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Black Book of Communism, The

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Of the tens of thousands of books on the communist experience, this one resource stands out above all the rest—a massive and fitting epitaph for a totalitarian and bloodthirsty theory that killed one hundred million people in the 20th century.
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Description 

Of the tens of thousands of books on the communist experience, this one resource stands out above all the rest—a massive and fitting epitaph for a totalitarian and bloodthirsty theory that killed one hundred million people in the 20th century.

The historians writing in this 850-page book cover Lenin's murders, Stalin's Gulag, Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and every other case of shocking crime and horror. The narrative moves constantly from the big picture to millions of deaths to the smallest look at how people in the midst of famine turned toward eating the dead.

They establish for all time that the machinery of communism is fueled by crimes, terror, and repression, and ends predictably in massacre.

The book appeared first in France as a collection of pieces by writers with some social-democratic sympathies. They only sought to tell the truth so far as it could be documented. Each is a specialist in the nation and period covered. They pull together all that is known and write an excellent narrative that provides the summary judgment.

What was astounding was the reaction. Not only in France but all over Europe there was sudden, palpable, and extended shock and protest—as if the intellectuals in these countries had never faced the grim reality. The source of the controversy was just as disgusting. You see, Europe's communist parties are still in existence and even flourishing. Former communist officials hold prestigious posts in government. Were these authors saying that these nice gentlemen are actually apologists for mass murder?

Well, yes.

It was also said that by highlighting the crimes of communism, there is a danger of putting the crimes of Nazism into the background. The idea here is palpably absurd. The key issue here is that the crimes of the Nazis are well known whereas the crimes of the communists are routinely whitewashed in the highest circles of academia and government.

In any case, this book stands as the ultimate refutation of the entire gang. It also makes for stunning reading, though it is probably impossible to read straight through without feeling a profound sickness. The detail is fascinating and you find your jaw dropping on every page, whether the subject is Russia, China, Africa, the Far East, or Latin America.

In some ways, this book is a great complement to Mises's own book Socialism. He predicted and explained all of this in his 1922 treatise, and the intellectual establishment never forgave him for it. Three quarters of a century later, the book that historical documented all of Mises's predictions appeared, and the establishment has not forgiven them either. Regardless, this book is an overwhelming vindication of Mises's position.

It is simply not possible to read this book and come away with the slightest sympathy for socialist/communist theory or the states that enact policies along these lines. Not even the authors themselves fully grasp what their own documentation has done to the statist religion of our time.

Read it, but prepare to weep, and fight against everything communism was and is.

Reviews

Average Rating:
(based on 15 reviews)

Showing 1 - 5 of 15 Reviews:

RatingReviewerReview
by Winston N. Martin
on 12/2/2010
from Newcastle, WA
The Black Book of Communism
I had known about this book, as one of the Conservative Book Club's sections, for a long time. The price gave me pause, however. Eventually, I checked it out of the library. It took me about 3 months to read; I just couldn't stay with it long at one sitting because of the awful, unspeakable atrocities committed by communists and socialists--and how so many, despite the evidence, remain just as committed. I finally bought it because it is a record of tyranny like none before, and I hoped that someday a copy, perhaps my copy, might in some terrible future, be useful. And, anyway, every lover of freedom and individualism should own a copy for reference. A previous reviewer above mentions or quotes Stalin. I don't remember the exact page, but Stalin is quoted by an associate in evil as saying that someday history will vindicate their mass murders, or words to that effect, and forgive them. For those who don't get the point, Stalin knew what he was doing.
by Esuric
on 9/2/2010
from Ny
Socialist idiots
"The Soviet Union in the days of Lenin was truly a paradise"

You're an idiot. Lenin and Trotsky killed 4 million people (women and children) by mass executions and death camps. Furthermore, they entirely ruined the Russian economy. The 1920-21 famine killed between 2.5 to 5 million people, and the Rubble lost 96% of its value. Things got so bad that Lenin had to institute his "reforms," i.e., the partial liberalization of the Russian market economy. Farmers were allowed to exchange and own some property, but the state retained complete control over the heavy industries (what Lenin called, "the commanding heights). 

Clueless communist apologists are the worst. The vast majority of Americans are really Europeans and Asians that fled communist/fascist regimes--from Ukraine, to Yugoslavia, Germany, Russia, Italy, China, ect, ect. 
by Johan
on 8/28/2010
from USA
Amazing comments
"You about Stalin and Kim Jong Il murdering millions of people. The numbers are only large because they massacre people"

"Capitalism kills far worse, they do it by exploiting countries like those in Africa" 

"millions die by starvation at different times, so nobody cares."

"The Soviet Union in the days of Lenin was truly a paradise"

LOL!!!

The more I hear what socialists say the more I believe socialism is a mental illness.

The only thing worse than a psychopath is a psychopath that believes his crimes are justifiable and even benign... such is the madness of socialists.
by John
on 8/22/2010
from London
Extreme Bias
You about Stalin and Kim Jong Il murdering millions of people. The numbers are only large because they massacre people, that is kill allot of people at the same time. Capitalism kills far worse, they do it by exploiting countries like those in Africa, millions die by starvation at different times, so nobody cares. Even if you don't die in capitalism, you still suffer, the government will not kill you but you have to live on street.
by anonymous
on 8/22/2010
from new york
Misinterpretation
Stalin is the reason why people think communism is so bad; his evil ways made Pol Pot and Kim jong il do the same, the truth is they were not communists. The Soviet Union in the days of Lenin was truly a paradise, Trotsky should have been Lenin's successor but Stalin hired a Spanish communist to assassinate him. Stalin also died, without strong dictators the Soviet Union would fall to anti-communists who were originally communists but where oppressed by Stalin, so they turned to anti-communism.
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ISBN 9780674076082
Binding HC
Page Length 912
Publication Date 1999
Publisher Harvard University Press

Socialism as a Secular Creed - Paperback
Dr. Znamenski offers a sweeping look at various contexts where socialism has been tried and inevitably failed, a must-read!
Price: $40.00