Seduced by stalinist or leninist or maoist ideology, many western intellectuals see communist nations as progressive societies; this is "the totalitarian temptation." In these searing pages the author shows how and why the crude rethoric of communism (and of the new eurocommunism) has bewitched so many minds. The question we must now face, says Revelm is whether or not free peoples will be able to overcome the two chief barriers to a democratic and socialist world: the nation-atate and the appeal of communism.