For many years a neglected figure, Nikolai Bukharin has recently been the subject of renewed interest in the West. Now regarded as a leading Marxist theorist, Bukharin's work has wide appeal to those interested in Soviet history and Marxist economics as well as to those concerned with theories of development and socialist economies.

First published in English in 1926, this work by Nikolai Bukharin, a highly influential Marxist and Soviet Politician who would later become one of the most famous victims of Stalin's show trials, expands upon Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism. Offering a Marxist interpretation of sociology, this reissue is important not only from a sociological and economic perspective, but is also extremely valuable as a socio-historical document of contemporary thought in the Soviet Union in the years following the Bolshevik revolution.

First published in English in 1926, this work by Nikolai Bukharin, a highly influential Marxist and Soviet Politician who would later become one of the most famous victims of Stalin 's show trials, expands upon Karl Marx 's theory of historical materialism.

Offering a Marxist interpretation of sociology, this reissue is important not only from a sociological and economic perspective, but is also extremely valuable as a socio-historical document of contemporary thought in the Soviet Union in the years following the Bolshevik revolution.

For many years a neglected figure, Nikolai Bukharin has recently been the subject of renewed interest in the West. Now regarded as a leading Marxist theorist, Bukharin's work has wide appeal to those interested in Soviet history and Marxist economics as well as to those concerned with theories of development and socialist economies.

m n COPYRIGHT 1925, BY INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CO., ISC. Second Printing, 1926 Tkird Printing, 1928 IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMXBICA This book is composed ttd prtoted by Union Labor COJNTEJNTS INTRODUCTION AOI THE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ix a. The Social Sciences and the Demands of the Struggle of the Working Class b. The Bourgeoisie and the Social Sci ences c. The Class Character of the Social Sciences d. Why is Proletarian Science superior to Bourgeois Science e. The Various Social Sciences and Sociology f, The Theory of Historical Materialism as a Marxian Sociology. CHAPTER ONE CAUSE AND PURPOSE IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES CAUSATION AND TELEOLOGY 19 a. The Uniformity of Phenomena in General and of Social Phenomena in Particular b. The Nature of Causation Formulation of the Question c. Teleology and Objections to Teleology Immanent Teleology d. Teleology in the Social Sciences e. Causality and Teleology Scientific Explanations are Causal Explanations. CHAPTER Two DETERMINISM AND INDETERMINISM NECESSITY AND FREE WILL 33 a. The Question of Freedom or Lack of Freedom of the Indi vidual Will b. The Resultant of the Individual WiUs in Unorganized Society c. The Collectively Organized Will the Resultant of Individual Wills inOrganizedCommunist Sbciety d. Accidentalism in General e. Historical Ac cident f Historical Necessity g Are the Social Sciences Possible Is Prediction Possible in this Fiddf ti CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE DIALECTIC MATERIALISM 53 a. Materialism and Idealism in Philosophy the Problem of the Objective b. The Materialist Attitude in the Social Sci ences c The Dynamic Point of View and the Relation between Phenomena d. The Historical Interpretation of the SocialSciences e. The Use of Contradictions in the Historical Process f . The Theory of Cataclysmic Changes and the Theory of Revolutionary Transformations in the Social Sciences. CHAPTER FOUR SOCIETY 84 a. Concept of Aggregates Logical and Real Aggregates b. Society as a Real Aggregate or a System c. The Char acter of the Social Relations d. Society and Personality Precedence of Society over the Individual e. Societies in Process of Formation. CHAPTER FIVE THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN SOCIETY AND NATURE 104 a. Nature as the Environment of Society b. Relations between Society and Nature The Process of Production and Re production c. The Productive Forces The Productive Forces as an Indicator of the Relations between Society and Nature d. The Equilibrium between Nature and Society its Disturbances and Readjustments e. The Pro ductive Forces as the Point of Departure in Sociological Analysis. CHAPTER Six THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS OF SOCIETY 130 a. Connection between the Various Social Phenomena Formu lation of the Question b Things, Persons, Ideas c. Social Technology and the Economic Structure of Society d. The Outlines of the Superstructure e. Social Psychology CONTENTS tfi and Social Ideology f, The Ideological Processes con sidered as Differentiated Labor g. The Significance of the Superstructures h. The Formative Principles of Social Life i. Types of Economic Structure Types of Various Societies j, The Contradictory Character of Evolution External and Internal Equilibrium of Society. CHAPTER SEVEN DISTURBANCE AND READJUSTMENT OF SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM 242 a. The Process of Social Changes and the Productive Forces, b, The Productive Forces and the Social-Economic Struc ture c. TheRevolution and its Phases d. Cause and Effect in the Transition Period Cause and Effect in Periods of Decline e. The Evolution of the Productive Forces and the Materialization of Social Phenomena Accumulation of Civilization f. The Process of Repro duction of Social Life as a Whole. CHAPTER EIGHT T E CLASSES AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE . ... 276 a. Class, Caste, Vocation b. Class Interest c. Class Psychol ogy and Class Ideology d. The Class in itself and the Class for itself e. Forms of a Relative Solidarity of Interests f. Class Struggle and Class Peace g...

