"With the consummate analytical skill so familiar to his many students, Leopold Haimson here sheds fascinating light on two seemingly familiar subjects. Using new materials from the Menshevik archives, he explores the tangled helix of political thinking that linked and separated Lenin and Martov, penetrating their mindsets and showing how much Lenin's drive for power in October related to the alternative possibilities posed by his rival. In a detailed examination of the 1912 Lena episode, he again dissects his sources to reveal the mentalities behind the callous ineptitude of leading government figures and the humanistic foundations of worker resistance. Quintessential Haimson!" -- William G. Rosenberg, University of Michigan

-- Mark Steinberg, University of Illinois