Black on Red: My 44 Years Inside the Soviet Union: An Autobiography

This book chronicles the amazing life of Robert Robinson, black man, born in Jamaica, became a naturalized American citizen, was employed by the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, signed a one-year contract to work in the Soviet Union and spent the next 44 years of his life there. This book should be required reading for high school students so that they can see that promises of a utopian society are not to be trusted, no matter whether that promise comes from a foreign government, or from their own government which seems to be swiftly drifting to a Soviet-style government. For those of us raised outside of a repressive society, it is hard to imagine just how difficult life must have been, and may still be for all we really know, for the citizens of the Soviet Union / Russia. When you are forced to boil film and old shoes so you can find something to eat, you know that things are very bad. I am so glad that Mr. Robinson was finally able to escape the Soviet Union and make it back to America and have his citizenship in this country restored to him. I wonder if Barry Obama has ever read this book? I doubt it.

Robinson's book is an excellent account of 44 years inside a prison called Russia. He writes how Russians discriminated blacks while giving the image abroad of being an open and racially tolerant society. This book is both a memoir and a history book. It warns the West against the manipulative ways of Russia and cautions that Russia will never really transform into a western-style democracy. This is very relevant today, as the policies of Putin have so far demonstrated. Also, it cautions the reader against Russian chauvinism and racism. Indeed, racism is running rampant in Russia as it is evident from the frequent murders of black foreign students residing in the country. This book is a great read. I give it a FIVE.

I found this book probably 15 years ago in my local library and I still remember the title, the author, and the story. It's an amazing "inside" view of real day to day living in the Soviet Union over a period of four decades. Mr. Robinson's memoir relates not only what it's like to be an American in the Soviet Union but also what it's like to be a black man in a "perfect" socialist society. We see from his first hand experience that it is not as perfect as originally advertised to him by the recruiters! But, he was able get his engineering degree which is something he would never have been able to achieve in the USA during the 1930's. I highly recommend this book!

You have to read this book. All I can say is, WOW! I really could not put this book down and it is a large book with approx 400 pages in the hardback form. While reading this book, I laughed and I cried. It was so powerful and so moving. It really changes what we thought we knew about Russia. I have actually traveled to Russia while it was still a communist country so I thought that this book would be a nice addition to what I already knew. Let me change that statement to, "What I thought I knew". Reading this book helped me to understand the Soviet system and made it clear to me why as Americans we were followed and why the family that put us up in their apartment were very careful when they spoke to us. It really put everything in perspective for me. I also learned a great deal about the United States and our relationship to the Soviets. I wish I could speak to Robert Robinson and shake his hand and I wish there was something that someone could do to give him back the years that the Soviet system took from him. I truly wish the book would have been bigger. I wish all of Robert Robinson's memiors were available to read. Don't wait another minute-----READ THIS BOOK!