Briefer Notice
Work, Hack & Greenebaum, Peter & H., I.
THE RISE OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE, by Jan Librach. Praeger University Series. 380 pp., paper $2.50. The following statement appears on page 77 of this book: "It is possible that the Kremlin,...
...In 1934 Moscow appeared to limit itself to 'guiding' the weak leftwing government, not openly dominated by Communists...
...Librarians will find this work indispensable...
...The author, who allegedly was a Polish diplomat, writes with moral indignation about diplomatic maneuvers which all countries and all statesmen have used at all times but which apparently are not allowed to the Soviet Union, particularly in dealing with Poland...
...Praeger University Series...
...others may be struck by the way the idealism and corruption of the immediate past can break through even a bibliography...
...A BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH BRIEF NOTES, by Walter Goldwater...
...on the other hand, the present study is in such a hurry to be "over-all" that it devotes to the China policy of Lenin and Stalin up to 1928 altogether 3 (three) lines...
...The following statement appears on page 77 of this book: "It is possible that the Kremlin, fearing the adverse effect a Communist rule in Spain would have in France and England, did not press for the establishment of a Soviet Republic...
...There would be no reason to review this utterly worthless, confused and poorly written compilation, had not the publisher established a certain reputation in the field of Soviet studies...
...It is described as `the most vituperative paper ever issued.' " And it was...
...By contrast we are treated to detailed ac counts of border clashes after the conclusion of peace with Finland in 1921 or of Colonel Beck's thoughts in 1934...
...yet he raises for this fabrication the claim that "rno comparable over-all study of Soviet foreign policy has been attempted...
...that the Soviet Union did not even have diplomatic relations with Spain before 1936 and had no means of "guiding" any Spanish government until well after the outbreak of the civil war...
...THE RISE OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE, by Jan Librach...
...The whole history of American radicalism can be found, in alphabetical order, in these notes...
...RADICAL PERIODICALS IN AMERICA, 1890-1950...
...This was the time of the Communist popular front line...
...51 pp...
...New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964...
...Yet the China policy was the subject of a major debate in the Comintern and in the Russian party...
...It is hard to imagine a book more out of focus, and moreover, its attitude and style betray the ranting anti-Bolshevism which by now should be banished from serious debate...
...Any elementary textbook would tell the author that in 1934 Spain had a right-wing government which suppressed an uprising of the miners in Asturias and of Catalan regionalists...
...This bibliography, listing and annotating radical periodicals known and unknown, is a work of meticulous scholarship enlivened by occasional touches of wry comment...
...that the popular front tactics were adopted by the Seventh World Congress in August 1935...
...The reading list of any introductory course in the field will provide him with at least three titles...
...My own favorite entry is that for "Workers Challenge," a paper issued in 1922: "Weekly organ of the United Toilers, a split from the Communist Party, edited by Harry M. Wicks...
...On the strength of earlier publications for which he has earned the thanks of the scholars, he now is selling books of diminishing value...
Vol. 12 • January 1965 • No. 1
