Book Reviews and Notices : Gandhi and Stalin: Two Signs at the World's Crossroads. By Louis Fischer. (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. 1947. Pp. 183. $2.50.)
| Published date | 01 September 1949 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591294900200325 |
| Date | 01 September 1949 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
443
for
an
ideology;
some
examine
their
subject
with
objectivity.
Some
of
the
contributions
are
careful,
critical
studies;
others
are
hurried
and
un-
focused
effusions.
Moreover,
there
is
no
discernible
principle
of
or-
ganization
in
the
sequence
of
the
articles.
Rather,
the
volume
is
an
anthology
of
separate
papers
loosely
held
together
by
a
general
mission
to
discuss
aspects
of
the
ideologies
of
the
twentieth
century.
Because
of
these
characteristics,
the
content
of
the
book
is
best
sug-
gested
by
a
review
of
the
chapter
titles.
In
sequence,
these
are:
Me-
chanics
of
European
Politics,
Communism,
Socialism,
European
Trade
Unionism,
Consumer
Cooperation
and
the
Freedom
of
Man,
Liberalism
in
Crisis,
The
Liberal
Tradition
in
Russia,
The
Evolution
of
Anarchism
and
Syndicalism,
Anarchism
and
Anarcho-Syndicalism,
Agrarianism,
The
Destinies
of
the
Russian
Peasantry,
Catholicism
and
Politics,
Nationalism,
Regionalism
and
Separatism,
Zionism,
Anti-Semitism,
The
Origins
of
Fascism,
Hispanidad
and
Falangism,
Pangermanism,
Nazism,
Panslavism,
European
Pacifism
and
Internationalism,
European
Federalism,
Parallelism
and
Progress,
Economic
Planning
Without
Statism,
Humanism
and
the
Labor
Movement.
Certain
of
these
titles
may
be
noted
as
being
particu-
larly
interesting:
&dquo;Agrarianism,&dquo;
by
G.
M.
Dimitrov;
&dquo;Catholicism
and
Politics,&dquo;
by
Alfredo
Mendizabel;
&dquo;Zionism,&dquo;
by
Jacob
Lestchinski,
and
&dquo;European
Federalism,&dquo;
by
R.
D.
Lang.
Several
characteristics
are
disclosed
by
consideration
of
the
volume
as
a
whole.
First,
it
does
not
purport
to
be
and
is
not
a
thorough
survey
of
European
ideologies.
Secondly,
partly
as
a
reflection
of
European
politics,
it
strongly
emphasizes
socialist
ideologies.
Totalitarian
thought
earns
a
second
place,
and
liberal
thought
is
in
an
extremely
weak
third
position.
Finally,
in
spite
of
the
title,
a
disproportionate
amount
of
atten-
tion
is
lavished
on
eighteenth
and,
especially,
nineteenth
century
ideolo-
gies.
In
brief,
the
book
is
a
useful,
but
not
a
uniformly
useful,
com-
pendium
on
the
subject.
University
of
California
at
Los
Angeles.
THOMAS
P.
JENKIN.
Gandhi
and
Stalin:
Two
Signs
at
the
World’s
Crossroads.
By
Louis
Fischer.
(New
York:
Harper
&
Brothers
Publishers.
1947.
Pp.
183.
$2.50.)
This
book
is
not
a
biography
nor
yet
a
contrast
of
testaments
of
the
two
men
named
in
the
title.
It
is
rather
a
serious
attempt
to
chart
a
path-
way
for
troubled
humanity
in
a
troubled
world.
That
one
may
differ
on
specific
remedies
is
not
a
detriment
to
the
value
of
this
book.
Funda-
mentally
it
is
an
invitation
to
think.
As
such
it
deserves
to
be
read
by
all
persons
who
believe
in
the
possibility
of
saving
our
democratic
institutions
in
a
world
tending
towards
totalitarianism.
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