The aim of this book is to communicate a sense of the living political process in which Soviet rulers and subjects are enmashed -- adapted from the preface.

The seedbed of revolution -- Bolshevism before 1917 -- The road to power -- The dynamics of power -- The dictatorship of the party apparatus -- Party organization, activities, and problems -- The composition and social structure of the party -- The Komsomol — youth under dictatorship -- The party command — politburo and presidium -- Constitutional myths and political realities -- The control of the bureaucracy — public administration in the Soviet Union -- Terror as a system of power -- The party and the armed forces -- Management and labor in Soviet industry -- Controls and tension in Soviet agriculture -- The Soviet political system — problems and prospects.