Bolshevism as a quasi-religious messianic movement aimed to radically transform society and create a paradise on earth. To become a "new man," each of its participants had to forge himself with the help of communist ethics, sort out his flaws and overcome his doubts. A key practice of Bolshevism was the analysis of one's own self - what Michel Foucault called "communist hermeneutics." Talking about your thoughts and intentions, writing autobiographies, letters and diaries - all this was intended to give the necessary interpretation of a person's mental life, hidden from the outside eye. Halfin traces the poetics of Bolshevik ego documents, showing how the latter embodied the narrative of movement from darkness to light and conversion. Over time, friendly courts and discussions about the "sins" of party members were replaced by real political processes in which the "wrong" communists, especially the Trotskyists, were declared counter-revolutionaries. Combining in his study the analysis of autobiographies with the study of communist psychology and sociology, as well as the policies of Bolshevik self-improvement, the author convincingly shows how the prerequisites for the subsequent Great Terror developed.