Reviews

E. H. Carr, The Russian Revolution from Lenin to Stalin, 1917–1929. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1979. x + 200 pp. £6.95.

Paul Dukes, October and the World: Perspectives on the Russian Revolution. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1979. viii + 224 pp. £10.00 and £4.95.

Graeme J. Gill, Peasants and Government in the Russian Revolution. (The London School of Economics and Political Science) London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1979. xiv + 233 pp. £12.00.

John L. H. Keep, The Debate on Soviet Power: Minutes of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets, Second Convocation, October 1917‐January 1918. (British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. xiv + 465 pp. £15.00.

Robert Service, The Bolshevik Party in Revolution: A Study in Organisational Change, 1917–1923. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1979. 246 pp. £12.00.

Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge, London, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1979. xvii + 406 pp. £19.50 and £5.50.

Marc Ferro, October 1917: a social history of the Russian Revolution. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980. xiv + 345 pp. £13.50.

Arcadius Kahan and Blair A. Ruble (eds.), Industrial Labor in the U.S.S.R. (Pergamon policy studies), New York and Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1979. xv+ 421 pp. $9.95

Murray Yanowitch (ed.), Soviet Work Attitudes—The issue of Participation in Management, Oxford: Martin Robertson, 1979. xiv+ 133 pp. £12.00.

Nicholas Lampert, The Technical Intelligentsia and the Soviet State. A Study of Soviet Managers and Technicians 1928–1935. London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1979. x + 191 pp. £12.00.

Neils Erik Rosenfeldt, Knowledge and Power: The Role of Stalin's Secret Chancellery in the Soviet System of Government. Copenhagen University, Institute of Slavonic Studies, no. 5. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1978. 219 pp. 80 D. kr., paper.

Ljubo Sirc, The Yugoslav Economy Under Self‐Management. London: The Macmillan Press, 1979. xx + 270 pp. Index. £15.00.

Marshall I. Goldman, The Enigma of Soviet Petroleum—Half Empty or Half Full. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1980. 214 pp. £10.95.

Jonathan P. Stern, Soviet Natural Gas Development to 1990. London: D. C. Heath, 1980. xiii + 190 pp. £13.50.

Jozef M. van Brabant, Socialist Economic Integration: Aspects of Contemporary Economic Problems in Eastern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. xiii + 362 pp. £15.00.

David E. Albright (ed.), Africa and International Communism. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan in association with Indiana University Press, 1980. viii + 277 pp. £12.50 and £4.95.

Michael J. Deane, Strategic Defense In Soviet Strategy. Coral Gables, Fla: Advanced International Studies Institute, University of Miami, 1980. 119 pp.

David W. Paul, The Cultural Limits of Revolutionary Politics: Change and Continuity in Socialist Czechoslovakia. Boulder: East European Quarterly, 1979. x + 361 pp. $23.10.

Christian Rakovsky, Selected Writings on Opposition in the USSR, 1923–30 (edited with an introduction by Gus Fagan). London: Allison & Busby, 1980. 185 pp. £13.95 (cloth), £4.95 (paper).

Alan W. Fisher, The Crimean Tatars, Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 1978. xii + 264 pp. $14.95.     

Specialization and versatility in sexual offenders referred for civil commitment

Offense specialization and versatility have been investigated in general offender populations, but have only recently been examined in sexual offenders. This study explored the extent of both tendencies in the criminal histories of 572 adult male sexual offenders referred for civil commitment. The specialization threshold and the diversity index were used to compare offender subgroups by referral status (committed versus observed) and offense type (rape, child molestation, and incest). Offense versatility was the more likely tendency across the sample. Committed and observed offenders did not differ. Although predominantly versatile, child molesters were significantly more likely than rapists to specialize in sexual offenses, and were also more likely to specialize in child molestation (compared to rapists specializing in rape). These results confirm previous findings on criminal versatility among sexual offenders. This adds to a growing body of research that questions universal and selective crime control policies designed exclusively for sexual offenders.     

