Russell Caplan is a university lecturer who teaches public health and health promotion in London. He is also a political activist involved in trade union struggles around Higher Education in the United Kingdom. At the time he completed degrees in politics in apartheid South Africa he was forced to flee the country due to his active opposition to white minority rule. He was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom in 1980 and has lived and worked in the UK ever since. He has a particular interest in the Russian revolution and its development leading to its ultimate failure. He is a Russophile and has visited Russia a number of times rating St. Petersburg and Moscow among his favourite places to visit.