Lincoln’s Leftist Associates–Part Two

by Al Benson Jr.

In 2009 Adam Max Tuchinsky, associate professor at the University of Southern Maine, wrote an informative book called Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune: Civil War Era Socialism and the Crisis of Free Labor. Tuchinsky noted that Greeley’s paper had, among its contributors, Charles Dana, Albert Brisbane, George Ripley, and the ever-present Karl Marx–all socialists.  It seems that the leftist intelligentsia in this country all had a working relationship with “Friend Greeley.” I never read any of this in my public school “history” books. Did anyone else?

Dana eventually went to Europe, where he could witness the convulsions caused by the 1848 socialist revolts firsthand. He felt those revolts were a “historical turning point.” Unfortunately, he was correct, more correct than even he could know. While in Europe, Dana spent time scrounging around for “alternative strains of socialist thought” and ended up in Cologne. At this juncture, a friend of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ferdinand Freiligrath, worked for a leftist periodical whose editor had lately co-authored a pamphlet called Das Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei. One of its co-authors, the editor, was a deadbeat hack of a writer whose name did not even appear on the first edition–because the ideas in it were not totally his. He was hired by a group called The League of the Just to author the pamphlet and its content was more theirs than his.

And so socialist Charles Dana met socialist Karl Marx. Socialist Carl Schurz had once met Marx and in our book Lincoln’s Marxists, Walter Kennedy and I commented on that. We noted that, according to Carl Schurz, Karl Marx had an ego as big as the plant Pluto and was constantly berating and insulting those that dared to disagree with his exalted pronouncements. So typical for those on the left! They love it when you totally agree with them, but dare to disagree with them on anything and you become chopped liver in their estimation. Somehow, in spite of all the leftist vitriol, Marx and Dana seemed to hit it off. So much so that Dana got Marx probably the only real job he ever had in his life as a columnist for Horace Greeley’s left-leaning paper.

By the time Lincoln and Greeley both left Congress in 1849, Lincoln had developed a close circle of friends which eventually included a batch of the socialist Forty-eighters, and they were working at turning the states of Missouri, Wisconsin, and Illinois into seething points of agitation. So what we had, in effect, was almost constant socialist agitation in the upper Midwest in the very late 1840s and 1850s. Again, did you ever see any of this in your “history” books in public school? I never did. This is all “memory hole” material we are never supposed to be aware of. Oh, I recall reading about the Kansas-Missouri problems, but that was mostly blamed on Southerners. No mention of Lincoln’s socialist friends stirring the pot at all. In fact, I often wonder how much of this kind of history appears even in home school history studies. I saw very little when we were home schooling our kids, and I’ve seen several history books from Christian schools and none of this was mentioned in any of them. Why not? Wouldn’t our young folks have a much better grasp of our real history if this aspect of it were noted in their history books? Maybe that’s why it’s not there.

John Nichols, in his article in the International Socialist Review has noted, quite accurately, that: “While studies of Lincoln place appropriate focus on his domestic engagements, there has been far too little attention paid to his global interests, especially during the period ‘in the wilderness’ between the end of his congressional term and his return to the political stage. Yet there can be no doubt that the future president was conscious of and highly engaged with developments in foreign lands–thanks no doubt to his close reading of the Tribune…Lincoln invoked the struggles of the European revolutionaries and denounced ‘oppression in any of its forms…'” The invader and destroyer of the South denounces oppression–how touching!

As he got ready for the presidential race in 1860 (he was hardly a reluctant candidate) Lincoln took the time and trouble to align himself with those whose position is “…that labor is the superior–greatly the superior–of capital.” That’s part of the old Marxist line and it comes off sounding somewhat hypocritical from the man who was a lobbyist for the Illinois Central Railroad. You don’t get much more “capitalist” than the railroad people. And Thomas DiLorenzo, in his excellent and informative book The Real Lincoln noted that “…Lincoln was a devoted protectionist over his entire political career. He and other Whigs took this position because it created a stream of economic benefits for a wealthy and powerful constituency group…Having the government dispense special privileges to the wealthy and influential was always the core of the Whig political program to which Lincoln devoted his political career.”  Sounds like the sainted Mr. Lincoln was only opposed to capitalism and capital if they were Southern. He didn’t seem to have all that much problem with Northern capitalism–in fact he profited from it. Interesting that the socialist and communists that fled the failed 1848 socialist revolts in Europe, when they came to this country, ended up joining or allying themselves with the Republican Party–the party of corporate fascism and big government. And they did this because they knew that the party of big government would help them get what they wanted–power and control. The supposed leftist concern for the “poor and oppressed” is nothing more than a self-serving sham.

To be continued.

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Lincoln’s Leftist Associates—Part One

By Al Benson Jr.
The more you look at Abraham Lincoln the more his socialist proclivities jump out at you from whatever printed page you happen to be browsing. Once you have begun to grasp the fact of his socialist worldview then you can see things in reading about him that you just never noticed before.

I’ve seen articles that referred to radical Tom Paine, the supporter and promoter of the terrorist French Revolution, as “Lincoln’s hero.” If you have done any reading about Tom Paine and his views, that one statement should tell you something about Lincoln.

Awhile back, John Nichols, who writes for the Nation, did an article for the International Socialist Review which was entitled Reading Karl Marx with Abraham Lincoln–Utopian socialists, German communists, and other republicans. Very interesting title, and so very on target. The socialists don’t deny their involvement with Lincoln, they parade it right down Main Street, partly because they feel that decades of public “education” have rendered most Americans too dumb to realize what they are saying, and partly because they are just downright proud that Lincoln was among their number, whether he ever joined any socialist party or not (he didn’t, that we know of at this point). However, the mindset was there, which shows that socialism and communism in this country were a serious problem already by the middle of the 1800s.

