How Lenin Changed Communism (Reading) — Richard Wurmbrand

Lenin’s Program for Revolutionary Communism

How Lenin changed communism. Dr. Fred Swartz, the American Christian anti-communism leader, has described communism as the following. A promise based on a philosophy carried out through a program directed by a party.

Contained in this definition is everything the Communist Party basically is. During the meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party held in 1903 in London, it was the presence and the personality and the inflammatory suggestions of V. I. Lenin that changed and revived communism.

The Marxist disciples were waiting for the revolution to come. It did not come. Standing in this meeting, young Lenin presented to them a program. A program that completely changed the waiting philosophy of these aged disciples of Marx and Engels.

The communist program for any country on earth can be divided into three categories. Think on this in relationship to South Africa. First, there is the pre-revolutionary stage. Second, the revolutionary stage.

And third, the post-revolutionary period. The red program for every Western nation falls within this scope. The entire Communist Party program for world conquest is built around the word revolution. There are many cherished words, nouns, and adjectives and expressions contained in the red vocabulary, but it is doubtful if there is any word as cherished amongst dedicated communists as the word revolution.

They think revolution. They write revolution. They eat and sleep and drink revolution. All their plans and schemes are built with one thing in mind, the coming of the revolution. But the word revolution today in our Western free world is kicked about like an old rugby ball.

What does revolution mean? Basically, as far as etymology or the definition of words is concerned, revolution originally means getting nowhere. Put a wheel on an axle. Make one turn. One revolution. The wheel is back where it started.

It got nowhere. Today in South Africa, in America, in the rest, in the Western free world, every time someone invents a new soap, a new toothpaste, a new hairspray, a new type of gadget for an automobile, it is advertised as a revolutionary discovery.

Certain youth groups call themselves the light and gospel revolution, but friends, this is not what communism means when they speak of their longed-for revolution. This use of the word revolution that has spread across the Western world almost has a suspicious origin.

Jesus Christ and the Communist Portrayal of Revolution

Let me stop at this point and make it very clear that Jesus Christ was not a revolutionist. In November 1970, your speaker was in the city of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia. With another minister friend, we went to the communist bookshop, one of the communist bookshops operating in Adelaide.

We spent several hours browsing through the inflammatory propaganda that the government is stupid enough to allow to be sold to the general public in Australia. And how well I remember that my minister friend asked me to come and look behind a certain corner.

I made my way around to where the minister was standing, and lo, there was a huge poster attached to the wall, some two and a half feet wide and three feet long. And on the poster it read, Jesus the Revolutionary.

And there was depicted Christ with the communist peace sign about his neck, holding up the black power clinch fist salute. About his shoulder was thrown a machine gun with a bandolier filled with bullets around his waist.

The Castro beads about his neck, and written underneath were these words, Christians, join Jesus in bringing the long-desired revolutionary takeover. When I saw this poster, I was very shocked. I began to see in this, something that I've seen clearer since, how that even the Lord Jesus Christ is being used, misused, and misrepresented, and is being held forth to uninformed Christians as basically being a revolutionary, sent to destroy the Roman Empire.

And since they crucified him for trying to do that, then we today must take up where he left off, and overthrow the governments that are over us. You see, the word revolutionary has spilt over into every strata of our Western way of life.

And I must say, I believe that there is no group so happy over this, as the Communist Party International. The speaker personally refuses to call Jesus a revolutionary. I personally refuse to do that.

Basically speaking and looking at it from the eyes of the Communist, he was not a revolutionary. He was God incarnate in the flesh, who came to this world, walked amongst men, died on the cross, the substitutionary atoning death for the sins of humanity, rose from the dead the third day, and lives to save all that will come unto the Father by him.

Praise be to God. This is Jesus, and basically his mission. But Lenin, at this meeting of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, said, comrades, you have been waiting for the revolution to come naturally.

Isn't that what Marx told us? Of course, the answer was yes. And now Lenin said, we must change this a bit. The revolution will not come naturally. We have organized into a party. We have a system called democratic centralism that will cement us together and take us in unity through every problem and trial and difficulty.

