Book Reviews : Communism in American Politics. By DAVID J. SAPOSS. (Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1960. Pp. viii, 259. $5.00.)

• Published date: 01 September 1961
• Date: 01 September 1961
• Author: Richard C. Gripp
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400338
• Subject Matter: Articles

799

result

from

displacement

of

American

output

by

goods

from

abroad.

The

esti-

mates

deal

with

effects

that

occur

when

imports

of

a

specified

amount

replace

the

domestic

production

of

each

of

seventy-two

industries.

They

also

deal

with

the

offsetting

effects

on

employment

that

might

be

expected

if

American

exports

increase

as

a

result

of

the

rise

in

imports.

The

authors’

&dquo;Summary

of

Findings

and

Their

Significance&dquo;

is

so

extensive

that

it

would

be

unfair

even

to

try

to

list

most

of

them.

General

economic

in-

stability,

for

instance,

the

authors

conclude,

is

a

far

greater

threat

to

total

em-

ployment

than

the

competition

of

imports

resulting

from

reduction

of

import

barriers.

The

problem

of

providing

new

jobs

for

workers

who

might

be

displaced

as

a

result

of

greater

foreign

competition

would

only

slightly

aggrevate

the

broader

task

of

providing

jobs

to

sustain

normal

economic

growth.

Or,

one

of

the

central

conclusions

is

that

the

short-run

impact

of

further

reductions

in

import

barriers

on

total

employment

would

be

slight

for

the

economy

as

a

whole,

but

that

it

could

impose

hardship

on

industries

directly

affected.

Loaded

also

with

Appendices

and

numerous

tables

and

charts,

the

book

is

a

model

of

thorough

scholarship.

University

of

Bridgeport

JOSEPH

S.

ROUCEK

Communism

in

American

Politics.

By

DAVID

J.

SAPOSS.

(Washington:

Public

Affairs

Press,

1960.

Pp.

viii,

259.

$5.00.)

In

his

preface

to

the

book,

Saposs

recounts

a

lifetime

of

research

and

obser-

vation

concerning

communist

activities;

he

notes,

among

other

observations,

that

Khrushchev’s

recent

visit

to

the

United

States

has

somewhat

&dquo;softened

the

underbelly

of

democracy.&dquo;

The

book’s

purpose,

consequently,

is

to

alert

once

again

the

American

people

toward

the

menace

of

communism.

The

author

briefly

covers

the

early

history

of

the

CP-USA.

He

traces

its

development

through

its

varied

activities,

both

direct

and

&dquo;united

front,&dquo;

in

Washington

State,

California,

Minnesota,

and

in

the

American

Labor

party.

Almost

half

of

the

book

deals

with

the

Progressive

party

and

its

relationship

to

the

communist

movement

in

the

late

1940’s.

This

latter

treatment

is

quite

extensive,

constituting

a

piece-by-piece,

historical

account.

The

CP-USA

has

declined

since

1947,

Saposs

notes,

in

absolute

member-

ship,

electoral

impact,

and

in

its

influence

on

American

institutions

-

political

and

other.

And

yet,

he

warns,

communist

influence

(which

is

ever

present)

must

not

be

measured

by

a

declining

Communist

party

membership.

Instead,

he

argues,

the

communist

movement

is

still

the

same

old

treacherous

conspiracy.

Unfortunately,

in

his

chapter

on

California,

the

author

relies

for

documen-

tation

almost

exclusively

on

reports

of

the

HCUA

and

on

its

junior

version -

the

California

Un-American

Activities

Committee.

Consequently,

he

is

led

by

these

sources

to

conclude

that

communists

at

one

time

penetrated

the

Young

Democrats

of

California

-

even

manipulating

them,

that

the

communists

succeeded

in

&dquo;temporarily

dominating

the

Democratic

Party

of

California,&dquo;

that

they

exercised

considerable

influence

in

California

&dquo;state

and

local

governments