The book, based on new sources from previously closed archives, explores the difficult relationships in the highest echelons of power in the USSR. In the struggle for primacy, intrigue, slander, and even the physical elimination of competitors were used. The book overturns the usual ideas about the balance of power in the Kremlin at different stages of Soviet history, reveals the behind-the-scenes pages of never advertised personal relationships between members of the highest party and state apparatus.