The new book by Yu.S. Pivovarov (Pivovarov Yu.S. Russkoe nastoyashchee i sovetskoe proshloe [Russian Present and Soviet Past]. Moscow – St. Petersburg: Center for Humanitarian Initiatives, University Book. 2014. 336 p. ISBN: 978‑5-98712‑202‑0) is in many ways distinctive from the mainstream literature on historiosophy and political science. Presented in the book is a fresh interpretation of the key processes and events of the Russian history. According to the author, the country experienced an anthropological disaster in the XX century, as several revolutionary currents collided in 1917: Europeanized part of the society renounced the traditional authority, the peasantry committed capture and redistribution of land, while the Bolshevik Revolution, taking advantage of the moment, terminated both. In the context of Russian history, the Bolshevik movement is labeled by Yu.S. Pivovarov as a variety of the “Russian Power” system, where power is fused with property – a term “vlastesobstvennost’” (“powerproperty”) is introduced in this regard – as well as a variety of a generalized model of power and society structure, going back to the times of Ivan the Terrible (“oprichnina – zemshchina”). Analyzed are the stages of formation and decomposition of this regime. According to the author, the 1980-s / 1990-s democratic revolution was unable to overcome Sovietism and Stalinism embedded in the socio-psychological condition of the society. It revitalized the cultural-historic phenomenon of the “red Black Hundreds” as a response to the process of modernization and the social reserve of the antidemocratic authority. Turning to the prospects for change of the current situation, the author concludes that either Russia will be a free and responsible country, or it will not exist at all.