Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The God that Failed

Rate this book
The God That Failed is a classic work and crucial document of the Cold War that brings together essays by six of the most important writers of the twentieth century on their conversion to and subsequent disillusionment with communism. In describing their own experiences, the authors illustrate the fate of leftism around the world. André Gide (France), Richard Wright (the United States), Ignazio Silone (Italy), Stephen Spender (England), Arthur Koestler (Germany), and Louis Fischer, an American foreign correspondent, all tell how their search for the betterment of humanity led them to communism, and the personal agony and revulsion which then caused them to reject it. David Engerman's new foreword to this central work of our time recounts the tumultuous events of the era, providing essential background. It also describes the book's origins and impact, the influence of communism in American intellectual life, and how the events described in The God That Failed continue to affect public discourse today.

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Richard Crossman

34 books7 followers
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman, OBE, was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the party's advocates of Zionism. He was a Bevanite on the left of the party, and a long-serving member of Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1952.

Crossman was a Cabinet minister in Harold Wilson's governments of 1964–1970, first for Housing, then as Leader of the House of Commons, and then for Social Services. In the early 1970s Crossman was editor of the New Statesman. He is remembered for his highly revealing three-volume Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, published posthumously.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
147 (35%)
4 stars
157 (38%)
3 stars
77 (18%)
2 stars
22 (5%)
1 star
7 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Helga.
1,073 reviews227 followers
January 8, 2022
The Devil once lived in Heaven, and those who have not met him are unlikely to recognize an angel when they see one.

In The God That Failed six intellectuals explain their reasons for joining the Communist Party and the whys and wherefores for leaving it.

“A harmful truth is better than a useful lie.”
-Thomas Mann


This is not an anti- communist propaganda or a setting for personal apologetics. These are uncomfortable contemplations and self-analyses about the state of mind of the Communist convert.
How could these intellectuals accept the dogmatism of Stalinism?

The only link, indeed, between these six very different personalities is that all of them- after tortured struggles of conscience- chose Communism because they had lost faith in democracy and were willing to sacrifice "bourgeois liberties" in order to defeat Fascism. Their conversion, in fact, was rooted in despair- a despair of Western values.

After becoming disillusioned with Communism the author Richard Wright writes:

“I remember the stories I had written, the stories in which I had assigned a role of honor and glory to the Communist Party, and I was glad that they were down in black and white, were finished. For I knew in my heart that I should never be able to write that way again, should never be able to feel with that simple sharpness about life, should never again express such passionate hope, should never again make so total a commitment of faith…
I headed toward home alone, really alone now, telling myself that in all the sprawling immensity of our mighty continent the least-known factor of living was the human heart, the least-sought goal of being was a way to live a human life. Perhaps I thought out of my tortured feelings I could fling a spark into this darkness. I would try, not because I wanted to, but because I felt that I had to if I were to live at all.
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo; and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to match, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.”
Profile Image for Matthew Williams.
Author 25 books127 followers
December 16, 2019
A book that has stuck with me over the years, in part because of its historicity and its personal touch. I especially loved Koestler's contribution, though every author's' contribution managed to capture the insanity of the age through the lens of their own experience. Above all else, it's a seminal read on the phenomena that took place during the interwar years and seemed to embrace the life of every intellectual in West. In an age where liberalism and capitalism were on the outs, idealists and reformers needed a new cause to turn to.

Communism seemed the natural choice, especially considering that it was the only ideology that seemed to be taking the rise of fascism seriously. Naturally, those who embraced this new ideology quickly became disillusioned. For some, it happened as a result of visiting the Soviet Union and witnessing the Show Trials, the Purges and the Great Terror firsthand. For others, it came from being subjected to the ideological conformity and brutality that Stalinism inspired among its followers.

In the end, they could only come to the conclusion that human nature is what it is, and any ideology that promises salvation is a lie. They also concluded that the most precious thing we have is the freedom to think for ourselves. The message is timeless, but it's especially meaningful in an age characterized by polarization and entrenched views.
Profile Image for Nick.
352 reviews35 followers
September 15, 2020
Although published seven decades ago it is probably more relevant today than it was in 1949. These six men talking of the failure of a particular political ideology impart why that ideology failed. Not that Communism as a political concept was bad, but the godless way in which it was implemented destroyed any good that should have come from it. A must read for everyone to help understand the struggles we face today - the same struggles we faced late in the second decade and again in the middle of the 20th Century. The same fight. The same abuse of the common man to gain power that is then again used to abuse the common man. Can't recommend this book enough.
Profile Image for Patrick Cook.
216 reviews7 followers
December 23, 2016
The God That Failed consists of six essays by disillusioned Communists and fellow travelers. All six are small masterpieces, as is the editor's introduction.

