The American Bolshevik Revolution: Will There Really Be Any Such Thing As The “Gray Man” Resistance?
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 1 month ago
Via WRSA, this bracing piece. It’s about the nature of the Russian Bolshevik revolution, but it could have been written a day ago about America.
Anyone wearing a uniform was a candidate for a bullet to the head or sulfuric acid to the face. Country estates were burnt down (“rural illuminations”) and businesses were extorted or blown up. Bombs were tossed at random into railroad carriages, restaurants, and theaters. Far from regretting the death and maiming of innocent bystanders, terrorists boasted of killing as many as possible, either because the victims were likely bourgeois or because any murder helped bring down the old order. A group of anarcho-communists threw bombs laced with nails into a café bustling with two hundred customers in order “to see how the foul bourgeois will squirm in death agony.”
How did educated, liberal society respond to such terrorism? What was the position of the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) Party and its deputies in the Duma (the parliament set up in 1905)? Though Kadets advocated democratic, constitutional procedures, and did not themselves engage in terrorism, they aided the terrorists in any way they could. Kadets collected money for terrorists, turned their homes into safe houses, and called for total amnesty for arrested terrorists who pledged to continue the mayhem. Kadet Party central committee member N. N. Shchepkin declared that the party did not regard terrorists as criminals at all, but as saints and martyrs. The official Kadet paper, Herald of the Party of People’s Freedom, never published an article condemning political assassination. The party leader, Paul Milyukov, declared that “all means are now legitimate . . . and all means should be tried.” When asked to condemn terrorism, another liberal leader in the Duma, Ivan Petrunkevich, famously replied: “Condemn terror? That would be the moral death of the party!”
Not just lawyers, teachers, doctors, and engineers, but even industrialists and bank directors raised money for the terrorists. Doing so signaled advanced opinion and good manners. A quote attributed to Lenin—“When we are ready to kill the capitalists, they will sell us the rope”—would have been more accurately rendered as: “They will buy us the rope and hire us to use it on them.” True to their word, when the Bolsheviks gained control, their organ of terror, the Cheka, “liquidated” members of all opposing parties, beginning with the Kadets. Why didn’t the liberals and businessmen see it coming?
[ … ]
In one memorable scene, the hero of Solzhenitsyn’s novel November 1916, Colonel Vorotyntsev, finds himself at a social gathering principally of Kadet adherents, where everyone repeats the same progressive pieties. He soon grasps that “each of them knew in advance what the others would say, but that it was imperative for them to meet and hear all over again what they collectively knew. They were all overwhelmingly certain that they were right, yet they needed these exchanges to reinforce their certainty.” To his surprise, Vorotyntsev, as if under a spell, finds himself joining in. It requires an effort to remind himself that what these progressives say about “the people,” whom they do not know at all, contradicts everything he has learned from his acquaintance with thousands of common soldiers. When Vorotyntsev ventures the slightest discordant observation, “just . . . one little thing . . . they were all on their guard. They fell silent, as they had been speaking, in unison, and their silence was aimed at the colonel.” He retreats and, as if hypnotized, repeats progressive pieties with the rest.
What is this strange political hypnosis? Vorotyntsev gives ground and holds his peace, “not because he felt he was wrong, but out of fear of saying something reactionary,” a word Solzhenitsyn italicizes to suggest that, in other cultures and periods, a different term of opprobrium will play the same role. Soldiers who are brave under fire cower before progressive opinion. For a long time, Vorotyntsev cannot bring himself to voice counterarguments, “and he despised himself for it. . . . It was a contagious disease—there was no resisting it if you came too close.”
This rehearses in stark form what we’ve discussed many times here on these pages, that is, the claim that one is going to be “Gray Man.”
Stay hidden, stay silent, amass your inventory, don’t silhouette on roofline, and when the proper time comes, you’ll oppose tyranny, whether tyranny of language, tyranny of gun control, or financial tyranny. I humor such beliefs with the approval of nom de guerre comments, and in fact have been scolded before by readers who send articles in for publication and commentary for giving out even their first name. So I just now say, “from a reader.”
But your free speech rights are the first to go. When the progressives have taken the academy, the police, the military, the churches, the grade schools, the corporations and every other aspect of the culture, it’s too late to go public and defend your home and hearth against tyranny.
The founders used their real names. They knew the stakes. Staying “Gray Man” because you want to prepare is a recipe for failure, or better, a dangerous opioid that may dull the senses into false beliefs.