Public values, health inequality, and alternative notions of a "fair" response

The fact that disadvantaged people generally die younger and suffer more disease than those with more resources is gaining ground as a major policy concern in the United States. Yet we know little about how public values inform public opinion about policy interventions to address these disparities. This article presents findings from an exploratory study of the public's values and priorities as they relate to social inequalities in health. Forty-three subjects were presented with a scenario depicting health inequalities by social class and were given the opportunity to alter the distribution of health outcomes. Participants' responses fell into one of three distributive preferences: (1) prioritize the disadvantaged, (2) equalize health outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and (3) equalize health resources between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. These equality preferences were reflected in participants' responses to a second, more complex scenario in which trade-offs with other health-related values - maximizing health and prioritizing the sickest - were introduced. In most cases, participants moderated their distributive preferences to accommodate these other health goals, particularly to prioritize the allocation of resources to the very sick regardless of their socioeconomic status.     

Reconceptualizing organizational change in the Comprehensive Gang Model

Organizational change and development is one of the cornerstones of successful crime prevention and intervention efforts, yet it has received little empirical attention in the areas of crime and justice. This lack of empirical attention extends to the national Comprehensive Gang Model, which explicitly states that organizational change and development is a key strategy. Borrowing concepts from the management field, the authors argue that the Comprehensive Gang Model should be reconceptualized so that organizational change and development is the foundation upon which other strategies are built. Application of this re-specified model is demonstrated through a case study in central Massachusetts utilizing learning communities as a vehicle to obtain sustainable change. Assessment of the organizational change and development is also discussed.     

Japan’s Middle East Policy, 1972–1974: Resources Diplomacy,Pro-American Policy,and New Left

Commentators generally accept that the Yom Kippur War and subsequent oil crisis crystallised Japan’s overtly pro-Arab stance. This analysis challenges that view—even after the oil embargo, Japan’s Middle Eastern policy was both discretely and, at times, blatantly pro-American. Admittedly, the Japanese government had a seemingly ambiguous attitude towards the Arab–Israeli conflict and on-going conflict between oil-producing countries and oil companies; however, responsible for formulating the Arab–Israeli policy, the Foreign Ministry preferred to follow American leadership in the region for reasons of national security and Cold War imperatives. The Foreign Ministry’s response to the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, a radicalised Japanese New Left terrorist attack, revealed a determination to gain international credibility by more actively supporting the West. Lod buttressed the influence of the pro-American contingent in the government; and the 1973 Arab oil embargo did not undermine their position. Although the Cabinet eventually issued a public statement supporting the Arab cause to satisfy the Japanese public, the pro-American contingent succeeded surreptitiously in bringing the Cabinet together to uphold the American-led petroleum order as well as United States leadership in Cold War politics.     

Testing Antemortem Blood for Ethanol Concentration from a Blood Kit in a Refrigerator Fire

The stability of ethanol in antemortem blood stored under various conditions has been widely studied. Antemortem blood samples stored at refrigerated temperature, at room temperature, and at elevated temperatures tend to decrease in ethanol concentration with storage. It appears that the stability of ethanol in blood exposed to temperatures greater than 38°C has not been evaluated. The case presented here involves comparison of breath test results with subsequent analysis of blood drawn at the time of breath testing. However, the blood tubes were in a refrigerator fire followed by refrigerated storage for 5 months prior to analysis by headspace gas chromatography. The subject’s breath was tested twice using an Intoxilyzer 8000. The subject’s blood was tested in duplicate using an Agilent headspace gas chromatograph. The measured breath ethanol concentration was 0.103 g/210 L and 0.092 g/210 L. The measured blood ethanol concentration was 0.0932 g/dL for both samples analyzed. Although the mean blood test result was slightly lower than the mean breath test result, the mean breath test result was within the estimated uncertainty of the mean blood test result. Even under the extreme conditions of the blood kit being in a refrigerator fire, the measured blood ethanol content agreed well with the paired breath ethanol test.