“Unlike Marxism, the Leninist one-party state is not a philosophy. It is a mechanism for holding power. It works because it clearly defines who gets to be the elite - the political elite, the cultural elite, the financial elite.”

American journalist, historian and foreign-policy commentator

Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is an American journalist, historian, and foreign-policy commentator. She has worked on the politics and history of Europe, and in 2013 became a Polish citizen. She is known for writing about Communism and the growth of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. Her work often focuses on the region’s political changes and the ideas that shaped them.