History's Greatest Heist: The Bolshevik Looting of Russia

Venue: Stanford University (Encina Hall West)
Period: November 13, 2008 (at 12.00)

The Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (Stanford university) organises a public meeting with Sean McMeekin to discuss his latest book “History’s greatest heist: theBolshevik looting of Russia”, which will be released in mid-November 2008 from Yale University Press.

Historians have never resolved a central mystery of the Russian Revolution: how did the Bolsheviks, despite facing a world of enemies and leaving nothing but economic ruin intheir path, manage to stay in power through five long years of civil war? In his new book, Sean McMeekin draws on previously undiscovered materials from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and other European and American archives to expose some of the darkest secrets of Russia’s early days of communism.

By tracking illicit Soviet financial transactions across Europe, McMeekin shows how Lenin's regime accomplished history's greatest heist between 1917 and 1922 and turned centuries of accumulated wealth into the sinews of class war.

Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Center for Russian, East European, and EurasianStudies
address: Encina Hall West 217
417 Galvez Mall
Stanford University MC 6045
tel. 001.650.723.3562
fax. 001.650.723.3010
email. creeesinfo@stanford.edu