Nichols noted Lincoln’s close association with Horace Greeley, who was a Utopian socialist. They served together in Congress, each for one term and Lincoln referred to Greeley as “Friend Greeley.” Greeley’s newspaper the New York Tribune, was probably the country’s most influential newspaper in the middle years of the 19th century. Greeley’s left-leaning thinking reflected that of Lincoln, when, in an address to Congress he stated that: “our idea is that labor needs not to combat but to command Capital.” A little of the “class struggle” technique there? Nichols also noted that Lincoln’s “involvement” wasn’t just with Horace Greeley, but also with “his sub-editors and writers, so much so that the first Republican president appointed one of Greeley’s most radical lieutenants—the Fourier-and Proudhon-inspired socialist and longtime editor of Marx’s European correspondence, Charles Dana—as his assistant secretary of war.” Dana was right under Edwin Stanton, another dictatorial soul. And it was Dana who hired Karl Marx to write for Greeley’s paper. So you’ve got all these socialists—Greeley, Lincoln, Dana, and Marx pushing and promoting one another in order to further their agenda. Greeley also made Albert Brisbane, another socialist, who had spent time in France during the 1820s, a columnist. Nichols said of Brisbane that, after his time in France, he returned to the United States “to spread the socialist gospel.” Marx and Brisbane were so radical that Greeley’s paper actually received criticism for spreading leftist views. That didn’t seem to bother Greeley. Nichols noted that “In the mid-1840s, explains historian Roy Marvin Robbins, ‘Greeley preached a new order of society with Brisbane’s socialist ideas as its basis.” Almost sounds as if he promoted a 19th century version of the New World Order. Could it be that when George Bush promoted the New World Order back in the early 1990s that he was really only referring to the second installment of it and that we had already been introduced to the first installment way back in the late 1840s?

Something the “history” books almost never even mention of refer to is the fact that Lincoln was a keen follower of everything that was going on in Europe in the 1840s. He was well aware of what was going on there in 1848—and he was all for it. The European situation was not a new thing for Lincoln. Even before 1848, some German radicals has started showing up in Illinois, Wisconsin, parts of Ohio and New York. One such was Gustav Koerner, a student revolutionary from the University of Munich.

Socialist revolutionary Koerner formed an alliance with Lincoln, which resulted in Koerner being one of seven person delegates-at-large who were named by Lincoln to serve at the Republican State Convention in May of 1860. This was the event that got Lincoln into the presidential race that year. Nichols stated in his article that: “Through Ko(e)rner, Lincoln met and befriended many of the German radicals who, after the failure of the 1848 revolution, fled to Illinois and neighboring Wisconsin. Along with Korner on Lincoln’s list of personal delegates-at-large to the 1860 convention was Friedrich Karl Franz Hecker,…” If you happen to have a copy of Walter Kennedy’s and my book Lincoln’s Marxists you can look up Comrade Hecker in it. Check him out on pages 172-174 if you have the book. Hecker was one of Lincoln’s socialist generals. He got a commission from Lincoln.

Another of Lincoln’s staunchest supporters was Karl Marx’s close associate, Joseph Weydemeyer. Weydemeyer continued to be in close touch with Karl Marx while allying himself with the new Republican Party and Lincoln’s presidential campaign. Part of the result of this was that Weydemeyer’s help to Lincoln’s efforts got him appointed to the staff of General John C. Fremont, yet another American left-leaning radical, as a technical aide.

Lincoln did much more than to simply request that the Forty-eighters enlist to help him. He became involved with their causes. One writer stated that “Lincoln was paying attention to those revolutionaries. While in Springfield, Illinois he sought to gain support for various leftist revolutionary movements in Europe. He was particularly interested at that time in the revolt of Lajos Kossuth in Hungary.

The point to this is that Lincoln was not just an armchair supporter of socialist and communist revolts in Europe. He knew many of those involved. He knew what they were all about, and not from a distance but from personal contact in many cases and he supported their efforts to create a new social(ist) order in Europe, one that would centralize everything in the hands of the leftists, all in the name of the “people.” When it didn’t work over there he gave them another shot at it here. Guess what? It worked here and as you can tell from what inhabits Washington, D.C. today, it’s still working.

To be continued.

“Right-Wing” Fascism is Baloney!

by Al Benson Jr.

Over the years that I have kept track of things political I have, more times than I care to mention, been exposed to the spurious term “right-wing fascist.” Pardon my bluntness, but that is 100% pure, top-grade hogwash.

Several years ago I remember hearing a man give a speech on the political spectrum and how it worked and on the political situation in general. He knew his subject. He gave something like a 3 1/2 hour speech on the subject of politics and he had all the information in his head. He needed no notes and didn’t use any. Twice I heard him give the same speech and he did it the same way, no notes.

One thing he dealt with was the political spectrum, from left to right, and what he said made sense in light of the drivel we have been spoon-fed for years regarding this. I pulled the following definition off the Internet, the same Internet that Comrade Obama plans on signing over to some “international body” in the near future (guess who that will be”). I won’t embarrass the Internet site by giving its name, but what it had to say started out this way. “Far-right politics commonly includes authoritarianism, anti-communism, and nativism. Often the term ‘far-right’ is applied to fascists and neo-Nazis, and major elements of fascism have been deemed clearly far-right, such as its belief that supposedly superior people have the right to dominate society while purging allegedly inferior elements…Claims that superior people should proportionately have greater rights than inferior people are sometimes associated wit the far right.” This is the sort of drivel we are supposed to ingest and believe about those on the right–all potential fascists, just waiting to stand in line behind Hitler, with outstretched palms, giving the Nazi salute–the exact same one they used to have our kids in public school use while pledging allegiance to the Yankee flag.

