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One of the refrains of conservatism is that an institution that is currently bad used to be much better--a perspective I invariably disagree with.
Master thread of the NY Times reporting on the rise of the USSR, which garnered a Pulitzer for their man Walter Duranty
Master thread of the NY Times reporting on the rise of the USSR, which garnered a Pulitzer for their man Walter Duranty
"Lenin has often been called the 'Red dictator.' This designation is wrong; Lenin never had the right to dictate, although in practice his opinion generally carried the day." Duranty, @nytimes 1/16/23
"The secret of Lenin's authority, which did in fact amount to dictatorship, was that long experience had proved him right far oftener than his colleagues."
"I venture to say that no one who behaves himself has any more to fear from the 'Gay Pay Oo' [i.e., KGB] than the average American citizen has from the Department of Justice." --Duranty, @nytimes 2/7/32
!["I venture to say that no one who behaves himself has any more to fear from the 'Gay Pay Oo' [i.e., KGB] than the average American citizen has from the Department of Justice." --Duranty, @nytimes 2/7/32](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4jOZjBXkAEROmL.jpg "\"I venture to say that no one who behaves himself has any more to fear from the 'Gay Pay Oo' [i.e., KGB] than the average American citizen has from the Department of Justice.\" --Duranty, @nytimes 2/7/32")
6/21/31
"Stalin is anything but remote or autocratic in method." -- @nytimes 10/11/31
"There is no famine or actual starvation, nor is there likely to be." -- @nytimes 11/24/32
The #holodomor genocide of 1932-3 killed millions.
The #holodomor genocide of 1932-3 killed millions.
"It is a mistake to exaggerate the gravity of the situation. The Russians have tightened their belts before to a far greater extent than is likely to be needed this winter." @nytimes 11/25/32
"Tightened their belts" is an interesting turn of phrase in this context.
"Tightened their belts" is an interesting turn of phrase in this context.
"The Soviet press has made no secret of the food shortage and its effects. There is no need of a foreign observer to tour the villages, where it commonly happens that the disgruntled or disaffected elements talk loudest while others are busy working." @nytimes 11/28/32
"the food shortage is insignificant as compared with conditions in 1920." @nytimes 11/29/32
"The public is taught to know and recognize all three 'class enemies' and to welcome action against them."
"The [Soviet] press concentrates public opinion upon defects and ways to improve them, upon enemies and ways to defeat them, but it rigidly excludes the implication that there is anything wrong with the system itself." -- @nytimes 11/25/32
"They are simply trying to introduce a new form of farming which they believe to be better and more efficient, not only for the peasants but for the nation as a whole." -- @nytimes 2/28/33
"The outer world is beginning to talk about a new Red terror in Russia, but [...] neither the Bolsheviki themselves nor leading sections of the Russian people consider it anything but 'repressive measures' against class enemies and opponents of the socialization program." 3/1/33
"I have just completed a 200-mile auto trip through the heart of the Ukraine & can say positively that the harvest is splendid & all talk of famine now is ridiculous."
"The populace, from the babies to the old folks, looks healthy & well nourished."
"The populace, from the babies to the old folks, looks healthy & well nourished."
"The younger peasants already understand that the Kremlin's way will benefit them in the long run, that machines and mass cultivation are superior to the old 'strip system' and individual farming."
--Duranty @nytimes 9/17-19/33
--Duranty @nytimes 9/17-19/33
10/1/33 #Holodomor
"Today the labor turnover runs to 100 percent or more per year, due partly no doubt to hard conditions and the hope of finding something better elsewhere, but even more to an ancient habit of wandering and the desire for change." 10/1/33
Looking for food is just an old habit
Looking for food is just an old habit
"hard as life is here in Russia this correspondent is willing to go on record that no youngsters anywhere have a better time or are likely to make more useful citizens." -- @nytimes 5/29/31
"From a strictly dispassionate standpoint, the Bolshevik Five-Year Plan is a superb political invention." @nytimes 10/3/29
10/3/29
"I myself was lamentably wrong about the extent and gravity of the 'man-made famine' in Russia during the fight to collectivize the farms, in 1930-33. But every reporter who is worth his salt tries always to tell the truth" --Walter Duranty, 1941
#OopsieWhoopsie
#OopsieWhoopsie
"Any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda." --Duranty, NY Times, August 23, 1933
Not only did they lie to cover up a genocide, they accused those who exposed it of lying and doing so for nefarious purposes.
Not only did they lie to cover up a genocide, they accused those who exposed it of lying and doing so for nefarious purposes.
