American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Soviet Imperialism by G. A. TokaevReview by: Gerhart NiemeyerThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1958), p. 67Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/304702 .

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Reviews 67

He sadly comments that "Khrushchev and his colleagues have exhibited no faith in Burke ... "

Certain Soviet myths are accepted at face value. The ezovidina, for instance, is interpreted as an instance of the N.K.V.D.'s "exceeding its authority" and "overdoing its as- signment" (p. 64). Stalin's rationalization of the terror is ad- duced, ostensibly to show why Soviet citizens accept the terror. But do they ? Obliquely, and perhaps unintentionally, Profes- sor Hazard implies that the membership of the C. P. S. U. is a representative cross section of the population. Why else would he have picked a worker, a clerk, and a chicken farm brigadier as examples of rank-and-file party members ? (p. 32.)

Focusing his sight on the "democratic forms," Professor Hazard dances a gingerly dance of the eggs around the oppres- sive features of Soviet government. Like the monolithic school he criticizes, he therefore misses the chance of devis- ing a model of Soviet government in which democracy, tyranny, and several other features of this system fall into their func- tional places. Such a book has yet to be written.

Alfred G. Meyer Michigan State University

G. A. Tokaev. Soviet Imperialism. New York: Philosophical Library, 1956. 73 pp., $2.75.

The title of this book is misleading. It is an essay, not on imperialism, but on facts concerning Soviet military and in- dustrial organization, plus some generalizations on Soviet strategy. This material was compiled by E. S. Virpsha and E. Sykes from various published lectures of Engineer Colonel Tokaev, a defector from Soviet Russia. The editors "deliber- ately shortened" the parts of the original lectures which dealt with Soviet military, political, and military philosophical doc- trine-precisely the part that would have told Western readers about the motivations behind Soviet imperialism. What re- mains is a collection of facts, most of which are familiar to attentive readers of Western newspapers, plus a few state- ments of the author's opinion, as, for instance: "We should dismiss as false the idea prevalent in many Western countries that Russia never initiates an offensive war." The most puz- zling question about this little book is: Why did the Philosoph- ical Library see fit to include it in its list of publications ?

Gerhart Niemeyer University of Notre Dame

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