As Sun Used to Say… – Folha de S. Paulo, June 28, 1970
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Clausewitz [Carl Phillip Gottlieb von Clausewitz (1780-1831)], the renowned theorist of Teutonic warfare, argued that victory over a people isn’t about physically destroying them but about stripping away their will to keep fighting.
A thousand historical episodes confirm this rule. Napoleon, for instance, scored such impressive military wins that they wiped out any urge to oppose him in his enemies.
However, there were two nations whose determination to fight until the end could not be broken by any military defeat. Because of this, they wore down and defeated the power of the Corsican. As everyone knows, they were the Spanish and the Russians.
Therefore, it is not surprising that this core principle was expressed long before Clausewitz. Five hundred years before Christ, the Chinese writer Sun Tse, discussing the “Rules of Military Art,” stated that “a competent general always knows the art of humiliating the enemy without fighting, and capturing citadels without unsheathing his sword; he knows the art of conquering territories without penetrating them.”
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Naturally, Soviet military and political leaders are also aware of this principle and use it heavily in the psychological warfare they wage against the West.
Since one of the most effective ways to weaken an opponent’s will to fight and make them see resistance as pointless, a widespread propaganda campaign is underway across non-communist countries to promote the belief that Marxism’s victory is inevitable.
All communist theorists clearly and radically endorse this thesis. However, when stated so explicitly, it only marginally reaches the public consciousness because communism scares and horrifies many sectors of opinion.
Aware of this, Kremlin strategists employ far more subtle tactics in their campaign. The most common involves sowing the belief in what I would call pre-communist circles, such as Christian Democrats, progressives, socialists, and similar groups, that today’s crowds, especially workers and university students, are decisively and permanently leftist. Nothing can stop their unstoppable momentum. Consequently, the world of tomorrow will be completely leftist.
Their propaganda does not explain how this vague leftism differs from or aligns with communism. However, it hints that the push of the proletariat and youth toward the left will only reach its end when it results in full leftism. “Full leftism” refers to communism itself. This thinly disguised defeatist argument infiltrates newspapers, radio, and TV, which would fear losing viewers if they spoke openly about the inevitability of a communist victory.
Conversely, an effective anticommunist campaign must dispel the myth of leftism’s inevitability, thereby maintaining anticommunists’ resolve to fight. This task is easy because this claim of inevitability is sheer nonsense.
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Three recent events clearly demonstrate this. Some international news outlets recently highlighted the Italian situation as highly explosive. The significant rise of the left, especially communists, was close to forcing the government to form a coalition with the Italian Communist Party (PCI). However, when provincial elections took place, their results showed that “explosive growth” was merely media hype. The strength of the various political groups remained virtually the same.
Much louder was the defeatist noise spread in England by Labor propaganda. The “bluff” reached such a level that even the conservative press showed deep concern about the outcome of the upcoming elections. The most experienced and longstanding opinion poll companies, such as Gallup, predicted a comfortable victory for Labor. The result stunned the entire world. It was not Labor but the Conservatives who won, and comfortably…
Harold Wilson asked the Queen to call an election, fearing that conditions might not be as favorable for Labor to face election uncertainties in the future. He included all young people aged 18 to 21 who had not previously voted to boost his party’s chances. However, despite these efforts, the result was a clear defeat. The votes of young people — all supposedly left-wing and rebellious — did not give Labor the expected advantage.
The widespread shock at the strength of British conservatism was so great that a political columnist for the London newspaper Evening Standard even suggested after the election that opinion pollsters had been discredited.
An equally revealing event occurred in Germany. As is well known, Bonn’s Prime Minister Willy Brandt is advocating for the most reckless and condemnable agreements with East Germany and Russia.
In recent elections across three federal states, with about 50% of the electorate voting, the voters rejected Willy Brandt’s party, signaling a clear turn away from his pro-communist policies. The ruling SPD lost votes in all three states, while the CDU—less unpopular in Germany than in other countries—gained ground in regional parliaments.
Notably, the states where the elections occurred are the most industrialized, because the large numbers of workers there voted against closer ties with communism.
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These reflections indicate that today’s crowds are not the explosive threat that propaganda makes them out to be. Quite the contrary.
Having proven this point, what’s left of the myth that communism is inevitable? It’s in ruins…
This must be made very clear to the West, which is allowing itself to perish because it is convinced that it cannot survive!
