What a depressing book. The chapters about life in Eastern Europe after the fall of the USSR were utterly heartbreaking. Even the little things like how free Summer camp for kids was abolished was just ... fuck dude. I don't even know what to say
This book actually made me weep. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to read Parenti. 
Blackshirts and Reds is a MANDATORY reading for any leftist in the core. US nerds especially I don't care if you're a maoist or anarchist or a secret third thing you literally can not form a complete understanding of leftist geopolitics without the information in it.