Category Archives: Communism

Homage to Catalonia

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This is the third review about the Spanish Civil war. The first was written by an author sympathetic to the mostly Communist Republicans. The second was a book critical for how the Soviets used the conflict to rob the Spanish treasury while they spent as much time fighting allies as they did fighting Franco’s Fascists. This book was one of many written by Eric Arthur Blair under the name George Orwell, and I recommend it. Amazon has 123 reviews with an average rating of four and a half stars out of five. The book is based on Orwell’s personal experiences after he went to Spain as a journalist. He volunteered to join the Trotsky Communist army forces called the POUM as a foot soldier. The descriptions of his experiences paint indelible images of the harsh life of the soldiers. They maintained loyalty to one another while living in cold mud mixed with human waste in the trenches while dealing with continual infections of lice and shortages of food and fuel. Orwell’s battles ended after being shot through the neck by a sniper.

Orwell writes that the only real difference between the ragged, miserable men and boys in the trenches on the hills opposite his trench was the color of the flags and uniforms. The soldiers in both sets of trenches were there for no other purpose than to kill the people like themselves in the other trenches. People were enlisting their 15 year-old sons for the small enlistment payment and food they could return to their parents. Some were as young as eleven. Orwell says he was never certain he actually killed anyone. He describes how a “dot” that was a man’s (or boy’s) head above the lip of a distant trench disappeared after he fired a shot, and how he heard lengthy screaming after he tossed a hand grenade into a parapet. He observes he only wished to kill one Nationalist, because if every Republican killed one Nationalist, the war would be won. He maintained his loyalty to the Republicans despite admitting to atrocities being committed by them. He wrote “…the foreign anti-Fascist papers even descended to the pitiful lie of pretending that churches were only attacked when they were used as Fascist fortresses. Actually churches were pillaged everywhere….because….the Spanish Church was part of the capitalist racket.” 



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The Spanish Civil War, An Illustrated Chronicle, 1936-39

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I intend to do reviews of three books (of the estimated 15,000) on this subject, and this book by Paul Preston leans heavily to Republican (mostly Communist) side and against the Franco Nationalists (Fascists). (Note that I did not find the book on Amazon, but there it is available at Abe Books.) The author writes, “…there is little sympathy here for the Spanish right, but I hope there is some understanding.” The book is liberally sprinkled with words such as “bourgeoisie,” the French word defined by Marxists as the social class which exploits workers and “proletariat,” the workers. The second review will be about the Soviet manipulation of those opposing Franco that, in my opinion, resulted in emptying the Spanish treasury and victory by Franco’s forces. The final review will be about George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia.” Orwell fought as a soldier in the trenches of the Trotsky Communist army, and the book gives an excellent insight into the miserable life of the soldiers and the complicated agglomeration of factions involved in the war.

One common thread in the books and articles I’ve read, regardless of point of view, is that Spain was used as a training ground for World War II. The armies of Germany and Italy on the Nationalist side and the Soviets on the Republican side used the conflict to test their equipment and train their military people under conditions of war. The German Condor Legion firebombed the almost completely military-free Basque town of Guernica to test their planes and train their pilots in dive-bombing during the 3-4 hour bombardment that destroyed the town. Ironically, the allies later used the same firebombing techniques to destroy the German city of Dresden, which also was a not a military center.

There were several years of political strife that led to the war. The book has a couple of chapters about the unrest in the country. The economy had decayed into a desperate depression, and the workers and peasants had little to lose. A strike by miners brought action by the military, and the conflict spread quickly. The allegiances within the two sides were complex. Simplistically, the Republican side consisted of several Communist, Socialist, and Anarchist organizations. The Nationalist side controlled most of the Spanish military and represented the Falangists (fascists), middle class, landowners, and Catholic Church. It was a brutal war, and thousands of people were tortured and executed by both sides. The Nationalists killed people suspected of supporting the Republicans. The Republicans destroyed Catholic Churches and executed priests, factory owners, landlords, and public officials. Continue reading →

Prophet in Politics: Henry A Wallace and the War Years, 1940-1965

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(This 1970 book by Edward L. and Frederick H. Schapmeier is out of print though available from libraries and used book sellers.)

