Book Reviews : The Soviet Dictatorship. By HERBERT McCLOSKY and JOHN E. TURNER. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960. Pp. 657. $7.95.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300337
• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Date: 01 September 1960
• Author: Richard C. Gripp
• Subject Matter: Articles

826

public

money

should

be

used

for

new

industrial

undertakings.

His

comments

on

inflation

are

perceptive

and

Mr.

Carlson

admits

that

Brazil

seems

to

be

break-

ing

all

rules

and

yet

getting

away

with

it.

Mr.

Matthews,

with

all

the

skill

that

has

made

him

one

of

the

leading

journalists

of

the

Latin-American

field,

closes

the

volume

with

a

chapter

on

Diplomatic

Relations.

In

this

section

some

undocumented

but

fascinating

mate-

rial

is

presented

concerning

the

role

of

the

U.S.

Central

Intelligence

Agency

and

the

1954

Guatemalan

revolution.

Charles

G.

Fenwick,

Director

of

the

Department

of

Legal

Affairs

of

the

Pan

American

Union,

presents

a

brief

analysis

of

the

recognition

policy

of

the

United

States

in

regard

to

Latin

America.

A

final

report

of

the

Assembly

at

the

close

of

the

volume

emphasizes

private

investment

in

the

economic

section,

acknowledges

communism

as

a

threat

in

Latin

America,

suggests

that

our

military

program

should

be

reduced,

and

finally

advocates

the

strengthening

of

the

O.A.S.

This

is

an

excellent

book

in

an

area

that

demands

more

and

more

attention

from

both

specialists

and

the

average

American

citizen.

Pace

College

JORDAN

M.

YOUNG

The

Soviet

Dictatorship.

By

HERBERT

McCLOSKY

and

JOHN

E.

TURNER.

(New

York:

McGraw-Hill,

1960.

Pp.

657.

$7.95.)

The

authors’

purpose

has

been

to

produce

a

&dquo;comprehensive&dquo;

and

&dquo;probing&dquo;

study

which

will

aid

in

a

better

understanding

of

Soviet

politics.

Following

a

rather

standardized

format

there

are

inclusive

sections

on

Communist

theory,

Leninism,

Stalinism,

the

Communist

party,

and

governmental

structure

and

operation.

Somewhat

unique,

this

book

relies

more

heavily

on

English

transla-

tions

than

any

counterpart

work.

Although

a

purist

may

object

to

sporadic

and

occasional

references

to

sources

only

in

Russian,

the

method

of

document-

ing

from

Pravda

and

other

Soviet

sources

via

the

appropriate

citation in

the

Current

Digest,

should

be

more

useful

to

the

average

college

student

than

con-

tinual

reference

to

original

sources

alone.

Moreover,

this

style

reveals

the

wealth

of

materials

on

Soviet

affairs

which

by

now

have

been

translated

into

English.

The

subject

matter

in

the

book

is

covered

in

detail,

emphasizing

heavily

the

historical

approach.

Helpful

tabular

material

has

been

brought

in

as

well

as

several

explanatory

organizational

charts

(party,

government,

judicial

system,

economic

structure).

Treatment

of

the

essentials

of

the

subject

-

party,

gov-

ernment,

economy - is

well

done,

and

enough

related

information

has

been

added

to

constitute

a

broad

investigation

into

the

Soviet

system

as

a

whole.

Only

on

rare

occasions

do

McClosky

and

Turner

display

confusion

over

details;

for

example,

by

relying

on

sources

now

largely

out

of

date

(such

as

Arakelian)

they

are

at

times

describing

economic

structures

which

are

obsolete

- such

as

industrial

ministries

managing

plants

through

chief

directorates.

Men-

tion

is

made

of

the

newer

system

of

management

(economic

councils),

but

the

authors

leave

the

impression

that

they

don’t

quite

understand

it.

Thus,

two