Includes bibliographical references and index.

The formative years -- The "economist" controversy -- The birth of Iskra and the Second Congress -- Lenin against Iskra : the 1905 Revolution -- Attempts at reunion -- The First and Second Dumas -- Towards the final split -- Lenin overplays his hand -- War and revolution -- From Lenin to Stalin -- The road to power -- The Party in the Civil War -- The Communist rule under threat -- Lenin's conflict with his colleagues -- Party composition and machinery : 1917-1922 -- Control over the Provinces : Army and legal machinery -- Conflicts among the leaders : first phase -- The defeat of Trotsky -- Party composition : relations with the government -- Army and security : industry and the peasants -- Intellectual life : the Party at home and abroad -- The Third Revolution -- The defeat of Bukharin -- The Third Revolution -- Stalin's victory over the Party -- The climax of the purge -- Composition and structure : 1929-1941 -- The Party and the nation (the State : agriculture and industry : culture : doctrine : religion) -- The non-Russian peoples : foreign relations -- The War : Party control over the Army -- The aftermath of the War (industry : agriculture : Party composition) -- Intellectual tribulations. Stalin's death -- Epilogue -- Since Stalin died.