Berdiaiev's book, as it can be termed as a prophesy concerning many elements of the Russian model, has become very popular among Hungarian readers interested in political sciences. The reviewer – while acknowledging a number of merits of Berdiaiev's work, underlining many of his productive ideas (from the mutual Utopia of the opposition of Slavofil-Western ideas, to the role of the anarchic-egalitarian tradition, cultural backwardness, the far too abstract handling of the proletariate by Russian marxism etc.)- calls the attention to the falsifications of the study. This especially applies to those points where today Stalinism is washed together with bolshevism and certain trends of bolshevism with the whole of bolshevism. Finally, he calls Berdiaiev himself to testify and decide that what has been realised or what failed in the Soviet Union was not socialism.

This is a testimony of the value of a document about Stalinism by a one time camp inmate philosopher. The writing reflects a whole historical period and the world of emotions and way of seeing of a whole generation.