Arendt and the Sociology of Communism

On a trip last year to the Hannah Arendt Collection housed in Bard College's Stevenson Library, we came across this copy of Jules Monnerot's Sociology and Psychology of Communism, an investigation into the social, historical, and psychological elements of Soviet communism:

Hannah Arendt made several annotations to her copy of this book. For instance, on page 162 (see left), she affixed an "X" and two vertical lines in the margins adjacent to the following passage:

"Secular religion of the Islamic type--the virulent conjunction of a religion and a people each of which is 'new' and at the disposal of the other and each of which transforms the other--affords a vital outlet."

Later, on page 225 (at right), she places two vertical lines next to a section that reads:

"Twentieth-century absolutism, therefore, differs from the ancient forms of tyranny as realisation differs from intention, so greatly do the means at its disposal increase its power of territorial expansion and its psychological intensity."

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The Hannah Arendt Collection at Bard College is maintained by staff members at the Bard College Stevenson Library. To peruse the collection's digital entries, please click here.

For more Library photos, please click here.