Book Reviews : Modernization: Latecomers and Survivors. By MARION J. LEVY. (Basic Books: New York, 1972. PP.160. $5.95.)

• Author: Everett W. Chard
• Published date: 01 December 1972
• Date: 01 December 1972
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591297202500425
• Subject Matter: Articles

803

attempting

&dquo;to

defend

the

existing

economic

and

social

order

against

further

Gaul-

list

reforms&dquo;

a

Among

the

main

obstacles

to

party

transformation

leading

to

the

emergence

of

a

catch-all

party

of

the

left,

the

author

stresses

the

durability

of

traditional

voting

patterns,

the

persistence

of

historical

perspectives,

organizational

resistance

within

the

parties,

absence

of

adequate

leadership

and,

most

importantly,

the

persistence

of

strong

ideologies.

According

to

him,

the

French

Socialists

have

remained

dedicated

to

their

Marxist

ideology

and

&dquo;retain

a

deep

emotional

commitment

to

the

basic

tenents

[sic]

of

Marxism.’’

This

dedication,

the

author

claims

on

the

basis

of

his

interviews,

is

by

no

means

limited

to

militants,

but

extends

to

party

leaders

at

the

national

and

local

levels.

This

ideological

argument

is

not

very

convincing.

What

is

meant

by

such

terms

as

pure

socialism,

ideological

fundamentalism,

commitment

to

Marxism,

dogmatic

opposition

to

revisionism?

a

What

sort

of

Revolutionary

Marxists

are

these

men

who

&dquo;no

longer

sought

to

carry

out

a

real

revolution

but ...

felt

obliged

to

defend

past

revolutions,&dquo;

men

for

whom

&dquo;to

dilute

socialism

would

be

tantamount

to

deserting

the

humanitarian

and

libertarian

traditions

of

the

Revo-

lution...

to

abandon

the

principles

defended

by

men

such

as

Jaures

and

the

Social-

ist

martyrs

of

the

Resistance.&dquo;

The

author

comes

closer

to

the

point

when

he

remarks

that

it

is

more

difficult

to

develop

a

catch-all

party

by

fusing

several

small

ones

than

by

broadening

a

single

party,

and

still

closer

when

he

admits

that

the

catch-all

party

of

the

left

is

perhaps

impossible

in

the

presence

of

a

strong

Communist

party.

Thus

the

Defferre

strategy

of

a

Grand

Federation

uniting

the

center

and

the

non-communist

left

-

and

more

recently

the

similar

strategy

of

Servan-Schreiber

-

was

less

likely

to

succeed

than

Mitterrand’s

strategy

that

consisted

in

giving

up

the

center

for

the

sake

of

an

alli-

ance

with

the

PC.

Ambivalence

toward

a

powerful

PC,

an

objectionable

but

indis-

pensable

ally,

goes

a

long

way

in

explaining

Socialist

attachment

to

an

outworn

Revolutionary

rhetoric

and

reluctance

to

openly

accept

a

Reformist

outlook

that

may

attract

younger

and

more

dynamic

elements,

but

would

dilute

the

identity

of

the

party

and

the

authority

of

its

leaders.

University

of

Denver

CHARLES

A.

MICAUD

Modernization:

Latecomers

and

Survivors.

By

MARION

J.

LEVY.

(Basic

Books:

New York,

1972.

PP

.160.

$5.95.)

The

usual

academic

review

would

not

suit

this

book.

It

is

not,

for

one

thing,

particularly

written

for

academics.

Levy

himself

in

his

Preface

points

out

that

he

intends

his

hypotheses

to

be

interesting

on

a

general

level.

By

and

large,

he

succeeds

in

making

the

hypotheses

both

general

and

interest-

ing

with

style

and

wit,

and

if

they

are

not

always

smpported

by

sufficient

evidence.

they

usually

show

the

reasoning

behind

them.

His

practice

is

to

extract

the

patterns

of

modernization,

point

out

their

curious

features,

and

then

form

hypotheses

or

&dquo;anticipations

of

nature&dquo;

about

their

future

social

consequences.

He

finds

the

pat-

terns

bizarre

and

questions

their

viability.