Affordability is the word everyone in Washington uses now, including President Trump, and a Soviet dissident says it is the communist motto in disguise. Dr. Yuri Yarim-Agaev was born into the Soviet Union in 1949, the third generation of his family to live under communism, and he spent his life fighting it from the inside: a physicist at the Academy of Sciences who joined the Moscow Helsinki Group, expected prison, and was exiled instead. He says the word came from the left on purpose. Spell it out and it means to each according to his needs. Capitalism says to each according to his means. Pick up the other side's language and you are already on defense in a fight with no defensive strategy. In the first half of a two-part conversation in the Surviving Communism series, he describes mature communism, the stage after the terror when the KGB no longer needs to watch because people watch themselves; why a privileged young scientist chose to risk everything; how a handful of dissidents broke the pact of fear and the state's monopoly on information; how the left took the words human rights and conservatives gave them up; and why he believes the Democratic Socialists of America grew on President Trump's watch, because executive orders cannot change the minds of millions of young people. Guest: Dr. Yuri Yarim-Agaev, physicist, Soviet dissident, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and founder of the Center for Democracy in the USSR. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
Guest:
Dr. Yuri Yarim-Agaev was born in the Soviet Union in 1949, the third generation of his family to live under communism, in a family of scientists who did not accept the system but were not dissidents. He graduated from the country's best university, became a physicist, and worked at the Academy of Sciences, then became a dissident and human rights activist and a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, work that risked prison and his life. The Soviet Union exiled him instead. In America he worked closely with President Reagan and members of his administration without ever joining the government, and founded the Center for Democracy in the USSR to support other dissidents and to show Americans what communism is. He is still doing that work today.
Key topics:
• Affordability: the communist motto says to each according to his needs, the capitalist motto says to each according to his means, and the word everyone in Washington now uses, including President Trump, carries the first one
• Born in the Soviet Union in 1949, the third generation under communism: what mature communism looks like after the terror, when people censor themselves and nobody needs reminding
• Totalitarian means total: the clothes you wear, the songs you sing, the books you read, all decided by the party
• About 20 countries are still communist, by his count, and communism's structures survive in the former Soviet republics
• A dissident inside the Citadel: the Moscow Helsinki Group, exile, Reagan, and the Center for Democracy in the USSR
• How a handful of dissidents broke the state's monopoly on information and opened American eyes
• Human rights: the founding idea of the Declaration of Independence, the banner of every dissident, and the words the left took and conservatives gave up
• Conservatives decided to care about business, religion, and the military and gave away education and culture; the left came for the other three anyway
• There is no defensive strategy in the battle of ideas: Reagan's peaceful offensive, and why compromise loses step by step
• Why a privileged young physicist at the Academy of Sciences became a dissident: moral responsibility, a love of freedom, and the courage to think a dangerous thought through
• What the dissidents exposed: the labor camps and the psychiatric prisons the world was not supposed to know about
• The pact of fear: how mass terror teaches silence to children and grandchildren, and what it took to break it
• Conformism in America: the pandemic, climate change, and professors at leading universities afraid to hear an argument
• Executive orders cannot change the minds of millions of young people; the Democratic Socialists of America grew on President Trump's watch, he says
• Jenny Beth Martin reads the Democratic Socialists of America website: a day without capitalism, no bills, housing and health care as human rights. It sounds wonderful. It is not
• Political correctness as a weapon: who controls the language controls everything
Timestamps:
00:00 — Cold open: most of his friends went to prison; the Soviet Union exiled him instead
00:36 — The Surviving Communism series: born in 1949, the third generation under communism
01:25 — Still sounding the alarm: communism was never eradicated after Reagan
02:32 — About 20 countries are communist today, by his count; Putin was a KGB officer
04:01 — A dissident inside the Citadel: the Moscow Helsinki Group, exile, Reagan, and the Center for Democracy in the USSR
07:03 — After Reagan: how America talked itself into believing China was no longer communist
09:11 — Growing up in the Soviet Union: a family of scientists, a comfortable life, total control
10:46 — Totalitarian means total: the clothes, the songs, the books
11:43 — The third generation after the Great Terror: fear as the mechanism of control
12:42 — Comfort even in slavery: why the majority got used to it, and why very few dared to challenge
13:32 — No need for rights or liberties: the Communist Party knows best
14:26 — Human rights, the most lethal weapon against any totalitarian system
15:10 — The 250th anniversary, and why nobody says the words human rights anymore
16:03 — Special rights and group rights: how the left took the concept and conservatives gave in
18:31 — Jenny Beth Martin: conservatives who think a little socialism is okay
19:16 — Business, religion, and the military: what conservatives kept, and what they gave away
20:05 — Ideological war: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as one bloc
21:15 — When Reagan won, the left went quiet; the stronger they are abroad, the stronger at home
22:42 — There is no defensive strategy: Reagan's peaceful offensive, and why compromise loses
23:26 — Why he chose to speak: moral responsibility, freedom, and courage
27:52 — What the dissidents exposed: labor camps and psychiatric prisons
29:45 — How the fear was instilled: mass terror as a stage every totalitarian state goes through
30:52 — Expand the base, then eliminate the partners: the stages of a totalitarian takeover
33:38 — Breaking the pact of fear: courage, truth, and moral standing
37:36 — Jenny Beth Martin: faith, hope, and the morality of the family
38:43 — Everyday life looked comfortable; the broken people you cannot see
40:20 — Conformism in America: the pandemic, climate change, professors afraid to argue
42:38 — Most of them never read Marx: slogans, the crowd, and the school
43:41 — Executive orders cannot win the battle of ideas
44:32 — The Democratic Socialists of America grew on President Trump's watch, he says
45:10 — Jenny Beth Martin reads the Democratic Socialists of America website
46:25 — Start with the appeal: why talking only about Soviet horrors fails
48:01 — Affordability: the communist motto hiding in a word even President Trump uses
49:57 — Political correctness: who controls the language controls everything
51:13 — Close: thank you for your courage; part one of two
51:41 — Share this episode; vote for liberty and against communism; iwillsaveamerica.com
Links mentioned:
iwillsaveamerica.com
jennybethshow.com
teapartypatriots.org