PRELUDE TO SUBVERSIONAll warfare is based primarily on the deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight—by SUBVERTING anything of value in the enemy’s country.Sun Tzu
Chinese philosopher
500 B.C.
The art of duping the masses into doing things to their own disadvantage and making them believe it is "the will of people" is as ancient as mankind itself.
The essence of subversion is best expressed in the famous Marxist slogan, (if you substitute "proletarians" for a more appropriate word): "Useful idiots of the world UNITE!” To achieve the desired effect, the subverter must first make idiots out of normal people, and DIVIDE them, before turning the people into a homogenized mass of useful and united idiots. Tanks and missiles mayor may not be needed at final stage. For the time being they are simply the means of terrorizing people into inaction and submission.
500 years before Christ, the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
1. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent's country.Sound familiar? About 2500 years later we can read this very same instruction in a secret document, allegedly authored by the Communist International for their "young revolutionaries". The document is titled "Rules of Revolution":
2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time;
3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals of your enemy's country.
5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
6. Turn the young against the old.
7. Be generous with promises and rewards to collaborators and accomplices.
1. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.I can not vouch for authenticity of this document, which, according to American conservative media was captured by the Allied forces alter WW II in defeated Germany, in Dusseldorf. But I can assure you, that these “rules” are almost a literal interpretation of those “theories and practices” which I learned from my KGB superiors and colleagues within the 'Novosti' Press Agency.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5. By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. Incite unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of the government towards such disorders.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.
Yes, I am well aware of the possibility, that nothing I write here is a “sensational revelation” to many of you. What I did was simply to structure my knowledge and experience with the Soviet subversion system into a simple and graphic record. To help you to get an overall picture of the SUBVERSION process, let me first outline for you the movement of a target nation from the state of “open society” to a “closed” one. This outline is taken from secret, not so secret and absolutely non-secret Marxist literature: An “open society” is the one you are living now. You can work in it, or choose not to work, have private property or have nothing at all, love it or leave it, criticize it without fear of being declared an “enemy of people.” It is a society, based on free individual initiative and the free market system.All you have to do to “screw up” the status quo of a free nation, is to borrow ONE false idea from the ideology of a communist or totalitarian government. For the sake of simplicity, I have chosen the idea of “egalitarianism.” “People born equal therefore must be equal.” Sounds great. But look at yourselves. Were you born equal? Some of you weighed 7 pounds at birth, others 6 or 5... Are you NOW equal? In any way? Physically, mentally, emotionally, racially, spiritually? Some are tall and dumb, others short, bald and clever. Now, let's figure out what will happen if we LEGISLATE EQUALITY, and make the concept of “equality” a cornerstone and pillar of socio-economical and political system. All right? You don't have to be a great economist or sociologist to foresee that some of the people who are “less equal” would demand as much as those who are “more equal” BY LAW!
Aha, now you've got it. There will be some who get more for GIVING less and take advantage of those, who are even “less equal,” say, in the art of TAKING. And to avoid the squabble for “equal redistribution” you will have to introduce a THIRD FORCE-- the State. Why? Because people were never equal, are not equal and if God wanted us to be equal He would probably have made us equal.
No. He provided a difference. “Vive la Difference!”-- said the French before the French Revolution. And they were right.
The beauty of the best, most successful political/ economic system, created by the Fathers of America has nothing to do with LEGISLATED or enforced equality. The American Republic is based on the principle of EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES for UNEQUAL and very much DIFFERENT and diverse individuals to develop their abilities and to coexist in mutually beneficial cooperation. And that is entirely different story. That much I knew even from the Soviet textbooks of American history.
Now let's move faster. People who have declared themselves to be equal will inevitably come to expect more for their individual needs, which sooner or later will tragically come to conflict with the “unequal” reality. That will automatically produce discontent. Unhappy and discontent masses are less productive than those who are happy being what they are and making the best of it. Decreased productivity, as we all know, leads to such unpleasant things as inflation, unemployment and recession. These, in turn, cause social unrest and instability, both economical and political.
