27 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Workmanlike, August 25, 2007
This review is from: Comrades!: A History of World Communism (Hardcover)
A solid summary and synthesis of a vast amount of material. Service writes with sympathy to all sides, but from an essentially Western perspective that can seem distant from events on the ground in the countries he describes. Often the author spends too much time reciting facts that are almost common knowledge (the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall) and not enough time on the interpretation of the causes of events. Still, a worthwhile read overall.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced history of an inspiring idea, December 28, 2011
It is notoriously difficult to get a neutral view of communism. Read any review of
Das Kapital or
The Communist Manifesto and you will frequently find them either slavishly in awe or militantly against.
Although some reviewers say this book in anti-Communist, I sincerely believe that it is one of the best and most balanced scholarly (see appendix) accounts of Communism I've read. Furthermore, it contains valuable insights into the merits and flaws of the theory through to how different leaders put them into practice.
As the most prominent example of the fairness of this book there is the final chapter. I was struck by how little Service sought to dance on the grave of communism, instead mentioning how there continue to be successful communist movements in Kerala (India) and pseudo-communism in the hills of Mexico.
Also for balance, Service goes through the various crimes of capitalism too and the overwhelming impression I got was that, despite the tyrannical excesses of Communism, there is still potential there and unfulfilled ends to accomplish.
Aside from issues of fairness, I found the book a compelling read; the type of book you read in a week and skip TV to read more of.
In addition his portrayals of leaders such as Castro, Tito and Mao are vivid and his judgements are sound. Crucially it gives you a good feeling of what Stalin's Russia or Mao's China was like and, unlike other books on the subject, doesn't dwell too much on issues of Good/Evil, Gulags, etc.
So, if you want an interesting read, then this book takes some beating and, for $10 a copy, you get a 500 page tome that, at least, makes good shelf-filler.
However, for those that disagree, there is another history of Communism taken much more from a socialist perspective.
Heaven On Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (or at least the film adaptation) is equally as good as this, with much greater emphasis on socialism as a whole (e.g. Israeli Kibbutzes). On the DVD version I saw, Christopher Hitchens (maverick socialist) even provides some commentary so, if you found this book to be anti-communist, then give that a go instead...
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24 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inadequate, May 24, 2008
This review is from: Comrades!: A History of World Communism (Hardcover)
It is welcome news, or should be, to have an overall treatment of Communism from a major scholar. But Professor Service's work is superficial and riddled with errors.
I enjoyed Professor Service's taking-down of the likes of Beatrice and Sidney Webb, and other fellow-travellers. In retrospect, and not only in retrospect, these cultured products of the West were more harmful to liberty than regiments of Soviet troops. But even when Professor Service is so obviously right, he goes wrong. "What inspired [the Webbs] to speak for Stalin ? .... They believed in central and state planning...." (P. 207) If only things were that simple !
I assume that the author's treatment of the Soviet Union is competent, but this cannot be said of what he has to say of the Communist parties in Western Europe and America. A seemingly small error is indicative of much that went wrong with this book.
Speaking of the famous African-American baritone Paul Robeson, Professor Service tells us (p. 278), without benefit of footnotes of any kind: "He never joined the Communist Party of the USA. (Not that this saved him from investigation by Joe McCarthy.)"
The first thing that is curious here is that Professor Service gives a nod to those -- unlike himself -- who think that the late Senator McCarthy was a far greater threat to humanity than the late Joseph Stalin. Coming from a staunch anti-Communist like Professor Service, this is a false note.
But what about the substance of the claim that Robeson never was a Party member ? How does Professor Service know that this is so ? True, Robeson always claimed, throughout his life, that he was not a member. But those who know about the American CP -- this is the main point -- also know that there always were secret members in addition to the open ones. Robeson's unfailing support of every twist of the Party line, including his support of the Stalin-Hitler pact, always led to the strong suspicion, among those who understood the Party, that he most probably was under Party discipline, i.e. that he was a member. If Professor Service has no such suspicion, I would say that he knows little about American communism.
Of course, in the case of Robeson, we can go beyond suspicion. We have evidence, from the very mouth of one of the horses, that he was a Party member: "My own most precious moments with Paul were when I met with him to accept his dues and renew his yearly membership in the CPUSA. I and other Communist leaders like Henry Winston, the Party's late, beloved national chair, met with Paul to brief him on politics and Party policies and to discuss his work and struggles." Gus Hall, "Paul Robeson: An American Communist," published by CPUSA, 1988.
The Robeson matter by itself is a detail. But Professor Service's complete misunderstanding of the political alignments of the 1930's is more than a detail: "But undoubtedly it was the socialists in Europe and North America who bowed lowest in their admiration of Stalin."(p. 212). And this goes with Professor Service's ignoring of the profound anti-Stalinism of the Weimar-era SPD in Germany, of the inter-war SFIO of France (think Leon Blum !), of the anti-Bolshevism of British Labour, of the anti-Communist struggles of the CCF in Canada and the Socialist Party of the US (think Norman Thomas !).
A reader looking for further reading about, say, the French or German Communist parties will find no help at all in Professor Service's sparse footnotes. Take the rich historiography on the French CP. It seems that Professor Service is completely innocent of any knowledge here. The important "Histoire" by Courteois and Lazar is not on the bibliography. There is no title by Annie Kriegel. There is no mention of Robrieux. And, as far as Professor Service is concerned, the German scholars who spent so many years studying the KPD (Ossip Flechtheim, Hermann Weber, etc.) might as well have saved their trouble.
In short, no, this book is simply not good enough.
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