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Socialism in America: How It Began

November 12, 2012 at 5:00 am / by

About Ann-Marie Murrell

Ann-Marie is the original anchor and the National Director/Editor-in-Chief of PolitiChicks.tv. She is one of the go-to Conservative reporters in Los Angeles and has covered multiple political events throughout… More
 

The past few years–okay, since Obama first took office–we’ve heard a lot of talk about Socialism.  But where did it come from?  How did a German-based philosophy, something that has never even worked, make its way to America?

Wanting to learn more about it myself, I started researching.  What follows is a very general post and barely skims the surface so I strongly encourage you to read more about it for yourself.  But at this stage of the game, I believe it is vitally important to be as aware of any and everything that may be coming our way here in America.

The very first seeds of Socialism were formulated in Switzerland by Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712-1778).  Rousseau was a philosopher who helped influence the French Revolution and developed the growth of nationalism.

Following Rousseau was Karl Heinrich Marx (1818 –1883), the German philosopherwho adapted many of Rousseau’s beliefs.  Marx believed capitalism was the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie” and wanted to create a ‘workers state’—or leveled playing field, as the Liberals of 2011 like to call it.  Marx believed socialism would eventually be replaced by a “stateless, classless society called pure communism.”

Socialists loved Marx’s theories so much they created the Frankfurt School.  (Again, I urge everyone to read more about this “school of philosophy” and read more about it; Frankfurt has been enormously influential on American society.)

The Frankfurt Schoolwas founded in Germany and is described as a school of “neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory.”  The school offered an alternative to capitalism and one of its biggest messages—and something that is continuing to affect the United States today—is something called ‘critical theory’.

Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School described critical theory as “social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only to understanding and explaining it.”  They wanted to integrate all the social sciences—including economics, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology.

Basically what that means is Frankfurt School wanted to infiltrate all aspects of society and to change the way “the educated” thought about things by inserting their Marxist beliefs.  And they wanted to do it by—very, very subtly–infiltrating our schools and universities and indoctrinating youth.   (NOTE:  This is yet another reason for all you parents out there to get more involved in your children’s public education, from elementary on!  READ THEIR TEXTBOOKS and if anything smells funny, make a stance.  PolitiChicks.tv will help you learn how.)

The Marxists officially began their indoctrination of American youth when WWII came about and the Frankfurt School moved to America. They continued their Marxist teachings at New York’s Columbia University.  Soon, their sociology department was affiliated in universities throughout the United States.

From an article called “Intro to the Frankfurt School”:  

“The Frankfurt School is the name given to the social engineers that fled Nazi Germany in order to set up their Marxist experiment in the United States. In the 1960s, while the Baby-boomers were ripe for cultural transformation, cultural Marxists such as Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Erich Fromm and Charles Reich practiced “critical theory,” “androgyny” and “cultural pessimism” in their “long march through the cultural institutions” — institutions such as the arts, cinema, theater, literature, universities, public school system, clergy and today what’s become known as the mass media. Find out how the culture you are now living, sleeping, eating and breathing in has been bastardized by cultural Marxism, also known as ‘political correctness.’”

(It’s worth noting– Dr. Benjamin Spock was a big follower of Erich Fromm.  Yep, the famous baby doctor was a big-time Socialist.)

One of the most influential at the Frankfurt School—and someone whose influence is still worshipped by Liberal/Socialists today–was Herbert Marcuse and his New Left theory

Marcuse began his teaching career in 1952, first at Columbia, then Harvard, then Brandeis University and ultimately ended up at the University of California, San Diego where he taught until he retired in the late 1970’s.

Basically, Marcuse’s New Left was all about tolerance—as long as you are only tolerating liberal/Marxist beliefs, of course.

“Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left,” Marcuse wrote.