But there is one other thing that we must face. Time has proven that comrade Marx's revolution will not come naturally. The Western nations are so developed that they're holding the worker down. And the revolution will not come spontaneously.

Therefore, we must bring about the revolution. We must work for conditions and positions that will develop into this revolution coming just when we need it. Since the entire communist program is built around revolution, it is therefore necessary that we understand their definition of revolution.

We have seen the definition of the free world. But is this what they mean? A new soap? A new toothpaste? A new type automobile? Let me read you a quotation from a communist textbook in which is explained the communist basic understanding of their revolution.

Ingalls writes these words. What is a revolution? A revolution is the act whereby one part of the population forces its will on the other part of the population by means of rifle, bayonet, and cannon.

That is a communist revolution. End of quote. Your speaker has many personal friends who have lived through and fled from this type of revolution. In the communist thinking, it is to conquer one segment of the population by rifle, bayonet, and cannon, and to remain in the position of conqueror and ruler by the same instruments that brought them in.

This is a communist revolution. And Lenin projected the idea into the waning discouraged Marxist organization that no longer will the revolution come naturally. We must produce circumstances that will bring it at the desired moment within the camp of our enemy.

Lenin’s First Principle: Mass Discontentment

Now let me explain to the listener Lenin's three points to have a revolution. And it was these three things that changed communism. Had Lenin not been there, had Lenin not offered these three suggestions, communism would not have been the world threat it is this very moment.

First, Lenin said we must have number one mass discontentment. Before we can take any nation, mass discontentment must prevail. Lenin said that this mass discontentment must be stirred up from within.

Local and single displays of discontentment are only the introductory stage to the evolution into mass and national discontentment, Lenin declared. When there is discontentment about a certain issue, and the public and students can be involved, this is the introductory stage.

We start here, said Lenin. We work from this point of view. But remember, these must be developed over into finally national and mass discontentment. Let me explain this. Any situation that exists must be used.

If one does not exist, then we must create one to use it. Every policeman that does legitimately mistreat an individual, this must be changed into being every policeman. Every member of government that is caught stealing money and misappropriating funds, we must turn this becoming every member of government.

Every grievance that exists, we must turn these into becoming all people instead of those who are individually and collectively represented in the grievances. In short, mass discontentment must be brought about by using anything and everything to disrupt the normal way of life.

Get the masses involved, was Lenin's dictum. Bring the people in. Use them. Play upon their emotions. Capture their sentiments pertaining to a certain grievance. Work through the newspapers, the churches, the various organizations and sporting bodies, and mass them together to enlarge a grievance.

We must use all men in bringing about the first condition of mass discontentment. Then Lenin suggested a second thing that must be before there can be a revolution sprung in any given country. First, we have discontentment operating.

Lenin’s Second Principle: An Organization to Sustain Discontent

Second, Lenin said, we must have an organization to keep this discontentment alive. Any nation that will ban the Communist Party practically breaks this second point of Lenin's doctrine to pieces. In May 1950, the ruling government of South Africa banned the Communist Party.

No longer is it legal. Any communist who dares show his red face does so under the possibility of enjoying the hospitality of the local prisons or Robin Island. This incentive is enough to keep most reds off the streets and out of the bookshops.

But a nation where the Communist Party is not banned, it is much easier to work. When a certain grievance or complaint is presented to the public, trained agents rush in upon the scene. And they use individuals to keep the thing going, to stir it over and over and over until finally all the people of the district, of the province, or even of the nation are involved.

This is a serious thing. This is the reason that spies are so well trained to be sent into an organization or into a country and an organization in the country. And working from this hidden position, they stir the situation to create mass discontentment.

Lenin’s Third Principle: Breaking the Government’s Will

But there is a third thing Lenin suggested. First, discontentment breaks out. Second, the party is present to use it. The students are involved, even Christian organizations. And your speaker has seen so-called clergymen.

