We live, dead to the land beneath us,
Ten steps away no one hears our speeches.But where there’s so much as half a conversation
The Kremlin's mountaineer will get his mention.His fingers are fat as grubs,
And the words, final as lead weights, fall from his mouth.His cockroache whiskers leer
And his boot tops gleam.Around him a rabble of ring-necked leaders -
Fawning half men for him to play with.They whinny, purr or whine.
As he prates and points a finger.One by one forging his laws, to be flung
Like horeseshoes at the head, the eye or the groin.And every killing is a treat
-- Oslip Mandelshtam
For the broad-chested Ossete.
This is just a bibliography. I have posted bibliographies before. I want people that are sympathetic to socialism of some sort or another. As usual, I am limited to works in or translated to English. Some of these examples are not clearly anti-communist. These are a mixture of novels and non-fiction. Some of these I have not read. I am sure this selection can be expanded.
- Richard Crossman (ed.). 1949. The God that Failed
- Milovan Djilas. 1957. The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System. London: Thames and Hudson.
- Stefan Heym. 2022. Radek: A Novel. Monthly Review Press.
- Arthur Koestler. 1941. Darkness at Noon. Macmillan
- Janos Kornai. 1992. The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. Princeton University Press.
- Nadezhda Mandelshtam. 1999. Hope Against Hope: A Memoir. Random House.
- George Orwell. 1945. Animal Farm.
- Boris Pasternak. 1957. Doctor Zhivago. New York: Pantheon Books.
- Francis Spufford. 2012. Red Plenty. Graywolf Press.
- Eugene Zamiatin. 1924. We
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2 comments:
One thing I would note, that "anti-Communist" can include socialists -- Orwell being the classic example.
I've seen Emma Goldman listed as an "anti-Communist" in spite of her being an anarchist-communist -- she was anti-Communist because she recognised it was not communism, but state-capitalism. Kropotkin, likewise, could be listed as an "anti-Communist" in spite (or because!) of him being a libertarian communist.
The following are of note:
My Disillusionment in Russia — Emma Goldman
My Further Disillusionment in Russia — Emma Goldman
There Is No Communism in Russia — Emma Goldman
Plus other writings including in this book: From Russia with Critique
Letter to the workers of the west -- Peter Kropotkin (in Direct Struggle Against Capital)
There are more critiques of the Soviet Union from a socialist perspective (for example, by council communists like Paul Mattick) -- whether "anti-Communist" is the best term for these is another matter!
I guess I am using "communist" narrowly, to mean the parties governing no-longer-actually-existing socialism. I do not know why I do not manage to read more anarchists.
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