The Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky once described Stalinism as “the perfect theory for glueing up the brain.” What he meant was that a regime as monstrous as Stalin’s, which murdered 40 million people and enslaved many times more, was nonetheless able to persuade progressives and “social justice” advocates all over the world to act as its supporters and defenders. These enlightened enablers of Stalin’s crimes included leading intellectuals of the day, even Nobel Prize winners in the sciences and the arts such as Frederic Joliot-Curie and Andre Gide. But brilliant as they were, they were blind to the realities of the Stalinist regime and, therefore, to the virtues of the free societies they lived in.
What glued up their brains was the belief that a brave new world of social justice — a world governed by progressive principles — existed in embryo in Soviet Russia and had to be defended by any means necessary. As a result of this illusion, they put their talents and prestige at the service of the totalitarian enemies of democracy, acting, in Trotsky’s words, as “frontier guards” for the Stalinist empire. And they continued their efforts even after the Soviets conquered Eastern Europe, acquired nuclear weapons, and initiated a “cold war” with the West. To the progressives seduced by Stalinism, democratic America represented a greater evil than the barbaric police states of the Soviet bloc. Even half a century later a progressive culture still refers to the formative phase of the Cold War as the “Red Scare” — as though the fifth column of American progressives whose loyalties were to the Soviet enemy, whose members included Soviet spies, was not a matter of serious concern, and as though a nuclear-armed, rapacious Soviet empire did not pose a credible threat.
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What glued up their brains was the belief that a brave new world of social justice — a world governed by progressive principles — existed in embryo in Soviet Russia and had to be defended by any means necessary. As a result of this illusion, they put their talents and prestige at the service of the totalitarian enemies of democracy, acting, in Trotsky’s words, as “frontier guards” for the Stalinist empire. And they continued their efforts even after the Soviets conquered Eastern Europe, acquired nuclear weapons, and initiated a “cold war” with the West. To the progressives seduced by Stalinism, democratic America represented a greater evil than the barbaric police states of the Soviet bloc. Even half a century later a progressive culture still refers to the formative phase of the Cold War as the “Red Scare” — as though the fifth column of American progressives whose loyalties were to the Soviet enemy, whose members included Soviet spies, was not a matter of serious concern, and as though a nuclear-armed, rapacious Soviet empire did not pose a credible threat.
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This is a well-written article that addresses not only the Russian historical stance on the progressive movement but also the misuse within America's history. Further addressed is the malfeasance of the Black Lives Matter group and their completely ignorance of the facts in the Ferguson case.
ReplyDeleteAfter learning much about progressives in the late 1800 era resulting in legislation like prohibition, it is unsettling to see people like Clinton tooting themselves as progressives. Their legislating behaviors has a long, sordid, freedom-robbing history has been to the detriment of society and now, placed us in a deficit spending cycle. There is no easy way to put this, so it has to go to the un-PC column, for all its excitement for equality and everyone having a fair shot at the brass ring, they have created more welfare and governmental dependency than any other political theorem or practice.
Anything progressive tagged is code for government-run morality and social misjustice. The two are interchangeable and hinged within each. There is no separation.
It is articles as this one that can educate voters should they take the time to read (and reflect upon) them. Unless a voter does this, he will be forever enslaved to the MSM (the puppeteers of America's Left) and never find the true motives of the current Democrat party. Perhaps this is due to Common Core or some other nefarious force, but the education system will never tell you this raw unfettered history. It is up to you to discover it for yourself.
Is the Right with us?
ReplyDelete2:13PM, good question...
ReplyDeleteThis is a thought that crosses my mind pretty much every time I turn on the news. But it also slices the other way as well. I wonder just how many professional politicians are on the US side at all. They get to DC with pie-in-the-sky mottoes only to turn around and conduct business as usual.
Now, I'm not naive to believe that Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a reality but come on. Look at all the rhetoric we were told regarding Ryan. He was primed to be Reaganesque. He was the next one to free the country from the grips of over-spending and toxicity in the political cronyism. I bought it just like many other conservatives; only to be smacked in the forehead by his actions of late. Disappointment doesn't come close to describing the amazement at his acquiesce in the latest omnibill debauchery.
No they are Traitors.
ReplyDeleteWho funded Stalin?
ReplyDelete