American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

The Nature of Communism by Robert V. DanielsReview by: William B. BallisThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Summer, 1963), pp. 231-232Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/304652 .

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Reviews 231

Ian Grey. Catherine the Great: Autocrat and Empress of All Russia: Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1962. 254 pp., $6. 00.

This is a successor volume to Mr. Grey's biography of Peter the Great and will presumably be followed by other biographies of noted Rus- sian ruldrs, making Grey a kind of contemporary Waliszewski.

The author, an Australian who served in Moscow during the Second World War on the British Military Mission, who later helped publish the British Russian-language newspaper, and who also helped present Rus- sian-language broadcasts over BBC, has considerable knowledge of both the primary and secondary materials available on this dazzling and am- bitious Russian ruler. However, the volume is essentially an old-fashioned personal and political biography, essentially designed for the popular reader. Catherine is painted with all her shortcomings and foibles and emerges clearly as less significant than Peter. Mr. Grey clearly is well informed concerning the reign as well as the ruler and tries to place Catherine in the perspective of earlier and later Russian history, but the volume is basically court history and provides little information concern- ing the Russia beyond the court and the army.

Robert F. Byrnes Indiana University

Roger Pethybridge. A Key to Soviet Politics: The Crisis of the Anti-Party Group. New York: F. A. Praeger [c. 1962]. 207 pp., $5. 50.

This little book, which the author says "has been written almost en- tirely from Soviet sources, " covers familiar ground plowed by Fainsod, Lowenthal, Armstrong, Conquest, Leonhard, and others. But it goes into much more detail than the articles and books of the aforementioned writers. Roger Pethybridge, one of the first Oxford exchange students to study at Moscow University, prepared this study as a thesis for the Graduate In- stitute of International Studies in Geneva where he is now an Assistant Profe ss or. He comes up with no startling new conclusions about the intra-Party struggle of June, 1957, but presents an enormous amount of background material and analyzes the implications of the victory of Xru[?ev in the struggle. It is a well written and exceedingly well docu- mented study.

Robert V. Daniels. The Nature of Communism. New York, Random House [c. 1962]. xvi, 398 pp.

Robert V. Daniels, author of many impressive works on the history of Communism, has written in this volume a valuable analysis of Commun- ism from the standpoint of theory, history, strategy, Russian and world ideology. The book takes the reader through ten chapter-essays on vari- ous aspects of Communism. Daniels points out how Communism as a theory is quite different from the way it was applied in Russia and how it developed as an international movement. One of Daniels' most imagina-

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232 The Slavic and East European Journal

tive essays is on Communism as a faith. He justifiably shows how it is a "faith movement" not unlike the development of Christianity. Though Daniels' analysis of Communism presents no startling new revelations, the precise way in which many of his assertions are presented make it a delightful book to read. He dissects Communism with the deft hand of the trained and knowledgeable master who shows the effects of many years of research, reflection, and writing on this subject. The book ends with an extensive twelve-page bibliographical essay.

William B. Ballis University of Michigan

Vladimir Katkoff. Soviet Economy, 1940-1965. Baltimore, Md.. Dangary Publishing Co., 1961. xi, 559 pp.

According to its author this book has " several major purposes": it aims to describe the organization of the economy before and after Stalin, appraise its potential and compare its achievements to those of the United States. The description of the operation of the economy is set against the geographical and ideological backdrop of Russia and the USSR. The book has 20 chapters: it starts with Geography, Population and "Ad- ministrative Apparatus" (Chapters 1-3), passes through various economic chapters to the Bureaucracy (Chapter 11) , Education, Health and Welfare (Chapter 15), and ends with the challenge to the West (Chapter 20).

Ambitious in its design, the book is rather wanting in its main object, namely the analysis of the modus operandi of the Soviet economy. The author was apparently unaware of the vast body of literature produced in this field in the West notably during the past decade. Awareness with this literature would have probably oriented his research on appreciably different lines. The author has, however, the merit of bringing together a large and varied amount of data which will certainly prove useful to the readers of the volume.

Tung-Li Yuan. Russian Works on China, 1918-1960, in American Li- braries. (Far Eastern Publications) New Haven: Yale University, 1961. xiv, 162 pp.

Dr. Yuan's book will be welcomed by all those interested in the Rus- sian contributions to the study of China.

The entries are grouped in the book under six major divisions: (1) China proper, (2) Northeastern provinces, (3) Mongolia, (4) Sinkiang, (5) Tibet, and (6) Taiwan, with subdivisions for bibliographies, general works, history, economics, literature, etc. The entries are made in ac- cordance with the Library of Congress rules.

.While the bibliography covers, as the title indicates, all the Russian works in the United States libraries, unfortunately it does not specify their exact location-a fact which may impair its usefulness for some researchers. This is not meant, however, to detract from the very care- ful and valuable work done by Dr. Yuan.

Nicolas Spulber Indiana University

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