Yuri Bezmenov was a Soviet journalist co-opted and trained by the KGB when he defected to the West in 1970. In 1984 (appropriately enough) he wrote a book called, “Love Letter to America” under his pen name, Tomas Schuman, to warn about long-term Marxist (Communist) tactics and disinformation campaigns he was seeing in the United States:
“My dear friends, I think you are in big trouble. Whether you believe it or not, YOU ARE AT WAR. And you may lose this war very soon, together with all your affluence and freedoms, unless you start defending yourselves. . . . The driving force of this war has very little to do with natural aspirations of people for better lives and greater freedoms. If at all, these aspirations are being used and taken advantage of by the manipulators and progenitors of the war. The real driving force of this war of aggression is IDEOLOGY — something you cannot eat, wear or store for a “rainy day”. An integral part of this war of ideology is IDEOLOGICAL SUBVERSION — the process of changing the perception of reality in the minds of millions of peoples all over the world. The late comrade Andropov, the former head of the Soviet KGB called this war of Communist aggression, “the final struggle for the MINDS and hearts of the people”.”
Bezmenov was trained and used by the KGB (the “Sword and the Shield” for the State—NOT the Russian people—because in Marxism, the State is God) for their global ideological subversion campaign. In his job, he had first-hand knowledge about the methods they use and their ultimate goals, which, he says, “are very far from the liberty, equality and freedom they verbally espouse. Because I have seen the tragic consequences of this war of ideological subversion, I would like to offer some suggestions as to how we in the United States can DEFEND ourselves against this deadly war and how we can SURVIVE in this “final struggle for minds and hearts.”
Click to read biography
The stakes are high because as he said,
“People all over the Earth, whether they praise America or bitterly criticize her, look upon you as the only hope for mankind’s survival and the last stronghold of freedom. Some may not think in these idealistic terms, but they certainly enjoy the fruits of your civilization, often forgetting to be grateful for them.”
Or as President Reagan said, “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.”
Yuri Bezmenov warns,
“This is it, dear Americans, your country (and mine now) will be the last to be “liberated” by Marxists, socialists, and domestic “do-gooders”. If the “liberationists” succeed in bringing their “New Order” to America, chances are you and I will meet in front of a firing squad — or worse in a “re-education” forced labor camp in the Alaskan Peoples Democratic Republic.’
“You have too many concrete examples of what Communist “liberation” has done for other countries to believe that I am wrong when I warn you that we are on the brink of disaster. From one that has lived, worked and seen first-hand the realities of day to day life in a communist/ socialist state — you must wake up now and start defending the rights and freedoms you now have.”
Click to read 4 stages
“No matter how many problems you think the U.S. may have, believe me when I say that they are nothing in comparison to the troubles you will experience if the U.S. continues to agree and sympathize with communist/socialist doctrines.”
“I have made my choice to be with YOU, the nation I love. I have risked my life like many others, to tell you of my life and experiences within a Communist state. You have nothing to risk by listening to me and making up your mind as to whether I am a “cold war paranoic”, as your media calls me, or whether my message makes sense. The choice is yours.”
Unconstrained Analytics quotes Bezmenov in its February 2019 (written and worked on in 2018) ahead-of-its-time report, Re-Remembering the Mis-Remembered Left: The Left’s Strategy and Tactics To Transform America which accurately predicted and explains the current situation. One of the things the report shows is the lengths—years, decades and even centuries—Marxist strategy will go to to slowly change culture, deliberately blinding the people in that culture that the change is taking place until it’s too late. Trained in Marxism, Yuri Bezmenov saw in 1984 what perhaps most Americans didn’t see and gave lectures on college campuses and other venues during that decade to wake people up. It is only now his warnings are being recognized, because, unfortunately, America is in the last, more immediate stages of being subverted by Marxist ideology.
“In the context of the USA, most of these nasty things are done to America by Americans . . . with the IDEOLOGICAL help of the Communist subverters. Most of the actions are overt, legitimate, and easily identifiable. The only trouble is — they are “stretched in time”. In other words, the process of subversion is such a long-term process that an average individual, due to the short time-span of his historical memory, is unable to perceive the process of subversion as a CONSISTENT and willful effort. That is exactly how it is intended to be: like the small hand of your watch. You know it moves, but you CAN NOT SEE it moving.”—Yuri Bezmenov
Here is his 1984 book, which can also be found on archive.org. We’ve divided it into two parts:
Yuri Bezmenov Biography (pdf)
Yuri Bezmenov Stages of Subversion (pdf)
Four stages of subversion: 1) Demoralization, 2) Destabilization, 3) Crisis, 4) Normalization (or as it is often said these days, “the New Normal”)
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After these two videos, one a formal interview and the other a lecture, we include various quotes from his book, lectures and interviews.
