New Left Review I/15, May-June 1962

Lev Kamenev

Preface to Machiavelli

The inclusion of the works of Niccolo Machiavelli in the series of volumes published by ‘Academia’ needs no justification. The episodes which inspired Machiavelli’s works, the works themselves (propagandist, historical, fictional), the bitter disputes which raged around his name for centuries afterwards—all these are major events in the cultural history of Europe. The Soviet reader who comes across, as he is bound to do, references to Machiavelli in historical studies, in current editorials in the press (‘Machiavellism’, ‘Machiavellian politics’ etc.), and in literary works, rightly wants an opportunity to read the actual, original texts of the secretary of the Florentine Republic in the sixteenth century. The ‘Academia’ edition is intended to meet this need.

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