They're not clergymen, they're hypocrites, marching with the Communist Party demonstrations on the streets of certain foreign countries. The third element, Lenin said, we must have a breakdown in the will of the government.

Without this, the first two points will collapse. We have discontentment. We have an organization using it, enlarging upon it, stretching it out of proportion, exploiting the situation. He said there's one final step.

You'll not have a revolution. You'll not take that country via the revolution until you have cowered the government into not using its forces at hand to stamp out the possibility of an overthrow. I think that the Olympic Games in Mexico are a classical example of what we're trying to say that Lenin says.

The Mexico City Demonstrations as an Illustration

When it was announced that the Olympic Games would be held in Mexico, the Communist Parties of the world took notice. The Mexican government has been very anti-communist. Some few years ago, they expelled leading diplomats from their country.

The Communist Parties of the world thought something like this. There's going to be Olympic Games in Mexico. People from all over the world will be here. We will take advantage of this situation and put forth demonstrations, and we'll show how unfair and dishonest this government is by not allowing what they said was freedom of expression.

Some few weeks before the Games started, communists from all over the world, students, and people from every background began to converge into and upon Mexico. Mild demonstrations were performed. The Communist Party newspapers of America and South America began to churn it up and encourage every loyal leftist and communist to join their comrades.

The demonstrations turned from nonviolent into violent. A policeman was wounded. A student was shot. Someone was beaten. A car was burned. Windows were smashed. Parking meters were bent. Automobiles were overturned.

It began to pick up momentum and violence. This pleased the Communist Party. Their plans were going full steam ahead. Finally, the Mexican government began to make the announcements every day. Disband the demonstrations.

We're going to set a certain day, and we ask you at this time to stop the demonstrations. There will be no more people are going to get hurt. Leaflets were printed. Loudspeakers made the announcement.

Television and radio blared it out. Disband the demonstrations. For several weeks, these announcements went forth to the demonstrating thousands. Instead of disbanding, they grew larger and larger and larger.

It was being whipped up by communist agents moving in and out amongst the mobs. Especially the unwitting and stupid students were used, leading the pack of howling demonstrators. Finally, the government, refusing to have its will broken, refusing to be cowered and cowed into backing down under the shout of demonstrators, called out their troops, their machine guns, and at a given moment they gave the word disband the demonstrations.

Instead of disbanding, the students rushed ahead in mad violence. An order was given to fire. We have no idea how many students were shot or killed, for the Mexican government publishes no statistics, but one thing for sure, the next day the Olympic Games started without a murmur.

There was peace at these Olympic Games, except on the last day when an American athlete stood in the field upon receiving his medal and raised the clinch fist salute. Here is an illustration of a government whose will refused to be broken.

They used the methods at hand to put the demonstrators to silence. The Communist Parties of America wrote huge front-page columns about how all women were machine-gunned and young girls were raped by the police, and the brutality of quelling a nonviolent demonstration was splattered by the mass media headlines around the world.

From this illustration we see why Lenin called for the breakdown in the will of a government. Yes, it was Lenin, the man who changed Marxism from a dying theory into a horrible reality, marching in the streets, casting its red shadow over every free non-communist nation on earth.

Lenin said, comrades, these three points will bring your revolution at the desired time. Mass discontentment, a party and workers present to stir it up, and a breakdown in the will of the government. Lenin is the man who projected these principles into Marxism, and with this it became known as Marxism-Leninism, or today we call it international communist conspiracy.

Applying Lenin’s Three Steps in Christian Mission

In Christian mission to the world we feel that people need to know these facts just given. We know that it is absolutely imperative that especially our youth understand the principles of the operation of communism as good or better than the communist themselves understand it.

We feel that every youth in South Africa needs this lecture in order that you might be on the lookout for Lenin's three steps for revolution, and in order that you might yourself, you might not be used, but used unwittingly to bring these things about.

