Graeme Gill is Professor of Government and Public Administration at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. A long-time scholar of Soviet and Russian politics, his work covers all aspects of the politics of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, as well as democratisation and the history of the state. His books include The Collapse of a Single-Party System (Cambridge University Press, 1994), The Politics of Transition (with Stephen White and Darrell Slider, Cambridge University Press, 1993) and The Origins of the Stalinist Political System (Cambridge University Press, 1990).

• 1. Ideology, metanarrative and myth; 2. Formation of the metanarrative, 1917–29; 3. The Stalinist culture, 1929–53; 4. An everyday vision, 1953–85; 5. The vision implodes, 1985–91; 6. Impact of the metanarrative.

'A fascinating and thoroughly-researched interpretation of Soviet history. Gill compellingly shows how the political language and symbols of the regime, which long helped to sustain it, ultimately left it defenceless to fresh thinking'. Archie Brown, author of The Rise and Fall of Communism

Graeme Gill is Professor of Government and Public Administration at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. A long-time scholar of Soviet and Russian politics, his work covers all aspects of the politics of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, as well as democratisation and the history of the state. His books include The Collapse of a Single-Party System (Cambridge University Press, 1994), The Politics of Transition (with Stephen White and Darrell Slider, Cambridge University Press, 1993) and The Origins of the Stalinist Political System (Cambridge University Press, 1990).

• 1. Ideology, metanarrative and myth; 2. Formation of the metanarrative, 1917–29; 3. The Stalinist culture, 1929–53; 4. An everyday vision, 1953–85; 5. The vision implodes, 1985–91; 6. Impact of the metanarrative.

'A fascinating and thoroughly-researched interpretation of Soviet history. Gill compellingly shows how the political language and symbols of the regime, which long helped to sustain it, ultimately left it defenceless to fresh thinking'. Archie Brown, author of The Rise and Fall of Communism

Graeme Gill is Professor of Government and Public Administration at the University of Sydney and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. A long-time scholar of Soviet and Russian politics, his work covers all aspects of the politics of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, as well as democratisation and the history of the state. His books include The Collapse of a Single-Party System (Cambridge University Press, 1994), The Politics of Transition (with Stephen White and Darrell Slider, Cambridge University Press, 1993) and The Origins of the Stalinist Political System (Cambridge University Press, 1990).

• 1. Ideology, metanarrative and myth; 2. Formation of the metanarrative, 1917–29; 3. The Stalinist culture, 1929–53; 4. An everyday vision, 1953–85; 5. The vision implodes, 1985–91; 6. Impact of the metanarrative.

'A fascinating and thoroughly-researched interpretation of Soviet history. Gill compellingly shows how the political language and symbols of the regime, which long helped to sustain it, ultimately left it defenceless to fresh thinking'. Archie Brown, author of The Rise and Fall of Communism