El libro negro del comunismo: crímenes, terror, represión

Black Book of Communism #1-2

by Stéphane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panné

Gulags, torturas, hambrunas, asesinatos, deportaciones, represión sistemática... El libro negro del comunismo es un catálogo extenso de los actos criminales llevados a cabo por los distintos estados comunistas en todo el mundo: Unión Soviética, Polonia, China, Corea del Norte, Camboya, Latinoamérica… Escrito por académicos e investigadores europeos y editado por Stéphane Courtois, director de investigaciones del Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, Russia, Philosophy, Reference

1056 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Stéphane Courtois is a French historian and professor at the Catholic University of Vendée.

A former Maoist, Courtois specializes in the history of communism. He is director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

In 1997, Courtois published the book Le Livre noir du communisme (The Black Book of Communism), to which a large number of prominent historians contributed. It has been translated into numerous languages, sold millions of copies, and is considered one of the most influential and controversial books written about the history of communism and state socialist regimes in the 20th century.

Reviews

[Ben Rothman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every idiot college kid who thinks Che and Fidel were really cool should read this book.

[Urey Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Communism was the most monstrous blight upon humanity of the 20th century. These French scholars - some of them former Communists - have painstakingly documented the repression, terror, venality and murderous tactics that have characterized every Communist regime. They have accessed archives and documentation unavailable before the demise of the USSR and its numerous satellites. The numbers are daunting - the scale of human suffering and death is almost incomprehensible. This book is deeply disturbing - but compelling and necessary. Communism has not been widely recognized for its catastrophic and bloody record, far in excess of the justly condemned crimes of Hitler's NAZIs. To the contrary, it has been admired and covered up by too many in the free world who should know better, but sadly do not. Too many apologists, too many relativists - the truth about Communism must be understood. This book is also an invaluable history of the various Communist movements throughout the 20th Century - with dedicated sections covering Russia (Lenin to modern days), China, eastern Europe, Korea, southeastern Asia, Central and South America, Cuba and Africa. It is an invaluable resource and reference.

A companion volume that reinforces and adds to the reality that is Communism is: To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism by Sean McMeekin.

[Jonfaith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enormous lapses prevail. Despite its looming effect, the Black Book is actually a void, a lack. The latter sections on the developing world are primed in terms of the white man's burden. The statistics provided within certainly don't lie. The approach to the endeavor lacks all the integrity of scholarship.

[sologdin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The multiple authors of this text are inconsistent on the volume's central points. It's furthermore not exactly the most credible exercise when the text was originally produced by a think tank in an attempt to influence partisan politics in France. An overall focus on carceral systems and violent insurgencies accounts for the main line of argument; there is by contrast little analysis of actual economics of communism. One might balance this against similar efforts from the left, such as Le Livre noir du capitalisme and Das Schwarzbuch Kapitalismus, both of course not yet translated into English. In English, we might look at Late Victorian Holocausts and Killing Hope. For more credible internal critiques, we might consider something like Let History Judge.

[Frederick Hammill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Who in the world counts Nazi deaths as victims of communism? Nazis that died were killed because they were racist evil people that deserved death. They weren’t “victims”

[Virtue · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is written in a sly way to smuggle a ton of deception. It combines some out-of-context facts with half-lies and well-crafted nasty lies, probably to be used as a tool of an offensive propaganda. It looked so plausible to me, after the first reading, that it took me years to uncover lies one-by-one, until most constructs from this book evaporated into the thin air, at which moment I realized that this book is corrupted as whole and it constitutes a deceitful material. I would not recommend it to anyone who does not want to be purposefully lied to about a complex period of human history across different times, geographic locations and cultures. I am petrified from the disrespect of the authors of this book to their readers, whom they essentially defrauded about the truth.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A MUST-read. Really, we all have our notions about the Communist ideology, but the documentation of the crimes conducted in the name of the ideology is mind-blowing. The systematic documentation of the murder of 100+ million people in the name of the Communist ideology makes this book difficult, but very important, to read. Moreover, the analysis of the authors as to how this history could actually have occurred is also very interesting. Their thesis is that a particularly violent Russian culture--Karl Marx, for his part, was consistently opposed to violence--combined with a millenarian ideology was the fertile soil for the growth of bloodshed. Indeed, I left this book thinking that, although the Communist ideology has been dealt a critical blow, the practical actions of Communist leaders in the 20th century passed on the culture of violence and millenarian ideology to another generation of murderers in the 21st century who would have nothing to do with Communism as an ideology.

