Khrushchev’s secret speech and end of communism

Daily Times ^ | 3/5/06 | Roy A Medvedev

[ScreamingFist]

The system was dead already"

No, it's alive and well. It has merely transported itself from the USSR to universities across Europe and America, a entire new culture to breed on and corrode.....

[spanalot]

"No, it's alive and well. It has merely transported itself from the USSR to universities across Europe and America, a entire new culture to breed on and corrode....."

You got that right - and look at the crap they are going to ordain at the Oscars tonite.

[capt. norm]

"secret speech"

That's a borderline oxymoron.

I guess the audio crew for the speech turns the volume on the amplifier down to "secret" level where only the first three rows can hear it.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

There are so many theories on when Communism really died as an ideal in the Soviet Union. One theory was that when Stalin needed to defeat the Nazis he reached back to patriotic reasons. Instead of fighting for Communism and the Party, the they were fighting for the Rodina.

In a sense Communism under Stalin became a methodology of enforcing his will on the population. Central Planning and Communist philosophy made it easier to control the people. Khrushchev and later Gorbachev tried to reform Communism, and failed because the system failed. The economic system was designed to extinguish individualism and initiative. To the extent it was successful, the economy collapsed. While Gorbachev loosed the bonds with the Soviet satellite states, the desire for freedom overcame the fear of repression. Of course by then any idealism that remained was history.

Unfortunately, there are still too many people around the world that believe in state control of the economy and the government redistributing massive amounts of wealth. Most of those people in our country reside in our Universities, as stated by Solzhenitsyn some years ago.

[RobbyS]

To this day the Marxists professors deny that Stalinism was (a) as evil as Hiterism and (2) that socialism is anything more than state capitalism.

[Zeppelin]

***To this day the Marxists professors deny that Stalinism was (a) as evil as Hiterism and (2) that socialism is anything more than state capitalism.***

"State Capitalism".....that one always made me laugh.

Capitalism always seeks to maximize efficiency.
Government always seeks to minimize efficiency.

How can the two be deeply intertwined like Communism promotes? =P

[voletti]

True. Ultimately communism carried the seeds of its destruction within its own DNA. My hope is islam too carried within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Like the sci-fi whackos would say "Initiating irreversible self destruct sequence...10...9..."

[RobbyS]

State-capitalism aimply means that the state allocates capital--with all the recent efficiency of General Motors.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

The use of suicide bombers is a sign of failure. The Japanese used Kamikazes to bleed our forces and force us into a negotiated settlement. The Islamic radicals are hoping to do the same. If we truly have the will to persevere, their demise is certain. The Islamic world will get tired of the failed policy. The real war is with our Media and the hearts and minds of the American People.

[fooman]

commies killed 100+ million.

[Tail Gunner John]

It was the communist infiltration of Hollywood during Ronald Reagan's tenure as head of the Screen Actors Guild that awakened him to the red menace goal of propagandizing from our entertainment venues.

I'm sure Reagan would be stunned to see how successful the anti-American, pro socialist elites in Hollywood and New York have become today.

These traitorous useful idiots will be on parade in full regalia tonight.

[Moonman62]

So, although it is common today in Russia to blame Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin for the collapse of the USSR, it is both useless and unfair to do so.

I blame Ronald Reagan.

[fat city]

Groan. So now we have Krushchevist-revisionism?

[BW2221]

It has always amazed me how communism has appealed to so many well-educated people. If you read about communists and communist sympathizers in the government during the 1930s and 1940s, many were Ivy League graduates.

[BW2221]

I don't think it would surprise him at all. One of the reasons Reagan became head of the Screen Actors Guild was because of the heavy influence of communists in Hollywood.

Remember, one of the major reasons Hollywood support the WWII effort was because the Soviet Union was our ally.

[Paperdoll]

Communism ended?

[Paperdoll]

Apparently Communism has a certain intellectual appeal. Unfortunately, sometimes the higher the intellect, the lower the common sense. Believe me.

[Tail Gunner John]

When you read "Witness" by Whittaker Chambers it is amazing to find that these are the same people with the same education, with the same pedigree, using the same play book now as then.

[tang-soo]

Sounds like lots of interesting intrigue - maybe enough to make, say a movie. Hmm, wonder if Hollyweird would be interested?