Socialist And Communist Achievements

     Relax, relax! I’m not talking about actual, tangible economic achievments. A collectivist economy can’t produce anything but poverty and misery. No, what I have in mind is political achievements.

     Way back when we were all still living in the trees – the dark, dank year of 1987 – I attended a lecture by the great Milton Friedman in which he told his audience some startling things. The one that stuck most firmly in my memory is this: Measured in terms of platform planks actuated in law, the most successful American political party of the Twentieth Century was the Socialist Party.

     Surprised? I was, too. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here are the economic and fiscal planks of the 1928 Socialist Party platform:

• "Nationalization of our natural resources, beginning with the coal mines and water sites, particularly at Boulder Dam and Muscle Shoals."
• "A publicly owned giant power system under which the federal government shall cooperate with the states and municipalities in the distribution of electrical energy to the people at cost."
• "National ownership and democratic management of railroads and other means of transportation and communication."
• "An adequate national program for flood control, flood relief, reforestation, irrigation, and reclamation."
• "Immediate government relief of the unemployed by the extension of all public works and a program of long range planning of public works …"
• "All persons thus employed to be engaged at hours and wages fixed by bona-fide labor unions."
• "Loans to states and municipalities without interest for the purpose of carrying on public works and the taking of such other measures as will lessen widespread misery."
• "A system of unemployment insurance."
• "The nation-wide extension of public employment agencies in cooperation with city federations of labor."
• "A system of health and accident insurance and of old age pensions as well as unemployment insurance."
• "Shortening the workday" and "Securing to every worker a rest period of no less than two days in each week."
• "Enacting of an adequate federal anti-child labor amendment."
• "Abolition of the brutal exploitation of convicts under the contract system and substitution of a cooperative organization of industries in penitentiaries and workshops for the benefit of convicts and their dependents."
• "Increase of taxation on high income levels, of corporation taxes and inheritance taxes, the proceeds to be used for old age pensions and other forms of social insurance."
• "Appropriation by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for speculation. "

     A larger fraction of that platform has become law in these United States than could be said of either of the “major” parties’ platforms, whether from 1932 or from any subsequent campaign year. Many of them became components of the New Deal.

     Note that the success of the Socialists’ platform was not due to the party’s electoral success; it had none. Rather, starting with the New Deal, the Democrat Party adopted piece after piece of the Socialist agenda and made them its own.

     But let’s not stop there. Have a look at what the Communists have achieved:

     On January 10, 1963, Congressman Albert Herlong entered a list of 45 communist goals (derived from The Naked Communist) into the Congressional Record. Most of those 45 goals have been accomplished. Let’s review some of the most disturbing goals and how they relate to current circumstances.

     Communist Goal 15: Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. DONE. Among other things, the democratic party (including Joe Biden) has adopted avowed socialist Bernie Sanders’ agenda into its platform. It has also incorporated socialist AOC’s plans, including the Green New Deal.

     Communist Goal 17: Get control of the schools. Use them to transmit socialist propaganda. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks. This goal is mostly DONE.

     Communist Goals 20 and 21: Infiltrate and gain control of the press and media. Mostly DONE. Over 85% of the press leans to the left.

     Communist Goals 25 and 26: Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, and TV. Present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.” DONE.

     Communist Goals 29 and 30: Discredit the Constitution and founding fathers as being inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, [and racist]. DONE.

     Communist Goal 31: Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history. DONE.

     Communist Goals 33 and 38: Eliminate laws and law enforcement procedures transferring police power to social agencies (i.e. defund the police, etc.). In process.

     Communist Goals 40 and 41: Discredit the family as an institution and emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. In process.

     Communist Goal 42: Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate means of solving economic, political, or social problems. DONE, as verified by democratic support of Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

     The above lists might not be revelations to you. But ask yourself, Gentle Reader: How did propositions that in 1928 struck the overwhelmingly greater part of Americans as noxious and anti-American become the laws of the land? Do you have an answer? And how, starting from before Cleon Skousen’s 1958 book, did the Left manage to suborn so many institutions critical to Americans’ moral and intellectual well-being?

     That should be enough to keep you awake tonight.