During the Cold War years, the enemies of the USSR widely utilized for "polluting the brains of people" the writings of dissidents. Amongst them were books by Alexander Zinoviev, such as Yellow Home, Crisis of Communism, Undertaking – about 40 books and hundreds of articles. All of these, as if in a crooked mirror, pictured Soviet Society in a deformed and unrecognizable manner. #3

     Dissident Alexander Zinoviev laughed at and also heaped abuse and wrote in a very negative way about all the successes that transpired in the USSR: Communist ideology, the CPSU, the Soviet economy, culture, living conditions, not recognizing any successes or positive steps taken by the USSR. Of course all writings by these dissidents were loudly cheered in the West and were used in order to undermine faith in socialism in people of left orientation, purposely trying to instill deep crisis in the world communist movements. Here are just some "pearls" from his last book called Undertaking:

     "Our system of life is making people very unlucky, making them extremely moody and worried . . ."
     ". . . this society is just a caricature of personal life and their work. They, the Soviet people are in themselves different, strange and not normal."
     "Here everything is gray – all holidays, future, items, books, films, successes. There are crisis and defeats, lawlessness, no happiness, no love, all hate etc., in short – everything . . ."

     Of course in writings of this author-satirist he looks through his crooked mirror at life around him. Why is it that in Zinoviev's outlook on life took such a turn when looking at the Soviet Union? Did he not see their cultural successes?

     Zinoviev was born to a large peasant family and lived during the 1930's. After moving to Moscow they lived in an uncomfortable basement apartment and this started the hate towards the Soviet system. He became a student and then organized an underground terrorist group to plan the assassination of Stalin. He was arrested but was lucky that the Second World War started and he then served in the tank corps, also as a fighter pilot. After the war he finished his university studies and he then became a Doctor of Science in the realm of Logic. Because he continued his anti-Soviet activities, he was banished outside the borders of the USSR.

     Was life in the Soviet Union so bad and horrific as A. Zinoviev wrote about during 1970's?
     Of course not!
     For over 70 years the country became unrecognizable in its achievements in all spheres of life, making very gigantic steps forward. From a backward country, living in practically feudalism; First World War destruction; the devastating civil war; then the horrendous destruction of the Great Patriotic War and the cost in millions of the Soviet Union's best sons and daughters; the cold war; the arms race... the Soviet Union and socialism became the savior of humanity.

     Education, culture, living conditions improved with each year. Workers became engineers, teachers, doctors, artists, marshals of the Soviet Army and Air Force… all sorts of opportunities were open as was the case with Zinoviev. All of these facts are masked and overlooked in these anti-Soviet books and socialism was made to look like caricatures.

     Were there reasons for some criticisms? Of course there were some shortages. The dialectical unity was fighting many enemies, both internal and external.

     What objective shortages became the stimulus for these dissidents? In spite of all the tremendous successes of the Soviet Union state, it was impossible to solve all the problems and reach the standard of life in the leading capitalist countries who became rich from World War II and their colonies while the Soviet people had to rebuild the devastation.

     More capital outlays were needed but these had to go into the defense which was specifically instigated by imperialism and the arms race, in order to weaken the development of the economy of the USSR. This onslaught by Western Imperialism was meant to sow discord, raise unobtainable expectations for the Soviet people. Thus the outlay of large capital into construction was minimized, in spite of the greatest construction boom that any country of the world had undergone. "Living conditions form attitudes."

     The working class produced heroically for the population, but still it was not enough. There were shortages to be sure, which were slowly being overcome. The desire to get better living standards individually went into conflict with the overall plans for all of the society. This led to some crime, robbery and also shady dealings by some section of the population, which in turn started the careerists on their way up the ladder inside the CPSU which was not being cleansed regularly as V.I. Lenin and J.V. Stalin demanded. These careerists managed to usurp the leadership of the CPSU and this led to the disintegration of the USSR.

     In order to put their personal needs above those of the country, these elements joined others as "reformists."

