Socialism in Russia: Lenin and His Legacy, 1890-1991

This ground-breaking analysis confronts three fundamental questions about the socialist experiment in Russia: How did Marxist ideas come to be implemented in a country entirely unsuited to them? Why did the experiment lead to such suffering and upheaval and prove so fruitless? Why did the attempt to return to orthodox Marxism/Leninism bring about the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union?

John Gooding seeks answers in the legacy of Lenin. He investigates the two conflicting views on Lenin's …