The expousal, examination through experience, and renunciation of communism by Emma Goldman, Benjamin Gitlow, Max Eastman and Louis Budenz

The objective of this thesis is to present a study of the political impact of Communism on four individuals who at one stage in their lives thought that Communism was the best political system on earth, and who subsequently became disillusioned ot the point where they considered Communism the worst political system on earth. This thesis tries to answer some of the questions arising from such a study. How did these four people become so enamoured of Communism and later so thoroughly disillusioned with it? What is there about Communism which could so strongly attract and later so thoroughly repel intelligent people? Was disaffection due to the weakness of the people involved, or was it due to weaknesses in the Communist system? Where is the truth to be found regarding the essential nature of Communism: in the official reports and propaganda of the Russian government, or in the opinions of the Communist Party members, or in the writings of those who have been in close contact with the system? The problem is to determine the nature of the attraction of Communism and the nature of its repellent aspects as seen by four of those who have strongly felt, in turn, that attraction and that repulsion