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Loading... Vad var kommunismen? : en kritisk betraktelse (edition 2012)by Tariq Ali, Henrik Celander
Work InformationThe Idea of Communism (What Was Communism?) by Tariq Ali
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November 9, 2009 will mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the monumental event that signaled the beginning of the end of Communism in the former Soviet Union. Yet, why was this collapse of Communism considered final, but the many failures of capitalism are considered temporary and episodic? In The Idea of Communism, Tariq Ali addresses this very question. The idea of Communism, argues Ali, was simple and noble. The Communist Manifesto, which advocated the creation of a society based on the principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” rather than a system based on greed and profit, appealed to millions all over the globe.nbsp; However, Ali argues that the vision of society adumbrated by the founders of Communism was a far cry from what became known as actually existing socialism in the Soviet Union and China. The Communist system that developed ignored Engels’s belief that a workers’ movement and its victory were inconceivable without freedom of the press and assembly. This freedom, Engels insisted, “is the air it needs to breathe. Here, in a thought-provoking re-evaluation, Ali argues that a new form of socialism and global planning is vital to save the planet from capitalist and environmental degradation. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)335Social sciences Economics Socialism and related systemsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.07)
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I suppose it’s hardly surprising given recent events that Amazon should be awash with radical print. Depending on how you viewed the financial crisis in the first place, this is either the seizing of a golden opportunity or cynical publishers making hay while the sun shines before the inevitable retrenchment.
Tariq Ali’s “The Idea Of Communism” is, I expect, an example of the former.
It’s a timely potted history and whilst there’s nothing new to me it’s a useful primer for anyone puzzled with how seemingly intelligent people (I flatter myself) can defend it. If I have any reservations it would only be with his conclusion that capitalist democracy was a long time coming and had its own dictators (Cromwell, Robespierre, Napoleon etc…) so we should anticipate similar setbacks in a transition to socialism. Whilst perfectly true, it is never the less troublesome. It seems to suggest the Stalinist excesses and denial of workers liberty in Russia and the satellite states were in some sense inevitable and therefore legitimate. I suppose if you cleave to the idea of Stalinist Russia being a workers state (albeit one of the Heinz’s varieties of degenerated / degenerate / deformed / with bureaucratic deformation etc…) you paint yourself into this corner. However, for someone with Ali’s impeccable anti-imperialist credentials it’s ironic that his position reminds me of the US’s defence of My Lai – In order to save the village we had to destroy it.
That aside, as a famous German playwright said “It’s a good thing for you find out more about it”. This is as good a place to start as any. (