Sunday, August 12, 2007
Skousen's prophecies
A few days ago, someone at NRO mentioned W. Cleon Skousen as an important anti-Communist intellectual. I'd never heard of the guy, and his name was so wonderfully clattery that I just had to look him up. Turns out he was an FBI agent in the early '50s, who had helped to penetrate the Commies.
Later he left the Bureau and joined the Birchers, before the Birchers themselves were penetrated by the Party and turned away from effective anti-Communism to stupid CFR/Illuminati conspiracies.
Skousen wrote an astonishingly prophetic document, and I'm amazed that I haven't read it before. It seems to be distributed widely around the Web.
Callers to C-Span and various radio shows often read other lists of supposed Commie goals, which are either wrong or clearly fictional. This list is drawn from Skousen's FBI experience, its date of publication has been verified, and nearly everything in it has come to pass.
Many of the items were not at all obvious in 1958, and must have seemed like wild paranoid thinking to those who read it before 1970. A few items were specific to Soviet practice, and thus became obsolete when Reagan, the only pro-American president since 1958, tossed the Soviet Union into the dustbin of history.
= = = = =
Here's the list, with my comments in brackets after each item.
1958 CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
[Done!]
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
[Done, with cherries on top! See Comrade Bush dealing with Persia... ]
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament (by) the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
[Comrade Carter accomplished this task.]
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
[This has shifted from Russia to China. Both Bushes and Clinton have been working on this one with tremendous results for China's benefit.]
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
[Obsolete; the lend-lease program went away.]
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
[Done!]
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
[Comrade Nixon accomplished this one.]
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
[Done but obsolete]
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
[Done but obsolete]
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
[Done but obsolete]
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.
[See blue berets.]
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
[Obviously worked; CPUSA is still going strong, mainly doing business now as "United for Justice and Peace" or variations thereof.]
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
[Loyalty oaths were still in use in 1958, so this must have been accomplished later; I'm not sure exactly which Comrade was responsible. Wasn't terribly important in the big picture.]
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
[Shifted to China with enthusiasm, and added copyrights as well.]
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
[Done, again with the brief interregnum of Reagan.]
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
[This is the most dramatically prophetic item to my thinking. Was a completely alien concept in '58, and now it's the sole purpose of the Federal courts.]
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
[Done.]
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
[Done, but now being resisted in a minor way by 'alternative' conservative papers on some campuses.]
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs of organizations which are under Communist attack.
[Shifted in recent years from student riots to black riots, thanks to the great work of Comrades Piven and Cloward, implemented by Comrade LBJ.]
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
[Done.]
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
[Done. Not just key positions but all positions.]
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
[This one caught me by surprise. I thought the movement toward ugliness was a conformist tendency among the artsy types who also happened to be leftists. I didn't realize it was Party policy!]
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
[Redundant with 22. Done]
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
[Done. The comrades who sit in the Supreme Court building have been wonderfully busy and effective, haven't they?]
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.
[Again prophetic; not a visible trend in '58]
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
[This one is still being worked on, as you can tell by watching any and all TV programs; started later than most other goals.]
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
[Done, with a few temporary holdouts like the Baptists. The Party's modern Global Warming campaign seems to have finally knocked down the Baptists, who had firmly resisted the push toward gay ministers etc.]
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
[Done. Again not publicly known in '58]
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
[Done. Special credit to Comrade Breyer on the last bit. The black-robed saboteurs have thoroughly shredded all of the Constitution except the trivial details of "terms of employment": 2 years for House, 6 years for Senate, Pres must be natural-born, etc. For some reason they've never bothered to shred those bits, so I must assume that those bits are helping to bring down America. Black-robed saboteurs are thorough, meticulous and consistent; they never accidentally miss an opportunity to destroy the country.]
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
[Done and prophetic.]
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the grounds that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
[The latter part, emphasis on Russian history, is the only point in this list where Skousen missed. Or at least the only point that was never accomplished by the Party. Maybe it wasn't very important to the Party.]
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture - education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
[Done, mainly by Comrades Johnson and Nixon.]
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
[Apparently done, or at least such laws are no longer enforced.]
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
[Done. Skousen didn't see quite far enough on this one, since Congressional Committees now serve only to investigate and punish anti-Communists.]
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
[Didn't need to discredit; instead the FBI was turned into an agency to burn Christians and prosecute Americans who dare to oppose our internal enemies.]
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
[Happened, but unions were turning obsolete at the same time, so it didn't really matter.]
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
[Done and relevant.]
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand (or treat).
[Again wonderfully prophetic. This campaign didn't begin until the mid-70s.]
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
[Redundant with #38]
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
[Done and prophetic.]
41. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
[This one is subtle because the 'rising up' has never been part of the public front of the Party. If you watch Comrades Sharpton and Jackson in operation, you can see the results, though....]
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
[This was actively underway in '58, proudly and openly sponsored by Communists, so it's true but not at all prophetic. A few of those African nations are now starting to regret what Communism did to them, and considering re-colonization.]
