From the mouth of university professors, U.S. State Department officials, and the media we repeatedly hear the mantra that socialist and communist revolutions are brought about by “the spontaneous actions of oppressed peoples.” In one sense, there is nothing false about this; that is in the only sense possible, that Marx and Lenin taught it. But it is also true that Marx and Lenin taught something far, far different to their fellow revolutionaries as to what really goes on, and what must go on in a successful real world revolution. Lenin writes:
To belittle the socialist ideology in any way, to turn aside from it in the slightest degree means to strengthen bourgeois ideology. There is much talk of spontaneity. But the spontaneous development of the working-class movement leads to its subordination to bourgeois ideology; for the spontaneous working-class movement is trade-unionism, and trade unionism means the ideological enslavement of the workers by the bourgeoisie. Hence, our task, the task of Social-Democracy, is to combat spontaneity, to divert the working-class movement from this spontaneous, trade-unionist striving to come under the wing of the bourgeoisie, and to bring it under the wing of revolutionary Social Democracy.
And so the lie comes out. Socialism’s success, even its existence among the people, is based upon an aggressive propaganda campaign orchestrated by well placed revolutionaries which inserts itself into the minds and hearts of the working class or minority group(s) and leads them at every stage to overthrow the existing political and moral order.
This the revolutionaries do by agitation, by division, by pointing out and exaggerating differences and offenses — real or pretended — and by stroking the moral, religious, and political strings of men, appealing to their innate desire for good, for having things right and fair among them, so that they might stand equal before the laws of men and God, on the road to earthly and eternal success, but in such manner over time that the tune gradually, carefully changes from something bright and inspiring and even Godly, to something dark and damning and devilish, so that what was once good and fair and right and equality promoting is molded into its opposite on every count, an opposite imposed by a state that has daily increased its power, abuse, and ability to exact obedience, and submitted to by a people who have increasingly lost their will and power to resist.
This the revolutionaries also do, as hinted by Lenin, by insuring that any opposition ideology (the bourgeois ideology: that is, as Marx defined it: belief in God, in the Judeo-Christian ethic, in the traditional family, in private property, in eternal truths and eternal justice, and in limited government) is heard less and less, that is, by using every means possible to crush freedom of speech, or access to the public sphere, for those who believe in and uphold these things.
Spontaneous liberty movement inspired by oppression and economic hard times? I think not. Conspiracy with intent to empower the revolutionary few over the great mass of man is the true reality, a reality communist revolutionaries everywhere understand. As F.D.R., another socialist once admitted, nothing of this nature ever happens by accident.
Source: Vladimir Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, “The Spontaneity of the Masses and the Consciousness of the Social-Democrats” (1901)
Steve Farrell is one of the original pundits at Silver Eddy Award Winner, NewsMax.com (1999–2008), associate professor of political economy at George Wythe University, the author of the highly praised inspirational novel Dark Rose, and editor in chief of The Moral Liberal.