If you have only studied Communism as an ideology you should really read this book to see how the ideology played out in practice.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but well worth it, especially for those who have not seen the communism in action, first hand (as I did in my youth).

[JP · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the crimes of communistic regimes are well documented, this book utterly fails to provide a reasonable analysis of the history of the very regimes it condemns as well as the political context that fueled said revolutions in the various nations involved. Much is missing about US and European involvement and it simply boils down to hypocrisy. It also endlessly extrapolates upon statistical data that was never reliable to begin with, especially in what concerns data from China. The book further falls into ridicule by "Goodwin(ing)" itself from the start and making a various not so obvious libertarian stands. Communism was a indeed a failed experiment but so is this "book".

[authorial · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want a proper historical overview as opposed to mere propaganda (which was especially common for the 1990s, when "history ended"), do check out actual scholarly work on the history of communism by more credible academics. There are extensive criticisms of this book and the sources and methodology used to draw some extremely political conclusions. You can even start with Chomsky who was an avid critic of the Soviet Union:
https://web.archive.org/web/201609210...

[Kidswithbees · Rating 1 out of 5]

shitty book spewing red scare, was denounced by its authors.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years ago, I was in a meeting where the question was asked: "What are 5-10 highlights of history that every Ukrainian student is taught in school?" Questions like this that confront us with our own culture are often quite difficult to answer, because we assume such things are so well known among us as to be boring or irrelevant. The first response was Chernobyl, expected. The second response was stunning to me as an American, it was something like...'of course, students are taught about World War II and how the Russians won, and prior to that, the forced starvation of Ukrainians by the Russians in the '30s (Holodomor) when millions, maybe 25% of the population died. The Russian period was very bad for Ukraine, we are glad it is over.' Being from United States, I had not considered that in Eastern Europe, RUSSIA won World War II, a position that makes sense in light of Soviet expansion as a result of the war. Additionally, I was completely unacquainted with the Holodomor, an event which claimed (estimated) 6 million lives in the region (see "Black Book..." pg. 159). These perspectives, as well as the story of countries in Asia, Africa and South America would have been familiar to me had I read "The Black Book of Communism".

The Black Book of Communism documents that the Communism the Allies partnered with to win World War II is just as evil, if not more so, than the fascism of the Nazis which was eliminated. The editor neither suggests the alliance should have been avoided, nor denies the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Everyone acknowledges the war had to be fought, the war had to be won. However, this country by country examination of the workings of Communism as a governmental system espouses that Communism is an evil that deserves to be recognized as such based on it's historical record.

This seminal analysis explains WHY all freedom loving people should be opposed to a Communist system of government. Had Ronald Reagan lived to see it published, he would have been proud. Not only does a complete read provide an overview of 20th century history during which Communism was born and cultivated, it also illuminates how Communism impacted the specific nations in which it was adopted.

While the scope of this work is in some ways similar to Martin Meredith's "The Fate of Africa", the accessibility is a bit less. Meredith's journalistic style eases the burden on the reader, but "The Black Book of Communism" maintains a somewhat academic tone. Given that each section is written by different authors, and originally composed in French before being translated, there is a certain inconsistency that makes some sections more readable than others. Readers lacking commitment may find "Black Book..." slow going. It is worth the effort! Readers should be prepared for intellectual engagement, philosophical examination, a high body count, non-fiction documentation and building moral outrage as the bell tolls on through country after country around the globe. There is a bit of tedium here that only serves to magnify the horror.