     Zinoviev and other dissidents, seeing these revisionists making their way up the government ladder, made him blind to the progress, enthusiasm and creative work of the masses.

     In spite of all this, Zinoviev showed his love for the Motherland and, outside the borders of the USSR, he then characterized other dissidents as: "These fighters for law and truth are not saints by no means! They are well paid with dollars from foreign countries! They received money either in rubles or dollars!! Most of these dissidents that I worked with and met outside the USSR were not normal. The dissident movement was a lucrative business." He especially is bitter towards these rabid dissidents such as Sakharov, the "Great thinker?" This self-love was promoted by Western bourgeoisie in order to promote their "genius" and thus these dissidents were given the green light to be even more outrageous in all of their writings. The more outrageously they wrote, the more Western sources promoted them as "geniuses" and the more money they received!

     When the counterrevolution took place, the curtain fell from his eyes and he started to see reality! This became a great surprise to all those when Zinoviev called "perestroika" nothing but a "catastroika". And when Yeltsin came to power, A. Zinoviev took a very good stand against his so-called "democracy" and "reforms." I would like to show those people that read or agreed with any of the dissidents, what was written by Zinoviev now, after he visited Russia:

     "I consider the Soviet period the best and the top summit of Russian history. Not being an apologist for communism, I consider this period unbelievable. Generations will pass, the children will look at this period and not believe the insurmountable obstacles that were overcome, the sheer magnitude of construction that took place and they shall not believe that dedicated human efforts could have achieved this. Yes the great events were had, although there were problems, there was sabotage, there was treason. In spite of all this, the colossal Soviet period is not matched in history."

     A. Zinoviev now has become a defender of the Soviet Union. He told the newspaper reporters that "You should not spit at the past, because if you do that, we cannot take not even one step forward!" He now is a Soviet patriot. He now never stops proclaiming that "the USSR – is my Motherland, I am a Soviet person!"

     What transpired that changed this rabid anti-Soviet dissident? "Now I clearly see and Soviet people see as to what capitalism has brought the people. It's practically slave labor and the loss of all the gains that were achieved under Socialism. All this has now been seen by those who had a screen over their eyes." The newspaper "Trud" ("Labour") had published this interview with former dissident Alexander Zinoviev. The newspaper asked Zinoviev about his mother when she was working on a collective farm if she would like to quit the collective and have her own property. She always said no. Why? Even with all of the problems at that time . . . she liked the progress, the standard of living, the happiness and the culture of the population.

     The correspondent asked why A. Zinoviev became an anti-Stalinist and found himself in jail. He replied that: ". . . there was no system that I would have liked fully, but I now realize that under the Soviet system everyone had the equal opportunity to reach his of her goal." Then he confessed that "Socialism is a system that is as good if not better than capitalism." As to the question why he thinks that the Soviet system collapsed practically without a shot being fired, he replied: "It collapsed not because it was weak internally but because of internal traitors in league with a mighty foreign foe. This collapse was accepted without hardly a murmur because of the elite in the CPSU that sold out the interests of socialism.
     "People to this day do not understand that not only communism collapsed, but Russia collapsed as a country. Here is where the biggest blow was given by world imperialism and internal enemies. Just look at the tempo of the loss of the population in Russia, the terrible growth of unemployment, the growth of all narcotics and also alcoholism . . . there is taking place a moral and intellectual death of the Soviet people – Russians in particular. This is the main aim of imperialism . . . the defeat of a potential competitor!"

     It is a fact that the main cause of anti-Communism of these dissidents was and is the so-called "repression," even though it is now over 50 years that have passed. Zinoviev now hits this trump card of all of the present "democrats" at every opportunity that is now available to him: "Regarding the so-called repressions . . . today, at 77 years of age. I feel, that, they were necessary repressions of the enemies, because there was no other way to keep the country progressing with all these internal enemies sabotaging politically and economically all the plans that were made for the benefit of the people.

