Just as the devil goes by many names, communism manifests in many ways. The demon uses contradictory positions to deceive: a totalitarian regime or a democracy; a planned economy or a market economy; control of the press or no restraints whatsoever on speech; opposition to homosexuality in some countries or legalization of homosexuality in other countries; wanton environmental destruction or clamor for environmental protection; and so on. It can advocate violent revolution or embrace peaceful transition. It may manifest as a political and economic system, or as an ideological trend in art and culture; it may take the form of pure idealism or cold-blooded scheming. Communist totalitarian regimes are just one of the demon’s manifestations. Marxism-Leninism and Maoism form just one aspect of the devil’s fallacies.
Since utopian socialism developed in the 18th century, the world has seen the emergence of numerous ideological currents: scientific socialism, Fabian socialism, syndicalism, Christian socialism, democratic socialism, humanitarianism, eco-socialism, welfare capitalism, Marxism-Leninism, and Maoism. These ideologies are of two types: violent communism or nonviolent communism. The infiltration and gradual erosion of the status quo are the main tactics adopted by communism’s nonviolent strains.
One of the devil’s deceits is to make arrangements in the two opposing camps of the East and the West. As it carried out a vast invasion of the East, it also took on a new guise and stole into the West. The Fabian Society of Britain, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Second International of France, the Socialist Party in the United States, and many other socialist parties and organizations spread the seeds of destruction to Western Europe and North America. During the Cold War, the slaughter, concentration camps, and famines and purges in the Soviet Union and China made some Westerners count themselves lucky that they still lived in luxury and freedom. Some socialists publicly condemned the violence of the Soviet Union on humanitarian grounds, which led many to let down their guard around them.
The demon of communism inhabits a variety of complex guises in the West and operates under many banners, making it almost impossible to guard against. The following schools or movements were either derived from communism or used by communism to reach its ends: liberalism, progressivism, the Frankfurt School, Neo-Marxism, critical theory, the counterculture of the 1960s, the anti-war movement, sexual liberation, legalization of homosexuality, feminism, environmentalism, social justice, political correctness, Keynesian economics, avant-garde art schools, and multiculturalism.
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In the West, many look at socialism and communism separately, which provides fertile ground for socialism to flourish. In fact, according to Marxist-Leninist theory, socialism is simply communism’s preliminary stage.
In 1875, in “Critique of the Gotha Programme,” Marx put forward the idea that there is an initial phase of communism, followed by an advanced phase. Compelled by changes in the international situation at the time, Friedrich Engels in his later years also proposed “democratic socialism,” in which votes were used to obtain political power. Democratic socialism was adopted by social democratic party leaders and theorists of the Second International and led to the left-wing parties in many capitalist countries around the world today. Lenin set down clear definitions of socialism and communism: He considered socialism to be the preliminary phase of communism, and communism to be developed on the basis of socialism.
Thus, it is clear that socialism has always been part of Marxism and the international communist movement. The public ownership and planned economy of socialism is part of the initial preparation for communism. Presently, while branches of socialism or left-wing doctrines popular in the West seem superficially unrelated to communism, they’re simply communism’s nonviolent forms. Instead of violent revolution, votes are used to gain power in the West. Instead of outright public ownership, high taxation in Western countries serves the same role. Instead of a state-planned economy, Western social welfare systems are used to eat away at capitalism. Left-wing parties in Western countries consider social security and welfare systems to be an important aspect of realizing socialism.
When condemning the crimes of communism, the violence and slaughter should not be the only focus—one should be able to see the dangers that socialism itself brings. Communism in its nonviolent forms has deceived and bewildered people’s minds, under the guise of various branches of socialism. To understand communism, one has no choice but to recognize its preliminary phase, because communism develops from that preliminary phase onward, instead of maturing overnight. Just as a living being does, it grows up gradually.
Some socialist or welfare states in the West today use the idea of the “commonwealth” to sacrifice individual freedoms. Citizens in these countries retain certain political freedoms because the brand of socialism there has yet to be well-developed. But socialism is not a static concept: Socialist countries set equality of outcome as the primary goal, and thus, they are bound to deprive people of their freedom. Inevitably, socialism undergoes a transition to communism, with people continually being stripped of their individual freedoms.
If a free country turned into a totalitarian regime overnight, the drastic contrast between propaganda and reality would leave most people shocked. Many would rebel, or at least passively resist. This would lead to high costs for totalitarian rule, and the regime would likely need to commit mass slaughter to eliminate the resistance. This is one of the main reasons that both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China have engaged in the mass killing of their own citizens during peacetime.
Unlike totalitarian regimes, socialism in democratic states slowly eats away at people’s freedoms through legislation—like the metaphor of the boiling frog. The process of establishing a socialist system takes decades or generations, leaving people gradually numb, oblivious, and accustomed to socialism, all of which enhance the deceit. The essence and objective of this type of gradual socialism are no different in substance from the violent form.
Socialism uses the idea of guaranteeing “equal rights” through legislation, while in actuality, it drags down moral values and deprives people of the freedom to incline toward goodness. In normal circumstances, people of all kinds naturally vary in their religious beliefs, moral standards, cultural literacy, educational backgrounds, intelligence, fortitude, diligence, sense of responsibility, aggressiveness, innovation, entrepreneurship, and more. Of course, it’s impossible to enforce equality by suddenly elevating those at lower levels, so instead, socialism artificially restrains those at higher levels.
Especially in terms of moral values, the socialism of the West uses pretexts like “anti-discrimination,” “value-neutrality,” or “political correctness” to attack basic moral discernment. This is equivalent to an attempt to eliminate morality as such. This has come along with the legalization and normalization of all manner of anti-theist and profane speech, sexual perversions, demonic art, pornography, gambling, and drug use. The result is a kind of reverse discrimination against those who believe in God and aspire to moral elevation, with the goal of marginalizing and eventually getting rid of them.
