Franz Borkenau Quotes

This was the basic document issued after the Russian Revolution establishing the basic legal and economic structure of the new Soviet State.

The reason this is an important quotation is that since the end of WWII, most Americans have used the term “socialism” rather loosely. President Obama for example is often referred to as a socialist by his political enemies. Conservatives refer to Norway, Sweden and Denmark and other European nations as socialist states. But none of them would ever meet the definition of a socialist state of the major socialist state in history. After WWII, the Russians intimidated many of the Eastern European with force of arms and there were some other socialist states for a while but the all abandoned Soviet style Russian socialism, Ironically, the only state that the old Russian Communists would recognize in 2011 was Cuba. However, there are many who call themselves socialists who would never agree that the Soviet Union was remotely a socialist state—they see it as a Fascist dictatorship.

This quotation illustrates White’s favorable view of Russia. Note his use of the “it works” phrase which he picked up from Stefens’ famous quote {634892}. At the time the Soviet Union had been perceived by many economists to have been a great economic improvement over Czarist Russia. And over all, Russia which in 1917 was an economic basket case, had become one of the stronger states in Europe although the Russian people paid a horrendous price. Most historians agree that White passed classified information to the Russians. He was accused of being a Communist, but there was never any evidence of that. Some people believe that he was a spy for the Russians and committed espionage, but others disagree observing that White was very much his own man and felt that much information that was classified never should have been. White substituted his own judgment, it is believed, about what could be given to the Russians for the security system. He was an admirer of what Russian socialism had accomplished economically, educationally and medically since the 1917 revolution deposing the Czar. Russia had been a valuable military ally, which had taken the brunt of both military and civilian casualties in WWII. White’s economics were certainly not Marxist but very much Keynesian. He was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee where he was accused of being a Communist which he denied (see {634907}). He died of a heart attack 3 days later.

The British suspected that the Turks of Anatolia were complicit with Bolshevism

Ataturk was not receptive toward Communism as some other world leaders were at the time. He saw its weakness far earlier than many others.

Many socialists were critical of Soviet Russia.

First Mormon Cabinet Member

Vladimir Lenin

The headline was an eyecatcher. The small type went on to say that all kinds of germs and other things can grow in a washroom if everything is not kept dry. At the time there was a national fear of anarchists and we were in the midst of a red scare.

Vladimir Lenin

After the 1917 Russian Revolution many of the Western Countries sent troops to Russia where they aided the Whites against the Reds. When the Red Bolsheviks prevailed, there were many attempts to diplomatically and economically undermine the Communist government. This caused a unity among different Russian factions. Sforza urged leaving them alone and letting the Bolsheviks fail by their own ideology. Most Western nations and the United States did not agree with him.

He had asked a family friend not to bring books by Hemmingway into his home. The friend asked why and received this answer. Koch and his brother were the largest political contributors in the United States, so they had enormous influence on Republicans (they only made political contributions to conservative organizations).