Is History Repeating Itself?

This all started about 2 weeks ago, when I was at my Dad's for a long weekend. He likes to watch movies and documentaries about history. So when I got there he was binge watching this series by PBS, called Reilly, The Ace of Spies. My Dad was telling me that he was one of the greatest spies ever, and is where the ideas for James Bond came from. So I sat down and began to watch.

Sidney George Reilly was a Russian born adventurer and became a secret agent employed by Scotland Yard, and later on by the British Secret Service. He literally went all over the world, and had ties with the Germans, Russians, French, Britons, and even spent time in New York City. This story was mainly about how he tried to help overthrow Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party. There was quite a bit of history in this story, and I clearly remember a few scenes where he was in Russia, working with the different political parties.

What really stood out to me, was the protests that were all over Russia at the time. In the midst of America, with Antifa and Black Lives Matter protests, it was eerily very familiar. It was like watching what is happening here, only it was history and already happened there. All I could think of was how this was so relevant to us, and I knew nothing about Russian history. I let it go for a bit, and just decided to enjoy the show.

The very next day, as I sat down to catch up on what is really happening in America, I signed into Twitter, because that is where the real news is now. Someone's post really caught my eye. That person compared what is happening today with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. It really made me stop and think, that is exactly what I thought to myself yesterday as I watched on TV. Then, a week later, my son said that these riots are just like the Russian Bolshevik revolution. I was shocked that he even knew who they were. So, now I had to study up and see what I could find.

To explain from history, there was a lot of growing unhappiness with the people in Russia. There were the poor and the rich. Of course the poor were ignored and the rich had everything. To make that worse, the military was fighting with Germany, and they were tired and wished for peace. They didn't want to fight anymore. People were angry and anarchy was growing. There was a large group of people who just wanted no government, they wanted to govern themselves.

The Bosheviks, led by Lenin wanted a new government, a socialist one. Lenin used the anarchists like pawns by telling them what they wanted to hear, and they did join him for a while. He began using the anarchist slogans, adding their power to his own. They started protesting in the streets, started work strikes, and had bread riots. Eventually, there were bloody clashes between the people and the army. The Tsar stepped down and a provisional government was formed. The role of these anarchists were to destabilize the government, because when that happens it can be more easily taken over.

"The revolution carried on in this vein of direct action from below until the new "socialist" state was powerful enough to stop them." Which is exactly what Lenin did. When the Bolsheviks were in power, they systematically removed all opposition and created the Socialist state.

Now, lets turn our attention to America. We do have issues with class, as the middle class seems to be shrinking. The lower class want the richer upper class to pay more taxes, to give more of what they have to the poor. We hear it all the time. Now, more than ever, there is this polarization between political parties. There are Republicans and Democrats, and the hatred between them is strong. Here is a quote about Russian history, for it happened that way there too.

Richard Pipes in his work "The Bolsheviks in the Struggle for Power" draws attention to the general radicalization of Russian public opinion that occurred in August – October 1917. Society increasingly rejected moderate alternatives, tending to support either the right-wing Kornilovites (the "military dictatorship") or the radical socialists (Bolsheviks). On the whole, by the middle of 1917 there was a strong roll of society to the left: the size of the Socialist Revolutionary Party increased to 700–800 thousand people, the Bolsheviks 350 thousand, the Mensheviks 150–200 thousand.

At the same time, the number of the Constitutional Democratic Party is only 70–80 thousand people. The Soviets at all levels from the moment they were formed during the February Revolution are 100% leftist; in addition, during 1917 there was a strong movement to the left of the Provisional Government due to the increase in the number of "socialist ministers". According to the results of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the majority also turned out to be left.

But instead of bread riots, we have one inciting event, the murder of George Floyd, an African American, by a white police officer. This one event has caused riots in every city. Oh, and let's not forget that we have been locked down for about 3 months, with everyone unhappy and stir crazy since March because of Covid 19. In the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movements, I totally believe that most are in it for the justice of George Floyd, but shortly after it started, the Antifa organization joined in and really started wreaking havoc all over the country. The violence, looting, and destruction seem to be growing.

At this point, it doesn't seem to matter to Antifa that they are destroying African American businesses, or actually in some cases murdering other African Americans. They are an anarchist group, and I believe they are using genuine people who care about justice as pawns to fight for their cause. But, I also believe that they are being used by others for a cause greater than we could ever know, and that is the destruction of our government, to become something else, something more sinister, like a Socialist State. It is no secret that Antifa is funded by George Soros. It is no secret that he has said many times that there needs to be a New World Order.

I for one don't want a New World Order. I like the freedom that we have in America. There is no other country like us. If we go down, where would we go? Sometimes when we are able to see what happened in the past, we can clearly see what is happening now. If we don't know what happened in the past, then we are blindly approaching the future. Let us not be those blind people. Let us open our eyes and see clearly what is happening here. If we don't, we may lose everything, and that is just not an option.