Book Review: Far East: The Birth of Communist China, Communist China's Crusade
| Published date | 01 December 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000440 |
| Date | 01 December 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
570
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Like
most
books
by
men
and
women
who
have
worked
in
this
strange
land,
Soviet
Scientist
in
Red
China
is
a
fascinating
account
of
the
problems
and
pleasures
that
await
the
newcomer.
It
is
not
a
vibrant
book,
partly
because
the
harsh
Soviet
system has
left
its
mark
on
the
author's
character.
It
leaves
the
reader
with
that
same
sense
of
fear
and
foreboding
many
foreigners
feel
as
they
sit
down
to
record
their
experiences
in
China,
to
tell the
rest
of
the
world about
the
700,000,000
Chinese
who
for
the
first
time
are
growing
strong
and
confident
under
their
Communist
leaders.
Toronto
FREDERICK NOSSAL
THE
BIRTH
OF
COMMUNIST
CHINA.
By
C.
P.
FitzGerald.
1965.
(Harmonds-
worth:
Penguin.
Toronto:
Longmans.
288pp.
$1.25)
COMMUNIST
CHINA'S
CRUSADE.
By
Guy
Wint.
1965.
(New York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
MacEachern.
136pp.
$5.50)
It
is
alleged
by
the publishers
of
both
these
titles
that
they
repre-
sent
thorough
revisions
of
earlier
productions
of
the
respective
authors.
In FitzGerald's
case,
this
refers
to
his
Revolution
in
China
(1952).
In
Wint's
case,
this purportedly
refers
to
a
revision
of
the
major
portion
of
his
Dragon
and
Sickle
(1958),
with
the
addition
of
new
material
to
bring the
analysis
up-to-date.
As
far
as
thoroughness
is
concerned,
the
claims
will
not
stand
up
to
close
investigation,
unless
one
is
prepared
to
accept
the
dictates
of
legalistic
hair-splitting. Except
for
revisions
to
rectify
anomalies
in
verb
tenses, and
to
bring
the
work
into
conformity with
American
editorial
idiosyncracies,
ninety-eight per
cent
of
the
FitzGerald
text,
including
the
indices,
are
identical.
Occasionally
a
paragraph
or
a page
is
interpolated
to allude to
events
subsequent to
1951;
to
note,
for
ex-
ample,
the
Korean
Truce,
the
Hundred
Flowers
period,
etc.
The
re-
vision
of
the
first
four chapters
(which
covered
three-quarters
of
the
"book")
of
Dragon
and
Sickle,
follows
approximately
the
same
pattern.
In
Wint's
new
work,
however,
the
text
has
been
extended
to
seven
chapters
as
against
the
earlier
five
and
the
new
version
includes,
in
addition,
a
reading
list
and
an
index.
(The
price,
too,
is
more
than
doubled.)
This
is
as
far
as
the
parallel
examination
can
be
taken.
The
appraisal
must
follow
different routes:
how
well
has FitzGerald's
rela-
tively
unchanged
analysis
of
the
"birth
of
Communist China"
weathered
the
test
of
time?;
what
is
the
basic
significance
of
Wint's recent prog-
nostications?
Although
several
chronological anomalies
have
been overlooked
in
the
new
edition,
FitzGerald's
interpretive
analysis
is
still worth
con-
sulting.
He
manages
to blend
constantly
the
elements
that
are
the
products
of
China's
long
history
with
the
elements
that
derive
from
the
immediate
pressures
of
the
twentieth century.
In those
sections
in
which
interpolations
appear
more
frequently,
he
has
continued
to
be
more
concerned
to
understand
the
interaction
of
tradition
and
revolu-
tion,
in
the
context
of
internal
programmes
as
well
as
of
external
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