So let’s stop for just a nano-second and view the political spectrum with a degree of common sense.  If the left side of the political spectrum represents total, authoritarian government, which it does, then the right side of the spectrum will represent the exact opposite of the left–no government whatever–anarchy. I know it will take awhile for this to sink in, but ask the Lord to help you with it. It’s not what we’ve been taught. We are not supposed to reason this way. The establishment does not approve. Therefore, what better reason to start?

The article above that I quoted from, which claims to define fascism, could, in fact, be used to define communism. Communism is certainly “authoritarian” and, in its own way, it’s “nativist” with its vision for the “new Soviet Man” and communists most certainly have their own elite, who are expected to rule with an iron hand over the ignorant masses. All you have to do to ascertain that is to read some of the books written by Soviet secret policemen who have defected to the West. They all talk about the “elite” group in the Soviet Union. The Politburo and the KGB were all part of the elite, and even with all the name changes they still are.

It’s true that fascism is authoritarian, or totalitarian if you prefer. However, in a sensible political spectrum, that puts fascism right over there on the left with communism. In fact, you might even say that fascism is a more efficient brand of leftism than communism is. With communism the state claims, in the name of some nebulous organism called “the people” to own everything.  Supposedly, the “people” own it, (yeah, right) but the state runs it, and not always very efficiently.

With fascism the state allows you to keep your name on your deed. Supposedly it is still yours–but the state can tell you what you can and can’t do with it, and when you can or can’t, and if you refuse to do it their way they will come and take “your” property and pass it along to someone who will use it their way.  In the meantime, you, not the state, are responsible for its upkeep and maintainence. You maintain it, they control it. Such a deal!

Therefore, if fascism and communism both represent total government, then they are both on the left side of the political spectrum–otherwise you have a political spectrum with two left sides and no right side–not that some folks wouldn’t love it that way.

On the other hand, the really far right represents anarchy–no government at all, and that’s no good either, lest you end up with the situation described in the Bible where “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” Since Adam’s fall, mankind has been sinful, therefore, some government is needed, but it should be extremely limited and confined to a very few specific areas, such as the protection of life and property, and as much of it as possible should be administered at the local level. When I ran for the town council in the town I live in a few years ago, one of the things I ran on was “less government at all levels and more individual responsibility.”

I don’t expect things to get to that point anytime soon. We’ve gotten too used to government at some level telling us what to do, and though we don’t especially like it, it’s a lot easier just to go along than it is to rock the boat. We used to have boat-rockers in this country. No more. Now we have chair-rockers. And as well, you have the elite (Council on Foreign Relations/Trilateral Commission) that controls both major political parties in this country. These groups, with their elite, have a fascist vision for this country, which they have hired a Marxist president to administer. “Why the president was fairly elected” you say?  Sure he was. When he got only 140% of the vote in some places, and several counties in Northern industrial states where he got 100% of the vote, how could he miss? I don’t know why Romney even bothered to run when there were entire areas where he never got a single vote. And the Republican Party never complained about that. Isn’t that strange? Or does it, in fact, show that one elite group does control both parties and they only say what they are told, or allowed, to say?

As long as the general public has been conditioned to believe that authoritarian fascism is over there on the right, then the leftists and their elitist masters can label all kinds of good folks, Confederate heritage folks, Tea Party folks, Ron Paul supporters, Second Amendment supporters, home schoolers, and others as “right-wing” fascists, and people who have been mis-educated or under-educated will never know that all these groups really stand for less intrusive government and not more. The term “right-wing fascist” is a handy leftist brush to tar lots of good folks with.

We need to begin to educate ourselves in this area so we will have enough wisdom to be able to discern between left-wingers (liberals, socialists, and communists) and fake right-wingers who are really left-wingers (fascists) and all the rest of the folks who just want to be left alone to live their lives in peace. However, if we do not learn to stand up and resist (in the Lord’s strength) those on the left who seek to remove our God-given liberties, then we will have no peace either–only bondage.

Why the Left Hates Confederate Symbols and Flags

by Al Benson Jr.

On several occasions I can remember my pastor at church saying that if you are not making someone mad then you aren’t doing anything. He has a valid point. If you are at peace with “the world” and no one has any gripe with anything you do or say, then you are a friend of the world and, biblically speaking, that is an unenviable position to be in.

Christians make people mad because they have the temerity to tell people the truth and all people do not relish truth. Some would rather live with lies and giving them the truth ticks them off. So I reckon this article will tick some folks off.

Years ago, when I was in the John Birch Society there were folks that said we had three enemies—liberalism, socialism, and communism. Or to put it more succinctly liberalism=socialism=communism. One is merely a progression to the next. The John Birch Society was anathema to the religious and political left. They detested it with unexcelled passion. They still do. Why? It’s because the JBS tells people the truth about them and they don’t want the American public as a whole to know that truth—yet they can’t dispute it, so what do they do? They smear the JBS with a lot of unfounded accusations which they hope will take people’s minds off the real truth and refocus them on the spurious accusations. This is an old Communist tactic—condemn others and elevate yourself. It often works, but not quite as much as it used to. Thanks to the Internet, lots of people have had the chance to see “other options” when it comes to news and commentary and they have picked up a certain amount of discernment regarding what I laughingly refer to as the “news” media.

About twenty years after my initial involvement with the JBS I started to become involved with the Southern Heritage and Confederate Movements. You may think the two are mutually exclusive, and I didn’t make any real connection until I found that those who hated the Southern Movement were, guess who? Liberals, socialists, and communists. So why did the religious and political left hate the Southern Movement? Same reason they hated the JBS. The Southern Movement told the truth about the real reasons for the War of Northern Aggression and about Abraham Lincoln, who was and is a major icon of the left. To find out why, read Lincoln’s Marxists  which is available on Amazon.com The truth about Lincoln and the War rattled the left’s cage. The public has, for generations now, been “educated” to believe the War was all about slavery and nothing else. This has been the establishment line for decades now (and I include the establishment as part of the liberal/socialist coterie). To state that such a line is balderdash is only repeating myself.

