Acknowledgements
Since What Was Bolshevism? contains writings that span over three decades, any effort to give proper acknowledgement to all those who helped me intellectually or materially would be futile. I can only give a very hearty thanks to all those who commissioned these essays, published them, read them, and supported or challenged my arguments. Putting this book together made me realize how much my own intellectual path has been influenced by investigating topics suggested by others. My Introduction contains more specific thank-yous to those who commissioned or published individual essays.
For the last decade, many essays of mine have been published online. Although the present volume contains only one of these efforts, all of my research has hugely benefitted from the immediate feedback that the internet has made possible. In particular, for giving me an online platform, I want to thank the Weekly Worker in the UK and John Riddell in Toronto. I also thank them for their support, publicly and personally, during all the controversies of the decade.
The last stages of preparation of this volume were darkened by the news that my teacher, mentor and friend Stephen Cohen died in October 2020. Before I learned of his passing, I had already written a tribute to him and Robert Tucker as part of my Introduction.
Sebastian Budgen and Danny Hayward are to be thanked for their faith in this project despite long delays – a faith expressed most often by prodding me to finish. And here it is! The parts of the present volume not previously published have greatly benefitted from the expert eyes of Emelyn Lih and Ariadne Lih. As always, my family made possible the productive working environment of an independent scholar – just one of the things for which I love them.
A note to the reader. Three guides to the contents of What Was Bolshevism? have been provided. 1. The Introduction discusses the origins and aims of each chapter. 2. An Appendix contains an Analytical Table of Contents for each chapter and its sections. 3. An Index of Proper Names follows the Appendix. (If the subject of an index entry is mentioned in the title of a chapter, that chapter is not included in the entry. For example, the index entry for Stalin does not include references to the chapter ‘Stalin at Work’. The Appendix gives the relevant information.)