Cold War Today: The Socialist and Communist Threat Continues

By Eddie Howell

Whittaker Chambers     Freebase/Public Domain

Communist espionage and influence in the U.S. Government were substantial as World War II was ending and the Cold War beginning, and was a continuous problem. The communist underground today is still there, functioning in various ways, such as cyber war. Also, with the number of communist-related members of Congress in sensitive committee positions, as documented in Trevor Loudon's book The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the U.S. Congress [1], who can doubt that foreign communists have easy access to many of our supposed secrets? Communism shows its ugly head above ground also through the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), which strongly influences many “progressive” Democrats and manifests itself more directly through Black Lives Matter and Antifa, groups which should be designated as terrorist organizations, along with their pals the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a companion organization to the CPUSA, and their functions overlap and complement each other, and, along with labor unions which are largely communist-controlled, virtually control the Democratic party. (284)  Despite its name, Antifa is a fascist group. It is a mistake to think that Communists and fascists are somehow opposites. They differ somewhat in structure, but they are essentially socialists. The historical friction between them has occurred mainly because they have competed, often violently, to recruit the same types of people to their organizations.

The goal of these organizations in America and other places is to bring down the United States as a sovereign nation, to work toward a communist society and eventual world government, and if and when necessary or opportune, to use force to accomplish this. Meanwhile, they work against Christianity and Judaism, support jihadist Islam, and support communist countries such as Cuba, China, Venezuela, and North Korea.

We should be under no illusions that socialism is materially different from communism. Once socialism takes hold, even in in a “free world” country, the government becomes increasingly tyrannical and coercive, the economy plummets, and traditional freedoms and customs are on their way out. This is the trend in Canada and Europe, among other places.

So, whether a country calls itself communist or socialist, the end result is communism. American socialists, such as the DSA (formerly the Socialist Party of America) and its associated organizations are Marxists, virtually indistinguishable from communists, with whom they are closely associated.

America believes in political freedom, which extremists use against us. The aims of communism have not changed since the days of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. American communists are often Cold War veteran Marxist-Leninists or their children.

Today, George Soros and other communist globalists are financing seditious and treasonous anti-American activities, such as Antifa violence and anti-police activism. There follows a list to summarize some of the communist-socialist goals and beliefs. Fabian socialists may be considered part of this group also.

1. They claim to hate private profits and private property.

2. They care nothing for the U. S, Constitution or the freedoms it protects, despite the CPUSA's deceptive promotion of “Bill of Rights socialism.” The Constitution limits government, and therefore is disliked by socialists.

3. The communists buy votes through offers of “free stuff,” and enlist politicians by providing help and finances for their political campaigns.

4. Where communism takes hold, nations suffer economic catastrophes, and often mass starvation, intentionally inflicted on some of the people by their rulers.

5. When socialism takes over, the worst people are soon in charge. [2]

6. Many normal acts are criminalized under socialism. Even in England, when the Labour Party succeeded in establishing socialism in the 1940s, people could go to jail for missing work. Further, as Flynn  notes in The Road Ahead, 1949,

Now England makes the experiment, blown up with promises of freedom. But already she has got around to the ways of the tyrant. She asserts over the worker the right to say where he shall or shall not work. She asserts the right to throw the farmer who does not meet her directives off his farm. And this English experiment would collapse tomorrow if the strong arm of American capitalism were withdrawn from its support. Indeed it is collapsing now even with that powerful arm around it. [3]

7. American communists are more loyal to other countries or a globalist goal than to America. Central economic planning does not work, and cannot be supported by any rational economic theory. In practice it is very arbitrary and ultimately destroys prosperity (except for the ruling elites).

 8. The murders of millions by Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong are natural            outgrowths of socialism and communism. Whittaker Chambers, who was an  underground communist agent and later left the Communist Party, explains in his autobiography Witness, that he became a communist, thinking it was the only hope for saving mankind after the disastrous World War and other problems.[4] 

When Stalin initiated the great purges, viciously murdering anyone he thought might be a threat to his power, or who seemed to fit his conspiracy theories, Chambers came to realize that Stalin's behavior showed the evil, not only of Stalin, but of communism, and was the logical result of communism. When he left communism, he remarked that he and his family were leaving the winning side and going to the losing side, but he could not do otherwise. [5]

(As Chambers continued working against communism, he found a lot of opposition in the government, largely due to communist influences. His testimony against Alger Hiss, who had been his close communist friend, was a difficult and bitter ordeal. President Truman called the Hiss case a “red herring.” Hiss was finally imprisoned for perjury.* Chambers was indicted for perjury, but when his claims were at last borne out, the charge was dropped.)

