The Horror of Socialism

Book Review: Banished: 'The Forsaken' by Tim Tzouliadis

This is a very sad book, the story of thousands of Americans who, during the Depression, lured by sham Soviet propaganda and pro-Soviet falsehoods spread by the likes of George Bernard Shaw and the corrupt New York Times Moscow correspondent, Walter Duranty, migrated to the USSR in search of jobs and a role in the "building of socialism."

The saddest part is those same falsehoods and propaganda are being taught to and believed by Americans today.

They came to Russia full of enthusiasm, bringing with them baseball and jazz, and eager to acclimatize. Russians found it difficult to believe the Americans' tales of woe when they saw their clothes, luxurious by Russian standards. And the migrants were themselves quite unprepared for the poverty and lawlessness which characterized life under Stalin, and in many if not most cases decided to leave.

On the surface socialism sounds so fair, so right, but it corrupts the soul, it destroys our humanity, it steals our self-worth - it's a lie through and through.

And yet, half this country will vote for it. Half. It's crazy. Perhaps it's popular because it seems to be the shortcut to glory. The easy way live comfortably - why struggle when you can have it handed to you?

One of the devil's suggestions was that the King should take the shortcut to the Kingdom - I will give thee all the kingdoms of the world for one moment's homage, a shortcut to the kingdom, the shortest way! Would it have been the shortest way? Would He have ever gained the kingdom so? Was not the lie of evil insidious in that it suggested as the shortest way the way that never reached the goal at all? That is the method of evil. It confronts the soul with a lie. -- G. Campbell Morgan

Socialism, in any of it's many forms, doesn't work, never did, never will. Man was meant to work for his sustenance, to overcome adversity, to give voluntarily. There is no satisfaction in obtaining that which was not earned, there is only a yearning for more. Taking away the incentive for hard work, for gain, for giving - for living - leaves only poverty. Poverty of the economy and poverty of the soul.

The horror that was Stalinist Russia is still incomprehensible to many Americans, even to many of those who study the USSR professionally. Reading this book is certain to open their eyes.