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Keeping out communists from a state broadcaster at the height of the Cold War sounds sensible.
by beejiu 11mo ago
Keeping out communists from a state broadcaster at the height of the Cold War sounds sensible.
- croes 11mo agoBeing a communist doesn’t mean being a foreign agent
- ggm 11mo agoThere's an old story about sombeody like Manny Shinwell (a CP member in the house of lords) and somebody in the labour party convinced they were being bugged and speaking Yiddish to each other on the phone (as if MI5 couldn't find somebody to understand Yiddish, polari, you-name-it)
- ekianjo 11mo agoDebatable since foreign powers were clearly trying to grab influence thru the funding of communist parties in western countries
- Popeyes 11mo agoBut being a communist does mean you are more likely to be recruited if you are in a position of power and at a time of 'war'.
- croes 11mo agoWouldn't that be an an too obvious foreign agent? Just pay a 100% capitalist
- lmm 11mo agoIf you're supposed to be defending democracy in the cold war, excluding people based on their political views amounts to surrendering.
- t43562 11mo agoThat's a very purist viewpoint. The other side hired people to work against Britain and managed to get them into sensitive organisations, particularly the security services of course. Should Britain have surrendered to that in the name of purity?
- lmm 11mo agoExcluding foreign agents is perfectly reasonable. Excluding anyone with communist views is not.
- t43562 11mo agoCommunism, for better or worse, was the system of the opponent. It's the reason that various people did turn over to their side or give them secret intelligence. Did Pravda knowingly employ right wing Russians? They wouldn't even have bothered with this kind of ridiculous question.
- tekne 11mo agoOutside actual national security, like the military, isn't the moral high ground precisely "we use reason, you use force"? I'm really not interested in picking sides when, as I heard a friend say, "the dog bites the dog and everyone has fur in their mouth." Democracy is a noble ideal, and I believe in it, but anyone can call themselves democratic. You need to put your money where your mouth is.