It is an anti-Communist book put together in 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War and just before the most paranoid period of the Red Scare. The tone of this book, however, is very different and superior to that of most anti-Communist rhetoric of the period. Credit for that should go firstly to the editor, who was then a Labour backbencher and a former Oxford don who specialized on Plato (he would later hold various ministerial posts in the first Wilson government before becoming editor of the New Statesman). Crossman assembled an extraordinary range of intellectuals who had previously been either members of the Communist party or else at least sympathetic to it, but were now prepared to denounce it.

Of the contributors, Arthur Koestler and Ignazio Silone had been fairly senior Communists in their day, whilst Richard Wright had been an active but fairly peripheral member. The other three contributors — André Gide, Louis Fischer, and Stephen Spender — had all visited the Soviet Union as initially sympathetic observers only to return horrified.

All six men write beautifully. All six are uncompromisingly honest, which leads to a portrait of the Communist Party that reads as being at once damning and surprisingly fair-minded. This is not a book of Red Scare rantings. Like Orwell, the assembled authors are able to critique the Stalinist-dominated Party because they knew too well.
Profile Image for Riley.
621 reviews55 followers
March 29, 2011
I’d read a lot about this book, in which six authors in the 1950s told of their disillusionment with Communism. But I’d never been able to track down an affordable copy of it. The one I got literally fell apart as I read it, and the essays were, in the end, disappointing. In general, I’d say they offered no more insight than any standard account of why intellectuals abandoned the Party after the heady days of its early fight against Fascism.

Of all the pieces, I liked the most that of Louis Fischer, a journalist who lived in the Soviet Union for a time.

Here was how he characterized Communism’s attraction to him:

“Before long, I realized that my choice was made. A choice depends on the available alternative to it. I preferred fresh sweeping winds to stale stagnant air, and well-intentioned pioneers to proven failures. I liked the Soviets because they were an experiment in the interest of the downtrodden majority, because they destroyed the privileges of the powerful few, because they were weak, and because the world’s reactionaries and conservatives opposed them. “

Here was how he explained his ability to accept Stalinism:

“At the time, I did not realize that Stalin’s bad taste and the GPU’s bad behavior were deadly germs. I thought they were sores on a healthy body which was building new cities and creating new values. I thought the favorable was fundamental and the unfavorable ephemeral. Hope distorted judgment. Seeing did not interfere with believing.”

Finally, his basic conclusion:

“Some are so obsessed with the crimes of the capitalist world that they remain blind to the crimes and bankruptcy of Bolshevism. Not a few use the defects of the West to divert attention from the hideous horrors of Moscow. My own prescription is: Double Rejection. A free spirit, unfettered by economic bonds or intellectual bias, can turn his back on the evils of both worlds and strive, by improving his own, to create a condition of peace, prosperity and morality in which dictatorships on both sides of the Iron Curtain would suffocate and perish.”
Profile Image for Pat Schakelvoort.
592 reviews26 followers
October 14, 2017
Quickread of six essays from ex-communists about their disillusion with communism. Arthur Koestler's first essay is the most interesting. Seems like the Andrew Wright one is taken from his book "American Boy". It uses the same fictional name of Buddy Nealson for a CP recruiter. The Andre Gidé book is also taken from his earlier works.
Profile Image for Robert.
610 reviews3 followers
April 27, 2022
It's a good book club when the book that was chosen is one that you would have never picked up and would never have read if you had picked it up - and still when you HAVE read it you know that you have been enlightened and even thrilled and you debate between giving it four stars and five stars.
Seven people from different countries, different generations, write about their experience of being enthralled by the early promise of Communism and then being disillusioned and leaving it. My favorite was the section by the Black American writer Richard Wright. But each of the essays was quite wonderful in different ways.
For me, the experience was quite personal. I missed out on the whole Communism bit and only knew one Communist personally (I think). That one was John Sanford, whose wife was blacklisted in the 50s. I published his last book. One morning, I asked him if he was still a Communist and he said, "Oh, yes. The only problem is I don't know where to send my dues." Then he laughed.
I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian home in Iowa and I was always inpressed with the early Christian communism (with a small "c"). So, the whole philosophy of sharing our possessions, caring for the poor, the homeless, the hungry, etc. came naturally to me. I think I would have made a reasonably good communist - although, like most of the writers in this book, I would have chafed and ultimately rebelled at the authoritarianism.
I recommend this book for lots of reasons - but it is not easy. It will make you think and question.
141 reviews
Read
August 27, 2022
In his essay, Richard Wright recounts how on a visit to an all-black Chicago section meeting of the US Communist Party, he was met by a cadre who laughed at him and dismissed him as a bourgeoise intellectual. The party clearly trained its people well.
Between the years of the Bolshevik revolution and World War Two, the Soviet Union and the international communist movement drew the admiration and unalloyed love of the brightest minds of their generation. But if this book shows anything, it's how these intellectuals motivated by antisocial feelings of guilt, individualism, mysticism, and religion were poor additions to a movement that demanded total faith and subjugation. Communism, in a sense, was incompatible with these original and nuanced intellectuals.
One more point. The best essays in this collection were written by the fellow travelers, not the former members. The latter were too consumed by residual sorrow and misgivings. It was clearly a hard life to quit, and life post-Communism was a deeply lonely experience.
128 reviews8 followers
July 16, 2007
This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. Originally published in 1949, it consists of six essays from intellectuals who had been either members of the Communist Party or "fellow travelers." The essays are personal narratives of why they had initially supported Communism and then what led them to abandon the movement.

