The thirteen texts of this volume constitute a concise presentation of the historical role played by anarchists and Bolsheviks during the long process of the Russian Revolution.

The first three texts, written by two libertarian university researchers (one a political scientist and the other a historian), narrate the dramatic developments in which various tendencies and currents of Russian anarchists participated, as well as the historical context within which these took place. The remaining ten texts come from emblematic figures of the international anarchist movement who lived through the bloody events (Kropotkin, Berkman, Goldman, Shapiro) or played a leading role in them (Makhno, Voline, Maximoff).

The authors extensively discuss the thorny issue of the problematic relationship between anarchists and Bolsheviks, which took on dangerous dimensions, resulting in the physical extermination, exile, or self-exile of all anarchist actors (including non-violent Tolstoyan "ideologues" of anarchic Christianity who, as conscientious objectors, refused to be recruited into the Red Army).

This collective volume thus contributes not only to the restoration of historical truth but also to the interpretation of the causes for the teratogenesis of the first totalitarian state formation, under the false title of E.S.S.D. - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or as Cornelius Castoriadis emphasized: "four words, four lies".