Wednesday, February 26, 2003

The recent protests should not alarm those who understand history. Democracy is a rare and precious thing and those who take to the streets in support of authoritarian rule are more common then most of us would believe.

In the American Civil War, Northern Democrats were jailed for advocating support for slavery and the Confederacy. These people were labeled "Copperheads" who struck at the heart of the nation while enjoying the privilege of freedom and democracy. President Lincoln was torn between jailing those Democrats whose actions bordered on treason and tolerating the free speech of those who were in honest opposition to the freeing of the slaves.

On the eve of World War Two, many prominent Americans, like today, voiced support for the totalitarian rule overseas. In 1938, famous American aviator and son of a U.S. Senator, Charles Lindberg was decorated by Adolf Hitler for his support of National Socialist Germany. A Gallup Poll of Americans in 1940 was 9 to 1 against the United States going to war against Hitler. Tens of thousands of Americans and German-Americans joined the Bund, a pro-Nazi front group that promoted the values of the Nazi's including the desire for fascist America. After the war most of these people realized they had been duped, but anti-Democratic forces exist in every country including the U.S.A.

England also had problems; some historians now believe that abdicated King Edward and his American wife Wallis Simpson had pro-Nazi sympathies. Some also theorize that Rudolph Hess's secret mission to England was to organize the pro-Nazi activists who wanted to bring Edward back to the thrown.

During the early Cold War, many prominent Americans switched their support from a national socialist utopia to an international socialist utopia, communism. Prominent early American Communists included businessman Armand Hammer, musician Pete Seeger, and writer Arthur Miller. In the early 1950s, American Communists were supportive of the development programs of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and the progressive nature of Chairman Mao in China. They were also critical of the American defense of South Korea. When the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956, many American Communists became disillusioned when they realized they had been duped.

The late 1960s saw a love affair between American anarchists and socialist "fellow travelers" with the revolutionary movements in Vietnam, Cuba and Cambodia. Prominent artists, politicians and actors regularly visited communist leaders in North Vietnam. Actress Jane Fonda was but the most famous supporter of this authoritarian revival.

In the 1960s, the American Media portrayed the Communist Chinese Cultural Revolution as being on the forefront of agrarian reform. Che Guevara had a martyr's appeal among young Americans and Fidel Castro became a pop cultural icon. The youth rebelled against democracy by supporting Third World revolution just as their parents rebelled by supporting Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler.

Disillusionment with the authoritarians was not long in coming. With the defeat of the forces of democracy in South Vietnam, the dominos fell in Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua and Iran. "Agrarian Reformer" Pol Pot took over Cambodia in 1976 and promptly started ethnically cleansing his country of all modern influences. Out of a country of 8 million, he orchestrated the deaths of over 2 million people.

In Communist Vietnam, 1.6 million "boat people" fled the oppression of Communism. Thousands more died in reeducation camps set up to punish supporters of democracy in South Vietnam. The protesters realized they had been duped again.

Today, idealization of authoritarian socialism has been embraced by a new generation. Some, ala John Walker, have even supported the theocratic socialism of the Taliban and the well-ordered society of Wahabism. The strict and predictable nature of these theocracies has appeal among lost Western youth who are looking for a place in the world.

Iraq too has an appeal. Western radicals like the defiant nature of Third World authoritarians like Saddam Hussein. This is not unlike the appeal of Joseph Stalin in the '20s, Chairman Mao in the '60s, and Pol Pot in the '70s. Yet, those misguided protesters will eventually realize they have been duped again.

Saddam is not someone to be idealized or worshiped. Democracy with all of its failings still creates the freest societies. Revolution and violent protests are not the answer.

Mike Seigle

Atlanta

[Mike Seigle teaches History at GPC College in Atlanta.]