Bottom line: This is a perspicacious read that should be required for all liberal arts college students, with particularly robust examination by political science and government majors, as well as anyone who wants to be informed of the history shaping our times. 4 stars.

The Fate of Africa, Meredith, 2006
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For personal testimonies of Communism, see
(China) Shanghai Faithful, Lin, 2017
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(Romania) Saving my Assassin, Prodan, 2016
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(Romania) Tortured for Christ, Richard Wurmbrand, 1967
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

(Romania) The Pastor's Wife, Sabrina Wurmbrand, 1970
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a comprehensive, but still detailed overview of the atrocities committed by Marx' late followers, this is the book for you. It covers the Soviet Union, Red China, the various communist states in Europe, in Asia, Africa, and South America, the Spanish Civil War, pretty much every country you can think of as well as some that most readers don't have on their radar, like Laos or Angola. The various crimes are recorded in meticulous detail, too. Dates, localities, names and death tolls are given, primary sources are translated and incorporated into the text. Large-scale massacres are mentioned, but also the individual tragedies that give a face to the victims, which prevents the book from becoming a stale statistical account. We find out, for example, about a Bulgarian mother that returned home after a visit to a police station, with totally ruined clothes, who attempted suicide three times afterwards and had to be taken care of by her children for the rest of her life. No one knows what happened to her. There are dozens such stories scattered throughout the book, and we know there are millions of others that are hidden in the statistics, or that never entered them. So one of the great achievements of this book is that it maintains the human dimension of the catastrophes it describes.

It should go without mention that the book is bleak and not for the faint of heart, and too lengthy, exhausting and bloody for casual readers. That aside, it's quite easy to get into. You don't need a detailed knowledge of the political or academic landscape of the communist bloc or of their various histories to make sense of the narrative and the facts.

Don't expect biographies of various dear leaders, resistance fighters, or of academicians. Those aren't given the spotlight, I actually can't remember one that spanned for a page or more, not even for Lenin, Stalin or Mao. You also shouldn't expect too thorough a discussion about communism as an academic movement. I don't think there was a chapter describing Marxist theory in detail, or the changes it underwent with Lenin or Mao, or its reception in the western world. There are still some very illuminating discussions here and there, however. According to this book, Russia has a history of bloody and excessively cruel revolt, and the Russian communists owed much to Nechayev; China has a history of perfect authoritarianism inspired by Confucius and interspersed with rebellions inspired by Taoism, often featuring ritual cannibalism; and that the Cambodian mindset of thinking things through to their logical conclusion without checking them against reality, and its lack of a comparable history of rebellion against the authorities, played a major role in the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. These interpretations were interesting and sounded plausible, allthough I don't know how true they are.

To me, communism strikes me as a kind of Anti-Church, the constant infighting as the struggle of various groups for the Marxist Magisterium, and the various purges as the equivalent of the suppression of heresies. The book facilitates such an understanding, but it doesn't put it quite as radically as I have, and not all the authors touch on this topic. Soviet Russia and Maoist China were the centers of this Anti-Church, and while they were remarkably similar given the cultural differences between Russia and China, they still established two distinct communist traditions.

While the book is sometimes accused of lacking academic rigour, I have yet to seen this claim get substantiated. It has well over a thousand footnotes, it should be easy for a determined reader to figure out if they systematically ignored texts that contradicted their thesis, or if they misinterpreted their sources, or if certain claims weren't supported by a source. I have seen nothing of the sort. The most substantial criticisms concern the exact figures cited, and the production process. Concerning the former, I can say that the numbers don't seem outlandish at all, compared with those cited by other researchers. One particular criticism was that the Great Famine killed only fifteen million people, which I guess is alright, and not around fourty million, which would be horrendous. The latter figure is also cited in Tombstone, I believe, and I doubt any scholar has done better research on this event than Yang Jisheng. He also discusses the lower figures in considerable detail. I can't reproduce these discussions, but then it seems no one on the left can, either. Concerning the production process, there has been some controversy on Stéphane Courtois' editing and the communication with the other researchers, although I couldn't find that this had any effect on the contents of the book.

