Vol. XIII (2007), no 20 - The International Newsletter of Communist ...
Vol. XIII (2007), no 20 - The International Newsletter of Communist ...
Vol. XIII (2007), no 20 - The International Newsletter of Communist ...
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>International</strong> Newletter <strong>of</strong> <strong>Communist</strong> Studies Online <strong>XIII</strong> (<strong><strong>20</strong>07</strong>), <strong>no</strong> <strong>20</strong> 128<br />
repression apparatus or the developement <strong>of</strong> war industry. Renkama also pondered on the<br />
relation between Kuusinen the ideologue and Kuusinen the tactician. Occasionally the<br />
practical political questions are, however, neglected; Renkama does <strong>no</strong>t, for instance, ask<br />
whether the execution <strong>of</strong> Imre Nagy had any effect on Kuusinen.<br />
<strong>The</strong> study does <strong>no</strong>t question the significance <strong>of</strong> Kuusinen’s past. In some parts Renkama,<br />
following earlier studies, regards Kuusinen as a Bolshevik, in others he emphasises the<br />
difference compared to other members <strong>of</strong> the CPSU leadership. Though the young colleagues<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kuusinen in the late 1950s argued for Kuusinen’s “western” character and background in<br />
their memoirs, Renkama does <strong>no</strong>t, however, ponder on whether Kuusinen’s Finnish<br />
background and his earlier “Kautskyism” had some significance in his political thinking in the<br />
1950s. <strong>The</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> comparison with Kuusinen as a leading figure in the <strong>Communist</strong><br />
<strong>International</strong> is understandable in so far as there exist <strong>no</strong> studies concerning this topic.<br />
As a highly outstanding study, Renkama’s book challenges cynical interpretations on the<br />
position and significance <strong>of</strong> ideology in the Soviet Union. It also corrects, based on memories,<br />
some <strong>of</strong> the pictures given about Kuusinen and the making <strong>of</strong> the programme work in the<br />
CPSU. It would be useful for the scholars <strong>of</strong> the Soviet Union and history <strong>of</strong> communism to<br />
read this book and realise that Kuusinen was <strong>no</strong>t as grey a bureaucrat as many Soviets, or that<br />
there existed many shades <strong>of</strong> grey in the apparatus <strong>of</strong> the communist movement.