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New York: Comrade Cube In Debate On McCarthyism

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On October 27, 2005 the Cube had its first outing. We went to a debate about The Hollywood Reds, held at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, named "What are the contemporary lessons of McCarthyism?"

The event, held by The Donald & Paula Smith Family Foundation and sponsored by The Nation Magazine, featured publisher of The Nation Magazine Victor Navasky vs. Ronald Radosh of Hudson Institute. The discussion was moderated by Leonard Lopate of WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show.

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Despite its promising title the debate resembled an old argument between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks over the benefits of a glorious people's uprising vs. relentless subversive propaganda and agitation. Occasional eggheads might compare it to a confrontation in one of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's tales, where countries went to a war over which end of a hard-boiled egg should be eaten first - the little end or the big end. Many senior citizens in the elite New York audience clapped and cheered Victor Navasky who maintained that the communists had done more good than harm. His opponent Ronald Radosh, while admitting that communists had done a lot of good, also criticized them for not being better. They should've been more open about their objectives, less secretive in their organization, and not as gullible and trusting of their KGB handlers.

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The very first question from the audience came, of course, from Comrade Cube - addressed to publisher of The Nation who earlier had argued that the Hollywood Reds were good people because they participated in the making of the Wizard of Oz and other famous movies. The question Comrade Cube asked was this: "if the Wizard of Oz was made by the Nazis, would you also consider it a mitigating factor in deciding the morality of Nazism?" Comrade Navasky shouted an unequivocal "NO!" feeling a bit uncomfortable about the way the question was going. And he should be! By the same logic he could have justified the greatness of comrade Stalin by the look of his uniform! Or the genius of Lenin by the amount of light reflected off his vast forehead! Or the omniscience of Karl Marx by the size of his beard! The communists in America had done a great service to the Party not because they were making some stupid Judy Garland movies, but because they worked for the destruction of America and capitalism in general, aiding the selfless KGB agents in their dangerous work in the dark heart of the capitalist beast! Everything else is pointless hairsplitting at best; pathetic subterfuge at worst, empowering the enemy and weakening the class struggle. What's there to discuss? Communism rules, period.

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A little later, Comrade Navasky explained that Communism and National Socialism are different because Communists want to improve the lot of mankind. Well, we all know that! But, if National Socialism is so evil, then what could explain the mutual admiration of Hitler and Stalin – to say nothing of Mussolini's easy transition from Socialism to National Socialism? And besides, it was Hitler himself who said, “We are not fighting Jewish or Christian capitalism, we are fighting every capitalism: We are making the people completely free." Isn't that the ideal way to improve the lot of mankind, Comrade Navasky? If he were an educated man, Comrade Navasky would have known that National Socialism could never be excused for only one reason: The attack on Mother Russia and Comrade Stalin.

Power to the proper people! Comrade Cube knows.




 
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