Call no man lucky until he is dead, but there have been moment of rare satisfaction in the often random and fragmented life of the radical freelance scribbler. I have lived to see Ronald Reagan called ‘a useful idiot for Kremlin propaganda’ by his former idolators; to see the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union regarded with fear and suspicion by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (which blacked out an interview with Miloš Forman broadcast live on Moscow TV); to see Mao Zedong relegated like a despot of antiquity. I have also had the extraordinary pleasure of revisiting countries – Greece, Spain, Zimbabwe, and others – that were dictatorships or colonies when first I saw them. Other mini-Reichs have melted like dew, often bringing exiled and imprisoned friends blinking modestly and honourably into the glare. E pur si muov – it still moves, all right. Christopher Hitchens, Prepared for the Worst: Selected Essays and Minority Reports
The thing about anti-communism is that it can justify anything. Christopher Hitchens, interview C-Span 1983
Communism is a doctrine bred of poverty, hatred and strife. Bertrand Russell
Rome May 9th 1978: in the city centre police discover a Renault 4. Inside is the body of Aldo Moro the president of Italy’s Christian Democrat Party. An infamous crime had been committed against a high profile politician. A man who wanted to overcome a barrier in Italian society and share power with the Communist Party. The murder of Aldo Moro bore the signature of the extreme Left, the Red Brigades. But many wondered if the extreme right had not guided the murder weapon so as to block a political initiative which had begun inauspiciously six weeks earlier. Political Assassinations: Death in Rome: The Case of Aldo Moro
The head of the Lodge [P2] Licio Gelli was a militant anti-communist with long-standing links to the CIA. He was also one of Aldo Moro’s bitterest enemies. Moro wanted to fight this terror campaign by means of a broad alliance which would also bring the communists into the fold ... The shots were fired ... Gelli, head of the P2 lodge and working for the secret service, is reported to have said just afterwards, ‘The hardest part has been done.’ ibid.
The next morning at 8:30 a radio station broadcast the news that Aldo Moro had been kidnapped half an hour before it actually happened. And the secret services also knew something. ibid.
Moro knew there would be strong opposition to his policy. But he could see no alternative to closer relations with the communists. The Communist Party had become the second most powerful political force in the country. It was demanding indispensable social reforms, and to do so was looking for closer links with the Christian Democrats under Aldo Moro. But those opposed to this strategy did not remain inactive. ibid.
They didn’t even respect the murdered man’s last wishes. In a pompous state ceremony they displayed their grief for the man they did not wish to save. ibid.
On March 16th 1978 the Italian left-wing terrorists kidnapped the former Italian prime minister Mr Aldo Moro. On that day the Italian parliament was about to debate the inclusion of the Italian Communist Party in a government of national unity for the first time since 1948. Aldo Moro had long believed that this was the only solution for political stability in Italy. Timewatch: Operation Gladio: Foot Soldiers, BBC 1992
The Russian Revolution changed the world for ever. Almost overnight, an entire society was destroyed, and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privilege and class division were to be eliminated. A new era of Socialism promised peace, prosperity and equality for all the peoples of the world. But the social experiment failed. Millions were killed. And within a generation almost one third of the world’s population was living in the shadow of Communism. The Russian Revolution in Colour, Discovery 2004
I came out of the Soviet Union no longer a communist, because I believe in personal freedom. Rose Wilder Lane
Eight hours a day for thirty-six days a special senate sub- committee held televised hearings known as the Army-McCarthy hearings in the spring of 1964. Emile de Antonio, Point of Order, 1964
‘The thing the American people can do is to be vigilant day and night to make sure they don’t have communists teaching the sons and daughters of America. ibid. McCarthy
From a young age we’re taught fidelity to the system and to the state … In almost every industrialised country in the world socialist parties have huge representations … but in America everyone knows that being called a socialist or a communist carried an immediate negative connotation. Abby Martin: The Empire Files: America’s Unofficial Religion: The War on an Idea, Youtube 2015
In the late 1800s there was an intense battle between organised labour and the country’s industrial capitalists. ibid.
