The Other Russia

The purpose of this book is to illustrate what life was like for Russian emigrants in different times and places, including, where possible, their memories of Russia before 1917 or in the Soviet Union afterwards. The oral histories presented are divided into three time periods. The first deals with 1900-1921, the end of the Old Order. Some of the experiences told recount the events surrounding the Revolution, while others deal with escape, flight and exile. The second part of the book focuses on refugees between 1922 and 1947. Among the communities mentioned is Harbin, a city in Manchuria which had become Russian when the Tsarist Government built the Trans-Siberian railway in the 1890s. Attention is also given to the movement to go back and of the situation of the émigrés during the Second World War. The third part of the book concerns the Soviet Experience and Beyond, 1946-1986. Stories in this section tell of life under Stalin, hunger, escape and defection, and of the struggle of artists and intellectuals within the Soviet Union during this period.