The liberal/socialist/communist triad absolutely loathes the South, its real history and heritage. All you have to do to prove this is to check out the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center. This will give you a thumbnail sketch of where the left is really coming from in regard to the South and its history. The SPLC is big on hate groups—a “hate group” being anyone that disagrees with their leftist slant on anything. Their take on Southern history is strictly barf-bag material but you’d be surprised at how many “journalists” quote them as a “reliable” source on Southern bigotry or prejudice or whatever other sins the South happens to share with the rest of the country.

All these liberal/left groups use every opportunity to trash the South and its people and they absolutely detest Southern history and Confederate symbols. But if you look at where they are coming from, the reason becomes obvious. The South has been more Christian in its worldview than most of the rest of the country since well before the War of Northern Aggression and the left hates Christianity. They always have, and the reason is that they are in rebellion against God and His law, which they seek to replace with their own “god” (the state) and their “law” (Marx’s “ten commandments” as found in the Communist Manifesto ).

The leftists reserve some of the bitterest of their vehemence for Confederate symbols and flags. These, we are dutifully informed, are all symbols of “racism” (a Trotskyite term), prejudice, bigotry, and you name it. Southern whites, we are told, are responsible for every ill in the world from sunspots to the blind staggers. It’s all “whitey’s fault” (all the better to get reparations out of you, my dear) and Southern whites are supposed to feel guilty for, literally, all the sins of mankind, which others committed only because white folks forced them into it. And to absolve ourselves from these heinous sins we have only to cross their palms with silver—again and again and again.

So what are these horrible Confederate symbols that need to be taken down and relegated to the attic or trash heap? Well, there is the well-known Confederate battle flag, which is a Christian symbol, the Cross of St. Andrew. We have to get rid of that because the KKK has used it. If that’s the case, then lets get rid of the United States flag also, because it is a known fact, for those that have done the homework, that the KKK used the United States flag extensively in parades and assemblies. So it would seem apparent that if one is “racist” because it is used by the KKK, then shouldn’t the other be also? There are several other Confederate flags that must be “racist” simply because they are Confederate. There is Polks Battle flag for the First Corps of the Army of Tennessee. It has a St. George’s Cross on it—another Christian symbol. Then there is the battle flag for Confederate troops from Missouri, which is a blue flag, with a red border, with a white Christian Cross on it. Then the 3^rd Kentucky (Confederate) Infantry flag has a Christian Cross with 13 stars in it, and Major General Dabney Maury’s Headquarters Flag is yet another one with a Christian Cross on it. There are others I could mention, not as well known, but yet still containing Christian symbols. All these flags, supposedly “racist” reflect,  to some extent, the worldview of the Confederate States.

I submit that this is really what the leftists want to get rid of—any Southern flag or symbol that reflects the South’s Christian heritage. That’s what they really hate—any kind of Christian symbolism, especially Southern Christian symbolism. Anyone who has read anything about the liberal/socialist/communist cadre realizes that they regard Christianity as one of their main foes, to be either neutralized or gotten rid of any way possible. The left really has no problem with racial prejudice or bigotry. They practice it just as much as anyone else does, only they don’t want to be perceived as being guilty of it so they point the accusing finger at others who may not even be as guilty of it as they are. After all, it was Karl Marx who, condescendingly referred to Jewish people as “Jewish Niggers.” That was Marx’s term, not mine and I have seen him quoted more than once using that term. No, the leftist’s real problem isn’t with racial prejudice—it’s with Jesus Christ and the Christian faith, because they realize that even a sleeping Christian church has the potential of becoming their biggest adversary should something awaken it in the future. And Southern Christians could end up being the biggest adversary of all because even with their faith having been tampered with and watered down, they are still the people in the part of the country where the Christian worldview remains the strongest.

You have to give the liberal/socialist/communist group credit. They at least recognize their Main Enemy. The question is—will the Church wake up and recognize one of hers?

Communism—Idolatry called “scientific socialism”

by Al Benson Jr.

Those who view communism as “scientific socialism” or as merely an economic or political system and who promote such views do themselves and those who listen to and believe them a grave disservice.  There are many fuzzy-headed people around who have yet to grasp this. I remember, years back now, I had stopped in to see the man that printed my little newsletter (not The Copperhead Chronicle I now publish) and he had another customer at the same time. The man wondered about my newsletter and when he saw that it was anti-Communist, he made the statement “Communists don’t enslave people. They liberate them!” I couldn’t believe he was serious, but he was. He really believed that. He prattled on about how wonderful communism was and, as I got ready to leave, my parting shot to him was “May my children never have to live under the freedom you advocate.” Now, thanks to some really creative vote-counting and lots of people that only voted for our current president because of his skin color and had no concept of where he was coming from, we may be headed there. I honestly didn’t think I would, but I may yet live to see it—if the Lord, in His sovereign will brings such to pass.

So what can you say for communism, or Marxism, or Marxism-Leninism or whatever you want to call it. By any other name it is idolatry and slavery, and those may be among its better points.

Man without God is so willing to be deluded that he calls good evil and evil good and calls light darkness and darkness light. Mikhail Heller, in his book Cogs In The Wheel—the formation of Soviet Man noted on page xx that: “Half a century ago the German writer Lion Feuchtwanger visited the Soviet Union at the height of the Terror. He felt himself to be fortunate in having escaped from ‘the oppressive atmosphere of false democracy and hypocritical humanism into the lively, health-giving atmosphere of the Soviet Union. It is a real tower of Babel which is being built, not to bring people closer to heaven, but to bring the heavens down to the people. And they have succeeded.’ And Heller asked “Have they really succeeded?” A look at the history will tell you how really messed up our German author was. But he had lots of company—and still does.

