Reviews for What Happened to the Soviet Union?: How and Why American Sovietologists Were Caught by Surprise

The average rating for What Happened to the Soviet Union?: How and Why American Sovietologists Were Caught by Surprise based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-07-14 00:00:00 Twylia Suttle The book From Darkness to Light takes on the monumental task of reinterpreting the communist government that was installed in Russia after the October Revolution. According to Halfin, the Marxist revolution, while its advocates claimed to be secular, were unconsciously Christian in their actions and in the creation of the Marxist ideology which differed from the original course of events laid out by Marx himself. The strength of Halfin's book resides in this examination of religion and the Marxist doctrine; though, it is not a new subject. Hans Blumenberg and Elaine Pagels have looked at the similarities between early Marxist ideology and the Gnostic gospels. The difference is that Halfin claims that the similarities were purposefully created, though it may have been done at the unconscious level, it was still created. One of the major similarities that Halfin points out is the Eschatological comparison between Marxism and Judeo-Christian beliefs. In this respect, time is on a set line with markers that are reached and eventually end at the ultimate goal of paradise or the commune of man. There are other similarities, like signs that can be interpreted to show the coming of the end. With being able to predict the end, there can be a level of control in these events, like jumpstarting the apocalypse or jumpstarting communism like Lenin and the Bolsheviks did. It is not only the end of time and history that Halfin claims are the same between Marxism and Judeo-Christian religion, but also the beginning and middle. Both start off with man in the ideal paradise like the Garden of Eden where everything is perfect. However, man strayed from this perfect place to capitalist society. In the end, they would all be delivered to paradise by their messiah. In the case of Judeo-Christian this was God, but the Marxist messiah was the proletariat. The proletariat's role as its own messiah is not as straight forward as it seems. While they are to be the prophesied messiah that will usher in the new world order, they do not know it, only the quasi-prophets of the intelligentsia know of this. It becomes their job later to awaken this ancient god from its slumber to lead them to into the light of communism. Halfin compares the intelligentsia and proletariat to the two faced god Janus looking forward and back. The resemblance is ill suited, if anything this is more of a symbiotic relationship at best. With the rising of the proletariat as they became more educated and aware of their power, the intelligentsia would become dependent on the proletariat to live as the proletariat would become dependent on the intelligentsia for knowledge and strength. At this point Halfin's writings take a turn and the intelligentsia, instead of creating a god out of the proletariat, they create a hero and the intelligentsia becomes a government to glorify this hero. The purity of this heroic class is then put into question based on family history of job types, political affiliations, and personal life. This, instead of bringing every one into a single class, alienates and stratifies the population while creating a class that favored above all else. This shows the inherent problem of communism, in that the ultimate goal is to equalize all people, but they create an elitist class that every one strives to be and if they are not of this class they are disadvantaged economical and politically. If Halfin's ultimate goal was to claim that the communist revolution in Russia was religious at the unconscious level, then I would have to say he failed to prove it. Halfin's arguments explain the similar ideology of Russian Marxism and of Judeo-Christian faith in detail but these are nothing more than similarities. To allude to some hidden conspiracy, that this was a secret creation of a new religion or that it would become a religion is simply not given enough evidence to support. The Catholic missionaries when trying to convert "barbarians" and "heathens" to Christianity would co-op their old culture and religion to a degree to ease the integration process. Where there where Aztec gods are now images of holy men and saints, favorite pagan holidays such as Samhain and Saturnalias become Halloween and Christmas. These ideas, while still retaining some of the original imagery, were ultimately Christian. Lenin and the leaders of the communist party could have easily done the same to help control the backward and orthodox peasants to make the transition less turbulent while slowly purifying the old. Another, less eloquent, explanation could be due to their distaste for religion, the leaders of the communist party could have been purposely mimicking religion's events and images to demine and make fun of them. A particular picture of Lenin with twelve other leaders of the party all one side of a table bears a striking resemblance to DaVinci's Last Supper. These seem the more plausible considering they have been done before with great success. It seems that they may have become a religion, but I would argue that that was not their original intent, perhaps religion as a necessary evil like the NEP. Ultimately it seems that Halfin's goals may have been unobtainable due to their subjective nature, but this is only one facet of his book. He has presents a large amount of research that points out the startling similarities between communism and Judeo-Christian religion. Halfin has also laid the ground work for future research in this field. While his final conclusion may not be true, he has shown us the communist ideology and perception in the most pure form that is possible. For that were are truly indebted to him and his work.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-12-05 00:00:00 Tom Wooster This is a riveting read. I am doing my history dissertation upon Soviet propaganda and this book has come in use more than once. When I first read it, I found myself reading continuously for hours without wanting to put it down. Definitely worth a read!