The End of Commitment: Intellectuals, Revolutionaries, and Political Morality in the Twentieth Century [Hardcover]

Paul Hollander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2006

The seduction of some of the twentieth century's great thinkers by Communist ideology and ideals is one of the most intriguing stories in the history of that ill-fated century. How was it that these distinguished intellectuals, public figures, and revolutionaries could enlist in the service of ideas which, when put in practice, proved repressive? Much has been written about the durable attraction of communism; we know far less about the disillusionment it spawned. In The End of Commitment, the distinguished sociologist Paul Hollander investigates how and why those individuals who were attracted to communism finally abandoned the cause that moved them. His is the first book to take a comprehensive, historically comparative view of disillusionment with Communist ideologies and systems, both in the countries where they were introduced and in the West. Relying chiefly on the autobiographies and memoirs of defectors, exiles, and dissidents from Communist states (the Soviet Union, in Eastern Europe, and in the Third World) as well as similar writings of major Western figures, Mr. Hollander examines and compares the sources and expressions of this political disenchantment. Concentrating on the moral conflicts created by the clash of unrealized ideals and actual practice, The End of Commitment sheds new light on the failings and malfunctions of these systems that were fully grasped only by those who lived under them. In a final, provocative section, Mr. Hollander explores the attitudes of some distinguished Western intellectuals who resisted disillusionment and clung to their commitment in the face of a welter of discrediting information. In all, his book offers a new insight into the patterns and processes of political attitude formation, persistence, and change in different social and historical settings.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There is no one better placed than Paul Hollander to a provide sober and reliable explanation. (Walter Laqueur )

The story is of great importance. (Richard Pipes, Baird Professor of History, Emeritus )

A lively biographical presentation. (Robert Conquest )

A fascinating study of the nature of ideological fervor. (Anne Applebaum )

Illuminating. (National Review Online )

An indispensable portrait of one of the great issues of the twentieth century. (Harvey Klehr )

The first to pair a history of Communist systems with a social survey of how its ideology spread... (California Bookwatch )

"Remarkable....Thoroughly tantalizing." (Pilon, Juliana Geran National Interest )

The life-stories collected in Hollander's new book are interesting, the intellectual trajectories...intriguing. (Arthur Eckstein Journal Of Cold War Studies )

Hollander's analysis of "secular messianism" and the disillusionment that it bred will not surprise readers of, say, The God That Failed (1950). However, The End of Commitment does a very useful, informative job updating editor Richard Crossman's classic. Hollander ranges far more widely-from Ethiopia to China, from Cuba to Vietnam-and his critical energies are especially mordant in addressing the gullibility, self-righteousness, and dogmatism of some leftist intellectuals (Susan Sontag, Edward Said, and Noam Chomsky) who are in no sense ordinary hacks or dupes. (American Communist History )

About the Author

Paul Hollander is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of the classic Anti-Americanism as well as Understanding Anti-Americanism; Political Will and Personal Belief; Decline and Discontent; The Many Faces of Socialism; and Political Pilgrims. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee; 1St Edition edition (July 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566636884
• ISBN-13: 978-1566636889
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yet another great book from a real scholar, October 30, 2006

By 

J. Adams "History buff" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The End of Commitment: Intellectuals, Revolutionaries, and Political Morality in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

If you have read any of Hollander's earlier books such as "Understanding Anti-Americanism" "Discontents" or "Political Pilgrims" among others, you will enjoy this book. It is more than just an update of his examinations of those who are so deeply invested in their hatred of the West that they are blind to the horrors of totalitarian systems and the genocides committed on their behalf. It is a good look at the phenomenon that Orwell stated so well over a half-century ago when he noted that some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them.

This book examines some of the same pathologies that infect much of the Left today that Flynn does in his books such, as "Intellectual Morons" but does so with a scalpel instead of an ax. Hollander does a very good job of showing that one of the ironies of the left's hatred of the Western societies that they live in is that theirs is a religious belief system far more dogmatic than any of the major religious movements today. The systems they attack are far more open to criticism and change than any of the so-called intellectuals such as Eric Hobsbawm, who turns a blind eye to the millions murdered by Stalin since it was done in the name of destroying the society that gives him the freedom to be a fool, and be amply rewarded by fellow leftists for it.

a very good book.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the first to pair a history of Communist systems with a social survey of how its ideology spread around the world, October 14, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of Commitment: Intellectuals, Revolutionaries, and Political Morality in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

