The Epoch Times is an international news service that was founded by dissidents of the Communist regime in China and Gina Shakespeare is a New Zealand-born film/TV producer who presents videos for the Epoch Times. She has a strong background in the study of Communism, which is what makes this video especially great.
Shakespeare asks us, how many countries are really part of the World Communist movement? We are generally told that there are only six Communist countries ruled by an openly Communist party: China, Cuba, Laos, Nepal, Vietnam and North Korea, but if you define Communist in the traditional Marxist-Leninist sense of a centrally-planned economy, there is really only one country left, which is North Korea.
She says that listing overtly Communist regimes underestimates World Communist power and misunderstands what modern Communism has become. Under the old definition of a Marxist-Leninist, one-party police state, with incessant Communist rhetoric and a centralized command economy, Communism is almost dead. However, this definition ignores basic Marxism and it fails to take into account the subtleties of Leninist strategy. It ignores modern realities and the global balance of power.
According to classic Marxism, society evolves through several stages: 1. Primitive Communism, in which hunter-gatherers share meat with their tribe; 2. Feudalism, with the start of private property, in which peasant farmers pay tribute to strongmen for protection from outside marauders; 3. Capitalism, with the start of industry, private property is extended to factories, patents, transportation systems and the like. Huge amounts of wealth are produced but according to Marxist theory, this wealth is concentrated in a few hands, while the working masses receive only a tiny fraction of their due; 4. Socialism, the workers overwhelm the bosses and seize control of the state, expropriate the Capitalists’ wealth and proceed to redistribute it; 5. Communism, all wealth is held in common, the State withers away, Capitalism and competition are completely abolished.
So in fact, none of the old Communist countries were actually Communist. They all had revolutions led by representatives of the workers – but guess what – when it came time to divide up the Capitalist wealth, the new ruling class kept most of it for themselves.
Most Westerners a look at the booming pro-business economies of China and Vietnam and assume that these countries have abandoned the Communist goal. They are dead wrong. China, Vietnam and some of the other former communist nations of Africa and even Russia have acknowledged that their massive economic problems actually arise from a failure to follow Marxism correctly. They all tried to jump directly from Feudalism to Socialism, bypassing Capitalism. This attempt to shortcut Marx led to economic disaster. Therefore, the temporary return to some form of Capitalism to build up sufficient wealth for Socialism is actually an acknowledgment of the correctness of Marxist theory – not a repudiation of it!
Currently, most of the World Communist movement is using Capitalist methods to build up enough wealth and military might to challenge the West, aka the Free World. The main impediment to world domination is the United States. If we define the World Communist movement as those former- or semi-Communist countries allied or working with the World Communist leadership to undermine and overthrow the US-led Western alliance, the picture changes dramatically.
Russia is still run by the Communist-trained KGB (now FSB). Moscow is aligned politically economically and militarily with China, Vietnam, Cuba and North Korea. Communists or ex-Communists control most of the countries of Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the Middle East, Iran and Syria are closely allied to Russia. Lebanon and Iraq are now part of the Russian-Iranian axis. Afghanistan will probably fall to them when the US-led forces eventually pull out. Most Western European countries have strong Communist movements. Germany’s “Conservative” Angela Merkel was once an ideological leader of the East German Communist Youth and she’s recently veered strongly toward Russia.
But if you thought we were near the end of the Communist camp, Shakespeare says we were just warming up! The United Nations and its subsidiaries generally reflect the will of Russia and China. Also to be reckoned with are the Leftist NGOs such as the World Council of Churches and several still-active international Communist front organizations, including the World Peace Council, Woman’s International Democratic Federation and the World Federation of Trade Unions.
In conclusion, anti-Americanism is the central idea. While still led by Russia and China, “Communism” now includes almost any country in the world or movement willing to confront the United States. Communists all over the world excuse the obvious failures of Socialism by saying that America sabotaged it. Cuba is poor because of the US blockade. Venezuela is a disaster because of US economic sanctions and the Soviet Union collapsed because the United States bankrupted Moscow with an arms race. They believe that in order to have “real” Socialism or Communism, we must first destroy America.
Anti-Americanism, not some far-off utopia is now the major motivator of the world Communist movement. Anyone can join it. Anyone can be an environmentalist, a Gay Rights activist, a Feminist, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Hindu and Islamic a Socialist or even a Fascist. You can be a young Communist in Moscow, an environmental activists in Germany, an Antifa member in Spain, a new Democratic Party activist in Canada, a guerrilla in the Philippines, a cocaine producer in Colombia and marijuana activist in Minnesota, a solider in Iran, a businessman in Vietnam, an ISIS fighter in Libya – or serve Boko Haram in Nigeria. As long as you hate America, you’re part of today’s Communist movement, whether you know it or not
The World Communist movement mainly works covertly. It has not quite yet achieved the power it needs to ensure a swift military victory. The World Communist movement is not just six countries. It is Russia, China, Iran and all their allies and puppet organizations. It actually controls more than half the world. If the United States ever fails, the World Communist movement will rule us all. Don’t think that it will never happen because it did happen. It happened in China and it’s happened in other countries. Their form may have changed but their goal never will.
