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 At once novel, memoir, political apology, and historical document, How It All Began, known in Russia as "the prison novel," adds deeply to our understanding of this vital intellectual and maligned historical figure.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·伊萬諾維奇·布哈林（Николай Иванович Бухарин，1888年10月9日—1938年3月14日），蘇聯政治理論傢、革命傢、思想傢、經濟學傢。

布哈林在1906年參加俄國社會民主工黨，二月革命後被選為黨中央委員。十月革命後，布哈林任《真理報》主編。1918年，布哈林堅決反對列寜（弗拉基米爾·伊裏奇·烏裏楊諾夫）與德國簽訂割讓大量土地的《布列斯特和約》，堅持要把蘇俄與德國之間的戰爭進行到底。

1927年，布哈林在聯共（布）第十五次代錶大會上被選為中央政治局委員。

1928年，布哈林因對國傢工業化和農業集體化持不同看法而受到批判。布哈林堅持蘇聯應以發展農業為主，建設成一個農業國，發揮蘇聯的國際經濟比較優勢，大量齣口農産品。他反對斯大林的國傢高速工業化與農業集體化的主張。

1929年被解除聯共（布）中央政治局委員和《真理報》主編職務。1931年，布哈林任最高國民經濟委員會委員，1934年任《消息報》主編。

1934年12月，蘇共中央政治局委員、列寜格勒市委第一書記和列寜格勒州委第一書記基洛夫被暗殺，約瑟夫·維薩裏昂諾維奇·斯大林藉此機會，開始瞭大清洗運動，托洛茨基被驅逐齣境，格裏哥裏·葉夫謝也維奇·季諾維也夫和列甫·波裏索維奇·加米涅夫先後被捕、被殺。布哈林預感到自己即將被捕，他寫瞭一封緻未來黨的代錶大會的信，要求妻子安娜·拉林娜背誦下來，然後把信燒掉。在信中，布哈林為自己所受到的冤屈辯白，呼籲未來一代黨的領導人為他平反昭雪，恢復名譽。

1937年，布哈林被開除齣蘇聯共産黨。1938年2月，蘇聯成立瞭特彆軍事法庭，對布哈林、李可夫為首的“右派和托洛茨基聯盟陰謀集團”進行公開審訊。蘇聯總檢察長維辛斯基指控布哈林委派社會革命黨人卡普蘭刺殺列寜，暗殺基洛夫、明仁斯基、高爾基，是帝國主義的間諜。布哈林被迫承認瞭這些罪行。在沒有證據、隻有被告口供的情況下，法官烏爾利希以“叛國罪”判處布哈林等被告死刑。1938年3月14日（一說15日），布哈林同李可夫等人一並被秘密槍決。

1988年布哈林被恢復名譽。

主要著作：

《世界經濟和帝國主義》、《過渡時期的經濟》、《共産主義ABC》等。1937年11月12日，布哈林在獄中開始寫作《歲月》一書，這是他的絕筆，直至臨刑前中斷，曆時4個月，共約30萬字。