It’s been a real battle with real weapons. ibid.
Repression ... was reinforced by hired gangs and lynch-mobs. ibid.
But with the new law every single union officer was required to sign an affidavit pledging that they did not believe in socialism. If you did not sign, you lost your job. ibid.
Under the Smith Act it was deemed illegal for anyone to be a member of the communist party. ibid.
The old guard will use every weapon in its arsenal. ibid.
How we meet the communist challenge depends on you. Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists, 1983, Reagan’s public address
And where do you think this is? It’s communist inspired rioting in San Francisco USA! Look at those faces: the face of communism ibid. old news clip
They are lying, dirty, shrewd, godless, murderous, determined … It’s an international criminal conspiracy! ibid.
Communism: the great American taboo. Yet between the 1930s and the 1950s almost a million Americans passed through the Communist Party of the United States. ibid.
‘It didn’t me worry a bit. Didn’t worry me because I was suffering from the discrimination and the humiliation of discrimination.’ ibid. Sylvia Woods, auto worker
‘They were beating heads openly. There was bloodshed on the ground.’ ibid. Edna Whitehouse
‘I was ready to go back to Harlem and start the revolution myself.’ ibid. dude
In May 1937 she [Dorothy Healy] was called in to help by striking cotton pickers in Southern California: ‘It was a constant struggle … As I looked out on that audience there was a kind of joy. There were people in most desperate living conditions who had discovered what unity meant. What solidarity meant.’ ibid. Dorothy Healey
They organised councils of the unemployed. And effectively pushed for social security and unemployment insurance. The party fought against the racial segregation and discrimination that were the accepted practices of the day. ibid.
Many decisions came from the top down and had to be carried out. ibid.
3,200 Americans went to fight for Spain along with 40,000 men and women from around the world. These international brigades were organised primarily by the communist movement in an attempt to counter Franco’s military superiority. ibid.
McCarron Act 1952: legislated the deportation of foreign born American citizens alleged to be subversive. ibid.
Subversive Activities Control Act 1950: demanded registration of Communists and members of Communist Front organisations as agents of a foreign government. Introduced by Richard Nixon. ibid. captions
Emergency Control Act 1950; Communist Control Act 1954. ibid. captions
Almost everything left of centre was crippled by intense attack. But relatively few long term communists left the party because of the McCarthy period. ibid.
The Stalin revelations split the party wide open. ibid.
In 1956, debate raged about changing the character of the American Communist Party and its relationship to the USSR. But change proved difficult. Within two years 80% of the membership had dropped out. ibid.
‘The coloured man looms large in the communist plan to take over America.’ Citizen Koch, Fred Koch, founder John Birch society, 2013
Nicolae Ceausescu was the last communist dictator of Europe. But the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was much more than a communist dictatorship. In the centre of the Romanian capital stands the largest palace in the world. The King of Communism: The Pomp and Pageantry of Nicolae Ceausescu, BBC 2002
On 21st August 1968 a young and inexperienced communist leader staged a mass demonstration which would transform his political power. Nicolae Ceausescu, the son of a Romanian peasant, had been in office for three years. ibid.
For the first time a Romanian leader had become an international statesman. ibid.
He modernised and industrialised his country. ibid.
The entire Romanian population became performers in a show about themselves. ibid.
The poets put pen to paper … With Elena they invented. ibid.
Ceaucescu had been invited to Britain in the hope that he would buy aeroplanes. ibid.
There were food shortages and power cuts. ibid.
Romania was experiencing an economic catastrophe … The produce of Romania’s farms were exported to pay off the entire national debt - toal $10 billion. At home supermarket shelves stood empty. ibid.
The peasants would be moved into apartment blocks while he lived in a glittering palace, the largest in the world. ibid.