False Start in the Soviet Union

With the introduction of Glasnost and Perestroika at the dawn of the 90s, uncertainties reigned in the ex-Soviet Union as both hope and despair seemed the way ahead. It was then crucial to depict how the country entered that stage of confusion. That necessitated to make a rigorous historical interpretation of what had happened in the Soviet Union and how things developed to that stage. This in turn called for an analysis of not only of what had happened but also why.

Thus, the book delves into analyzing the developments in the Soviet Union since the October revolution. It begins with explaining the nature of Soviet power on the morrow of the revolution, how the Bolsheviks traversed along the path of political power. It identifies the term "dictatorship of the proletariat" and analyses how the Bolsheviks interpreted the term ostensibly as being not only 'Marxist' but also the kernel of his ideology. It traces the origins of the misinterpretation of the term and holds this misinterpretation as the fundamental departure from the Marxist doctrine. It analyses the Lenin period as a period of intense difficulties and the realism of Lenin in adopting the difficult period through his New Economic Policy. 

The book then passes on to the Stalin period and analyses what happened in the country particularly during the reign of terror that Stalin adopted and his industrialization drive. It assesses the Stalin period and identifies significant developments that reversed the course of the Bolshevik revolution.

It then dwells on analyzing the post-Stalin period historically as a corrective period analyzing the various attempts attempted to correct Stalin's wrongs. The final chapter deals with the causes for Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika.