Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia [Paperback]

A well-written and carefully documented study. Gross examines surviving depositions and surveys collected by Polish authorities in the wake of the Soviet occupation of the western Ukraine and western Belorussia, 1939-41. Through the miseries of the common people he presents, Gross reveals the means by which the Soviets assumed power. The topics analyzed are dictated by the documents: conquest, elections, socialization, prisons, and deportations. The themes which emerge are twofold: the substitution of the rule of law for that of individuals and the destructive power of totalitarianism through wasted human talent. Highly recommended for academic and larger collections. Rena Fowler, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[This] work is most welcome. . . . [A] detailed and fascinating case study. . . . [It] should be read by all students of Soviet history, sociology, and government. -- Anna M. Cienciala, American Historical Review

The detailed personal testimony on the killings, incarcerations, and deportations, and on Soviet policy in action is . . . convincing as well as dramatic and chilling. -- "Foreign Affairs

Jan Gross describes the terrors of the Soviet occupation of the lands that made up eastern Poland between the two world wars: the Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. His lucid analysis of the revolution that came to Poland from abroad is based on hundreds of first-hand accounts of the hardship, suffering, and social chaos that accompanied the Sovietization of this poorest section of a poverty-stricken country. Woven into the author's exploration of events from the Soviet's German-supported aggression against Poland in September of 1939 to Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, these testimonies not only illuminate his conclusions about the nature of totalitarianism but also make a powerful statement of their own. Those who endured the imposition of Soviet rule and mass deportations to forced resettlement, labor camps, and prisons of the Soviet Union are here allowed to speak for themselves, and they do so with grim effectiveness.

Jan T. Gross is Professor of Politics and European Studies at New York University. He is the author of, among other books, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland, which was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award, and a coeditor of The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and Its Aftermath (both Princeton).