The Communists: Intellectual and Political History of Communism

The story of the rise and fall of the Communists is unparalleled in modern history. After reaching the heights of power, and, at one time, ruling over one third of mankind, Communism lies in absolute shambles, the victim of the complete bankruptcy of the theory and praxis underlying the Soviet system itself.
Adam B. Ulam's extraordinary new book recounts the saga of what led to this demise, starting with the postwar period of 1948 up until 1991, when the USSR cracked asunder and came to its last gasp. The Communists is a stunning reconstruction that includes a reconsideration of Stalin's notion of Communism as an instrument of his own power. There is also a penetrating analysis--often missed by most historians--of the cult of Tito, who, as "the first heretic," played a critical role in challenging the Soviet Union and holding Stalin at bay. Even more revealing is Ulam's compelling portrayal of China in this period: its long and complex relationship with the Soviet Union; the driving force of the cold and calculating Mao, who was a central figure from the beginning of the Soviet-Chinese alliance until the "great divide"; the irreversible rift between Moscow and Beijing, which had enormous implications for international Communism. The portrait of Mao drawn here will rank as one of the most important in contemporary literature.
Ulam also develops the provocative theme of how the Soviets and the Chinese secretly played off the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
The Communists further elaborates on the difficulties of coexistence, Khrushchev's attempts at reforms, the stagnation under Brezhnev, the effects of the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland, the chronic "withering away" of the economy, the advent of Gorbachev, the failure of perestroika and glasnost to save the Soviet Union, which led to the final and total unraveling--one of the great cataclysms of the twentieth century.
This major work by one of our most renowned Sovietologists is certain to be a classic that will, along with his other books, be read for decades to come.

A masterful, dramatic narrative provides an essential historical perspective on unfolding events in the former Soviet Union. In broad strokes Harvard historian Ulam ( The Bolsheviks ) traces communism's decline and disintegration from Tito's break with the Kremlin and China's Maoist rivalry with Russia to the unraveling of Soviet-American detente, Eastern Europe's rejection of the iron yoke and the perestroika -inspired crumbling of the entire Soviet edifice. Ulam shows how the cult of the leader, perfected by Stalin, blinded many to the fact that international communism was a tool of Soviet foreign policy; the promise of social justice and material progress deceived true believers in both the East and West. The book tellingly compares Gorbachev to Khrushchev: both men tried to portray Marxism-Leninism, once cleansed of its Stalinist accretions, as a vital constructive force--but Gorbachev found out, too late, that glasnost spelled the doom of an obsolete system. The scope is global, the writing taut in this timely, definitive eulogy of the communist movement. History Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A penetrative and timely analysis of the postwar history of Communism, by Ulam (Director, Russian Research Center/Harvard; Dangerous Relations, 1983, etc.). Ulam provides fascinating new insights into the fissures within the Communist bloc and the motives for Soviet actions. He believes that it was the death of Stalin rather than any nuclear threats by Eisenhower that brought an end to the Korean War; that perestroika failed to appear in the 1950's largely because of China's belligerence and the reluctance of Stalin's successors to seem any less orthodox than the Chinese; that Mao's disastrous Great Leap may have been a crazy effort to teach the Russians the superiority of Chinese doctrine; that missiles were installed in Cuba not to defend Castro or to reverse the missile gap but to be used as a bargaining lever to get recognition for East Germany; and that the very mediocrity and lack of success of Gorbachev's early career as the Soviet minister in charge of agriculture may have led directly to his becoming the nation's leader after Chernenko's death, because the old men on the Politburo considered him no threat to them. Ulam does not add much to our understanding of the reasons for the collapse of Communism, and he may underestimate the effect of resolute Western action (as in NATO), but he offers substantial insight into why perestroika turned out to be not a new and better phase of Communism but its most decisive defeat. Ulam is no great stylist, but there are few historians with his background and grasp. A significant study. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Rarely can a book have been more topical. This study chronicles the unraveling of "the Soviet power-Communist complex" from the moment of its greatest strength in 1948. Though it does not include the Soviet Union's formal dissolution on Christmas Day 1991, Ulam's work leads the reader inexorably toward that end. Much of the author's emphasis is on relations between the Soviet Union on the one hand and China, Yugoslavia, and other one-time bloc members on the other. He examines the dilemmas of would-be reformers, notably Mikhail Gorbachev, and makes very clear that genuine transformation was incompatible with the holy of holies of Soviet communism, the monopoly of power by one party. Given this reality, the final collapse, achieved without war, was unavoidable, but still an event of the greatest, most spectacular importance. A major study of a vital historical era. History Book Club alternate; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/91.
- R.H. Johnston, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.