Sociology and Education

• DOI: 10.1177/000271625530000142
• Date: 01 July 1955
• Published date: 01 July 1955
• Author: Elmo C. Wilson
• Subject Matter: Articles

149

and

over

again

that

comforts

and

conven-

iences rather

quickly

become

an

established

part

of

a

consumption

pattern.

MARGARET

G.

REID

University

of

Chicago

SOCIOLOGY

AND

EDUCATION

GABRIEL

A.

ALMOND.

The

Appeals

of

Communism.

Pp.

xix,

415.

Princeton,

N.

J.:

Princeton

University

Press,

1954.

$6.00.

Dr.

Almond

and

his

colleagues

have

ap-

plied

the

methods

of

social

science

research

in

a

brilliant

study

of

the

Communist

movement.

The

scholars

who

designed

the

research

which

has

led

to

The

Appeals

of

Cosn-

munism

hypothesized

that

not

only

would

the

Communist

recruits

differ

from

their

fellow

men

in

significant

ways,

they

would

also

take

on

to

some

extent

at

least

the

character

of

the

societies in

which

they

operated.

Thus,

the

research

concerned

itself

with

both

the

small

deviational

party

movements

of

the

United

States

and

Eng-

land,

and

with

the

mass

working

class

parties

of

France

and

Italy.

The

differ-

ences

between

the

two

types

of

movements,

as

revealed

in

the

analysis

by

country,

lead

to

some

of

the

book’s

most

stimulating

con-

clusions.

The

authors

employed

a

number

of

re-

search

tools

in

reaching

their

conclusions.

From

a

painstaking

content

analysis

of

selected

Communist

publications

they

were

able

to

establish

models

of

the

movement

at

various

levels

of

ideological

indoctrina-

tion.

Through

this

process

they

were

able

to

lay

the

ground

work

for

a

set

of

hy-

potheses

about

the

reliability

of

different

types

of

Communist

party

members,

and

the

conditions

which

are

likely

to

put

their

loyalties

under

strain.

Next

they

interviewed

in

immense

de-

tail

a

sample

of

221

&dquo;former

Communists,

which

included

Frenchmen,

Italians,

Eng-

lishmen,

and

Americans;

workers

and

mid-

dle

class;

those

who

had

joined

in

the

period

before

the

Popular

Front

and

those

who

joined

after;

and

those

who

had

served

in

the

various

echelons

of the

party,

the

high,

the

low,

and

the

rank

and

file.&dquo;

And

finally,

a

group

of

American

psy-

choanalysts

who

had had

Communists

as

patients

provided

thirty-five

clinical

case

histories

for

study.

While

the

authors

make

no

claim

to

statistical

validity

for

the

resultant

findings,

they

are

understandably

proud

of

the

fact

that

they

are

based

on

the

largest

and

most

carefully

selected

body

of

empirical

data

so

far

collected

on

these

aspects

of

the

Communist

problem.

The

methodological

approach

which

led

to

simultaneous

research

into

the

parties

in

all

four

countries

gives

new

and

reveal-

ing

evidence

of

the

vast

differences

in

sus-

ceptibility

of

the

four

populations.

More

important,

it

suggests

methods

for

coping

with

the

threat

in

each

nation.

On

this

latter

point

the

authors

find

the

British

and

American

Communist

parties

&dquo;standing

in

the

sharpest

contrast

to

those

of

France

and

Italy....

They

do

not

touch

the

real

fiber

of

the

British

and

American

societies.

Communists

may

in-

filtrate

other

movements

such

as

trade

unions,

or

’capture

key

points’

by ...

placing

agents

in

sensitive

jobs,

but

there

is

no

mass

susceptibility

to

Communism

in

Britain

and

the

United

States.&dquo;

On

the

other

hand,

&dquo;The

continued

at-

traction

of

Communism

for

intellectuals

in

countries

such

as

France

and

Italy

may

be

attributed

to

the

deep

and

apparently

chronic

social

crises

characteristic

of

those

countries

which

confront

the

intellectuals

with

problems

of

decision

which

are

more

complex

and

exacting

than

those

which

con-

front

their

colleagues

in

England

and

the

United

States.&dquo;

While

acknowledging

the

need

to

alert

the

public

to

the

nature

and

threat

of

Communism

in

the

United

States,

the

au-

thors

find

much

to

criticize

in

recent

U.

S.

policy.

Congressional

investigating

com-

mittees

which

have

violated

the

&dquo;humane

and

libertarian

tradition

of

the

West&dquo;

have

been

one

of

Communism’s

biggest

assets.

In

France

and

Italy,

Dr.

Almond

and

his

colleagues

find

the

Communist

parties

hold-

ing

the

countries

in

a

state

of

virtual

po-

litical

siege.

Only

by

aiding

in

the

de-