One of the lynchpins of the communist philosophy is the dictatorship of the proletariat. This ruthless approach involves snitching on the entire population, terror, brute force, and unimaginable violence. Lenin used these methods amply to force the dictatorship of the proletariat on the Soviet subjects.
The hapless
citizens did not understand in the beginning that the dictatorship of the
proletariat was actually the dictatorship of the Communist party and
eventually of the dictatorship of the one person who was the most influential and
ruthless, and was able to kill most of his enemies in order to claim a clear
victory. He eliminated all domestic opposition and any threat from within.
Stalin and
other dictators relied entirely on oppression, fear, and terror, and developed the
infamous cult of personality – the forced worshipping of the dear leader.
Nikita S.
Khrushchev waited three years after Stalin’s death to charge him in 1956 as “a
murderer and a pathological liar who dealt in mass terror” during his 20 years
of dictatorship.
“Terror and
lies are the trademarks of communist tyranny,” but why did Khrushchev wait
three years to reveal the abuses of power and the lies used to cover up the
brutality, violence, contempt for human life, lack of freedom, and absolute intolerance?
He knew about all of the atrocities committed but he remained silent because he
was heavily implicated himself.
Many people
in all Soviet satellite countries starved to death because the regimes used the
Soviet model to industrialize their respective countries quickly by massive
grain exports, leaving the population to starve. Communists did not care that
people died as long as they were able to finance the importation of technology
and machinery in order to develop the heavy industry.
Attacking
the sources of food, Stalin ordered in 1929 “the liquidation of the kulaks as a
class.” It was not just a war against them, but a war against all peasants, the
very people who produced grains and raised cattle.
Who were the
kulaks? They represented one tenth of the peasant population. Kulaks had eight
acres of land, four cows., two horses, and were considered by Marxist-Leninists
class enemies of the poorer peasants. The kulaks were to be deported. If
they refused, brute force was used.
Marxist
activists (apparatchiks) were ordered to confiscate privately owned
farms which were then lumped together to make collective farms (kolkhoz).
Within a five months period, half of the peasants were forcibly collectivized. Many
peasants resisted by slaughtering their animals – cattle and horses by the tens
of thousands were killed.
The
opposition resulted in famine in 1932 and 1933. The remaining food was
confiscated from the rural population and distributed to the workers in cities.
Millions died as a result of this man-made famine. The Soviet Union did not
even acknowledge the existence of this famine.
Peasants in
other Soviet satellite countries were forced into collectivization by communists
who confiscated their private arable land. They left the peasants just enough
land for a home foundation and space for a small garden and a narrow yard
between neighbors. Collective farms were formed by brute force and the former
farmers were pressed into working for meager pay and a share of the eventual
crop profits after the communists took their lion’s share from these profits.
The field work was back breaking, the labor quotas of the Five Year Plans
impossible to achieve, and the rewards minimal. It was the same slogan as in
factories, “we pretend to work, and they [the communists] pretend to pay us.”
It was not
just the peasants who were oppressed. The urban workers were forced to work for
inadequate pay, in harsh conditions, no OSHA-type protections, many died in
industrial accidents, and were forced to work night shifts with unrealistic
production quotas, a technique that was used for many decades in Communist
countries. Workers could find themselves unemployable and unable to find a
place to live even if they had as little as “one day’s unjustified absence from
work.” You were not allowed to be sick or miss work for any reason.
In a move to
control the proletariat even more, workers were forced since 1932 to carry an
identity card issued by the police which listed his/her employment date and
place, a way to control their every movement and keeping them on the job and in
the respective area. They needed permission to be absent and a doctor’s written
excuse if they were sick.
Slave-labor
camps (gulags), filled with political dissidents and other innocents, helped
build the communist empire for free. Under communism, the accused were guilty
until proven innocent. They were never paid for their work. Not only were people imprisoned for their
political views, but their families were punished as well, evicted from their
meager apartments, dilapidated homes, and even schools.
Next time the
young Americans who responded in surveys that they prefer socialism over
capitalism, should read more about the actual economic and social conditions
under all of the socialist republics of the Communist Party that failed
spectacularly.
Greetings, once again, via this forum. Thank you for allowing comments. My website article of yesterday noted favorably this article and your article of two days prior. The biblical worldview needs to guide the majority of folks, in this once great nation. Otherwise, the country will continue the slow march toward “Socialist Utopian Oblivion.” Wake up, America!
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