There have been many books and potted histories of Russia, either written from an anti-Bolshevik perspective, or its Stalinist mirror image, which paint a false account of the rise of Bolshevism. For them, Bolshevism is either an historical “accident” or “tragedy”, or is portrayed erroneously as the work of one great man (Lenin) who marched single-mindedly towards the October Revolution. Alan Woods, in rejecting these “theses”, reveals the real evolution of Bolshevism as a living struggle to apply the method of Marxism to the peculiarities of Russia.

The author deals with the birth of Russian Marxism and its ideological struggle against the Narodniks and the trend of economism. The book looks at the development of Russian Social Democracy, from its real founding Congress in 1903, which ended up with the split between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks, through to the ‘dress rehearsal’ of the 1905 Revolution. Here the rise of the Soviet form of organisation is explored, together with the transformation the party (RSDLP) from an underground organisation to one with a mass workers following. Alan Woods traces the ebb and follow of the party and the role of Lenin as its principal guiding force.

The author then explores the eventual revival of the party’s fortunes from 1910 onwards, the creation of the independent Bolshevik Party two years later, and the isolation of Marxism during the first world war. The final section of the book deals with the Bolsheviks’ emergence during the February Revolution and, after a deep internal struggle, under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, the Party’s eventual conquest of power in October.

Alan Woods is a well known contemporary Marxist scholar.