The Rise and Demise of World Communism

Description

A concise, readable, and novel interpretation of the history of communist states. Sixteen states came to be ruled by communist parties during the 20th century. One, the Soviet Union, was geographically the largest nation in the world and a superpower. Another, China, had the world's largest population. At communism's high point, its adherents envisioned global triumph. Today, however, only five communist regimes remain in power. Why? In The Rise and Demise of World Communism, George Breslauer, a specialist who has spent decades observing the evolution of communist states, provides a sweeping history of the world communist movement, focusing in particular on what communist states shared in common and why they began to differ from each other over time. Throughout, Breslauer explores the relations among communist states as well as the relations between those states and the world of increasingly affluent, and militarily formidable, democratic-capitalist powers. He finds that these regimes all came to power in the context of warfare or its aftermath, followed by the consolidation of power by a revolutionary elite that valued revolutionary violence as the preferred means to an end, based upon Marx's vision of apocalyptic revolution and Lenin's conception of party organization. As Breslauer shows, all these regimes went on to build socialism according to a Stalinist template and were initially dedicated to anti-imperialist struggle as members of a world communist movement. But their common features gave way to diversity, difference, and defiance after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. For many reasons, and in many ways, those differences soon blew apart the world communist movement and eventually led to the collapse of European communism. Even though a few communist regimes still remain in power, the dream of world communism is dead. But the future of the remaining communist regimes is uncertain. An accessible history of one of the most important political phenomena of the past 150 years, The Rise and Demise of World Communism provides readers with a crisp account of the entire movement--from the theories of Marx and Lenin to the on-the-ground policies of Stalin, Mao, Gorbachev, Deng, and other communist leaders-that culminates in our own era. COVER The Rise and Demise of World Communism Copyright TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction PART 1 1. What Did Communist Regimes Have in Common? 2. How Did Communist Regimes Differ from Each Other? 3. The World Communist Movement: From Moscow-​Centric to Pluralistic PART 2 4. Marxism: The Vision 5. Leninism: The Instrument PART 3 6. The Bolshevik Seizure of Power 7. Consolidating Bolshevik Power 8. Respite 9. Building Socialism: Stalin’s Revolution from Above 10. The Great Terror and Stalinist Despotism 11. Was Stalinism a Logical Continuation of Marxism, Leninism, or Neither? 12. Was Stalin’s Revolution from Above a Rational Strategy of Modernization? 13. Stalinism and World Communism in the 1930s 14. The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union and World Communism PART 4 15. The Creation of East European Communist States 16. Origins and Entrenchment of the Cold War, 1945–​1953 17. World War II and the Creation of Asian Communist States: The People’s Republic of China 18. Consolidating Power and “Building Socialism” in China 19. Communist Parties Come to Power in Korea and Vietnam PART 5 20. What Follows Stalinism in the USSR? 21. Diversity and Defiance within the World Communist Movement 22. “Building Communism”: Competition for Ideological “Correctness” within the World Communist Movement 23. The Sino-​Soviet Schism, 1957–​1963 24. Cuba’s Indigenous Revolution, 1959–​1970 25. The Soviet Union after Khrushchev: Bureaucratic Leninism 26. Alternatives to Utopia in China, 1960–​1965 27. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966–​1969 28. Maoism: An Accounting PART 6 29. The Collapse of the World Communist Movement and the Rise of Détente 30. Why US-​Soviet Détente Failed 31. The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, December 1979 PART 7 32. Varieties of Opposition to Bureaucratic Leninism in Eastern Europe, 1968–​1985 33. Gorbachev’s Peaceful Revolution from Above 34. Gorbachev and the Abandonment of Anti-​Imperialist Struggle PART 8 35. From Maoism to Market Leninism: The Chinese Economic Miracle after Mao 36. China in a Postcommunist World: Can Leninism Survive Market Leninism? 37. Market Leninism in Vietnam 38. Market Leninism in Laos 39. Bureaucratic Leninism in Cuba 40. Stalinism in North Korea PART 9 41. Why the Drive to Difference? 42. Assessing the Communist Experience: Tragedy or Achievement? 43. Is There a Future for New Communist States? Notes Index