This isn’t exaggeration. Soldiers who can brave fire often find it difficult to oppose peer pressure, because, after all, “what will people think of me?”
On November 15, 2020 at 10:36 pm, Brad said:
Precarious times. “But your free speech rights are the first to go”.
I dunno, I think they’re coming for our weapons pronto. I think that’s their first play. They’ve cheated their way into control over us. In order to get their boot placed directly on our throats they know they need to disarm us first.
On November 15, 2020 at 11:17 pm, Jeff said:
No, they don’t need our weapons because no one will use them, your already disarmed psychologically..
On November 15, 2020 at 11:44 pm, Herschel Smith said:
^^^ THIS ^^^
On November 15, 2020 at 11:51 pm, Brad said:
^^^^^^^Maybe So^^^^
But you forget who our enemy is. They will come for the weapons first.
On November 16, 2020 at 12:02 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Brad,
They’ve already come for your language. That battle is done. No one went to war over it. Guns are next.
On November 16, 2020 at 1:45 am, Jimmy the Saint said:
“But your free speech rights are the first to go.”
The way it’s being done here, those are/were the third to go. Freedom of Association got shitcanned with the CRA in the ’60s. Freedom of Assembly got 86’d with Kung Flu. Speech and Keeping/Bearing Arms have long been under assault and will be next.
On November 16, 2020 at 10:27 am, Bob in NC said:
First, let me make it clear that I harbor no illusions or false beliefs about the future of our republic; MAGA is nothing more than a pep rally sound byte; America is rushing headlong towards chaos and dissolution, not greatness.
But when I hear or read about people painting all Americans as neutered, complacent, and reluctant to oppose the current communist coup with such a broad brush, I have to ask- just what is it that they think we should be doing? Grab our weapons and mobilize to the nearest city to fight BLM/Antifa and the police in the streets? Storm the Capitol, and start hanging the traitors in Congress?
We all know that TPTB will not allow it come to that. And remember that TPTB are only in power because the Lord God allows it. Our republic is not doomed because the Swamp is too deep to be drained, or the Deep State is too deep, etc. God’s judgment is coming because we evicted him from our society, and turned instead to great wickedness and evil. I see no signs of national repentance, and the church is mostly to blame – the oft quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 prayer is addressed to the church (“If my people…) not to the lost. The culture war a spiritual battle and we lost; actually, we surrendered without putting up much of a fight. And Christians here in America will have to endure what is coming because of this.
God told a discouraged and weary Elijah, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19).
I am 65, and mostly disabled due to a terminal neurological disease. I am long past caring what people think of me or my choices. I have very little to lose, and am assured of where I will spend eternity. I know many true patriots who like me, will fight to the death– but when our kith and kin are threatened. There is no point in throwing our lives away in a futile attempt to save a dying and doomed republic. Anyone who thinks less of me because of this should re-read the second sentence of this paragraph.
On November 16, 2020 at 12:29 pm, Fred said:
Bob in NC,
Washington DC needs to be burned to ground and everybody, all the way down to the janitor, yes even the ones you think you like, need to be hanged from the neck until dead. Then each State, County, City…
That’s what you should be doing. If you can’t justify it before the throne of Holy God, then you still don’t understand either God, or what’s being done to you, or both. God’s judgement is indeed coming. This is how you fix it.
This is the petition:
Federal Reserve Act (Usury, false balance)
19th Amendment (fifth commandment)
Johnson Amendment (first commandment)
Roe v Wade (Sixth commandment, others)
Non-stop war for fun and profit (6, 7, 8 commandments, and others)
None of these are overturned by Romans 13 (others). They are implemented by Romans 13. Judgement starts in the House of God, and only the church can resurrect the State as; “…not a terror to good works, but to the evil.”
This is the case I have prayed against America, as the only rightful prayer left is for her destruction. This is also the case, by which, if He would, might bless an effort to put Him back on the throne in America, and absent a miracle, a peaceful solution to these is past.
Make your petition, and take your country in the Name of Christ Jesus.
On November 16, 2020 at 1:12 pm, Bob in NC said:
Fred,
It sounds like you are suggesting a theocracy as a replacement government in America. We already tried that- it ended with non-conforming innocents being murdered during the Salem witch “trials” and the following generations’ reactionary shift towards secularism.
And if the Israelite theocracy under King David and King Solomon- which had the the best chance of success due to the literal presence of God in their midst -also ultimately failed, what makes you think we could make it work?
