Explores the 'construction of Socialism' in the Soviet Union and the development of the Communist movement on a global scale.

General introduction Silvio Pons; Volume introduction Silvio Pons and Stephen A. Smith; Part I. Origins: 1. Marxism and socialist revolution Geoff Eley; 2. The Russian Revolution and Civil War Rex Wade; 3. Revolution and counter revolution in Europe 1917-1923 John Paul Newman; 4. Lenin as historical personality Robert Service; 5. Bolshevik roots of international communism Lars Lih; 6. Stalin as a historical personality James Harris; 7. Trotsky and Trotskyism Bertrand Patenaude; 8. Communism and the crisis of the colonial system Sobhanlal Datta Gupta; 9. The Comintern as a world network Serge Wolikow; 10. The popular fronts and the civil war in Spain Tim Rees; Part II. Patterns and Extensions: 11. Communism, violence and terror Hiroaki Kuromiya; 12. The Soviet government 1917-1941 E. A. Rees; 13. Migration and social transformations in Soviet society 1917-1941 Lewis Siegelbaum; 14. Foundations of the Soviet command economy 1917-1941 Mark Harrison; 15. The Soviet state and workers Donal Filtzer; 16. The Soviet state and peasants Nicholas Werth; 17. Bolshevik feminism and gender agendas of communism Anna Krylova; 18. Communism, nations and nationalism Andrea Graziosi; 19. Communism, youth and generations Matthias Neumann; 20. Communism as existential choice Brigitte Studer; 21. Communism and intellectuals Michael David-Fox; 22. Cults of the individual Kevin Morgan; 23. German communism Eric Weitz; 24. The Chinese Communist Party movement 1919-1949 Alexander Pantsov; 25. Communism on the frontier: the Sovietization of Central Asia and Mongolia Adeeb Khalid; Index.