“Surely, no government can be expected to foster its own subversion, but in a democracy such a right is vested in the people (i.e. in the majority of the people)… They would include the withdrawal of toleration of speech and assembly from groups and movements which promote aggressive policies, armament, chauvinism, discrimination on the grounds of race and religion, or which oppose the extension of public services, social security, medical care, etc.”  (Marcuse’s 1965 essay “Repressive Tolerance”)

Marcuse’s New Left basically started in the 1960’s with the Hippie movement, community organizing and college campus protests.  They were activists, educators and agitators who wanted to push their Socialistic agenda further than it had ever been pushed in America.

One of those very effective ‘Frankfurt School pushers’ was Saul Alinsky.

Alinsky (1909-1972) literally wrote the handbook for Liberals, “Rules for Radicals”, which continues to be used throughout social culture and the media in 2011.

Playboy magazine once called Alinsky “one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left.”  In 1970, Time magazine wrote that “American democracy is being altered by Alinsky’s ideas” and William F. Buckley said he was “very close to being an organizational genius.”

Some very influential Alinsky followers were Ralph Nader, Cesar Chavez and Jesse Jackson.  Hillary Clinton wrote her senior honors thesis about the works of Alinsky and “the effect they have on politics today.”  And of course THE community organizer of 2011, Barack Obama, once wrote a Harvard paper called “After Alinsky:  Community Organizing in Illinois”.

In a nutshell, Alinsky’s Rules are summed up best by Alinsky himself:  “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. ‘The Prince’ was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. ‘Rules for Radicals’ is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”

The brilliant thing about Alinsky’s work—and the reason it continues to be effective today—is because the plan is to destroy their enemy from within through (very sneaky) infiltration and indoctrination.  He encouraged his radicals to plant seeds of class warfare from within through community organizing.

“According to Alinsky, the organizerespecially a paid organizer from outsidemust first overcome suspicion and establish credibility. Next the organizer must begin the task of agitating: rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities, and searching out controversy. This is necessary to get people to participate. An organizer has to attack apathy and disturb the prevailing patterns of complacent community life where people have simply come to accept a situation.”

In other words, “The first step in community organization is community disorganization.   Through a process combining hope and resentment, the organizer tries to create a ‘mass army’ that brings in as many recruits as possible from local organizations, churches, services groups, labor unions, corner gangs, and individuals.”

By the way, the president’s first political party—back in his radical community organizing days–was with “New Party,” socialist democrats:

“The New Party was a radical left organization, established in 1992, to amalgamate far left groups and push the United States into socialism by forcing the Democratic Party to the left. It was an attempt to regroup the forces on the left in a new strategy to take power, burrowing from within. The party only lasted until 1998, when its strategy of “fusion” failed to withstand a Supreme Court ruling. But dissolving the party didn’t stop the membership, including Barack Obama, from continuing to move the Democrats leftward with spectacular success.”

So there ya go.  The ‘seeds of Socialism’ began in Germany, came to New York, spread throughout our universities and helped influence everything from arts and entertainment to newspapers, film and television.  And as Andrew Breitbart says, “We have now entered the first full-fledged Alinsky presidency.”

In closing, I’m adding all of the Alinsky Rules.  Please study them, know them, and recognize them when you see them.  They’re counting on our side not knowing their secrets—so it’s our responsibility to make sure we do.

“Alinsky provides a collection of rules to guide the process. But he emphasizes these rules must be translated into real-life tactics that are fluid and responsive to the situation at hand.”

  • Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.
  • Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
  • Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
  • Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
  • Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
  • Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
  • Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
  • Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”
  • Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
  • Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”
  • Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting: “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”

 

 

 

 
 

Ann-Marie Murrell

Ann-Marie is the original anchor and the National Director/Editor-in-Chief of PolitiChicks.tv. She is one of the go-to Conservative reporters in Los Angeles and has covered multiple political events throughout the United States. Ann-Marie has conducted exclusive interviews with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Lt. Col. Allen West, Newt Gingrich, Frank Gaffney, and was one of the last reporters to interview the late Andrew Breitbart. In addition to writing and reporting for PolitiChicks.tv, she has also written for Town Hall, Front Page Magazine, Reagan Report, The Blaze and dozens of other Conservative sites. Ann-Marie lives in ultra-liberal Los Angeles with her husband Mark.

