Lenin in Zurich (1975) is composed of chapters destined to be part of Solzhenitsyn's projected three-part trilogy on the Bolshevik Revolution. Chapter One is part of Knot I, a section omitted from the first version of August 1914 but included in the expanded version.

The second chapter, from the projected Knot II, concerns the events of October 1916 when the Czar, under severe criticism because of the failing war effort, dismissed his chief ministers and a revolution-minded Duma (parliament) was called into session. Knot III concerns the events of March 1917 when the Tsar abdicated and a Provisional government under Kerensky was installed. All three chapters are linked by the centrality of Lenin. Solzhenitsyn's portrait of Lenin is scathing: The man is conceited and ruthless, skillful only as an opportunist who seized command of a revolution he himself did not predict. Solzhenitsyn's portrait of Lenin has been confirmed by biographers...