An old story
, • Christopher Booker is quite wrong to (7, in his article on the death of Brezhnev s ° November), that 'the Communist :stem • . . is like nothing ever seen before e,11 earth'. Modern totalitarianism is only an trPtation to industrial circumstances of the oldest and best-tried political system in 4"e world: the system which Marx described ender the heading 'The Asiatic Mode of "l s Joduction', and which Karl Wittfogel, in definitive book on the subject, called
of The political structures tan modern Russian empire would be lY familiar to any citizen of ancient
10,YI3t or Mesopotamia. The menace of its'alitarianism lies not in its newness, but .1, groat age, experience and resilience. tree states have lasted for periods
thousand years. If Mr Booker
thinks that totalitarianism is new, he should dip into the early chapters of Prescott's Conquest of Peru. Yuri Andropov cannot, in his sweetest dreams, hope for such power over his subjects as the Grand Inca had over his.
John Derbyshire Siping Teachers' College, Siping City, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China
Previous page
