What do you think?
Rate this book
Love Letter to America
My name is Tomas David Schuman. I am what you may call a "defector" from the USSR, and I have a message for you: I love you very much. I love all of you-- liberals and conservatives, "decadent capitalists" and "oppressed masses," blacks and whites and browns and yellows, rednecks and intellectuals. For me you are the people who created a unique nation, country and society in the history of mankind,-- by no means a perfect one, but, let's face it-- the most free, affluent and just in today's world.
I am not alone in this love. 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. Millions of people in the so-called "socialist camp" or in the "Third World" literally owe their lives to America.
I am not alone in this love. 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. Millions of people in the so-called "socialist camp" or in the "Third World" literally owe their lives to America.
46 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1984
23 people are currently reading
1021 people want to read
About the author
Tomas Schuman
5 books97 followersYuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov (1939-1993) was a Soviet journalist for RIA Novosti and a former PGU KGB informant who defected to Canada.
After being assigned to a station in India, Bezmenov eventually grew to love the people and the culture of India, but at the same time, he began to resent the KGB-sanctioned oppression of intellectuals who dissented from Moscow's policies.
He decided to defect to the West.
Bezmenov is best remembered for his anticommunist lectures and books from the 1980s.
After being assigned to a station in India, Bezmenov eventually grew to love the people and the culture of India, but at the same time, he began to resent the KGB-sanctioned oppression of intellectuals who dissented from Moscow's policies.
He decided to defect to the West.
Bezmenov is best remembered for his anticommunist lectures and books from the 1980s.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
July 18, 2022
Love Letter to America is a warning from the author to the creeping threat faced by the neo-Marxist ideological subversion of American institutions; like academia and Hollywood. As its title suggests, the format of the book is a letter to the American people; whose culture and country Bezmenov loves deeply. He mentions that his life was likely saved by America, and wondered at an early age how he could hate a country that saved his life:
"Tomas Schuman" was the pen name of author Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov. Yuri Bezmenov was a former KGB agent who defected in 1970; via India, on to Greece, then America, before settling in Canada. In Canada, he taught at The University of Toronto and wrote for Canada's public broadcaster, The CBC. Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-communist lectures and books from the 1980s. Tragically, he died of a heart attack on January 5th, 1993, aged 54.
The book is not very long; around 50 pages. Bezmenov writes in a clear, concise, and pointed manner; dissecting the Marxist doctrine that advocates for global conquest, and how the USSR actively supported and fostered many socialist revolutions around the world; in the name of socialism/communism.
Bezmenov provides many historical examples of countries that have had their cultures and societies subverted by Soviet propaganda, making them ripe for socialist revolutions.
The book explains how the world and institutions are constantly being manipulated by a totalitarian world government of the elite. The Destruction of our society, broken families, and disoriented populations, which are then controlled by the same elite: the author explains how methodically this destruction of global society is being done, and America is on the front line as most of the rest of the world has already been lost to totalitarianism.
Overall, this is an interesting essay that makes you ponder over the events going on around the world. You may or may not choose to believe it but it surely makes you think.
"Tomas Schuman" was the pen name of author Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov. Yuri Bezmenov was a former KGB agent who defected in 1970; via India, on to Greece, then America, before settling in Canada. In Canada, he taught at The University of Toronto and wrote for Canada's public broadcaster, The CBC. Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-communist lectures and books from the 1980s. Tragically, he died of a heart attack on January 5th, 1993, aged 54.
The book is not very long; around 50 pages. Bezmenov writes in a clear, concise, and pointed manner; dissecting the Marxist doctrine that advocates for global conquest, and how the USSR actively supported and fostered many socialist revolutions around the world; in the name of socialism/communism.
Bezmenov provides many historical examples of countries that have had their cultures and societies subverted by Soviet propaganda, making them ripe for socialist revolutions.
The book explains how the world and institutions are constantly being manipulated by a totalitarian world government of the elite. The Destruction of our society, broken families, and disoriented populations, which are then controlled by the same elite: the author explains how methodically this destruction of global society is being done, and America is on the front line as most of the rest of the world has already been lost to totalitarianism.
Overall, this is an interesting essay that makes you ponder over the events going on around the world. You may or may not choose to believe it but it surely makes you think.
February 16, 2017
"...please watch the video of Yuri Bezmenov on how Russia subverted Indian system. In fact, it is world know fact now that the India was considered as the best example of successful foreign intrusion at all levels of government and social structure..." So said an angry right-winger to me on my review of Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Life, Their Fraud, as he was pissed off with my leftist critique of the book. As I had not heard of this particular gentleman, I did a quick web search - and found that he was a Soviet defector, who worked in India as a propagandist! Needless to say I was thrilled. Here was the real dirt: a shocking expose was on the cards! Here was where I was going to learn how the Russians infiltrated the Indian system at all levels. Most probably, the history textbooks in India would have been practically dictated by the Soviets - I would not have been surprised to learn that Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra et al. were on the Russian payroll.
The Bezmenov video was dubbed in Hindi, so I was a little bit skeptical about watching it. However, I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the small tract Bezmenov wrote under the pen name Tomas Schuman, on the net. I eagerly plunged into it... and found...
...well, absolutely nothing.
This book is an exhortation by Bezmenov to the American people to realise how Russia is subverting their society through ideas of egalitarianism, secularism and liberalism: how their democratic institutions are being infiltrated by Soviet agents: how public education is creating immoral beatniks and how all media have been hijacked by the reds (in fact, standard GOP fare). If this continues, America will slide into lawlessness which will be exploited by the Soviet Union to create a totalitarian state. Ho-hum. Yawn.
