Chapter 4 - The Communist at Work The Communist at Work Communists Fronts And Captive Organizations The Communists have never aimed at the conversion of great masses of people to Communism. Their whole concept is that of a small party, compact, mobile, disciplined and dedicated, consisting largely of an intellectual elite. It is the task of this small group to utilize scientifically the social forces that move and direct the masses of the people so that the Communist Party may come to power over them, and impose forcibly the Communist program. The program of Communism, then, is to recruit into the service of the Party great numbers of individuals most of whom are unconscious that they are serving the Communist purpose. Frequently it is asked, How do you tell a Communist? It is not always easy. If a Communist does not wish to reveal his Communist membership, it may be difficult indeed to establish the fact that he is a Communist. One test that may give valuable information could be called the word test. There are certain words in rather common usage which mean one thing to people in general, and something entirely different to the Communists. If such a word is introduced into conversation, a persons position may be indicated by his interpretation of that word. One such word for example, is sectarian. To most people, this word is primarily associated with religion. To the Communist, however, it means quite another thing. The term sectarian would be applied to a Communist who publicly advocates Communism and thereby isolates himself, instead of joining an organization and working hard for its objectives so that he can finally use that organization for Communist purposes, thereby multiplying his own power many times. Lenin clearly discusses sectarianism in his remarkable book, Left Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder. The book was written as a textbook to direct the Third International or Comintern which had been organized in 1919 to work for world revolution. It is directed primarily against a group of enthusiastic young German Communists. The position they took was that they were Communists and proud of it. They wanted the whole world to know. They disguised neither their objectives nor their methods. With their goal clearly in view they marched towards it, spurning compromise and deceit. Whatever the difficulty or danger, they neither turned nor flinched. They would die for Communism, but they would not cooperate with their enemies or compromise their principles. Lenin turned upon these young enthusiasts, whom he called Left Wing Communists, the full power of his invective which both his friends and enemies acknowledge as considerable. Although he did not believe in God he said, God Himself has ordained that the young should be stupid. He ridiculed their unwillingness to indulge in compromise and deceit. He stated that they had accepted the limitations imposed by the bourgeois enemy. Compromise and deceit were very powerful instruments in the Communist program. He pointed out that a speaker openly advocating Communism was isolating himself from the great majority and limiting himself to a handful of rabid followers. True Communist strategy was to discover an issue that was important to a large number of people, to focus upon it, and to rally to it a large popular group. The test of their Communist caliber was the skill they showed in directing the people thus rallied into the service of the ultimate Communist purpose. In illustration of this principle, Lenin gave specific instructions to members of the Communist Party of England to join the British Labour Party if they could, and to work for Henderson who was the Labour candidate for Prime Minister at that time. He said: At present the British Communists very often find it hard to approach the masses and even to get a hearing from them. If I come out as a Communists and call upon the workers to vote for Henderson against Lloyd George, they will certainly give me a hearing. And I will be able to explain in a popular manner not only why Soviets are better than parliament and why the dictatorship of the proletariat is better that the dictatorship of Churchill (disguised by the signboard of bourgeois democracy), but also that I want with my vote to support Henderson in the same way as the rope supports a hanged man.(1) To be sectarian, then, is to operate in isolation instead of utilizing the great social forces that activate large groups of people. Sectarianism ranks high in the list of cardinal Communist sins. The Communist formula for effective action is a simple one. It may be summed up: Discover what people want, promise it to them, and go to work to get it for them that you may come to power over them. This is the Communist program of action in any situation. In Marxist schools the Communists study the groups that compose a given society. They study the emotions of each group, their longings and their grievances, and they devise a program to exploit these ambitions and resentments. They believe that each group of people is so short sighted and so selfishly motivated that, provided you are working in the interests of their most pressing desires in the immediate environment, they will pay no attention to what you are promising and promoting at a distance. The Communist is not at all disturbed by the fact that he may be working simultaneously for two groups with