     "Let us look at the present situation: millions of big and small robbers and traitors. Do you think that elements such as these present robbers did not exist after the 1917 October revolution? There were echelons of them, all supported from inside and outside by the enemies. Was not Trotsky a bitter enemy of the Soviet regime? Or Tukhachevsky? Was he not sick with Bonapartism? If they were victorious over us there would not have been the 20s or 30s. In 1939 I was arrested. And they were right to arrest me I was a terrorist. I feel now that Brezhnev was not too energetic and dedicated in his struggles with all the dissidents. They were today's fifth column!"

     Zinoviev's attitude to Stalin has also undergone a radical change, even though he was a rabid anti-Stalinist. As opposed to other dissidents against the Soviet regime "I struggled against Stalin while he was alive. After Stalin's death I told my party meeting that a dead Lion could be overthrown even by a Donkey. I immediately was then called a Stalinist. I never concurred with Stalin's methods, correct as they were at that time. Let us just look at the terrible danger for the Soviet Union beginning with the Great Patriotic War. Massive retreats were in order, millions of war prisoners. If there were no Joseph Stalin, Moscow would have fallen. Millions of us would have been liquidated by fascism, and the rest would have become slaves."

     As to the question as to what he foresees for Russia, he said "I do not see a bright future now. The question is of life or death of Russia and the Russian people. Our enemy is very strong, clever but has absolutely no conscience. Our total losses now have already surpassed the losses in the Great Patriotic War(!!!) and the question is this: When are we going to realize the truth and start the struggle for our resurrection?"

     Is there anything else that we can expect? Zinoviev replied: "In life many things happen that are unpredictable. During the last war, many times things looked hopeless and no light was seen at the end of the tunnel. But we did win a victory. Everything depends of the will and courage to fight to the last. In this I see the chance of our people to struggle and live and take our rightful place on this planet!"

     The opening of the eyes and understanding of Alexander Zinoviev is a lesson for those who had a one-sided outlook on the Soviet Union or the communist ideology. As was stated by Zinoviev: "We have to differentiate the objective and subjective points of view – sometimes they tragically go apart, but in history everything depends on logic only!" From a fighter against the Soviet State, A. Zinoviev has become a defender, and was able to see the objective meaning of the historical rising of the Soviet people, the first to have a society of workers and peasants. Now he calls for a struggle to defend the working class from complete annihilation.

Some notes on Alexander Solzhenitsyn

As gleaned from the Internet
by Michael Kuznetsov

    The following are two comments from two different internet discussions, which both seem to be relevant here and worth quoting:

     Kevinwalsh (15 March 2009) said:

    Over the years, some rightist acquaintances of mine have tried to interest me in reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" to try to convince me that the Stalin administration was horrible. I had not taken the time or trouble, as I was given the impression that it was a purely subjective memoir, anecdotal evidence, rather than a scholarly work of real data. Still, curiosity got the better of me, and as I was in the vicinity, I stopped by the Phoenix main library to have a look at it.

     I don't ordinarily review a book until I've read the whole thing, but there are times when even a small sample of a book is so stupid that it is obvious that there is no point continuing further. This was the case with this book. I read the glossary, the preface, and the first Chapter, "Arrest." After that I was convinced that proceeding further was a waste of time, and I reshelved the book, not even bothering to check it out of the library.

     The author nearly waxed poetic in his dramatic presentation of the horror of being arrested and the fear of being arrested, but what he actually described seemed quite mild.
     None of the arrests he described were nearly as violent and harsh as mine or even other arrests I've seen on American reality television shows. Solzhenitsyn wrote of GPU agents knocking on the door in the middle of the night, rather than breaking down the door in the middle of the night, as American police and FBI agents often do. He wrote of GPU agents trying to hurry those arrested to pack their suitcases quickly. Allowing an arrestee to pack a suitcase is unheard of in American arrests. Indeed, even wearing one's own street clothes in jail is forbidden here, much less keeping any personal property while in jail.
     Solzhenitsyn wrote of GPU agents arresting people with their sidearms holstered, rather than drawn and pointed as is usually done in American arrests. If he was trying to convince people that the GPU agents were mean people, he didn't succeed with me. They seem to have been much nicer than our American police.

