• The Communist Control Act of 1954 was passed with overwhelming public support
• Many conservatives at that time equated the [first] New Deal (ND) with socialism or Communism
• How do you get OVERWHELMING PUBLIC SUPPORT?  Should you appeal to their altruistic nature?
• No.  There must be an evil enemy, upon which we can blame our problems, direct our hate toward.

Finding the Invisible Devil (aka, the Inquisition)

• New Deal 3 Rs: Relief to the unemployed, Reform of business and financial practices, Recovery of the economy
• Roosevelt believed severity of Depression due to excessive business competition lowering wages/prices
• New Deal instituted banking reform laws, work relief programs, agricultural programs, and industrial reform
• Roosevelt rejected spending cuts believing big business were trying to ruin the New Deal
• This would cause another depression that voters would react against by voting Republican
• 1939 Gallup poll asked, ‘Roosevelt administration … delaying business recovery?’
• American people responded ‘yes’ by a margin of more than two-to-one (FUD >> intellect)

Who are the true believers in this devil?

• Many (perhaps most) historians say the effects of Roosevelt’s work restored hope & self-respect to millions of desperate people
• A 1995 survey of economic scholars asked whether “Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression.” Of those in economics departments 27% agreed, 22% agreed ‘with provisos’ (what provisos the survey does not state) and 51% disagreed. Of those in history departments, only 27% agreed and 73% disagreed
• Fortune’s Roper poll found in May 1939 found that PUBLIC opinions on the issue were much different than the academic opinions (against New Deal efficacy), and were highly polarized by economic status and occupation.

The Inquisition

• McCarthy dropped out of junior high school at age 14, but thanks to 61% support from Republicans, was elected Senator.
• Primary targets of McCarthyism were government employees, entertainment industry, educators and union activists.
• Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence
• The level of threat posed by a person’s real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated.
• Conservative politicians referred to liberal reforms (child labor laws, women’s suffrage) as “Communist” or “Red plots”
• Executive Order 9835 authorized firing federal employees believed “disloyal to the Government of the United States”
• Once a person lost a job due to an unfavorable loyalty review, it could be very difficult to find other employment.
• Review Board chairman said “No responsible employer would be likely to take a chance in giving him a job”
• After the Hollywood mass firing, private loyalty-review boards and anti-communist investigators began to appear.
• From 1951 to 1955, the FBI operated a secret “Responsibilities Program” that distributed anonymous documents with evidence from FBI files of Communist affiliations on the part of teachers, lawyers, and others. Many people accused in these “blind memoranda” were fired without any further process
• The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to teach anti-US government material.
• In the film industry, over 300 actors, authors and directors were denied work in the U.S.
• The number of people imprisoned is in the hundreds, and some ten or twelve thousand lost their jobs.
• Suspected homosexuality was also a common cause for being targeted by McCarthyism.

• Importantly, Joseph McCarthy though now the poster boy, was NOT alone in this viral infection of paranoid ill-informed ignorance.

• McCarthy, as a senator, had no direct involvement with the House Un-American Activities Committee and many other groups.
• William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of the influential conservative political magazine National Review, wrote a defense of McCarthy, McCarthy and his Enemies, in which he asserted that “McCarthyism … is a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks.
• (Search YouTube and watch Noam Chomsky shred Buckley in a debate on politics, where Buckley’s command of historical knowledge proves weak)

The Ethics of Pro-Social Altruism

For all those who have exited the stone age of dog-eat-dog tribalism, and are ready to catch up to 2,000 yr old ethics, please stop waving your bible and read it.

First read: Acts Ch 2 verses 42, 44, & 45: (about the early Christians)

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (King James Version)

Next read Acts 4:32-37:

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. 36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (King James Version)

And Luke 1:49-53: (Mary describing the GOOD works of God:

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Matthew 19:16-24 (the same event is also described in Mark 10:17-25 and Luke 18:18-25):

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. 23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The phrase “love thy neighbor”, repeatedly spoken by Jesus, is rather well known. Christian communists point out that Jesus considered this to be the second most important of all moral obligations, after loving God.

