A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru

xxii+442 pages with bibliography and index. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x 6 1/4") issued in yellow cloth with brown lettering to spine. Translated from the French by Katherine Woods, edited by Arthur Goddard. First American edition.

Many arguments have occurred over the centuries since the Spanish marched into the Andean highlands and took over the Incan empire, over whether the Incan's were part of an ideal human society, or just a group of tyrannical rulers. While the Incan society had created a stable political, economic, and social system in the Andean world it was far from being an ideal society. On the same note, the Incan's were not tyrannical rulers, did not exploit their subjects or take away their land for no reason. The truth about the Incan empire lies somewhere between the romanticized views, and the views meant to justify the Spanish conquest, while it is impossible to classify in modern terms the form of government the Incan's had. Louis Baudin tries to prove that the Incan government was socialistic in nature. Though he argues his point and shows how the Incan empire was in essence socialist in nature it is, as Alfred Métraux says unjust to assign any kind of modern European label to a society that evolved separately from the Europeans. Just because it resembles socialism, an ideology that was created in 19th century Europe, does not mean that it can be labeled. The government of the Incas was created through natural evolution, and it cannot be labeled by something that was created in the mind of some European that lived 200 years after the empire was destroyed.

Condition:

Fore edge page ends soiled. Dust jacket lightly soiled with light edge wear. A very good copy in like jacket.