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$2.95 file Appeals of Communism By GABRIEL A. ALMOND Why do people join the Communist Party? What happens after they have joined? Why do some of them leave? This study, based on an extensive program of interviewing former American, British, French, and Italian Communists, provides many answers to these questions and gives a convincing insight into the motivations, tensions, and loyalties of Party members. THE APPEALS OF COMMUNISM THE APPEALS OF COMMUNISM BY GABRIEL A. ALMOND PRINCIPAL COLLABORATORS: HERBERT E. KRUGMAN ELSBETH LEWIN HOWARD WRIGGINS PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1954, by Princeton University Press l. c. card: 54-9015 Printed in the United States of America First Princeton Paperback, 1965 To D. K. A. . . and let her own works praise her in the gates.” Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/appealsofcommuniOOOOunse FOREWORD This absorbing study of the appeals and vulnerabilities of Communism by Professor Almond and his collaborators is the first in the new series of books to be published under the auspices of the Center of International Studies of Princeton University. It is a most appropriate introduction for the series since it exemplifies in generous degree the characteristics of the research operations which the Center seeks to promote. The author has brought to bear on a crucial political problem the best of current knowledge and techniques of investigation. He has examined a huge amount of evidence and has drawn from it a number of propositions which are directly relevant to the understanding of this extraordinary phenomenon and to the appraisal of various policy alternatives in dealing with it. While he is careful to avoid any overclaiming as to the significance of his findings, he has nevertheless demonstrated quite clearly how the insights of the scholar can throw fresh light on one of the paramount issues of the age. In the main body of the study Professor Almond lays the groundwork for a set of hypotheses about the reliability of different types of Communist party members and the condi¬ tions which are likely to put their loyalty to the party under strain. In deference to the canons of objective inquiry, he withheld until the end of his inquiry any appraisal of the ethical and political implications of his material. The reader will find these carefully analyzed in the final chapter. To arrive at a trustworthy account of the Communist movement it is necessary to see it in its many different mani¬ festations. As the present study shows, Communist parties tend to take on the character of the societies and cultures in which they operate. This volume deals with two of the main types of Communism—the small deviational movements of the United States and England, and the mass working-class parties of France and Italy. The recent spread of Commu¬ nism in the non-Western areas represents so menacing a development that it is deserving of special attention. A study of the Communist movement in Malaya has been undertaken • VII • FOREWORD by Dr. Lucian W. Pye, of the Center staff, and is planned for this series in the near future. The Center of International Studies was established at Princeton University in 1951. Its basic purpose is to bring to bear on the elucidation of foreign policy problems the full resources of available knowledge and modern methods of analysis. To this end it engages in and publishes research directed toward the development of systematic, disciplined, and comprehensive appraisals of the varied aspects of inter¬ national relations, with special emphasis on the foreign policy of the United States. The members of the Center work at all times in close association, but each member is free to formu¬ late his.research projects in his own way and each published study represents an individual analysis of a problem. Frederick S. Dunn Director Center of International Studies Princeton University June 15, 1954 • viii •