Wilson Center Experts

Study of the interaction between the events and sequelae of the Russian Revolution and the theory of socialism as conceived both in Communist and non-Communist countries. It aims to show how Russian conditions of underdevelopment, authoritarianism, and revolutionary fanaticism shaped the particular alternative of socialism that became institutionalized as Stalinism. It will then pursue the impact of this identification of socialism and the Russian model on political opinion of the West, in other Communist countries, and in the Third World.