Series: Meet the Neocons: 2) 1916 to 1964 - Permanent Revolution and The Big Lie

[Occam's Razor]

Keywords:
Permanent Revolution
Leon Trotsky


The modern neocons cannot trace their ideology to any single source as many of their detractors try to insinuate for the sake of hyperbole and shock. The reason for this is that there is no central ideological forbearer but rather a compilation of elements from many different schools of thought with an aim to achieving and maintaining global american hegemony.

The most powerful and influential of the neocon movement are masters at surgically removing portions of an ideology and grafting it into their toolkit for achieving their goals, while leaving the rest of the ideology behind.

This is the case with Leon Trotsky, Leo Strauss and Albert Wohlstetter...

Trotsky, a major force in the Bolshevik Revolution and early Lenin gov't, publishing the first Pravda while in exile, becoming a powerful voice for revolution, attending the party congresses in London... after the revolution, Trotsky was Minister of foreign affairs, then leader of the Red Army increasing it's size four fold to three million members while fighting on 16 fronts. Later he would oppose the policies of Stalin and eventually fall victim to Stalin's assassins.

Both before the revolution and after, Trotsky spent significant time in exile in various parts of the world including Austria, Briton, Spain, Turkey and the United States. While in exile he constantly sought out intellectuals and revolutionary thinkers as well as fellow countrymen in exile. It was also at this time when Trotsky developed the theory of "permanent revolution", the sole artifact of Trotsky's complete views on labor and social democracy based on Marxism to survive in the modern neocon movement.

Indeed, several Bush era neocons are on record calling themselves democratic revolutionaries. But I digress...

This idea of permanent revolution could be adapted and developed along the lines of the neoconservative movement goals. Socialism, Marxism and other communistic ideologies were never a part of the neocon mindset, that part of Trotsky's ideology, the bulk of his ideology was ignored, but the idea of permanent revolution survived.

There is no direct link between neocons and Trotskyites. Rather it was the movement of socialism and more specifically Trotskyism in some intellectual circles that kept these ideas in the view academics, and thus their students. The era of McCarthyism also served to keep these ideas studied and relevant, if only in the view of preserving American style democracy.

Permanent revolution was an easy idea to justify as being in keeping with American Patriotic leanings, as Jefferson himself advocated periodic rebellion. But the neocons had different ideas about how that concept would be used both in foreign matters and domestic.

Jefferson intended that the rebellions be of popular movement, just as Trotsky and other socialists advocated. But the neocons took it upon themselves to create a domestic political revolution, not one suited to the needs of the People, but to the wants of a few. Internationally they very much advocated rebellion and revolution as popular movements against governments deemed roadblocks to American hegemony, championing the spread of democracy as it's only intended goal, while working to other ends, clearly spelled out in 40 years of their own writings, interviews, and actions.

The Founders, in their wisdom, recognized that the safest world would be one populated by free democracies and the need to promote democracy in the world and to do so without interventionism, but rather as simply serving as a shining example of what it is to be free. The neocons idea of revolution was to transform that patriotic position into one of aggressive protectionism of our sole superpower status. In their view, any evil entered into in achieving their goals would be offset by the establishment of US friendly democracies.. making the world safer for We the People.

So... when Trotsky is tossed out in debate or conversation, you will now know the extent of his relevance to the neocon ideology and evolution. On to Strauss...

Other Threads in the Series:
http://www.debatepolitics.com/gener...9-series-meet-neocons-1-general-overview.html

 

[Occam's Razor]

Keywords:
Leo Strauss
The Big Lie

Like Trotsky, it wasn't the whole of Strauss's ideas that was taken up in the evolution of the neocon movement, but certain powerful key aspects were added to the neocon toolkit.

Strauss was thought a bit nutty by his contemporaries, who kept a respectable distance from his theories. A professor and lecturer at the University of Chicago, Strauss had some of the same students as Albert Wohlstetter. Wohlstetter, as we'll see later in this series, had a far bigger influence on the would be neocons than Strauss ever could. However, where Strauss would have endorsed the course, actions and tools of the neocons, Wohlstetter would not endorse the tactics or goals of the modern neocons.

Both Strauss and other intellectuals had become very disillusioned with growing ideas of individualism which they saw as eating away at the social fabric and moral character of the country. The unifying thought behind many very different early players, was the idea that this trend of unbridled extreme liberalism must be reversed lest moral decay rot the great accomplishments of our country.

Essentially the writing was on the wall pretty earlier on, but by the mid sixties it became apparent that the radical ideas of the left movements had grown past any hope of passive reversal, akin to herding cats. It could not be left up to the selfish individual to come to the realization that for the betterment of society, certain levels of moral conduct must be maintained in a modern civilized society. The masses were beyond any hope of sensible enlightenment to their view. Strong medicine was needed. And to that, Strauss, and many before him seized on a truth of human nature, one stronger than want of freedom, for liberty, for equality... it was the want of safety that all peoples craved above all else. There is no stronger tool for uniting a population than fear of "them" and safety offered to "us".

Enter the Noble Lie, the bigger the better, Strauss's largest contribution to the evolving neocon toolkit.

Himself, building on the foundations of philosophers that came before him, Strauss married the idea that one must sometimes enter into evil to accomplish a greater good, with the idea that a state of emergency must be created in the minds of the masses in stark, simple and powerful (if completely fanciful) terms of white knight good vs. huge, hell bent evil. This is the neocon machete. And truth be damned!

So at the outset, back in the sixties, they saw a domestic situation of society, home, family, religion, morality, civility unraveling, threatening the strength and structure of american society... in their view. There was only one way to unite this herd of individualistic cats who were radicalizing around the vietnam war in opposition to it... create a much bigger enemy. One that is so powerful, so advanced, shadowy and cunning it could vaporize us all in our sleep unless we put an end to their evil intentions of replacing democracy in the world with totalitarian communism. Russia.

The lie was that the USSR was an advanced, sophisticated, well funded, militarily powerful nation... possibly more advanced than America in some areas. In reality, it was a corrupt, decrepit, stagnating swamp. Something the CIA spelled out quite accurately throughout.

Of interesting note here... during this same time period in American history, an Egyptian named Sayyid Qutb was studying in America and had a similar moral reaction to the direction of American culture in the 70s. He would go on to be a founding member and idealogical force for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Also around this time in the mid to late sixties, another middle easterner enters the timeline... Ahmed Chalabi