Communism: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

The Modern Library is to be congratulated on its short, authoritative summaries of historical research by outstanding historians. I refer not only to its volume by Richard Pipes, "Communism," but also to its altogether excellent "Hitler and the Holocaust" by Robert S. Wistrich. The Pipes volume, as is to be expected from Richard Pipes, is a tour de force of historical summary and interpretation. It is one of those books that can be given to a teenager for a quick introducction to an importatnt subject, and can also be read by knowledgeable adults for its often new and striking insights. But excellent as it is for its overview -- particularly in its introductory and concluding chapters -- this book also shows signs of haste in its composition. Its weaknesses, as I see them, are four: 1) The tone is often overbearing, opinionated, arrogant. Reasonable people can have different views on many of the issues that it discusses, but Professor Pipes shows little patience to entertain any such dissent. 2) In his apparent haste to do this overview, too many topics that should have been included are not. The important French, German, and American Communist leaders, for example, cannot be found in the index. 3) The Suggestions for Further Reading, which should be so important in a work of this kind, are inadequate. 4) There are more errors than can be justified. It is not true that Lenin's Council of People's Commissars consisted "exclusively of Bolsheviks," as is claimed on page 40; on page 45, a non-Bolshevik on this Council is quoted and named. It is not true that Djilas was the first to speak of a new Soviet exploiting class (p. 167). This had been done many years earlier by Bruno Rizzi, James Burnham, Max Shachtman, and others. It is not true that Lenin was unaware of the negative aspects of Stalin (p. 57). In fact, Lenin had warned against Stalin in his famous "Testament." A more leisurely writing and a more careful editing could have eliminated such howlers. Nevertheless, overall, this is a very valuable summary statement of what Communism was like.

The book really lays out a great explanation of what constitutes communism and socialism. They promise you the world and deliver death, destruction and misery. Evert time it has been tried it ends up the same. Decades of absolute evil with the common man and woman paying the ultimate price. This is what Biden is pushing us towards now.

Richard Pipes 'Communism: A History' is a sharp and to-the-point tour de force. Most freedom-loving, pro capitalist Americans will find there are many shocking parallels, intentionally or not, between what is being engineered now in our country (!) and the early Marxist socialist implementations - including that perpetrated by Leninism with his Bolshevik soviets (a 'soviet' is a council of workers and soldier deputies who exercised paralyzing control over the Duma).Today we are witnessing - in kind if not form - the same anti-capitalist ambivalence despite the amazing history of success, wealth and freedom found only in the United States. The instincts and attitudes of today's Left Progressives are plainly Marxist - and shockingly they are in power. One struggles to name one single critical or large industry that hasn't been brow beaten, threatened, nationalized or intimidated by this administration and the left. Meanwhile the courts and universities have been packed with Socialists and the Supreme Court was even publicly brandished by the President during his address! Obama's "czar" lieutenants run the country, often for the benefit of the unions, effectively acting as cabinet members who haven't been vetted by congress or anyone else. And their 'powers' are increasing every day.This short book is so well written and to-the-point that I will be recommending it to a broad audience. Richard Pipes makes one large mistake in predicting that these notions were so destructive and devastating in practice that they would not likely be seriously tried again. I guess he was SLIGHTLY WRONG there, but I would have predicted the same thing in the face of such horrendous historical consequences. In fairness, he wrote the book in 2001 prior to the arrival of Captain Hope and Change.

This little book is packed with wisdom and understanding. It is a brevity that comes from great mastery rather than carelessness. This is a wonderful introduction to the horror that is Communism. It is wonderful because it is NOT a simple condemnation of the idea. Dr. Pipes explains in simple historical terms what happened, what was said, what was promised, what was done, and contributes his succinct insight and analysis. Nothing is overstated or caricatured even though much has to be summarized.That the story of Communism is one of unimaginable horror is well known by anyone who has been watching the news and reading the history of the past century.This book should whet your appetite for more and Dr. Pipes has many more books that are also worth reading on the history of the USSR and on other topics. There is also Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" series and his other books, the Yale University Press has the terrific "Annals of Communism" series and there is also the recent "The Black Book of Communism".I recommend all of them, but keep in mind that all of them together still only begin to scratch the surface of this very profound topic. However, this book is a great way to jump in the lake and get used to the water.Please read it and get others to read it, especially young people who know little to nothing of the horrors inflicted upon humanity in the name of this obscene dogma that we humans inflicted upon ourselves to our great cost and to our eternal shame.

The author limited the Communism in Europe to Russia, barely mentioning the other countries in East Europe. He did not say anything about the Agreement at Yalta, where Roosevelt and Chrchill handed over to Stalin half Europe. Stalin (and Churchill and Rosevelt knew he was a psychopath) had a free hand and the extermination campuses were established all over East Europe. More, empowered by its unchallenged conquers toward the west, the empire of Evil grew atronger, threatening the whole world even today.

Es un libro breve que da una visión cristalina y general del comunismo, y como introducción al mismo es inmejorable. Muy bien escrito, sintaxis impecable, muy claro y atendiendo a los elementos fundamentales que conforman la peste que ha supuesto, y, ojo, sigue suponiendo, el comunismo, aún presente en el mundo en muy diversas formas. Libro muy, muy recomendable.

For those who still think communism is something worth trying! The problem is there are people whom the lies Lenin and Stalin told are deeply ingrained in their brains, unconsciously, and their behaviour, politically speaking, is influenced by those lies, sadly.

Good summary about the history of communism. Easy to read as Pipes goes right to the point.

既に過去となったかのような共産主義の壮大な実験だが、実は今でも形を変えて世界史を動かそうとしていることに気づくかどうかがポイント。その意味で、今でもしっかりと読んでおく必要がある。私の世代は、公立学校で社会主義的な教科書で指導されていたと、改めて気づかされる。一つは、地政学的な理由（旧ソ連、共産中国、朝鮮半島の近隣に位置する日本）。もう一つは、第二次世界大戦期のファシスト軍国日本の反動教訓として、社会主義こそが民族主義を克服し、平和への道だと考えた教師や「進歩的文化人」の影響。アメリカでは、この程度の本を高校の必読書に指定しているそうだ。2014年4月に、著者のご子息が開いたニューヨークでの会合に招かれた時、出席者の一人が自己紹介でそのように述べていた。本書に書かれている視点が把握できていれば、また、最後の「議論ガイド」の問いを自分で考えていれば、著者およびご子息を「ネオコン」とレッテル付けすることが、いかに間違っているかが明白である。日本語にも訳されているが、注釈が抜けているので、やはり原文で読むことが望ましい。また、ハードカバー版とも一部異なっているので、両方備えて読み比べれば、なおよい。