And in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, the poor and the sick, and states that good or evil done upon “the least of [God's] brethren” will be counted as good or evil done upon God himself. It is argued that Jesus is saying that nations, rather than individuals, would be judged according to the characteristics of their societies. If that is the case, this could imply that political and economic systems were being heavily critiqued

Leviticus 25:35-38: “If one [...] becomes poor [...] help him [...] so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God [...] You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.” and Acts 4:32-35, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had [...] there were no needy persons among them [...] the money [...] was distributed to anyone as he had need.” As well as Acts 2:42-47, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching [...] to the breaking of bread [...] everyone was filled with awe [...] all the believers were together and had everything in common [...] they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they [...] ate together with glad and sincere hearts [...] ”

Historical Christian Socialism

There is in fact a rich history of Christian socialist teaching throughout the history of the church. In Catholicism, the Rerum Novarum encyclical letter of Leo XIII (1891) was the starting point of a teaching on social questions that was expanded and updated all through the 20th century. Though avoiding the word Socialism (as the Socialist movements of the day were anti-religious) the encyclical promotes a kind of corporatism based on social solidarity among the classes with respects for the needs and rights of all. In the more Catholic countries of Europe the encyclical’s teaching was the inspiration that led to the formation of new Christian-inspired Socialist parties.

A number of Christian socialist movements and political parties throughout the world group themselves into the International League of Religious Socialists. It has member organizations in 21 countries representing 200,000 members.

For more on this theology, read Frederick Denison Maurice (The Kingdom of Christ, 1838), Charles Kingsley (Water-Babies, 1863), Thomas Hughes (Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857), Frederick James Furnivall (co-creator of the Oxford English Dictionary), Adin Ballou (Practical Christian Socialism, 1854), and Francis Bellamy (a Baptist minister and the author of the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance). You can also simply reference the teachings of Liberation theology or of the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM).

The British Labour Party and Australian Labor Party have both been influenced by Christian socialism, and some figures from both parties could be considered to be Christian socialists, depending on the definition of “socialism” used. Former British Labour leader Tony Blair is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement although his adherence to Christian Socialist ideals is highly disputed. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd identified himself as an “old-fashioned Christian socialist” in a 2003 interview with the Australian Financial Review, later writing in 2006: “A Christian perspective, informed by a social gospel or Christian socialist tradition, should not be rejected contemptuously by secular politicians as if these views are an unwelcome intrusion into the political sphere.” However he also described socialism as an “arcane, 19th century” doctrine and stated that “I am not a socialist. I have never been a socialist and I never will be a socialist.”

But if you have graduated to context-relevant ethics created in this most recent century, and instead revere those Europeans who first settled America, or just prefer a more “American” (patriotic to the US) you need only look to the Plymouth Colony. They were a community practicing communist-like principles used by the “primitive” Christian Church as described in the Acts of the Apostles (“all things be held in common”) was used as a basis for the contract agreed upon by the venture and its investors. Although each family controlled their own home and possessions, corn was farmed on a communal plot of land with the harvest divided equally amongst the settlers. In fact, before Karl Marx ALL communism was rooted in religious principles. His only revelation was basing his theory on logic and historical science rather than 2,000 year old religion.

The Essence of Christian Socialist Ethics

In short, the views of these Christians can be summed up in three quotes:

1. If we all came of the same father and mother, of Adam and Eve, how can they say or prove that they are better than we, if it be not that they make us gain for them by our toil what they spend in their pride? (John Ball)
2. Socialism which means love, cooperation and brotherhood in every department of human affairs, is the only outward expression of a Christian’s faith. I am firmly convinced that whether they know it or not, all who approve and accept competition and struggle against each other as the means whereby we gain our daily bread, do indeed betray and make of no effect the “will of God.” (George Lansbury)
3. Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ–who I think was the first socialist–only socialism can really create a genuine society. (Hugo Chávez)

Conclusion?

What does all this mean? I am personally averse to most religions, including Christianity. But there is definitely some grain of logic in the Christian socialist quotes above (at least, in their end result). If you are a Christian, and you are content to “join the crowd” in frenzied paranoia, essentially behaving like a mindless puppet under the hand of greedy rich business owners and bankers, then you should at least know that they are NOT actually promoting ideas that are consistent with those of Jesus and the early Christians.

If you are like me, and have already stepped away from the “opiate of the masses” bong, start watching videos by/about Noam Chomsky and exit Plato’s Cave completely.