     Solzhenitsyn wrote of people being like sheep, knowing they were likely to be arrested but doing nothing to resist. He pondered that he didn't understand why ordinary Russians didn't organize to use whatever improvised weapons were at their disposal (fireplace pokers, shovels, bottles) to crack heads of GPU agents or wreck their cars. Of course one obvious answer is that perhaps most Russians did not fear the GPU or arrest and supported and trusted the GPU and that only antisocial elements like him with guilty consciences feared they would be found out and arrested, but this is heresy to those presenting him as some kind of hero.

     Solzhenitsyn was quite evasive about the reasons behind his arrest in the first chapter. In all fairness, perhaps he went into greater detail later, but this is irrelevant given the sort of people for whom he expressed sympathy. He was a captain in the Red Army operating an artillery battery in east Prussia in February 1945, when he was arrested. He wrote that the arrest had something to do with correspondance with another soldier on the Ukrainian front, but in the first chapter, he didn't go into further detail. He did describe his first three cellmates, and his description is quite telling. Solzhenitsyn called them "honest soldiers," and stated that they frankly admitted why they had been arrested. Two frankly admitted that they had broken into a bathhouse and tried to rape two German women. The other admitted that he had agreed to spy for the Germans in order to be released from a POW camp and escorted through the line of battle back to the Soviet side.

     The author tried to excuse the admitted rapists by claiming that rape of German women was tolerated and that they only got into trouble for going after a woman who was the concubine of a senior Soviet officer. Even if this unlikely excuse was true, that would not make those two soldiers "innocent." The author's expressions of sympathy for admitted rapists and spies convinced me that there was no need to read beyond the first chapter. If Solzhenitsyn was trying to convince people that most of the people in the Gulag system were innocent, he was off to a very bad start. What puzzles me is that thinking people take this author or his works seriously at all, much less revere him as a hero of the Russian people.



     Helen (11 Dec 2008) said:

    Nothing good came of Solzhenitsyn: he was a traitor and chief defamer of the USSR in the Soviet times, and a futile idealist in the post-Soviet times, whose ideas 'to rebuild Russia' were very abstract and no more than impracticable hot air. He has always been a puzzlehead who confused his personal grudge against the Soviet Power (e.g. he was reprimanded for traitorous conduct in battle during World War II) with the real needs and expectations of people. The West extols Solzhenitsyn, because he contributed to the destruction of the Great Socialist Country and indirectly caused the loss of life of tens of millions (White Russian Christian people M. K.) who abjectly perished after the collapse of the USSR.

    As for Stalin, it is the worst anti-Communist myth that the West has ever concocted. Of course, it is not by chance that the person, who brought to life the socialist dream in all its grandeur became a bogle for the Western philistines. In fact, the deaths in Stalin's USSR were by no means more than, say, in the USA during the respective time – and his task was immensely hard. He had to build and consolidate the first socialist state amid the hostile imperialist and fascist environment. During the period of the so called 'repressions' (1921-1954) the total of those executed was 642,980 people, those who served terms in prison &$150; 2,369,220, and those exiled – 765,180 people. It is not so few, if you go by ideal conditions, but the conditions were far from ideal: the existence of socialism and the country itself was at stake.

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GENOCIDE IN SOUTH OSSETIA
IS STOPPED!



Russian armored column is rushing
to stop the genocide in South Ossetia




SAVED!

A South Ossetian military man holds a child as he looks at
an armored Russian column arrived to save them from Georgian assault

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A PATH TO PEACE IN THE CAUCASUS

By Mikhail Gorbachev, 12 August 2008
The Washington Post

    MOSCOW – The past week's events in South Ossetia are bound to shock and pain anyone. Already, thousands of people have died, tens of thousands have been turned into refugees, and towns and villages lie in ruins. Nothing can justify this loss of life and destruction. It is a warning to all.

