Three Malefactors of the Communist Idea (original) (raw)
Related papers
On the moral blindness of communism
Human Rights Review, 2001
Among the questions which The Black Book of Communism poses is one as old as Communism itself. It is a question that has been addressed from the beginning by its enemies and by its friends and, from within, by an unending succession of heretics and renegades, each reacting, as the saying goes, to his or her own Kronstadt (These are, of course, not mutually exclusive categories; as is shown by the perennial figure of the ex-Communist anti-Communist). All have asked the same question. What was the source of the disaster? Just where did it all go wrong? They have offered different kinds of answer, which range from the maximally generic to the narrowly specific. The generic answers mostly come from Communism's enemies-reactionaries, conservatives, various kinds of liberals, and all those who came to be called Cold War thinkers. In countless different versions they claimed that the root of the catastrophe was (to cite only a few examples): the very legacy of the Enlightenment, including the idea of progress; "rationalism in politics"; utopianism; the Promethean myth; political messianism (Talmon); the belief that the course of history was scientifically knowable and its future course predictable (Popper's idiosyncratically named "historicism"); the"fatal conceit"that economic and social life could be brought under collective, rational control (Hayek); a scientistic, ersatz religion based on the philosophical illusion of "the idea of perfect unity" to which genuine religion is an antidote (Kolakowski); or"monism'(Berlin)-"the belief that some single formula can in principle be found whereby all the diverse ends of men can be harmoniously realized. "1 Different thinkers in the Western tradition were variously seen as sowers of the seeds of eventual destruction: Plato and the Neo-Platonists, Rousseau, Hegel of course, and even the allegedly naively well-intentioned thinkers of the Enlightenment. On all such accounts, Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism was viewed as the faithful historical implementation of one or another intellectual error responsible, in Berlin's words "for the slaughter of individuals on the altars of the great historical ideals-justice or progress or the happiness of future generations, or the sacred mission or emancipation of a nation or race or class, or even liberty itself, which demands the sacrifice of individuals for the
The Necessity of Communist Morality
Peace, Land and Bread, 2020
It becomes hard for me to think of morality as inherently an oppressive tool of the ruling class. After all, we would be hard pressed to find a communist who isn’t drawn to Marxism—or any left tendency for that matter—who doesn’t possess a strong, disciplined moral conviction that guides their actions and assists them in determining what is the right or wrong course of revolutionary action. And the choice that is deemed good/right—whether it is derived from a scientific or utopian framework—tends to be similar no matter the tendency: a devotion to toppling capitalism, a love for humanity and the drive to assist in the liberation/empowerment of the dispossessed, the desire to bring about and defend communism, a rejection of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. It is only in the strategies for achieving these morally correct choices that the many left-tendencies begin to diverge. In short, I argue that a communist is foremost a moral actor and as such, we draw from an explicit, yet often nebulously defined, communist morality.
2016
Stalin and Mao were butchers, Marxists admit... “But Stalin and Mao betrayed the original Communism of Marx and Engels!” “Lenin freed the Russian People and if Trotsky had won the power struggle with Stalin, things would have gone differently!” So say the Marxists. But a dispassionate examination of the lesser-known writings of Communism’s founding tyrants, things they wrote in books, articles, letters, documents, briefs and telegrams, indicates this benign view simply isn’t true. Comrades Marx & Engels advocated war, slavery, racism, ethnic hatreds & genocide. They mocked justice, freedom, democracy & equality, and had only contempt for the poor, workers, farmers & moderates. Comrades Lenin & Trotsky put Marx & Engels into practice, instituting a reign of terror, assassinations, slavery, mass-murder & genocide. They promised democracy but usurped it & imprisoned or murdered dissenters, opponents & "counter-revolutionaries." They seized food from starving farmers, executed surrendered & wounded soldiers, along with random prostitutes, alcoholics, factory workers, tradesmen, peasants, villagers & ethnicities, with massive deportations of men, women and children to the Siberian Gulag - a prison system begun by Lenin, not Stalin. In this exacting review by historical scientist James DeMeo, PhD, the Hidden History of Communism's Founding Tyrants is exposed, in their Own Words. "Marx Engels Lenin Trotsky: Genocide Quotes" is a must-read book for every thoughtful student and adult, about the false "peace-justice" agendas of the Marxist movements which once again threaten the world's democracies. http://www.amazon.com/Marx-Engels-Lenin-Trotsky-Communisms/dp/0997405708
Southeast European Politics Vol. V (1): 96-99, 2004
Grzymala-Busse has written an excellent book (awarded the Gabriel Almond Award for Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics) on the unexpected regeneration of the communist successor parties in East Central Europe. She seeks to explain why the discredited political actors of the ancien régime, widely despised by their own citizens, could not only survive the collapse of the old order, but also succeed in conditions of democracy. The main hypothesis is that the practices of the authoritarian regimes led to different configurations of elite political resources consisting in portable skills and usable past, which in turn determined their organizational and programmatic choices. Utilizing an elite driven approach she establishes a causal relation between the choice of party transformation strategies and the communist parties’ regeneration operationalized in terms of responsive appeals, electoral support and coalition potentials