-Caveat Lector-
Nazi's, Socialists, Communists - One and the same
Center for the American Founding January 20, 1998 Balint Vazsonyi
------------
TAKING COMMUNISM SERIOUSLY By Balint Vazsonyi
[First published January 20, 1998 in The Washington Times]
The publication in France of "The Black Book of Communism" (reviewed
in the Washington Times by Ben and Daniel Wattenberg, January 8) is
setting off shock waves in French political circles. But the book's
real impact could be in America. At long last, we will have the tools
to confront "Communism — The Idea."
Three centuries in the making, communism has offered the only
challenge to the principles of the American Founding. It has done so
under a bewildering variety of labels, all based on the identical
doctrine: that human reason is supreme, and that certain people are
capable of comprehending and arranging the world around us; that such
people should guide all others toward an increasingly perfect and just
society in which all desires will have been either eliminated or
satisfied.
Unlike the American quest for the best possible world, communism thus
promises the perfect world. For Lenin, that meant a world where no one
owned anything. For Hitler, one without Jews and ruled by Germans.
Stalin combined it all — no Jews, no ownership, and a world domination
by Russia. Mao hunted down those who possessed Western books.
All for social justice. All "in the best interest of the people."
Eyebrows were raised when my 1995 essay "The Battle for America's
Soul" detailed the parallels between the Third Reich and the Soviet
Union as "The Unlikely Twins." Even more skepticism greeted the
assertion that both grew out of nineteenth-century German philosophy.
It comes as a relief that Tony Judt (New York Times, December 22,
1997) and Alain Besancon (Commentary, January 1998) published the same
conclusions. Having grown up under both tyrannies, there was the
troubling possibility that I had developed obsessions and mistaken
them for reality.
For sure, a lot is asked of native-born Americans with no experience
of foreign occupation or tyranny, to see all this in the same light as
those who lived through it. Even the often-shown horror pictures of
the Nazi concentration camps must appear as something from another
planet. Visual record of the horrible deeds elsewhere is not
accessible, and reports of them have been obscured by the beguiling
language of socialism: "peace, compassion, international brotherhood."
But reality is that even Mussolini was a socialist who, thrown out by
fellow socialists, formed his own socialist party named "fascist"
after a symbol from ancient Rome. Reality is that Hitler's outfit was
called the National Socialist German Workers' Party, with a manifesto
copied from Marx. Reality is that Lenin's Bolshevik Party was based on
German books. Differences merely reflected local conditions. Jiang
Zemin, China's current president speaks of "Socialism with Chinese
characteristics."
Might some people be working on socialism with American
characteristics?
Most Americans prefer the notion that communism went out with the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. But communism, remember, was not born
in the Soviet Union. Why would it have died with the Soviet Union? Is
it likely that the millions who signed on to The Idea just shrugged
their shoulders in 1991 and drank a toast to the rule of law and free
enterprise?
Remember also: socialists, whether they realize it or not, are
committed to building communism because socialism — President Jiang
Zemin reminds us — is but a phase on the road to communism.
Many see a difference between socialists and communists. But Marx, in
the Communist Manifesto of 1848, already differentiates among seven
types of socialism, dismissing all except his own. Since his doctrines
are described as "socialist" and the publication is called "Communist
Manifesto," it is just a game with words. The most successful word
game was devised by Stalin, who renamed Hitler's regime "fascist" to
cover up the fact that it, too, was socialist.
For several decades, we have been fooled about nazism and communism as
"opposites." Nazis were the ultimate evil but communists — Hollywood
assured us during the 50th anniversary of the HUAC hearings — were
good people. The "Hollywood Ten" of 1948, and many others since,
believed that communism was really a good idea with a few "mistakes"
along the way.
By mistake, a hundred million people were killed in various terrible
ways, so the "Black Book of Communism" informs us. That, and the
irrefutable evidence of methods identical to those of Nazi Germany,
should open many eyes at last. There is nothing we can do about the
past. But we can do something for the future. We can change the words
we use.
As Alain Besancon points out in Commentary, the current vocabulary for
our political spectrum is of Soviet origin. It placed socialists and
communists on the left, "capitalists, imperialists" on the right. Once
nazis entered the picture, they became the far right, and room was
created for "moderates" in the middle.
Each of these propositions is a deception.
Placing communist socialists and national socialists at opposite ends
feigned a quality difference between their agendas, and the people who
joined them. It also hinted that everyone on the "right" was in some
proximity to the hated nazis. Recently, "extremist" has been added to
move those on the "right," rhetorically, ever closer to nazis.
Accompanying this has been the refusal by persons who espouse classic
socialist tools to be called socialist. What else should we call
people who advocate redistribution, class warfare, classification by
ancestry, political correctness, revisionist history, school-to-work,
speech codes? Or do they not realize they are socialists?
If so, millions of Americans might reconsider their stance once they
realize its origins. Millions more might rediscover America's founding
principles once they accept that nazism was just another form of
socialism. So let us restore clarity.
There are the principles of the American Founding: the rule of law,
individual rights, guaranteed property, and a common American
identity. They bring, maintain, and defend freedom.
Then there is the road to socialism: "social justice," group rights,
redistribution through entitlements, and multiculturalism. They crush
the human spirit, and enslave the participants.
One is home-grown, secured by the sacrifice of countless generations,
and uniquely successful. The other is of foreign origin, propagated
around the world by political operatives, and has produced the
greatest tragedies of recorded history.
It should not be difficult to choose.
But there is no middle.
--------------
"The New Deal is plainly an attempt to achieve a working socialism and
avert a social collapse in America; it is extraordinarily parallel to
the successive 'policies' and 'Plans' of the Russian experiment.
Americans shirk the word 'socialism', but what else can one call it?"
-H.G. Wells The New World Order 1939
**********************************************************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] The Patriot Resource Center:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6627/
**********************Live Free or Die!**********************<><
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
