The article is devoted to the history of connection between the historical writing and historical talent of Alexander Mishulin on the one side and his conception of Spartacus’ uprising on the other. The author emphasizes that Stalin’s words about “slave revolution” had (as S.L. Utchenko said) a hypnotic effect predominantly on historians of antiquity (not so much on medievalists), because they felt the need for this kind of theory. For Mishulin and his Spartacus this theory became something like a revelation, but it had a limited effect. Mishulin was not and did not become a great historian. He had a very straightforward understanding of history, so his works had a great but not durable impact in Soviet historiography.