Book Review: The Rebels
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206101600217 |
| Date | 01 June 1961 |
| Author | D. J. Goodspeed |
| Published date | 01 June 1961 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REvIEws
197
Wolf
has
a
practical
word
on
Western
attitudes
to
Soviet aid
policy.
He
suggests an
objective
assessment
of
the
possible
indirect value
to
the
West
of
each
Soviet
aid
transaction,
instead
of
the
neurotic
exercise
that
regards
every
rouble
given
or
lent
as
a
defeat
for
freedom.
More
positively, he proposes
a
challenge
of
"dollar-for-dollar"
assistance
from
East
and
West
through
the
United
Nations.
This
book is above
all
useful
as
a
reference
work
on
the
early
years
of
American
aid
to
underdeveloped
economies,
and
as
an
example
for
further
efforts
to
support
existing aid programmes
with
sound
theories.
For
these
reasons,
its
public is
likely
to
be
one of
specialists
and
policy-
makers
rather
than
one of
more
or
less
enthusiastic
general
readers.
Toronto KTiTH
SpIcER
THE
REBm.&
A
Study
of
Post-War
Insurrections.
By
Brian
Crozier.
1960.
(London:
Chatto
and
Windus.
Toronto: Clarke,
Irwin
&
Co.
256pp.
$4.75.)
The
Second
World
War
had
certain
contingent
results
which
in
the
long
run
may
prove
more
important
than
the
overthrow
of
the
fascist
dictatorships.
During
and
after
the
conflict,
power
patterns
shifted
kaleidoscopically;
communist influence
spread
out
beyond
the borders
of
the
Soviet
Union;
Asia
and Africa
stirred
with
a
new
sense
of
nation-
alism;
and
the
old
colonial
powers
found
their
empires
slipping
through
their
fingers.
Political systems
of
long
standing make
for
internal
peace
(although
sometimes,
it
is
true,
this
is
no
more
than
the
peace
of
Tac-
itus'
desert),
and
conversely,
the
dissolution
of
old
allegiances
make for
violence.
Thus
the
post-war
years
have
been
marked
by
insurrections
and
re-
volts,
some successful
and
some
unsuccessful,
but
all
proclaiming
that
the
world
is
enduring
a
period
of
violent
discontent.
Brian
Crozier,
a
staff
writer
on
The
Economist,
has
written
an
important
new book
on
this
phenomenon in
which
he
attempts
to
analyse
modern
rebellions
and
deduce
from
them
lessons
of
universal
application.
By
examples
drawn
from
Cyprus,
Egypt,
Hungary,
East
Germany,
Poland,
Tibet,
Cuba,
Indo-China,
Malaya, Kenya,
Algeria,
Burma,
Indonesia,
the
Philippines
and
Palestine,
Mr.
Crozier
sets
out
to
illustrate
the
basic causes
of
re-
bellions
and
to
suggest reasons
for
the
victory
or
defeat
of
the
insur-
gents.
In
this
endeavour
he
is
generally
successful,
although
perhaps
the
very
great
number
of
case
histories
cited
may
confuse
the
reader
who is
not
already
an
expert
in
this
rather
recondite
field.
Everyone
has
heard
of
Ho Chi
Minh,
Archbishop
Makarios
and
Fidel
Castro,
but
Messali
Hadj,
Benbella,
and
Belkacim
Krim
may
be
less well
known.
The
most
convincing
portion
of
The
RebeZs
is
the
final
section
in
which
the
author
suggests
possible
political courses
that
would
either
obviate
the
necessity
for
rebellion
or
at
least
minimize
bloodshed
and
assauge
discontent.
General
Templer's
work in Malaya
and
Magsaysay's
elimination
of
the
Huks
in
the
Philippines
are
quoted as
examples
of
the
intelligent
repression
of
rebellions,
where
military
efficiency
has
gone
hand
in
hand
with
an
enlightened
policy
of
political
reform.
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