'During the Cold War, people on the right accused liberals of... pushing the communist agenda...
That accusation was usually unfair."
No, it was always unfair. The McCarthy era had no basis in reality. We all know it was a vicious, fabricated, and cynical campaign to discredit the other side. Eventually we will see today's "fascist" and "authoritarian" smears the same way.
'During the Cold War, people on the right accused liberals of... pushing the communist agenda...
That accusation was usually unfair."
No, it was always unfair. The McCarthy era had no basis in reality. We all know it was a vicious, fabricated, and cynical campaign to discredit the other side. Eventually we will see today's "fascist" and "authoritarian" smears the same way.
I left myself some wiggle room because use of the phrase "useful idiot" was also common in Europe, and I don't know the situation there. Also, there were Stalin apologists back then.
There were "Stalin apologists"? I don't think so. Of course, according to Republicans, they were all over the place. Same with today's politics. According to Democrats, Putin supporters are all over the place.
And its antecedents went back at least to the late 19th century, when the mega-rich and their mega-companies were trashing every workers' attempt to organize as communist, socialist, anarchist, un-American, etc.
'During the Cold War, people on the right accused liberals of... pushing the communist agenda...
That accusation was usually unfair."
No, it was always unfair. The McCarthy era had no basis in reality. We all know it was a vicious, fabricated, and cynical campaign to discredit the other side. Eventually we will see today's "fascist" and "authoritarian" smears the same way.
I left myself some wiggle room because use of the phrase "useful idiot" was also common in Europe, and I don't know the situation there. Also, there were Stalin apologists back then.
There were "Stalin apologists"? I don't think so. Of course, according to Republicans, they were all over the place. Same with today's politics. According to Democrats, Putin supporters are all over the place.
And its antecedents went back at least to the late 19th century, when the mega-rich and their mega-companies were trashing every workers' attempt to organize as communist, socialist, anarchist, un-American, etc.