Chronic instability breeds radicalism as a means of solving problems. Radicalism is the precondition of a power struggle which may (and has often) resulted in violent and forceful replacements of power structures. If the situation deteriorates badly, this replacement takes ugly forms of internal civil war, or revolution. or invasion of a “friendly and fraternal” neighbor, and finally ends up in the traditional way-- namely, state control. Depending on maturity of a nation, and the amount (or absence) of common sense, this control will manifest itself in the creation of a “closed society”-- the opposite of what we had in the beginning. Borders are closed, censorship of the media is established, “irritants” and “enemies” of the state are executed, etc.
This is my 'simplistic' and highly 'unscientific' outline of the events which have happened in many countries of the world. Any nation is able to do this to herself without any help from comrades Andropov and Brezhnev and their numerous KGB agents. Any one of you can easily observe this vicious chain of events by simply reading your newspapers regularly or even watching the TV.
What many of you do not see, is the second “chain” of events which I graphically represent in the following chart (see page 22) [next image] of the FOUR STAGES OF SUBVERSION: 1) DEMORALIZATION, DESTABILIZATION, 3) CRISIS ,4) “NORMALIZATION.” What has all this to do with the KGB? Very simple: these are the 'most favourable conditions' listed in any Marxist textbook of revolutionary struggle. I have simply placed them in chronological order and divided them into three vertical columns: the areas of application, the methods of subversion and the expected (or achieved) results.In the context of the USA, most of these nasty things are done to America by Americans... with the IDEOLOGICAL help of the Communist subverters. Most of the actions are overt, legitimate, and easily identifiable. The only trouble is they are “stretched in time.” In other words, the process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be: like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CAN NOT SEE it moving.
The main principle of ideological subversion is TURNING A STRONGER FORCE AGAINST ITSELF. Just like in. the Japanese martial arts: you do not stop the blow of a heavier more powerful enemy with an equally forceful blow. You may simply hurt your hand. Instead you catch the striking fist with your hand and PULL the enemy in the direction of his blow until he crashes into a wall or any other heavy object in his way.
America is obviously a “stronger force” that Communism is unable to defeat. But it is possible to conquer this nation using the preconditions I have described, created by Americans themselves, and diverting America's attention away from these mortally dangerous preconditions. The situation is similar to a house, the owners of which have stored explosives and inflammable materials INSIDE. To destroy this house the enemy docs not have to intrude physically into it. It is enough to start a fire next door and wait till the wind blows in the right direction. Meanwhile the enemy may “throw in some great ideas” for the owners to argue about in order to take their attention off the actual fire: environmental protection, gay liberation or emancipation of house pets are the types of non-critical arguments that divert America's attention from the real danger. Smart people would notice the fire and remove the inflammable objects and materials BEFORE the house catches the fire. Useful idiots will keep arguing about whether it is constitutional or not to pay firefighters, or the equality of husband and wife in domestic chores (who should remove the combustibles), until the actual explosion blows their enfeebled brains all over the neighbourhood.
Now, let us get back to my chart. I know it is going to be somewhat boring. But my purpose is not to entertain you but to explain what my former KGB bosses consider important for your “liberation.”
STAGE ONE: DEMORALIZATION
This process has many names: psychological warfare, ideological aggression, propaganda warfare etc. The KGB calls it “Active Measures.” Since my defection from the USSR embassy in 1970, I have been trying desperately to explain to the Western media, politicians, “intelligence community” and your “academic-sovietologists” that Active Measures are more important and dangerous than classic espionage-- James Bond style.
At long last, in 1983, in his new book “KGB Today” John Barron accurately and excellently described the process of demoralization, basing some of his analysis on the data supplied by another KGB defector, KGB official, Stanislav Levchenko-- incidentally, my former schoolmate from the Oriental Studies Institute who was later stationed in Tokyo, Japan under the guise of correspondent with “New Time” magazine.
Stanislav Levchenko succeeded where I failed: he brought the Active Measures to the attention of American public. The purpose of this process is to change your perception of reality to such an extent, that even despite an abundance of information and evidence about the danger of Communism, you are unable to come to sensible conclusions in your own interests and in the interests of your nation.
