The Soviet World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series) [Hardcover]

Mr. Harvey Klehr (Author), John Earl Haynes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Annals of Communism Series | Publication Date: February 17, 1998

Drawing on documents newly available from Russian archives, this important book conclusively demonstrates the continuous and intimate ties between the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) and Moscow. Digging even deeper than the authors' earlier volume, The Secret World of American Communism, it conclusively demonstrates that the CPUSA was little more than a pawn of the Soviet regime.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this follow-up to 1995's Secret World of American Communism, newly available documents from Russian archives firmly establish the deep relationship between the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and Moscow. The Soviet Union controlled CPUSA leadership and policy, including the crushing of dissent within the ranks. Among the revelations in this volume are confirmation that the criticisms which eventually led to the ouster of CPUSA head Earl Browder originated from within the Kremlin. The publication of these documents forces a harsh reevaluation of the notion that American Communists, as a whole, were simply idealistic patriots fighting for social justice.

From Library Journal

Histories of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) all build on Theodore Draper's classic The American Communist Party: A Critical History, 1919-1957 (1957. o.p.). The recent opening of Soviet archives to scholars has generated a new spate of books. This one is a companion to the authors' earlier The Secret World of American Communism (Yale Univ., 1995), and follows the same format of interspersing reproduced documents with well-informed narrative. The authors focus on the CPUSA's relationship with the Communist International (Comintern), whose mission was to spread world communism from its inception in 1919. The Comintern, they conclude, closely directed the CPUSA, allowing little independence in the American party's daily functioning. The book concentrates on the period from about 1920 until Khrushchev's secret 1956 speech that condemned Stalinism and served to undermine communism's international cohesiveness. This valuable synthesis will complement Albert Fried's recent Communism in America: A History in Documents (Columbia Univ., 1997). Recommended.?Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Edition edition (February 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300071507
• ISBN-13: 978-0300071504
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More goodies from the secret Archives, September 9, 1999

By 

Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soviet World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series) (Hardcover)

As with THE SECRET WORLD OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM, this book answers long standing questions about the history of the Communist Party, U.S.A.

SECRET WORLD showed that espionage and subversion was an integral part of the Communist movement, a core activity. SOVIET WORLD shows just how tightly the CPUSA was governed from Moscow -- the only time there was a shred of independant thinking was during WWII, when the Comintern was out of touch.

There aren't a lot of big surprises here (though it was amazing to learn that Earl Browder once tried to think for himself). What there is is an end to arguments -- yes, the infamous "Duclos article" was written in Moscow, and intended to prepare the Party for the coming Cold War; No, Stalin was not interested in friendship with the U.S.A; Yes, the Soviet Union supported the CPUSA with extensive cash subsidies; yes, the Party was a wholely owned subsidiary of Moscow.

I look forward to more volumes in the Annals of Communism series.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A model of historical documentation and interpretation, May 27, 1998

By 

Oliver Kamm (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soviet World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series) (Hardcover)

Interpretation of US domestic politics during the Cold War has been bedevilled by ad hominem accusation and counter-accusation. The undoubted injustices perpetrated by McCarthyism have also long obscured the subject. The work of these authors - and also, in other books, of Ronald Radosh - must be counted not only impressive, but definitive. We now know, thanks to their efforts, that the Communist Party of the United States really was a tool of Soviet clandestine operations, and that those "revisionist" interpreters who portrayed it as merely a persecuted and progressive group of idealists were egregiously mistaken. In short, what was wrong with McCarthyism was its wild and irresponsible exaggeration, not its premise; there really was an organised attempt on the part of the CPUSA and its front organisations to infiltrate Soviet influence into the liberal democratic American polity. The authors demonstrate this with meticulous scholarship; their book is one of the most important works of contemporary history to have been published since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Documentation of Comintern support for the CPUSA, January 10, 2004

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soviet World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series) (Hardcover)

This is another volume in the terrific "Annals of Communism" series. This volume documents Soviet activities in the US from the Soviet side of the events. It contains 95 documents that demonstrate conclusively the USSR involvement in American communism and the CPUSA. This includes documents 43, 44, 45, 46 which are a letter from Gus Hall (longtime leader of the CPUSA and their perennial presidential candidate) pleading for financial support, and drafts (with photographic reproductions of the notes and Mr. Hall's signature) of his receipt of $2 million and $3 million in the 1980s.

The evidence indicates that there was much more Moscow Gold spread around to finance American communism and that there was little of it not affected in some way by financial support from the USSR.

The book is not a comprehensive discussion of American communism, but a presentation of certain documentary evidence. However, it is very revealing. This isn't to take away from the sincerity of those who believe, for whatever reasons, in communism. But it does prove the lies that were told for decades about the independence of the CPUSA were indeed lies.

A very valuable volume. It also has a glossary of names and organizations with brief bio info, an appendix of American and Soviet Cominternists, and an index.