The Communist church had its :
Founder : Karl Marx (a Jewish Lutheran turned atheist),Prophets : G.W. Hegel, R. Owen, K. Clausevitz, C. Darwin, K. Marx, F. Engels, V. Lenin ; in some quarters Mao ; other,
False Prophets : J. Dzhugashvilli alias Stalin : repudiated by Lenin in the early 1920's ; disowned by the Communists (Khrushchev, etc.) in the 1950's,
Precedents : Hammurabi, Dzhenghis Khan (but no cultic impositions were present) ; Ivan the Terrible ; Peter A. Romanov (father of an imperialism) ; Gottdorp-Holstein nee Anhalt Zerbst (an empress in Muscovy/Rus) ; Nechayev — "the father of the Red Death" (some Russian authors objected to his being assigned so prominent a role within this Tradition but there may be some truth to it), etc.,
God : Communism, there also being a sort of demi-God called Socialism,
Satan : Imperialism,
Devil : the Capitalist (some truth to this one),
Sin : Profit (however made),
Dogmas : the chief Prophets (Marx, Lenin) infallible, the skeptic either forcibly converted or eliminated (various means),
Salvation : the "system" (usually a collection of vaguely related or unrelated slogans),
Paradise : the USSR,
Confer "Praise of the USSR" by the agent-saboteur Bertolt Brecht — broadly published in the USA ; compare that with the usual propaganda within the Soviet Union and/or the rest of the 20th-century Soviet Bloc so-called.Hell : everything outside the USSR,
Worship : sample Litany follows
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin commanded us to hold high and to keep pure the great name of Member of the Party. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to honour thy command.
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin ordered us to conserve the unity of our Party as the apple of our eye. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to honour thy command.
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin ordered us to maintain and strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to exert our full strength to honour thy command.
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin ordered us to strengthen with all our might the union of workers and peasants. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to honour thy command.
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin ordered us to strengthen and enlarge the Union of the Republics. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to honour thy command.
In leaving us, Comrade Lenin enjoined on us fidelity to the Communist International. We swear to thee, Comrade Lenin, to devote our lives to the enlargement and strengthening of the union of the workers of the whole world, the Communist International.(Source : STALIN : A Critical Survey of Bolshevism by Boris Souvarine, New York : Longmans, Green, 1939, p. 352).
On "Understanding" the 20th-century Communism
(by me W. Paul Tabaka, Jan 2008)The above Litany had been produced by none other than J. Stalin himself, shortly after the demise of V.I. Lenin. Can there be a more directly representative statement found, in a nut-shell, of the 20th century Communism ?
Did Stalin believe but a word of what he was saying ? This might matter not at all ; on one hand, Stalin was reportedly (Bazhanov) enthusiastic right after Lenin's death (that seems quite in character). On the other hand, he (Stalin) had not the least interest in any theoretical questions of 'socialism',* and was exclusively committed to organising and expanding the racket whereof he was the usually indisputable leader (which included Malenkov, Kaganovich, Molotov, eventually Beria, etc.).
* The one theoretical work which could be with some credence attributed to Stalin was his early essay on the national question — but that was largely from the pen of Lenin : that, according to Trotzky, anyhow. Since Trotzky had no reason to tamper with Lenin's data he might be in this one instance believed.Apart from Stalin's pretended devotion to Lenin, parts of this peculiar Litany do actually say what was in reality meant to be done. A brief, rude-form analysis follows.
Item : "to hold high and to keep pure the great name of Member of the Party"
Comment that author was initially trained for priesthood.Item : "conserve the unity of our Party as the apple of our eye"
Comment in effect, the destruction of anything that was not the Stalin-controlled machine ; not only within the USSR but world-wide. Confer, for example, the Great Schism within the Communist Party USA in the 1920's (described in some detail by Whittaker Chambers, Witness, New York : Random House, 1952 ; probably also in other sources).
There had been some sorts of popular delusion, "the Soviets have reformed", notable in the USA 1930-40's. That had never been the case, however many honest men might have fallen for the deception. Examine the consecutive record of the statements by the Reds in the USSR and of their actions between 1917 and circa 1980 (whatever might be the overall import of the short-term military alliance 1941-45, against the other beast, with the civilised powers : "take advantage of the friend just as well as of the foe" being ever fundamental with the Reds).
The Soviets had, from all appearances, indeed reformed in the 1990s. This is an entirely new situation, in some ways. But the damage wrought by the Reds gobally (20th century) is a quite separable problem from that of the present state of Russia.
The variables are indefinitely many ; the corruption within the USA now may be no less than in many other countries, the South America is brimming with some kinds of discontent, some parties are trying entirely to alienate the Mohammedans (who had been in some instances themselves fooled by the Reds, as in Iran), the troublemaker can be seen daily, even in your local library, the reader, and certainly in many a major newspaper.
Neither major political Party in the USA is much of an approximation to any answers, the reader ; they had been both infiltrated during the 20th century ; the politicians are not "all liars" (a standard item of the Red propaganda) but quite a few of that class are mentally weak and many more might be simply misinformed. (The real crook is probably not that frequent in the end, though it happens.)
Note whether the official obliteration of the communist "system" in the Soviet Union did not contain some kind of a new stratagem I for one am not entirely convinced. That would be a sure way of lulling the people (world-wide) into some complacency.
The Red plague need not be spread from Russia after all : nay, "everybody knows" by now that it was "the Russians" who were the problem (however few of them were actually Russian. Stalin, for a notable example, was not one) — so why not run the racket from some other places, as a matter of common sense consideration ? Especially from some least-expected locations.
