Reading Blackshirts & Reds and am at about 40% through the book. The amount of critique he is giving to how poorly the economic situation in the USSR was, how Stalin’s way of running things and how people were negligible about their jobs because there was no reason to be competitive or to do a good job is honestly a bit stark. Is this anti-communism or is this just good faith criticism?
Parenti by his own admission used solely western sources. Given that those are largely forming the anticommunist information bubble, it’s pretty inevitable he inherited at least some of it even though he was clearly good willed and honest about his attempt to discover the truth.
This is also why I’m struggling to keep reading the book tbh, how can you have such a powerful analysis of the USSR using only imperialist anti-communist sources?