There are some other objections, but interestingly, they all boil down to communists objecting to the subject matter itself, for various reasons:

Why aren't the authors discussing the crimes of the Nazis? Because they weren't relevant, given the subject matter. That apologists still complain there isn't a chapter on the Holocaust shows that they simply object to the subject matter itself. They don't want the spotlight shining on communism, for obvious reasons. At the very least, you have to bring in the Nazis and talk of how Stalin defeated them and thus defended Europe from a thousand-year tyranny under Hitler. Just don't frame it as two gang leaders taking over Poland and then arguing over who owns the rest of the street, pretty please, that would be imperialist revisionism.

In the same vein, why aren't the crimes of capitalism, or colonianism, discussed? Again, because they're not relevant to the subject matter. The Marxist dogmatists won't like to hear this, but the eternal conflict between the ruling capitalist world order and the global worker's movement is not integral to how non-Marxists see the world. You can tell the story of the Russian Civil War without telling the story of the Iraq War, or even the story of the Cuban Independence War. That's not leaving details out of the story, it's not falsifying the story. It certainly doesn't mean giving "capitalism" a free pass while focusing on the well-intentioned, if occasionally misguided struggle of the communists against it. The Kulaks, the Trotskyists, or the Cham and Viet in Cambodia weren't participants in such a cosmic conflict, unless you've overdosed on Marxist literature.

Lastly, why aren't the good sides of communism discussed? Rising literacy rates, worker's rights, the liberation of women and homosexuals, economic and social equality, environmental protection, why is none of that mentioned? Perhaps because the one-hundred million dead people overshadow it somewhat, but that's just my guess. As importantly, because the track record of the communist countries isn't really that impressive, all things considered. From drying up the Aral Sea to x-raying workers to death, they consistently failed to achieve what they preached. Even the impressive literacy rates aren't that impressive when you consider that the libraries of a state like Albania were still filled with endless volumes from the same guy, as Theodore Dalrymple described.

All in all, a very good book, and definitely one that more people should read.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING AND HEART-WRENCHING!

This book is the bible of the anti-communist movement.

It documents a history of repressions, both political and civilian, by Communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, and artificial famines.

[Dobre Cosmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

După cum spunea George Steiner, într-una din conferințele sale din anii 70, dar și Isaiah Berlin în "Capitole din Istoria Ideilor", după epoca iluministă, trecând prin cea industrială, omul a dobândit o amplă cunoaștere în ceea ce privește originea și locul său în lume, iar această plenitudine a omului modern a golit tot mai mult interiorul religios, prin ceea ce Nietzsche numea "moartea lui Dumnezeu". O moarte lentă, care lăsa un mare gol în spiritul uman, ce avea să fie umplut de alte credințe odată cu secolul următor.
Una dintre aceste credințe a fost comunismul, o idee multiseculară, trecută prin timp, dospită prin mințile multor filosofi, infailibilă, de necontestat, devenită apoi religie de stat, cu biserica sa, Partidul Comunist, descris astfel într-unul dintre eseurile cărții de față.
Suprimă astfel parazitar celelalte credințe, le dezrădacinează și se substituie lor, golind de substanța ei metafizică umanitatea care prin tragismul ei s-a interpus în cale.
Cu evidentele sale variații culturale și identitare, comunismul s-a răspândit contagios, dogmatic până și printre cele mai luminate minți ale secolului, fiind o sursă de identificare și validare printre intelectuali și una de putere pentru lideri.
În acest malaxor au căzut indezirabilii, iar cei care nu au pierit, au ieșit din acest pandemoniu mai mult sau mai puțin "reeducați".

