INTRODUCTION: Why a 20th Century Exercise in the 21st Century

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS v
3. INTRODUCTION: Why a 20th Century Exercise in the 21st Century 7
4. PART ONE: FANTASIES OF SALVATION
5. German Communism, the Jews, and Israel 27
6. Euphoria to Decay 37
7. Getting off the Red Tram of Socialism 55
8. The Rise, Demise, and Pernicious Long-Term Impact of Soviet Communist Ideology in Russia 75
9. PART TWO: ECONOMICS
10. The Comparative Assessment of Communist and Post-Communist System Performance and Human Wellbeing 97
11. Communist Economy 119
12. Looking Back at the Soviet Economic Experience 141
13. Incentives, Coercion, and Redistribution 155
14. The Rise and Fall of the Planned Economy and Its Long-Lasting Effects on Transition 189
15. PART THREE: POLITICS
16. Romancing a Millenarian State 207
17. Stalin, Tito, Djilas, and the Dialectical Quarrels of Post-war Europe 219
18. China’s Enduring Leninist Toolkit 233
19. Reductio ad Reaganum 249
20. Ideology and Violence in Communist Venezuela 269
21. PART FOUR: SOCIETY AND CULTURE
22. Communist Rhetoric as Official Practices of Discourse 293
23. Selective Repression and Democratic Opposition in Post-Totalitarian Hungary 313
24. Lost in Protochronia: Ideological Dada in Ceaușescu’s Romania 335
25. The Road to Liberation Theology 351
26. Philosophical Lessons from the Bolshevik Experiment 367
27. List of Contributors 379
28. Index 385