“Pending special decree”— these cold and heartless words determined the fate of Mikhail Beideman, Russian revolution­ ary, and one of the noblest men of his time.Youth’s hopes and dreams, love, friendship, and human dignity were all smothered without trial or jury at a single ruthless stroke, bringing in itswake despair and insanity. “Attention, dear readerl This special decree was never issued!” Sergei Rusanin, Beideman’s childhood friend and witness to the tragedy exclaimed. The fate of Mikhail Beideman,Dmitry Karakozov and other actual historical characters is tightly interwoven with the fate of Sergei Rusanin, whose soul was tortured by a feeling of guilt throughout his long life, of Vera, faithful to Mikhail until her death, and of many others. “History has swept all into the grave, but it has not for­ gotten anything,” is the novel’s theme. Olga Forsh, the oldest living Soviet writer, had the honour of opening the Second All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in December, 1954She earned this right through her nearly half-century’s services to Art y all that was best in the culture of the old society... to determine my goal and see more clearly the problems confronting me in my work on the historical novel. In my creative searchings I have attempted to show history truth­ fully, to bind the interests of art with the revolutionary ideas of modern times. My preoccu­ pation with art and famous artists and architects is indica­ tive of my desire to find a solu­ tion to the creative problem of the unity of life and art. . .“The truth of the new way of life” came to Olga Forsh when she was already a mature writer with an established world outlook. This new way of life swept her up so forcefully that she found she could not but dedicate herself to it completely.