In 1984, Bezmenov published a small book, Love Letter to America, in which he explained, in great detail, how the Communists running the USSR were working to destroy America—not using physical weapons, but through what he described as “cultural subversion.”
That same year, he delivered a one-hour video presentation that summarizes his book. (See a four-hour compilation of his video interviews and lectures here.)
After publishing his book and delivering this presentation, in 1984, Bezmenov began teaching international relations at Windsor College (Canada). He died in early 1993.
In his book and his interview, Bezmenov provided at least 10 major insights that are just as applicable today as they were then:
1) The KGB, the former Soviet Union’s secret police, used only 15 percent of its resources for traditional espionage (or “James Bond stuff,” as Bezmenov put it)—and 85 percent for ideological and psychological warfare (cultural subversion), through the use of “active measures” to interfere in, and degrade, the affairs of enemy states.
2) These “active measures” were designed to corrupt a targeted free, self-governing country (and its elections) to the point where the people acted in the interests of the USSR, though not aware that they were doing so. Those affected people were referred to by the Soviet dictators as “useful idiots” and included prominent figures from Hollywood, authors and others.
In summary, they advocated nice-sounding goals like “equality” (group poverty, as in the USSR) and “social justice” (which is never quite defined, but is always against capitalism, America and Western civilization, in general), while accepting, or not realizing, that they were being used to advance murderous communist propaganda.
3) Around 1965, the KGB sought to undermine America’s elementary schools. By now, three generations of teachers and students have been indoctrinated with subversive Socialist ideologies. This subversion went unchallenged by an increasing number of schools and teachers, which steadily sabotaged (and now vilifies) traditional American values.
4) As these students progressed to universities, they were not only unaware of the lies they’d been told, they were primed and receptive to higher-level indoctrination of hatred for freedom, democracy, individual rights, limited constitutional government, free enterprise, etc. And once they graduated, they became the next generation of leaders, in all segments of society. This ongoing process destabilized our society, as these Communist values clashed with those who still believed in the constitution and its principles.
5) The “destabilization” process was accelerated by also attacking religion, primarily Judaism and Christianity, and turning peoples’ attention to personal, short-term gratification and human degradation of innumerable forms, largely through destroying the family, while the virtues of thrift, goal-setting, diligence, savings and sobriety were gradually forgotten.
6) Further destabilization came by replacing the teaching of important core science, with an overarching emphasis on humanities. America, which once was the undisputed world leader in science and technology, now is witness to the fact that a majority of students in our universities that focus on these disciplines are foreign, primarily from China, who then take what they’ve learned back to their home nations.
And in the case of China, ruled by a Communist dictatorship, we are literally training (if not subsidizing) the rise of our most lethal adversary, which is now approaching the technical sophistication of all of America’s weapons systems.
7) Another key facet of KGB’s subversion efforts was creating a permanent “crisis” mode, with a full-scale attack on free markets and legitimate historical and constitutional organizations. Big-government promises of free goods would be used to encourage voters (who’d been primed for such offers, via our schools) to seek a strong leader or even “benevolent” national ruler to fulfill these unfulfillable promises.
If Bezmenov were still alive, he would undoubtedly say that the United States has now entered into this “civil war” stage, as violent anarchists, Communists, “cancel” militants and other opportunists (including Islamists) use force to provoke attacks against statues (history) and the police in nearly 20 American cities, most of which have been “governed” at all levels by far-left “useful idiots” for decades.
8) After the resulting “civil war,” if the conservative forces who advocate for constitutional rule of law were to lose, a new “normalization” process would take over, as people get used to far fewer rights, but the illusion of less economic dislocation, under the rule of a “benevolent“ (Communist/Socialist) dictator—who, judging from history, will not remain benevolent for very long.
9) To save freedom, Bezmenov suggested very harsh responses to those who seek to violently overthrow our constitution, even if some liberties had to be temporarily suspended. The alternative is a full Communist takeover or an even worse invasion by a foreign enemy.
10) Bezmenov also suggested a mass public movement to remind and reeducate the population as to the virtue of traditional American values, in order to help the citizens regain their confidence in their base values.
In 1984, Yuri Bezmenov bravely warned us of Communist subversion, as we were (and still are) in a state of war with this failed ideology that has killed more than 100 million people in the 20th century alone.
While many of us are at work, America’s children and young adults are being targeted by the new wave of anti-American Communist propaganda, funded by:
• Russia, in the form of slick social-media videos; details here.
• China’s Communist Party, in the form of “Confucius Institutes” set up on hundreds of U.S. college campuses; details here.
Here is just one example of the Russian government-funded “SoapBox” (part of “InTheNow”)—in which the host, Rania Khalek whitewashes the violent domestic anarchists and communists who are tearing apart U.S. cities and attacking federal facilities—while vilifying and justifying the violent attacks on the federal law enforcement officers who have been risking their lives to protect those facilities (and themselves).
How successful have the communists been at subverting American freedom—thanks to the “useful idiots” at all levels of our government, “educational” institutions, “news” industry and arts? Consider, as documented in “Save the West” editor Jon Sutz’s independent report, “America at the Precipice”:
• “The Communist Manifesto” is the most-assigned economics textbook in U.S. colleges, assigned more than twice as frequently as any other economics book.
• Seventy percent of U.S. millennials say that they would vote for a Socialist for elective office.
• Thirty-six percent of U.S. millennials “approve of communism” (up from 28 percent in 2018).
• Eighty-three percent of U.S. college graduates and 68 percent of elected officials cannot identify the functional differences between the free market and a command (totalitarian) economy
• Sixty-four percent of Americans overall (across political parties) now agree with Marx’s core doctrine, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
We didn’t listen to Yuri Bezmenov in 1984.
It is not too late. Read his “Love Letter to America,” and listen to him now.
Ken Abramowitz is the president and founder of SaveTheWest.