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Robert Conquest, R.I.P.
Yesterday, I just learned, we lost Robert Conquest, 98, one of the most consequential historians of the twentieth century. Bob wrote more than a dozen books on the Soviet Union and the Cold War, including The Great Terror: Stalin’s Purge of the Thirties, perhaps his most important. Published in 1968, just after Soviet tanks rolled into Prague to crush the “Prague Spring,” The Great Terror presented Stalin’s crimes in such meticulous, thoroughly-researched detail that no one could ever overlook or ignore them again.
Bob and I had many conversations over the years and, on hearing of his death, I found myself looking over my notes. Below, excerpts from a long conversation with Bob just over three years ago. Brief as these excerpts may be, just look at the erudition, the wit, the sly sense of humor, and the willingness to state unfashionable truths.
George Robert Acworth Conquest, requiescat in pace.
Published in GeneralOn the term, “Cold War”:
“Cold War” isn’t quite the right way of describing it. It was “cold” in the sense that it didn’t actually blow up, but that wasn’t due to some inherent or natural “coldness.” They [the Soviets] weren’t strong enough to attack us. If they had been, they would have done to us what they did to Eastern Europe. See what I mean? The term “Cold War” is a sort of western, academic way to avoid blaming anybody too much.
On the suffering of the Russian people during the Second World War:
The poor, unfortunate Russians lost more casualties than anyone else. Not counting civilians, there were some 12 or 15 million killed. But in the ruling class, the ruling group? There were only one or two members of the Central Committee killed in the War. Compare that with England, which had fewer casualties overall but in which something like 20 members of the House of Commons were killed in the War. The members of the Soviet regime—the leaders—came out of the War just fine.
On the persistent claim that Soviet communism would have proven far less brutal if Lenin had been succeeded by Trotsky, not Stalin:
No, it would have been roughly the same. Trotsky was one of Lenin’s leading subordinates. [Before Stalin succeeded Lenin] Trotsky was shooting people and hanging people all over the place.
On communist ideology:
Das Kapital is nonsense and quite unreadable. And Leninism is a frightful bore. I became a communist [as a young man] because it was fashionable. When I went up to Oxford I knew of about 30 secret communists and I was one of about 10 open communists. It lasted about a year. We weren’t serious. I left the Party basically because it was a machine—a lot of people telling you what to do.
When they visited the Soviet Union during the nineteen-thirties, intellectuals, such as the British socialists Beatrice and Sydney Webb, and journalists such as Walter Duranty of the New York Times, ignored human rights abuses and the impoverishment of the rural population to portray a successful, contented country. Why?
God knows.
On realizing that the Cold War was finally over:
When Gorbachev visited here [at Stanford University] in 1990 someone asked him about the destruction in the earthquake they had had in [1988] in Armenia. Gorbachev said, “We had safety standards, but the builders ignored them.” I said to myself, “This chap’s telling the truth!” He didn’t lie about anything.
Robert Conquest was a historian amongst historians. Rest in peace.
Thank you, Peter, for this post. RIP to a great man.
Hmmmm…. put another way, the Left avoided admitting that “peace through strength” worked by calling the standoff The Cold War.
“Our greatest living modern historian” by Paul Johnson.
Good stuff.
Thank You, Peter.
Can we get some Conquest Uncommon Knowledge video? Thanks for the post. I was prodding you on the member feed…see comment 6.
Thanks Peter. There seems to be no end to the great stuff I learn from Ricochet.
I learned of this from Peter’s post. I hadn’t seen the news.
I’m shocked. Stunned, actually. I find it hard to imagine a world without Robert Conquest.
The greatest line attributed to him (perhaps apocryphally) does not conform to our Code of Conduct. But it sums him up, and whether he said it or not, he sure did tell them so, and that’s what they were.
The impact of “The Great Terror” on using the Soviet Union – in samizdat blind copies – was truly shocking. We are forever in debt. BDE.
I believe it was Kingsley Amis who uttered the “I Told You…” line.
Harvest of Sorrow was one of the most personally influential books I ever read. He was a great truth teller.
I once loaned the Conquest biography “Stalin – Breaker of Nations” to my daughter’s middle school history teacher. My daughter had used it as a reference in a history paper for her class. I had the impression the teacher was not familiar with Conquest’s facts or point of view. It is/was a very liberal school and I gave her credit for seeking out the book. I would have to re-educate my kids on communism and history as it wasn’t really being covered to the extent that I wanted.
It was indeed Kingsley who recommended “I Told You So….” as the new title for the re-issue of The Great Terror. How do I know? Bob told me.
I hadnt seen your post Peter, had I seen it I wouldnt have published this today.
http://ricochet.com/rip-robert-conquest-acclaimed-writer-and-scourge-of-communism/
I loved the quote the Telegraph in England had on his obituary – Robert Conquest personified the absolute truth that there was no anti communist as dedicated as an ex-communist.
Ar dheis de go raibh an anam.
The UK based Catholic Herald has a wonderful piece http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2015/08/05/robert-conquest-and-the-importance-of-historians/
As does Charles Moore who has a piece in the Spectator: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/08/remembering-robert-conquest-1917-2015/
And that settles the matter.
This has been a subject of gossip, debate, speculation, and many spilled pages of column ink for years.