Communism By Richard Pipes Analysis
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Communism: A History written by Richard Pipes was published by Random House LLC on November 6, 2001. It has 175 pages with 157 pages of actual reading on communism, excluding the preface. Pipes is a Jewish Polish-American, that specializes in Russian history, his work is most prominent in the Soviet Union. He was educated at Muskingum College, Cornell University, and Harvard University. He began teaching at Harvard University in 1958, retiring in 1996. Within this time he was the director of Harvard 's Russian Research Center. In 1976 he headed Team B, a team of analysts organized by the Central Intelligence Agency who analyzed the strategic capacities and goals of the Soviet military and political leadership. He was a leading critic of détente.
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As stated in the preface, his wish was to determine through the book “whether [Communism’s] failure was due to human error or to flaws in its very nature”(ix) . Although he covered its theory, he decided to focus more on the actual implementation of communism in practice and its affect on the humans and the countries that were influenced --negatively-- by it. Pipes comes to the conclusion that: “Communism was not a good idea that went wrong; it was a bad idea.” He is very clear and confident with this statement. I appreciate that. He shows how the people that Stalin and communist leaders became were just as ‘corrupt’ as these …show more content…
Cuba was in a favorable location for its temporary success to be achieved. Its proximity to the United States allowed the people that did not support the revolution, mainly those above the middle class to escape to Florida. Now, most, if not all, of the population supported the revolution. Cuba is also in a climate were growing food is easier than it is in Russia. Although, Cubans failed to take advantage of this situation due to lack of agricultural knowledge except for sugarcane. There were not as many people to feed in Cuba as in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, there was still violence and brutality, mostly thanks to Che Guevara. Even after general support, the government(Castro) still assumed "a dictatorial
As stated in the preface, his wish was to determine through the book “whether [Communism’s] failure was due to human error or to flaws in its very nature”(ix) . Although he covered its theory, he decided to focus more on the actual implementation of communism in practice and its affect on the humans and the countries that were influenced --negatively-- by it. Pipes comes to the conclusion that: “Communism was not a good idea that went wrong; it was a bad idea.” He is very clear and confident with this statement. I appreciate that. He shows how the people that Stalin and communist leaders became were just as ‘corrupt’ as these …show more content…
Cuba was in a favorable location for its temporary success to be achieved. Its proximity to the United States allowed the people that did not support the revolution, mainly those above the middle class to escape to Florida. Now, most, if not all, of the population supported the revolution. Cuba is also in a climate were growing food is easier than it is in Russia. Although, Cubans failed to take advantage of this situation due to lack of agricultural knowledge except for sugarcane. There were not as many people to feed in Cuba as in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, there was still violence and brutality, mostly thanks to Che Guevara. Even after general support, the government(Castro) still assumed "a dictatorial