Communist Blueprint For Conquest (1955, sound)

as a result their objective is not simply to grasp a power rather it is to gain an absolute Monopoly over all sources of power in short to make every action of every individual within a country subject to communist control what cannot be controlled must be undermined and destroyed this basic objective of total power accounts for the ruthless and thorough way in which the Communists have traditionally seized power take next some instruments which often give the Communists a certain advantage over non-communists first organization it is a misnomer to think of the Communist party as a political party in our sense actually L it is organized along military lines and designed to operate at both legal and illegal levels it exacts unquestioning obedience from its entire membership demanding 24-hour a day Duty from its trained hardcore expecting its followers to use Force if necessary thus the Communists have an organization whose discipline and high level of sustained activity permit them to exercise far greater influence than their size would normally warrant second ideology the secular faith of Communism is in itself a special weapon the traditional symbol of the clenched fist sums up the Communist Outlook the Communist Creed calls for hatred preaching the doctrine of undying hostility between Communists and non-communists it calls for Destruction denying the possibility of re forming existing institutions and insisting instead that these institutions be completely scrapped as unsound it calls for violence justifying the use of force intimidation and terrorism in the name of an allegedly greater good this emphasis is made clear in communist textbooks which speak not of the political opposition but of the enemy their preference for military terms chief line of attack direct reserves plan for distribution of forces remind the Communist follower that he is locked in permanent conflict third leadership at the top of the Communist parties are Professionals in the manipulation of Power by the time these men have reached the top they have divorced themselves from any respect for ethical or human values they have cut their emotional ties with the local population they have each proved their personal ruthlessness in a competition in which there is no voluntary retirement spurred on by the prospects of acquiring unchecked power these men shun compromise and conciliation their mission is to drive ahead toward the complete destruction of the old system in order to have a free hand in building their version of the new fourth and most important Armed Force this has been the decisive factor with the acception of Czechoslovakia no country has come under communist control until after it had been occupied by the Soviet army or conquered by the local communist Army the presence of this military force has guaranteed the personal safety of the local Communists and threatened the security of individuals to oppose them in the end the Communists have been able to impose their grip on a country because they have had overwhelming military power subversion terrorism ruthless leadership a discipline following effective organization all played an important role but the determining Factor was the preponderance of military force these various communist instruments have you usually proved effective only during or immediately after the destruction and confusion of War when the previous Authority has broken down when people have lost confidence in existing institutions when there is a general feeling of helplessness and frustration in this atmosphere the promises of Communism often appeal to the dissatisfied and the disillusioned as a way out the communist have been quick to exploit these unsettled conditions seeking to arouse popular discontent with what has existed before and then to inflame this resentment into action now let us look at the Communist strategy in operation here on this chart is a schematic picture of a country showing economic groups social and economic organizations political parties and the governmental structure and here is a small Communist Party often initially numbering only a few thousand individuals obviously the first objective of the Communists was to gain a foothold in the government in countries where the local communist Army had defeated the previous government there was no problem in other countries the Communists invariably Champion the idea of a united front it might be called The National Unity front the Fatherland front or the national Democratic front composed of parties of the political Center and left it also often included new political parties secretly sponsored by the Communists to strengthen their own position during this initial period the Communists soft pedal the idea of Revolution and class struggle in order not to alarm their temporary allies instead they talked in patriotic and nationalist terms they called for an end to political quibbling and for a United Nationwide effort to bring about recovery after the war in Asia they talked in terms of a National Liberation movement to Rally the local population against the so-called imperialists in the event of an election the united front could be used to offer the voters a single ticket as a member of the Coalition the Communists could rise died in as it were on the coattails of the united front or if elections were not immediately scheduled and a provisional government was established the Communists as in Eastern Europe used their backing by the Soviet occupation forces to gain representation in the government in either case the Communists found themselves with a block of seats in the Parliament and membership in the cabinet the Communists did not have their eye only on the national government they were equally active in the countryside where local government had broken down they helped organize so-called National councils as a provisional governmental group no Village was too small for their organizing activity and so the Communists established their political Beach head not only in the central government but in the regional and Rural administrations as well once in the government the Communists were in a position to launch their basic strategy to destroy the conservative elements of society to paralyze the middleof the road groups and to neutralize the mass of workers and peasants the conservative groups were the initial Target as a first step the Communists would call for the parties of the political right to be outlawed in Eastern Europe they argued that these parties had collaborated with the Nazis that they were responsible for the national catastrophe in which the country found itself and in many cases these Rus groups were barred by law as a result the conservative elements of society were politically isolated they no longer had a party to defend their interests the Communists then moved against the economic groups themselves in each country they champion the idea of land reform they called for breaking up large Estates and dividing this land Among The Peasants the enactment of land reform into law accomplished two objectives for the Communists it removed the economic basis of power of the land owners eliminating them as an economic group and at the same time it served to neutralize the peasants since many of them would now receive a plot of ground for their very own the the same technique was used to eliminate the economic power of big business usually any Factory that employed more than 50 workers was made a target for nationalization by sponsoring a program of public ownership the Communists were able to eliminate the economic power of the so-called big business group and