I have been doing some history, including this book from 1905 or something, they are shorts, 40 pages or so each, this Russian one I read, authored in part by Tolstoy if I recall, was just sad, talking about the "Russian Revolution" of like 1905 or something.

It was something, labour unrest that spread, the tsar tried to violently quash it as they were wont to do, and it made the protests spread further. The Tsar eventually agreed to a constitutional monarchy and all that, but then the new duma angered him right off and he had them sent to the gulag and death. But then had to reinstitute it at some point.

The authors were all hopeful for Russia's future and shit, just sad, given a couple years later WWI tore them up.