Russia and the Gospel-2HISTORY

by Desmond Ford

My journey to Russia taught me why the USSRcollapsed. I also caught a glimpse of history's power

struggles, from Marx to Lenin to Stalin.

17\T low, a little recent In,-J.. ~ tory about Russia.

The reason theUSSR collapsed was that during the1970s the infinite reserves of oil andgas proved to be finite. Peoplearound the world didn't know, butall the top Soviet politicians knewtime was running out for the USSR.

They had been selling thei!' "in-finite" resources to other countries.That's what kept the country going.

That's what fed the military machine.In the 1970s, the resources began torun out.

The knowledge explosion also con-tributed to the collapse. The people ofthe USSR were fed myths about theWest for decades. You and I knowthat things in the West are not marvel-ous. There are many crooks in gov-ernment on both sides.

But the knowledge explosionhelped people in the USSR find out

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the truth. The West was not all bad,and the USSRwas not all good.

Transistor radios helped. Litera-ture was smuggled in. Many of theleaders began to change their mindsabout things.

Now, some older history.In the second decade of the

nineteenth century, a Jewish-Germanfamily had nine children. Only oneboy survived. His name was Karl.

In his teens, he was an earnest

Christian. Some of the most beautifulthings about the Christian life were writ-ten by a young Karl Marx.

He went to a Jesuit school andbecame secularized.

Bad Religion DangerousMost of the men who have broughthavoc and bloodshed, pain and mis-elY to the twentieth century were menwho went to church schools. How-ever, the gospel was not known inthese schools, and the religion was badreligion.

Most religion is bad religion. Hitlerwent to a church school. Mussoliniwent to church school. Stalin trainedto be a priest, and went to two theo-logical schools.

"Lilies that fester smell far worsethan weeds" (Shakespeare, Sonnet 94,line 14). The more potentially goodsomething is, the more harm it does ifit goes bad. Religion that can be sogood, has done a terrible amount ofharm. Many men and women of idealswill have nothing to do with religionbecause they see, rightly, the damageit has done.

But we must not throw out thebaby with the bath water. No onecounterfeits $13.00 bills. The reasonthere is counterfeit religion is that thereis genuine religion. True religion is notoutward ritual. It is love to God andhumanity. Anything else is pretense.

KarIMarxKarl Marx [1818-83] was a passionateChristian, until he went to a Jesuitschool. He gave up everything reli-gious and went to Berlin University.For years he lived it up, becoming agreat drinker and smoker.

For the rest of his life he smokedfrom morning until night. He drank.He rarely took baths. He becameknown as an angry young man.

He had a wonderful wife, JennieWestphalan, and he loved her. Hedidn't love her enough, though. Hehad a child out-of-wedlock with a ser-vant and never told the child he wasthe father.

One thing Karl Marx knew noth-ing about (and neither did Jennie) washow to handle money. He was alwaysborrowing money. He came to equatemoney with Jews, the bourgeoisie, and

those who owned the sources of pro-duction, the capitalists. He equated thelot. In his hatred of money lenders, hecame to hate all who had money.

Marx's Personal HabitsMarx had abominable personal habits.Not only did he smoke and drink in-cessantly, he insisted on eating highlyspiced foods.

As a result, for 20 years, he suf-fered from boils everywhere on hisbody. He had them on his eyes, ears,nose, mouth, and other places moreprivate. The stench was so terriblepeople would not stay near him.

Part of the reason Marx was ananglY young man was due to his lackof health. Another reason was his pas-sionate sense of justice. He was angrybecause of the injustices he saw in theworld around him.

Most people don't know, but Marxwas a poet. It took 75 years for theworld to discover some of his bestpoetry. He wrote beautiful poems tohis wife.

He also wrote poems picturing acatastrophe for the world. He had in-herited the Christian eschatology thatthe world is not permanent. One daythings will burn up.

