Welsh Journals

'If the [Great] War taught one lesson to Russian economists, it was that a gradual and balanced economic policy was too slow for the overall needs of the country'. This is neo-catastrophism with a vengeance. Great though the lure of 'alternative' history may be, there is very little documentation on the might-have-been, and the other contributors stick more closely to the last of reality, dealing on the whole with the world of political thought and practice (thus Professor Robert F. Byrnes, biographer of Pobedonostsev, writes about 'Russian conservative thought before the Revolution', Professor Donald W. Treadgold has a wide- ranging paper on 'Russian radical thought, 1894-1917', and 'Some imperatives of Russian foreign policy' are examined by Professor Roderick E. McGrew). The great gap in what is otherwise a balanced survey is the agricultural question, which was arguably the root cause of most of Russia's troubles. Admittedly, awareness of this problem runs through the whole book, but it is somewhat disconcerting to find, for instance, Von Laue disputing with Alexander Gerschenkron when one remembers how much of the latter's argumentation derives from his analysis of the problems of the then vastly predominant peasant sector of the Russian economy. The book will, however, prove of value to undergraduate and advanced student alike, for it provides summaries of their positions and lines of attack by a number of scholars eminent in their respective fields, whose often provocative views incite to further debate and who supply us with the necessary ammunition in the form of full bibliographical references. E. C. M. BREUNING. Swansea SHORT NOTICES A second, revised edition has been published of Kenneth O. Morgan, Wales in British Politics, 1868-1922 (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1970. Pp. xii, 360. 45s. (£2'25) ). This volume was first published in 1963 and was reviewed, ante II, No. 1 (1964), 102-4. In this new edition, the final chapter has been extended to take account of developments between 1922 and June 1970. A supplement has also been added to the bibliography to indicate some of the primary and secondary sources that have become available since the writing of the first edition. Three admirable publications have recently come from the Caernarvon- shire County Record Office. In October 1969 there appeared, as an appendix to the county archivist's annual report, the Record Office's Bulletin, No. 2 (price 2s. 6d. (121p)). This followed the success of the first Bulletin (noticed ante, V, No. 1 (June 1970), 99). It includes