About the Fate of the “Staples of the Proletarian Regime” (Review: D. A. Barinov. Zinoviev, Trotsky, University: The Left Movement in the Higher School of Petrograd/Leningrad (1918–1932))

The review analyzes a monographic study by Dmitry Barinov, a researcher at  St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, devoted to the history of the internal party struggle and the anti-Bolshevik movement in the higher schools of Petrograd/Leningrad in the period from 1918 to 1932. The relevance of the work, the contribution of the author of the book to the consideration of the history of the higher school of the period, the history of opposition movements is shown in the city. It is concluded that the overall success of the monograph was greatly facilitated by the original approach of the author, who turned to a wide range of unpublished sources and, firstly, materials containing information about the grassroots work of the opposition. At the same time, a successful attempt to compile a collective portrait of a university oppositionist and determine the motivation of his struggle deserves special attention.