Communist Lenin stated that “HATRED IS THE BASIS OF COMMUNISM and Frank Davis’ had burning hatred for his native country anchored him firmly in the communist camp. Kengor relates some high-profile cases of famous black Communists, such as the brilliant novelist Richard Wright, who abandoned and disavowed communism after learning what atrocities were being committed in its name. Davis, however, was too far gone, too consumed by hate and resentment to ever forsake communism. Lenin himself had stated in his address to the commissars of education in 1923 that “Hatred is the basis of communism,” and Davis’ burning hatred for his native country anchored him firmly in the communist camp. “The Communist” has tremendous educational potential. Today’s students may have only passing familiarity with such terms as “McCarthyism” and “red-baiting,” and many older Americans have a distorted understanding of a period that we lived through as a result of Communists’ “Big Lie” tactic. With the benefit of reams of formerly classified Soviet and FBI records that have been unsealed since the end of the Cold War two decades ago, Kengor shows unequivocally that—Golly, Martha, there really were card-carrying Communists in the United States. Moreover, those Communists cynically exploited worthy causes like civil rights in their ceaseless efforts to weaken U.S. opposition to the spread of communism at home and around the globe. This book provides convincing evidence that the strident voices on the progressive/liberal left that for decades accused anyone investigating organized Communist activity in the U.S. of “witch hunts” turned out to be lies intended to defend the indefensible. Now, instead of wasting time trying to deceive the public by denying that communists were communists, may we please have an honest debate about whether to adopt various Big Government policies? Another strength of “The Communist” is that it contains lots of fascinating and insightful tidbits, including Nancy Pelosi’s starry-eyed adulation of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) chief Walter Bridges (and a member of the Central Committee of the CPUSA) and the strong ties of Obama insiders Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod to the some of the same American communists who were allies and collaborators of Frank Marshall Davis. Kengor repeatedly cites examples of how progressives, liberals and communists often have made common cause. It will be interesting to see how those on the left respond to this book. My guess is that they will either ignore it, bash Kengor for publishing inconvenient facts or claim that Davis’ indisputable communism doesn’t matter. I think it does matter. Often, it seems that Obama is wearing a “What Would Frank Do?” bracelet. Obama’s closeness to his departed mentor leads him, like a general fighting the last war, to adopt policies that seem designed to punish America for past sins—often committed decades and generations ago—rather than lifting us higher. For decades, many liberals and progressives defended and shielded communists (as “The Communist” shows)—either because they approved of what communist dictatorships did, or because they believed so strongly in communism’s professed ideals that they were willing to overlook the crimes committed in its name. Kengor’s book is timely, because the main issue for today’s progressives is similar: Are the ideals professed in Barack Obama’s rhetoric so noble that Obama should be re-elected, even though his policies against economic success have retarded economic recovery? Does America need a leader who is to the left of the late Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping—whose pro-prosperity policy was to give people the freedom to get as rich as they could? Will the ghost of Frank Marshall Davis, whose life Paul Kengor has so masterfully reconstructed in “The Communist,” continue to haunt America through his ideological godson, the president? We’ll find out in November.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 08:24:23 +0000
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