Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 - by Jonathan Coopersmith (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 is the first full account of the widespread adoption of electricity in Russia, from the beginning in the 1880s to its early years as a state technology under Soviet rule.

Book Synopsis

The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 is the first full account of the widespread adoption of electricity in Russia, from the beginning in the 1880s to its early years as a state technology under Soviet rule. Jonathan Coopersmith has mined the archives for both the tsarist and the Soviet periods to examine a crucial element in the modernization of Russia. Coopersmith shows how the Communist Party forged an alliance with engineers to harness the socially transformative power of this science-based enterprise. A centralized plan of electrification triumphed, to the benefit of the Communist Party and the detriment of local governments and the electrical engineers. Coopersmith's narrative of how this came to be elucidates the deep-seated and chronic conflict between the utopianism of Soviet ideology and the reality of Soviet politics and economics.

Review Quotes

The Electrification of Russia deserves careful attention: Coopersmith presents a balanced treatment of electrification in both the tsarist and Soviet eras, and his many comparisons between the two periods help illustrate the pattern of electrification. His numerous references to developments in the West are also valuable, highlighting the peculiarities of the Russian and Soviet situation. Given the dearth of scholarly studies of technology in Russia and the Soviet Union, this volume is particularly noteworthy.

Coopersmith ends up showing how revolutionary the Stalin era turned out to be, and how the radical dream of achieving a quick leap from backwardness to modernity, while eliminating exploitation, persisted throughout the uncertain decade of the 1920s.

About the Author

Jonathan Coopersmith is Professor of History at Texas A&M University.