    The roots of this tragedy lie in the decision of Georgia's separatist leaders in 1991 to abolish South Ossetian autonomy. This turned out to be a time bomb for Georgia's territorial integrity. Each time successive Georgian leaders tried to impose their will by force – both in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia, where the issues of autonomy are similar – it only made the situation worse. New wounds aggravated old injuries.

    Nevertheless, it was still possible to find a political solution. For some time, relative calm was maintained in South Ossetia. The peacekeeping force composed of Russians, Georgians and Ossetians fulfilled its mission, and ordinary Ossetians and Georgians, who live close to each other, found at least some common ground.

    Through all these years, Russia has continued to recognize Georgia's territorial integrity. Clearly, the only way to solve the South Ossetian problem on that basis is through peaceful means. Indeed, in a civilized world, there is no other way. The Georgian leadership flouted this key principle.

    What happened on the night of 7th August 2008 is beyond comprehension. The Georgian military attacked the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinval with multiple rocket launchers designed to devastate large areas. Russia had to respond. To accuse it of aggression against "small, defenseless Georgia" is not just hypocritical but shows a lack of humanity.

    Mounting a military assault against innocents was a reckless decision whose tragic consequences, for thousands of people of different nationalities, are now clear. The Georgian leadership could do this only with the perceived support and encouragement of a much more powerful force. Georgian armed forces were trained by hundreds of U.S. instructors, and its sophisticated military equipment was bought in a number of countries. This, coupled with the promise of NATO membership, emboldened Georgian leaders into thinking that they could get away with a "blitzkrieg" in South Ossetia.

    In other words, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was expecting unconditional support from the West, and the West had given him reason to think he would have it. Now that the Georgian military assault has been routed, both the Georgian government and its supporters should rethink their position.

    Hostilities must cease as soon as possible, and urgent steps must be taken to help the victims – the humanitarian catastrophe, regretfully, received very little coverage in Western media this weekend - and to rebuild the devastated towns and villages. It is equally important to start thinking about ways to solve the underlying problem, which is among the most painful and challenging issues in the Caucasus – a region that should be approached with the greatest care.

    When the problems of South Ossetia and Abkhazia first flared up, I proposed that they be settled through a federation that would grant broad autonomy to the two republics. This idea was dismissed, particularly by the Georgians. Attitudes gradually shifted, but after last week, it will be much more difficult to strike a deal even on such a basis.

    Old grievances are a heavy burden. Healing is a long process that requires patience and dialogue, with non-use of force an indispensable precondition. It took decades to bring to an end similar conflicts in Europe and elsewhere, and other long-standing issues are still smoldering. In addition to patience, this situation requires wisdom.

    Small nations of the Caucasus do have a history of living together. It has been demonstrated that a lasting peace is possible, that tolerance and cooperation can create conditions for normal life and development. Nothing is more important than that. The region's political leaders need to realize this. Instead of flexing military muscle, they should devote their efforts to building the groundwork for durable peace.

    Over the past few days, some Western nations have taken positions, particularly in the U.N. Security Council, that have been far from balanced. As a result, the Security Council was not able to act effectively from the very start of this conflict. By declaring the Caucasus, a region that is thousands of miles from the American continent, a sphere of its "national interest," the United States made a serious blunder. Of course, peace in the Caucasus is in everyone's interest. But it is simply common sense to recognize that Russia is rooted there by common geography and centuries of history. Russia is not seeking territorial expansion, but it has legitimate interests in this region.

    The international community's long-term aim could be to create a sub-regional system of security and cooperation that would make any provocation, and the very possibility of crises such as this one, impossible. Building this type of system would be challenging and could only be accomplished with the cooperation of the region's countries themselves. Nations outside the region could perhaps help, too – but only if they take a fair and objective stance. A lesson from recent events is that geopolitical games are dangerous anywhere, not just in the Caucasus.

    The writer was the last president of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and is president of the Gorbachev Foundation, a Moscow think tank.


    Source: The Washington Post online

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RUSSIAN BEAR WILL GROWL
THEN BITE DEADLY – IF PROVOKED

    Well what did else the West expect? Any self-respecting bear will growl first as a sign to ward of attackers, then pounce and maul them if provoked sufficiently.

