By James A. Cox
Midwest Book Review
Expertly translated into English, with painstaking care taken to reinstate text that was cut from previous English-language editions, The Unknown Revolution 1917-1921 is a detailed, eyewitness history of the Russian Revolution by anarchist activist Voline (1882-1945), who participated in the Russian and Ukrainian Revolutions, and was subsequently forced into exile by the Bolshevik Party government. Voline writes bitterly of the deep gulf between the objectives of the Libertarians and those of the Bolsheviks, ultimately resolved through the Bolsheviks’ ruthless elimination of any and all opposition. First published posthumously in 1947, The Unknown Revolution 1917-1921 remains a “must-read” primary source about a pivotal time in modern Russian history, highly recommended especially for college library collections.