Robert Conquest tells the story of fifty violent years of Communism in Europe and its failure to achieve its world-wide aims
"Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win." (The Communist Manifesto)

In the summer of 1919 Lenin and his fellow revolutionaries were confident that Communism would quickly sweep across Europe and then conquer the world.
In the summer of 1969 the Communist parties of Europe have been called to Moscow to discuss such fundamental problems as Soviet repression of Czechoslovakia and the challenge of Maoist China. The predicted world revolution has not occurred. The Communist movement itself has split into factions. Where is it likely to go from here?