    Remember the dire fate of Napoleon, Hitler, and all the other bloody murderous scum who dared to insult Holy Russia.

    The Russian Bear is confident and proud and looking more for respect in international affairs rather than a fight. But we Russians are always ready to make mincemeat of any aggressor.

    With 4,237 strategic Russian warheads, approximately 2,000-3,000 operational tactical warheads, and approximately 8,000-10,000 stockpiled strategic and tactical warheads Holy Russia is being remarkably well equipped to defend herself and her allies.

    RUSSIA IS A SUPERPOWER – WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!

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Some say we are five minutes to a new Cold War

This is a false assertion.

In reality

with the impending deployment

of the American missiles in Poland

and a new superradar in Czech Republic

and also

with Georgia and the Ukraine going to enter NATO

the World is one minute to a thermo-nuclear war


RUSSIA IS A SUPER POWER – WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

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ARE YOU READY FOR NUCLEAR WAR?

The Mindlessness is Total

By Paul Craig Roberts, August 19 2008

    Nothing real issues from the American press, which is about demonizing Russia and Iran, about the vice presidential choices as if it matters, about whether Obama being on vacation let McCain score too many points.

    The mindlessness of the news reflects the mindlessness of the government, for which it is a spokesperson.

    The American media do not serve American democracy or American interests. They serve the few people who exercise power.

    When the Soviet Union collapsed, the US and Israel made a run at controlling Russia and the former constituent parts of its empire. For awhile the US and Israel succeeded, but Putin put a stop to it.

    Recognizing that the US had no intention of keeping any of the agreements it had made with Gorbachev, Putin directed the Russian military budget to upgrading the Russian nuclear deterrent. Consequently, the Russian army and air force lack the smart weapons and electronics of the US military.

    When the Russian army went into Georgia to rescue the Russians in South Ossetia from the destruction being inflicted upon them by the American puppet Saakashvili, the Russians made it clear that if they were opposed by American troops with smart weapons, they would deal with the threat with tactical nuclear weapons.

    The Americans were the first to announce preemptive nuclear attack as their permissible war doctrine. Now the Russians have announced the tactical use of nuclear weapons as their response to American smart weapons.

    It is obvious that American foreign policy, with its goal of ringing Russia with US military bases, is leading directly to nuclear war. Every American needs to realize this fact. The US government’s insane hegemonic foreign policy is a direct threat to life on the planet.

    Russia has made no threats against America. The post-Soviet Russian government has sought to cooperate with the US and Europe. Russia has made it clear over and over that it is prepared to obey international law and treaties. It is the Americans who have thrown international law and treaties into the trash can, not the Russians.

    In order to keep the billions of dollars in profits flowing to its contributors in the US military-security complex, the Bush Regime has rekindled the cold war. As American living standards decline and the prospects for university graduates deteriorate, "our" leaders in Washington commit us to a hundred years of war.

    If you desire to be poor, oppressed, and eventually vaporized in a nuclear war, vote Republican.


    This is the final part of an article by P. C. Roberts.

    The full version can be read here: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08192008.html

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RUSSIA
As Seen By A Great American Thinker



The Russians Are Back

by Gaither Stewart
25 July 2008

This article is a real MUST READ
for anybody who seek for the truth
about the Russian Soul

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Prof. Grover Furr
About Marshal Stalin and his denigrators



The Sixty-One Untruths of Nikita Khrushchev

by Prof. Grover Furr

English Department, Montclair State University
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, U.S.A.

Homepage:
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/homepage.html

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FOR THE FAITH
INDEPENDENT STATE
AND THE NATIVE COUNTRY

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FOOTNOTES and SOURCES

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#1 Original source: http://www.situation.ru/app/j_art_1119.htm

#2 Original source: http://www.zinoviev.ru/eng/wrong.html

#3 Original source: http://www.geocities.com/redcomrades/dissident.html

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