Marx longed to see capitalistic Eu-rope go up in flames. He wrote in DasKapital (while suffering hell from hisboils), "I will give the bourgeoisie causeto remember my carbuncles as long asthe bourgeoisie exists."

He suffered agony for 20 years!He consulted all the doctors, read all

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the medical books, tried all the nos-trums, took all the pills, smeared onall the ointment. All he had to do waschange his diet. Apparently, he neverthought of that.

As an anglY man, he could notkeep friends. The only exception wasFriedrich Engels [1820-95]. That's be-cause Engels always lived at a distancefrom Marx, never near him. Marx wasarrogant and could not argue. He couldonly be a dictator.

Marx was a genius. He could speakall the major languages of Europe. Hewrote beautifully in English, French,and his native German. He learned Rus-sian at 50. Oust look at the Cyrillicalphabet of the Russian language andyou won't be tempted to do what Marxdid.) He did not like Russia. He thoughtit the most backward countiy on earth.

DasKapitalMost of the time he was wntmg hisgreat book, Das Kapital. It is not ascientific book. It is a series of journal-istic essays seething with indignationagainst the ills of the world. That'swhy the book was so popular. It iscorrect in protesting exploitation.

But incorrect in denying the rightto property.

It is fine to have property, as longas you remember it isn't really yours.You are only a steward. If you are agood steward, it's more yours than thenext person's.

Marx Mixed with RichBecause of his ill-health, Marx was use-less by his early 50s. He attended ex-pensive spas (when he could get themoney-he borrowed money until hisdeath). He became a velY bourgeoistype of gentleman with a top hat,marching his family through the parksof England.

Strangely, Marx never went into afactory and never liked associating withproletarians. He preferred the bourgeoi-sie.

He loved to go where the bour-geoisie went. He loved to mix withthe rich. Few think of Marx this way,but it's a fact he loved to be aroundthe wealthy.

Marx diecl at 65. He died earlier(metaphorically) when his wife died.He was resurrected (metaphorically) 40

years after his death ... in the personof Lenin.

Lenin's RevengeVladimir Lenin [1870-1924]had a brotherhe greatly loved. The czar put Lenin's21-year-old brother to death. Lenin said,"I swear I will be avenged."

For 30 years, Lenin worked under-ground, fomenting strikes and rebel-lion among workers and students. Hewas exiled.

When World War I began, the Rus-sians had millions of men in the army.Though not vety efficient, the army wasa nuisance to the Germans because ofits size. A German leader said, "Wewill send a plague bacillus to Russia.They are a thorn in our side."

That plague bacillus was put aboarda sealed train and sent through Ger-many, through neutral Sweden and Fin-land, and delivered at Petrograd. Thatplague was Lenin and 29 other Bolshe-viks.

Lenin's DreamLenin was a great orator. He was notas smart as Trotsky, but was a lotsmarter than Stalin. (Stalin means "Manof Steel." Stalin behaved that way.)There was only a handful of Bolshe-viks when Lenin began his work. Butthousands responded to his speechesin the months before the Revolutionoverwhelmed Russia.

Lenin longed for exploitation tocease and for equality to reign. It's im-pOltant to remember that Marx hopedfor a state governed by the workers.Marx said, "Then the state will witheraway. There will be a state where therewill be perfect equality. Exploitation willbe unknown. There will be no bureau-cracy. Then there will be no state. Justdemocratic processes controlled by theworkers."

This is a worthy dream, and manyare attracted to it. However, things gotout of hand. In the days of Lenin, theCommunist Patty replaced the work-ers. In the days of Stalin, a man re-placed the party.

Lenin Warns of StalinThe czar executed 17 people a year. In1918, Lenin set up the Cheka secretpolice (now KGB). One thousand amonth were now killed. Close to his

death, Lenin said, "I have wronged theRussian people." He realized he hadbuilt a bureaucracy worse than theczar's.

He had worked very hard. He'dbarely survived an assassination, whena woman shot him. At 51, he began tolearn that whatever you sow you reap.He had three strokes. He became frus-trated, and angry. He did his best torecover his health. He made what con-tribution he could to the revolutionthat has now conquered Russia.

