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Jews and Communism
https://arnoldkling.substack.com/ ^ | FEB 17, 2024 | ARNOLD KLING

Posted on 02/17/2024 4:57:10 PM PST by Jonty30

In the collective memory of American Jewry, the entanglement of Jews and Communists merits hardly a footnote.

—Jerry Z. Muller, Capitalism and the Jews, p. 161

For paid subscribers, Jerry and I will be talking about this topic on Zoom on Monday evening, February 26, at 8 PM New York time. I’ll send out a reminder with a link closer to the date.

In my own memory as an American Jew, the entanglement of Jews and Communists has more significance.

The Harvard Library houses a document “Investigation of Communist Activities in the St. Louis, Mo. area. Hearing” This was a hearing conducted in St. Louis by the United States House Un-American Activities Committee in June of 1956.

One of the witnesses called was my pediatrician, who was Jewish. Another was my mother, who also was Jewish. She testified that in 1945, at age 22, her primary job was working as a stenographer in the office of the Communist Party in St. Louis.

The woman who became my mother was introduced to my father through his sister. My Aunt Sarah was a Communist, as was her husband, a machinist and labor organizer. My mother testified that she herself quit the Communist Party in 1947. My father convinced her to do that. My aunt and uncle were not wedded to the party, but they never gave up the cause. My uncle put his hopes in the brand of Communism practiced by Tito in Yugoslavia.

(Excerpt) Read more at arnoldkling.substack.com ...


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To: Paal Gulli

Netenyahu went a long way twoards de- socializing Israel.


61 posted on 02/17/2024 7:13:24 PM PST by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA! DEATH TO MARXISM AND GFLOBALISM ! AMERICA, COWBOY UP!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Hitler was on the left, as it is defined by American politics. As I said, in Europe, there is only big government. Europeans so thoroughly despise individualism that they buried John Locked in concrete and built a metal fence around his grave so his ideas of individualism would never rise.

In Europe, it is a choice between three big government who will murder you for not complying. In America, because individualism is still a thing, he is on the left.

Again, his claim to fame about churches and family is called political posturing. To gain the support of the German people, he got churches built and supported the family. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t hardcore left, in terms of subjugating the individual to the state.

The slogan of fascism is almost exactly alike to communism, “From all to the state and from the state to all”.

He was on the left, as we know it because he was a big government, centrally controlled and a distributionist. Like everybody on the left was.


62 posted on 02/17/2024 7:15:03 PM PST by Jonty30 (What company makes rubber airplanes? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.)
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To: Jonty30

There we 2 strains of Zionism. The Ben Guerion stain was Socalist. Vladimir Zabotinsky favored private property and the free market. His ideas became the Lukid party. Lukid, and Netenyahu in particular, went a long way twoards de- socializing Israel.


63 posted on 02/17/2024 7:18:36 PM PST by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA! DEATH TO MARXISM AND GFLOBALISM ! AMERICA, COWBOY UP!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“ Those photos and videos showed how much the German people loved him. ”

Hitler was an immensely evil human .
He was very good at propaganda and playing the victim card.
No doubt some brainwashed Germans liked him and the propagandists took full advantage .

For me to even have the debate the merits of Hitler in 2024 is ludicrous .
You give a bad name to conservatives .
Liberals will screenshot your comments and try to label us all as being like you.


64 posted on 02/17/2024 7:18:45 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Have you seen Joe Biden's picture on a milk carton?)
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To: Jonty30

That means everything is left wing in Europe. Fascism is most definitely a derivative of socialism; Mussolini always preached “social justice” and redistribution.


65 posted on 02/17/2024 7:22:26 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Opus?

Hitler was a left winger. The parallels between himself and Stalin are too numerous to count offhand.


66 posted on 02/17/2024 7:24:22 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
Hitler was an immensely evil human

But the Weimar Republic guys promoting child prostitution, pornography, transgenderism, and sodomy were the heroes.

He was very good at propaganda and playing the victim card.

Sure, which is why Germans in later years spoke so fondly of him.

No doubt some brainwashed Germans liked him and the propagandists took full advantage

Brainwashed? He freed the German people from usury, poverty, and other things. How do you think they're going to react to him?

For me to even have the debate the merits of Hitler in 2024 is ludicrous

Well see - that's what I mean. You cannot have an open, honest discussion about Hitler because the default narrative is that he's evil, and if you point out otherwise, you're an evil Hitler lover. That's why I'm not going to go in-depth on this, because my posts will get removed.

You give a bad name to conservatives

I don't care about the opinions of Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Breitbart, Prager U, Townhall.com, and other conservative gate-keepers.