Nikolai Bukharin (1888-1938), an original Bolshevik leader and a founder of the Soviet state, spent the last year of his life imprisoned by Stalin, awaiting a trial and eventual execution. Remarkably during that time, from March 1937 to March 1938, Bukharin wrote four book-length manuscripts by hand in his prison cell. Seventy years later, The Prison Poems is the last of the four prison manuscripts, which include How It All Began: The Prison Novel and Socialism and Its Culture, to be published, allowing readers to grasp Bukharin's vision in its full extent. Bukharin organized the nearly 180 poems in this volume, written from June to November 1937, into several series. One dealing with forerunners to the 1917 Russian Revolution and another focusing on the Russian Civil War contain commentary not found in the other prison manuscripts. The same is true of the "Lyrical Intermezzo" poems for and about Anna Larina, his young wife, from whom he was separated by his imprisonment. This first English translation of Bukharin's Prison Poems is a compelling read, evidencing the powerful intersection of politics and art.

Here at last in English is Nikolai Bukharin's autobiographical novel and final work. Many dissident texts of the Stalin era were saved by chance, by bravery, or by cunning; others were systematically destroyed. Bukharin's work, however, was simultaneously preserved and suppressed within Stalin's personal archives.

At once novel, memoir, political apology, and historical document, "How It All Began," known in Russia as "the prison novel," adds deeply to our understanding of this vital intellectual and maligned historical figure. The panoramic story, composed under the worst of circumstances, traces the transformation of a sensitive young man into a fiery agitator, and presents a revealing new perspective on the background and causes of the revolution that transformed the face of the twentieth century.

Among the millions of victims of the reign of terror in the Soviet Union of the 1930's, Bukharin stands out as a special case. Not yet 30 when the Bolsheviks took power, he was one of the youngest, most popular, and most intellectual members of the Communist Party. In the 1920's and 30's, he defended Lenin's liberal New Economic Policy, claiming that Stalin's policies of forced industrialization constituted a "military-feudal exploitation" of the masses. He also warned of the approaching tide of European fascism and its threat to the new Bolshevik revolution. For his opposition, Bukharin paid with his freedom and his life. He was arrested and spent a year in prison. In what was one of the most infamous "show trials" of the time, Bukharin confessed to being a "counterrevolutionary" while denying any particular crime and was executed in his prison cell on March 15, 1938.

While in prison, Bukharin wrote four books, of which this unfinished novel was the last. It traces the development of Nikolai "Kolya" Petrov (closely modeled on Nikolai "Kolya" Bukharin) from his early childhood though to age fifteen. In lyrical and poetic terms it paints a picture of Nikolai's growing political consciousness and ends with his activism on the eve of the failed 1905 revolution. The novel is presented here along with the only surviving letter from Bukharin to his wife during his time in prison, an epistle filled with fear, longing, and hope for his family and his nation. The introduction by Stephen F. Cohen articulates Bukharin's significance in Soviet history and reveals the troubled journey of this novel from Stalin's archives into the light of day.