După ce citești Cartea Neagră a Comunismului ai nevoie de o pauză de la literatură, poezie, filosofie. O oprire temporară pentru a putea analiza ce nenorocire a facut ca o idee perindată secole de-a rândul prin mințile filosofilor să aducă atâta moarte, suferință și repercusiuni până în secolul nostru. În opinia mea e o carte fundamentală pentru cine dorește să aibă o mai bună înțelegere a fenomenului unei utopii care și-a mascat excizarea unei părți a societății în numele unui bine superior.


Nu am să descriu cartea prea detaliat, cred că subtitlul spune totul. Exact despre asta e vorba. Stéphane Courtois, alături de o întreagă echipă, au analizat Arhivele de Stat ale Rusiei, atunci când ele au fost deschise, imediat după căderea URSS-ului. Astfel au putut să întregească un tablou al torturilor, crimelor, represiunilor, închișilor și deportaților începând de la Revoluția Rusă și până la războiul din Afganistan, trecând prin toate etapele istoriei și spațiile geografice pe unde tentaculele sovietice s-au întins exportând ideologie și teroare, pe unde acest cancer al secolului XX si-a întins metastazele.
Cum bine spune unul dintre autori "o mașină de zdrobit destine".

Aflăm, punct cu punct, cum cade mitul glorios al lui Lenin, care printr-o încercare de mistificare a adevărului, anumiți filosofi de bine au dorit reabilitarea unui odios criminal, întrecut în Rusia doar de Stalin. Torturile, execuțiile sumare, înfometarea programată, lagărele de muncă și deportarile au început încă din primele luni de la preluarea puterii de către bolșevici. Stalin doar a desăvârșit teroarea, încât Lenin a părut un blând fondator și reformator al societății ruse.


E atât de multă moarte și suferință în aceste pagini încât există pericolul să îți pierzi busola morală în cifrele tot mai mari ale morților, închișilor, torturaților și deportaților.
În logica rece a numerelor suferința tinde să se omogenizeze într-o abstractizare detașantă. Poți pierde concretețea realității, că acele zeci de mii, sute de mii , milioane sunt poveștile dureroase și unice ale ființelor umane. Luate în parte, pot fi devastatoare, amalgamate însă, devin fără substanță și poți scăpa ușor în cuvintele lui Stalin despre statistici.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest read, but it confirms that the billions spent to oppose Communism globally were well worth it. Alleged intellectuals who differentiate Communism in theory from its real-world practice everywhere, or who believe there was any moral equivalence between the West and Communism can no longer pretend they have a leg to stand on.

[Morty Person · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's discredited. The dictators of the Soviet Union were vile and vicious indeed, but tell the story as it is. We gain nothing from lying about "communisms death toll" the same way we get nothing out of calling the U.S Japanese internment camps concentration camps. Read the works of actual historians instead.

[Eric W · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important reference.

[Rhonda Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reading this book from the outside in -- intros and appendices. It is over 800 pages of history and I may not read all of it; I may focus on Cuba. But it is an essential work, compiling history of the 20th-century atrocities wrought by communist regimes around the world. Wholesale murder in Russia, China, Latin America -- everywhere communism has taken root -- is not just idealism gone astray, it's policy. The intros also discuss why the facts were covered up, and then rationalized away, by leftists. But even now there are young people who think Stalin was a great leader, just doing what he had to do. With what goal? The Marxist "dialectic" that purported to analyze the "internal contradictions" of capitalism never mentions the contradiction of killing vast numbers of people to save humanity. The photos herein are appalling.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not light reading.

An extensive look at the violence and mass murder of Communism. The Soviet Union gets the largest chunk, followed by China, but there's more. On Eastern Europe. On North Korea. On Vietnam, Laos, Camobia. On Latin America and Africa and Afghanistan.

Sometimes it turns into lists of victims and the particular, not much varying detail of how they ended up dead, but a lot covers the movements, the specific programs, the classes of victims, and means used to target, torture, and kill them.