John Barron ominously titled one chapter of his book, dedicated to analysis of the Active Measures, “Reality Upside Down.” Excellent title! This is exactly what my KGB gurus of subversion in 'Novosti' Press Agency taught me. One of the main tactics in this process is to develop, establish and consistently enforce a set of 'double standards': one in relation to the USSR, another to the USA.
Western analysts have already pointed out the diverse tactics of “Active Measures.” Some of these were exactly the ones I was trained to use while working with foreign delegations in Moscow and the USSR embassy in New Delhi: overt and covert propaganda; use of “Agents of Influence,” faked 'International Forums' created by KGB Novosti to bring the atmosphere of legitimacy and respectability to Soviet operations; provoking and manipulating mass demonstrations and assemblies; spreading rumours and 'reliable information from circles close to Politbureau'; forgeries of USA Information Service press-releases; planting phony stories in local media; creating hundreds of tabloid newspapers subsidized by the USSR embassy through front organizations and fake 'advertising' companies for the purpose of 'legally' financing groups of subversives and radicals, etc. Other tactics, such as sabotage, character assassination of 'stubborn' Indians resisting Soviet subversion, terrorism and even occasional killings of 'reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries' for the psychological effect of 'paralyzing with fear'-- these also were used by my KGB colleagues from other departments of the USSR embassy.
I am less familiar with these aspects of the subversion process. My role as a 'legitimate' and overt public relations man and a 'charismatic' socializer was directed by the KGB mainly at the initial stage of subversion. After a certain period of befriending and 'cultivating' foreigners, I had to provide my KGB supervisor with my 'psychological assessment' of the target individual (or group) and pass them over to the “professionals” for further 'processing' and recruitment. Nevertheless, I was able to reconstruct the overall picture of the process rather accurately, and, unlike the Western 'sovietologists', come to more systematic and logical description of subversion.
What I offer you now is a chart as simple as a multiplication table and as complex as calculus. This is THE FIRST TIME this chart has ever been published, in its entirety.
Let us start with the first stage of DEMORALIZATION. It takes about 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many (or few)? Simple: this is the minimum number of years needed to 'educate' ONE GENERATION of students in a target country (America, for example) and expose them to the ideology of the subverter. It is imperative that any sufficient challenge and counter-balance by the basic moral values and ideology of this country be eliminated. In absence of ANY cohesive and consistent national ideology, the task of the subverter becomes even easier. In the USA, as we all know, there is MULTIPLICITY of ideas and ideologies today, without proper emphasis on the main and basic American ideology of the original republic and the free market system. It is not even considered 'intellectual' or fashionable these days to subscribe entirely to this 'outmoded' set of ideas.
To be successful, the process of subversion at the stage of DEMORALIZATION must be always and only a TWO-WAY street which means that the target nation MUST be made a RECIPIENT-- passive or active-- of the IDEAS of the subverter. Democracy is by definition a RECIPIENT of a multiplicity of ideologies and values, whether good or bad. Unfortunately 'bad' ideas are often proven and revealed only after a long period of time, during which many have absorbed them and allowed them to change their nation's attitudes and behaviour. Ancient Japanese rulers understood this principle very well when they virtually ISOLATED their nation from ANY foreign influence-- good, bad or neutral. Imperial Japan was 'preserved' in its own set of historical values long enough to bring up a mature and morally stable nation able to make the change to an entirely new technological civilization with negligible damage to national fibre. More than that: the Japanese, although reluctantly, opened up to Western values and surpassed the West in the shortest possible historical span since the World War II, becoming one of the greatest industrialized and technologically advanced powers in the world. Without such 'maturity' a nation may ill¬conceive even the most favourable foreign influence which is clearly demonstrated by a number of 'decolonized' Third World countries prematurely embracing parliamentary democracy.
But if and when an outside influence is purposely ill-intended, an immature nation-- or a nation with a neglected indigenous ideology (America)-- automatically becomes a recipient of SUBVERSION in its early stage of DEMORALIZATION.