        (*Update to clarify: Hiss was convicted of perjury for claiming he had not committed espionage. He could not be convicted of espionage at that time because the statute of limitations for it had expired.)

9. There are more socialists and communists in responsible government positions at all levels of government than there were during the Cold War. There are no background checks for elected officials, and many, including prominent leaders, could not pass a routine FBI background check. Yet they serve on such committees as Intelligence, Homeland Security, etc.

10. Globalist world government would be communist. Generally, only Marxists support it, including some billionaire "capitalists," who are basically corporatist fascists.

11. “Free trade” agreements currently in place (WTO, NAFTA, etc.) do not provide real free trade, but “managed trade,” subject to many onerous rules and unfair results. Actual free trade would involve getting governments out of the way, except for enforcing contracts, dealing with crime, etc.     
12. Socialists and communists are using government-supported social experiments to destroy              traditional family relationships, social structure, and education. Leftist indoctrination is often the main content of school social studies today. Leftist professors and administrators in the universities,    leftist judges, and LGBTQ radicals are examples of some who perpetrate abuses in America as socialists and communists.

13. Because of their desire for worldwide socialist-communist government, the globalists don't            mind, and ultimately desire, putting the U.S. at an economic disadvantage relative to other                  countries, and therefore promote endless debt, unnecessary foreign aid, and high taxes.

14. By opposition to the military, and promotion of unilateral or other unfair disarmament (in the name of “peace”), leftists work to undermine American national security.

15. By encouraging open borders and massive “refugee” and other immigration, leftists hope to bring in millions of Democrat voters (since leftist activism is mainly focused on the Democratic Party).        .

Thus far, I have, for the most part, merely stated the problem. But many people are unable to see that it is a problem, and that freedom is steadily, if somewhat slowly, being taken from us. But we may not be too far from complete tyranny, enforced at gunpoint, and the loss of our constitutional freedoms. We still have rights, but we could be forcibly stopped from exercising them if we allow current socialist and communist advances to continue. These trends must be reversed if we are to keep our Republic.

All forms of collectivism should be abhorrent to anyone who values the rights of individuals. But politicians and others who identify as liberals, progressives, socialists, or communists believe or claim to believe that concern for “social justice” and “the common good” outweighs individual considerations, and, ultimately, that the end justifies the means.

As Ayn Rand pointed out in her essay, “The Establishing of an Establishment” (1972),

Two world wars, three monstrous dictatorships -- in Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Red China -- plus every lesser variant of devastating socialist experimentation in a global spread of brutality and despair, have not prompted modern intellectuals to question or revise their dogma. They still think it is daring, idealistic, and unconventional to denounce the rich. They still believe that money is the root of all evil -- except government money, which is the solution to all problems. [6]

The Communist Party USA today praises and promotes communist and socialist countries, such as Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. For them, the “imperialist” U.S. and West are the bad guys and are largely responsible for these countries' troubles. (See an example here.)

Also, for them, Lenin is still a great hero, and the Russian Revolution is something to be celebrated in observance of its 100^th anniversary.

An article in the CPUSA official newspaper, Peoples World, lamenting the collapse of the Soviet Union, states,

...Finally, no criticism of Soviet socialism can be seriously presented by Communists that does not explicitly recognize that the destruction of the USSR has been an unmitigated disaster for humanity. Not only was socialism uprooted in Eastern Europe with the establishment of right-wing capitalist governments, but millions of lives have been lost, far more than ever killed by Stalin, in the horrific mass slaughters and ethnic genocide, committed with the support and instigation of western imperialism, in the dismemberment and destruction of Yugoslavia and several former Soviet republics, and in the never-ending neocon wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which continue to spread throughout the Middle East. None of this would have occurred if the Soviet Union had not been destroyed.

In the former Soviet republics, a few thousand people died, and more thousands were injured mostly in conflicts between different ethnic groups. In the Yugoslav wars after the Soviet collapse, perhaps as many as 140,000 people died and up to 3 million people became refugees or were displaced in their homeland. These things are tragic, but nothing like the 20 million or so killed by Stalin. It is quite a stretch to say that the Mideast wars of the 1990s and following would not have happened had the Soviet Union remained in place. Also, the “uprooting of socialism” in Eastern Europe was a liberating benefit to people who had long suffered under Soviet control.

Considering the shameful and murderous history of the Soviet Union, with its ongoing terror, the Gulag, bad economic management, and general oppressiveness, the revolution of 1989-1991 was a welcome and beneficial change.

An article by Professor Archie Brown “Reform, Coup and Collapse: The End of the Soviet State” on the BBC website dated 02/17/2011 gives a positive view:

Not a shot was fired by a Soviet soldier as the Central and East Europeans took their countries' destinies into their own hands. In Western capitals it had been an axiom prior to Gorbachev's coming to power that Soviet control over Eastern Europe was non-negotiable and that the most that could be achieved would be an amelioration of oppressive regimes...

