is a classic and influential book written by journalist John Reed that chronicles the events of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917. The book is a firsthand account of the revolution and the early days of the Soviet Union, as Reed was an observer and participant in the events he describes.

Reed's writing is vivid and engaging, providing a detailed and human perspective on the revolution. He conveys the excitement, chaos, and hope of the time, and provides a nuanced picture of the various players involved in the revolution, from Lenin and Trotsky to the common people of Russia. Ten Days that Shook the World is an important historical document, and remains an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the Russian Revolution and its impact on the world.… (more)