Here at last in English is Nikolai Bukharin's autobiographical novel and final work. Many dissident texts of the Stalin era were saved by chance, by bravery, or by cunning; others were systematically destroyed. Bukharin's work, however, was simultaneously preserved and suppressed within Stalin's personal archives.

At once novel, memoir, political apology, and historical document, "How It All Began," known in Russia as "the prison novel," adds deeply to our understanding of this vital intellectual and maligned historical figure. The panoramic story, composed under the worst of circumstances, traces the transformation of a sensitive young man into a fiery agitator, and presents a revealing new perspective on the background and causes of the revolution that transformed the face of the twentieth century.

Among the millions of victims of the reign of terror in the Soviet Union of the 1930's, Bukharin stands out as a special case. Not yet 30 when the Bolsheviks took power, he was one of the youngest, most popular, and most intellectual members of the Communist Party. In the 1920's and 30's, he defended Lenin's liberal New Economic Policy, claiming that Stalin's policies of forced industrialization constituted a "military-feudal exploitation" of the masses. He also warned of the approaching tide of European fascism and its threat to the new Bolshevik revolution. For his opposition, Bukharin paid with his freedom and his life. He was arrested and spent a year in prison. In what was one of the most infamous "show trials" of the time, Bukharin confessed to being a "counterrevolutionary" while denying any particular crime and was executed in his prison cell on March 15, 1938.

While in prison, Bukharin wrote four books, of which this unfinished novel was the last. It traces the development of Nikolai "Kolya" Petrov (closely modeled on Nikolai "Kolya" Bukharin) from his early childhood though to age fifteen. In lyrical and poetic terms it paints a picture of Nikolai's growing political consciousness and ends with his activism on the eve of the failed 1905 revolution. The novel is presented here along with the only surviving letter from Bukharin to his wife during his time in prison, an epistle filled with fear, longing, and hope for his family and his nation. The introduction by Stephen F. Cohen articulates Bukharin's significance in Soviet history and reveals the troubled journey of this novel from Stalin's archives into the light of day.

2013 Reprint of 1925 English Edition from the Authorized Translation of the Third Russian Edition.. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history first articulated by Karl Marx (1818-1883) as the materialist conception of history. It is a theory of socioeconomic development according to which changes in material conditions (technology and productive capacity) are the primary influence on how society and the economy are organized. Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans collectively produce the necessities of life. Social classes and the relationship between them, plus the political structures and ways of thinking in society, are founded on and reflect contemporary economic activity. First published in English in 1925, this work by Nikolai Bukharin, a highly influential Marxist and Soviet Politician who would later become one of the most famous victims of Stalin's show trials, expands upon Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism.

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888 - 1938) was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo (1924-1929) and Central Committee (1917-1937), chairman of the Communist International (Comintern, 1926-1929), and the editor in chief of Pravda (1918-1929), the journal Bolshevik (1924-1929), Izvestia (1934-1936), and the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. He authored Imperialism and World Economy (1918), The ABC of Communism (1919. co-authored with Yevgeni Preobrazhensky), and Historical Materialism (1921) among others. Initially a supporter of Joseph Stalin after Vladimir Lenin's death, he came to oppose a large number of Stalin's policies and was one of Stalin's most prominent victims during the "Moscow Trials" and purges of the Old Bolsheviks in the late 1930s.

