The main issues addressed are the following: the appearance of new democratic social movements in Russia at the end of the 80's, and their development during the perestroika period, and their dissapearance from the political arena in the beginning of the 90's. The Labor movement as a collective actor and the demonstration as a new form of collective action are analysed in accordance to the different protest cycles of transition period. Demonstrations as a new form of social movements' collective action in Russia are compared with demonstrations in the form of the Soviet state holiday under socialism. The appearance of a new political actor, women's movement, is investigated as being influenced by the peculiarities of the gender system and gender identity in Russia. The nature of modern transformation in Russia and the ways of conceptualizing this transformation are also considered in the book. Russia in Transition is a collection of articles written between 1991 and 1996.