Mass discontentment, someone to stir it up, and a breakdown in the will of the authorities. That's a bit about how Lenin changed communism. The dying philosophy of Marx that was carried over to that meeting in London August 1903 was filled with new life and new ambition as a result of the points of a man named Lenin who changed communism.

The S-I-O-D Plan for Christian Mission

But friends what can we do? This is the big question. Of all the questions asked in our meetings this is the first one. Someone leaps to their feet and they call forth what can we do? There is something we can do.

In Christian mission to the communist world we have a plan called the S .I .O .D. plan. Thousands of pamphlets have been printed in both Afrikaans and English and we'll be happy to send you a complete supply upon request.

We'll send them free of charge if you'll use them. This plan to combat this mass evil goes something like this. S is salvation. First we must be saved and from this point we march on. It is only Jesus Christ who can save us.

I is information. We must get ourselves informed. Hence the reason for these lectures and the work of Christian mission to the communist world. The letter O stands for organization. We believe that salvation and information apart from proper organization will die a natural death.

We suggest that you organize yourself into Christian groups into cells. Pray for Christians in communist countries. Pray for us. Pray for our organization and others who are smuggling Bibles and literature and sending radio broadcasts to the over 1 million who are in prison in the Soviet Union alone suffering for their faith.

Organize into groups and committees passing out pamphlets, having meetings, playing these tape recordings and screening films that others might understand. S I O and the last is D and that is dedication.

We may be saved, we may be informed and we may be organized but we must dedicate ourselves to the job. Will you join with us? Will you come in the S I O D plan. Saved, informed, organized, dedicated and join with Christ and with the Saints of the iron and bamboo curtain countries in the fight against communism.

Psalm 18 and the Berlin Wall

In Psalm chapter 18 and verse 29 we read the statement of David the servant of the Lord who had conquered all his enemy. It reads for by my God I have leaped over a wall. One of the greatest proofs of basically what communism is can be seen in the Berlin Wall erected to keep millions of slaves under the chains and tyranny of communism.

The term Berlin Wall was first coined back in 1946 by Winston Churchill. This wall is 30 miles long cutting and winding its way through the city of Berlin dividing it into half. The entire east-west German frontier stretches the distance of 858 miles and reaches from the Baltic Sea in the north down to the Czechoslovakian border.

The eastern side of the wall and frontier is known as East Germany and has a population of about 18 million people known as the German Democratic Republic. The western side of the wall and the frontier is called West Germany and carries a population of approximately 58 million people and is known as the Federal Republic of Germany.

Today there are three methods whereby a individual may leave East Germany and find freedom in the West. Number one, men reaching the age of 65 and women 60 are given exit visas. Communism has no use for old age.

Number two, some have acted and pretended to be devoted loyal communists working for the party hoping to be sent across the border into the West on a special assignment. Dozens of these have defected to freedom.

A third way of getting from the East to the West is the attempt to escape. Jail sentence of 18 months for those attempting to escape. Some few years ago forged documents were used and sold by special underground organizations in the West smuggled over to would-be escapees in the East and quite a good number of individuals found freedom this way.

Speaking of escaping there are those who dare try to run the machine gun gauntlet. Very few ever make it to freedom. These are the three methods of leaving the East German socialist paradise for the freedom of the Western world.

East German Refugees and the Cost of Communist Rule

From 1945 to 1961 over three million human beings escaped and among this number were 5 ,000 medical doctors, 800 judges and lawyers, 17 ,000 teachers and 17 ,000 specialized engineers and technicians.

From 1961 through 1968 2 ,300 East German communist guards threw their guns to the ground and they themselves escaped to freedom. A description of this East-West frontier and the Berlin Wall proves interesting.

Deadly landmines are laid in double and triple rows and between each row are strung sharp barbed wire fences, ditches, tripwires, floodlights, hundreds of guard towers manned by over 50 ,000 soldiers.

Machine guns, high-powered rifles dug out pillboxes, observation posts, electric alarms, vicious watchdogs. Yes all of it is there in order to keep the prisoners in the happy socialist paradise. Some information on the actual construction of the wall would prove informative to all the citizens of the free world and would perhaps help us to better appreciate the blessings of God that we do have in our own lands of freedom.

