The Unmentionable Nechaev: A Key to Bolshevism

First published in 1961 The Unmentionable Nechaev presents a full account of Sergei Nechaev’s extraordinary life. The name of Nechaev is little known today in the western world. Michael Prawdin expounds his teachings and shows the strain of Nechaevism running through the Russian revolutionary movement and the part it played in the success of the Bolshevik revolution. Step by step the author analyses Lenin’s build up of his party and reveals how he used Nechaev’s conspiratory system. The boo...