James D. White is reader in Russian and East European history at the University of Glasgow. His works include Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution and Red Hamlet: The Life and Ideas of Alexander Bogdanov.
M. N. Pokrovsky was the first scholar to present a Marxist view of Russian history. He became a very influential figure after the 1917 revolution, but the rise of Stalinism meant that he was posthumously written out of the history books.
Alexander Bogdanov played a key role in Russia's socialist movement in the years leading up to the 1917 revolution. He was also a remarkably creative thinker who wrote a sci-fi novel about a socialist civilization on Mars.
Georgii Plekhanov did more than anyone to popularize Marxist ideas in Russia from the late nineteenth century. While he fell out with the Bolsheviks and condemned the October revolution, Plekhanov had a huge influence over the development of Soviet Marxism.