This book is a study of organisational adaptability, or rather the inability of an organisation to adapt to a changing environment. It is a study of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, of its changing institutional structures and the course of debate which unrolled within its ranks as it sought as an organisation to come to grips with the serious challenges to its position and power that arose after 1985. Its focus is therefore the party itself, its internal mechanisms, procedures, arguments and debates. It does not provide a comprehensive history of the Gorbachev period. Neither does it give an analysis of developments within the Soviet Union at large nor a kremlinological analysis of leadership politics; these are mentioned only in order to explain the fate of the party. No attempt is made to chart the course of the party's fortunes in the individual republics. The focus is the CPSU, and developments in the republics will be noted only in terms of their effect upon the all-union party.

A number of people have helped in the production of this book. Rod Pitty and Kathy Dempsey both did an excellent job of collecting materials. Great assistance was given by librarians in the Lenin Library, Moscow, the Social Sciences Library at Moscow State University, the Library of Congress in Washington, the Australian National Library, and Fisher Library of the University of Sydney.