The successful demoralization is an IRREVOCABLE process, at least for another generation. Why'? Let us take an example: the semi¬literate and unstable American generation of the 'crazy' 1960's is now approaching the age of 40. These people, who were too preoccupied with protesting the Vietnam war, the drug/ rock music scene, taking part in 'love-ins' etc., to study and prepare for assuming their civil responsibilities, are now in positions of power and decision-making in government, business, media, social life, entertainment (Hollywood), military, and intelligence services. Not all of them? OK, some of them are. You are STUCK with them, until they retire or resign. You cannot fire them it's against union regulations. You cannot, unlike the USSR, send them to Alaska, after declaring them 'enemies of people.' You can not even openly and effectively criticize them-- they have invaded the media and control public opinion. Un1ess you want to be cal1ed 'McCarthyist,' you cannot change their attitudes and mores. At this age people are usually 'set' in their ways as individuals. YOU ARE STUCK with them. THEY change your attitudes and opinions, they navigate the domestic and foreign affairs, they are making decisions and choices for YOU, whether you like it or not.
To change the direction of America's future and to return to the basic American values, proven to be efficient and productive for almost 200 years of historically unprecedented freedom and affluence, you have to educate a NEW generation of Americans, this time in the spirit of patriotism and CAPITALISM. All right, you don't want to 'return.’ You'd rather have something new and progressive AND constructive, to make America once again respected and loved all over the world, so that the recipients of t he U.S. aid no longer shout 'Yankee Go Home’? In any case, even if you start the education of a NEW generation of Americans RIGHT THIS MINUTE, it will take you the next 15 to 20 years to raise this new generation to the levels of power and authority.
You may reduce this period of time if you can make an enormous ALL-NATION effort in an atmosphere of prevailing UNITY and CONSENSUS. It will take a miracle (or another national disaster, such as a new world war, God forbid) to make Americans embrace ONE American ideology and to act in ONE direction after decades of disunity, dispute, partisan antagonisms and self-castigation.
Therefore, let's be realistic: the DEMORALIZATION, whether self-inflicted or imported, is usually an IRREVERSIBLE-- for one generation at least-- process.
THE THREE LEVELS OF DEMORALIZATION
Now, let us see the same stage of demoralization from the stand¬point of the SUBVERTER. Communist manipulators divide the areas of APPLICATION of their efforts into THREE LEVELS. The process of demoralization operates simultaneously on all three levels, which I call for the sake of simplicity: 1) the level of IDEAS (consciousness); 2) the level of STRUCTURES (socio-political setup of a nation); and 3) the level of LIFE (which includes all the areas of MATERIAL existence of a nation, the 'fibre of life' so to say).
The level of IDEAS, the highest level of subversion, affects such vital areas as religion, education, media, and culture, to name just a few of the most important ones. If we look back in history of mankind, we may notice that the greatest upheavals and changes were caused by IDEAS, by faiths and beliefs, not by KNOWLEDGE or THINGS. Few people sacrifice their comforts and lives for such trivial things as a new car. Scientific knowledge seldom generates strong collective emotions. Many scientists have preferred life and affluence to death for scientific truth. I have never heard of a man who would staunchly face a firing squad for the sake of defending the truth of the Law of Gravity or 2x2=4. But FAITH in the seemingly irrelevant (at the time) and immaterial teachings of Jesus Christ generated such tremendous MORAL FORCE in MILLIONS of human beings for the past TWO THOUSAND YEARS, that people willingly and happily accept violent death and tortures rather than deny their belief in Christ!
Communism and its Marxist-Leninist dogma, according to some thinkers (Dr. George Steiner for one), is another distorted form of FAITH, able to inspire martyrdom in millions. Substituting the traditional values of the Judeo-Christian heritage with this Marxist-Satanic faith is one of the basic principles of subversion at the stage of DEMORALIZATION the highest and most effective level of IDEAS. The methods are as primitive as they are predictable. You do not have to be a graduate of a KGB school or Harvard University to figure out what kind of INTERACTION between the subverter (KGB) and target (American brains) occurs on this level.
All the SUBVERTER-- be it Andropov's KGB or any other purposeful group or organization hell-bent on the idea of a “New World Order” has to do is to study the areas where your nation's IDEAS could be eroded and substituted, and then slowly but consistently affect these areas by sending infiltrating Agents of Influence to inject new ideas, disseminate propagandist literature, and encourage self-destructive tendencies.
