Description: If the Soviet Union did not have a socialist society, then how should its nature be understood? The present book presents the first comprehensive appraisal of the debates on this problem, which was so central to twentieth-century Marxism.
Review Quotes: "The amount of sources the author has studied is staggering...the book [has] an encyclopedic value and [is] accessible to all scholars interested in political history."
-- Martin Kragh, Stockholm School of Economics
"Since the Russian experience is still used to vilify the idea of socialism, the debate remains relevant. Van der Linden...has now produced a comprehensive scholarly account of the arguments."
-- Ian Birchall, London Socialist Historians Group