This is not to suppose that the pragmatic Mr. Gorbachev, for example, could not be believed ; but rather to alert the reader to such facts as, anybody could have been in some way duped — when dealing with those people — who "devoted their lives to the enlargement and strengthening of the union of the workers" (but had very seldom if ever at all done but one day of honest work in their entire lives).
The sometimes unexpected ease with which the racket had been dismantled in Russia and a few other countries does not prove that some parts of it had simply given up, who might have not in fact done so.
Face it, the reader : the Lost Innocence during the 20th century. Deceit was the modus operandi in the former USSR on a scale never previously known to Mankind. No comparisons are possible, unless one has been party to the progress in that peculiar art and science — or had been one of the targeted victims and had noticed the fact.
An essential ingredient of any fraud can be, for it not to have been noticed. How many such did in fact go unnoticed ? No few, the reader.Some old frauds keep going on and on, largely unnoticed or not noticed at all. Note the "that was old" line ; this usually has something to do with the more recent attempts at covering up some of the things "old" which some people would not want to be known, by something "recently discovered" or the like. Many such 'discoveries' look exceedingly suspect.
On the other hand, the "that was old" line (originally lying but often accepted by the unwary) is also intended to obscure those data which were known long ago but are still valuable, so that the people could be more prone to be manipulated by some masters of deceit.Item : "maintain and strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat"
Comment the staple, from all appearances. How can a class be a dictator ? The 'proletariat', under many another name, are being used for the propaganda purposes by any kind of cabal who do mean, dictatorship, by them, that is — over anybody and everybody wanting in vigilance — How do you otherwise explain the chaos found in the repositories of knowledge, in the media, etc. ?Item : "strengthen with all our might the union of workers and peasants"
Comment what do the workers have to do with the peasants ? One one hand, anything can be related to anything, in some fashion or other. On the other hand, the worker's product and the peasant's product are created quite separately, and are needed, by one of the other's : these being the subject-matter of some sound economics which have nothing to do with anybody's exploitation by anybody. The 18-19th centuries horror stories are largely antiquated by now, any inferences from those by K. Marx or the like have ever been erroneous (false premises) — as the experiments have proved, in Russia 1918-20's, when the New Economic Policy had to be introduced to arrest the rapid decline brought about by the marxian "economics" ; in any country where this "economics" had been tried (examine the historic record).
Anything which did not quite collapse was possible due to the modifications of the original marxian propositions, for pure pragmatic reasons. One could ask of the Marxian : when you examine those instances of 'socialism' which did, somehow, seem to have worked here or there (provided any such data be true : and this is normally a pertinent question) — compare them with the original and consider, what do you have left of the original. Is what truth might be found in the original worth the aggravation (pointless struggle over the numerous fallacies present in it), your own or by any other persons concerned (usually quite unwillingly).
Speaking about social justice (which as I understand has invariably been part of those agitations etc.) : do you know anybody expressly opposed to social justice ? Vague as it might be, there cannot be anything wrong with some general idea of social justice. How to achieve anything of such a description is an altogether different question.
Any error unwittingly accepted can only breed more error. If there be any honest believer out there, he lays self open to having been used by anybody for stirring trouble, to any hidden purposes (except justice), whatever arguments might be used.Item : "strengthen and enlarge the Union of the Republics"
Comment this might be the item. 'Strengthen and enlarge the Union of the Republics'. Can anyone read, in the USA, etc., etc. ? What does 'enlarge' mean, the reader ?For those who could not read : in this context, 'enlarge' meant Germany 1918, Riga-Latvia 1919, Finland 1919, Hungary 1919, Poland 1920, China the 1920's (but the hoax had been discovered and the Reds had been in 1927 expelled from China) ; Spain the 1930's ; again Poland (in 1939, this time in collusion with Hitler's Nazis), again Finland (in collusion with the Nazis, the USSR expelled from the League of Nations), Lithuania (in collusion with the Nazis), Latvia (in collusion with the Nazis), Estonia (in collusion with the Nazis), Bessarabia (in collusion with the Nazis), Bukowina (this was too much even for the Nazis, the Hitler/Stalin Pact begins to crumble) ; eventually, as "allies" against the Nazis — Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, parts of Germany, again China (except Taiwan). Then (North) Korea, (North) Vietnam, Ethiopia, Angola, Somalia ; anybody nostalgic about the Sixties ? — find out about the Pink Revolution (Suslov et al, 1963), notice the Red Cocaine from the South America (especially note Salvador Allende in Chile) ; the "Islamic Marxism" in Persia (Iran) ; the half-liberation/half-infestation of South Africa, etc., etc.
Of the American reader one could ask : was there no Red enlarge in Korea ? was there no Red enlarge in Vietnam ?
What are those criminal writers trying to pound into the people's skulls ? What were those "anti-war" protests, here or there ? Did those "peace"-mongers protest against the invasion from the North in Vietnam ? Why so many complaints against "witch hunts" and so little exposure of the traitors — to the USA and its traditions of the individual's freedoms — so much impinged upon during the 20th century ?A Parable Imagine, the reader, you are being accosted by a stranger, knife in hand, or gun in hand, who demands your valuables. What do you do, the reader ?
Some of the more obvious choices could be: you either (a) part with your valuables or (b) resist. Neither is a good choice, arguably.Was it a good choice, by the USA Government to assist the resistance in Vietnam against the aggression from the North ? That is where the arguments can start — and never end — if people allow themselves to be misled by some crooks. What about defending democracy ?
Item : (the "fidelity to the Communist International") : "devote our lives to the enlargement and strengthening of the union of the workers of the whole world, the Communist International"
Comment "devote our lives to the enlargement and strengthening of the union of the workers" etc.Etc., etc.,
WPT, 2008.