“Medvedev’s account of Bukharin’s persecution, which served as the model for Arthur Koestler’s novel
Darkness at Noon
, is grim, dramatic and poignant.” —
Publishers Weekly
Nikolai Bukharin was one of the most eminent leaders and theoreticians of the Bolsheviks, a man who had become famous long before the Russian Revolution. He was idolized by the youth of Soviet Russia, who identified with him and drew much of their inspiration from his writings. Prominent among the organizers of the revolution, he served for twenty years on the Central Committee and for ten years as a member of the Politburo. From 1917 to 1929 he was in charge of the newspaper
Pravda
, and though he and Lenin often disagreed, Lenin referred to him in his
Testament
as “deservedly the favorite of the Party."