Leonard Schapiro fortunately was able to complete this book before his death in November 1983. It is quite general, one could even say sketchy, in covering much ground in relatively few pages, but he tarries in some places to explore and clarify critical issues, and the whole is infused with the author's deep knowledge of Russian history and communist aims, organization and methods. The essence of the story is power: how Lenin and the Bolsheviks grasped it and others did not.