I originally became interested in why FDR had three Vice Presidents, and Henry Agard Wallace was the second. The first was John Nance Garner, and FDR hadn’t won the Democratic nomination for the presidency until he persuaded Garner to drop out of the race and accept the vice presidency. Garner and Roosevelt disagreed widely on many issues, and their relationship soured irretrievably during their second term. Garner was quoted a characterizing the vice presidency as being “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” Wallace was different than Garner in many ways. He was a studious, deeply religious Progressive. He had been well suited to the position of Secretary of Agriculture that he held before FDR selected him to replace Garner. He had taught himself Spanish and made a very successful tour of Latin America as Germany was declaring war on the United States.

Reading about Wallace was often baffling. As Vice President he supported the Manhattan Project because he feared the Germans would develop the bomb first. He understood the Soviet Union possessed the capability to produce the weapon, but his actions indicated that he believed Stalin was a dependable ally who did not have subversive purposes.  Wallace said, “The future of the well-being of the world depends on the extent to which Marxism, as it is being progressively modified in Russia, and democracy, as we are adapting it…can live in peace.” Wallace went so far in his idealism to envision the United Nations would have sovereign powers over the United States through “…an international peace law, an international peace court and an international peace force…”   Continue reading →

Soviet Covert Action

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I mentioned the funding of the international anti-nuclear movement by the Soviet Union in an earlier blog posting and mentioned that I intended to do additional research on the matter. I obtained a copy of a report titled, “Soviet Covert Action (The Forgery Offensive)” that was published by the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, ninety-sixth Congress. The report describes hearings held February 6 and 19, 1980.  The hearings were in closed sessions, and several of the documents listed in the Appendices were labeled “TOP SECRET.”  The report obviously had been declassified. The content made it clear the Soviets didn’t hesitate to use any action to further their cause and harm America. (As an aside, can you believe that some of my family members were surprised at my selection vacation reading material?)

A Deputy Director of the CIA made a prepared statement in the first session followed by questioning by the Congressmen.  The testimony confirms that the World Peace Council was the largest Soviet front group used in propaganda campaigns.  It had funding of over three billion dollars in that year, and one organization it supported was its American affiliate, the U.S. Peace Council. The CIA was prevented by law from doing any surveillance of that domestic organization.  The FBI was responsible for any intelligence gathering within the United States, and the CIA had to depend on them to pass along any intelligence involving foreign activities to them.  Examples of activities organized or influenced by the World Peace Council were numerous peace protests, demonstrations against NATO, and a campaign against the neutron bomb.

The second session, titled “Soviet Forgeries and Disinformation,” began with a statement by Ladislav Bittman, who was the Deputy Director of the Disinformation Department of the Czechoslovak Intelligence Service before he defected to the United States. He testified that the “satellite countries” such as Czechoslovakia operated “huge intelligence apparatus that significantly contributes to spreading Soviet influence around the world.”  His department conducted “115 active measures… (consisting mostly of) forgeries leaked either to the press or foreign governments.”  He described how Soviet intelligence used journalists to spread their propaganda and warned, “The press should be more cautious with anonymous leaks.  Anonymity is a signal that the Big Russian Bear might be involved.” He also mentioned that Congressional investigations of the CIA in the 1970s effectively paralyzed that organization.  He observed that Watergate created such a toxic atmosphere in Washington that the Soviets were able to relax their disinformation efforts.  I found it quite interesting that a Congressman asked Bittman whether he had “…ever come across a man or information relative to a man named Lee Harvey Oswald, who was…in the Soviet Union?” Bittman responded, “No, never, no.  The answer is a clear no.”

Bittman also testified that the capture of the embassy and Americans in Tehran was a boon to the Soviet forgery campaign.  The Iranians gave them access to all manner of official State Department documents, letterhead, and the rubber stamps that were used to mark various classification and other designations. Numerous forgeries are described, to include a classified U.S. Army field manual, a faked speech by President Carter intended to strain relations with the Greek Government, several documents with negative information about Egyptian President Sadat and Indonesian President Sukarno, and a report denying that chemical and bacteriological agents stored in Italy had leaked and killed numerous infants. One forgery ties to current events.  It was a bogus CIA report that outlined how members of Islamic religious organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood, could be bribed and set against others. One operation, code named Neptune, included planting several boxes of forged documents in Devil’s Lake and Black Lake where a dive team was to be filmed while investigating reports that the Nazis had disposed of information.  The planted documents listed numerous West German officials, including several in West German Intelligence, with faked Nazi backgrounds.