All subverter has to do to remove the spiritual backbone of America is to help you to POLITICIZE, COMMERCIALIZE and 'ENTERTAINMENT-ALIZE' the dominant religions. There are many other contributing factors the subverter can also take advantage of, such as the development and spreading of various religious cults, including Satanic and Death cults; preaching moral relativity and removing religion (and prayer, ANY prayer) from schools; creating 'personality cults' in religion whereby the preacher becomes the center and object or divine worship, not God (often your religious charlatans claims to be 'incarnations' of God, or even God Himself) etc.
I have selected the above three main methods because I am most familiar with them. These methods were used by myself and my KGB-Novosti colleagues and these methods have proven to be sufficiently efficient. We did not have to bother with such silliness for example as recruiting Billy Graham and forcing him to tell outrageous lies about “the existence of religious freedom in the Soviet Union” in state-run churches in Moscow.
Let's start with the most 'innocent' method of destroying religion, namely, making it ENTERTAINING. To attract people AND MONEY to 'established' religious organizations some churches have literally become theaters conducting variety shows featuring celebrities from the entertainment 'industry' who perform for 'fees.’ The KGB Agents of Influence may or may not have to physically manipulate these entertainment arrangements. The indiscriminate choice of the 'celebrities' for these church 'performances' is usually quite pleasing to the KGB. A group of rock or pop-musicians with a message of 'social-justice' sugar-coated in popular 'spiritual' tunes can be actually more helpful to the KGB than someone standing in the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine. The sugar-sweet messages of social equality from the crooning mouths of the entertainers is quite enough to accomplish the aims of the KGB without any overt activity on their part.
COMMERCIALIZATION of religion does the same thing. If the church has to SOLICIT your money and remind you over and over again in every TV show to contribute (with telephone numbers to pledge donations), that only means and infers that there is something basically wrong with your faith. Faithful people do not have to be ASKED for money, they tithe to their churches voluntarily and eagerly. Unhealthy competition for donations between various 'electronic churches' does two things beneficial to the subverter (KGB): 1) it makes religion dependent on the most successful 'salesmen' of God (and these salesmen may not necessarily be, they DONT HAVE to be, of the highest moral standards) thus, truly moral, God-centered people are turned off by organized religion and 2) it EMPTIES regular churches, where you have to practice your religion by personal physical presence and participation and involvement. All the subverter has to do now is to keep on further discrediting the main body of the church, by harping at religion in general as “just another means of the capitalist exploitation of masses, and a profit-oriented opiate of the people.” And the Soviet propaganda, and its fronts such as 'Novosti' Press Agency does exactly that, and quite successfully, through thousands of 'liberal' and 'leftist' media establishments in the USA.
Politicizing religion is the most efficient method of demoralizing a target nation. Once a nation starts giving to Caesar what belongs to God, and getting God involved in such things as 'social justice' and partisan political squabbles, it predictably loses what religion calls mercy and the grace of God. To put it in 'atheistic' terms, a target country allows the subverter to use the area of moral values for dissemination and enforcement of amoral ideas and policies. The most powerful instrument of this process is an organization called World Council of Churches, infiltrated by the KGB to such extent, that it is hard to distinguish, these days, a priest from a spy. Being a public relations officer for Novosti, I accompanied many foreign members of the WCC during their visits to the USSR. Some of them struck me as individuals pathologically unable to say or hear truth. They were simply allergic to any facts or opinions which would 'undermine' their 'spiritual' affiliation with the Soviet manipulators. Archbishop and president (!) Macarios of Cyprus was one such 'religious 'visitor. Skillfully combining both God's and Caesar’s things, Macarios was extremely effective in bringing the desperately needed air of legitimacy and 'holiness' to the junta of the Soviet mass murderers and oppressors of religion. His photogenic presence at various 'international forums' in Moscow great1y promoted ACCEPTABILITY of the Soviet influence in the 'non-aligned' and 'developing' countries.
