Foreword -- October 1917 -- The two worlds -- War communism -- The breathing-space of NEP -- The new Soviet order -- The scissors crisis -- Lenin's last days -- The rise of Stalin -- The USSR and the west (1923-1927) -- The USSR and the east (1923-1927) -- The beginnings of planning -- The defeat of the opposition -- The dilemma of agriculture -- Growing pains of industrialization -- The first five-year plan -- The collectivization of the peasant -- Patterns of dictatorship -- The USSR and the world (1927-1929) -- The revolution in perspective