There is a current event that is a reminder of the danger of forged documents. Retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk is being tried for war crimes in Germany, and the FBI has released a report that the Soviet Union likely fabricated a Nazi photo identification card that is key to his prosecution.  Demjanjuk was tried in Israel before being deported from the U.S. to Munich where he is currently on trial again. No known witnesses have placed Demjanjuk at the Sobibor death camp in Poland where the identification card places him as a guard.  The FBI argues the Soviets used faked documents such as the forged identification card to smear anti-communists.

The Appendices include copies of several forged documents designed to incite anger about desegregation in America.  Appendix III is the agenda for the U.S. Peace Council Founding Conference held November 9-11, 1979 in Philadelphia.  Welcoming remarks were given by Representative John Conyers.  Presenters included several U.S. State legislators, U.N. representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Nicaragua, and a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to name just a few.

Attendees at the first hearing were Representatives Aspin (presiding), Boland (chairman of the full committee), Ashbrook, Young, Whitehurst, and McClory.  The main presenter was John McMahon, Deputy Director for Operations, Central Intelligence Agency.  He was accompanied by five other CIA officials.  The second hearing had the same Representatives in attendance with the exception of McClory, who was absent.

FDR’s Personality

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This is the fourth and perhaps final posting of the review of Joseph E. Persico’s excellent book, “Roosevelt’s Secret War, FDR and World War II Espionage.” The author gives significant insights into FDR’s personality, especially his fascination with learning the secrets of others. One person observed, “Few leaders were better adapted temperamentally to espionage than Franklin Roosevelt.” In keeping with that observation, FDR authorized wire taps of people judged to be suspicious despite a Supreme Court ruling that banned wire taps and the advice of his Attorney General. He justified that authorization on the grounds of national security, but he took the liberty to go further.  He had J. Edgar Hoover investigate former President Herbert Hoover and opponent Wendell Wilkie. He also had Vice President Henry Wallace under surveillance. I’ve read in other accounts that he expanded far beyond political opponents and associates. It was said that he reveled in learning about skeletons in people’s closets gathered by Hoover. Perhaps he did some of this as a reflective action to an event early in his adulthood when he and a friend began consorting with two beautiful women. He was warned by a friend of his family that the two women were the “best known pair of international blackmailers in Europe,” and he and his friend were able to escape. The lesson in the value of suspicion may have stayed with him.

Roosevelt had a recording system installed inside a drawer of his desk in August 1940.  One recorded conversation was about Wendell Wilkie. FDR was recorded talking about Wilkie’s mistress, and how Wilkie’s wife had in effect, “…been hired to return to Wendell to smile and make his campaign with him.”  The recorder was removed almost immediately after FDR won reelection. 

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Roosevelt’s Secret War–FDR, Stalin, and Churchill

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The interactions of the “Big Three” have inspired several books, but once again the book by Joseph E. Persico ties what I see as the complete story together nicely. FDR had a much stronger affinity for Stalin than to Churchill.  He confided to Joseph Kennedy, his ambassador to Great Britain, that he had never liked Churchill from the beginning.  Churchill was open in his desire to maintain the British Empire, and Roosevelt was strongly opposed to imperialism. I was startled to read a quote from him in the book that he told Admiral Godfrey, the U.S. is going “…to show the Brits, Portuguese, and Dutch how to take care of those West Indies Islands. Every n—-r will have his two acres and a sugar patch.” On the other hand Roosevelt was strangely able to overlook the atrocities committed under Stalin. He knew that large numbers of people Stalin decided he couldn’t trust were summarily executed and millions of Ukrainians were intentionally starved.  Both Roosevelt and Churchill knew that Stalin had ordered the execution of thousands of Polish officers, but covered it up. FDR was somehow persuaded that he could work with Stalin and trust him.

Roosevelt early and often acted according to Stalin’s wishes. He had established diplomatic relations with the Soviets, and apparently was willing to accept the large numbers of spies that action brought into the country and his administration. He released Earl Browder, the head of the U.S. Communist party who had been convicted of passport violations. He took that action to placate Stalin, and it restored a key link in Russia’s spy chain in America. One of the strangest actions he took involved 1500 pages of Soviet cryptographic material and a codebook that had been sold to the Office of Strategic Service by Finland. FDR ordered the information to be returned to the Soviets without copying it, and there is a dispute whether it was copied or not. There is no dispute the Soviets were absolutely baffled about why the Americans had returned the information.  Secretary of State Edward Stettinius was said to have explained that FDR ordered to action because he wanted to do nothing to arouse Stalin’s suspicions.  

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