First ed. published in 1963 under title: The Bolshevik tradition: Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev.

1: Lenin -- The young intelligent -- The quest for a party -- The crucible of revolution -- Failure in triumph -- Lenin and the Bolshevik tradition -- 2: From cottage to Kremlin -- Preserving the Monolith -- The age of Stalin: the myth and the machine -- The age of Stalin: terror and Utopia -- The age of Stalin: security and imperialism -- Stalin and the Bolshevik tradition -- 3: Khrushchev -- The education of a Stalinist -- The triumph of the first secretary -- Khrushchev's communism -- Khrushchev and the Bolshevik tradition -- 4: Brezhnev -- The ungrateful protégé -- Dekhrushchevization -- The primacy of the general secretary -- The Bolshevik tradition in perspective.