The essayists included are: Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Richard Wright, Andre Gide, Louis Fischer, and Stephen Spender. While Silone's essay did not hold my attention, the other five did--and in quite a remarkable manner. Wright's account of why he as a black man felt particularly drawn to Communism and then of how he was pushed out is heartbreaking.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political history, the interwar period, or just plain good writing.
Profile Image for David.
1,348 reviews34 followers
December 14, 2015
Give it 4.5 stars. Very valuable both for historical perspective and for relationship to current conditions.

All six writers have something to say that's illuminating and fresh, even though the book is nearly 70 years old. They all were attracted to Communism for different reasons, but repelled by it for similar reasons -- largely because it was inhumane and didn't begin to deliver on the promises.

There are several nice reviews on Goodreads, so I won't go on. Definitely would recommend it and would read it again. If I run across a copy, I'll buy it. And will look into reading more from each writer. Have read Koestler (several times) and Silone once -- may read "Bread and Wine" again, plus some Wright and some Spender.
Profile Image for Beth Haynes.
240 reviews
Want to read
May 14, 2009
This looks good...but my priorities are drifting elsewhere. This book contains the stories (written by themselves) of six individuals who strongly and openly embraced Communism, and later came to see its tragic and evil flaws. They write of the difficulty and the psychological pain involved in revising their world view.
Of the six, I only recognized Richard Write, author of Native Son and Black Boy. I need to put this back on my to-read list for now but look forward to the time I can finish it.
Profile Image for Laurent Szklarz.
572 reviews2 followers
Read
May 3, 2012
it's a very interesting book and its particularity is that it gives the views of six prominent writers on communism.
what bothered me was the date of its publishing. 1950. right in the middle of the storm of mccarthy in the usa. although i couldn't agree more with the views those writers argue, and by now, history proves them right, it does sounds a lot like they were sitting in front of a jury.a maccarthy commission,trying to convince them that their love story with communism was an error from the past and explain why they found out later it was actually evil.
Profile Image for Jess.
483 reviews16 followers
April 24, 2014
richard wright and louis fischer stand-out stories, the rest is too dry/hyper-specific to be engaging
Profile Image for Galatea.
265 reviews1 follower
November 28, 2022
A breathtaking collection of six autobiographical essays, each about their author's infatuation with and gradual disillusionment of Communism. Written in 1949, it provides an essential look into the culture of the Left at that time.

Spanning a diverse range of cultures and locations, from Germany to Italy to Chicago to France to living in the USSR as an American to England, a common thread across all of these essays is the chronicling of a Party that was built on a promise of a Revolutionary future that would soon become ever-deferred, slipping further and further into tomorrow the more tomorrow came. With this, they chronicled the dogmatic authoritarianism and groupthink endemic in their local Parties, the violence, slander, and leaps of logic necessary to maintain the Party line and faith in the glorious future, and the gradual dimming of liberties, compassion, and authenticity that accompanied all this.

