Quote of the Day: God and Communism

 

“One thing I knew: I was no longer a Communist. I had broken involuntarily with Communism at the moment when I first said to myself: ‘It is just as evil to kill the Tsar and his family and throw their bodies down a mine shaft as it is to starve two million peasants or slave laborers to death. More bodies are involved in one case than the other. But one is just as evil as the other, not more evil, not less evil.’

“I do not know at just what point I said this. I did not even know that with that thought I had rejected the right of the mind to justify evil in the name of history, reason or progress, because I had asserted that there is something greater than the mind, history or progress. I did not know that this Something is God.”

Whittaker Chambers

A few days ago, I finished reading the book, Witness, by Whittaker Chambers, and I am still reeling from his story. For a brief summary of the book (which doesn’t begin to do it justice), Chambers had joined and then eventually broke with the Communist party in the United States. (We could debate the morality and foolishness of his decision to join, but that’s another post.) When he quit the Party, his decision likely put his life at risk, and he also believed he had the obligation to call out Alger Hiss, who was not only a member of the Party, but who had also infiltrated several departments in the U.S. government as well as international organizations. Chambers determined that although Hiss’ ability to operate without ever being caught up to that point was nearly impossible to imagine, the fact remained that he had operated freely and had to be stopped. Chambers was well aware of many of Hiss’ actions over the years, since the two at times had worked closely together and, in a sense, became friends.

I was shocked by Chambers’ assertions in the quotation above for many reasons. In spite of his uneasiness that developed over time in working with the Communists, he felt through a kind of spiritual realization that he was compelled to leave the party. It was the specter of the massive evil that had been committed in the name of the Party, and he realized he had been complicit in that evil through his own choices and actions. By making that decision to quit, however, he knew that he would effectively be destroying his own life and that of his family.

Today, however, people are free to join the Communist Party; members of Black Lives Matter boast of their training and membership. But they have no idea about or interest in learning how depraved their participation is. They don’t care that millions of people died not so long ago in the name of Communism. They have dedicated their lives, not to a great cause, but to empty ideas, racism, a wicked religion that not only cares nothing about the people it is supposed to represent, but ridicules them for their foolishness. There are no guiding principles that unite the people who follow Communism in the United States, but only commitment to duplicity and betraying this country. BLM has spent millions of dollars on California and Canadian estates, ignored the payment of taxes on the properties, and claimed ignorance of tax law; the full scope of their illegal acts has yet to be determined.

In a state founded on Judeo-Christian principles, there is no room for an ideology that mocks the people it is supposed to serve and denigrates G-d and the religions on which this country is founded. If it is allowed to thrive, we will all suffer.

Only time will tell whether Americans like Whittaker Chambers have an awakening that brings them back to their Source and inspires them to follow that which is greater. May we all be prepared also to inspire each other and prepare to make sacrifices to save our great country.

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  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):

    Restoring the context of the other extract:

    In Europe, the imperialism of the Soviet Union actually damaged countries that were already advanced: wiping out vast numbers of artists and intellectuals in Ukraine, the Baltic States, and to a lesser extent Russia itself …

    I don’t think Ukraine was that advanced. To the extent that Russian, and then Soviet, domination benefited Central Asia I think that it benefited Ukraine as well. (Say use the rough proxy of literacy, though that really only grew towards universal under the Soviets).

    And harmed these places (and Russia itself) in similar ways.

    Before the war started there were almost 20,000 Indian medical students in Ukraine. The country, like a lot of post Soviet Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation itself, had a reputation for offering inexpensive, good education. They inherited their educational system (and industry) from the Soviets. It wasn’t something they had preserved from “before”.

    Education and literacy was something that, imho, the Soviets had done well in Ukraine. Doesn’t mean people liked being dominated and controlled, but for context.

    Nope.

    During the eight years between the Ukrainian territorial losses in Crimea and Donbas and the 2022 invasion the Russian missed or ignored the extent of the changes in the Ukrainian military. By 2022 the Ukrainians were using NATO tactics, military organization and some weapons. The Russians were still using less effective Soviet-era tactics and unit organization. The Russians ignored the fact that Ukraine was where many key military weapons development and manufacturing of the old Soviet Union took place and the Ukrainians continued to use those skills to upgrade Soviet era weapons for export markets that wanted cheap but effective weapons. During the 1990s Ukraine began developing Western style weapons and equipment, plus some new ones pf their own, and developed an appreciation for what the high quality and performance of these more expensive weapons could do compared to the upgraded Soviet era gear they were selling for much less to nations or factions that did not need and could not afford anything more effective or expensive. In Russia the media reported the problems encountered after 2014 when Ukrainian firms refused to supply Russian manufacturers with essential components that Russian firms did not or, it turned out, could not produce. [Emphasis added]

    The R-360 Neptun anti-ship missiles that did for the Moskva were based on the Soviet-era Kh-35 Kayak missile. But Kh-35s couldn’t hit a target 80 nautical miles off of Odessa. Neptuns could, and did.

    I’d hoped for better reading comprehension.

    Edited to add:

    The Soviets developed Ukraine. That’s what I said.

    Peace.

    The Soviets starved 5-10 million Ukrainians to death, shot who knows how many more, and replaced them with Russians. 

    But you’re right. What’s that compared to a tax on tea? or salt?

    • #91
  2. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):
    It is interesting though that you are claiming the Ukrainians owe fealty to their former colonizers. That’s not the take I would have expected from you, Zafar.

    It’s actually funnier than that, Kiev was the first real capital of the Rus, who were subject to pressure from the east by the Huns. As they slowly pressed back and expanded eastward, Moscow evolved from their frontier town to a major bulwark and, finally, the capital. So Moscow is the now surly colony of Kiev.

    The main cities of the medieval Kyivan Rus fought the Mongol invasion, and were destroyed, while Moskva (Moscow) on the northern fringe surrendered.  As the Mongol empire receded over the centuries, Moscow was able to take advantage of the resulting power vacuum.  (Eventually the Muscovite Prince Peter “the Great” borrowed a version of the ancient name of Rus for his growing  empire.)

    By the 17th century, of course, when Ukraine won its independence from Poland, the cities had been rebuilt.  This was when the oldest universities in Ukraine were established.  I was surprised to discover that they actually beat the oldest universities in Russia by some years.  

    On second thought, I realized I shouldn’t have been surprised as, in the 17th century, Ukraine had more contacts with Western Europe than Russia had.

    • #92
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