The unfinished revolution: Russia, 1917-1967.

Half a century of Soviet history is comprehended and assessed in this succinct yet far-ranging work by the late Isaac Deutscher, one of the foremost analysts of world Communism. Mr. Deutscher is essentially concerned with two questions: Has the Russian Revolution fulfilled the hopes it has aroused? What is its significance for our age and generation? In six very readable essays he examines important aspects of the Soviet experience. Among these are: the difficulties the regime has encountered, from the disaster of Stalin's totalitarianism to "bureaucratic degeneration" (and the related simplistic concept of a "New Class" advanced by Djilas); the relationship between the Soviet Union and the Chinese Revolution,and the divergent and clashing interests between these two powerful Communist countries; and the prospects ahead for Soviet society. While the book is not a history, it includes all the facts necessary for following the author's arguments. It embodies the George Macaulay Trevelyan Lectures, delivered at the University of Cambridge in the spring of 1967.