A. James McAdams. Vanguard of the Revolution

In Vanguard of the Revolution: The Global Idea of the Communist Party, A. James McAdams presents a narrative, a methodology, an argument, and a theme about the global history of Communist parties and regimes. Over five hundred pages, he gives a sweeping account of the history of Communism—from the thought of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 1840s, to the actions of Fidel Castro and Xi Jinping in the 2010s. He deploys a methodology—a comparative study of Communist regimes in which each is classified according to its leader’s relationship with the party. He has an argument—in his words, that “the party idea degenerated into a tool for personal despotism” (16). And finally, he has a relentless theme—the role of great men in the forging and reimagining of Communist regimes. McAdams explores the societal conditions that brought Communist movements to power. Ranging over the particular histories of Russia, China, Cuba, and many places in between, he deftly describes the upheavals wrought by modernization, war, and colonial oppression to explain Communism’s appeal. In trying times, Communism offered adherents a sense of belonging to a progressive movement that would overcome wrenching realities. Beginning with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, revolutionaries throughout Europe and Asia convinced their countrymen that Communism could deliver a more just world. World War II proved a watershed: in the decades thereafter, much of the world came to live under Communist aegis—some 38 percent of the global population in 1985.

Ancient history · Argument (complex analysis) · Capitalism · Communism · Communist state · Economic history · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Power (physics) · Socialism · Sociology · Vanguard · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies