What are the motifs in Khrushchev by William Taubman?

Ideology is a recurring idea in the story. Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin establish that capitalism must inevitably give way to socialism, and after an indeterminate period in which the "dictatorship of the proletariat" purges society of capitalist poison, a golden era of communism will begin. Almost immediately, the economic chaos caused by wars demands Lenin compromise and allow limited private ownership under the New Economic Program (NEP).