These stories serve as a heartfelt plea against the allure of extremes, of thinking that the ends ever justify the means, and appeal to a common human condition we all share, based not upon potential futures or gains, but upon current needs, both material, but also cultural and social, where someone may have enough bread to eat but does not have to sacrifice their speech for it.

Common themes that the authors touch on include the spread of Fascism across Europe (especially relevant since two of the contributors experienced it in their very neighborhoods, Koestler in Germany and Silone in Italy), as well as the Spanish Civil War and the general political infighting, dogmatism, and ass-kissing endemic within the Communist Parties the authors were in, as well as those Parties attempts to take over all other groups, crushing dissent and opposition of any kind whatsoever, in the name of "unity" or to "heard others towards the true path of progress".

There is so, so much more to be said, but this is genuinely one of the best books I've read all year.
Profile Image for Jonathan Hockey.
Author 2 books20 followers
April 29, 2018
An interesting range of perspectives on how communism failed as an ideology to achieve its claims of ending inequality, poverty etc. From those who once believed in it, only to see the horrors of Stalinism and the errors in general of the communist ideology that favoured conformity to free individual self expression. Favoured catchy slogans repeated over and over to thoughtful discourse. And worst of all, naively, assumed an innocence to the oppressed groups in society that would not lead to corruption once they had power. Of course, it did lead to corruption, because there is no such thing as an innocent group of people. This is a false romanticism.

Any structure of power, particularly one as centralised and ruled over by so few people without accountability, as a communist one, is bound to lead to the corruption of those at the top of the tree. The God of Communism failed, because it forgot that human nature has corruption inside it, and we need humility always in the face of this, not arrogance and false veneers of moral superiority. We cannot assuage our guilt by projecting onto a romanticised innocent group. For no such group exists. We must learn to face up to our own guilt as illustrating our own weaknesses, our own sins. Not to project this on to others in some repeating narrative of oppressors and oppressed. If we cannot even face our own flaws, we are in no position to pronounce assuredly about the flaws of the world. The God that failed here was a misplaced faith in human innocence that simply does not exist outside the fairy tales and romantic stories we tell to children.
Profile Image for Darran Mclaughlin.
612 reviews87 followers
February 7, 2018
A collection of personal essays published in 1949 by famous ex-communists or communist sympathizers who became disillusioned and ended up rejecting it. I have become increasingly left wing over the years so I wanted to read some criticism to test my thinking and see if I could be convinced that Communism is inherently wrong.
I felt that all of the essays offered persuasive arguments and stark indictments against the dictatorial, oppressive, murderous Communism practiced and demanded by the Soviet Union under Stalin, but they didn't convince me that a better version of a Communist state was impossible.
That's not to say that there may not be other books which will persuade me that some form of Communism is practically impossible without suffering the failings of countries like the Soviet Union, the P.R.C or Cuba, but this book isn't it.
5 reviews38 followers
October 11, 2014
The best part of this book was the fact that these six authors were all originally attracted to communism.
The Initiates, the first section of the book, is written by three authors that were closely involved with the communist parties in pre-Nazi Germany, the USSR, and Italy. The next section of this was the Distant Admirers, those involved with the communists far away, in the United States, or merely visitors to these countries.
Much of this was dry, and hard to keep focus. Some experiences were interesting, but there were a good few sections where it was extremely boring. The biggest reason to read this is if you want specific examples of the flaws of communism. If I were to summarize the book in a single sentence, Communism just isn't as good as it originally appeared.
Profile Image for Maurizio Manco.
Author 6 books112 followers
October 7, 2017
"Avendo potuto sperimentare le possibilità pressoché illimitate dell’acrobazia mentale sulla corda tesa della propria coscienza, so quanto quella corda elastica possa tendersi prima di rompersi." - Arthur Koestler (p. 90)

"Ogni organismo totalitario, ogni regime di unanimità coatta, implica una buona dose di menzogne, di doppiezza, d’insincerità." - Ignazio Silone (p. 134)

"L’umanità è complicata, bisogna riconoscerlo, e ogni tentativo di semplificazione, di irreggimentazione, ogni sforzo dall’esterno per ridurre ogni cosa e ogni persona allo stesso denominatore comune sarà riprovevole, pericoloso e sinistramente ridicolo." - André Gide (p. 208)

