History Repeats -- In Reverse

 

On the inside looking out. The Berlin Wall, March, 1990

Olympus OM, Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100 film

(Click to enlarge)

Blog Note: Louise came home from the hospital yesterday and is doing very well. Thanks to all who prayed and/or sent kind messages.

Thirty-one years ago this month, Louise and I spent three weeks on assignment to photograph and write about life in the countries of Eastern Europe that were just emerging from 70 years of Communist rule. The taste of freedom was like wine in the air as they threw off the tentacles of a failed system

The people of Eastern Europe had learned the hard way that socialism, far from providing for everyone an equal and abundant share of good things, provided endless scarcity. Standing in line to obtain basic necessities was a daily routine. In West Germany, people drove Volkswagens and Mercedes; in East Germany people who were fortunate drove Trabants, a tiny plastic car with a motorcycle engine, and waited years to be permitted to buy one. 

And because Socialism requires unanimity, dissent was not allowed. Since Socialism was a system invented to give man a way forward without a God (who is not believed to exist), those who believe in God must be ostracized, persecuted, and eliminated if possible. Christian believers found the doors of higher education, good jobs, even decent living quarters closed to them.

It was even against the law in many countries to own a Bible. By 1990, it was estimated that there were no more than 250,000 Bibles in all the Soviet Union. 

And religious persecution was a very real thing. All over Eastern Europe, believers met in secret, in constant fear of the authorities and their secret police. Pavelle Ignatov, a leader of the Pentecostal movement in Bulgaria, was arrested ten times between 1981 and 1990, lost his job nine times, was continually harassed by the government, and had his life threatened. Countless other believers lost their jobs and were denied privileges such as access to schools and better housing. Many were beaten and imprisoned. Yet, the church in Bulgaria grew 600 percent during this time.

But Communism? It never worked. Any time, anywhere. It never brought anything but death. By conservative estimate, more than 100 million people lost their lives in the 20th century as a direct result of attempts to establish Marxism in its various forms -- socialism, fascism, Nazism, and communism. In the United States it's often called progressivism. 

But it could never happen here. Not in the United States, the bastion of freedom. Right? Right!

After the fall of the Soviet Union, many people believed Communism was dead. But I said, "Communism is not dead. The Soviet Union is dead, but Communism is alive and well and living in the faculty lounges and classrooms of America's colleges and universities." History has proven me right. We're now seeing the poisoned fruit of Marxist teachers, as many who learned at their feet have become leaders in business, politics, and other fields and are advancing the poisonous tenets of Karl Marx and seeking to silence all opposition. 

But it couldn't possibly happen here, could it? Look again. It is happening here. The media are advancing it. Politicians are advancing it. The "woke" generation is advancing it under such terms as "equality" and "social justice."

 As Reagan said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."

We are that generation. How could the people of the greatest, most free nation in the history of the world run like lemmings over the precipice of Marxism?

How? Because those teachers of Marxism in our colleges and universities, and now in our secondary schools stole our history from us. And we slept while they did it.

Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins 2021

I post three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone 

Tags: Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Communism, Socialism, Karl Marx, Marxism, social justice, woke, Reagan, Olympus OM, Zuiko, Fujichrome