In his book Defending identity. Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy (2008), Natan Sharansky talks how Marx and Lenin destroyed identity of the people of Russia. What they wanted was a new identity. A cultural in nationalism in form and socialistic in substance until the communist unity was going happen.
First Marx had to eliminate the classes of exploiters. Early Soviet identity cards listed people as proletariat, peasant, or bourgeois. Or if you prefer in modern terms: Working and middle class, poor, and the upper class. The last two classes were marked for destruction. All the property of the bourgeois, the rich peasantry, and the clergy had to be confiscated. In other words, they were to be destroyed not because of what they did but because of who they are. Does that sound familiar? It’s what the far-Left radicals do all the time.
Marx thought the peasants are reactionary because they are connected to the earth. Because he believed they are reactionary he thought they slowed down the development of a classless society. First Marx starved the peasants, then he had their lands and farms taken from them, and finally they were murdered. So, much for the idea of the Communists caring about the poor. Also, (not in his book though) people who were addicted on drugs and liquor weren’t helped either. Marx had no use for them either. This is an educated guess but I think Marx had no use for the elderly either. They would be retired thus would not be part of the proletariat. Also, they more than likely would be supporters of the old regime and less likely to be for the new identity Marx wanted.
Stalin’s project of mass collectivization killed millions of people and turned scores of millions more into slaves of the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment