R. W. Davies

During World War II, Davies served in the Royal Air Force from 1943 to 1946.[1] He was stationed in the Middle East from 1945 to 1946.[1]

Davies obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London in 1950.[2] He subsequently attended the University of Birmingham, where he obtained his PhD in 1954 in Commerce and Social Science under the supervision of historian Alexander Baykov.[2]

After completing his PhD, Davies was appointed to a post as assistant lecturer at the Institute of Soviet Studies at the University of Glasgow, where he would remain until his return to the University of Birmingham in 1956.[1] At Birmingham Davies held a succession of academic titles, including Research Fellow, Lecturer, and Senior Lecturer.[1] Davies was appointed a professor of Soviet Economic Studies by the University of Birmingham in 1965.[1]

In 1963, Davies was named the first director of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham — a post which he would retain until 1978.[1] Davies retired in 1989 and was named Senior Fellow and Emeritus Professor by the university upon his departure from active teaching.[1]

His research contributions in the history of the Soviet Union are recognized by the peers.[3] Davies' papers are housed in the Special Collections department of the University of Birmingham.[4] A temporary register of the Davies' collection, contained in 70 archival boxes, is available.[4]

Davies died in April 2021 at the age of 95.[5]

• The Development of the Soviet Budgetary System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958.
• Science and the Soviet Economy: An Inaugural Lecture Delivered in the University of Birmingham on 18th January 1967. Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 1967.
• A History of Soviet Russia: Foundations of a Planned Economy, 1926—1929: Volume 1. In Two Parts. With E.H. Carr. London: Macmillan, 1969.
• The Soviet Economic Crisis of 1931—1933. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1976.
• The Emergence of the Soviet Economic System, 1927—1934. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1977.
• The Soviet Union. Co-Editor, with Denis J.B. Shaw. London:George Allen & Unwin, 1978
• Soviet Industrial Production, 1928—1937: The Rival Estimates. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1978.
• Capital Investment and Capital Stock in the USSR, 1928—1940: Soviet and Western Estimates. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1982.
• The Socialist Market: A Debate in Soviet Industry, 1932-33. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1982.
• Edward Hallett Carr, 1892—1982. London: British Academy, 1984.
• Materials for a Balance of the Soviet National Economy, 1928—1930. Co-Editor, with Stephen G. Wheatcroft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
• Soviet Defence Industries During the First Five-Year Plan: Supplement. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1987.
• Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution: The First Phase. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1987.
• Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1989 ISBN 0-253-31604-9
• Soviet official statistics on industrial production, capital stock and capital investment, 1928-41. With J.M. Cooper and M.J. Ilič. Birmingham: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, 1991.
• From Tsarism to the New Economic Policy: Continuity and Change in the Economy of the USSR. Editor. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
• The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913—1945. Co-Editor, with Stephen G. Wheatcroft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-45152-3
• Soviet History in the Yeltsin Era. London: Macmillan, 1997.
• Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-62260-3
• The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 1: The Socialist Offensive: The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929—1930. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 2: The Soviet Collective Farm, 1929—1930. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 3: The Soviet Economy in Turmoil, 1929—1930. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 4: Crisis and Progress in the Soviet Economy, 1931—1933. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 5: The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931—1933. With Stephen Wheatcroft. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 6: The Years of Progress: The Soviet Economy, 1934—1936. With Oleg Khlevniuk and Stephen G. Wheatcroft. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia, Volume 7: The Soviet Economy and the Approach of War, 1937–1939. With Oleg Khlevniuk, Robert W. Harrison and Stephen G. Wheatcroft. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
• The Stalin-Kaganovich Correspondence, 1931-36. Co-Editor. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003, ISBN в 0-300-09367-5