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> Independent enthusiasm was welcomed when it was minor and useful (like in western communist parties, or the recruiting of western volunteers for Spain) but cr
by microcolonel 8y ago
> Independent enthusiasm was welcomed when it was minor and useful (like in western communist parties, or the recruiting of western volunteers for Spain) but crushed completely if it had any chance of getting in the way of naked power (like the pre-war Polish communists, almost all murdered).
True believers are vulnerable because they are too stupid or too delusional to realize the weakness of their cookie cutter ideology. Invariably, true believers are converted to useful idiots if there is anyone who wants them (or sometimes upgraded to cynical tyrants).
- Can_Not 8y agoI think it's pretty disingenuous to pretend like "true believers" and "blinded by utopian visions" are legitimate talking points when you consider that at the time most countries were recovering from one or two world wars and there was a literal standing army of Nazis with known explicit goals to eradicate and/or dominate Jews and Socialists. This isn't "you gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet", this is "everybody is cracking eggs and you're next". If anything, you're expressing a heavily idealized version of a very complex, difficult, and dangerous time.