Readings and Ramblings

In circa 1920 Charles Buxton visited Russia. In this book he tells us about his experiences in, for the most part, a small Russian village. He explicitly states that his movements were unrestricted and that, in fact, his comings and goings were hardly even paid attention to by the revolutionary government. He was completely free to learn the opinions of the peasants he met and to express his own opinions. He attributes this freedom to the fact that his doings were regarded as particularly unimportant. As we all know, that time was a time of great upheaval in Russian and world history and even the smallest of villages in Russia could not be uneffected and he does discuss some of the effects that he observed. However, the most striking thing to me was that it is made clear that even in such interesting times daily life must go on and the people must attend to the mundane concerns of day to day life. I give this book two stars because, frankly, I am really more interested in the broad political issues and the historic upheavals that were going on rather than the minutia of hum-drum life. That is only a personal preference, though, and if you are interested in what is happening to the common people in a time of great events, the common people who are not particularly prone to participate in those great events, then you may find this a very enjoyable read. And by the way, Buxton could not evade the momentous events either, so that is there too.