Publisher's Synopsis
The 1956 United States Information Agency (USIA) booklet, "A Primer on Communism," offers unique and useful insights into what communism is and what it isn't. It explains the difference between a totalitarian communism and a Western-style social democracy which should not to be confused with socialism, whether communist or not, where the state controls or strictly regulates the economy and most aspects of private lives of its citizens. The U.S. Information Agency, which existed from 1953 to 1999, was in the business of countering Soviet propaganda and promoting the American model of a liberal democracy based on a lightly-regulated free market economy. In addition to explaining how government control of economy, education and media can lead to Soviet-style totalitarian socialism as a stepping stone to the forever elusive final form of communism, the 1956 booklet also explains Soviet communist propaganda techniques. They are remarkably similar to how the present-day Russian state under the control of President Vladimir Putin uses propaganda and disinformation to confuse and divide Americans and to interfere with the democratic electoral process in the United States, and in many other countries as well. During the Cold War it was much easier to distinguish between Communism and Western democracy. Today, totalitarian ideas, which in the past would be identified with Communism, are often disguised as progressive calls for change and reform. There is, of course, always a need for change, reform and progress-but not at the price of oppression, mob violence, destruction of freedom and economic deprivation. It may seem hopeless to try to distinguish between what are just grievances requiring just solutions and communist ideas that in the past led to arrests, mass murders, and enslavement of millions of people. This book may help readers find some answers and help avoid fatal mistakes in choosing between different political programs and politicians. It may help readers identify and reject deceptive propaganda. As Pope John Paul II said, "Be Not Afraid." Be not afraid to learn history and to learn from it. Both fascism and communism are supremely deadly ideologies. There is not much difference between the two.What do you then have to lose by not reading this book? Possibly quite a lot.
