Lenin on the Train

by Catherine Merridale

Overview

One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year

A gripping, meticulously researched account of Lenin’s fateful 1917 rail journey from Zurich to Petrograd, where he ignited the Russian Revolution and forever changed the world.

In April 1917, as the Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution Vladimir Lenin was far away, exiled in Zurich. When the news reached him, Lenin immediately resolved to return to Petrograd and lead the revolt. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia’s adversaries. Millions of Russians at home were suffering as a result of German aggression, and to accept German aid—or even safe passage—would be to betray his homeland. Germany, for its part, saw an opportunity to further destabilize Russia by allowing Lenin and his small group of revolutionaries to return.

Now, in Lenin on the Train, drawing on a dazzling array of sources and never-before-seen archival material, renowned historian Catherine Merridale provides a riveting, nuanced account of this enormously consequential journey—the train ride that changed the world—as well as the underground conspiracy and subterfuge that went into making it happen. Writing with the same insight and formidable intelligence that distinguished her earlier works, she brings to life a world of counter-espionage and intrigue, wartime desperation, illicit finance, and misguided utopianism.

When Lenin arrived in Petrograd’s now-famous Finland Station, he delivered an explosive address to the impassioned crowds. Simple and extreme, the text of this speech has been compared to such momentous documents as Constantine’s edict of Milan and Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses. It was the moment when the Russian revolution became Soviet, the genesis of a system of tyranny and faith that changed the course of Russia’s history forever and transformed the international political climate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250160140
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	04/03/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	405,217
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Catherine Merridale is the author of Red Fortress, which won the Wolfson History Prize; and two other critically acclaimed books, Ivan’s War and Night of Stone. A celebrated scholar of Russian history, she has also written for The Guardian, the Literary Review, and the London Review of Books, and contributes regularly to broadcasts on BBC radio. She lives in Oxfordshire, England.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
A Note on the Text
Maps

Introduction
1 Dark Forces
2 Black Markets
3 Red Lake
4 Scarlet Ribbons
5 Maps and Plans
6 The Sealed Train
7 Leaderless
8 Lenin in Lapland
9 From the Finland Station
10 Gold
11 Fellow Travellers

Notes
Suggestions for Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index

Editorial Reviews

Catherine Merridale is well-known for her books on Soviet history…Her latest book, Lenin on the Train…vividly reminds us how the fateful events of 1917 depended on a seemingly small episode: Vladimir Lenin's return to Russia from political exile in Switzerland…Merridale's account benefits from her thorough research, particularly concerning the circumstances surrounding Lenin's return; the train's route, which has confused earlier historians; and the intentions of the Germans, whose armies faced Russian forces on the Eastern front.

The New York Times Book Review - Joshua Rubenstein

01/16/2017
British journalist Merridale (Red Fortress) recounts the background of what may have been the most consequential train ride in history, as Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (aka Lenin) traveled in a sealed German car that slowly made its way from Switzerland to Petrograd’s Finland Station in April 1917 and began fomenting what would become the Bolshevik Revolution later that year. Tracing the trip’s progression and its immediate consequences, Merridale looks closely at German efforts to knock Russia out of WWI as well as Bolshevik agitation in Russia and Western Europe. She also mostly debunks the notion that Lenin received large amounts of gold from the Germans, showing that he accepted only modest German subsidies. Merridale examines the machinations of such lesser-known figures as Parvus (Alexander Helphand), Lenin’s occasional ally and rival, and how Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government sank itself by continuing to fight the Germans in WWI, which strengthened Lenin’s hand in resolutely opposing the many Bolsheviks who favored forming a government with the more moderate, prowar Mensheviks. Unfortunately, Merridale’s account of the immediate postrevolution period peters out in her discussion of Lenin’s “death-cult,” as embodied in the Moscow mausoleum that contained his embalmed corpse, and brief address of Stalin’s crimes and their aftermath. Merridale’s rushed and weak ending detracts from what is otherwise a colorful, suspenseful, and well-documented narrative. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Absorbing.”
—Washington Post

“Catherine Merridale is one ofthe foremost foreign historians of Russia, combining wry insights with deepsympathy for the human beings suffering the tragedies she writes about . . . Leninon the Train combines diplomatic intrigue, spycraft, toweringpersonalities, bureaucratic bungling, military history and ideology.”
—The Economist

“Merridale’s account benefits from her thorough research . . . andvividly reminds us of how the fateful events of 1917 depended on a seeminglysmall episode.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Catherine Merridale, a distinguished historian of Russia and the SovietUnion . . . uses [Lenin’s] journey as the centerpiece of a broader account ofthe fall of czarism and the mounting Bolshevik pressure on the government thatreplaced it.”
—Wall Street Journal

“Merridale’s excellent book . . . does an exemplary job of covering thecomplex history of the denials, evasions and cover-ups perpetrated by the Bolshevikleader and his successors.”
—Dallas Morning News

