EMPIRE AND REVOLUTION

by David Horowitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 29, 1969

Horowitz's important work in cold war revisionist history has been criticized as lacking an analysis of the roots of the expansionist and counter-revolutionary policies he demonstrates. This book is an ill-organized, or perhaps over-structured, attempt to develop a theory of revolution and a theory of imperialism. The first aim leads to extended examination of the Russian revolution. Horowitz neither extrapolates nor applies a general thesis of his own; but he succeeds in amplifying socialist thought in relation to certain major problems, including the failure of revolution in Western Europe and the impossibility of bourgeois-democratic revolution in ""underdeveloped"" countries. In pursuing his second aim, he cites various past contributions but seems a long way from his own formulation. Evidently he has just begun to connect capitalist development to imperialist policy, and he is still working out his version of economic determinism. These theoretical ambitions make the book more exciting and more frustrating than his earlier essays. Of course, his sprawling material has considerable independent value. Indeed, sometimes he seems to address the stranger in his historical territory who still thinks the Russian revolution was a massacre before the Allies intervened, or knows nothing about Hitler's ties with big capital. The au courant student will latch on to the new departures. All of which adds up to sizable demand and substantial reward.

Pub Date: May 29, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION