Ideological Purity Quotes
Vladimir Lenin. Lenin’s argument seems reasonable, except if there is one party, and all privileges of the society require party membership as was the case in Soviet Russia, then anyone who speaks or writes contrary to party doctrine, can lose almost everything but his life if he is then ejected from the party. So freedom of speech became a stated principle which in Russia was a practical myth. Under Stalin, he didn’t even follow any principle of freedom of speech, and many Russians lost their lives for what they said.
Many German officials, after the war, tried to justify the Concentration Camps. However, the argument has little historical merit as by the time the Nazis implemented them, they had complete control of the country and were in no danger of Civil War. And certainly the torture, medical experiments, and murders were not required to prevent civil strife. And using inmates as slave laborers in Donitz’s shipyards had nothing to do with civil war. After the war Donitz was found guilty of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and using thousands of slave laborers in his shipyards. He was sentenced to 10 years, one of the lightest sentences if the German War Crimes Trials. He himself was not only an enthusiast about the concentration camps but was a murderous anti-Semite as well. See {624978}. The thought that the Germans had to kill little children to avoid civil war is as absurd as any argument could be.
Republican candidates at that time, in order to win the nomination of the party, had to prove to the base of primary voters that they were strong conservatives. In doing so, they had to adopt policies and views that were too far to the right for most American voters and they would lose the general election.
