Statist Russia

Marshall Poe notes in his TLS review that Catherine Merridale’s Red Fortress challenges the traditional statist interpretation of Russian history:

“According to her, weak Russian leaders and their cronies concocted the statist theory – in various guises, at various times – simply to justify the consolidation and enhancement of their autocratic power. Ivan the Terrible did it, Nicholas I did it, Stalin did it, and now, she claims, Putin is doing it. This premiss is the weakest part of what is otherwise one of the best popular histories of Russia in any language. Not only is it unnecessary but it causes Merridale to make a promise she cannot keep. Nowhere do we find a sustained argument against the statist interpretation of Russian history.”

Poe thinks a lot of Merridale’s book; he does not think that her challenge is a success. Merridale doesn’t, he claims, make the case against this standard interpretation and, further, “there are two very good reasons why Russia should have ended up with some version of Putinist authoritarianism: 500 years of almost unbroken autocracy and a marked popular preference for the strong hand.”