Lenin was asked why the "The People's Commissariat on Justice", when "The People's Commissariat on Social Extermination" was more truthful. Lenin wished they could name it that honestly, but it's not possible.

The Cultural Revolution changed the name of so many shops in Shanghai to "The East is Red" that people had trouble finding their way around. (Not that that helped much.)

Pol Pot's immediate family members realized who he was only when they saw pictures of the leader -- and wisely kept their mouths shut. (Western spy agencies were in fact the first to realize he was the same as Saloth Sar, a Marxist guerrilla.

[Wilfredo R. Dotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this book doesn't need a review too exhaustive since the title speaks for itself. It is basically a detailed historical compilation, chronologically ordered and very well done on the establishment of communism in all countries where it has existed, as well as its devastating effects paid with the loss of millions of lives, losses that continue to swell the bloody list today. Personally, based on the current situation in my country (Venezuela), and the transition that I had to live before departing, I think it is a book that is worth reading, especially to raise awareness about how harmful this ideology is.

[Viet Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

MUST READ!!!

[G-- · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book [french, so it is actually controversial where it was written] takes on the last century of communism, asserting that because the primary tenets of communism are based upon a mythically nice version of human nature, communism can only be imposed by force. I.e., the essence of communism must be repression. People act by self interest, and a regime cannot force them to abandon this quality. Fascinating--and for you free market fanatics out there--this dark view of human nature doesn't let you off the hook either. Seriously, if humans are jerks by their very nature, why should we let nature have its way with our markets?

[Lasic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book
This book took me almost 1 month.

[Claudia Șerbănescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am citit pagină după pagină cu senzația că mintea-mi refuză să cuprindă așa o grozăvie și e incapabilă să rețină atâtea și atâtea crime și torturi.

Concluzia ar fi că drapelul roșu și-a căpătat culoarea-simbol de la fluviile de sânge ce au curs pe toate continentele unde a fost impusă cu forța ideologia criminală comunistă, a cărei obsesie de a reclădi societățile din temelii și de a naște ''omul nou'' a avut ca rezultat milioane de asasinate prin execuție, tortură, foamete, deportare, muncă silnică și privare de libertate. Victime nu i-au fost doar adversarii politici, ci, mai ales, civilii din toate categoriile de vârstă, sociale, etnice sau religioase. Metodele folosite sunt șocant de similare, aceleași cuvinte sau torturi fiind întâlnite în țări complet diferite, dar toate inspirate de aceiași ''părinți'': URSS-ul stalinist și China maoistă.

''E de ajuns un milion de revoluționari buni pentru țara pe care o construim. De rest nu avem nevoie''. (Cambodgia). ''Nu vom mai lăsa în viață decât un milion de afgani, e de ajuns pentru edificarea socialismului''. (Afganistan)

''Ucideți, ucideți, mâna să nu obosească niciodată''. (Vietnam) ''Prețul triumfului Revoluției va fi de un milion de morți''. (Peru)

*Afrocomunismele cam prea succint expediate, astfel că nu se prea înțelege mare lucru.

[The Kekistani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be a standard text book in either high schools or universities in every department, because these are the places where marxism takes roots and infests people into believing its whimsical lies. As a past marxist myself I wish I had read this book back in the day it was published instead of brushing it with my hand just like a zealot. Today after all those years I turned my sword against leftism, all collectivism and marxism I see the error of my ways and I'm glad I never had the chance to see the revolution I had so hoped to see back in those days, because I would have either been consumed by it or corrupted by it, in both ways it would have been a regrettable end.

Every person who feels justice lies in marxist theories should read this book, take notes, see the references and read them too. This book is a testament to the mistakes made by humanity throughout history as well, it shows how collectivist, anti-individualist ideologies can make monsters out of ordinary people, it shows us that fascism, communism, socialism and nazism are all in the core the same ideology and they are very much like religions themselves, ideas that have no scientific basis but claim to be the very science they deny. To achieve the status of "science" they first destroy the concept of reality in the people they assume control of, therefore causing them to see the world only and only from their point of view, dehumanizing all others, demonizing all ideas that are contrary to their beliefs.

