Stalin and German Communism

Through her long involvement in the German Communist party, Ruth Fischer amassed valuable material on its changing fortunes, the transformation of the Bolshevik party into a totalitarian dictatorship, and the degeneration of the Comintern. Drawing on this material and on her own vivid recollections, Fischer reconstructs the history of the German Communist party from 1918 to 1929. First published in 1948, this fundamental work opened up the study of the inner organizational life of a major revolutionary movement. In his introduction to the Social Science Classics edition, John Leggett reviews and summarizes the social, political, and economic issues and events that precipitated the revolution and those factors that contributed to its failure.

-[Fischer's] intimate knowledge, together with use of all available material, makes [this] book probably the most thorough and complete work on the topic.- --Library Journal -[Stalin and German Communism] carries conviction and firmly drives home an authoritative explanation of the most significant events of our time.... [Fischer] has unusual qualifications for telling the story... Her story is thus partly autobiography and partly history, documented from an unusual combination of personal inside information and a conscientious study of the printed sources.- --New York Times -This book, restrained and erudite, will contribute substantially to general knowledge of world Communist history.- -- Saturday Review of Literature, "[Fischer's] intimate knowledge, together with use of all available material, makes [this] book probably the most thorough and complete work on the topic." --Library Journal "[Stalin and German Communism] carries conviction and firmly drives home an authoritative explanation of the most significant events of our time.... [Fischer] has unusual qualifications for telling the story... Her story is thus partly autobiography and partly history, documented from an unusual combination of personal inside information and a conscientious study of the printed sources." --New York Times "This book, restrained and erudite, will contribute substantially to general knowledge of world Communist history." -- Saturday Review of Literature, "[Fischer's] intimate knowledge, together with use of all available material, makes [this] book probably the most thorough and complete work on the topic.""" "--Library Journal" ""[Stalin and German Communism] "carries conviction and firmly drives home an authoritative explanation of the most significant events of our time.... [Fischer] has unusual qualifications for telling the story... Her story is thus partly autobiography and partly history, documented from an unusual combination of personal inside information and a conscientious study of the printed "sources."" "--""New York Times" "This book, restrained and erudite, will contribute substantially to general knowledge of world Communist history." -- "Saturday Review of Literature"