In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage

"IN DENIAL Historians, Communism &EspionageBy John Earl HaynesHarvey KlehrFrom the CoverThis is a book explaining how, beginning in the late 1960s, the study of American communism was taken over by “revisionist” historians who attempted to portray the United States as the aggressor in the Cold War and saw the American Communist Party (CPUSA) as an admirable force for democracy. Today, more than a decade after the death of the Soviet communism, revisionists remain dismissive of Stalin’s crimes and greatly underscore the degree to which the CPUSA apologized for Stalinism and assisted Soviet espionage. Under their influence, the leading historical journals continue to teach that America’s rejection of the Communist Party was a tragic error, that American Communists were actually unsung heroes working for democratic ideals, and that those anticommunist liberals and conservatives who fought against the CPUSA in the 1950s were contemptible villains.Haynes and Klehr discuss the astounding intellectual contortions that leading academics, including two former presidents of the Organization of American Historians, go through in order to distort historical record on American communism and Soviet espionage. They detail how revisionists have either ignored the revelations from the Soviet archives and Venona or tried to minimize their importance, and how they continue to insist, against all evidence, that Alger Hiss, Julius Rosenberg, Harry Dexter White, Lauchlin Currie, and others who betrayed the United States were more sinned against than sinning.In analyzing the work of leading American scholars who still whitewash Stalin’s regime and its American supporters, John Haynes and Harvey Klehr have stepped into the middle of one of the bitterest controversies in our intellectual life. In Denial makes clear that while communism may be dead, conflict over the meaning of the Communist experience in America is still very much with us.The enormous human cost of communism barely registers in American intellectual life. Worse, a sizeable cadre of American intellectuals now openly applaud and apologize for one of the bloodiest ideologies of human history, and instead of being treated as pariahs, they hold distinguished positions in American higher education and cultural life. How is it possible that the memory of Communist crimes could have vanished so swiftly while the memory of Nazi crimes remains so fresh? Because of the BIG Lies, from America’s so-called historians. The following Communist apologists, Explaining Away the Documents-ignoring, minimizing or obfuscating facts that might put American communism in poor light.From the book:Jerry F. Hough of Duke University, Shelia Fitzpatrick of the University of Chicago, Robert Thurston University of Ohio, J. Arch Getty University of California, Alfred Rieber University of Pennsylvania, Peter M. Irons University of California, Gabriel Kolko-influential revisionist-Katyn Massacre-no evidenceTheodore Von Laue-approves of mass murder as a means of social modernizationBarbara Foley an English professor at Rutgers University, Grover Furr an English professor at Montclair State University, Fredric Jameson at Duke University,David Caute, The Great Fear: The Anti-Communist Purge under Truman and EisenhowerRobert Griffith-radicalism a good thing, opposition to it, was foulEric Foner the Dewitt Professor at Columbia University, past president of both the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association and also a member of a well-known family of Communists; his father and two uncles lost teaching jobs because of their communist party membership. In The Story of American Freedom, published in 1998 and lavishly praised in academia, Foner made the American Communist Party into a heroic organization that profoundly changed American history for the better, “the center of gravity for a broad democratic upsurge,” and one of the “focal points of a broad social and intellectual impulse, a ‘cultural front’ that helped to redraw the boundaries of American freedom.” His account of the American Communist Party was so unbalanced that Theodore Draper judged it “bizarre.” noting in his book Foner had shown “no such enthusiasm for any other organization in all of American history.”Herbert Aptheker-longtime Communist and historianGerda Lerner professor of history emerita at the University of Wisconsin and president of the Organization of American History in 1981was an early sign of the leading role achieved by radical historians in professional associations. Lerner was a Communist until after Khrushchev’s confirmation of Stalin’s crime. After dropping out of the CPUSA she became a “post-Marxist” radical as well as a pioneering feminist historian.See No EvilPaul Buhle- a New Left activist, Dan Georgakas-New York U, Michael J. Heale-Communism apologist, Michael Brown-Northeastern University, Mark Naison-Fordham University, Gerald Horne U of NC, Paul Lyons-Stockton CollegeEllen Schrecker- Yeshiva University Robin D.G. Kelley-New York U-revisionist historian, Norman Markowitz- Rutgers University, Alan Wald- University of Michigan, Alan Singer-Hofstra University, Blanche Wiesen Cook-New YorkJoel Kovel-Bard College, Fraser Ottanelli- U of South Florida, Edward Johanningsmeier- U of Delaware, Michael E. Parrish- U of California,A Conspiracy Theory, or Plain LiesWilliam Reuben-Journalist, Victor Navasky-The Nation, William Kunstler-radical lawyer, Bernice Schrank-Professor Memorial University Canada, Malcolm Sylvers- radical American historian, Michael Karni- Communism apologist,Michael Rogin U of California, Berkeley, Robbie Lieberman- Professor Southern Illinois, Bernard Knox- Professor Harvard-Yale, Dr. Peter Carroll, chair of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.Lies about SpiesJames Patterson-holder of the Ford Foundation Chair of American History at Brown University- denial of the Soviets in Katyn Forrest Massacre of Polish OfficersBernice Schrank-Professor Memorial University CanadaNorman Markowitz- Rutgers UniversityJohn Lowenthal-Professor City University New YorkWishing Away Archival EvidenceRoger Sandilands- Communist apologist -Professor U of Strathclyde Great BritainBernice Schrank-Professor Memorial University CanadaJohn Lowenthal-Professor City University New YorkVictor Navasky-The NationAthan Theoharis-Professor Marquette UniversityJames Boughton-Former Professor Indiana UniversityFrom Denial to JusticationVictor Navasky-The NationBernice Schrank-Professor Memorial University CanadaWalter and Miriam SchneirMichael E. Parrish- U of CaliforniaJoel Kovel-Communist apologistCorliss Lamont-Columbia UBruce Craig-historian that believes that those who spied for Stalin did for good reasons.Constructing a Myth of a Lost CauseEllen Schrecker- Yeshiva UniversityRobert Korstad-Duke UniversityNelson Lichtenstein- U of CaliforniaAlan Wald- University of Michigan