Liberals will screenshot your comments and try to label us all as being like you.

I'm going to be called an evil right-winger regardless if I cuck to the Left or stand strong on principle. And I don't get on my knees for anyone except my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the old lady when we're, uh, role-playing.

67 posted on 02/17/2024 7:32:58 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Free Republic's most controversial and outspoken FReeper)
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To: Olog-hai

If you look up John Locke’s grave, you will see that it is made of concrete with a metal fence. I take that symbolically that Europe completely repudiated individualism.


68 posted on 02/17/2024 7:34:17 PM PST by Jonty30 (What company makes rubber airplanes? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.)
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To: Olog-hai
Opus?

I have over 25K followers on X and a Telegram channel. If FR wants to ZOT me, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Hitler was a left winger. The parallels between himself and Stalin are too numerous to count offhand.

I'm not going to explain this again. National socialism had absolutely nothing to do with the leftism that's associated with Communism.

69 posted on 02/17/2024 7:35:46 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Free Republic's most controversial and outspoken FReeper)
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To: Olog-hai

That’s because the only difference between communism and fascism is that you are allowed to conditionally own property and a business under fascism, as you enforce the government mandates and that you allow yourself to be taxed heavily so they government take your money and redistribute it. Under communism, the government owns all.

In Europe, the difference between fascism and communism is basically right-left wing and left-left wing.


70 posted on 02/17/2024 7:37:40 PM PST by Jonty30 (What company makes rubber airplanes? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.)
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To: Jonty30

No, not even that.

In “The Principles of Communism”, Engels explained that “the proletarian revolution will transform existing society gradually and will be able to abolish private property only when the means of production are available in sufficient quantity”; it’s clear where seeming deviations such as Lenin’s New Economic Policy and even fascism and national socialism are intended to lead; just compare Stalin’s “socialism in one country” and modern China’s “socialism with Chinese characteristics” with national socialism/fascism.


71 posted on 02/17/2024 9:03:39 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

You are correct there is no hard core border on the left. No matter how light you are with the big government touch and communal ownership, it eventually becomes totalitarian and murderous and complete loss of private property.

Hitler was a communist in 1917 before he became fascist and he leaned back to communism once he was securely in power. China also has equivocated between communism and fascism since the revolution. The became fascist to encourage investment and are now heading back towards communism under Winnie.


72 posted on 02/17/2024 9:13:03 PM PST by Jonty30 (What company makes rubber airplanes? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Well, thanks for boasting of your left-wing bona fides. If you hadn’t followed up with the big leftist lie that there’s such a wide gulf between national socialism and other forms of socialism, I would have thought you were merely deceiving yourself.
73 posted on 02/17/2024 9:31:47 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Jonty30

As Eric Voegelin had said, totalitarians always wanted to imminentize the eschaton. That said, a lot of them were just in it for the exercise of power in the service of slaughter and atrocity.


74 posted on 02/17/2024 10:19:03 PM PST by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
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To: Noumenon

Interesting phrase, imminentize the eschaton. I understand it now.


75 posted on 02/17/2024 10:38:34 PM PST by Jonty30 (What company makes rubber airplanes? Boeing, Boeing, Boeing.)
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To: Jonty30
Voegelin's work is a tough, but rewarding read. Recommend his A New Science of Politics as an introduction. I have to warn you, the price of admission is pretty high. Voegelin assumes that his readers are classically educated scholars. On virtually every page, I found myself taking a side journey to understand his references just to keep up. But I came away the better for it. I discovered that my own classical education fell woefully short when it came to understanding Voegelin.
76 posted on 02/18/2024 12:26:03 AM PST by Noumenon (You're not voting your way out of this. KTF)
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To: Olog-hai

Germany’s socialism at the time was contained within that country. If the people wanted it, who cares?


77 posted on 02/18/2024 6:06:22 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Free Republic's most controversial and outspoken FReeper)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“ get on my knees for anyone except my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ”

You call yourself a believer and yet admire Hitler.
Sickening .


78 posted on 02/18/2024 6:37:15 AM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Have you seen Joe Biden's picture on a milk carton?)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

There was no admiration of Hitler in my posts. It was just a blunt assessment of why he came to power.


79 posted on 02/18/2024 7:18:55 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Free Republic's most controversial and outspoken FReeper)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“ There was no admiration of Hitler in my posts.”

You might want to reread what you wrote.
Your words are fawning over Hitler.


80 posted on 02/18/2024 7:22:50 AM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Have you seen Joe Biden's picture on a milk carton?)
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