Book Reviews: The Organizational Weapon: A Study of Bolshevik Strategy and Tactics. BY PHILIP SELZNICK. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1952. Pp. viii, 350. $5.00.)

• Date: 01 December 1952
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500424
• Author: William L. Strauss
• Subject Matter: Articles

679

Is

the

author

right

in

his

obituary

on

capitalism?

As

far

as

the

United

States

is

concerned,

one

may

agree

with

the

multifactoral

observation

of

David

McCord

Wright,

that

&dquo;if

we

keep

in

mind

the

values

of

opportunity,

competition,

democracy,

productivity,

then

it is

our

capitalist

society

which

is

the

truly

revolutionary

one-the

only

society

which

offers

true

hope

to

the

masses

for

release

from

the

long

nightmares

of

tyranny.

It

is

we,

not

the

Marxists

with

their

reactionary

ideas

of

a

good

dictator,

who

have

the

truly

constructive,

the

truly

revolutionary

ideal&dquo;

(C~upit~lism,

p.

236).

If

Charles

Lindbloom

is

right,

on

the

other

hand

(Unions

and

C~apitalism),

then

it is

possible

that

here

at

home

capitalism

may

die

at

the

hands

of

those

who

have

long

professed

to

be

its

best

friends:

the

&dquo;more,

and

more,

and

more&dquo;

oriented

trade-union

leaders.

Whether

that

American

phenomenon,

the

psychology

and

personnel

administration-

conscious

School

of

Business,

will

not

after

all

prove

to

be

the

savior

of

free

enterprise

(thus

frustrating

Mr.

Sternberg)

may

be

something

to

watch.

VAUGHN

D.

BORNET.

Stanford

University.

The

Organizational

Weapon:

A

Study

of

Bolshevik

Strategy

and

Tactics.

BY

PHILIP

SELZNICK.

(New

York:

McGraw-Hill

Book

Company.

1952.

Pp.

viii,

350.

$5.00.)

The

author,

an

assistant

professor

of

sociology

at

the

University

of

California

at

Los

Angeles,

defines

organizational

weapons

as

practices

&dquo;unrestrained

by

the

constitutional

order

of

the

arena

within

which

the

contest

takes

place.&dquo;

Following

the

introduction

are

six

chapters

in

which

Professor

Selznick

describes

the

uses

to

which

the

Bolsheviks

put

their

organizational

weapons.

In

the

last

two

chapters

he

analyzes

the

reasons

for

the

susceptibility

of

the

mass

to

communist

strategy

and

tactics,

and

the

manner

of

counteracting

such

tactics.

While

accepting

the

author’s

definition

of

organizational

weapons,

one

is

troubled

by

the

examples

cited.

All

illustrate

activities

which

are

generally

acceptable

in

the

community

and

within

the

constitutional

order

in

which

the

contest

takes

place.

This

poses

a

certain

difficulty

in

analysis:

the

use

of

a

technique

by

a

Communist

does

not

put

that

technique

outside

the

constitutional

order.

Care

must

be

exercised

in

the

separation

of

constitutional

from

unconstitutional

techniques

in

order

not

to

confuse

Communists

and

members

of

the

non-communist

left.

Although

the

author

makes

use

of

some

material

concerning

the

activity

of

Communists

in

Great

Britain,

Germany,

and

the

Philippines,

the

greater

amount

is

illustrative

of

communistic

activity

within

the

United

States.

If

the

author

intended

this

study

to

be

applicable