And so Lenin set about creating the “New Soviet Man.” God created Adam and now Lenin and his followers were going to go Him one better. Only Lenin wasn’t going to do it quite the way God did. According to Bukharin, writing in 1917: “Proletarian coercion in all its forms, beginning with the firing squad is…the way of fashioning the communist man out of the human material of the capitalist era.”

Heller quoted Maxim Gorky who had been a friend of Lenin’s in the very early 1900s and who was a writer. Gorky accused Lenin of “conducting a brutal and scientific experiment on the living body of Russia,”…He stressed the cruelty of the “scientific” experiment; to this witness of the Revolution, it was only too clear that the goal was the very refashioning of living human matter. Decades later, the experiment still continues.” Gorky also wrote: “Lenin and his associates consider it possible to commit all kinds of crimes…the abolition of free speech and senseless arrests…” Gorky called Lenin “a cold-blooded trickster who spares neither the honor nor the life of the proletariat.” If these communists sought “the very refashioning of living human matter” then they clearly had a god-complex. They were going to improve on what God did with their “scientific” methods. Instead they created a nightmare and even though communism is supposed to be dead (it really isn’t) the nightmare lingers on and on and is in the process of being revisited on this country because America refuses to wake up and grapple with the theological implications of what communism really is and does. The goal of the communists is to transform human nature by force, fear, and terror. And if a few million have to be “liquidated” in the process, well, the cost is worth it. The end does justify the means in communist eyes, no matter how much blood is spilled. If you are going to remake humanity you’ve got to figure it may get a bit messy sometimes. Such is the “liberation” provided by Marxism-Leninism.

In 1977 the Soviet Constitution stated: “The ruling and directing force in Soviet society and the core of its political system and of all state and social organizations is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU exists for the people and serves the people. Armed with Marxist-Leninist teaching, the Communist Party lays down the general direction in which society is to advance as well as the line to be followed in domestic and foreign policy, directs the great creative activity of the Soviet people, and gives a planned and scientifically founded character to its struggle for the victory of Communism.” And Heller sums it all up succinctly by saying: “Thus the CPSU declares itself to be the Supreme Authority that knows the Truth, the Goal, and the Way to the Goal…On that basis it assumes total power…Any attempt to limit the Party’s total power is regarded as an attack on Truth and History.” If you stop and notice, doesn’t the Truth, the Goal, and the Way to the Goal sound like a sick, humanistic parody of John 14:6? I’m sure Heller recognized that fact when he worded it the way he did.

Even though we are  told the Communist Party in the Soviet Union is now defunct and Vladimir Putin has become a “reformed democrat” don’t you think this worldview still prevails over there? And what about Communist Parties in other countries? Have they all sworn off this worldview just because the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and a few statues of Lenin were removed? Don’t bet the farm on it.  Americans succumbing to this foolish view are not much different than the useful idiot I noted at the beginning of this article who told me communism “liberates” people. And to think, people whose minds work this way actually vote in this country.

The theological implications of the communist worldview are truly out there if we will but take the trouble to look for them. Communism isn’t “scientific socialism” it is gross idolatry and Christians need to understand that. Am I saying we should fear it? No! But in God’s strength and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit we should oppose it as we do all other forms of idolatry.

A Confederate Flag In Kiev–oh the horror of it all!

by Al Benson Jr.

The article that appeared on http://www.presstv.ir  was headlined “Anti-Russians display controversial  US Confederate flag in Kiev.” I could tell that the people who put this little piece together knew as much about American history as the Easter Bunny. In fact, the bunny might have a little edge on them. To start off, the Confederate flags, any of them, were never “US Confederate flags.”  They were American flags, but never US flags. They are right about the Confederate flag being controversial, but only because they have made such a big fuss over it with their lies and distortions about it.

The article started off: “This was the flag of slave-holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War.” Wrong again, boys! The Confederate flag seen in Kiev, and I watched the You Tube video of it myself,  was the Confederate Battle  Flag, or more properly, the Confederate Naval Jack. It was only ever carried by Confederate fighting men. It was never the “official” flag of the Confederate States although the 2nd and 3rd National Confederate flags did have the St. Andrews Cross on them. A side bar to the article referred to it as the “Stars and Bars.” Wrong again.  The Stars and Bars was the First National flag of the Confederacy and had no St. Andrews Cross on it. And so the comedy or errors continued.

The article droned on: “Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans…Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag was so offensive…” Just a little more skewed “history” if history you can even call it, which I doubt. I am curious as to whether the totally objective and unbiased writer of this article ever went online and did any homework about the KKK. If he did, he wasn’t about to tell anyone what he found. You can look on the Internet and find photographs of KKK marches and demonstrations from years ago, some of them consisting of hundereds of KKK members–all carrying not Confederate, but United States flags. If you follow the simplistic logic of this columnist then that must make the US flag “racist” also, doesn’t it? In fact, I remember seeing a KKK demonstration in Charleston, West Virginia well over 35 years ago at which the US flag was prominently displayed. Don’t remember seeing any Confederate flags at all there.

And then, there is the matter of the “civil rights activist” from New York City who talked about why Confederate flags are so terribly “offensive.” I wonder if anyone bothered to look up Mr. Holmes on the Internet. I didn’t think so. Had they bothered they would have found out, on http://en.wikipedia.org that “Larry Holmes is the highest official in the Workers World Party, holding the position of First Secretary, and a member of the party Secretariat. He founded the Millions for Mumia movement, which seeks the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal…” Remember him? He’s the cop killer that shot a Philadelphia police officer in the back and then stood over him and shot him five times more, once in the face. An ex-Black Panther, good old Mumia is a real piece of work. Mr. Holmes apparently would like to see him released. Wikipedia also commented on the Workers World Party which he is First Secretary of. It observed: “Workers World Party (WWP) is a Marxist-Leninist communist party in the United States” which split from the Socialist Workers Party several years ago, over disputes that have nothing to do with the present situation. So, it seems that Larry Holmes, the “civil rights activist” is a Marxist-Leninist.  Does that give you the slightest clue as to why he hates the Confederate flag–any Confederate flag anywhere?