Read all posts by Ann-Marie Murrell
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  • MarieJ27

    It’s worth noting– Dr. Benjamin Spock was a big follower of Erich Fromm.

    Yep, the famous baby doctor was a big-time Socialist.)
    This article brought
    back memories of the day in the 60′s when I tossed out Dr. Spock’s book into
    the garbage. Weeks later, I bought the same book again because I missed

    it. I believe I was truly over Dr. Spock after learning his own son committed suicide.

    • Lainie

      Excellent. Ann-Marie! Kids in school today have never heard of Karl Marx or Senator Joe McCarthy! I almost forgot about Dr. Spock…how could I? Grandparents in those days were outraged by him.

      • Irma

        My mother called Dr. Spock an absolute idiot. (Obviously, my mother was very smart indeed!!!)

  • http://www.facebook.com/chris.rankin.731 Chris Rankin

    Obama is now the status quo, the opponent, the target! He knows the rules but is still subject to them. Turn these rules in our favor and use them against him. Social behavior runs in cycles…be aware of where society is in the cycle and use the rules to accelerate or retard it as appropriate.

  • http://twitter.com/flbrit Barbara Cook -COOKI

    All this sounds much like manipulatin – we know what the Bible says about about manipulation… Well, we have our work cut out for us. We need to learn what we really believe in and know the facts and the truth – truth is easier to remember than lies. Knowing the enemy and his tactics is part of the solution.

  • Doris Franks

    Let us not run down the Republican Party. We fall into the Alinsky trap when we do Let us build up the Republican Party with positive feedback and participation.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/KH7WYOWMLFHSCERLBCVLGMER7Q cat

      Hey i believe it would be built up, when we find young strong men who will lead out within the party. Many young girls are having a very hard time finding mates and settling down. Meanwhile, guys on college campuses are having a BANQUET of women coming on to them instead of the opposite..no matter how pretty or together the girl/woman is (18=29) there is always some other woman who will come on to the guy

  • http://www.classy-cleaning.com/ Shannon J. Carpenter

    Obummer and his socialist agenda will take this entire country down..Time to battle like never before! Great article Ann-Marie!

    • http://www.facebook.com/annmariemurrell Ann-Marie Murrell

      Thank you, Chicky Shannon ;-)

  • Bill

    Also, take the (free) Constitution 201 course, available at:

    https://constitution.hillsdale.edu/

  • Bob Marshall

    While attending Occidental College Obama was a Marxist Revolutionarist. He stated that he learned more from Saul Alinsky’s ‘community Organizing” than he did in all of his years at Harvard Law School. The thesis that Hillary Rodman wrote on Saul Alinsky was 92 pages in length. Is it any wonder that Obama would pick Hillary Clinton to be a member of his administration? Fortunately for Obama, few Americans seem to do their own research and have been dumbed down by the corporate controlled news media.There was a time when reading was considered fundamental. Today, most citizens don’t take the time nor have the desire to do so. While the news media is the governments propaganda machine, Hitler once said his most powerful weapon was propaganda. It is is the job of the news media to sell wars to the public. Fox and CNN were good examples of the media selling Afghanistan and Iraq wars to America. The genocide by the U.s. military on the road from Kuwait was sold to the public by the news media showing the Ambassador of Kuwaitis daughter lying about babies being taken out of incubators and put on the ground to die. Trained in the U.S. by Hill & Knowlton for which she was paid between $12 and $20 million. Not only was Saddam’s Revolutionary Guard slaughtered but thousands of innocent men, women and children as well. Henry Kissinger; ” America buys war like children gobble candy.” most Americans don’t want to know the truth. that way they don’t consider themselves guilty of all the innocent blood shed because of their willingly participation by calling for these wars and genocides or supporting them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/roger.potter.35 Roger Potter

    I already know part of this, but this is very interesting – when I was at the Univ years ago there was a hazy teaching of this that I got sorta involved in till I saw the aim. Part of the vast problem as you stated Ann-Marie is there are those that will be influnced by this thinking they will get something free for nothing – they just don’t realize the Cost and others don’t care Just so they get theirs. I have seen this.

