Friday - September 19, 2003
What Happened to the ComIntern?
Discipline. That's the buzzword I read about most
when I read about the Communist International. It was quite strong for the
entire 20th century, especially under the boot of Joseph Stalin. The communists
of that era speak often of party discipline, of the need to forego one's own
mind and thoughts and accept the thoughts of the ComIntern. Stalin said in 1929,
in settling a factional dispute among the Communist Party
USA:
Members of
the American Delegation, do you think that the conscience and convictions of
Comrade Gitlow are above the conscience and convictions of the overwhelming
majority of the Presidium of the ECCI (Executive Committee of the Communist
International)? Do you begin to understand that if each of us starts to act
according to his own will without reckoning with the will of the collective, we
shall never come to any decision; we shall never have any collective will, nor
any leadership?
Stalin, of course, was the sole majority vote of
the ECCI. He demanded absolute obedience, or discipline, of his followers, no
matter what country they lived in. Ernest Hemingway speaks often of the party
discipline that the Spanish Replubicans were expected to show to the party
during the Spanish Civil War, and of course the party was controlled by Stalin.
Dissenters from this discipline, including the Prime Minister, were attacked,
arrested and usually executed. Discipline was expected to be absolute and was
enforced absolutely. Hemingway frequently had characters in his novels calling
for party discipline on the most mundane matters, from hygiene to courage under
fire.
The call for party discipline was
a common refrain of all communists, from Russia, to Cuba, to Germany, to Spain,
to the United States. In particular, the open calls to create a Soviet America
through the discipline of the party and the overthrow of the US government and
the establishment of a dictatorship of the Proletariat are particularly
chilling.
No
Communist, no matter how many votes he should secure in a national election,
could, even if he would, become president of the present government. When a
Communist heads a government in the United States - and that day will come just
as surely as the sun rises - that government will not be a capitalist government
but a Soviet government, and behind this government will stand the Red Army to
enforce the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
William Z. Foster, Communist Party
of the USA candidate for President of the United States,
1932.
The ComIntern controlled the
Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) which took no action, no matter how trivial,
without explicit direction. Not only were there numerous spy rings, the
ComIntern ordered members to different posts and countries for training,
operations, and for committing assasinations and murders, such as the murder of
Trotsky which was organized by American communists. Orders were obeyed
unquestioningly.
So there was
discipline, and the term was used among themselves to nurture and strengthen the
hold this discipline had on their collective. We have documented evidence of
this discipline and we know that party members not only stole nuclear and other
military secrets, but that they occupied key positions within all branches of
government. The most horrifying to me is Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's personal
confidante and aide and the most powerful member of his administration. Hopkins
flew to Moscow many times during WWII to negotiate lend lease, and details of
fighting the war with Germany and how to divide Germany after its defeat.
Hopkins' role as a communist spy is not speculation, but is proven by
intercepted codes and by documents retrieved from the former
USSR.
But I digress. Communists were
prevalent in the US, they were disciplined, and they were controlled by Stalin.
After the Rosenbergs were executed for Treason, we heard little direct communist
propaganda or slogans, and the CPUSA faded to obscurity. But where did all these
communists go? What happened to all these disciplined
people?
Stalin is dead, and the cult of
Stalin in the USSR was repudiated so clearly he and his cult no longer are in
charge, but there was a deep network of spies and party members that didn't
suddenly disappear. I've always wondered where they went. I don't have fully
documented answers, but here are my
observations.
In my old apartment
complex in Austin, a whacky family moved in from California. The daughter wore a
mohawk, dyed her hair black, wore army boots, and generally had a gothic look.
She would have been cute if she weren't such a freak, and she had a pleasant, if
dimwitted personality. Her mother bragged to me that her daughter was a member
of Earth First! and other terrorist organizations and that she knew that her
daughter was friends with people who planted bombs in mink
farms.
This young girl talked with me
many times about being a skinhead, and how the younger (she was only 19 years
old herself) skinheads didn't understand the discipline -- they didn't keep
their boots polished, they didn't keep up with the latest slogans, etc. Her
attitude seemed eerily familiar to my readings of the history of the ComIntern.
She spoke a lot about the evils of
"globalization."
Shortly thereafter,
the riots broke out in Seattle during the WTO meeting. The press never
investigated who organized and funded the training for these disciplined
rioters, but they did say early on that the ILWU was very active in the
"protests."
I used to work in a factory
that was staffed by ILWU workers, so I happened to know that the ILWU was led by
card carrying communists. Their rhetoric came right out of the 1930's ComIntern
handbook, anyway.
I also said that the
ComIntern would send people to Moscow for training, such as in radios and for
political indoctrination. The ComIntern was a big organization and couldn't have
ended over night. Stalin no longer controls the ComIntern, possibly the Soviets
don't either, but that movement and its discipline probably still exists,
controlled by someone or some
group.
Could it be that the ComIntern
ordered the majority of its members underground and maintained its hold on some
of the more militant labor unions? Could it be that some politicians, such as
the House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who is closely associated with communist
movements, be actually part of the successor of the
ComIntern?
I don't know who controls
the ComIntern today. I haven't discovered that, maybe someone else
knows.
But just what was Bill Clinton doing
in Moscow in the late 60's? Whom did he meet with, and what was he there to
learn?
Has anyone paid much attention
to the "discipline" of the Clintonistas and how they can so easily turn and
change the direction of most of the Democratic party over night? How did an
obscure general suddenly get four stars and an Area Command seemingly overnight?
How did this general rise from his continued obscurity after waging an obscure
war in Europe to become the darling of the Democratic Presidential Candidates
merely on the command of Bill Clinton? What kind of discipline causes this
sudden outpouring of support?
There,
I've been wanting to ask these questions for 10 years. I'm not sure I know the
answers, but I'm shocked that no one else has asked them. I feel so much better
now.
Go Back to the Start, Do Not Collect $200 Send me your two cents
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