Russia has undergone more seismic changes over the last 100 years than almost any other country. The 1917 Revolution, the rapid industrialisation of the 1930s, the following devastation of the Second World War, and the present return to Capitalism has seen the deep impoverishment of the entire population.

Kagarlitsky shows how to understand these changes, and how to characterise the complex process of reform, revolution and counter revolution.

Looking in detail at the nature of Russian society and politics since 1990, Kagarlitsky offers an introductory political analysis of the major political and economic developments that have taken place under President Yeltsin, and the legacy he bequeathed so unexpectedly to his successor Putin. He focuses on the role of the media in post-Soviet Russia, corporate structures and their influence on social conflict, the formation of the oligarchy and the role of the left in modern Russia.

'A sorry tale, told with passion and competence' -- Robert Service, Independent
'There is a lot more here that anyone who has an interest in the last decade's events in Russia will find very valuable. Kagarlitsky is not afraid to put forward challenging ideas. And he remains optimistic about the possibility of resistance and a genuine left' -- Red Pepper
'This passionate, pitiless analysis of post-Soviet Russia should be read by all interested in that country's present and future, especially the optimistic' -- Robert H. Johnston, McMaster University

Boris Kagarlitsky is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a political dissident in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. He is the author of many books, his latest being The Long Retreat: Strategies to Reverse the Decline of the Left. In 2023 he was detained under Putin’s regime for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, and in February 2024 he was sentenced to five years in a penal colony. Since then, the Daniel Singer Foundation designated him as the recipient of its 2024 Prisoner of Conscience Award.