Was war der Kommunismus?

The Communist movements and the founding of sovereign Communist states, seen in the light of their original intentions as well as their eventual rapid disintegration, represent one of the most difficult chapters of 20th-century history, a time Eric Hobsbawn called the "century of extremes." Gerd Koenen sees Communism as one of the essential elements of all the major movements of that age and attempts to contexualize it in recent history. Why and how were the Communists - despite their miserable failings - still able to impress themselves so radically upon their spheres of influence? What is the balance of their historical role - particularly in light of post-Communist developments and the crisis of capitalism we are now experiencing? von Koenen, Gerd