After four years of frustration, an-ger, inability, and impotence, he wrotea will. It read, "I say to my comrades,they must do something about com-rade Stalin. Our comrade is a rude man.While we Communists can accept thatusually, it is not good in a general-secretary. He is always at odds withbrother Trotsky. I suggest that my com-rades move comrade Stalin to anotherposition."

Stalin (whom Trotsky called, "themost eminent mediocrity of the Party")knew how to scheme. These words ofLenin were never made public untilKhmshchev revealed them years later.Stalin plotted until he was elected toLenin's position.

Lenin as GodStalin pretended innocence all this time.He made Lenin into a god for thepeople.

That's because people cannot livewithout a religion. All manner of reli-gions exist. Whatever you love most

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becomes your religion.When the Communists banished

the Bible, they substituted anotherbible, Das Kapital. (Only one volumewas written by Marx. The other twowere compiled by Engels.)

Lenin hoped to do something note-worthy to realize the Marxian dream,but failed miserably. Nevertheless, hewas canonized, and became a god.

I remember returning from the vil-lages at 2:00 a.m., and rejoicing to seethe statue of Lenin. I was back in thecity. We traveled another hour and ahalf, and saw more statues of Lenin.Statues of Lenin are everywhere.

I joined the other tourists in lineto enter the mausoleum to see themummified Lenin. Such a midget of aman! They took his brain out!

Stalin was enshrined beside himfor seven years. Then Khrushchev re-vealed how Stalin murdered nearly 70percent of the Party leaders, state lead-ers, and army officers. Stalin's bodywas removed after that.

Stalin's BrutalityJoseph Stalin [1879-1953] spent fouryears ridding himself of his opposi-tion.

Trotsky was always criticizing Stalinand the criticism was well-founded.Trotsky was much more brilliant thanStalin, and was Lenin's right-hand-manduring the Revolution. (Stalin later hadhistory books rewritten to say Stalinwas Lenin's right-hand-man.)

Stalin expelled Trotsky from theParty, and two years later, expelledhim from the country. Stalin had as-sassins pursue Trotsky from country tocountry for 11 years. Finally, in 1940,Trotsky was killed in Mexico by anassassin wielding an ice pick.

In 1929, Stalin became dictator. Hehad long been in charge, but now hewas acknowledged as the supremeleader. He immediately began the col-lectivization of the farms. (This was tolead to his ultimate goal of industrial-izing Russia.)

Stalin's collectivization was donebrutally, with much cruelty.Solzhenitsyn says Stalin was respon-sible for the death of one in everythree people in the country. This seemsunbelievable until you readSolzhenitsyn's book, The Remaking of

Russia. He writes that Stalin was un-naturally extravagant with human lifein WWII. The Russians could have wonon the Eastern Front without the ter-rible losses they suffered.

Twenty million Russians were putto death on false charges. No personcharged by a Russian court in the 1930swas ever found innocent-not one.

Stalin was responsible for famine,also. His collectivization-that was topave the way for industrialization-brought famine. The people were soangry at collectivization they slaugh-tered 18 million horses, 19 millioncattle, and 90 million sheep. Half thecountry's livestock was destroyed bythe small land owners, or kulaks.

"Kulak" means "skinflint." Stalincalled all the people who had pros-perous farms "skinflints." He claimedthey did not contribute anything to Rus-sia. They thought only of themselves.When Churchill asked Stalin how manykulaks he wiped out, Stalin held up allhis stubby fingers and said, "Ten mil-lion." That is a gross understatement.

With half the livestock destroyed,half the crops burned, and farm ma-chinelY sabotaged by angry peasants-there came famine. Millions perishedwhile Stalin sold grain to other coun-tries; grain that would have kept hisown people alive.