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
[Thanks to Comrade Carter again.]
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
[I don't know the Connally Reservation, but the latter part is obviously working out quite nicely.] ¶ 8:08 AM
Later he left the Bureau and joined the Birchers, before the Birchers themselves were penetrated by the Party and turned away from effective anti-Communism to stupid CFR/Illuminati conspiracies.
Skousen wrote an astonishingly prophetic document, and I'm amazed that I haven't read it before. It seems to be distributed widely around the Web.
Callers to C-Span and various radio shows often read other lists of supposed Commie goals, which are either wrong or clearly fictional. This list is drawn from Skousen's FBI experience, its date of publication has been verified, and nearly everything in it has come to pass.
Many of the items were not at all obvious in 1958, and must have seemed like wild paranoid thinking to those who read it before 1970. A few items were specific to Soviet practice, and thus became obsolete when Reagan, the only pro-American president since 1958, tossed the Soviet Union into the dustbin of history.
= = = = =
Here's the list, with my comments in brackets after each item.
1958 CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
[Done!]
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
[Done, with cherries on top! See Comrade Bush dealing with Persia... ]
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament (by) the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
[Comrade Carter accomplished this task.]
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
[This has shifted from Russia to China. Both Bushes and Clinton have been working on this one with tremendous results for China's benefit.]
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
[Obsolete; the lend-lease program went away.]
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
[Done!]
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
[Comrade Nixon accomplished this one.]
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
[Done but obsolete]
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
[Done but obsolete]
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
[Done but obsolete]
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.
[See blue berets.]
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
[Obviously worked; CPUSA is still going strong, mainly doing business now as "United for Justice and Peace" or variations thereof.]
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
[Loyalty oaths were still in use in 1958, so this must have been accomplished later; I'm not sure exactly which Comrade was responsible. Wasn't terribly important in the big picture.]
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
[Shifted to China with enthusiasm, and added copyrights as well.]
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
[Done, again with the brief interregnum of Reagan.]
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
[This is the most dramatically prophetic item to my thinking. Was a completely alien concept in '58, and now it's the sole purpose of the Federal courts.]
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
[Done.]
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
[Done, but now being resisted in a minor way by 'alternative' conservative papers on some campuses.]
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs of organizations which are under Communist attack.
[Shifted in recent years from student riots to black riots, thanks to the great work of Comrades Piven and Cloward, implemented by Comrade LBJ.]
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
[Done.]
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
[Done. Not just key positions but all positions.]
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
[This one caught me by surprise. I thought the movement toward ugliness was a conformist tendency among the artsy types who also happened to be leftists. I didn't realize it was Party policy!]
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
[Redundant with 22. Done]
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
[Done. The comrades who sit in the Supreme Court building have been wonderfully busy and effective, haven't they?]
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio and TV.
[Again prophetic; not a visible trend in '58]
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
[This one is still being worked on, as you can tell by watching any and all TV programs; started later than most other goals.]
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
[Done, with a few temporary holdouts like the Baptists. The Party's modern Global Warming campaign seems to have finally knocked down the Baptists, who had firmly resisted the push toward gay ministers etc.]
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
[Done. Again not publicly known in '58]
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
[Done. Special credit to Comrade Breyer on the last bit. The black-robed saboteurs have thoroughly shredded all of the Constitution except the trivial details of "terms of employment": 2 years for House, 6 years for Senate, Pres must be natural-born, etc. For some reason they've never bothered to shred those bits, so I must assume that those bits are helping to bring down America. Black-robed saboteurs are thorough, meticulous and consistent; they never accidentally miss an opportunity to destroy the country.]
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
[Done and prophetic.]
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the grounds that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
[The latter part, emphasis on Russian history, is the only point in this list where Skousen missed. Or at least the only point that was never accomplished by the Party. Maybe it wasn't very important to the Party.]
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture - education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
[Done, mainly by Comrades Johnson and Nixon.]
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
[Apparently done, or at least such laws are no longer enforced.]
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
[Done. Skousen didn't see quite far enough on this one, since Congressional Committees now serve only to investigate and punish anti-Communists.]
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
[Didn't need to discredit; instead the FBI was turned into an agency to burn Christians and prosecute Americans who dare to oppose our internal enemies.]
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
[Happened, but unions were turning obsolete at the same time, so it didn't really matter.]
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
[Done and relevant.]
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand (or treat).
[Again wonderfully prophetic. This campaign didn't begin until the mid-70s.]
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
[Redundant with #38]
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
[Done and prophetic.]
41. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
[This one is subtle because the 'rising up' has never been part of the public front of the Party. If you watch Comrades Sharpton and Jackson in operation, you can see the results, though....]
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
[This was actively underway in '58, proudly and openly sponsored by Communists, so it's true but not at all prophetic. A few of those African nations are now starting to regret what Communism did to them, and considering re-colonization.]
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
[Thanks to Comrade Carter again.]
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
[I don't know the Connally Reservation, but the latter part is obviously working out quite nicely.] ¶ 8:08 AM