at the same time neutralize for the moment the industrial workers by Promises of job security and full employment at the same time the Communists were seeking strong points within the executive side of the government they wanted especially to be represented in certain Ministries often the Ministry of Agriculture the ministry of information and the ministry of interior the ministry of interior was especially important because it controlled the police since the police were often organized on a national basis control of the ministry meant control of the police throughout the country the Communists used a number of techniques to ensure the subservience of the police police officials who were anti-communist were simply purged loyal Communists were placed in positions of authority then a determined effort was made to implicate individual policemen in some infraction of the Law to force a police officer to compromise himself by carrying out an illegal order so so that thereafter the Communists would be able to hold over his head the threat of arrest in order to ensure his cooperation pending the complete takeover of the police the Communists invariably organized an auxiliary police force in the form of so-called Factory guards or special militia at each Factory the Communists would organize a group of young militants whose ostensible mission was to guard the factory against the so-called enemies of the people an actual fact the existence of these Factory guards provided the Communists with a private police force of their own and so by organizing a special militia and gradually taking over the police the Communists came into possession of one of the main coercive instruments at the disposal of the state the ministry of interior the Communists also sought to gain control of the ministry of information in order to have a parallel instrument for persuasion in some countries government censorship was a long-established practice newspapers and Publications were licensed by the government often the supply of newsprint was rationed and in many cases the radio network was operated by the state having control of the ministry of information meant that the Communists were in a position to interfere with the efforts of other parties to reach the population finally the Ministry of Agriculture it was often a target for the Communists since it supervised an organization that reached into all parts of the country and had a direct connection with the largest economic group The Peasants The Peasants were forced to turn to the local representative of the Ministry of Agriculture for their seed their tools the fertilizer the bank bank loans the elements necessary to cultivate the land at the same time the peasants realized that they remained at the mercy of the Ministry of Agriculture because when the large Estates were divided Among The Peasants the title to each plot of land was retained by the government as far as the other Ministries were concerned the Communists initially relied upon setting up a network of informants Communists who would keep party headquarters informed of the actions and plans of these Ministries if the Communists heard that a certain Ministry was planning an action which they considered unfavorable they would undertake a campaign of personal pressure against the officials involved they made use of their control of the police to intimidate or blackmail the official into withdrawing the unfavorable plan it did not take long for the members of the Civil Service to realize that their personal security depended upon heeding the wishes of the Communists by this tactic of terrorizing the Civil Service the Communists were gradually able to increase their influence and power within Ministries not under their direct control usually the Army was not an immediate Target either because it had been defeated in war or because the presence of the Soviet occupation forces served to neutralize it to subvert the Army the Communists invariably supported the promotion of sympathetic officers called for the inclusion of partisan leaders in the Army command and demanded The Purge of the professional officer Corp on the grounds that it had fought elsewhere than on home territory by these methods the Communists were able to prevent the local National Army from becoming a center of power once having secured a strong operating base within the government the Communists then began to move against the other political parties a wide variety of techniques were used but in each case the Communists first sought to divide the non-communist parties attacking some supporting others and then eliminating them one by one for example in virtually each Eastern European country the Communists argued that the so-called reactionary elements their own parties outlawed were beginning to infiltrate one of the parties of the united front they charged that the Soviet authorities were concerned by this development and that unless the local groups took action themselves the Soviet Union would find it necessary to intervene since the non-communist parties wanted to prevent any additional Soviet intervention the Comm Communists at times were able to gain the approval of these parties for dropping one party from the front which amounted to its political Extinction in some cases the Communists would secretly sponsor a new party under virtually the same name as an existing party in order to confuse the voters sometimes non-communist leaders felt either because of sincere conviction or because of sheer opportunism that it would be beneficial to work actively with the Communists as a result they often LED segments of their parties into new groups aligned with the Communists in Eastern Europe the Communists often accuse the leaders of another party of having Taken part in a plot against the regime in each case the leaders of the accused party would prepare a detailed answer to the Communist charges and send this reputation to the composing room of the party newspaper the printers of the party newspaper would send back this reputation refusing to set it up and type on the grounds that it was false this happened because the Communists had been careful to seize control of the printer Union the Communists were able to publish their falsified charges day after day whereas the accused party was unable to reach the public with its defense the Communists resorted to direct coercion against the leaders of other parties in some cases they trumped up charges which led to the arrest trial and execution of these leaders in other cases they forced them to flee the country in order to save their own lives or the lives of their families as far as the Socialist Party was concerned the Communists were invariably successful in splitting the Socialists into a and right wing the Communists would sit down with the left-wing socialists and combining arm twisting with persuasion argued that the two parties should amalgamate as a result with the exception of Czechoslovakia there is no party in Eastern Europe today called the Communist party instead it is called the workers party or in East Germany the Socialist Unity party and represents a forced amalgamation of the left-wing socialists and the Communists once Communists and socialists were joined together the Communists would call for all party cards to be turned in and would reissue them only to those socialists who could be counted upon to collaborate actively with the Communists the Socialists left out were thus removed from political activities altogether the Communist control police were used to intimidate both the voters and the candidates of opposition parties the population was made to feel afraid not to vote and