1Among the turning points that have shaped the historical image of the world, the 1917 October Revolution with its long-lasting social, economic, and political consequences has for a long time attracted the attention of historiographers all around the world as well as in Slovenia, influencing the policy-making and spurring the interest of the general public. At the time of the Revolution, the established political order was shaken: a "global revolution of rising expectations" broke out that eventually reached the furthest ends of the globe. The recent World War, national movements, as well as social and class discontent were simultaneously disintegrative and creative, opening new opportunities, inspiring new ways of thinking, and shaping new mental worlds. The historical importance of these events was also amply demonstrated by the radical ideological and political movements stemming from the Modernity, which saw the October Revolution in Petrograd as either the origin or an emphasised purpose of their activities. The one hundredth anniversary of these events provided us with a marvellous opportunity to discuss new findings and evaluate the existing ones, resulting from the research endeavours focusing on this specific issue. Last year, the Institute of Contemporary History therefore decided to organise a round table dedicated to the October Revolution in order to contemplate the various questions that still surround this issue after a century. On 24 October 2017, Slovenian and international contemporary history researchers gathered at the Institute at the conference entitled Thinking about the Revolution: 100 Years Later in order to analyse the issues and present the current outlooks on the Revolution, as expressed by the international and Slovenian historiography.

2The present issue of the Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino (Contributions to Contemporary History) publication includes the scientific research encouraged by the last year's round table. The authors of the contributions, included in this publication – Andreas Schulz, Anton Bebler, Jure Gašparič, Jurij Perovšek, Vida Deželak Barič, Bojan Godeša, Zdenko Čepič, Avgust Lešnik, Jerzy Wiatr, and Janko Prunk – shed light on the various aspects of the October historical phenomenon and its development; its internal dynamics; its ideological, conceptual, philosophical, socio-economic and political character; as well as on its consequences for the Slovenian and international environment. The outline of the October Revolution, presented in such a manner and in a single publication, has been envisioned by the Institute's associates in charge of the implementation of the research programme entitled Idejnopolitični in kulturni pluralizem in monizem na Slovenskem v 20. Stoletju (Ideological-Political and Cultural Pluralism and Monism in Slovenia in the 20th Century).

3The presentation of the Revolution in front of you focuses on the following issues: the October Revolution itself as an ideological heir to the European revolutionary passions that gave rise to the Bolshevik revolutionary voluntarism; the key problems and dilemmas involved in the socio-economic and political development of the Soviet Russia or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the first two decades after the takeover of power; the emigration from the post-revolutionary Russia and the position of the Russian emigrants in Europe; the global geopolitical consequences of the Revolution as well as its evaluation until the end of the 1980s and in the times of the post-bipolar division of the world; as well as on the incentives and challenges of the Russian experience for the Western capitalism. Furthermore, the authors have provided in-depth analyses of the responses to the Revolution in the Slovenian bourgeois politics and its ideological internalisation by the Slovenian revolutionary communist movement until its rise to power; the common points and differences between the implementation of the October Revolution and the Yugoslav Revolution; and of the question of introducing the October revolutionary elements in the Yugoslav and Slovenian social and political practices after 1945.

4We hereby invite the readers to familiarise themselves with the aforementioned analyses, hoping that they can contribute to further clarification of the Russian revolutionary October of 1917 and its perception in Slovenia.