John Reeds, Ten Days that Shook the World immediately stands out as a crucial primary historical source on the Bolshevik revolution. His eye witness account of the events in Petrograd are important as the revolutionary actions that took place similarly replicated events that took place all over Russia. Reed creates an insight into the events, actions, feelings and emotions of the Bolshevik revolution that has not been replicated. There was no other similar documents to Reed's at the time and thus Ten Days stands out as one of the key primary sources on the time period. Despite scholarly debate as to the accuracy and excess emotion rather than fact in Reed's work, it is widely agreed that his text is crucial for a complete understanding of the Bolshevik revolution. As Bertram D. Wolfe writes, "Whether because of or despite the dream which possessed him, as literature Reed's book is the finest piece of eyewitness reporting the revolution produced." 1

Immediately, in the preface to the book Reed makes clear the reasons why he has written the text. 'Just as historians

4 John Howard Lawson, Introduction, John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World, New York: International Publishers, 1967, xx

When analysing the praise that this document receives one must take into account the fact that Ten Days has been labelled a 'classic.'10 With such a label comes a prejudice from readers that make criticism of the text hard to come by. A.J.P. Taylor is the author of the introduction for a 1977 reprint of the text and upon reading raving reviews of the text, readers can find it hard to create a critical mindset of the novel. Examples of this raving include this excerpt from Taylor's introductions....'revolutions are tumultuous affaires, difficult to follow while they are on. They participants are too busy to write down their experiences at the time, and the victors are too busy afterwards. Reed's book is not only the best account of the Bolshevik revolution, it comes near to being the best account of any revolution.'11 These are definitely words of potential influence and continues on with Taylor noting how, 'it stands unrivalled as a monument to the Bolshevik revolution and to its two leaders, Lenin and Trotsky.' 12

23 Bertram D. Wofe, Introduction, John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World, New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1975, xxxii-xxxiii

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Approximate Word count = 2134
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)