Lecture:
Interview with G. Edward Griffin:
Yuri Bezmenov Quotes
“We rarely use guns to kill people and take their country. The cleanest way is to blackmail, pervert, bribe, lie and intimidate the POLITICIANS and the MEDIA, and they will destabilize and disunify their own country for us. Then all we have left to do is to arm the pro-communist or simply criminal factions and we have a coup.”
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“The main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all . . . only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process, which we call either ideological subversion . . . What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American, to such an extent, that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions” [and then] “The demoralization process in the United States is . . . A person who was demoralized, is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information with the authentic proof, with documents, with pictures, even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it, until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom.”
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From UA’s report:
. . . The Left enforces its objectives through narratives. To ensure conformance, narratives simply need to be constructed so that it is easier for people to comply than to not. The Left is under no obligation to inform target audiences that they are the targets of narratives designed to garner compliance and conformity. As these narratives penetrate into societal leadership groups, they become the passive basis on which controlled oppositions are structured. This is why, from Dodd to Bezmenov, the focus has always been on penetrating and influencing elite political and power circles. . .
Bezmenov: “Never bother with Leftists. Forget about these political prostitutes. Aim higher. This was my instruction. Try to get into large circulation, established conservative media [UA note, which at the time was the major mainstream newspapers as opposed to alternative news sources], rich, filthy rich movie makers, intellectuals, so-called academic circles, cynical egocentric people, who can look into your eyes with angelic expression and tell you a lie. These are the most recruitable people, people who lack moral principles, who are either too greedy, or to suffer from self-importance, they feel that they matter a lot. These are the people who KGB wanted very much to recruit . . . [Radicals] serve purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in United States, all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders, they are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninist come to power. Obviously, they get offended, they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.”
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From UA’s report:
. . . Because revolutionary “men of action” tend to be ugly people suited only to the undermining of target societies, once they have achieved their mission and the target is brought under control, the Left’s first order of business has been their liquidation precisely because they are untrustworthy subversives. This was true with Stalin in the “Great Purges” and with Hitler in the “Night of the Long Knives.” In the 1980’s, Soviet Intelligence defector Yuri Bezmenov also stressed the necessity of killing even bona fide Pro-Soviet agitators once the Soviets moved in to take control. . . .
Bezmenov: “In the files where people who were doomed to execution, there were names of pro-Soviet journalists with whom I was personally friendly. [Pro Soviet?] Yes, they were idealistically minded leftists who made several visits to USSR. And yet the KGB decided that come revolution or drastic changes in political structure . . . they will have to go. [Why?] Because they know too much. Simply, because, you see, the useful idiots, the leftists who are idealistically believing in the beauty of Soviet Socialist or Communist or whatever system, when they get disillusioned, they become the worst enemies . . . No, they serve purpose only at the stage of destabilization of a nation. For example, your leftists in United States, all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defenders, they are instrumental in the process of the subversion only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist-Leninist come to power. Obviously, they get offended, they think that they will come to power. That will never happen, of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot.”
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“The essence of subversion is best expressed in the famous Marxist slogan, (if you substitute “proletarians” for a more appropriate word): “Useful idiots of the world — UNITE! To achieve the desired effect, the subverter must first — make idiots out of normal people, and DIVIDE them, before turning the people into a homogenized mass of useful and united idiots. Tanks and missiles may or may not be needed at final stage. For the time being they are simply the means of terrorising people into inaction and submission.”
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“500 years before Christ, the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
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- Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent’s country
- Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time
- Disrupt the work of their government by every means
- Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals of your enemy’s country
- Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
- Turn the young against the old
- Be generous with promises and rewards to collaborators and accomplices.”
“Sound familiar? About 2500 years later we can read this very same instruction in a secret document, allegedly authored by the Communist International for their “young revolutionaries”. The document is titled “Rules of Revolution” (these “rules” are almost a literal interpretation of those theories and practices which I learned from my KGB superiors and colleagues within the ‘Novosti’ Press Agency:
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- Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
- Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
- Destroy people’s faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
- Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
- By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
- Incite unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of the government towards such disorders.
- Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.”
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“STAGE ONE: DEMORALIZATION — This process has many names: psychological warfare, ideological aggression, propaganda warfare etc. The KGB calls it “Active Measures” . . . which are more important and dangerous than classic espionage — James Bond style. . . . The purpose of this process is to change your perception of reality to such an extent, that even despite an abundance of information and evidence about the danger of Communism, you are unable to come to sensible conclusions in your own interests and in the interests of your nation. . . . One of the main tactics in this process is to develop, establish and consistently enforce a set of ‘double standards.'” [UA Note: how many times those on the Left or in the Counter-State (Deep State) get away with something that those on the right get pillared for, like the “two-tiered justice system”?]
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“Let us start with the first stage of DEMORALIZATION. It takes about 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many (or few)? Simple: this is the minimum number of years needed to ‘educate’ ONE GENERATION of students in a target country (America, for example) and expose them to the ideology of the subverter.”
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“It is imperative that any sufficient challenge and counter-balance by the basic moral values and ideology of this country be eliminated. In absence of ANY cohesive and consistent national ideology, the task of the subverter becomes even easier. In the USA, as we all know, there is MULTIPLICITY of ideas and ideologies today, without proper emphasis on the main and basic American ideology of the original republic and the free market system. It is not even considered ‘intellectual’ or fashionable these days to subscribe entirely to this ‘outmoded’ set of ideas.”
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“Communism and its Marxist-Leninist dogma . . . is another distorted form of FAITH, able to inspire martyrdom in millions. Substituting the traditional values of the Judeo-Christian heritage with this Marxist-Satanic faith is one of the basic principles of subversion at the stage of DEMORALIZATION — the highest and most effective level of IDEAS.”
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“Introduction of NON-ISSUES is another powerful method of demoralizing at the level of IDEAS. . . . a brief definition of NON-ISSUES. An issue, the solution of which creates more and bigger problems for majority of a nation, even though it may benefit a few, is a non-issue (civil rights of homosexuals is not an issue; defending sexual morality is the larger, real issue). The main purpose of non-issues and the devastating result of their introduction is the SIDE-TRACKING of public opinion, energy (both mental and physical), money and TIME from the constructive solutions. Soviet propaganda elevated the art of infiltrating and emphasizing non-issues in American public life to the level of actual state policy.”
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“To demoralize America’s PROTECTIVE FORCES it is enough to make your kids call the police “pigs” and “fascists” for a decade, disband police agencies watching over subverters and radicals by calling them “spies” (that is exactly what American Union of Civil Liberties did), stage campaign after campaign of discreditation and “investigation” of the wrongdoings” of the police, and in 20 years you arrive at the present situation, when the majority of civilian population of this nation is virtually without civil laws or protection from murderers, lunatics, criminals, etc. Can you now expect your police and civil authorities to protect you and your family in case of terrorist attack or a major civil disturbance?”
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“Marxist-Leninist ideology coated in various indigenous “social theories” have greatly contributed to the process of American family break-up. The trend recently is changing in the opposite direction, but many generations of Americans, brought up in broken families, are already adults lacking one of the most vital qualities for the survival of a nation —LOYALTY. A child who has not learned to be loyal to his family will hardly make a loyal citizen. Such child may grow into adult who is loyal to the State though. The USSR example is rather revealing in this case.”
“In the struggle for the ‘final victory of Communism’, the goal of the subverter is to substitute, as slowly and painlessly as possible, the concept of loyalty for NATION with loyalty to the “Big Brother” welfare state, who gives everything and is able to TAKE everything, including personal freedom — from every citizen. If that objective is successfully achieved, the subverter does not need any nuclear warheads and tanks and may not even need the physical military INVASION. All that will be needed is to ‘elect’ a ‘progressive thinking’ president who will be voted to power by Americans, who have been addicted to welfare and ‘security’ as defined by Soviet [Marxist] subverters.”
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“Racial and ethnic interrelations is one of the most vulnerable areas for demoralization. There is not a single Communist country where racial groups are ‘equal’ and enjoy as much freedom to develop themselves culturally and economically as in America. Actually, there are not too many “capitalist” countries where ethnic minorities have it as good as in the USA. I have been to many countries of the world and I can state to you, my dear Americans, that your society is the least discriminatory.”
