Customer Reviews

Fascism and Communism (European Horizons)

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This book is made up of correspondence between the French historian Francois Furet (best known for "The Passing of an Illusion") and German historian Ernst Nolte (best known for "Three Faces of Fascism" and more controversial later writings such as "The European Civil War"). The correspondence takes the form of a stimulating, respectful debate, sparked by Furet's footnote on Nolte's interpretation of fascism in "The Passing of an Illusion."
Furet takes the position that fascism and communism are parallel movements with common roots. Nolte takes the view that fascism was a reaction to communism. The two positions are not necessarily mutually exclusive, however, and there is much agreement between the two. Tzvetan Todorov, in the preface, finds Furet's arguments more convincing. This reviewer, however, was more impressed by Nolte.
The books main shortcoming (and the reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five) is it's length. At only Ninety-one pages, excluding the preface and forward, it might leave the reader unsatiated, wanting more.
But if you prefer quality over quantity, and don't mind a high price/page ratio, you will not be disappointed. Ninety-one pages of Furet and Nolte is worth a lot more than a thousand pages of David Halberstam drivel.

This is a wide-ranging albeit somewhat meandering conversation between two eminent scholars that I found to be worthwhile for the questions that emerge from its pages. Central to the discussion is the question: how much did the "Bolshevik threat" contribute to the rise of Nazism? Both historians agree that the fascist movement, and Nazism in particular, was fueled in some degree by the fervor of anticommunism - and vice versa, for as Furet points out, no less was communism positioned as antifascism...perhaps to hide its philosophical and socio-economic bankruptcy from the world. Benefits from the rivalry accrued on both sides in typical cola war fashion - each brand attacking and asserting its superiority over the other thereby distracting devotees from the realization that both taste like malted battery acid.

The divergence of opinion on this point of Bolshevism's influence becomes a matter of accentuation. Nolte's position emphasizes the apparent reactive character of Nazism and stresses Bolshevism as the actualizing catalyst, while Furet points to doctrinal roots which precede the October Revolution. The conversation goes on to raise other important questions which touch on issues including origins and traits common to the two ideologies, as well as their mutual interdependence.

On some points I found Nolte more convincing, on others Furet. Ultimately I think what makes this collection of correspondence work well, apart from the refreshing iconoclasm of the two men, is the complementary way in which their opposing approaches and interpretations seem to fit together, creating a fuller picture. If I were a publisher of scholarly books I think I'd try to cultivate more yin/yang dialogues like this. Among its many virtues this book provides an education on how to have a passionate and respectful salon-style conversation and is a delight for that reason alone. It also advances a laudable approach to historical analysis - the "geneological" method, as the authors call it. The book's weakness is its lack of depth; it isn't nearly as penetrating of its subject as I'd like it to be. Still worth the read.