How could modern intellectuals and thinkers become seduced by the promises of communism and its ideals: an idea that proved repressive in actuality? THE END OF COMMITMENT: INTELLECTUALS, REVOLUTIONARIES, AND POLITICAL MORALITY examples questions of political morality, belief changes, and commitments, examining the moral limits of individuals and why ideologies can seduce even the most reasoned. It's the first to pair a history of Communist systems with a social survey of how its ideology spread around the world - and it provides chapters powerful in social survey and insight.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When truth breaks through, January 14, 2010

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The End of Commitment: Intellectuals, Revolutionaries, and Political Morality in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

In this work Hollander examines the disillusionment of some collectivist utopians, how defectors & dissidents in totalitarian societies dealt with reality after losing their religion, the phenomenon of westerners who remained true believers, and the roles of emotion and personality in these developments. He discusses dissidents in the old Soviet Empire, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua & Vietnam as well as those Western intellectuals who rejected the ideology and those who were unable to do so. The work is thus a collection of short political biographies, rare in its documentation of the disillusionment with non-Soviet systems. There's no doubt that communism is a secular salvationist ideology, a belief system that entrapped many intellectuals through the emotions.

The author covers an extensive list of the disillusioned from the early Soviet defectors like Orlov and Kravchenko to later ones like Kopelev and Yakovlev. They held high moral values that were more important to them than material rewards. Next he deals with brave individuals in China and Third World countries like Vietnam, Ethiopia, Cuba and Nicaragua who challenged the system under butchers like inter alia Mao, Mengistu and Castro. Honest intellectuals who lived under communism could not deny the chasm between reality and promise; their faith was swallowed by the chasm.

In the West, Hollander investigates the utopian mindset amongst individuals who never personally experienced the oppression and deprivations of communism. These include David Horowitz, Eugene Genovese, Doris Lessing, Susan Sontag, Ronald Radosh and Christopher Hitchens. He argues that their youthful commitment may have been shaped by personality and emotion rather than moral indignation caused by social injustice. Disappointed personal expectations and alienation resulting from wounded idealism triggered the pursuit of meaning in an adversarial community. Passionate belief in a cause subjects the personal to the political as Eric Hoffer points out in The True Believer.

Their rejection of genocidal utopianism also took courage as it involved a complete break with old friends and ejection from a socio-political subculture. Personality again plays a part here: the genuinely non-conformist individual feels compelled to rebel against deception and propaganda. The Clintons' bad behavior prompted Hitchens to write No One Left To Lie To about the then-president and his wife. In certain cases the unscrupulous behavior or cold indifference of their fellow leftists ignited the second thoughts, as in the case of Horowitz whose friend was murdered to the unanimous silence of his fellow radicals. In addition, the true rebel cannot long abide any form of orthodoxy or consensus built on lies.

A chapter is devoted to those who could not shake off the totalitarian temptation. The British historian Eric Hobsbawm is one who admits to the slaughter of millions but justifies his continued faith on the grounds that a "better world" would have resulted from the success of communism. Hollander analyses Hobsbawm in minute detail with reference to the historian's hatred of the present and worship of the future, the primacy of emotion over reason and good intentions over reality in his writings and his irrational hatred of Israel, an attitude he shares with Noam Chomsky whom Hollander diagnoses with extreme alienation. The Anti-Chomsky Reader edited by Collier and Horowitz, offers a thorough and in-depth study.

Others of this ilk were or are Bill Ayers, Tony Negri, Ramsey Clark, Alexander Cockburn, and Edward Said whose claims are so brilliantly refuted by Ibn Warraq in Defending the West. Books that investigate and illuminate the history, modus operandi and compulsions of hardcore utopianists include Stephen Hick's Explaining Postmodernism, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn's Leftism Revisited, Bruce Walker's Sinisterism, Jamie Glazov's United in Hate and The Death Of Right And Wrong by Tammy Bruce.

Hollander celebrates the fact that that some sinisterists do ultimately face the facts, accept reality and change their minds. They are often the ones who become the most vigorous champions of freedom. However, as Jean-François Revel reminds us in Last Exit to Utopia, this evil religion always rises again. Years ago he had already concluded that the totalitarian temptation is incomprehensible without considering the possibility that there are influential people in all societies who desire tyranny - some yearning to exercise it and others longing to submit to it.