In January 1919, 28-year-old Victor Serge, an anarchist born in Belgium to Russian exiled revolutionaries, arrived in Petrograd during one of the most critical phases of the civil war, when the revolution seemed to be on the brink of collapse. He became a member of the Bolshevik party. Ten years later, he began writing "Year One of the Russian Revolution."

1917 was a seismic year for the whole world. Its epicenter was Russia. For the first time since the "storming of the heavens" of the Paris Commune, the working class took the helm and advanced the work of social liberation. The revolution in Russia was the first wave of an unprecedented global revolutionary upsurge.

"Year One of the Russian Revolution" is a gripping book about the most momentous event of the 20th century. It covers the period from the victory of the revolution in October 1917 in Russia to January 1919 and the bloody suppression of the "Spartacist uprising" in Berlin.

Serge left us a text full of the liveliness of a report, the passion of a protagonist, and the sincerity of a committed revolutionary. It is a fervent defense of the Red October as a genuine workers' revolution and the Bolshevik party as the "nervous system" of the working class. It does not romanticize individuals and situations, but places their harsh choices in their historical context. In other words, it does not create a "hagiography" like those that had already begun to be passed off as History with the rise of Stalinism in Russia.

Serge organizes his material in chronological order in the ten chapters that follow, giving them titles that summarize the main feature of each period. For example, after the chapter on the 'October 25 Uprising, 1917,' there follows a chapter titled 'The Middle Strata of the Cities against the Proletariat,' which deals with the first counter-revolutionary attempts, the sabotage of the old state machinery and the capitalists, and the stance of various parties. The volume of information he preserves is literally invaluable.

A century later, no matter how many counter-revolutions have intervened since then, the Russian Revolution remains a source of inspiration for all those who strive to change the world. And Serge's book is a precious testimony to its greatness.