"I totalitari di tutti i colori si comprendono." - Louis Fischer (p. 240)
Profile Image for Prashanth Vaidyaraj.
19 reviews12 followers
October 6, 2015
The falsity of the Utopian ideology stands exposed in this work. The reason a communist agenda will fail and is bound to be rejected by people over time is the reason why Communist regimes have fallen by the side. The ideology purported by Marx is in a Utopian world is a fact and can never work in the diverse world where people cherish their culture,traditions and history. The authors also note personal experiences of people who experienced Communism first-hand and the reasons for abandoning it.
Profile Image for Lark Benobi.
Author 1 book2,631 followers
January 30, 2019
Thoughtful first-hand accounts that capture both the early moral zeal these writers felt toward Communism--their sense that it was the only theory of social organization that made moral sense--and then their path to disillusionment. Koestler's observation that he had time to become a Communist only after he found a job with a living wage was enlightening, as was Wright's bafflement at being labeled an "intellectual" at Party meetings--even though he made his living as a street sweeper--because he wore shoes to the meeting that he had shined beforehand.
270 reviews7 followers
Read
July 23, 2011
Very interesting collection of essays by 6 writers explaining how they got involved with Communism, then rejected it, in the 1930s. Most of the pieces were written expressly for this collection, Andre Gide's was compiled from his earlier writings about Communism and his experience touring the USSR. I especially liked Richard Wright's contribution, but the entire book is of historical interest, while its warnings on the perils of embracing ideology remain relevant today.
Profile Image for Karlo Mikhail.
400 reviews119 followers
July 29, 2017
Classic anti-communist black propaganda. Much of it reiterates crude diatribes from the McCarthy period and can be readily refuted. Silone, for instance, has been later exposed to be a government agent. Reveals more about the author's subjectivity (an unremoulded individualism coupled with pessimism/false idealism re the former Soviet Union/overoptimistic impetuosity leading to disillusionment) rather than the real flaws of its subject.
18 reviews2 followers
November 14, 2016
We are easily duped by political ideologies, the consequences of which are life altering. Being a Hungarian myself, and having lived under Communism, I was riveted to read Arthur Koestler's autobiographical essay on him joining forces with Leftist ideologues and then finding out the true nature of those "gods."
A must read for our times!
We need to be very cautious about political alliances; Conservatism's questioning nature and realism is the right antidote.
August 29, 2008
Gw baca yang sudah di alih bahasakan ke bahasa Indonesia, dan dari sini dapat diketahui bahwa Komunisme merupakan paham yang baik namun karena diisi oleh manusia-manusia yang bejat dan tidak punya etika dalam hal keserakahannya maka paham tersebut menjadi hancur dan tidak dapat dipertahankan.
memang selalu bukan Paham-nya tetapi lebih kepada siapa manusianya.
2 reviews
September 17, 2013
This relates to those who have lived in Communist ruled states and has experienced the virtues and vices. The Essayists are all impeccable in their observations. However, all of six great minds have written something independently after their contribution in this work. it is worthwhile to explore those works as well for a complete picture.
Profile Image for Todd.
391 reviews
September 17, 2013
What great personal stories from these writers, both in terms of what drew them toward Communism and how they became disenchanted with it. As we struggle to find our way forward in the world, addressing the economic and social problems facing us, their stories remain current. Our ideals tell us what we want, but reality intrudes and informs us what we can have.
Profile Image for Stephen Coates.
301 reviews9 followers
April 2, 2018
Each of these six mostly autobiographical essays was interesting in their own right each of which I enjoyed. One point that stood out to me was Richard Wright's experience of, after leaving the Communist party, the behind the scenes moves to prevent him getting work and being published. This reminds me of the tradition within many religions, especially Islam, to persecute, even kill, apostates.
Profile Image for Monica.
106 reviews1 follower
February 26, 2008
Read this long ago. The title may make some cringe but it's nonethless true that many oppressed saw communism as a new dawn, godlike, and in the end its failure was a crushing, almost obliterating blow.
238 reviews
June 1, 2013
"But no one who has not wrestled with Communism as a philosophy, and Communists as political opponents, can really understand the values of Western democracy. The Devil once lived in Heaven, and those who have not met him are unlikely to recognize an angel when they see one."
Profile Image for Michele Bergadano.
36 reviews4 followers
February 2, 2016
Un'antologia di articoli di Arthur Koestler (Germania), Ignazio Silone (Italia), Stephen Spender (corrispondente americano), Richard Wright (USA), André Gide (Francia) e di alcuni altri intellettuali europei e americani ex-pro-sovietici, pubblicato nel 1949.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.