A Short History of Communism

October 11, 2004
The idea that communism in its heyday was just like a religion, complete with dogma, sacred texts, rituals and high priests, goes back to the 19th century and Marx's great antagonist, the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. Harvey, a British journalist and onetime member of Parliament, milks the idea to the last drop, and the result is a watery drink without substance. There is something, to be sure, in the communism-religion analogy, but so many other factors must be taken into account to explain the ideology and the many movements and states that fall under the rubric of communism. The author fails to locate the intellectual origins of Marx's opus in the Enlightenment and the German philosophical tradition. Numerous errors only enhance the unease: Marx did not advocate "the guiding role of... a party of intellectuals capable of understanding better than the workers themselves where their true interests lay" (that was Lenin's contribution); Rosa Luxemburg was hardly a "true Leninist" and there was no general strike in Germany in 1919. Four pages on Cambodia fail to convey the varied forms of repression and violence the Khmer Rouge exercised. Whatever one's views about communism, a movement that spanned a century and half and the entire globe warrants a far richer and more complex history than Harvey provides. 35 illus. not seen by PW,
2 maps. Agent, Gillon Aitken.

November 15, 2004
The emergence of global Islamic militancy and terrorism dominates our daily news and perhaps the thoughts of our strategic planners. But several decades ago, the ideology of dogmatic communism seemed ascendant and was regarded as a model for economic development by many in Third World nations. Harvey, a journalist and a member of the British Parliament, has written a concise, sharply focused account of the rise and fall of a pseudoreligion that alternatively seduced, inspired, and stifled millions of people. Harvey is a superb writer who clarifies (as much as possible) the often confusing and contradictory strains of so-called Marxist-Leninist thought. His assertion that a supposedly internationalist doctrine morphed into a form of nationalism is excellently illustrated. In fact, he suggests that a prime factor in the spread of communism was its apparent ability to meet the challenges presented to societies entering the industrial age while striving to simultaneously satisfy huge rural populations. Finally, this outstanding survey illustrates how intelligent people can distort or even invent alternative realities to conform to a dogma.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)