Anti-Communism Quotes
Cuba was not Communist under Castro in the Russian style of Communism. However, Castro operated Cuba with many of the key Marxist & Leninist Communist Principles {636672} (some of which the Russians were hypocritical about). Cuba was very much a Marxist, Socialistic State with few of the democratic reforms that characterized European Socialism. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian Communist aid propped up the Cuban economy, and that was another motivation for Castro not to criticize Russian Communism so he often appeared to be in agreement with Russian Communism even when he wasn't.
Although the Nazis railed against the Communists & Socialists, the potential opposition they feared the most was the middle class. See also {582967}.
English conservatives were so fearful of socialism and communism that they applauded the efforts of even fascist dictators in putting down labor unions or anything that was favored by the left. Even Churchill ignored the anti-democratic and dictatorial behavior of Mussolini, as did many other British conservatives. The very regimes that some of the British aristocracy supported then turned on England and the democratic world and threatened their very existence. Churchill was chastened by the lesson he learned. The quotation also illustrates how political leaders learn and grow from their experiences and actions. Churchill was not prime minister when he sent this communication. For other politicians who made the same error as Churchill see {623198}. {623200} and {623201}.
The president was surprised by the rapid spread and expansion of the anti-war movement at the time was convinced that the communists were organizing the effort. After all the investigations and histories, it was an extremely fast growing movement—perhaps the first of the digital political movements as e-mail was one of the tools used in the universities where e-mail was then coming into use.
Seeger’s admission was typical of tens of thousands of Americans who had become disillusioned with the fairness, equity, and effectiveness of capitalism during the depression. They were easy prey for Communist propaganda which pointed out all the problems in American society from legal racial discrimination to lack of a social safety net while at the same time lying about the Russian achievements and hiding the horrible abuses of human rights—especially the political murders of millions of people. Then the truth about Russia emerged, Seeger and so many others abandoned the Communist Party as at the same time America was improving its society and beginning to try and deal with the great problem that had plagued America from its inception—racism and slavery.
The issue of unilateral or multilateral foreign policy efforts faced America after WWII.
The class distinction that existed in Germany after WWI was immense. The Ehrhardt Brigade was an elite military unit which functioned as a right wing death squad in the German Revolution in 1920. Unlike other German military divisions whose anthems glorified Germany and threatened other nations, the “enemy” of the Ehrhardt Brigade was the working class German. This was the marching song that they sang while marching through the country. They were one of the units that made the Swastika popular and they were the kind of unit that presaged Nazism coming shortly. Imagine the class hostility that must have existed for such an anthem to be socially and governmentally acceptable.