Don’t you just love it when these honest, objective news commentators refurbish all the Marxists by rebaptizing  them as “civil rights activists?” Years ago, when we were in New England, I recall hearing about a man who was a featured guest lecturer for several days at a prestigious college there.  I’ve referred to this before, so some who have read my articles for awhile will know whereof I speak. The man was billed, for the gullible students, as a “community organizer.” Well, he was an organizer all right, but hardly one for communities. Turned out he was a well-known Communist Party member, and part of a Communist front group that was active in, guess what–“civil rights.” “Community organizer”–does that sound familiar? “Civil rights activist”–just one more Red biscuit on the same collectivist plate. So the opposition to a Confederate flag over in Kiev comes from a Marxist, or possibly more than one Marxist, and our sterling, totally objective news media just sorta happened to forget to mention that. Makes you wonder what else they “forgot” to mention. It also makes, or should make, you realize that these are not the people you want to get your news from.

When the Berlin Wall was coming down, Confederate flags appeared all over Eastern Europe in demonstrations.  They were universally viewed there, as one Romanian girl told us, as “freedom flags.”

The Confederate flag is, truly, a symbol of resistance to tyranny, both in this messed-up country and in Europe and even some places in Africa. And this is exactly why Communists of all stripes absolutely detest it and why they are working to get the American public to feel the same way they do.  Their misery loves company. It doesn’t love liberty.

If you want to learn about the true origins of Marxism in the United States then read the book written by Walter D. Kennedy and myself, Lincoln’s Marxists published by Pelican Publishing in Gretna, Louisiana.

Has Legitimate Dissent Been Co-Opted In Ukraine?

by Al Benson Jr.

Recently I did an article about the situation in the Ukraine. Citizens were protesting the tyranny of their president and his close ties with Vladimir Putin and with Russia, where he now seems to have fled for refuge. Considering the situation there, with a tyrannical, pro-Russian government, Ukrainians had a legitimate reason to protest and I was all for what ordinary citizens were trying to do. I still am, but there seems to be increasing evidence that their legitimate protest is in the process of being co-opted by people with another agenda and they probably don’t realize it.

I would love to see the Ukrainians be able to make a go of it on their own–true self-government, but it seems that they are being pulled  either one of two ways–to Russia with Putin, the ex-KGB chief, or to the European Union, which seems, to them, to hold out a promise for more liberty, which I doubt it can or will deliver. As I said, in my earlier article, I don’t trust either Putin and the Russians or the European Union.

There was talk on March 6th about the  Crimea seceding from the Ukraine and rejoining Russia, as the Crimean area seems to have a preponderance  of citizens of Russian descent. And already our Marxist president has been broadcasting to the Crimeans that they can’t do that, as, according to him, it’s against “international law.” You have to give this guy credit–he’s got more crust than a loaf of overbaked bread, telling a country over in Europe what it can and can’t do.  It’s really none of his business. If the Ukraine agrees to let Crimea secede and go back to Russia, that’s their business, not ours. The last thing they need over there is the American president telling them what they can and can’t do–like he was Vice-President of the world or something. It almost reminds me of many Northerners in this country coming to the South and complaining about how Southern folks do certain things by saying “This is how we do it up North!” Subtle hint–most Southern folks don’t care how you do it up North–you ain’t in the North anymore so learn to adapt. Same with the Ukrainian situation. Those folks over there have their own way of doing things and their own worldview and it isn’t necessarily ours. When they come here they can learn to do it our way. Otherwise, leave ’em be!

Obama was so adamant that this secession could not happen that you have to wonder why.  You’d think he had money invested over there. He probably doesn’t, but his Council on Foreign Relations handler, George Soros, definitely does have an interest there. According to a recent article on http://kleinonline.wnd.com “Billionaire George Soros is heavily invested in Ukrainian activism, establishing a center in Kiev that donates large sums of money to the country’s nongovernmental organizations while advocating closer ties to the European Union…Soros first involved himself in Ukrainian affairs in 1989, when he established the Ukrainian International Renaissance Foundation, or IRF, two years before the Ukraine became an independent nation. Since then Soros has provided more than $100 million to support Ukrainian groups, mostly through the IRF and the Open Society Institute.” It’s interesting that he was in there spending all the dinero while Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Empire. And apparently he had no trouble doing it. Almost makes you wonder if he’s Vice-President of the world!

The Klein Online article continued: “The IRF in 2009 created a consortium of experts to help reform the government and develop a coterie of so-called progressive politicians…Within the purview of its local work, the IRF supported at least one of the main groups now protesting in Ukraine.” Knowing how Soros operates, it begins to sound like the citizens  in Ukraine that had a legitimate grievance with their former president and his lavish lifestyle at their expense, have been had. Their legitimate protest seems to be getting swallowed up in George Soros’ agenda and Soros is busy promoting the idea that the EU and the International Monetary Fund are putting together a hefty financial package to save the Ukraine from what they say is “financial collapse.” Once that happens and the Ukraine accepts that, any chance for their real independence will be gone. The money-changers will own everything but their souls–and they’ll make a try for those.

In reading about what went on we can all remember the stories about the snipers shooting at the protesters. According to an article released on March 5th, it may not have been the riot police that did the sniping after all. According to an article on http://www.zerohedge.com it was people from something called the “new coalition” that did the shooting, and they shot both protesters and police alike. That way each side figured the other was taking pot shots at them. It all sounds a bit complicated, but again, I think what it amounts to is that the ordinary citizens’ legitimate protest was turned into something else with a much more sinister agenda.