Seldom, if ever, has a highly authoritarian political system, deploying military means sufficient to destroy life on earth, been dismantled so peacefully. Never has an empire disintegrated with so little bloodshed. Although huge difficulties remained for the successor states, the way Soviet communism came to an end was one of the great success stories of 20th century politics.

Of course, it remains to be seen what the future may hold under Vladimir Putin, since it seems he wants to restore the Russian empire.

Retiring Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), official portrait

The Democrats' socialist-communist base is calling the shots these days for the party, and the American political left now represents the most significant threat to America today, short of a nuclear attack. The Democrat leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders are all socialists, with ties to the Communist Party USA. “Iconic” Rep. John Conyers has a long history with the Communist Party (7287) and the DSA. Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama were mentored by communists, whose interests are much the same as their own: socialism, anti-capitalism, and far left society with government running as many things as possible, to one day lead to a world communist government. America itself doesn't matter – only the revolution matters, a la Saul Alinsky.

That is why the left is so viciously attacking and persecuting Donald Trump and anyone associated with him. Their loyalty is not to America, but to socialism. Their goal is not American well-being, but socialism. They do not care about economic prosperity, and if in power, they will deliver the opposite. They claim to be the party of the “workers,” opposing capitalist “wage-slavery,” but whenever the socialists-communists have been in power, the norm becomes widespread poverty, and a fear-driven way of life. Communists have murdered tens of millions of their own citizens in the 20^th century, and in places like Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea the murders continue, though not in such great numbers.

Communism is an evil system, and it must be strenuously opposed. Socialism and communism are practically synonymous. It's not far wrong to say that America is in a political civil war, but, up to now, it is perhaps better understood as a continuation of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union tends to obscure the fact that communism in America still poses a serious danger today. Communists like George Soros and others are financing violence, sedition, and treason. Communists today are no more loyal to the United States than the Soviet agents of the old Cold War. American communists over the years have greatly admired the Soviets, and practically idolized any actual Russians they knew.[7] The CPUSA today is supportive of communism and socialism wherever it is found, and against any American foreign policy that is unfavorable to communism. This is a step beyond divided loyalty.

The anti-Trump movement in some ways has crossed the line of common decency into sedition and treason through violent “protests,” etc. The Mueller Witch Hunt seems to have its goal the impeachment of President Trump, and has far exceeded its mandate, with no letup in sight. I hope Mueller will soon be fired and a new special prosecutor appointed to investigate the crimes of Hillary Clinton and others.

As Whittaker Chambers emphasizes in his excellent book Witness, the underlying evil of communism is its rejection of God.[8] It is this broad rejection which opens the way to promoting dissolution of the family, sexual immorality, and the radical LGBTQ agenda, while promoting government control of as many things as possible. Under that system, it is understood that the end justifies the means, whatever the means may be.

The “swamp” contains the participants and enablers of this destructive movement. The draining of the swamp can be realized in part by putting political pressure on politicians to change their ways, and partly by replacing the ones who won't. Education is key, but in the current atmosphere, change is going to be a difficult struggle.

The election of Donald Trump has given us a window of opportunity to make improvements along these lines. This window may not remain open very long. We must indeed pray that God will bless America, and restore her to real greatness. The situation calls for knowledge of and participation in politics, even by people who have had little to no interest in politics before. Politics has an interest in all of us.

[1] Trevor Loudon, The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the U.S. Congress, 2013-2015 Edition. Las Vegas: Pacific Freedom Foundation, a Nevada Not for Profit Corporation, 2013. I read this in Kindle format without page numbers. Numbers in parentheses, bold, and italics are Location numbers for the Kindle ebook.

[2] F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents, The Definitive Edition. Bruce Campbell, ed., Routledge, London: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. Original text, 1944, Chapter Ten, "Why the Worst Get on Top."

[3] John T. Flynn, The Road Ahead: America's Creeping Revolution. New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1949. This is an earlier book, written around the time socialism was threatening the collapse of Britain, and warned that socialism was making such headway in America as to be a very serious threat. Also available free at Mises.org in PDF format. Page 149.

[4] Whittaker Chambers. Witness.  Washington, D.C.: Regnery History, an imprint of Regnery Publishing, ebook, 2014. First edition published 1952. page 156.

[5] Ibid., page 1.

[6] Quoted in a comment by “RS” at economist Robert P. Murphy's Free Advice blog article “The Fairest Keynesian in the Land,” 10/14/2011.

[7] Chambers, page 293.

[8] For example, see Chambers. page 386.