ABC of Communism ABC Communism: Popular Explanatio

This 1920 book has been reprinted many times. Written by Evgenii Preobrazhensky and Nicholai Bukharin, the book was a primer to theory of Communism as it was being developed in the Soviet Union in the period of time following the Eighth Party congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March of 1919. This is the last and most significant statement of that period of time in Soviet history referred to as the period of "war communism." War communism had been imposed by the government on the Soviet Union until threats imposed by the First World War and the foreign interventions had been dealt with. This period of time was followed by a short period of temporary capitalist development in 1921-1925 referred to as the period of the New Economic Program or NEP. Supporters of the NEP saw the program as a temporary return to capitalism which was necessary to bring about quick economic development in the Soviet Union.Preobrazhensky and Bukharin would split over the issue of the NEP with Bukharin in support and Preobrazhensky opposed to the program. This book, therefore,is a snapshot of a brief period of time in the history of the Soviet Union.