The Black Book of Communism

Posted on 20 September 2017 by Stéphane Courtois

Already famous throughout Europe, this international bestseller plumbs recently opened archives in the former Soviet bloc to reveal the actual, practical accomplishments of Communism around the world terror, torture, famine, mass deportations, and massacres Astonishing in the sheer detail it amasses, the book is the first comprehensive attempt to catalogue and analyze the crimes of Communism over seventy years Revolutions, like trees, must be judged by their fruit, Ignazio Silone wrote, and this is the standard the authors apply to the Communist experience in the China of the Great Helmsman, Kim Il Sung s Korea, Vietnam under Uncle Ho and Cuba under Castro, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, and Afghanistan under Najibullah The authors, all distinguished scholars based in Europe, document Communist crimes against humanity, but also crimes against national and universal culture, from Stalin s destruction of hundreds of churches in Moscow to Ceausescu s leveling of the historic heart of Bucharest to the widescale devastation visited on Chinese culture by Mao s Red Guards.As the death toll mounts as many as 25 million in the former Soviet Union, 65 million in China, 1.7 million in Cambodia, and on and on the authors systematically show how and why, wherever the millenarian ideology of Communism was established, it quickly led to crime, terror, and repression An extraordinary accounting, this book amply documents the unparalleled position and significance of Communism in the hierarchy of violence that is the history of the twentieth century. Download The Black Book of Communism – kino-fada.fr Every idiot college kid who thinks Che and Fidel were really cool should read this book.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 certainl...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 cultur 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 o...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 dist 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 ar...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.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 the 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 American me, it was something like of course, students are taught a...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 Commu...Perhaps the most comprehensive and candid study of Communism yet to be written , the authors with brutal honesty lay bare the extent of the horror of the system called Communism which has spread its tentacles across the globe , at its height ruling over a third of mankind, and still continues its reign of terror in some countries 84 years after the Bolsheviks siezed power in Russia.As Martin Malia pints out in his forward what makes this book remarkable is unlike the previous studies which h Perhaps the most comprehensive and candid study of Communism yet to be written , the authors with brutal honesty lay bare the extent of the horror of the system called Communism which has spread its tentacles across the globe , at its height ruling over a third of mankind, and still continues its reign of terror in some countries 84 years after the Bolsheviks siezed power in Russia.As Martin Malia pints out in his forward what makes this book remarkable is unlike the previous studies which have been of Communist tyrannies in specific countries or regions whether in the Soviet Union , Eastern Europe , China , Cambodia , Ethiopia or elsewhere this work provides the totality of this system of total terror In his introduction Stephane Courtois gives a rough approximation of thethen 100 million people butchered by Communism USSR 20 million deaths China 65 million deaths Vietnam 1 million deaths North Korea 2 million deaths Cambodi...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...An important reference.

English
20 September 2017

Stéphane Courtois