IN A recent TCW article, I detailed the ‘long march’ of Cultural Marxism through the last 60 years and argued that leftist politics (from a largely discredited position at the end of the 1960s) was able to both regroup and augment its hegemony through education systems, healthcare services, communication and media networks and, finally, formal political institutions. It was understood by individuals and groups influencing this agenda that the only sure way to gain robust political influence was to target the perceived ideological weaknesses of capitalism, i.e. longstanding issues of social justice, equity and inclusion, until conditions favoured a more direct assault on the establishment.
Jack Posobiec and his co-author Joshua Lisec in their book Unhumans: the Secret History of Communist Revolutions, provide a timely reminder of the brutality of communist regimes as they reach maturity They argue that the dominance of the American – and wider – left is now poised to replicate the countless historical crimes against humanity perpetrated under the banner of ‘collective social justice’.
At COP29 recently, Ed Miliband declared the political momentum behind Net Zero to be ‘unstoppable’, his certainty bolstered by the continuing transfer of wealth agreed between North and South under the pretext of climate change. Referring to the decision makers at the centre of such policies as ‘unhumans’, the book by Posobiec and Lisec sounds a warning of what else is coming at us down the tracks.
The authors argue that it doesn’t matter what these people term themselves – be it communist, socialist, leftist, radical, revolutionary, or progressive – or how they attempt to justify their actions, the intention is always the same: to destroy the existing social order, human liberty, citizenship rights, and property ownership. They argue that all historical revolutions under the banner of communism have a similar strategy – an initial battle cry for positive change, leveraged via identity politics, material conditions, or a mixture of the two. These opportunistic individuals and groups gain a foothold with those in power, which then drives a political wedge between ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ – setting factions against each other in a war of attrition over power, wealth, and ownership.
The authors argue that communism in all its different settings broadly follows this approach. They estimate that communist regimes have been responsible for over 100,000 million deaths – a greater toll than that of two world wars – though they add that this is a conservative estimate and the real number is almost certainly many times higher.
One of the principal insights developed by the authors is what they call the ‘Operational Preparation of the Environment’ (OPE). They suggest the most successful communist programmes execute a three-stage pre-revolution assault on the target population, territory, and political terrain before the revolution itself goes into operation. These are the separation stage; the messaging stage; and the infiltration stage.
The separation stage
Posobiec and Lisec point out that all communist agendas begin with the promotion of divide-and-conquer tactics into target populations. Aggressors seek to understand and then weaponise envy, resentment, and grievance to trigger conflict between different societal factions. Ahead of the Russian Revolution, for example, the Bolsheviks were able to capitalise on latent unrest among workers, peasants, and soldiers over worsening living conditions, food shortages, and the Russian serfdom system of land ownership itself, to motivate political action against the establishment. The ‘haves’ are labelled as de-facto oppressors, and the ‘have-nots’ are championed as the oppressed. More recently, the same principles have been at play, though replacing class antagonism with the manipulation of race and gender identities to build grassroots support for ‘the cause’.
The message stage
After the relevant groups and their grievances have been identified, the next stage in preparation for the revolution is to craft and deliver messages that will appeal to the ‘oppressed’ factions. These messages are deployed to reinforce and magnify in-group/out-group antagonisms, differences and perceived inequalities between ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’. Ahead of the Chinese communist revolution, the CCP used a generational approach to the messaging, targeting young workers and students with promises of a ‘New China’. This promised utopia comprised an end to oppression by the ruling class, the protection of citizens’ rights, and a more inclusive redistribution of land and wealth. The corresponding stage in the current agenda would entail promises of economic reparation for past racial injustices, broader gender recognition and greater equity, and climate justice.
The infiltration stage
The final tactic used by communist revolutionaries ahead of the full-on assault refers to physical infiltration of the establishment to actively shape the terrain to be conquered.
Ahead of the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks began to strategically infiltrate key social and political institutions. They were then able to leverage more direct influence on things such as the workplace, soldiers’ councils and the mainstream political arena.
This stage in the current agenda is far more sophisticated than in 1917; today we see controlled opposition on both sides – particularly in the protest movement, in the media, and in the establishment itself. This blurring of the boundaries between in-group and out-group makes it extremely difficult to build effective counter-strategies.
According to the authors, the success of the preparation phase is vital to a successful communist revolution. Recalling the game planning of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and its mantra ‘win before fight’, they point out, ‘the aggressors cozy up to power, play nice for as long as necessary, and then backstab when they have the marked advantage.’
The long march through the institutions from 1968 has encompassed all three stages identified by the authors, providing a thorough ideological foundation of leftist principles for the economic reset promised by Klaus Schwab and co. While the call for radical change promises a more inclusive and equitable society for disenfranchised groups, excluded individuals, and the ‘global commons’, the authors point out that the history of communism never corresponds to the promises. Without exception, they argue, the communist regime dehumanises, oppresses, denies, and destroys.
