All these battles in the Kremlin and the resulting shift of power had not solved the terrifying economic problems which continued to plague Soviet socialism. (A familiar story.) Nowhere…in China, Russia, or the satellites…was Communism proving successful. As could be expected, uprisings had been occurring for over three years in Communist-controlled countries. It was only heavy Soviet armament that made it possible to maintain them in the Soviet realm. Then in 1956 a major satellite cut loose and struck for freedom.
During World War II negotiations, Stalin had promised that any nation coming under the domination of the Red Army during the war would be allowed free elections and self-determination after the war. Hungary was the first nation to demand self-government and the overthrow of the Communist regime. Perhaps there is no better example to illustrate the extreme treachery to which Khrushchev would extend himself than the Hungarian Revolution. On 23 October 1956, a massive, but peaceful demonstration took place in Budapest with thousands participating. When crowds refused to disband, the Russian secret police were ordered to open fire on them. Thus began the revolution. As Soviet occupation troops were ordered to smash the revolution, they were resisted by Communist trained Hungarian troops who defected and joined the Freedom Fighters. Many Soviet occupation troops also defected. The remaining Soviet occupation troops were beaten in five days. To avoid annihilation of the Soviet units, Khrushchev sent to Budapest his first deputy, Mikoyan. He sat down with the revolutionary government to negotiate the removal of Soviet troops. The Soviet representatives proposed that the final details be drawn up at the Soviet headquarters in Tokol, a village south of Budapest. The entire Hungarian delegation was invited to come and discuss the precise date when Soviet troops would leave Hungary. In response to this invitation, the elated and victorious Hungarians went to the Soviet headquarters. To their amazement they were suddenly surrounded, seized and imprisoned. Consequently, a new all-out attack was ordered by Khrushchev against the Hungarian population. (What more could have been expected from Soviet leadership that possessed no honor?) The new Soviet attack was in the form of a massive invasion, involving 5,000 tanks and a quarter of a million soldiers. Calls for help were monitored by the UN, and NATO, but went no further. As it turned out, the massacre of tens of thousands of Hungarians was finally smothered into oblivion. Prime Minister Imre Nagy was executed. Most of the other leaders of the revolution were deported to Russia and never heard of again.
In the UN Security Council, America’s Ambassador Lodge introduced a resolution proposing that Russia be censured for this atrocious Hungarian attack. As could be expected, Russia vetoed it! (Way to go UN; better late than never with a ‘toothless tiger’ proposal.) The average American has no conception of the deep penetration of the Communist conspiracy inside the United Nations.
A Danish diplomat, Povl Bang-Jensen, said he began feeling strong Communist pressures soon after he started serving as the deputy secretary of the UN committee which was investigating the Russian attack on Hungary. He claimed pro-Soviet influence came sweeping down upon him from the Secretary General’s office and even from many committee members. Finally, he started writing protests to both the committee and the Secretary General. He pointed out errors in the report that had been generated, errors which would allow the Russians to discredit it. The Committee Chairman refused to correct these errors. He also noted that the committee was going soft in its treatment of Janos Kadar who headed the new Communist puppet government in Hungary. The Secretary General demanded that he reveal the secret list of Hungarians who had witnessed against the Russian invasion. Povl Bang-Jensen felt himself going down under an avalanche of opposition. He refused to provide the list. He was discharged by Dag Hammarskjold and labeled a mentally ill person. Povl Bang-Jensen had expressed fear of physical harm to his wife. He had even written her a note saying he would never commit suicide because it was against his nature and religious convictions. It was Thanksgiving Day, 1959, that his body was found in a secluded area two miles from his home with a bullet hole in his head. He had left home 72 hours earlier to catch a bus. When found, he had been dead only a few hours.
What was it like in Khrushchev’s Russia? Communism has only one fragile excuse for all the unparalleled brutality, cruelty, and crimes against humanity for which it committed. This is the Marx-Engels-Lenin promise that it is the historical shortcut to a better life for mankind. The most bitter reality to this Communist hierarchy is the fact that after 40 years of all-out effort, numerous five-year plans, the purging, executing, torturing, and liquidation of millions of human beings, the Communist Motherland has still produced little more than a dull and monotonous existence. A five-year analysis of Russian economics revealed that less economic progress had been made under 40 years of Communism than under the last 400 years of the Tsars! (“Russia’s Growth Under Communism Less Rapid”, by Dr. Warren Nutter, U.S. News & World Report, November 2, 1959, p. 75).
So, at this point in reviewing the impact of Communism in its ‘homeland’, how can we see similar acts taking place in the United States? First of all, Communists long ago realized that the term would not go far in the United States. From its Marxist beginnings, Communists knew they would have to cloak themselves in a different ‘wrapper’. So, we were introduced to phrases such as ‘progressives’, ‘Democratic Socialists’, ‘social activists’, ‘community activists’, etc. Operating under a myriad of newly minted organizational or identifying nomenclatures, “Black Lives Matter’, ‘Antifa’, ‘The Squad’, etc. they claim to promote ‘economic justice’, ‘environmental justice’, ‘Racial equity’, ‘gender equity’, etc. They have invented new theories such as Critical Race Theory, and phrases and terminologies, linked to or fit into a Marxist construct. They claim, ‘the dominant culture’ and capitalist system are unjust and inequitable, racist and sexist, colonialist and imperialist, materialistic and destructive of the environment. The purpose of course, is to tear down and tear apart the nation. Where are the spokespersons to counter these claims? One would hope to find these dedicated Americans in the government and in our Christian churches. Many are there, but so are there counter-spokespersons who have found elected positions of influence in government. Unfortunately, many in our church leadership have decided that politics does not belong in the church and thus ignore the political storm that brews just outside the church building walls. This is a storm that would find solace in pad locking every church in the United States…leaving members wondering what happened.
Next week we will continue to follow the exploits of Khrushchev as we look at several attempts at Communism to consume the world. Not all attempts were successful, but as I have previously stated, that is only an opportunity to step back, reevaluate the situation, and with a different approach plunge right back into the efforts to gain power and control.
Bob Munsey
“Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.” John Quinton, American actor/writer
Geezer Politics 