Both the webbs were skeptical of the virtues of worker control in the early years of the russian revolution. In a russian comedy of the early 90, an african leader who took the power due to a coup with the russian soviet help, asked by his son, whether he was a real revolutionary or just a putschist, gave this interesting definition. The russian revolution, also called the bolshevik revolution, consisted of two parts. But both its enthusiastic admirers and its mortal enemies distorted the truth of the russian revolution. Beware the useful idiots alinsky and how the left sees. Clarification of answer by ragingacademicga on 04 jan 2003 03. The best known is probably john reeds ten days that shook the world, but ive gone with ransomes book because ransome is my man, and because whereas reeds book is a highly imaginative view of the 1917 revolution. According to lenin these simpletons were nominally socialists, but they were really accomplices to his enemies. The russian revolution is a monster of a book 842 pages not including endnotes.
Its insane and the fact their universities still employ them is embarrassing for their universities. Please tell us more about six weeks in russia in 1919 there are only a couple of wellknown eyewitness accounts of the revolution. Beware the useful idiots obama was influenced by the writings and philosophies saul alinsky, author of the book, rules for radicals, and later. A century after the bolsheviks captured the winter palace, we round up the most illuminating new releases tackling the october revolution, its prelude and its. The russian empire was at least half a century behind western europe in. And so, in founding the comintern, lenin realized he had an echo chamber in the west to rationalize any of the kremlins actions. Within an overall narrative that provides a clear description of the 1917 revolution, he introduces several new approaches on its political history and the complexity of the october revolution. The name fellow traveler is from the russian word poputchik, meaning one who travels the same path.
Alinsky merely simplified vladimir lenins original scheme for world conquest by communism, under russian rule. In this classic work, the author incorporates data from archives thatwere previously inaccessible not only to western but also to soviet historians, as well as drawing on. Rappaport creates a portrait of the russian revolution from the points of view of outsiders who happened to be in petrograd at the time. The term was originally used during the cold war to describe noncommunists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and manipulation. Volume two of the essentials of lenin contained the following passage translated from russian to english. It has become dogma to denigrate western communists stalinists for their blind faith in the soviet revolution. The term has often been attributed to vladimir lenin, but this attribution is controversial. Later revolutionaries such as lenin saw the decembrists as heroes.
Top 10 books about the russian revolution a century after the bolsheviks seized power for communism, tariq ali chooses some of the best books about an uprising that changed the world forever tariq ali. In this context the term simpletons may be viewed as the ideological mirrorimage of useful idiots. Mason distances himself from bolshevism, but insists that the russian revolution was an intervention by the masses into history, like the french revolution before it. Such was the grim and dingy life of russian communism. The best books on the russian revolution five books. An undeniably valuable history of the russian revolution. This kind of denial of war crimes in syria its like saying vaccines cause autism, or that 911 was an inside job. Trotskys 1924 book literature and revolution, in ch.
What foreign correspondents were shown in the soviet union in 1933 was a carefully staged performance created mainly to hide the horrors of holodomor a mass famine that resulted from the communist policy of collectivization. I continue to work on trying to identify the earliest occurence. He traveled to witness the russian revolution on the dime of an american heiress. Petersburg looted and burned any and all artifacts of the romanov family, only recently deposed. Quotations by vladimir lenin, russian leader, born april 22, 1870. When the goal is reached, they will be lined up against the wall.
Between bourgeois art, which is wasting away either in repetitions or in silences, and the new art which is as yet unborn, there is being created a transitional art which. Russian revolutionaries children read classic fiction. Useful idiots danger signs blinking red robert h miller. In the days of alternative facts, this book is a very useful reminder of a time and country which attempted to build an alternative reality. It is presently happening at an alarming rate in the u. Ten days that shook the world by john reed, doctor zhivago by boris pasternak, history of the russian revolution by. The tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of february 1917 march in the gregorian calendar.
The russian revolution of 1917 played a very important role in not only russian history, but world history as well. Paul mason and the bolsheviks useful idiots still dont get it. Communism never died, it was cleverly repackaged for the. In political jargon, a useful idiot is a derogatory term for a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause without fully comprehending the causes goals, and who is cynically used by the causes leaders. I have found the following documented citation the history and impact of marxistleninist organizational theory. No, im not aware of any marxist primary sources with useful idiot usage. Enjoy the best vladimir lenin quotes at brainyquote. Russian revolutionaries children read classic fiction, not marx. They are driven by pathological altruism, believing that they know how to run our lives better than us and believing the western guilt stories. Lo these many years since the russian revolution and the collapse of the soviet union, the new york times is still doing public relations for communism. They are widely dismissed as useful idiots who helped uphold a tyrannical system of oppression.
To propagandize the west, lenin recruited a corps of. Top 10 books about the russian revolution a century after the bolsheviks seized power for communism, tariq ali chooses some of the best books. Rex wade presents an account of one of the pivotal events of modern history, combining his own long study of the revolution with the best of contemporary scholarship. I collected some useful material in the 2010 posts useful idiots, pbs edition and useful idiots, pbs edition. Beware the useful idiots obama was influenced by the writings and philosophies saul alinsky, author of the book, rules for radicals, and later by frank marshall davis, with similar philosophies. Russian revolution 1917 score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Top 10 books about the russian revolution books the. Washington post book world hails it as a gripping read. His statements about the global communist agenda offers an opportunity for students of history, philosophy and economics world wide to take not. Whether either one ever uttered the exact words, their master plan was to spread communism worldwide exploiting useful idiots.
Now, following the collapse of the soviet regime and the opening of its archives, it is possible to step back and see the full picture. Useful idiot seems to be an invention of opposing side, as far as i could trace it. Useful idiots, innocents clubs, and transmission belts, by john pearson roche institute for foreign policy analysis. The russian tsar, or emperor, whose death in 1825 prompted a mild secession crisis that created an appearance of weakness in the russian monarchy. Vladimir lenins return journey to russia changed the world forever on the 100th anniversary of the russian revolution, our writer set out from zurich to relive this epic travel. The first part of the revolution, occurring in february of 1917, was known as the february revolution. The useful idiots have destroyed every nation in which they have seized power and control. The russian revolution totally reshaped society, and the writers of the day responded to it with a mixture of exhilaration, horror and hope, some changing their views over their lifetimes.
The russian revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in russia in 1917, which destroyed the tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the soviet union. Stalins useful idiots part one we need to talk about lenin. Trotskys history of the russian revolution is a long, very complex, and extremely detailed treatment of the remarkably eventful period from february to october of 1917. A group of 3, 000 soldiers who termed themselves decembrists took advantage of the chaos to demand reforms, such as a written constitution for russia. When a government lost his way to governing people it becomes a. Feminists and other leftists are useful idiots who serve only to destabilise the society. In the heady, uncertain weeks of the revolution, mobs in petrograd now st. Paul mason and the bolsheviks useful idiots still dont. Just as the sympathetic foreigners whom lenin called useful idiots once supported. They are fanatics who were going to help lenin conquer the world but illness syphilis in all probability and death caught up. Yuri bezmenov may well go down in history as a saint by the survivors of the generations to come. It is a familiar student essay question, whether the revolution could have been averted, but for the world war and resultant loss of up to three million russian lives.
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