Obama’s sticking his nose into it is, no doubt, at the behest of George Soros, who has his own agenda for the Ukraine–one that bodes no good for the average Ukrainian.  And Comrade Obama is really not all that interested in freedom for people. Look at what he is doing in this country with the NSA and all the rest. “Freedom” for people? He couldn’t care less. It’s really all about power and protecting the agendas and financial investments of those that put him where he is just so he could do this sort of thing.

My friend, David Sauls, from Georgia, has a new blog spot up now. It is http://troublesomecreekpublications.wordpress.com and he has an interesting take on the Ukrainian situation. Be sure to check his blog out, and bookmark it so you can keep track of his future articles and commentary.

“Homo Sovieticus”—Cultural Marxism in Action

by Al Benson Jr.

Many who have read about Marxism and the Soviet Union over the years have seen references to what the Bolsheviks referred to as “the New Soviet Man.” If Communist “truth” were to be believed he would be a cross between Superman, Captain Marvel, and Lenin—all with a “class consciousness” and a true sense of being part of the great Communist “collective.”

Probably the best description of this Marxist super-robot I have seen can be found in a book called Cogs In The Wheel—The formation of Soviet Man by Mikhail Heller, published back in 1988. Mr. Heller received his graduate and post-graduate degrees in “historical sciences” while still in the Soviet Union, so he should know whereof he writes.

He presents a fascinating critique of what I would call both Cultural Marxism and Cultural Genocide and shows how these combined actually destroyed much of the culture of Old Russia and replaced it with an alien ideology that we still do not fully understand today. This is part of the reason we have so many problems in trying to negotiate with the Russians or even grasping what their intentions are through what they say. They speak a language that says one thing to the average Westerner but means something entirely opposite to them. The West has yet to grasp this, or if Western negotiators do, in fact, grasp it, they simply ignore it and play the game on Russian terms. The reason for that is yet another story.

Heller gives a pretty fair country description of what we today call Cultural Marxism on page 30 of his book. He observes: “The human relations that make up the society’s fabric—the family, religion, historical memory, language—become targets, as society is systematically atomized, and the individual’s chosen relationships are supplanted by others chosen for him, and approved by the state. Man remains alone, face to face with the state Leviathan. Only by melting into the collective, by becoming a mere drop in the ‘mass,’ can a man save himself from his terrifying lonliness.”

On page 32 he quotes Robert J. Lifton, who studied hundreds of officers and enlisted men who had been POW’s during the Korean War. Lifton said: “The brainwashing of the prisoners in Korean camps was essentially an attempt to destroy the individual’s  previous personality and remould it in terms of Communist ideology. It is a process of death and rebirth;  and though few left the prison camps as convinced Communists none emerged from the ordeal unscathed.” Heller stated, in referring to Lifton’s study, that: “His study showed that they do assimilate what has been hammered into their brains, but the effect comes out only some time after their liberation, like the explosion of a delayed-action bomb.” And then, in addition, Heller noted: “It is not hard to imagine the effect of ‘education’ and ‘reeducation’  upon the Soviet citizen who is exposed from the day he is born to brainwashing, and is bombarded all day, every day, with all sorts of propaganda and persuastion.”

In speaking of how this works, one Marxist critic stated that “it is essential to create a new enthusiasm for the new slavery,” and “to learn to love our chains so they will come to feel like the tender embrace of a mother.” Heller mentions George Orwell’s novel 1984  in this connection.

He writes of the “infantilization” of the Soviet populace. This is something practiced by the ruling elite under Lenin and his successors. It is a process of bringing the average Soviet citizen to the point where he becomes a child who depends on the “state” for his total guidance and the “state” replaces his parents, friends, religion, culture, etc.

Naturally, in all of this, the State, according to Heller, “reserved to itself the most important of parental prerogatives: the education of children.” It’s interesting that Heller recognizes that education is, indeed, a parental responsibility, while most people in this country believe it is the responsibility of “the state.” And he mentions a Soviet writer, Andrey Platonov, who understood how socialism was really built, by “transforming the country’s inhabitants into children living in fear, obediently carrying out their elders’ absurdist instructions, deprived of their traditional ideas and beliefs and subjected to constant bombardment by radio, newspapers, and propagandists.” Let me ask, does this sound familiar? Does it sound anything like what we experience here?

Does it sound anything like what we here in the South experience on an almost daily basis—if we are paying attention? How often do we hear, from the “news” media, television, or a myriad of other “sources” that “your flags are ‘racist’; your symbols are all ‘racist’; your culture has always been ‘racist’; you should be totally ashamed of your symbols, history, culture, and traditions.” And the solution for all these “problems”? Why we have to get rid of our history, heritage, customs, traditions, and, above all, our Christian faith. These all need to go so we can proceed to build the “new South” which is really a sad imitation of what we see up in the Northeast.

But our kids hear and see all this, 24/7, all year long. They get it on television, in the news, in their schools, where real history is seldom taught. It comes through in the comments of grandchildren, who, when seeing a Confederate flag in Grandpa’s garage, want to know why Grandpa has that “racist” flag in his garage. This is what the kids are taught. That it’s all a lie makes no difference. Our “news” media and our “education” system are in the process of constructing “homo sovieticus” in the United States and most folks still haven’t figured it out yet. They are not just doing it in the South, but rather across the entire country, but they concentrate on the South because the South is and has been slower to accept socialism and Marxism than other parts of the country and so we are “privileged” to get an extra helping of socialist doctrine thrown in our faces.

What happened in the Soviet Union is the model for what we are getting here and the end result is supposed to be the same—we all become “children” of the state, with no original thoughts or ideas of our own, no imagination or being willing to be different, especially if that is frowned upon. We must all learn to become politically correct clones, all sharing only politically correct ideas and throwing out any thought or action that the powers that be do not like. “Cogs in the wheel.”

