The Russian Revolution of 1917 continues to be a subject of most intense controversy; and the fundamental questions which have divided observers over the last seventy years still stir fierce debate. In this volume, eighteen leading specialists from different generations, countries and schools of thought, re-examine the key issues and events of that crucial year. Some of the articles examine the unfolding crisis 'from below', describing developments in specific localities or organisations: others put the emphasis on the view as seen 'from above', on Lenin as leader of the Bolshevik party and of the emergent Soviet states. Other contributors explore the roles played by the officer corps, the industrialists, the peasants, the factory workers and the Soviets as well as the part of the Press and the different nationalities. Never before has so comprehensive a selection of original essays on 1917, written in the West, been collected in one volume.