The Anti-Communist Manifestos by John V. Fleming

Everyone has heard of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (and Friedrich Engels) even if they have not read it. For those who have not read it, the gist of this 1848 pamphlet is that everything is so irreparably and hopelessly bad that it deserves to be destroyed. In Marx’s own words: “[The Communists] openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.” The results of this demand for radical change include Lenin’s and Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and present day North Korea.

It is not surprising that many people rejected, if only belatedly, this Marxist call to destroy/transform the world. John V. Fleming takes a close look at four such individuals—and the four books, or “manifestos,” they wrote. But Fleming also details the dramatic histories surrounding the four books. They are: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler; Out of the Night by Richard Krebs (published under the pen name Jan Valtin); I Chose Freedom by Victor Kravchenko; and Witness by Whitaker Chambers.

All four books are well worth reading. But I am especially partial to the two that once enjoyed bestseller status before sinking—along with their authors—into oblivion.

Out of the Night was written by a tough German sailor who seems to have been almost maniacally driven. It presents a powerful picture of a working class communist who frequently places himself in the thick of danger. Though less literary, it makes me think of Tropic of Cancer or Journey to the End of the Night, especially the latter. But Out of the Night is also Augustinian in that it portrays the narrator’s gradual liberation from a false religion.

But my favorite of the four is Kravchenko’s I Chose Freedom. With the exception of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag epic, I don’t know of another book that captures more vividly the evil of the Stalin regime. Moreover, the author’s courtroom battle against various smears directed at him and his book was impressive, even heroic. He was thoroughly vindicated but the triumph was short lived. In the end Victor Kravchenko fell into despair and took his own life.

Fleming’s book itself, which was published in 2009, is an admirable work. He handles the subject matter with keen wit, intelligence, and moral common sense. Few histories provide a more fascinating description of the main antagonisms of the Cold War.

However, there is at least one component of Fleming’s book that I don’t like. In his introduction, he describes Communism as “a mere ghost,” as if it died completely when the Cold War ended. But Communism is not dead; it remains a force to contend with up to the present day. I refer not only to China, North Korea and other Communist states, but to movements like wokeism and cancel culture right here in the United States. These latter manifestations of Marxism seem to be weakening, but for a time the momentum was in their favor; and it is doubtful that they will ever disappear altogether.