Posted on 02/18/2021 3:32:12 PM PST by Paved Paradise
My father, a journalist named Boris Shcharansky, was born in 1904 in Odessa, the cultural and economic center of the Pale of Settlement, where the Russian empire stuck most Jews. He studied in the Jewish Commercial Gymnasium, because most other gymnasiums accepted very few Jews, if any. By the time he was 16, he had already lived through the Czarist Regime with its anti-Semitic restrictions, the “February” Socialist Revolution, the “October” Bolshevik Revolution, and the years of civil war when power in Odessa seesawed back and forth from faction to faction, as hunger, pogroms, and destruction decimated the population.
When the Soviets finally emerged from the chaos, therefore, my father was hopeful. The Communists promised that a new life of full equality was dawning, without Pales of Settlement, without education restrictions, and, most important, with equal opportunities for all. Who wouldn’t want that? One of my father’s brothers discovered Zionism and went off to Palestine. But my father was excited about building a world of social justice and equality closer to his home.
(Excerpt) Read more at tabletmag.com ...
Politically "correct" or pretty much anything else spewed out of the mouth of the prog.
They expect obedience to their version of reality no matter how outlandish their "demand-of-the-day" actually is.
Non-compliance results in floods of obscenities, threats of violence and the usual, "homophobic, xenophobe, racist, Nazi, etc" accusations.
Most prog are great examples of textbook mental illness.
.
Great article. Leftist here are too stupid to draw parallels.
Bookmarked
That was an awesome read! Thank you for posting it.
Great essay, thanks. I was a Russian Studies major in the 2nd half of the 70s, and even then, Natan S. was known as a brave dissident. I salute his lifelong quest for and devotion to freedom.
My Grandfather lived through the Bolshevik Revolution in Ukraine. His parents, he and his brother owned a small farm.
Spent many hours sitting his lap and listening to his stories about it.
He said when the Bolsheviks came to their property (to take all their food and livestock) their slogan was “For the People!”
Same as Kamala’s campaign slogan and the horrid H.R.1 bill.
Thank you for that. He has a new book out, but I’ll look into that! I’ve been studiously researching socialism and all of that for almost four years now. How I wish our young people were being told the truth.
I think the best we can do is to keep educating people as best as we can. I sent this article to about 20 friends and asked if they’d each send to five friends. I mean, if they can’t believe the people who lived it, who will they believe?
Yes, stupidity and willful blindness in many cases. Of course, as always, there ARE the “true believers.”
Sharansky is one of my personal heroes, along with Solzhenitsyn.
Our kids should be taught this stuff in middle school. Incidentally, this is my first post in probably over a decade. At least it was a good one.
I became friends with a gal from the Ukraine and many years ago she told me that her grandfather, who was probably one of the kulaks, buried some of his farm equipment when they collectivized the farms. He knew what was coming. A neighbor turned him in and he spent seven or so years in a gulag, which completely broke him. I learned quite a bit from her. I remember telling her that she and others who have lived under Communism should be brought into ALL American schools where they can teach children about the horrors of socialism.
Great essay. Thanks.
Mark for a later re-read.
True story - my ex-wife clerked for the DOJ in the 1990s. She often met with FBI agents. In a meeting, one of them mentioned her ex-husband’s political views. She never told them she had an ex. My letters to the editor and protests were pretty mild. I went dark after that.
We have to first work in the dark and then come into the light once we are prepared for a frontal assault.
Excellent story - today’s story. Weren’t we supposed to learn from history.
This is important.
Thank you.
Great find.
Bump for future remembering.
A long read, but well worth the time.
Paints a clear (but sad) picture of the America in which we now live.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.