conflicting interests and objectives. This is not inconsistency; it is the application of science. The Communists have one objective-to come to power. They will do whatever is necessary for them to achieve this goal. In the economic realm, for example, they have no consistent economic program from country to country. Communist economic policy is to find out what any group wants and promise it to them. Classical Marxist economics advocated the collective ownership of land, but the Communists came to power in Russia and China by the reverse policy of the distribution of land, by making everybody a little Capitalist. Communist policy is to do whatever is necessary to advance the Communist Partys drive to dictatorial power. Speaking at a girls school in Dallas, Texas, I outlined to them the Communist formula for advance: Find out what people want, promise it to them, and go to work to get it for them in order to come to power over them. One girl asked the very natural question, If Communists promise people all sorts of thing but do not fulfill their promises when they come to power, why are they not thrown out? I replied, If I get into this room by promising you girls that I have a lotion that will make each of you very beautiful, and if, as soon as I get in here, I pull out a machine gun and train it on you, why dont you throw me out? Communism is, in essence, the fulfilment of the dearest ambitions of the populace, and retaining power by the efficient use of force. The Communists go to the working man and promise him higher wages, shorter working hours and better conditions generally. They approach the employer with the glittering prospect of industrial peace, good trading relations and higher profits. To the colored man they promise first-class citizenship. They will strive so that he may live where he wants to live, work where he wants to work, and marry whom he wants to marry. They promise the opponents of the Negro that they will keep the colored man where he belongs. To the Jew the vision they present is that they will end anti-Semitism for all time. To the Arab they vow that they will eliminate the Jews. They tell the Christian of glorious religious freedom and Christian revival under Communism. Their promise to the Hindu is to aid in the conversion of every Christian and Moslem to the Hindu religion. The Moslem is lured by the promise of assistance in promoting the cause of Islam. Their program of deception is so often successful for two reasons. In the first place, as far as people can observe in the local situation, the Communists are sincere and keep their promises. It is a characteristic of Communist conduct to work hard and sacrificially for the immediate needs of the group they are endeavoring to exploit. A Communist attorney will frequently accept a case without any charge, and will work tirelessly and effectively on behalf of his client in the courts of the land. To the individual and his friends he appears a true angel of mercy. They know nothing of the deeper motives that lie behind his conduct. An example of the effective and apparently sincere assistance Communism can render to oppressed minorities comes from Italy. A missionary representing an evangelistic Protestant denomination came into conflict with the local authorities and was prevented from conducting his Sunday evening services. He was approached by the Communist leader of that city who sympathized with him in his predicament and claimed that it was a violation of the Italian constitution which granted freedom to religion. To prove his sincerity he invited the missionary to utilize the facilities of the Communist Party headquarters to conduct his evening service. Thus the preacher stood on the platform provided by the Communist Party under the photograph of the benign and smiling Joseph Stalin and proclaimed the Christian gospel. It is easy to imagine how difficult it would be to convince such a man that Communism is incompatible with religious liberty. His own experience assures him that they are the great practical supporters of religious liberty. He is entirely oblivious to the fact that once Communism assumes power not only his liberty to preach but also his liberty to breathe would be in serious jeopardy. In the second place, the local objective advanced by the Communists is frequently one which, taken in isolation, would merit support. They go to religious groups, for example, in the name of peace. They are ardent advocates of slum clearance and improved housing. Today they are the exponents of a puritanical morality in contrast to their position some time back. In foreign countries, Christian missionaries teach the natives such Christian principle as Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and Love your enemies. The Communist then approaches the mission convert with a program which seems to do nothing but advance the immediate well being of his neighbor and therefore merits his support as a Christian. He teams up with the Communist for this one purpose and the first step is taken on the bitter pathway of deviation and doom which Communism has marked out for his unwary feet. A knowledge of the true program of Communism and its strategy and tactics is the only protection good people of every sort have against the Communist snare.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:52:47 +0000
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