Here at last in English is Nikolai Bukharin's autobiographical novel and final work. Many dissident texts of the Stalin era were saved by chance, by bravery, or by cunning; others were systematically destroyed. Bukharin's work, however, was simultaneously preserved and suppressed within Stalin's personal archives. At once novel, memoir, political apology, and historical document, How It All Began, known in Russia as "the prison novel," adds deeply to our understanding of this vital intellectual and maligned historical figure. The panoramic story, composed under the worst of circumstances, traces the transformation of a sensitive young man into a fiery agitator, and presents a revealing new perspective on the background and causes of the revolution that transformed the face of the twentieth century. Among the millions of victims of the reign of terror in the Soviet Union of the 1930's, Bukharin stands out as a special case. Not yet 30 when the Bolsheviks took power, he was one of the youngest, most popular, and most intellectual members of the Communist Party. In the 1920's and 30's, he defended Lenin's liberal New Economic Policy, claiming that Stalin's policies of forced industrialization constituted a "military-feudal exploitation" of the masses. He also warned of the approaching tide of European fascism and its threat to the new Bolshevik revolution. For his opposition, Bukharin paid with his freedom and his life. He was arrested and spent a year in prison. In what was one of the most infamous "show trials" of the time, Bukharin confessed to being a "counterrevolutionary" while denying any particular crime and was executed in his prison cell on March 15, 1938. While in prison, Bukharin wrote four books, of which this unfinished novel was the last. It traces the development of Nikolai "Kolya" Petrov (closely modeled on Nikolai "Kolya" Bukharin) from his early childhood though to age fifteen. In lyrical and poetic terms it paints a picture of Nikolai's growing political consciousness and ends with his activism on the eve of the failed 1905 revolution. The novel is presented here along with the only surviving letter from Bukharin to his wife during his time in prison, an epistle filled with fear, longing, and hope for his family and his nation. The introduction by Stephen F. Cohen articulates Bukharin's significance in Soviet history and reveals the troubled journey of this novel from Stalin's archives into the light of day.

尼古拉·伊万诺维奇·布哈林（Николай Иванович Бухарин，1888年10月9日—1938年3月14日），苏联政治理论家、革命家、思想家、经济学家。

布哈林在1906年参加俄国社会民主工党，二月革命后被选为党中央委员。十月革命后，布哈林任《真理报》主编。1918年，布哈林坚决反对列宁（弗拉基米尔·伊里奇·乌里杨诺夫）与德国签订割让大量土地的《布列斯特和约》，坚持要把苏俄与德国之间的战争进行到底。

1927年，布哈林在联共（布）第十五次代表大会上被选为中央政治局委员。

1928年，布哈林因对国家工业化和农业集体化持不同看法而受到批判。布哈林坚持苏联应以发展农业为主，建设成一个农业国，发挥苏联的国际经济比较优势，大量出口农产品。他反对斯大林的国家高速工业化与农业集体化的主张。

1929年被解除联共（布）中央政治局委员和《真理报》主编职务。1931年，布哈林任最高国民经济委员会委员，1934年任《消息报》主编。

1934年12月，苏共中央政治局委员、列宁格勒市委第一书记和列宁格勒州委第一书记基洛夫被暗杀，约瑟夫·维萨里昂诺维奇·斯大林借此机会，开始了大清洗运动，托洛茨基被驱逐出境，格里哥里·叶夫谢也维奇·季诺维也夫和列甫·波里索维奇·加米涅夫先后被捕、被杀。布哈林预感到自己即将被捕，他写了一封致未来党的代表大会的信，要求妻子安娜·拉林娜背诵下来，然后把信烧掉。在信中，布哈林为自己所受到的冤屈辩白，呼吁未来一代党的领导人为他平反昭雪，恢复名誉。

1937年，布哈林被开除出苏联共产党。1938年2月，苏联成立了特别军事法庭，对布哈林、李可夫为首的“右派和托洛茨基联盟阴谋集团”进行公开审讯。苏联总检察长维辛斯基指控布哈林委派社会革命党人卡普兰刺杀列宁，暗杀基洛夫、明仁斯基、高尔基，是帝国主义的间谍。布哈林被迫承认了这些罪行。在没有证据、只有被告口供的情况下，法官乌尔利希以“叛国罪”判处布哈林等被告死刑。1938年3月14日（一说15日），布哈林同李可夫等人一并被秘密枪决。

1988年布哈林被恢复名誉。

主要著作：

《世界经济和帝国主义》、《过渡时期的经济》、《共产主义ABC》等。1937年11月12日，布哈林在狱中开始写作《岁月》一书，这是他的绝笔，直至临刑前中断，历时4个月，共约30万字。