Forgotten Communism Alain Besancon I uty country, itis still possible to provoke a scandal by raising in public the issue of the Grimes committed by Communism—and an even greater scandal by suggesting that not only in the ‘enormity of its crimes but in its very nature, Soviet ‘Communism can be compared with tat other great evil of oar century, Nasism, This wae illstrnted by a recent French best-seller, The Black Boot of Conrmmiom, ar 846 page compilation by sx historians with an introduedon that poines cuca number of commonalities between the two totali- ‘arian systems. The book has raised a storm of con- troversy in intellectual and political eieles, and has even caused an uproar in parliament, The cont is illuminating, less for the par- ticular positions being espoused than for revealing jnsthow gre sls the resistance roan idea hat hes leng icved the starus of a consensus among hhave studied these matters closely—the idea, that i, that Bolshevism and Nazism are relat- ed phenomena: fraternal twins, to use the apt phrase of the French historian Pierre Chaunu. ‘Atans Busangon, the eninent French historian, ithe - thor of The Soviet Syndrome and The Intellecrual Ori- ‘OF Leninism. Fis new book, An Intellectual History of lan ag ught out next yearby the University of haga Fes. sy is asrnewbat reve ver LOGE rege ere tbe rob estoy Foo which be was ix in December 1996, The text of tbe lec ture bas also ‘fa French in the December 1997 issue of Commentaire, These two monstrous ideologies, each a bastard offshoot of German Romantic mnie pubepiy. care came to in the 20th. bin Mboweapstbersacey by evil chat stood in its way. In tas its goal the ele case of Com- insinuating way into the rinks of the Communist party itso. In the case of Nazism, the malignant Fpl wa located in the so-called Ee and foremost the Jews but, since bare peter anr eieeoaaon tae cxhes aswel even in those elements of th Tae” whose “purity” had become polluted. Tn addressing the problem of evil 1s they saw it, both Communism and Nazism drew their authori- ty from science. They were creating a “new man,” tnd wo this end chey proposed to reeducate all of humanity. More: each professed to be motivated by philanthropic impulses. It was Becrase it sought the welfare of the German people, and meant to ren- der a service to humanity, that National Socialism ‘was willing to shoulder the “burden” of ridding the world of Jews. Leninism was even more solicitous of humankind and by definition more universalist in its mission than Nazism, whose program was not so easily exportable. But both doctrines held out tlevaed ideals calculated to arouse enthusiastic de- votion and heroic deeds in their followers. 4] Copyright © 2009 ProQuest ILC. All rights reservad, Copyright © Amarican Janiah Commitee.