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Communism had horrific consequences in the 20th century, but many intellectuals are still reluctant to face up to them.
In November 7, 1997, in Paris, a book was published that was substantial in every sense. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression contained almost 900 pages, weighed about two pounds, and was very expensive.
By the end of 1997, it had sold more than 100,000 copies in France, and by the spring of 1998, about 150,000. That May, the first translations of the book appeared-in Italy and Germany-and they were also successful. To date, the book has had editions in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Sweden, Bosnia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Holland, Russia, Lithuania, Turkey, England, and America, and it is expected to appear in Ukraine, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. The total number of copies sold now exceeds 800,000.
Why has The Black Book of Communism-a sober work of history and not the sort of sensational volume that might win easy popularity-found a universal audience, far beyond the community of professional historians?
The book owed its initial popularity to a political incident. Soon after its publication in France, a member of a centerright party asked the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, in the National Assembly to justify the presence in his cabinet of Communist ministers. Arguing that communism is a "criminal ideology," the objecting member cited The Black Book. Jospin responded that there had been a Liberation coalition between Gaullists and Communists and that he was "proud" to govern with Communists too. He then praised the Russian Revolution, the 80th anniversary of which had recently been observed. That prompted certain members of the non-Gaullist Right to walk out of the National Assembly. Television cameras recorded the whole incident, and it was shown to the public. The next day, people could not wait to flock to the bookstores.
The Black Book of Communism was not only bought, it was read (and is read still), and it won widespread media attention around the world. Among the American publications that wrote about it were the Washington Post, the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic, the National Interest, and the New Criterion. What's more, it provoked a great and heated debate among historians, political scientists,...