This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“Gradually I learned to distrust my mechanistic preoccupation with facts and to regard the world around me in the light of dialectic interpretation. It was a satisfactory and indeed blissful state; once you had assimilated the technique you were no longer disturbed by facts; they automatically took on the proper color and fell into their proper place. Both morally and logically the Party was infallible: morally, because the aims were right, that is, in accord with the Dialectic of History, and these aims justified all means; logically, because the Party was the vanguard of the Proletariat, and the Proletariat the embodiment of the active principle in History.” – Arthur Koestler, Page 34
“Besides internal differences resulting from its own heterogeneous composition, the Communist International felt the repercussions of every difficulty of the Soviet State. After Lenin’s death, it was clear that the Soviet State could not avoid what seems to be the destiny of every dictatorship: the gradual and inexorable narrowing of its political pyramid. The Russian Communist Party, which had suppressed all rival parties and abolished any possibility of general political discussion in the Soviet assemblies, itself suffered a similar fate, and its member’s political views were rapidly ousted by the policy of the Party machine. From that moment, every difference of opinion in the controlling body was destined to end in the physical extinction of the minority. The Revolution, which had extinguished its enemies, began to devour its favorite sons. The thirsty gods gave no more truce.” – Ignazio Silone, Pages 105-106
“Although the long-heralded Dictatorship of the Proletariat
has not materialized, there is nevertheless dictatorship of one kind –
dictatorship of the Soviet bureaucracy.
It is essential to recognize this and not to allow oneself to be
bamboozled. This is not what was hoped
for – one might almost say that it is precisely the last thing in the world
that was hoped. The workers have no
longer even the liberty of electing their own representatives to defend their
threatened interests. Free ballot – open
or secret – is a derision and a sham; the voters have merely the right of
electing those who have been chosen for them beforehand. The workers are cheated, muzzled and bound
hand and foot, so that resistance has become well-nigh impossible. The game has been well played by Stalin, and
Communists the whole world over applaud him, believing that in the Soviet Union
at least they have gained a glorious victory, and they call all those who do
not agree with them public enemies and traitors.” – André Gide, Pages 184-185
Is This An Overview?
This is a collection of six essays, six individuals, six
perspectives on the Russian Communist Party during 1910s to 1940s. An explanation of how each wanted communism
to succeed, but were disillusioned. Each
was drawn into communism for the ideals, and each disillusioned by what
happened. An organized economic system
meant to develop society, but had the effect of harming the people claimed to
be helped. These are memoirs of how
communism affected the people.
Members of a Communist political party, defer to the party
for answers, for decisions. Facts and
morality do not affect decisions made for the party is deemed logically and
morally infallible. The party was at the
vanguard of the Proletariat, who were justified by the dialectic interpretation
of history. While ideally, decisions are
to be made after a discussion with the members.
In practice, the decisions are delivered from the leaders to everyone
else without consultation of anyone else.
Once the party leaders made a decision, any criticism of the decision
became a form of sabotage. After the
Communists suppressed all rival political opponents, the members of the
Communist Party were also suppressed.
Every difference of opinion became a means of removing the minority.
Building a better future that was without conflict was an
idealized goal to the Communist Party, and the people were willing to
contribute material and spiritual sacrifices to build that future. The sacrifice of the individual and freedom for
the collective good. In practice, the
sacrifices made the conditions worse than under Imperial Russia. The Communist Part brought back serfdom and
slavery. The proletariat, the workers,
were no longer exploited by Capitalists, but were exploited by the Communists. Exploited without the ability to resist. Workers no longer had any ability to elect
their own officials. Effective
propaganda kept the conditions of Russia hidden.
Caveats?
The writing style has mixed quality due to the different
writing approaches of the authors. As
these are memoirs about the impact of Russian communism, there is a lack of a
systematic analysis of socialism.
Although there is diversity in the authors perspectives, and
their activities, there are also similarities.
Some praise and criticism of the Russian Communist Party were
repetitive. All 6 are commenting on
Russian communism, not generally socialism.
All were commenting on the leadership of the communist party and the
effects of the decisions, but none were in leadership positions that made the decisions.
