BRAND, CARL F. British Labour's Rise to Power. Pp. xi, 305. Stanford Univer sity: Stanford University Press, 1941. $3.50
| Author | Joseph R. Starr |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222100151 |
| Published date | 01 May 1942 |
| Date | 01 May 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
213
longed
passionately
to
see
this
internal
cleft
filled
and
the
unity
of
national
culture
re-
stored.
Berdiaev
lays
great
stress
on
the
rejec-
tion
of
the
Russian
state
by
the
Russian
intelligentsia,
on
its
view
that
the
state
is
an
alien
and
inimical
force.
He
points
out
that
the
anarchistic
ideology
was
the
crea-
tion
of
the
representatives
of
the
upper
strata
of
the
Russian
nobility:
Bakunin,
Kropotkin,
Tolstoi.
One
does
not
need
to
agree
with
the
philosophic
concepts
of
this
deep
and
eru-
dite
thinker
to
enjoy
the
volume,
which
opens
many
intriguing
visions
on
the
growth
of
the
Russian
intellectual
movement
in
the
nineteenth
century.
Professor
Best’s
book
is
an
attempt
at
a
popular
exposition
of
the
evolution
of
the
Soviet
state,
designed
to
meet
the
require-
ments
of
the
general
public
as
well
as
the
college
student.
The
author
examines
the
extent
and
re-
sources
of
the
U.S.S.R.,
and
the
economic
antecedents
of
the
Bolshevik
revolution,
and
sketches
a
brief
history
of
Lenin’s
gov-
ernment’s
advent
to
power.
The
various
phases
of
Soviet
life
are
ana-
lyzed
and
appraised,
with
attention
given
not
only
to
industrial
production
and
the
reorganization
of
rural
life,
but
also
to
the
educational
growth,
the
religious
persecu-
tions,
and
the
attitude
of
the Soviet
Gov-
ernment
toward
family
and
morals.
Soviet
philosophy
of
war
and
peace,
and
its
practical
application
as
exemplified
in
the attack
upon
Finland
and
the
occupation
of
the
Baltic
States,
are
also
analyzed.
The
problem
of
presenting
a
concise
and
accurate
summary
of
a
phenomenon
of
the
magnitude
presented
by
the
growth
of
the
U.S.S.R.
is
not
one
of
easy
solution.
While
the
book
contains
a
great
deal
of
valuable
material
and
some
interesting
comment
on
certain
phases
of
Soviet
life,
it
is
hardly
a
dispassionate,
objective
study.
The
author
has
an
irritating
way
of
injecting
his
own
valuations
at
every
turn,
and
one
learns
from
his
work
almost
as
much
about
Pro-
fessor
Best’s
Weltanschauung
as
about
the
Soviet
Union.
Some
of
the
judgments
are,
moreover,
somewhat
hasty.
The
passage
on
page
106,
where
the attack
of
Soviet
Russia
upon
Finland
is
discussed,
reads
in
part:
&dquo;History
has
not
often
presented
anything
to
compare
with
this
deed
in
its
horror
and
shamelessness.&dquo;
Any
competent
historian
could
bring
to
Dr.
Best’s
attention
literally
hundreds
of
cases
of
no
less
deplorable
abuses
of
power
by
large
nations
against
their
weaker
neighbors.
The
Russian
ancien
rggime
is
painted
in
tones
of
unrelieved
sable,
making
Dante’s
Inferno
a
cheerful
garden
spot
by
compari-
son.
D.
FEDOTOFF
WHITE
Philadelphia,
Pa.
BRAND,
CARL
F.
British
Labour’s
Rise
to
Power.
Pp.
xi,
305.
Stanford
Univer-
sity:
Stanford
University
Press,
1941.
$3.50.
This
book
is
a
collection
of
eight
studies
on
the
history
of
the
political
labour
move-
ment
in
Great
Britain,
some
of
which
have
been
published
previously
as
articles
in
re-
views.
The
division
of
the
subject
matter
into
separate
studies,
each
of
which
could
stand
alone,
leads
to
some
repetition.
All
of
the
studies,
however,
are
closely
related,
and
the
whole
is
given
unity
by
the
author’s
interest
in
the
international
aspects
of
the
British
labour
movement.
Only
the
first
study,
on
the
early
ventures
of
the
trade
unions
into
politics,
deals
with
purely
do-
mestic
matters.
Most
of
these
studies
relate
to
the
for-
tunes
of
the
Labour
party
during
and
im-
mediately
following
the
war
of
1914-18.
In
the
second
study,
the
changing
attitudes
of
the
Labour
party
toward
that
war
are
traced
skillfully,
and
the
details
of
Labour
participation
in
the
wartime
coalitions
are
recounted.
The
third
study,
on
the
war
aims
and
the
peace
programs
of
Labour,
tells
a
fascinating
story
of
the
working-out,
under
great
stress,
of
the
outlines
of
an
idealistic
postwar
settlement.
It
is
not
gen-
erally
appreciated
that
the
Labour
thought
of
this
period
anticipated
many
of
the
fea-
tures
of
the
international
program
which
was
later
connected
so
prominently
with
the
name
of
President
Wilson.
Professor
Brand’s
study
places
the
credit
for
the
origin
of
these
ideas
where
it
belongs.
The
next
two
studies
deal
with
the
attitude
of
British
Labour
toward
President
Wilson
during
the
war
and
the
peace
conference.
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