Giuseppe Boffa, Italian historian and journalist, one of the most authoritative specialists in the history of the USSR. In the Soviet Union, he worked for many years, having received access to closed archives with special permission from the Central Committee of the CPSU; based on their study, Boffa wrote a book on Soviet history, but it was published only for senior officials of the USSR. The book presented to your attention shows how the Soviet Union was able to make a "civilizational breakthrough," i.e. raise your science and technology to an unprecedented level in the shortest possible time. create a powerful industry, catch up with the advanced countries of the world in terms of basic indicators. At the same time, J. Boff does not idealize the Soviet breakthrough, writes about many of its negative moments; the main purpose of the study is to determine how justified such a policy is and whether it is applicable in other conditions to other states.