J. Arch Getty specializes in the Stalin period and the history of the Soviet Communist Party. He is Distinguished Research Professor of History at UCLA. He is the founder of Praxis International, and his articles and books on Stalinist politics and the Soviet Communist Party have been published throughout the world. His most recent book is Practicing Stalinism.

Lewis H. Siegelbaum is Jack and Margaret Sweet Professor Emeritus of History at Michigan State University where he taught from 1983 until 2018. He is the author of books on Soviet labor, material culture, migration, and consumption. His memoir, Stuck on Communism, was published in 2019.