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A review by niconorico
Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti
medium-paced
3.0
Great read for its target audience, which seems to be young leftists new to Marxism, Leninism, and the Workers' Republics. My primary complaint within that space is that this book provides a great deal of polemical scripts which reproduce an alienation even from other leftists, and this alienation is anything but revolutionary. Polemics is a specter that continues to haunt many vanguardists, just as it haunts society more broadly.
Outside of that audience, I think more rigorous research guidelines would have significantly strengthened Parenti's arguments. Many of his claims—as other reviewers point out—go unsupported, and the bulk are supported by (admittedly capitalist) news publications. This was a bizarre choice given that a good deal of these claims do have solid evidence out there for, which Ghodsee was able to dig up for her incredible work 'Why Women Have Better Sex Under Communism' when she touches on the same topics. This is just one example of where this has been done.
Ultimately, I think 3 stars is a bit harsh given this book is somewhat explicitly geared towards young leftists (more particularly new vanguardists), but I think it is justified in this rating in relation to other, better introductions to these topics: On misinformation, Manufacturing Consent; on life under state socialism, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism; on planned economies, Do Planned Economies Work?; on women's issues, Women Race & Class.
I hope the reader will consider consulting these works as well.
Outside of that audience, I think more rigorous research guidelines would have significantly strengthened Parenti's arguments. Many of his claims—as other reviewers point out—go unsupported, and the bulk are supported by (admittedly capitalist) news publications. This was a bizarre choice given that a good deal of these claims do have solid evidence out there for, which Ghodsee was able to dig up for her incredible work 'Why Women Have Better Sex Under Communism' when she touches on the same topics. This is just one example of where this has been done.
Ultimately, I think 3 stars is a bit harsh given this book is somewhat explicitly geared towards young leftists (more particularly new vanguardists), but I think it is justified in this rating in relation to other, better introductions to these topics: On misinformation, Manufacturing Consent; on life under state socialism, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism; on planned economies, Do Planned Economies Work?; on women's issues, Women Race & Class.
I hope the reader will consider consulting these works as well.