afraid to vote for other than communist candidates opposition party candidates were often arrested on trumped up charges at the polling booths the Communist controlled police would often bar The Observers from non-communist parties or fail to distribute the ballots for non-communist candidates or simply participate in the falsification of the voting large elements of the population were denied the right to vote on the grounds that they were so-called enemies of the people and so by these various techniques the Communists were gradually able to whittle away the other parties leaving only Splinter groups or collaborationist parties to give an impression of multi-party government at this point the Communists actually controlled the Machinery of government they had a monopoly of political power but as we noted earlier this was not enough there were still independent economic and social organizations and groups these had to be controlled or destroyed and so the Communists moved against the middle class the small businessman the shopkeeper represented independent economic activity in attacking this group a common technique was to issue ration cards only to members of the working class this meant that the small businessman had the choice of buying his food on the free market where prices were vastly higher or on the black market where he ran the risk of arrest in either case whatever savings he might have would soon disappear taxation on the small businessman was progressively increased until it became unprofitable to make a profit so-called currency reform was a favored practice a citizen might retire one night with a savings of 1,000 units of currency and wake up to find that a new currency had been established 100 old units now equaled one new one so that his savings had dropped overnight from a th000 to 10 in the large cities the Communists practice the more direct approach of Simply clearing out all the middle class residents of an apartment house and transporting them to the countryside to work on state projects the professional groups include the doctors lawyers teachers as well as the artistic members of society the doctors were simply in inducted into the Civil Service they were assigned medical districts their fees were set by the state and they operated as government workers if a doctor had an active anti-communist record he could always be assigned as a medical officer in a concentration camp the lawyers before they could practice were required first to pass an examination in the principles of Marxism leninism stalinism as far as artistic individuals are concerned the writers artists composers dancers they of course are a special Target the Communists are eager to secure the appeal of their talents and the respectability of their names in support of the party's program if the artists refused to cooperate they found themselves completely barred from their public and so the professional groups were brought under direct State Control unable to operate except by permission of the government as for the working class the initial communist goal was to make sure that the workers would have no independent organization to represent their interests as elsewhere the Communists sought to infiltrate undermine and take over all existing workers organizations in order to make sure that the workers would be unable to join together in an organized fashion against the regime communist control of the trade unions meant that these organizations ceased to represent the workers interests instead the state used the unions against the workers to Spur them on to Greater production meanwhile the individual worker at his job was made to feel the constant pressure of the State under the Communists he faced the threat that an honest mistake might be called sabotage he found himself unable to change his job without permission the workers were also made to feel unrelenting pressure outside of the factory a starch heavy diet overcrowded Apartments endless waiting in line at stores constant searching for scarce consumer items all burdened their daily existence the workers thus found themselves robbed of their own organizations regimented by severe discipline in the factories and waited by a daily life that left little free time or little excess energy as for the various churches the Communist objective was to reduce these organizations to Simply ritualistic bodies they sought to confine Church activity to Sunday Services baptisms weddings and funerals the youth the sick the agent and the needy were forced to look elsewhere than to the church church schools were taken over by the state Church institutions for charitable and health purposes were absorbed by the state the clergy were placed on the state's payroll and thus became government employees the church hierarchy was subjected to severe personal attacks in an effort to replace individual clergymen with men who would be will to collaborate with the regime by constant pressure therefore the Communists sought to restrict and confine the activities of the church and at the same time undermine the future of the church by intents of propaganda efforts to turn youth away from religion meanwhile the Communists were moving against all other organizations in the country seeking to dominate or destroy them obviously the Communists could not afford to tolerate any organization capable of independent action independent bodies were infiltrated their leaders were often subjected to Blackmail rival organizations under identical or similar names backed by the full propaganda Machinery of the state were established some organizations were barred by law gradually the Communists were able to eliminate all independent organizations and to force the membership to join communist control groups a single women's organization or a single Youth Organization or a single Organization for all artists as we now can see by the chart the Communists have completed the process of destroying all independent sources of power entire economic groups have disappeared completely the remaining groups have been chained by the total controls of the communist state all organizations have been either crushed engulfed by communist bodies or neutralized but the Communists were not satisfied simply to establish control over all organized activity in their drive toward total power they pressed forward until their controls had reached into the life of each individual citizen to accomplish this they sought to replace whatever feeling of Independence an individual might have by a feeling of complete dependence upon the state paradoxically the champions of the doctrine of collectivism took pains to stress individualism they sought to impress each citizen with the fact that he was an individual but only an individual alone and helpless against the overwhelming power of the state the ties that once bound people to each other were systematically severed in a society pockmarked by unknown informers suspicion came to replace friendliness the Communists sought to destroy an individual's Independence not only through fear but through uncertainty as well in a communist state personal security disappears the individual cannot be certain of his friends his family his job his property or a fair trial in court every measure is taken to make the individual Feel Complete helplessness to make him believe that he has little choice but to carry out the will of the state Escape is dangerous and difficult active resistance by a single individual appears almost futle thus the choice Allowed by the communist state to the individual is brutally narrowed submit or be crushed this is the ultimate aim of the Communist seizure of power for