"Communism belongs to the past; Instead, the problem of communism remains at the heart of our time. The author strives to bring it into the light of day, to show that it is still repressed in recent interpretations that present the formation of a totalitarian regime as a digression in the course of the twentieth century. This essay benefits from some scholarly studies on the Russian Revolution and the Soviet system that have long fed Claude Lefort's reflection; moreover, it is based on testimonies whose authors, to varying degrees, played a political role in Russia; on some occasions reference is also made to the personal experience of the author. However, the purpose here is not that of a historian. What is sought is to contribute to the understanding of political societies in the world in which we live."

Claude Lefort