Curious about Cultural Revolution and the Soviet Union - recommended books?

[Eoghan]

Having just finished another book on WW2 I am curious to read about Russia and the revolution there as well as the rise of communism in China.

As regards the German experience of WW2 I am struck by the soul searching they underwent. Sadly it seems to have been directed to philosophy and poetry rather than a biblical world view. It also struck me that Nazi Germany wanted a Bible - without the Old Testament and a cleaned up New Testament without the Jewish influence! What would be left?

Q. Good books on USSR and Communist China?

 

[RamistThomist]

Good book on USSR is kind of a broad topic. Dimitri Pospielovski touched on the Russian church's experience in the Soviet Union in A History of the Orthodox Church in Russia. Some very perceptive comments towards the end.

As to what era of the Soviet Union:

1. The heavily Jewish Leninist early era.
2. The Stalinist Death camp era
3. Khrushchev

And then Brezhnev and Andropov

 

[Edward]

Here's an interesting book I ran across about 20 years ago.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Hammer_sickle_and_baton.html?id=omvNAAAAMAAJ

Hammer, Sickle and Baton - Heinz Unger

The writer was a left-wing German conductor during the Weimar era who toured through the Soviet Union during the 1920s. It's interesting to see him try to deal with the shortcomings of the Soviet system in a sympathetic, almost apologetic fashion. Although he fled to England when the Nazis came to power (he may have been a commie sympathizer, but he wasn't stupid) he continued to work in the Soviet Union until Hitler made nice with Stalin.

I don't recall at this point how late he takes the story. But it is a glimpse the issues of dealing with the early Soviets and you can see the beginning of the persecution of the Ukrainians.

Unger ended up with a successful career in Canada after the war.

 

[ZackF]

Here's an interesting book I ran across about 20 years ago.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Hammer_sickle_and_baton.html?id=omvNAAAAMAAJ

Hammer, Sickle and Baton - Heinz Unger

The writer was a left-wing German conductor during the Weimar era who toured through the Soviet Union during the 1920s. It's interesting to see him try to deal with the shortcomings of the Soviet system in a sympathetic, almost apologetic fashion. Although he fled to England when the Nazis came to power (he may have been a commie sympathizer, but he wasn't stupid) he continued to work in the Soviet Union until Hitler made nice with Stalin.

I don't recall at this point how late he takes the story. But it is a glimpse the issues of dealing with the early Soviets and you can see the beginning of the persecution of the Ukrainians.

Unger ended up with a successful career in Canada after the war.

I may revisit this subject sometime to study it a deeper level. Communism is as fascinating as it is wicked. I remember being especially taken the audacity and just plain stupidity of communism in the early/mid 1990s. Of course, there were college students, in Wichita, Ks, who considered themselves 'communists.' Never did an ideology produce juxtaposition of results so lousy, yet with such devotion while at the same time required its subjects to be kept inside a nation with machine guns. No advocate has been able to answer that one.