A Conspiratorial Life: Robert Welch, the John Birch Society, and the Revolution of American Conservatism

much to expect even the most diligent researcher to master the various languages and expertise involved if this were not the case. Early on, the author limns one of the chief ironies of this era, if not this millennium: the rise of China. As a labor historian and as a student of global affairs, it would have benefited this reader if the author had turned his vast knowledge of both of his specialties on this topic, for it is evident that a true turning point in world history occurred in 1972, with the Washington entente with Beijing on an anti-Soviet basis. China proceeded to wage war on its erstwhile Communist partner in Vietnam; aided the anti-Moscow campaign in Afghanistan in the 1980s; and generally completed the encirclement of the Soviet Union, contributing mightily to its collapse in 1991. In return, China received massive and direct foreign investment from the United States and its allies, which created a juggernaut— now, ironically, yoked to the successor state of the Soviet Union in Moscow. Washington will be wrestling with this chain of events for decades to come, and it would have been useful if Fink’s vast knowledge had addressed the same. In outlining developments in Bonn during this period, Fink justifiably underscores the “anticommunist vigilance on the part of ... American[s],” notably, labor operatives such as Irving Brown and Jay Lovestone, both with questionable connections to US intelligence agencies (69). Again, it would have been beneficial to the reader if the author had spent more time discussing the other German state, the now-defunct German Democratic Republic, which would have illuminated his final chapter on apartheid, because this state was one of the closest allies of the now-ruling African National Congress and South African Communist Party. A central aspect of the post-1945 planet is that anti-apartheid South Africans, Palestinians, Cubans, and others were heavily dependent on the Soviet Union and its allies. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it empowered factions such as the right-wing in Israel, which was bent on thwarting the two-state solution—a simple fact that eludes the analysis in these pages. This brings us to the final chapter on South Africa, which, unlike previous pages, relies substantively on interviews. This leads to discernible errors, such as referring to the now late but influential Washington journalist, Askia Muhammad, as a “former Nation of Islam journalist” (201). Actually, Muhammad, whom I knew—he interviewed me countless times—remained in the ranks until his recent death and was eulogized in the pages of this religious group’s journal. Similarly, Fink cites approvingly the former US anti-apartheid leader Randall Robinson, who disputes the notion that Nelson Mandela was a “Communist” (208). Actually, many of the post-1994 leaders in South Africa—including Mandela’s successors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma— were at one time enrolled in the ranks of the South African Communist Party. This is a point documented by a number of scholars, including myself, but—again—for whatever reason, this chapter relies more on interviews than the other case studies. The case of South Africa is illustrative because it represents an international issue that galvanized millions of US nationals in unions, universities, religious bodies, Hollywood, and the music business. However, there was always an unsteady trans-Atlantic marriage because, as noted, the South African forces were not as antiCommunist as their US counterparts. Thus, a precondition to the easing of Jim Crow restrictions in this nation was the sidelining of NAACP founder and patriarch W. E. B. Du Bois and those like him (e.g. Paul Robeson) on primitive anti-Communist grounds, whereas Mandela and his comrades did not and could not accept such a bargain. Nonetheless, the author is typically insightful and correct to emphasize the clear importance of the passage of the “Comprehensive AntiApartheid Act” in Washington, “sustaining the final version ... over a presidential veto by a 78–21 vote in October 1986” (216). Remarkably, this placed Washington, often to the right of its allies, in a contrasting position, where it was actually in the progressive vanguard. However, the author scorns the post-1994 regime in Pretoria “that focused in classic neoliberal fashion on privatization of state-owned properties and the removal of exchange controls” (222). Yet the left-wing reader in Johannesburg might well suggest that the collapse of the socialist camp in Eastern Europe, which the author previously salutes, made it difficult to pursue the kind of radical redistributionist policies that South Africa— and, indeed, the entire subregion— needed so desperately. This collapse, as noted, empowered the United States and its allies, the victors at the socalled end of history, who were unwilling to countenance any deviation from the Washington consensus of—precisely—neoliberalism and privatization. Nevertheless, any reservations about Fink’s analysis cannot detract from the wider point: the author is not only the premier labor historian of his generation, but, with this outstanding volume, now also emerges as one of our most perceptive analysts of global trends.