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The Anti-Communist Manifestos: Four Books That Shaped the Cold War

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This is a brilliant analysis of the literary, philosophical, and political dimensions of four classic works. Fleming even-handedly discusses the complex political background, entering a life-or-death debate which is crucial to understanding the Cold War and its aftermath down to the present. He shows why the works should be read and re-read as literature, not just as the important historical documents they are. For example, he demonstrates why Koestler's "Darkness at Noon" is justly held to be one of the greatest novels of the Twentieth Century, and his placing it in context, during the ascendancy of Hitler and Stalin, is almost as fascinating as the breathtaking story within the novel. Throughout, Fleming writes with an entertaining and witty style that will engage any reader. I recommend it enthusiastically.

"The Anti-Communist Manifestos" is a brilliant, masterfully written cultural history about four books, all bestsellers in their day, which shaped the West's understanding of Stalinism and its crimes. The authors were all former Communist Party members, three of whom had worked for Soviet espionage before turning sides. Thus the authors themselves were as controversial as the books they wrote, fanning ideological debates about "facts" and "credibility" throughout the 1940s and 1950s. John Fleming's extraordinary achievement is to tell the stories of these books within the context of their public receptions while avoiding the partisan distortions which characterized the ideological debates then and even now.

Arthur Koestler's novel, "Darkness at Noon" (1941), is one of the most important books of the 20th Century, while Whittaker Chambers's memoir, "Witness" (1952), remains famous for its detail regarding the author's accusations against Alger Hiss. The other two memoirs discussed are by a former thug / "organizer" of the German Communist Party, "Jan Valtin" (Richard Krebs), and by Victor Kravchenko, the first Soviet official to defect to the United States. Valtin's "Out of the Night" (1941) detailed the growth of the German Communist Party in the 20's and its destruction following the Nazi's seizure of power in the 1930's, along with lurid personal stories involving sex and violence. Kravchenko's "I Chose Freedom" (1946) triggered a pair of libel suits in France, which led to survivors of Stalin's slave labor camps testifying in open court. It was their testimony, that of the living victims of Stalinism, which became impossible to deny.

"The Anti-Communist Manifestos" successfully navigates through history, literature, and politics, and a reader opening to any random page is likely to become immediately engrossed. I personally enjoyed the elegance of Fleming's comments on memoir, that "subjective objective" form of writing, and his persuasive argument that "Witness" has a literary importance that has been overlooked by those whose interests have been limited to the factual.

Easy to understand why historians Tony Judt and Sean Wilentz have praised this book so enthusiastically.

This is a superbly researched and well-written book. At this date it's hard to believe so many otherwise intelligent people were taken in by massive evil that was communism, but Fleming vividly recreates a very interesting slice of history, allowing the reader to see how so many were duped, thus making these four books so necessary and important. Bravo.

John V. Fleming's "The Anti-Communist Manifestos" excellently performs service to those who would know the history, literary and cultural, of four great books dedicated to the cause of truth. With style and insight, Fleming unpacks the ironies and contradictions that infested the West during the age of international Communism; revealing, as he does, the farce of unfounded utopian faith.

The author's recounting of the works of Koestler, Valtin (Krebs), Kravchenko, and Chambers should induce, in the very least, a curiosity to explore the writings themselves. Telling the tales from the perspective of one who is familiar with the texts that, in turn, influenced these men, Fleming offers invaluable insights.

Because Marxist thought and its varieties of socialist offspring are by no means simply things of the past, the writings examined by Fleming retain much relevance. His essay on Whittaker Chambers' masterpiece "Witness" is itself worthy of multiple reads and reflection; for Chambers identified a war between two worldviews - that of unfettered idealism and that of fractured reality. The former perspective leads to a kind of phantasmic irrationality necessitating absurd apologias; the other can lead either to unwholesome despair or informed action. And, there is a third way, that of profound neglect. The majority, those who follow the third path, currently imperil civilization.

In the war of the worldviews, it may not be overstatement to declare Chambers' "Witness" and Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" the most important books of the 20th century. Thankfully, their courageous efforts inspired action.

Professor Fleming has written a very impressive book. Once you commence reading, you will not put it aside. When you have finished, you will be motivated to read (or, re-read) the subject authors' writings, as well others who have sought to inform regarding the dangers of the collectivist fixation that still obsesses the cognoscenti.

A flat description makes this book sound pretty unpromising: a study of four anti-Communist best-sellers from the 1940s and `50s written by retired professor of Renaissance literature (pictured on the blurb in academic regalia no less). In fact, the book is good, sound, upper-level popular history.

Fleming is not only widely read but also a clever writer, usually able to rein in both the academic and blogger sides of his personality. Though the book sprawls more than occasionally, most of Fleming's diversions are at least as engaging as the theme itself. One might expect to find a reference to Dostoyevsky here--there are half a dozen--but not references to Walt Disney or the mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer. Fleming has even inserted droll index entries ("idiots, useful, 220; not so useful, passim"; "prothonotory warbler, spotted by Hiss, bagged by Nixon, 291").

The theme of this work is "the cultivated blindness" that prevented Western leaders and intellectuals from acknowledging for decades the falseness and brutality of the Soviet regime. The thoughtful reader may ponder what current politically correct notions will appear as hopelessly wrong-headed in another eighty years.

