“Open minds never stood a chance against the ruthless single-mindedness of the Bolsheviks” (Antony Beevor, Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-21).
The history referred to by Professor Beevor in the quote above is interesting—and ultimately horrifying, as most Leftist history is. For the first few months after his Bolshevik (communist) Revolution in Russia in 1917, Vladimir Lenin had a very tenuous hold on power. Almost nobody believed the Bolsheviks would survive. Lenin was pressured to hold elections to a “Constituent Assembly” (Congress), which was intended to provide a constitutional government for the country, something Lenin definitely did not want. He wanted totalitarian, dictatorial power—the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” which, in communist jargon, means the dictatorship of a godless, elitist cadre who will “rule” in the “name” of the people. The elections were conducted. The Bolsheviks, of course, got nowhere near a majority of the votes—they never do unless they rig the elections or threaten to kill anyone who might vote against them. Usually, they don’t even allow elections to happen. Can’t let the “people” in whose name they “rule” have a say in that “rule.”
The elected Constituent Assembly did meet in Russia—once and for less than 12 hours. The Bolsheviks walked out of the assembly, began arresting their political opponents (Donald Trumpsky?), and began a reign of terror and torture that is almost beyond belief in its scope and cruelty. But when there exists no respect for human life or rights, barbarism is all that remains. We see it in America today, being led by the same kind of people, the Democratic Party.
To cement his total power, Lenin gave the Cheka (the secret police) the authority to indiscriminately torture and kill without any judicial supervision. They went to work all over Russia. People were put to death for posting flyers, non-payment of taxes (watch out, Hunter!), breaking curfew, or resisting arrest. The methods of torture and death were creative. Some people had gloves pulled off their hands after having them soaked in boiling water, thus pulling off the skin. Belts were made from the skins off people’s backs. Several hundred people were put on a leaking barge in the middle of the Volga River. They had to bale out the water. Eventually, after a few days, too weary to continue baling, they sank and drowned.
One colonel was roasted to death in a trane furnace; another military officer was thrown head-first into a ship’s furnace. “Who should feel sorry for killing a counter-revolutionary?” one murderer said. In the increasingly lawless society, they looted and stole whatever they wanted; even the head of Cheka was mugged and robbed. People were mutilated while still alive (maybe that’s where the Democrats got the idea). As one writer penned, “indescribable horror” occurred in Moscow. “Soldiers and workers are walking up to their knees in blood.” Sadly, this kind of inconceivably beastly barbarism is not uncommon in human history, with some even using religion as a cloak for such savagery (as we have seen in the last two months). But it has happened in every Leftist, Marxist, and communist society—without exception—in the last 100 years. History is warning us, but most won’t listen.
“But, but, but, the Democratic Party will never do anything like that in America!” No, of course not; our Leftists are all nice people. All they do is murder unborn babies and mutilate children in the name of an unscientific sexual perversion to placate their hedonistic coalitions. Yes, all Leftists should be like our Leftists.
In the quote at the beginning of this column, Beevor describes the difference between people of no morality or self-serving morality and those who hold on to some kind of traditional, sacred, eternal standard of truth and virtue. If “single-minded ruthlessness” gains ascendancy, as it did in Russia, China, and other Marxist countries, then it is difficult for the virtuous and compassionate to fight back. We simply cannot do what Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and the Democratic Party in America did and is doing. How many of you reading this could ever mutilate a child? Or make a belt from the skin of somebody’s back? The mind of the virtuous could never even conceive of such atrocities. But that is what evil does, folks. “Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds! At morning light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand” (Micah 2:1). These people lay awake at night thinking of the wickedness they can do, and then put it into effect as soon as they are able. It’s not new to human history; Micah wrote 2700 years ago. But again, we fall for it by our ignorance of history, by not recognizing the signs before it is too late.
Do we want freedom? “Only virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters” (Benjamin Franklin). But again, herein lies the problem. The Left doesn’t want you to be free. They want power over you. If what I have recorded in this article, and so many others I have written, isn’t proof of that, then nothing can ever be satisfactorily proven. Licentiousness is the Democratic Party’s road in America to totalitarian power. As old Ben said, “As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” That is EXACTLY what the Democratic Party is building its power base upon—an increasingly decadent, degenerate, licentious society. They call it “democracy.” They call it “freedom.” It may be the former because the American people are voting for it, putting Democrats in office. It will, however, end in totalitarianism as more and more government becomes necessary to control this uncontrolled “freedom.” When we ignore virtue, we eventually get masters.
Franklin knew it 200+ years ago. When will we learn?
Check my substack mklewis929.substack.com for recent articles and podcasts. Lots more on the Founding Fathers there. Follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. Read my Western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma, all available on Amazon. And God Bless America!
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