But this so called secular religion called marxism hits the wall when it can no longer hide reality from its followers, when the food runs dry because of their unscientific methods the people start starving and their eyes open, then comes the guns and bayonets, the moment reality hits marxism, marxism hits back with weapons and life turns into living hell for most and for a great number of people life ends.

Know that Marx was a sociopath who hated the world, everything that is human dearly and wanted to see it burn, and all the sociopaths like Lenin, Fidel, Mao, Che followed his way in the exact same manner, making what Marx dreamed a reality, this book is the very proof of how it works.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mighty tome, and sometimes dull, but a must read for those who think Communism was not dangerous or is not still around. Responsible for far more murders than Hitler, this brand of socialism has been in a large amount of countries and in each one, many people who do not want it are slaughtered without mercy. It still exists today, and many people still believe in it and want to enforce it on the countries which have not suffered from it. It may take a while to read this, but you will find that after finishing, you will do anything to make sure it does not raise it's ugly head again. recommended.

[Patrick Peterson]

2021-03-28 - Skimmed this book, and reread most of the Forward again a few nights ago while taking a break from watching the very disturbing, but excellent documentary "The Soviet Story." One of the co-authors of this book, Nicolas Werth, was interviewed and clips were shown in the documentary. The book and film complement and reinforce each other quite well. Also reread the yellowed and crinkly WSJ.com editorial I had clipped from 1997-12-15 "Blood Red" which was one of the first mentions I had read about the book, and very positive, contributing to my later buying this edition from the year 2000.

[Andres Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Escalofriante este relato de una de las dos grandes ideologías asesinas del siglo XX (la otra fue el fascismo). Un libro que cuenta, sin ningún tipo de restricción de detalles y con un alcance casi global (extrañé más profundización en lo ocurrido en América Latina, por ejemplo), cómo en sí mismo el comunismo y el socialismo han sido asesinos pero, a diferencia del fascismo, no han sido juzgados con la misma severidad (algo que puede explicar, por ejemplo, la lectura de Koba el Temible de Martin Amis). Debería ser una lectura obligatoria para muchos que quieren ver en las imágenes de asesinos de toda laya (de Lenin y el Che en adelante) la posibilidad de salvación del mundo.

[booklady]

December 22, 2024: Setting this aside for now as I have too many other things I want/need to read, but (God willing) will return to it!

Part I A State against Its People: Violence, Repression and Terror in the Soviet Union - Nicolas Werth

I have to credit my wonderful 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Knight, who I adored when I had her and I appreciate even more now, for having taught us so clearly about what happened in the Soviet Union in its earliest days—and this was way back in 1970. While she didn’t go into all the crimes committed by the communists, she didn’t talk down to us either. She told us how the Bolsheviks seized power from the myriads of groups milling around Petrograd the summer/fall of 1917 not because they were the best organized and certainly not because they were the best, but because they were the most ruthless and willing to do whatever they had to, to get what they wanted, no matter how violent or dishonest. I learned about their promise of ‘bread and land’ which they never kept nor had any intention of keeping, and how they made life so much worse for the Russian peasantry than it was under the Tsar. We studied the “White Army” – the anti-Bolshevik military force gathering in southern Russia, a combination of Cossacks, tsarist generals, various other volunteers both from inside and outside Russia. This book, however, goes into the atrocities committed against these forces as well those they encountered in Ukraine, the Kuban, the Don region and the Crimea. Some details are given here; more is to be found in The red terror in Russia, published in 1926. Still reading…

Part II Word Revolution, Civil War, and Terror - Stéphane Courtois

Part III The Other Europe: Victim of Communism - Andrzej Paczkowski and Karel Bartosek


September 6, 2024: Reading this as a tribute to all who died under communist regimes. I am going to force myself to read it as I expect it will not be pleasant. Eternal rest grant unto them O LORD.