Playing with the 20th century. In Krytyka, No. 10 (108), 2006, pp. 2-4.

The article reviews two thematically related works: Robert Conquest's Reflections on a Ravaged Century and Myroslav Popovych's The Red Century. Both books focus on a critical analysis of the history of the Soviet Union, imcluding Stalin's terror and the USSR's cooperation with Germany in 1939-1941. The author sees the difference in Conquest's and Popovich's approaches primarily in their assessment of the role of Western democratic countries. Conquest portrays them as victims, deceived by Stalin at the time, and blames left-wing radicals and their influence on Western intellectuals for the possible failures of Western democracies after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Popovich, according to the author, despite his clear anti-communist position, is far from idealizing the West. It is emphasized that while Popovich's bias in assessing individual figures and events is situational, Conquest's work is deeply subjective. The author harshly criticizes Conquest's description of the idea of a united Europe as violent and counterproductive.