m n COPYRIGHT 1925, BY INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CO., ISC. Second Printing, 1926 Tkird Printing, 1928 IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMXBICA This book is composed ttd prtoted by Union Labor COJNTEJNTS INTRODUCTION AOI THE PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ix a. The Social Sciences and the Demands of the Struggle of the Working Class b. The Bourgeoisie and the Social Sci ences c. The Class Character of the Social Sciences d. Why is Proletarian Science superior to Bourgeois Science e. The Various Social Sciences and Sociology f, The Theory of Historical Materialism as a Marxian Sociology. CHAPTER ONE CAUSE AND PURPOSE IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES CAUSATION AND TELEOLOGY 19 a. The Uniformity of Phenomena in General and of Social Phenomena in Particular b. The Nature of Causation Formulation of the Question c. Teleology and Objections to Teleology Immanent Teleology d. Teleology in the Social Sciences e. Causality and Teleology Scientific Explanations are Causal Explanations. CHAPTER Two DETERMINISM AND INDETERMINISM NECESSITY AND FREE WILL 33 a. The Question of Freedom or Lack of Freedom of the Indi vidual Will b. The Resultant of the Individual WiUs in Unorganized Society c. The Collectively Organized Will the Resultant of Individual Wills inOrganizedCommunist Sbciety d. Accidentalism in General e. Historical Ac cident f Historical Necessity g Are the Social Sciences Possible Is Prediction Possible in this Fiddf ti CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE DIALECTIC MATERIALISM 53 a. Materialism and Idealism in Philosophy the Problem of the Objective b. The Materialist Attitude in the Social Sci ences c The Dynamic Point of View and the Relation between Phenomena d. The Historical Interpretation of the SocialSciences e. The Use of Contradictions in the Historical Process f . The Theory of Cataclysmic Changes and the Theory of Revolutionary Transformations in the Social Sciences. CHAPTER FOUR SOCIETY 84 a. Concept of Aggregates Logical and Real Aggregates b. Society as a Real Aggregate or a System c. The Char acter of the Social Relations d. Society and Personality Precedence of Society over the Individual e. Societies in Process of Formation. CHAPTER FIVE THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN SOCIETY AND NATURE 104 a. Nature as the Environment of Society b. Relations between Society and Nature The Process of Production and Re production c. The Productive Forces The Productive Forces as an Indicator of the Relations between Society and Nature d. The Equilibrium between Nature and Society its Disturbances and Readjustments e. The Pro ductive Forces as the Point of Departure in Sociological Analysis. CHAPTER Six THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS OF SOCIETY 130 a. Connection between the Various Social Phenomena Formu lation of the Question b Things, Persons, Ideas c. Social Technology and the Economic Structure of Society d. The Outlines of the Superstructure e. Social Psychology CONTENTS tfi and Social Ideology f, The Ideological Processes con sidered as Differentiated Labor g. The Significance of the Superstructures h. The Formative Principles of Social Life i. Types of Economic Structure Types of Various Societies j, The Contradictory Character of Evolution External and Internal Equilibrium of Society. CHAPTER SEVEN DISTURBANCE AND READJUSTMENT OF SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM 242 a. The Process of Social Changes and the Productive Forces, b, The Productive Forces and the Social-Economic Struc ture c. TheRevolution and its Phases d. Cause and Effect in the Transition Period Cause and Effect in Periods of Decline e. The Evolution of the Productive Forces and the Materialization of Social Phenomena Accumulation of Civilization f. The Process of Repro duction of Social Life as a Whole. CHAPTER EIGHT T E CLASSES AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE . ... 276 a. Class, Caste, Vocation b. Class Interest c. Class Psychol ogy and Class Ideology d. The Class in itself and the Class for itself e. Forms of a Relative Solidarity of Interests f. Class Struggle and Class Peace g...

Bukharin's "Prison Manuscripts" were written in Moscow's Lubyanka prison during 1937-1938 while awaiting his inevitable liquidation. As with Gramsci's "Prison Notebooks", Bukharin's "Manuscripts" focus on culture, ideology and philosophy in the context of building an alternative vision of socialism. A socialism to set against capitalism, fascism and the kind of socialism practised in the Soviet Union after Lenin's death. The book brings together Bukharin's key writings on socialism and its culture from the Manuscripts. Here Bukharin explores the realization of the concept of total man, the problems of freedom, equality and hierarchy, the style of socialist culture, the nature of progress, diversities in capitalism and socialism, the role of the Party, and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the cultural revolution. Its publication will be a major event for anyone interested in cultural and political history, philosophy, and ethics.