When, after my defection to the West, I find Trotskyite publications in a United Church of Canada, or see Nicaraguan Catholic Church 'fathers' with Soviet-made Kalashnikov machine guns hung over their church robes, or read about 'humanitarian' aid from the American Council of Churches given to African mass-murderers and terrorists, who were trained in my old country by the KGB, I do not 'suspect'-- I KNOW these things to be what they are-- direct results of the Communist SUBVERSION of religion. I do not need any 'evidence' of 'links' between the KGB and the church. The complete confusion of God-related and politically subverted related goals are obvious.
In the extreme left column of my chart you can see the RESULTS of DEMORALIZATION in each individual area on each level of subversion. The result of the demoralization of religion is a phenomenon referred to as the “death wish.” This expression is borrowed from a book by a Soviet dissident writer, Igor Shafarevich, titled “Socialism as a Historical Phenomenon” [The Socialist Phenomenon (read online)]. (YMCA Press, Paris, 1977) Dr. Shafarevich in analyzing the 'dead' civilizations of Egypt, Maya, Mohenjo-Dara, Babylon, etc., comes to an ominous conclusion: EVERY ONE OF THESE CIVILIZATIONS DIED WHEN PEOPLE REJECTED RELIGION AND GOD, AND TRIED TO CREATE 'SOCIAL JUSTICE' ALONG THE SOCIALIST PRINCIPLES. Thus, Socialism, according to Shafarevich, may be a manifestation of an inborn human instinct of SELF-DESTRUCTION, if unrestrained-- leading ultimately to PHYSICAL DEATH OF ALL MANKIND.
'Mass' education
This is another area of subversion at the stage of demoralization. The Marxist-Leninist concept of education emphasizes 'environment' and 'mass' character of education over individual abilities and quality. When American media enthusiastically reports (repeating Soviet propaganda cliches) about 'achievements of Soviet science,' they usually obscure the IDEOLOGICAL aspects and purposes of the Communist system of education. 'Massiveness' and 'universality' of education attracts Western sociologists and governmental bureaucracies alike. For the 'developing' nations this seems to be the easiest short-cut to many contemporary problems.
The Western public seldom receives the explanation of THE PRICE or the state-controlled Socialist-type education: political conformity to dictatorship, ideological brainwashing, lack of individual initiative in 'educated masses,’ lagging behind in development of science and technology. It is a commonly known fact that most of the Soviet 'technological marvels' are stolen, bought or 'borrowed' from the West. Most of the scientific and technological research in the USSR is 'productive' only and always in the most destructive area: the military. My motherland is still, after more than half century of 'victorious Socialism,’ a country without even common household refrigerators, and yet boasts of their 'space exploration' and tremendous military might, which have done absolutely nothing to improve the day to day life of Soviet citizens.
The American romance with state-run education as encouraged by KGB subverters has already produced generations of graduates who cannot spell, cannot find Nicaragua on a world map, cannot THINK creatively and independently. I wonder if Albert Einstein would have arrived at his Theory of Relativity if he had been educated in one of today’s American public schools. Most likely he would have 'discovered' marijuana and variant methods of sexual intercourse instead. Wouldn't you agree that KGB sponsored demoralization is not going to produce the dynamic, talented and fruitful young Americans of the future') Contemporary American permissiveness and moral relativity in education have greatly facilitated Soviet ideological subversion tactics.
The main methods of Soviet DEMORALIZATION of American education are:1. Student Exchanges whereby American students and professors go to Moscow and are exposed to ideological brainwashing sometimes lacking the proper education that would allow them to assess the Soviet information they receive objectively.
2. Flooding of campus bookstores with Marxist and Socialist literature published both in the USSR and by domestic ‘fellow travelers’;
3. International seminars and conferences with Soviet participation, where Soviet propaganda seldom is balanced by opposing viewpoints;
4. Infiltration of schools and universities by radicals, leftists, and simply 'disturbers,’ often functioning unknowingly under the direct guidance of KGB Agents of Influence.
