Twenty years ago the workers and peasants of Russia under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party overthrew the rule of the landlords and capitalists. When the yoke of the bourgeoisie had been cast off, the capitalists and their henchmen, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, asserted that the end of the world had come, that without the bourgeoisie the workers would be unable to start the factories going and run the country, that the people would be doomed to hunger and barbarism until the bourgeois order was restored. The capitalists together with the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries raised Whiteguard rebellions within the country and for three years, with the direct participation of the armies of fourteen countries, they waged a counter-revolutionary war against the workers arid peasants. They did not achieve their aim. The workers and peasants of the Soviet Union, in stubborn struggle, defended their liberty and the gains of the Great October Socialist Revolution, and repelled all enemy attacks. The proletarians of the capitalist countries aided the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union in their fight against counter-revolution. In the land of the Soviets the building of socialism proceeded on an extensive scale. Twenty years ago our country was wretched and poor. The peasant went hungry; he scratched the soil with a wooden plough. Now he has become prosperous; tractors and harvester combines do the heavy work for him. Hundreds of thousands of poor folk roamed the highways looking for work; now, under socialism, there are no unemployed in our country. Thousands of new enterprises have been constructed; new railways, canals and big electric power stations have been built. Machines which previously were imported from abroad are now manufactured in the Soviet Union. Our country has become independent of capitalist countries. National oppression has been replaced by the free development of the cultural forces of each people. The Soviet people regard the future calmly and without apprehension. The Stalin Constitution of the U.S.S.R. guarantees the right to work, to rest and leisure, to education, to maintenance in old age and in case of sickness or loss of capacity to work. Life has become better, life has become more joyous. The mighty Red Army, which is of the flesh and blood of the working people of the U.S.S.R., defends the borders of the Soviet Union. What can capitalism show by comparison? Crises, idle factories, millions of unemployed, impoverishment of the workers and peasants, fascist violence that deprives the working people of every liberty, arming at a furious pace, predatory imperialist wars, a decline of culture and a decrease in the number of students, continued and intensified national and colonial oppression, gnawing fear for the future, general discontent and embitterment against the existing order on the part of the working people. The past twenty years have clearly demonstrated all the advantages of the new social order over the old, of socialism over capitalism.

""Film in the Battle of Ideas"" is a book written by John Howard Lawson, a screenwriter and member of the Hollywood Ten who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. The book explores the role of film in shaping public opinion and political ideology, particularly in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Lawson argues that film is a powerful tool for propaganda and that Hollywood has the ability to shape public opinion and influence political discourse. He examines the ways in which films have been used to promote various political ideologies, including fascism, communism, and capitalism, and argues that filmmakers have a responsibility to use their medium for the greater good. The book also delves into the political and cultural climate of Hollywood during the time period, including the effects of the Hays Code and the Red Scare. Overall, ""Film in the Battle of Ideas"" is an insightful and thought-provoking analysis of the intersection between film and politics.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Ivan T. Berend is Distinguished Professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Director of the European Studies Program. He was one of the masterminds of regime change in Hungary. He made a career in Hungary as a university professor, Rector of the University of Economics (1973–79), and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1985–90). He was President of the International Committee of Historical Sciences (1995–2000), and Vice-President of the International Economic History Association (1986–1994). His research interests are the complex economic, social, ideological, and cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th–20th century; economic modernization; problems of European backwardness; transition from state socialism to capitalism. He published and 26 books and more than 120 studies. Before he became a professor at UCLA, Ivan Berend had survived five regime changes and two revolutions in Hungary, had been in prison and German concentration camp in 1944–45. His memoir offers an interesting case study, a subjective addition to the "objective" historical works on Central and Eastern European state socialism. It describes the hard choices of intellectuals in a dictatorial state: 1. remain in isolation, concentrate on scholarly works, and exclude politics in your personal life; 2. be in opposition, criticize and unveil the regime, accept discrimination and exclusion; 3. remain within the establishment and work for reforming the country using legal possibilities to criticize the regime and to achieve changes from within. Berend’s book raises basic historical questions and debates, compares East European and American higher education systems, and presents an eyewitness’ insights on life in the United States.

Albert Goldman (1897 - 1960) was an American Trotskyist and lawyer to the labor movement. Born Albert Verblen in Chicago, he studied at Medhill High School and then the University of Cincinnati. He also studied to be a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College. In 1919, working as a tailor, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World, then the newly formed Communist Party of America the following year. Goldman went on to study at the Northwestern University Law School, graduating in 1925, and by 1926 was working for the Communist International Labor Defense. A visit to the Soviet Union made him critical of the party, and he was expelled in 1933 for Trotskyism. He then worked primarily for the Trotskyist movement, representing the Minneapolis Teamsters strikers in 1934, and Trotsky during the Dewey Commission. In 1939, he moved to New York City and worked full time for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). In 1941, Goldman merely acted as defense counsel for the SWP members accused of violating the Smith Act, but was jailed for sixteen months alongside them. While in prison, Goldman worked with Felix Morrow to develop criticisms of the SWP and Fourth International leaderships. They claimed that predictions of a revolutionary wave after World War II had been proved incorrect, and that Stalinism, far from being destroyed (as Trotsky had predicted) had been strengthened. They also became critical of the party's organizational structures. The pair were only able to convince a small minority of the party of their positions, although this included key figures including Jean Van Heijenoort and James T. Farrell. In 1945, Goldman and Morrow proposed that the SWP should reunite with Max Shachtman's Workers Party, which had split from the SWP in 1940. Negotiations were taken up, but soon faltered, and Goldman left to join the Workers Party in 1946. Within the Workers Party, Goldman and Farrell worked closely. In 1948, they developed criticisms of its policies, claiming that the party should support the Marshall Plan and also Norman Thomas' presidential candidacy. Having come to believe that only capitalism could defeat Stalinism, they left, to join the Socialist Party of America.