Nadezhda (or Nadia), Stalin's sec-ond wife, poured out her anguish tohim one evening. He was drinking andchatting with his henchmen, and shewept about what was happening tothe peasantry. Stalin replied violently.

The next morning, Nadia wasfound dead. The official verdict wassuicide.

Stalin's PowerStalin did not have many obvious badcharacteristics. But one weakness domi-nated him. He wanted unlimited power.Anyone who threatened that ambitionwas killed.

In 1934, he killed 98 of the 139-member Central Committee. This was98 of the country's key leaders. Hekilled 1,000 Communist delegates fromother countries who came to attend agreat convention. This was one-half ofthe foreign delegates.

He instituted a series of show tri-als that lasted for years. He took all

the Bolshevik leaders from years past-his comrades-in-arms in 1917-and putthem on trial. Through torture, he madethem confess to economic sabotageand attempted assassination. Thecharges were all false, but Stalin hadthem shot anyway. He killed at least20 million people through false accu-sation.

Others he sent to labor camps, thegulags. The phrase "gulag archipelago"comes from the fact that, if you imag-ine Siberia as a vast sea, the campswere dotted across it like little islands.

Few prisoners ever returned fromthese camps with their harsh workingconditions and subzero temperatures.

The people were told Stalin wasvery wise, a great god. Yet all the whilehe was paranoid.

Busts of Stalin were placed every-where. If you went to a movie, Stalin'sbust was in the foyer. If you went intoa schoolroom there was a bust of Stalin.

Two thousand songs were writtenabout Stalin.

Stalin Fooled ManyStalin planned another great purge, justbefore his death. When he died in 1953,the Kremlin leaders heaved a sigh ofrelief, and dropped all the charges.They knew the charges came fromStalin's paranoia.

No one ever knew where Stalinwould sleep at night. He did not makeup his mind until late in the day. Heslept in a different bed every night toavoid being murdered.

How easy it is to be fooled. WhenI was a boy back in 1942, I wouldwatch the newsreels and see Stalin."What a nice old codger he looks," Iwould think. "He'd be great for agrandfather." In fact, he was the mostbrutal, bloody murderer the world hasever known.

A few years after his death,Khrushchev exposed him. There werereverberations throughout the Commu-nist world. Khrushchev's speech in 1956was not supposed to be transcribed.But it was, and was published aroundthe world. The shocking truth aboutStalin was told for the first time.

Stalin Bungled Hitler's InvasionAt the beginning of Hitler's invasion ofRussia (Operation Barbarossa) in WWII,

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Hitler's wehrmacht drove 450 miles inRussia in only one month. How couldthe German army be so successful?

A major reason was that Stalin hadkilled most of his good generals. Hekilled anyone with talent and ability,anyone who might be a threat to him.

This was a normal policy from theRevolution on. The question was not,"Are you plotting and scheming tooverthrow the leader?" The questionwas, "Do you belong to a class thatmight threaten the leader?"

At the beginning of the Nazi inva-sion, Stalin did nothing for 15 days.He could not believe that Hitler wouldinvade. Stalin was warned by theAmericans and by his own intelligenceservices, but he would not believe it.He lost hundreds of tanks and planes.

He suffered terrible defeat, untilthe people rallied. The Russian peopleare very patriotic. Everywhere in Rus-sia there are monuments to those whodied in "The Great Patriotic War," asthey call it.

Miracle of FreedomWhen the Soviet satellite countries weretaken over, they were turned into mini-Soviet Unions. One-party rule was es-tablished; only one party.

(Today, in the former USSR, thereare over 1,000 political parties, mostof them small.)

All the satellite countries replicatedwhat Stalin had done: one party rule,secret police, control of the press, slavecamps, minimal contact with the West,and show trials. Poland, Hungary,Czechoslovakia, East Germany, andLithuania were all forced to fit this onepattern.

It took Poland ten years to breakfree of the Soviet empire. It took Hun-galY ten months. It took ten weeks forEast Germany. It took ten days for theother satellite states.

What a miracle! .:.