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Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War, edited by Ronald Radosh, Mary R. Habeck, and Grigory Sevostianov (Yale, 537 pp., $35)

TO contemporaries, the Spanish Civil War seemed an epic, even biblical, struggle between Communism and Fascism, in other words between good and evil. And to most contemporaries, the outcome was appalling: The Fascist victory meant that there was no chance to put Communism into practice in western Europe, and no chance either to stop Hitler in his tracks. Communists and their supporters have argued ever since that they alone made any serious attempt to head off the coming world war. Whatever bad things Communists may have done elsewhere, in Spain their cause was pure to the point of being romantic. As a result of a good many histories and memoirs, that remains today the generally accepted opinion.

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

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Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War, edited by Ronald Radosh, Mary R. Habeck, and Grigory Sevostianov (Yale, 537 pp., $35)

TO contemporaries, the Spanish Civil War seemed an epic, even biblical, struggle between Communism and Fascism, in other words between good and evil. And to most contemporaries, the outcome was appalling: The Fascist victory meant that there was no chance to put Communism into practice in western Europe, and no chance either to stop Hitler in his tracks. Communists and their supporters have argued ever since that they alone made any serious attempt to head off the coming world war. Whatever bad things Communists may have done elsewhere, in Spain their cause was pure to the point of being romantic. As a result of a good many histories and memoirs, that remains today the generally accepted opinion.