Historians of the Russian revolution have paid little attention to the part played by the Mensheviks in the democracy that governed Russia from February 1917 to Lenin's coup d'etat in October. The only previous monograph on the Mensheviks in 1917 is a polemic published in Moscow which actually focuses on Lenin, and there is no description of the Menshevik party organization in 1917 in any language. Other published material on the Mensheviks in 1917 is almost as scanty. Basil's monograph is based upon extensive use of both primary and secondary sources, and it illuminates an interesting, but inadequately-studied, aspect of 1917. "...balanced and cogent narrative..." (ISS)