In political jargon, the term useful idiot was used to describe Soviet sympathizers in Western countries. The implication is that though the person in question naïvely thinks themselves an ally of the Soviets or other ideologies, they are actually held in contempt by the Soviets, and were being cynically used. The earliest known usage in Western media is in a 1948 article in the social-democratic Italian paper L'Umanita - as cited in the New York Times article on Italian politics.[1] Despite often being attributed to Lenin,[2] in 1987, Grant Harris, senior reference librarian at the Library of Congress, declared that "We have not been able to identify this phrase among [Lenin's] published works."[3] A similar term, "useful innocents", is used in Austrian-American Economist Ludwig von Mises' "Planned Chaos". von Mises claims the term was used by communists for liberals that von Mises describes as "confused and misguided sympathizers". [4] "Useful idiot" is often used as a pejorative term for those who are seen to unwittingly support a malignant cause through their 'naive' attempts to be a force for good. For example, the term has been used by some commentators to describe people the commentators believe are effectively supporting Islamic terrorism by favouring an approach based on appeasement. Anthony Browne wrote in the British newspaper, The Times:[dead l A 2010 BBC radio documentary lists among useful idiots of Joseph Stalin several prominent British writers including H. G. Wells and Doris Lessing, the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, and the American journalist Walter Duranty and the singer Paul Robeson.[6] Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First by [Charen]was published in 2003. A 2010 BBC radio documentary lists among useful idiots of Joseph Stalin several prominent British writers including H. G. Wells and Doris Lessing, the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, and the American journalist Walter Duranty and the singer Paul Robeson.[6] Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First by [Charen] was published in 2003.Useful idiot
[edit]Origins
[edit]Modern usage
Elements within the British establishment were notoriously
sympathetic to Hitler. Today the Islamists
enjoy similar support. In the 1930s it was Edward VIII,
aristocrats and the Daily Mail; this time it is
left-wing activists, The Guardian and sections of the BBC.
They may not want a global theocracy,
but they are like the West’s apologists for the
Soviet Union — useful idiots.[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]External links
As implausible as the new Soviet man might seem, left-wing radicals in the West applauded the Soviet
http://www.wendymcelroy.com/mises/webboflies.html
Fabians and founders of LSE
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/shaw/page_2.aspx
Founders of LSE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_London_School_of_Economics_people#Founders_of_LSE
Useful Idiots and fellow travellers, much the same Harold.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Useful idiot (disambiguation).
A Webb of Lies
Experiment. They clearly believed Trotsky’s description in Literature and Revolution: the “average
human type” under communism would be the equal of Aristotle and “above this ridge new peaks” of
humanity would rise. Among the loudest voices cheering were the prominent British socialist
utopians, Sidney and Beatrice Webb.
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