While this short book can hardly be said to be Haynes and Klehr’s most important work, it is perhaps their most entertaining and it provides a nice "big picture" discussion of the evidence and debate over American Communism. There has long been debate over American Communism, whether they were spying for the Soviets, and so on. Many (especially on the right, but many liberals as well) have long held that there was extensive Communist infiltration and Soviet espionage in the Roosevelt administration and that the crack down in the 50s was necessary if perhaps too aggressive in hindsight. The far left vehemently denied everything, insisting on the absolute innocence of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs and generally attempting to portray the CPUSA as a plucky band of idealists with minimal connection to the USSR. Well, they were wrong. Or more likely just straight up lying.Their case was already weak by the 1970s when Weinstein's book on the Hiss case was published. But sometimes power matters more than evidence. The radicals (many of whom were themselves red diaper babies) had started taking over the universities in the 60s. These radicals became known as the “revisionist” school, as distinct from the earlier “traditionalist” school that had a more straightforward, common sense view of Communism and the CPUSA. So complete has been the dominance of this pink revisionist school that the most prestigious academic journals went decades without publishing anything critical of the CPUSA and American educational curricula feature frequent denunciations of McCarthyism as a hallucinatory overreaction against the poor misunderstood Communists.The real shake up occurred with the fall of the Soviet Union. H&K were some of the first Western researchers to get a look at the newly opened Soviet archives. They found documents in the Comintern files as well as the CPUSA records (which were sent to Moscow for storage) and this archive work utterly demolished the myths the revisionists had been peddling.The core of the book is H&K quoting the desperate apologetics of a wide selection of revisionist authors. This is great because you get to sample the kind of trash these people write without having to wade through all their books yourself or give them any money. They cover a range of authors. At one red hot extreme are the actual Stalinists who try to downplay Uncle Joe’s barbarity (this group is thankfully no longer very common). Most prefer to focus on defending the CPUSA. But now that the evidence is overwhelming, many of the revisionists have had to make some reluctant concessions and then add their pro-Communist spin. This book was published in 2003. I don’t know whether the situation has improved much in academia since then. My impression is that the “revisionists” like Ellen Schrecker still seem to be up to their same old tricks. And unfortunately most Americans still hear a lot about McCarthyism and Hollywood blacklists and very little of the reality of the CPUSA.One minor annoyance I had with the book is that while I understand why they refrain from pointing out the ethnic angle that’s often at play, I thought they went over-the-top by setting up their entire argument with a lengthy analogy to Holocaust denial. I had to chuckle when they naively wonder, “How is it possible that the memory of Communist crimes could have vanished so swiftly while the memory of Nazi crimes remains so fresh?”

Great overview of the history of Communism and spies in te USA. A lot of lies have been told about the Red Scare of the 1950s and Sen. Joe McCarthy and these two authors help explain the real back story.

この作品に描かれているのは、驚愕のアメリカの歴史学会の現状です。そこでは、学会の専門誌は、アメリカ共産党へのノスタルジアとソヴィエト共産主義ならびにそのスパイの弁護に執着する修正主義者によってのっとられています。もはや、伝統主義者の活動する余地は限りなく狭まれています。著者のamerican communismシリーズによるソヴィエトの原資料の発掘によって最後の証拠を突きつけられた修正主義者たちには、もう学問的には逃げる場所はありません。しかし事実を直視できない彼等が、どのような詭弁と論理のすり替えにと倒錯的な解釈よって、この難局を切り抜けようとしているのかが、細かく描写されています。この部分は、日本も同じです。最後までわからないのはなぜアメリカにこのような修正主義者が存在するのかです。最後に著者は、地上には存在し得ない共産主義の楽園への郷愁を、南北戦争前の南部へのノスタルジーと比較していますが、ここは日本人にはなかなかピンとこない点ですね。