By: Tashbih Sayyed
The free world was facing a grave threat when Harry S. Truman took the oath of office on April 12, 1945. Soviet leaders, because of their Marxist-Leninist view of the world, viewed Anglo-American world as fundamentally hostile toward Russia. They were determined to subjugate the free world. To ensure their success Stalin imposed Communist regimes on Eastern European countries. "As early as August 1945, President Mikhail Kalinin warned a meeting of the Moscow Communist Party that the Soviet Union was the 'one socialist state in the world' and that "the perils of capitalist encirclement had not disappeared with Hitlerite Germany." Molotov amplified this in a speech on November 6, 1945, when he told a meeting of the Moscow Soviet that the "roots of fascism and imperialist aggression had not been...finally extirpated."
Joseph Stalin's February 9, 1946, declaration confirmed Communist thesis of basic capitalist ill-will and hostility. "Capitalist system of world economy'' conceals within itself "the elements of general crisis and military clashes." The declaration stressed. "It would be wrong to think that the Second World War was a casual occurrence or the result of mistakes. Actually the war was the inevitable result of the development of world economic and political forces on the basis of modern monopoly capitalism," Stalin insisted. Marxists had declared more than once that the capitalist system harbors elements of general crises and armed conflicts.
Installation of Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe was a clear breach of the Yalta agreement. It showed to the world the real face of the Communist threat. Joseph Stalin told a leading Yugoslav communist, Milovan Djilas, "Whoever occupies a territory also imposes his own social system."
Wahhabism is also determined to overwhelm the free world. In its hatred of freedoms, it is much more motivated than Communism. As Wahhabism employs many Stalinist methods, the understanding of Communism will help us in eradicating the Wahhabist scourge. George F. Kennan, in his article, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," explains, ". . . the outstanding features of Communist thought as it existed in 1916 may perhaps be summarized as follows: (a) that the central factor in the life of man, the factor which determines the character of public life and the "physiognomy of society," is the system by which material goods are produced and exchanged; (b) that the capitalist system of production is a nefarious one which inevitable leads to the exploitation of the working class by the capital-owning class and is incapable of developing adequately the economic resources of society or of distributing fairly the material good produced by human labor; (c) that capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction and must, in view of the inability of the capital-owning class to adjust itself to economic change, result eventually and inescapably in a revolutionary transfer of power to the working class; and (d) that imperialism, the final phase of capitalism, leads directly to war and revolution."
Lenin was quoted as saying, "Unevenness of economic and political development is the inflexible law of capitalism. It follows from this that the victory of Socialism may come originally in a few capitalist countries or even in a single capitalist country. The victorious proletariat of that country, having expropriated the capitalists and having organized Socialist production at home, would rise against the remaining capitalist world, drawing to itself in the process the oppressed classes of other countries." Kennan points out, "It must be noted that there was no assumption that capitalism would perish without proletarian revolution. A final push was needed from a revolutionary proletariat movement in order to tip over the tottering structure. But it was regarded as inevitable that sooner of later that push be given."
President Truman understood the threat very well. He regarded Soviet breaches of agreement as just that—breaches of agreement. "He did not need to ask whether the ideological terms and the political aims they proclaimed, such as "peace," "freedom," and "democracy," meant the same in the East as in the West." Truman could see the inherent danger in continuing to placate a mind that did not want to share the civilized world's aspirations to be free and democratic. He was convinced that any demonstration of weakness in dealing with a culture of violence would only worsen rather than improve the position of the free world. Events leading upto the disintegration of the Soviet Union have proved that by adopting this policy of calling a spade a spade, President Harry S. Truman, laid the foundations of Communism's ultimate demise.
Truman declared in his inaugural address, "The American people stand firm in the faith which has inspired this Nation from the beginning. We believe that all men have a right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in the common good. We believe that all men have the right to freedom of thought and expression. We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God. From this faith we will not be moved. The American people desire, and are determined to work for, a world in which all nations and all peoples are free to govern themselves as they see fit, and to achieve a decent and satisfying life. Above all else, our people desire, and are determined to work for, peace on earth—a just and lasting peace—based on genuine agreement freely arrived at by equals."
President Truman's elaboration of American faith reflected the soul of humanism- the ultimate objective of God's will. In our faith human being is not powerless. He cannot be sacrificed at the altar of perceived divine egos. Believing in the concept of human nobility, American faith reinstates the real religion of God by restoring human dignity. It saves human personality from being shattered. The opportunities and freedoms guaranteed in the constitution ensure that individual is not compelled to beg for mercy and favors. That's why, in our society an individual is all powerful and therefore accountable for his actions.
Islam recognized the noble status of an individual fifteen hundred years ago. But the Islamist literalism deprives the individual of his dignity. Today, in a Islamist controlled community, an individual is like a zombie. He has to submit to a doctrine of extremism without thinking. He is fed on a regular diet of obscurantism. He has no individuality and a will of his own. Wahhabism is in direct contravention of the Islamic Viewpoint of Man's creation. If studied, independent of clerical manipulation, it will be established that God wants his supreme creation to be all powerful. God wants him to be responsible for his deeds. So he creates him in a manner that provides him with a choice to be good or evil. The intellectual father of Iran's Islamist revolution, Dr. Ali Shariati, writes, "Since God wants to create a vicegerent for Himself on earth, He must, as a rule, choose the most valuable and sacred material. Yet He selects the basest matter. In the Quraa'n (Islam's holy book) there are three references relative to the material that man was made of: from a sounding clay, like unto pottery, and from mud. Finally, the Lord breathed His spirit into the dry mud and man came into being."
Why did God mix his spirit with the basest of the elements? Dr. Shariati explains, "In the human tongue God is the most sacred and exalted being, while mud stands as a symbol of the meanest and the basest thing. And the spirit of God is the most sacred, exalting, and the noblest "part" of His being. Accordingly, in creating man, God did not use His "breath, "blood," or "flesh"; rather He blew His own Soul into man. God is the most sublime being and His spirit is the finest entity for which man can possibly have an epithet in his language. Thus, man who was formed from mud and God's spirit is a two- dimensional being. For unlike all other beings which are one dimensional, man is two-dimensional; one dimension tends towards mud, lowliness, sedimentation, and stagnation while the other aspires to the loftiest imaginable point possible. So man is composed of two contradictions-mud and God's spirit. Thus man's significance and grandeur lie in the fact that he possesses two poles (mud and the spirit of the Lord). It is up to man to choose where to go, towards mud or providence. And as long as he has not selected either of the poles as his fate, struggle will perpetually rage within him."
American faith recognizes this divine design and accepts the people as the master of their fate. Fascist Islamist minds on the other hand, deprive the individual of his nobility. In a totalitarian society an individual has no dignity. US and Fascism in any form are therefore, opposing poles. Both cannot co-exist. What President Harry Truman, said in 1947, about Communism is still valid about Wahhabism, ". . . the United States and other like-minded nations find themselves directly opposed by a regime with contrary aims and a totally different concept of life. That regime adheres to a false philosophy which purports to offer freedom, security, and greater opportunity to mankind. Misled by this philosophy, many peoples have sacrificed their liberties only to learn to their sorrow that deceit and mockery, poverty and tyranny, are their reward. That false philosophy is communism. Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters.
Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice. Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the state. It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think. Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities. Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence. Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change. Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing classes that war is inevitable.
Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly and maintain lasting peace. These differences between communism and democracy do not concern the United States alone. People everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity, and the right to believe in and worship God."
To be continued....
(The writer is editor-in-chief of Pakistan Today, a California-based weekly newspaper, and president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance.)
