Max Eastman Resources
(January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy and society, a poet and a prominent political activist.
While residing in the Soviet Union from the fall of 1922 to the summer of 1924, Eastman was influenced by the power struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin and the events leading to Stalin's eventual takeover.
As a witness to the Great Purge and the Soviet Union's totalitarianism, he became highly critical first of Stalinism and then of communism and socialism in general.
"Hegelism is like a mental disease—you cannot know what it is until you get it, and then you can't know because you've got it."
Marx, Lenin and the Science of Revolution (1926), p. 22
Max Eastman at FEE
Eastman became an advocate of free-market economics and anti-communism, while remaining an atheist and independent thinker. In 1955, he published Reflections on the Failure of Socialism.
Max Eastman at Marxists Internet Archive
Earlier writings from Max Eastman while he was still a radicalized and fervent supporter of Marxism and Leftism. His two-year stay in the Soviet Union beginning in 1922 was the catalyst for his slow turn away from communism toward a Free-Market.
Max Eastman narrates "From Tsar to Lenin"
The narration by Max Eastman (1883-1969), the pioneer American radical who later renounced socialism and Marxism, conveys with emotion and humanity the drama and pathos of the revolution.
Max Eastman at AIER
It is rare to see someone like Max Eastman, with such devotion and dedication to a vision, reversing deeply held views when confronted with new facts and information.
Max Eastman at Mises
Eastman saw Lenin as a dogmatist guilty of great crimes, and socialism a recipe for disaster. Reflections on the Failure of Socialism is the record of his insightful assault on socialism and his defense of the free market.
Max Eastman at Indiana University
Correspondence and writings of Max Forrester Eastman donated to Indiana University by his widow, Yvette Szekely Eastman.
Edward Herrmann as Max Eastman
"Casting is destiny in so far as the character goes, and character is plot."
- Warren Beatty on casting "Reds."