On November 16, 2020 at 1:19 pm, Sisu said:
@BobinNC & Fred We already have a de facto “theocracy” it is called “government”. …
On November 16, 2020 at 1:30 pm, Sisu said:
@ Herschel 2nd to last para, last sentence: “… Staying “Gray Man” because you want to prepare is a recipe for failure, or better, a dangerous opioid that may dull the senses into false beliefs.” … Spot on.
I have doubts about anyone who says they are preparing and ready to make a stand. … The challenge all of us face: Beyond those you think you know, one cannot be sure who is the enemy. …
While “staying ‘gray'” is a tactic it cannot be the strategy.
The strategy is to start to build and give others the confidence to “trust in one another”. No doubt disappointment will always follow; but this I believe is the role of a true follower of Christ. … And this approach to re establishing “trust” will rebuild America the land of the free; even though many of us will not be around to see it reborn (much like the warrior who is killed before his wife delivers; or the mother who dies during childbirth).
On November 16, 2020 at 2:34 pm, Fred said:
Bob in NC,
This is a common mis-understanding about the 10 commandments. They are not simply a set of rules to live by, although they are that, they are The Law. Like gravity, or 2 parts H and one part O, they are immutable except by miracle of Holy God. They were in force in the Garden, they were in force when Cain killed Able. They were in force under Abram. The commandments simply and finally codified (wrote down into code, ie Law) how to have a functioning society. They are the law of God. They are not just a set of rules to live by, although Every functioning society already goes by them to some extent or another.
The law of sacrifices was to atone for Sin, because no man can keep the law, none the less, every well ordered society has lived by some variant of them (see Romans 2, especially v14) and used governments, in one form or another, to be a terror to evil as that society’s representative of their god, for those rules are The Law of God whether that society worships Holy God, or some other, or what; they know not. If a society knew (knows not) the one true God, doesn’t change anything as to the working and function of the Law. They all lived or died by the Law as much as H2O and we still do.
A society that fails at several of the Commandments and/or in major ways regarding one/them can’t hold itself together. Don’t ask me what the threshold is, but God did tell the profits to notify the people in the OT when that threshold had been, or was soon to be crossed. And so did Jesus (Matt 24).
In times past God “winked” (KJV) at the pagans for their failures. But, and it’s a big but, America was founded under those immutable truths on purpose. We “are without excuse” I would recon.
Outside some semblance of the Law of God in commandments, knowing that the sacrifices were abolished in Christ Jesus once for all, we are losing our Nation, our country, and as you rightly state; are Judged and found wanting.
For all I know, His hand is stretched out still. I have no special revelation. I’m just a guy who reads his King James Holy Bible and observes the time and times of America.
On November 16, 2020 at 10:24 pm, Wilson said:
They aren’t just coming to take your guns, they aren’t going to clean out your gun safe say thanks and then leave. They are coming for your guns and you and most likely your family. After they take your guns they will take you and yours. Armed or not, they see you as a threat to them.
We are all on their list and we all have a decision to make. Either give up and wait to get in the box car or fight. They won’t spare your family either way. There is no middle ground.
On November 18, 2020 at 5:30 pm, Ron Bass said:
After reading the first 2 comments here I recalled when a reader of my UPA Report sent me a rather long email about how she was born and raised in a communist country. The most important comment she made was and I quote her “start shooting”.
On November 18, 2020 at 5:36 pm, Ron Bass said:
Right back responding to Bob’s second sentence. I do believe you may have left out some additional options.
On November 19, 2020 at 9:42 am, Bear Claw Chris Lapp said:
My guess is their power will be elevated by what you can or can’t do if you don’t take the vaccine.
Like Solzhenitsyn moaned. “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward”
On November 24, 2020 at 10:16 am, Daniel S. said:
I will have to respectfully disagree. I have braved fire so I feel I can comment on this. I often find myself not caring one bit about people, much less what they think of me. I am a direct contradiction to this entire argument. The other issue I see with this is that for the most part, the individuals who have no understanding of what true violence is or have even seen it in the battlefield, think they know better and will openly admit that. They often are the most outspoken about it. It’s a little brazen to think you could claim that an entire group of people would react to something in a specific way, especially thinking that you understand what’s going on in the minds of combat veterans at this point. But as I said, only the un-initiated speak of such things; in the end it’s just as I mentioned before: I really could care less what people think of me or what moronic American citizens are doing.