[DJ Taylor]

"So-called leaders are instilling fear into the hearts and minds of people, people who have not been educated enough to think for themselves, and then offering them grains of food to eat....

Stalin referred to these people as "useful idiots," and we all know who the "useful idiots" are in this Communist Revolution, now don't we?

[fr_freak]

Stalin referred to these people as "useful idiots," and we all know who the "useful idiots" are in this Communist Revolution, now don't we?

Actually, the people that Stalin referred to as "useful idiots" were the people in the West who supported him and supported communism, specifically, people in the western media, Hollywood types, academics and so forth, who ignored all of the horrible things that Stalin did and praised him. He knew they were deluded about what communism actually was, but they were useful to him. Also, these useful idiots were the same people who drove George Orwell to reject communism (he was originally a hardcore leftist) and write "1984" and "Animal Farm". He saw the intelligensia of the West embracing an idealistic version of Soviet communism while they ignored the horrors, including false reporting in newspapers and radio.