Book Review: U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe: Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900428 |
| Author | Robert H. McNeal |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
580
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
torn
asunder
in
1921
when
its Left
wing
broke
off
to
form
the
Com-
munist
party.
Mr.
Horowitz
says
little
about
unionism
under
Fascism
because
he
feels
this
aspect
has
been
amply
treated.
He
does,
however,
trace
the
skillful
manoeuvring
of
the
Communist
leaders
as
they set
out
to
capture
control
of
unionism in
the
confusion
following
the
collapse
of
Fascism.
Their
domination
of
the
C.G.I.L.
(the Italian
General
Con-
federation
of
Labour)
and
the ruthlessness
with
which
it
was
manipu-
lated
for
political
ends
led
to
the
defection of
democratic
unions
from
its
fold.
Following
the
victory
of
the
Christian
Democrats
in
the
key
elections
of
1948
these
unions
formed
their
own
federation
which
now
has
the loyalty
of
nearly
40
per
cent
of
union
members.
Only
the
Social-
ists
in
the
name
of
working-class
solidarity have remained
in alliance
with
the
Communists.
They have,
however,
earned
the
bitter
enmity
of
the
Communists
and
have
brought
about
a
defection
of
their
own
Left
wing as
a
result
of
the
decision
to
participate
in
the
apertura
a
sinistra.
The
author
shares the
hope
that
economic
prosperity, the
growing
strength
of
democratic unionism,
and
the
apertura
that
allows
the
Socialists
to
share
responsibility
of
power
may
lead
to
fundamental
reforms
that
will
bring
about
the
long-needed
consensus
in
Italian
society
and
in
trade
unionism.
He
also
believes
that
regardless
of
verbal
commitment
Italian
trade
unionism
"would
combine
in
a measure
larger
than
in
other
western
European
countries
a
political
orientation
with
their
purely
economic
concerns".
(p.
341).
Apart
from
some
reservations
one
may
make
about
the
author's
strictures
against
the Nenni's
Socialists' delay
in
abandoning
the "myth"
of
working-class
solidarity
(he
seems
to
minimize
the
questionable
democratic
tendencies
of
some
factions within
the Christian
Democratic
party),
this
book is
an
excellent
introduction
to
the
complexities
of
Italian
social
economic
and
political
life.
Mr.
Horowitz
could
have
made
his
study
more
complete
if
he
had
dealt
in
greater
detail with
the actual
workings
of
unionism in
the
factory
level
and,
even
more
important,
with
the
financing
of
unions.
An
excellent
bibliography
is
provided
for
those
interested
in
pursuing
the
history
of
unionism in
Italy.
Royal
Military
College
of Canada
E.
CAPPADOCIA
U.S.S.R.
and
Eastern
Europe
SEmoGE
WrrT
AND
THE
INDUSTRiALIZATION
OF
RussIA.
By
Theodore
H.
Von
Laue.
1963.
(New
York: Columbia
University
Press.
Toronto:
Copp
Clark.
x,
360pp.
$7.50)
This
study
of
Witte's tenure as minister
of
finance
in
Imperial
Russia,
1892-1903,
is
less
a
biography
than
a
case
study
in
the
history
of
the
industrialization
of underdeveloped
countries.
The
protagonist
of
the story
tried
harder
to
modernize
the
Russian
economy
than
any
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