The title of this book is certainly mis-leading as Germany's Jan Valtin's Out of the Night is certainly not an anti-communist manifesto, for the simple fact that the book is not anti-communist. Valtin (Herman Krebs) clearly believed in the communist ideals throughout the book. The most you might be able to say is that he opposed the changes Stalin was making to the nature German communist party, and that Stalin was crippling the German party's ability to fight Hitler. Basically, Stalin was putting Russia over Germany's interests. Out of the Night was a great book though, albeit slow going early on.

Over de precieze datering van het begin van de Koude Oorlog wordt onder historici nog steeds gedebatteerd. John V. Fleming voegt daar in The Anti-Communist Manifestos. Four books that shaped the Cold War een prachtig criterium aan toe; de Koude Oorlog begint op het moment dat sovjet-overlopers in het Westen niet meer als een ongemakkelijkheid worden beschouwd.
In zijn The Anti-Communist Manifestos brengt Fleming een specifiek literair genre in kaart; de anti-communistische getuigenis. Als hoogtepunten beschouwt Fleming Darkness at Noon (1940) van Arthur Koestler, Out of the Night (1941) van Jan Valtin alias Richard Krebst, I Chose Freedom (1946) van Victor Kravchenko en Witness (1952) van de Amerikaanse journalist Whittaker Chambers. Elk boek markeert een cruciale fase in de publieke acceptatie van de gedachte dat het tussen kapitalisme en communisme nooit meer goed zou komen, of in minder neutrale termen, dat het bloeddorstige Rode Gevaar de Westerse beschaving en alles waar het voor stond, op verschrikkelijke wijze om zeep zou helpen.
Darkness at Noon maakte het grote publiek deelgenoot van het feit dat er van linkse kant grote twijfels bestonden over het socialistische experiment. Van enthousiast aanhanger van de Sovjet-Unie ontwikkelde Koestler zich door zijn traumatische ervaringen met de ware aard van het communisme in de Spaanse Burgeroorlog en de Moskouse Processen tot anti-communist. Dit heeft Koestler gemeen met de overige drie auteurs: alle vier waren ooit overtuigde communisten, die de verschrikkelijke praktijk van het leven in de Sovjet Unie niet meer konden rijmen met het excuus dat de socialistische heilstaat nu eenmaal niet zonder slag of stoot tot stand zou komen. Alle vier worden verketterd door voormalige geestverwanten die verbeten vasthouden aan de illusie dat zich ergens in het steeds groezeliger wordende badwater iets kindachtigs bevindt.
De schokkende inhoud van Out of the Night - de auteur is ervaringsdeskundig als gevangene en spion van zowel de communisten als de Gestapo - en de hardboiled en soft-pornografische vorm waarin het verhaal gegoten is, genereren hoge oplages. De Duitse inval op de Sovjet-Unie en de Japanse op Pearl Harbor maken daar echter een abrupt einde aan. Met Uncle Joe Stalin als bondgenoot moest Amerikaanse volk niet in verwarring worden gebracht door anti-communistische lectuur.
Bij het verschijnen van I Chose Freedom was de Koude Oorlog inmiddels uitgebroken; de honger naar informatie over het werkelijke leven onder het stalinistisch juk was groot. Het enorme internationale commerciele succes van I Chose Freedom dreef Moskou tot het opzetten van een uiterst kwaadaardige lastercampagne, die werd uitgevoerd door linkse intellectuelen die in het boek een onbeschaamde aantasting van de heilige graal van het socialisme zagen. Na de spectaculaire rechtzaak rond het boek, waarin een aantal Goelag-overlevenden getuigden, werd het in het Westen steeds ongeloofwaardiger de ogen gesloten te houden voor de werkelijkheid van het communisme.
Witnessvan de ex-communistische, Quaker geworden Time-Life journalist Whittaker Chambers verscheen in 1952. In tegenstelling tot de andere drie was Chambers geboren en getogen in de VS en had hij, voor zijn apostasie, deel uitgemaakt van een wijdvertakt netwerk van communistische informanten. In 1948 werd hij, onder enorme belangstelling, door de House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) ondervraagt naar zijn activiteiten in de jaren dertig. Chambers noemde grote hoeveelheden namen, wat Amerikanen sterkte in hun overtuiging dat de samenleving in hoge mate was geinfiltreerd door Moskou. In Witness waarschuwde de schrijfvaardige Chambers onophoudelijk voor de verschrikkingen van het communisme en de gevaren die de beschaafde mensheid bedreigden. Angst had zich definitief van de natie meester gemaakt.
Fleming heeft met zijn boek een prachtige inventarisatie gegeven van de ontwikkeling van de Amerikaanse publieke opinie ten tijde van het uitbreken van de Koude Oorlog. Een punt van kritiek is dat Fleming zich niet ontdoet van het Koude Oorlog-idioom. Door dit tekort aan distantie ontneemt Fleming zich de mogelijkheid de fundamentele vraag te beantwoorden hoe reeel de communistische dreiging in de VS na 1945 feitelijk was. Daarmee suggereert hij dat er binnen de VS werkelijk een serieuze communistische bedreiging bestond. Het kwalijke gevolg is dat met deze suggestie de troebele onderneming van McCarthy en Nixon tot op zekere hoogte gelegitimeerd wordt. Het zal dan ook geen verbazing wekken dat The Anti-Communist Manifestos wordt aanbevolen door de Conservative Book Club.