There are a couple things we need to do. Repent of being willing to live this way and go back to our orthodox Christian faith. This is the first and most important step for us. Reaffirm Jesus Christ and His Kingdom and be willing to be a part of it. And you can only do that if you are willing to repudiate this other clap trap. “New Soviet Man” needs to be discarded on the trash heap of ideas that failed. Be willing to put him there.

Next, we can start to learn some real history. Find out where all this junk is coming from and don’t just swallow what the ruling elite passes along to you as ‘truth.” Learn how to check it out for yourself. It’s not as easy as just going with the flow, but it’s a lot more sensible and a lot more enlightening and envigorating. By God’s grace pursue the truth. You will never be sorry.

And last of all, once you have apprehended God’s truth and some accurate history, be willing to resist what you see out there that is evil. The Scripture says “Resist the devil and he will flee.” Not too many Christians today are in the resistance business when it comes to apostasy and anti-Christianity. More need to be. And don’t kid yourself. Marxism, whether in Washington or Moscow, is not ultimately political—it is spiritual and, as such, it needs to be resisted. Don’t be willing to be another cog in the wheel in a United Socialist States of Amerika. Resist!!!

The Mess Isn’t Only in the Ukraine

by Al Benson Jr.

Anyone who has been following the Ukrainian situation knows that it is becoming more and more confusing, muddled, and most commentators who say much about it are all over the board on just what has happened and whose fault it is.

We heard on March 1, via http://www.aol.com  that the Russian parliament had granted Comrade Putin permission to use the Russian military to invade the Ukraine, or certain parts of it, “to protect Russians living there.” Not that the parliament would have dared to refuse him had he actually made such a request. More than likely the Russian parliament acted the part of the proverbial rubber stamp, just like our Congress in this country so often does.

I get the impression that Putin will do pretty much as he wants in the Ukraine, at least in the eastern and southern parts of it where there seems to be a preponderance  of ethnic Russians. How will the west respond to Putin’s aggression? Probably with a gigantic yawn—lest they suffer the inconvenience of having their reality shows interrupted.

Comrade Obama has responded with his usual political hot air. According to an article on http://www.knoe.com  “The U.S. is reviewing Russia’s military moves in Ukraine and trying to figure out how to respond…President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday that ‘there will be costs’ for any military maneuvers that Russia undertook in Ukraine.” Sure there will—and somehow, the American taxpayer will end up footing the bill for them.

We need to get one thing straight here. Obama is a Marxist. Putin, the supposedly ex-KGB man, is a Marxist. So who’s kidding who? Obama will have no stomach for opposing another Marxist and all you will get from him is hot air—unless his CFR handlers, for some reason, tell him to do otherwise. Only then will he really act. Marxist though he is, he does know where his bread is buttered.

What distresses me, though, is the fact that patriotic and conservative commentators have come down all over the place on this one. Many of those I have followed and respected over the years have come down on the side of our having nothing to do with this situation and just letting the Russians do whatever they want. While I understand their rationale, and, in most cases, support it, the cold warrior in me has, somehow, just never quite learned to  “trust the Russians to do what’s right.” I still look upon those stories of “communism being dead” as just that—stories, fairy tales if you will. Over the years I’ve read enough by people on both sides of the Iron Curtain to make me question anything ex-Communists (or supposedly ex-Communists) do. With the Marxist mindset there is always an agenda. And that agenda will always bode ill for those who wish people to be truly free. That’s as sure as the turning of the earth.

Some conservative commentators have gone on Russia Today and aired their non-interventionist views. They seem to forget that Russia Today is sponsored by Moscow, which is still not our friend.

The last thing in the world I want to see is U.S. troops involved in this mess, one of the reasons being that our current administration would not allow them to really fight the Russians if they were there. It would be another Viet Nam. The United States does not win wars against Communists. It’s simply not allowed.

However, I think the freedom-loving people in the Ukraine, many of whom are Christians, should receive aid from the west, even if it is private aid—and in the long run, that might be the best kind. There must be some private charitable groups in the western countries that would be willing to help the folks in the Ukraine and part of that help might possibly be an education campaign in the countries in the west dealing with what the Marxist mindset really is all about.

Too many Christians look at Marxism as a political entity and therefore they have been taught to have no concern about it whatever. They need to relearn to truth that Marxism is not only political and cultural—it is religious—it is a theology, an anti-Christ theology opposed to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, which Marxism constantly works to replace with its own “kingdom.” And it is far from dead and it is not un-Christian to oppose and expose it.

In his informative little book Law and Liberty, the late Rev. R. J. Rushdoony took note of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. He noted, on page 68, that: “In 1847, in the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx wrote: ‘the theory of the Communists may be summed up in a single sentence: Abolition of private property.’ Any kind of property, he noted, is power, and he denied the right of power to the person or family; it had to be ‘social power.’…Marx favored the state control of all education, and he criticized what he called ‘the bourgeois clap-trap about the family and education, about the hallowed correlation of parent and child.’ Thus, replacing Christian schools with state-controlled and state-supported schools was for Marx a necessary step towards destroying the family and private property.” If you look at the ten planks in Marx’s Manifesto it’s not hard to see that these are, in fact, Marxism’s “Ten Commandments.”

We will have to watch the situation in the Ukraine to see where it goes. And we will have to keep an eye on some of our conservative commentators to see where they go. Right now I’m not overly happy with some of the territory they inhabit. If they stay there we may have to do a thorough re-evaluation as to where some of these folks are at. If you want to read a little more about the other side of this check out Cliff Kincaid’s articles on the Internet. He is involved with Accuracy in Media, and boy, do we ever need more of that today.