  • Nntrancer

    Collectivist utopianism has always been part of America, even from the beginning when colonists tried communist communites that always failed. The big importation of socialism occurred after the failed 1848 European socialist revolutions. Many of the revolutionaries fled to America just in time for the Civil War. Some became Union generals and some joined in Lincoln’s administration. In time, they started the progressive movement.

  • Nntrancer

    You might want to read “I Stand With You” on the case for Obama being a Russian mole. It’s at http://www.jeffersonianrepublicnow.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Hyatt/1305081719 Jim Hyatt

    If we want to change the course that we are on then we have to take the schools back. It’s that simple.

  • http://www.facebook.com/brad.duncan.7 Brad Duncan

    The best way for a moral society to deal with the slithery like tactics of the “win at all costs” “lie about anything and everything” liberal and immoral left is to become comprehensively informed about TRUTH which equips a person to see through the sugar coated antics of the immoral left. The best way to become comprehensively informed is very simple! In fact, it is so simple that it is usually scoffed at and ridiculed when suggested and encouraged as the best means to counter the devious slings and arrows of the immoral left. Furthermore, it will be scoffed at and ridiculed once again as this post is read by many who will use this forum to trivialize and ridicule what I am getting ready to put forth! The immoral left itself has done a masterful job of indoctrinating many folks who would and have opposed the destructive motives of that same immoral left by ridiculing what I am getting ready to encourage and those many would-be opposers of the immoral left’s motives have bought the ridicule of what I am getting ready to encourage hook, line and sinker! What is it that I am going to encourage as the ultimate weapon against the sugar-coated LIES of the immoral left, you may be well past ready for me to expose? Simply put, THE TRUTH as written and contained ONLY in GOD’S WORD declared in HOLY SCRIPTURE is the ultimate weapon against exposing the LIE as told by the immoral left so incessantly that it becomes engrained in peoples’ minds as pablum when it is actually poison which too many have not been able to discern until it is too late because they bought into the immoral left’s trashing of TRUTH as being sort of a little child’s fairy tale when, in fact, HOLY SCRIPTURE is nothing other than THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE whether or not any human being wants to subscribe to THIS TRUTH as being so!

  • Marees1963

    If you want to know how they did it in depth, read this book: http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/MomsPDFs/DDDoA.sml.pdf

  • Vivian Wadlin

    Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.” Saul Alinsky
    This is why any scandal on the right has so much more made of it than the same kind of scandal on the left, it is so much worse according to the media.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Marshall/100001163952013 Bob Marshall

    I remember when, in 1957, Nikita Khrushchev was on television saying to America, the USSR will never fire one shot at the USA. It will fall from within. At the time i don’t believe we realized what he meant. Now, i believe we do.

  • Juliet Montague

    After reading the entire article, Ann-Marie, and the stellar comments, I can only say that we conservatives certainly seem a great deal more astute and literary than our liberal adversaries on FaceBook—if ya know what I mean!

  • reggiec

    I do not remember which of the original colonies it was that began with a form of socialism. ( It has been many years since my American History class in high school) I do remember that it was abandoned fairly quickly when it was discovered too many people became slackers and were living off the efforts of the makers.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/KH7WYOWMLFHSCERLBCVLGMER7Q cat

    my gosh–Alinsky glorified Playboy magazine?! this really burns me up: because it seems like as soon as many blacks get to have strong economic jobs, especially men–the commies took dope and scattered it into the black neighborhoods_although they were ghettos before, they didnt progress and other foreigners took over the neighborhoods,(late 60s early 70s) which we are suffering from TODAY! I’m actually not blaming ‘Nam’ for the drug scorage, but THESE PEOPLE who came out from under a “Christian culture” and went into MARXISM

  • chinmusic

    Also, After the 1917 revolution the Soviets imported communism here thru heavy infiltration of academia, trade unions, entertainment, and all levels of our gov’t. The USSR basically established & funded Communist Party USA to spread & entrench the ideology. They “turned” many with cash bribes to spy and undermine America.