May and June of 1961 found thousands of people fleeing across to the West due to the pressure of the Communists in their gathering of all private property into their collectivization program. July 1961 people fled over into freedom at the rate of 1 ,000 per day.

Harold Macmillan spoke at the United Nations General Assembly of these people and described them as the people who voted with their seat. A strong air of tension was over Berlin when Khrushchev denied at a press conference soon after his Vienna meeting with President Kennedy of any plans of the Communists to build a Berlin Wall.

The Communist East German puppet Walter Ulbricht also denied any plans to build a wall to keep the people in. The Marienfeld refugee camp in West Berlin registered 1 ,700 arrivals from the East each day for August 8th 9th and 10th of 1961.

In fact on August the 12th the same camp registered 2 ,400 fleeing refugees. Communist police and soldiers at the border attempted to stop the mass flow of humanity out of communism over into freedom.

They found the task virtually impossible. August 13th 1961 the dark date in European history. At 2 a .m. the Iron Curtain fell. Barbed wire fences, checkposts, barricades were erected and the flow of mass humanity seeking freedom instead of slavery began to be choked down to a tiny trickle.

By the afternoon of August 13th 1961 6 ,000 refugees had poured into the Marienfeld refugee camp in West Berlin. Let me now give you a complete list of statistics from 1949 through 1968 of how many fled each year during this period of time.

Refugee Statistics from the Divided Germany

In 1949 there were a hundred twenty nine thousand two hundred forty five. In 1950 a hundred ninety seven thousand seven hundred eighty eight. In 1951 a hundred sixty five thousand six hundred forty eight.

In 1952 a hundred eighty two thousand three hundred ninety three. In 1953 three hundred thirty one thousand three hundred ninety. In 54 there were a hundred eighty four thousand a hundred ninety eight who escaped.

In 1955 two hundred fifty two thousand eight seventy. In 1956 two hundred seventy nine thousand a hundred eighty nine. And in 1957 the number that escaped two hundred sixty one thousand six hundred twenty two.

In 1958 two hundred four thousand ninety two. In 1959 a hundred forty three thousand nine hundred seventeen. In 1960 a hundred ninety nine thousand a hundred eighty eight. And then in 1961 and remember the war was started August 13th 1961.

In 1961 two hundred seven thousand sixty two escaped. In 1962 twenty one thousand three hundred fifty six. Notice how the number drops. In 1963 forty two thousand six hundred thirty two. In 1964 fourteen thousand eight hundred seventy six.

And then the number escaping in 1965 twenty nine thousand five hundred twenty two. The number fleeing to freedom from communism in 1966 was registered twenty four thousand a hundred thirty one. In 1967 nineteen thousand five hundred seventy three.

In the final year that we have our statistics in 1968 the registered number that fled from the east to the west sixteen thousand thirty six. A grand total of two million nine hundred thirty three thousand seven hundred twenty two people registered at the refugee camps fleeing from the hell of communism to the freedom of the Western world.

These statistics were collected from the West German Bonn official Bureau of Statistics. These numbers speak as human. People who love their husbands, their wives, their children, their freedom just as you do.

Global Flight from Communist Regimes

Fleeing from socialistic communism to the freedom of the Western world. When communism comes to power in any country on earth it is an established historical fact worthy to be noted that millions always attempt to flee to freedom.

When communism swept through North Korea two million fled to the south. During the Hungarian revolt to break the yoke of the tyranny of communism two hundred thousand fled. When Mao Zedong conquered China for communism over two and a half million Chinese fled or attempted to flee to freedom.

When Fidel Castro swept Cuba with the iron broom of communism over two hundred thousand fled. When Chinese communism raped the country of Tibet over five hundred thousand fled. What do these statistics tell us?

They tell us there is something horrible something that defies description contained basically and in essence in this system that causes those who fall under its shadow to flee to freedom.