Author: John G. Gurley
Publication Date: 1976
Rating: 4/5
I chose this one randomly from the university library when I didn't have anything to read. Published in 1979, the cold war and the U.S.S.R. were still very much at present, so it made for some interesting reading when Gurley wrote about the future prospects for Russia's communist nation. Challengers to Capitalism, naturally, deals solely with the four prominent communist figures of the title. Beginning with Marx, a thorough critique of capitalism is followed by a summary of the Marxist ideal. Russia in the period of Leninism then Stalinism (the less happy elements curiously glossed over) takes a large percentage of the book. Then finally, before a final condemnation of the exploitative capitalist system, the more-or-less successful endeavours (excluding, again, the unmentioned death of millions of peasants) of Mao Zedong are explored.
Clearly written by a socialist-leaning American professor, this book provides a comprehensive overview of communism's stunted rise last century. One doesn't have to be a disillusioned liberal cry-baby in order to appreciate this book. I am a privileged, white, middle-class Australian who is comfortable living in a capitalist world (even if my contentment is, some would argue, delusional. My job and my lifestyle allows me to do the things I like in life. A little hard work for a company that ultimately sees me as an insignificant and expendable source of labour isn't too much of a price to pay for me). There ain't nothing wrong with keeping an open mind though.
At the end of the day, I think communism - or at least its fundamental Marxist sentiment - is morally well-intentioned. Right-wingers would do well to understand that. The thing is it has not been perfectly put into practice - not even in China, I imagine. I would say that, like capitalism, it is an ideology with its flaws and strengths. An idea brought about by people simply trying to exist in as practicable and sustaining a way as possible. The world entire is not there yet. And, as a Christian and a conservative, I do not think it ever will be by human will alone.