5. Establishing numerous 'student' newspapers and magazines, staffed with Communists and sympathizers;
6. Organizing 'study groups' and 'circles' for dissemination of Soviet propaganda and Communist ideology.
The eventual result is very predictable: ignorance combined with anti-Americanism. That's good enough for the KGB at this stage of subversion.
The American media is a willing recipient of Soviet subversion. I know this, because I worked with American journalists and correspondents in Moscow while on the Soviet side, and after my defection to the West. People habitually refer to the American media as 'free,’ ignoring the obvious and commonly known fact that most of the most powerful media in the USA, is already MONOPOLIZED both financially and ideologically by what are referred to as 'liberals.’ American media 'chains' BELONG to fewer and fewer owners, who, do not seem to mind that the media is being almost totally 'liberalized.’ Liberalism, in its old classical sense, means above all, respect to individual opinion and tolerance to opposing views. However, in my own experience, communist defectors who have requested and sometimes literally begged, to have stories of their life in the Soviet Union told to the American people via the major American media have been completely ignored.
One of the most devastating methods of Soviet subversion in American media is the DISCREDITING of authors like myself and the information and opinion of those who come up with clear evidence of Communist crimes against mankind. This method is well described in my forthcoming book entirely dedicated to the activity of the 'Novosti' Press Agency.Introduction of NON-ISSUES is another powerful method of demoralizing at the level of IDEAS. It will take another full size book to describe in detail this method. Suffice it will be here to give a brief definition of NON-ISSUES. An issue, the solution of which creates more and bigger problems for majority of a nation, even though it may benefit a few, is a non-issue (civil rights of homosexuals is not an issue; defending sexual morality is the larger, real issue). The main purpose of non-issues and the devastating result of their introduction is the SIDE-TRACKING of public opinion, energy (both mental and physical), money and TIME from the constructive solutions. Soviet propaganda elevated the art of infiltrating and emphasizing non-issues in American public life to the level of actual state policy.
Addictive 'mass culture'
Years ago, when I was scanning through a pile of Western newspapers in Novosti's Moscow headquarters, I came across a column written by a Canadian writer, Gregory Clark in the “Toronto Star.” Here it is in full. I have saved it for my files:
If I were a Communist agent in America with millions of dollars to spend annually I would not waste it in bribing pubic servants to give away state secrets. But I would lavish and encourage the sleazy tune-smiths of that region to turnout more and more garage 'culture'... Gaggled-headed and obscure musicians would be helped to prominence. I would seek out the more questionable publishers of the dirtier paperbacks and slip them a few hundred thousand so they could set up more respectable head offices. Wherever trend shows towards the beat generation I would offer it a helping hand. Anything that prompted the insubordination of teenagers, anything that contributes to the confusion and exasperation of parents would be most liberally endowed. The basic intention of my spending would be to break down the discipline, encourage relaxation of authority of every kind so as to build up, in as short time as possible, an adult generation that could easily go out of control.
America would look desperately around for any kind of discipline to rescue them and THERE-- pretty as a picture, would be Communism, the most iron-fisted discipline since Sparta. The victory would be bloodless... Except of course in concentration camps, torture, prisons, and few things like that. But nobody would know about that because of censorship of the press.
This was written in 1959! The accuracy of this description of OUR activity stunned me. We had just completed 'helping a gaggle-headed' Communist entertainer, Yves Montand to 'prominence' in Moscow and were halfway through with publicly elevating 'obscure' Indian filmmaker Raj Kapoor to 'fame.’ The editorial offices of Novosti were teaming with 'sleazy' foreign singers, poets, writers, artists, musicians and 'intellectuals' coming to my country for support in their 'progressive struggle' against their own 'decadent capitalist' societies...There is not much I can add to that statement of a wise Canadian columnist today. Yes, KGB encourages DEMORALIZATION of America through the 'mass culture' by relying upon the help of the “useful idiots” of the entertainment business. No, the Beatles, Punks and Michael Jackson are not on the KGB payroll. They are on YOUR payroll. All the KGB had to do is to slowly and gradually CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDES and kill your RESISTANCE to the demoralizing addiction your kids call 'music,’ make it acceptable, NORMAL; make it a part of 'American culture' where it docs not belong and never did.
Continued in Part Three.
