Trotsky's ghost wandering the White House: Bolshevik's writings influence on Bush aides

nationalpost.com ^ | Saturday, June 07, 2003 | Jeet Heer

[Destro]

fyi

[Diddle E. Squat]

[MEG33]

Great commentary and right on target!

[Destro]

Oh really?

[RightWhale]

Trotskyism is a living force that people fight over

Even if Trotsky had never lived, Trotskyites would still exist.

[Destro]

If I could find a picture of an ostrich I would reply to you that way.

[MEG33]

LOL

[Incorrigible]

What the....?

Destro!

What are you thinking posting this without commentary?

Christopher Hitchens an influence on the White House?  Ha Ha Ha!!!  More like the other way around.  He can barely get enough people to read his blog!

Trotsky's followers today are agnostic Jews with inexplicable Marxist views.  There are unfortunately a great number of these folks.

Wolfowitz?  Cheney?  Hardly!

This is yet another smear of "neo-conservatives" or in common parlance today, Republican Jews.

Not to stereotype too much but Jeet Heer would appear to be the self-hating type.

 

[MEG33]

I thought I'd laugh myself silly over the Hitchens bit.

[Clemenza]

Ping!

[Southack]

It's time to let poor Jeet (the author of this spiel) in on an old joke.

You see, "bolshevik" means "majority" or "big piece", but it was a DEROGATORY term for Lennin and his most loyal followers.

In Communist circles, Lennin was considered a radical and he wasn't very popular, however, after Lenin had insulted numerous Communists at a Party meeting, enough of them walked out that Lenin and his small group briefly constituted a majority. In those few brief moments, Lenin siezed control of the local socialists and propelled himself into the leadership position for the October Revolution et al.

But the joke among Communists was that Lenin and his tiny group were "Bolsheviks". Everyone called them "Bolsheviks" in the same way that politicians called Lyndon Johnson "Landslide Lyndon" after his questionable victory in his Senate race (by 13 votes from box 13 after the polls closed). The joke was so prevalent that the name stuck. Lenin and his followers were forever laughed at as "Bolsheviks", even though they only had a "majority" for a few brief moments in time.

Alas, such a joke is probably too complicated for Jeets to grasp, however, even after a full explanation!

[WorkingClassFilth]

Here's a good Russian joke...

One night Stalin is up late and can't sleep. The spectres of those he's killed are haunting him and the hate and fear of those around him isolate him as though he were in prison.

He decides to go out into the night and walk the streets of Moscow.

After walking several hours, he finds a small tavern open and goes in for some vodka.

Inside is a bleary patron well into his cups.

Stalin, hungry for human companionship, strikes up a conversation with the fellow.

They laugh. They drink. They become very, very drunk.

Suddenly, Stalin asks the man point-blank what he thinks of the Soviet Leader Stalin.

The man is instantly sober.

The sleepy bartender stops wiping the counter and quickly leaves the room.

The tick of the clock becomes thunderously loud.

The man, his eyes darting all about, stands up and moves to the door motioning Stalin to follow him out into the night.

Stalin rises after a moment and follows.

When Stalin gets outside, he looks about and sees the man turning the corner.

Stalin walks quickly to the corner just in time to see the man walk into a darkened alley in the middle of the next block.

He walks quickly to catch up and reaching the alley he turns into it.

The alley is silent and black. Fearing that he might be ambushed, Stalin walks cautiously through the darkness.

Just as he reaches the dead end of the alley, he hears the scrape of shoe leather on cobblestones.

He turns around and sees the figure of the man huddled in a doorway alcove.

The man motions for him to come closer.

Stalin bends his ear to the mans cupped hand, and the man says:

"I like him."

[Destro]

Um I always thought that bolshevik meant minority and menshevik (did I spell that right?) meant majority.

[Destro]

I am not so quick to dismiss this.

[MEG33]

What country are you from?

[DeepDish]

Well, it seems that calling the Bush people nazis and
fascists never stuck, so now they will try calling them
communists. Hey, it could work.

[Destro]

Citizen of the US of A and registered Republican.

[MEG33]

I thought perhaps you had lived where there was communist oppression and be particularly sensitive to the threat.

[Incorrigible]

Destro's a good FReeper (even though he's a shady arms dealer!) with very many high quality posts and replies to his name.

I think he's reaching a bit with this one though!