Why did so many Western intellectuals whitewash the barbarism of the Soviet Union and its satellites? In The Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century, Francois Furet argues that their rationalizations resulted from the hard left’s effective use of moral rhetoric.

Jennifer Roback Morse is Founder and President of the Ruth Institute.
Defense and Foreign PolicyEuropeGovernment and PoliticsInternational Economics and DevelopmentLaw and LibertyPolitical HistoryPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by Jennifer Roback Morse
Fall 2015 Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism
Fall 1997 Constitutional Rules, Political Accidents, and the Course of History: New Light on the Annexation of Texas