I have been reading about the Soviet revolution, and it is striking how little the behavior of the West has changed. Now, like then, Western imperialists do everything in their power to block or sabotage any country that seeks even the slightest degree of autonomy. The violence of anyone else pales into insignificance next to the violence of the West and, when it does occur, is usually resistance against Western imperialism.
If it seems otherwise to those of us in the West, it is because Western elites lie constantly, especially to us. In any country siding with U.S. (and before that British) imperialism, propaganda projects us as “the goodies” when it would be truer to say our governments are “the baddies”.
In many respects, China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Yemen, Iran, Venezuela, Vietnam, and other countries the West likes to vilify do not have a whole lot in common other than their resistance to Western imperialism. Their “crime” is to oppose the desire of Western capitalists to profit off their resources. The actions of Western governments are not intended to help ordinary people but to profit a tiny handful of already obscenely wealthy individuals.
Next to the Western Left’s history of utter failure, the Soviets appear to have developed the only way forward that has shown any legs whatsoever. I am thankful the Soviet Union existed because, without it, the Chinese communists may never have perceived an effective way forward and achieved what they have.
People can say what they like about China, but a comparison of the accomplishments of the Chinese Communist Party and Western governments over the last fifty years is stark. In the neoliberal period, it is doubtful any of the genocide-supporting U.S. puppet states in the West have lifted more than a handful of people out of poverty let alone almost 900 million.
It’s true that Western governments made meaningful strides in the brief period before and after World War 2. But why was this? In my estimation, it was only because Western elites feared socialist revolution and knew their economic system compared unfavorably with that of the Soviet Union.
If we are to dismiss China’s accomplishment as nothing, why should the lives of 340 million in the U.S. count for anything or 70 million in the U.K. or 40 million in Canada? If lifting almost 900 million people out of poverty is nothing, capitalism has never achieved anything.
Yet there are still those who claim socialism doesn’t work. To them I say compare Soviet economic performance under Lenin and Stalin to that of capitalism, achievements that were made despite the West attempting to sabotage or viciously attack the Soviets at every turn from inception. And compare Chinese economic performance to that of capitalism.
Some will wish to claim China as capitalist. Well then these people won’t mind nationalizing seventy percent of Western industry, placing eighty percent of assets into public ownership and guiding economic development through State planning!
Some of the confusion over China can be attributed to a false equating of markets with capitalism. Markets existed long before capitalism and are likely to exist for a considerable time after it, assuming we haven’t nuked ourselves into oblivion or completely fried the planet before then. It’s true that if communism were ever reached, there’d be no need for markets. At that point we’d contribute what we can and receive according to need. But the Soviet Union and China never claimed to have reached communism, so a continuing role for markets within their systems should not be surprising.
The conflation of markets with capitalism is misguided for another reason. Markets, at least in their modern form, are a creature of the State or, more specifically, the government’s authority to impose and enforce taxes in a particular currency.
From the moment the State assesses income and wealth in its own currency and requires payment of taxes in it, the rest of us have to get hold of the currency. Some can do so by working directly for the State. Some, instead, can work for corporations contracted to produce something for the State. Others will see an opportunity to start a business. And still others can work for those businesses. And so on. In this way, markets form as people jostle to get hold of the currency.
In a sense, it is ironic that the most ardent supporters of markets tend to be the archest enemies of taxation. Without the effective enforcement of taxes, it would be difficult to maintain functioning markets. But it’s only ironic in the same way that almost everything we’ve been taught about economics and geopolitics in the West is back-to-front and upside-down.
Western delusion extends beyond economics. An irony in the religious sphere is how current developments mirror right-wing Christian depictions of the end times. The rise of Trumpianism could be taken straight out of this depiction. But many right-wing Christians fail to see it.
How could this delusion arise? According to the beliefs of right-wing Christians themselves, the delusion comes from rejecting truth. Paul writes in his second letter to the Thessalonians that God will send a strong delusion to those who do not love truth. To a right-wing Christian, what is Trumpianism if not a strong delusion?
Trump even fits right-wing Christian depictions of the antichrist, meaning, if there is such a person, they may well be embracing him.
It might seem that such Christians only pretend to believe what they claim as cover for bigotry, greed and hatred, because if their professed beliefs turned out to be correct they would be consigning themselves to an eternity in hell. And for what? For a brief – in the context of eternity – sick pleasure of hating on others and supporting the killing of perceived enemies up to and including through genocide.
It can therefore be hard to conceive that they really do believe what they profess to believe. Even so, I think many of them do. Under the influence of Western lies they have come to believe they are on the side of good and will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven. Yes, I think they are this deceived.
Such is the power of cradle-to-grave propaganda.