“Memorable . . . a richly detailed book that turns familiar materialinto an intense adventure.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Merridale tells the extraordinary story of Lenin’s history-makingjourney. Drenched in atmosphere, [her] account has all the stuff of a spythriller.”
—Newsday

“In vivid prose, [Merridale]recounts the whole engine of revolution . . . A superbly written narrativehistory that draws together and makes sense of scattered data, anecdotes, andminor episodes, affording us a bigger picture of events that we now understandto be transformative.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“History recovered as livingdrama . . . Merridale smuggles readers onto a train leaving Zurich in April1917 that is carrying explosive freight: Vladimir Lenin, the firebrand who willkindle a revolutionary conflagration in Russia.”
—Booklist

“A colorful, suspenseful, andwell-documented narrative.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The suberb, funny, fascinatingstory of Lenin’s trans-European rail journey to power and how it shook theworld”
—Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard (Best Books of 2016)

“Twice I missed my stop on the Tube reading this book . . . this is ajewel among histories, taking a single episode from the penultimate year of theGreat War, illuminating a continent, a revolution and a series of psychologiesin a moment of cataclysm and doing it with wit, judgment and an eye for tellingdetail. . . . Catherine Merridale is one of those historians whose work allowsyou to understand something more about the world we inhabit now.”
—David Aaronovitch, The Times

“Catherine Merridale, an experienced and enthusiastic historian ofRussia, has chosen the pivotal moment of Lenin’s slow and halting odyssey tohang her history of how this ruthless fanatic hijacked a revolution.”
—The Observer

“A sharply written, authoritative account of Lenin’s train journey”
—Financial Times


“Merridale brings to her subject a scholar’s deep knowledge and alively narrative style. It is a work that enlightens as well as it entertains.”
—Literary Review

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2017
In her new book, Merridale (Red Fortress) has delicately woven the complex tale of the exiled Vladimir Lenin's trip from Zurich, Switzerland, back to Petrograd, Russia, in 1917, to a nation both part of World War I and the revolution taking place there. Merridale re-creates the difficult journey and vividly takes readers through the history and locales. The result is a gripping narrative with first-hand accounts and sources of Russian history that make the rich, intricate story of the Bolsheviks' journey feel close at hand. The author details the indirect and complex negotiations between the Bolsheviks and Germany, looking to find a revolutionary group to support who could remove Russia from the war. Next, she chronicles Lenin's travels via train, taking readers to Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) to understand the political actions of the British and the French during the critical prerevolutionary period of 1917. The maps and illustrations in this book are to be mentioned, as they aid in understanding the travels of Lenin's "sealed train" through Russia and war-torn Germany. VERDICT This book should be read by anyone interested in war-time history or the history of Russia and the Soviet Union; there is much to be learned here. [See Prepub Alert, 11/16/16.]—Amy Lewontin, Northeastern Univ. Lib., Boston

Library Journal

Recounting perhaps the most famous train ride in history, this audiobook tells the story of Vladimir Lenin’s return to Russia from exile in Zurich. Once home, he became the leader of the Russian Revolution in 1917, which changed the world then and still impacts us now. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the event and gives us a chance to weigh its importance. Narrator Gordon Griffin’s bright timbre and lively British accent enhance this history by moving the story along at a brisk pace. He reads expressively, emphasizes key words, and effectively dabbles in characters. He even telegraphs the anger or frustration various people feel as the proceedings unfold. The result is a retelling of the story that a new generation can learn from. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JULY 2017 - AudioFile

★ 2017-01-24
British historian Merridale (Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin, 2013, etc.) fills a lacuna in the canonical record of Soviet communism.Like Sherman's March to the Sea and Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, V.I. Lenin's rail journey from Zurich to Petrograd is one of the most storied journeys in history. It has long been known that Germany brokered the wartime trip, the aim being to enable Lenin to foment revolution and take Russia off the front. However, as the author amply shows, to say "Germany" is to speak too broadly, for while it was just a faction in the civilian government of that country willing to gamble on Lenin's powers of persuasion, "other departments and agencies had budgets of their own" and were "pouring money" into propaganda and sedition so that Russia would sue for peace, leaving Germany to fight a single-front war against the Allies in the West. Of course, as Merridale also shows, the Allies had propaganda budgets as well, though in the end, all that money added up to an "egregious failure rate," just as British efforts to turn Lenin back at the frontier failed. The author explores the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to Lenin's return from decades of exile. Moreover, in vivid prose, she recounts the whole engine of revolution, giving immediacy to the details of Lenin's arrival at the Finland Station and the electrifying result his presence had in an already revolutionary and decidedly mutinous Russia. She also emphasizes little-known aspects and players in the struggle, from the central role Pravda played in transmitting news and its ability "to speak directly to the dispossessed" to the work of the almost unknown revolutionary leader Irakli Tsereteli. A superbly written narrative history that draws together and makes sense of scattered data, anecdotes, and minor episodes, affording us a bigger picture of events that we now understand to be transformative.

Kirkus Reviews