ABSTRACT
Revolutions destroy the old and yet are forced to build on the foundations established by their predecessors. The Bolshevik revolution was unprecedented in its depth and its explicit repudiation of not only the Russian past, but much of the European tradition as a whole. The rhythms of time, of geography and of peoples, however, stamped the communist regime that came to power in October 1917. Russian traditions and communist innovation fused in unexpected and disturbing ways. The attempt to build a society on new foundations in Russia profoundly affected the course of the twentieth century and shaped the destiny of the planet.