And India?
Well, Bezmenov keeps on repeating that all these propaganda methods have been tried and proven in India, during his tenure there as a P.R.Officer - without any concrete examples. He talks about bribery, subversion, character assassination, even murder... without a shred of evidence. In a book filled with silly statements, the one that Raj Kapoor was a mediocre actor raised to international fame by Soviet machinations takes the cake!
If this is the kind of "evidence" that is being presented in support of their claims, I am not surprised that the right-wingers in India are not able penetrate the intellectual circles. They seem to be on the same level as Ann Coulter and Donald Trump.
Some gems from the book (I shall be adding to this):
This guy is obviously and incarnation of the Buddha or Jesus.
I like that last sentence especially. I am thinking of the thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, who "owe" their lives to America.
So virtually, the Indian Government was run by the Soviet Union. So isn't it surprising that the Communist Party of India could make inroads into only 3 states?
16/03/2016
Following our Pedro's enthusiastic promotion of this book, I thought I will share a few more nuggets of wisdom from Bezmenov.
Dr. Shafarevich seems to be another gentleman with interesting ideas, and a lot of knowledge to which professional historians are not privy. According to history, the Mayan civilisation was destroyed by Spanish invaders - an idea which he refutes. And he has even discovered the reason for the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation!
---------------------------
Another gem...
---------------------------
He is writing this before Dubya jumped into Afghanistan and Iraq, so he can be forgiven to a certain extent. But he obviously has not seen the Rambo series.
---------------------------
And what do you know? Even McDonald's and KFC are in the pay of the KGB!
---------------------------
Well, friends! Even the UN General Assembly is under Soviet Control.
---------------------------
Now I get where Pedro is coming from! Having subverted the whole of the world including McDonald's and the UN General Assembly, the Soviet Union dissolved itself to allay suspicion! Since the whole world is now clandestinely controlled by communists, they do not require a particular country any more.
Being a leftist liberal who is one of the (unknowing) Soviet minions (according to Bezmenov), I can expect to be liquidated or moved into a concentration camp the moment the communist takeover is final. So till ten: Red Salute, Comrades!!!
16/02/2017
Pedro, I apologise. Whatever you said is correct. Destabilisation, and subsequent takeover of the USA by Russia is imminent.
The Bezmenov video was dubbed in Hindi, so I was a little bit skeptical about watching it. However, I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the small tract Bezmenov wrote under the pen name Tomas Schuman, on the net. I eagerly plunged into it... and found...
...well, absolutely nothing.
This book is an exhortation by Bezmenov to the American people to realise how Russia is subverting their society through ideas of egalitarianism, secularism and liberalism: how their democratic institutions are being infiltrated by Soviet agents: how public education is creating immoral beatniks and how all media have been hijacked by the reds (in fact, standard GOP fare). If this continues, America will slide into lawlessness which will be exploited by the Soviet Union to create a totalitarian state. Ho-hum. Yawn.
And India?
Well, Bezmenov keeps on repeating that all these propaganda methods have been tried and proven in India, during his tenure there as a P.R.Officer - without any concrete examples. He talks about bribery, subversion, character assassination, even murder... without a shred of evidence. In a book filled with silly statements, the one that Raj Kapoor was a mediocre actor raised to international fame by Soviet machinations takes the cake!
If this is the kind of "evidence" that is being presented in support of their claims, I am not surprised that the right-wingers in India are not able penetrate the intellectual circles. They seem to be on the same level as Ann Coulter and Donald Trump.
Some gems from the book (I shall be adding to this):
My name is Tomas David Schuman. I am what you may call a "defector" from the USSR, and I have a message for you: I love you very much. I love all of you -liberals and conservatives, "decadent capitalists" and "oppressed masses", blacks and whites and browns and yellows, rednecks and intellectuals. For me you are the people who created a unique nation, country and society in the history of mankind, - by no means a perfect one, but, let's face it - the most free, affluent and just in today's world.
This guy is obviously and incarnation of the Buddha or Jesus.
I am not alone in this love. 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. Millions of people in the so-called "socialist camp" or in the "Third World" literally owe their lives to America.
I like that last sentence especially. I am thinking of the thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, who "owe" their lives to America.
It did not take me long to discover that our group was engaged in neither "research" nor "counter-propaganda ": behind locked doors we accumulated intelligence from various sources, including Indian informers and agents, regarding virtually EVERY important and politically significant citizen of India - members of Parliament, civil servicemen, military and public figures, media people, businessmen, university professors, radical or otherwise students and writers - in other words EVERYONE instrumental in shaping the PUBLIC OPINION and policies of the nation. Those who were "friendly" and ready to invite the Soviet expansionist policy into their own country were promoted to higher positions of power, affluence and prestige through various operations by KGB-Novosti. -Large groups, of the so-called "progressive and sober-thinking" Indians were on a regular basis, generously supplied with duty-free booze from the embassy stocks. Soviet sympathizers were invited to the USSR for free tripsand numerous "international conferences" where they not only received substantial sums of money in the form of "literary awards" or "Nehru Peace and Friendship" prizes, but were also medically treated for VD or hernias acquired in the perpetual "class struggle"against "American imperialism". Those who refused to be "flexible" and take a voluntary role in this cruel farce were thoroughly character-assassinated in the sensation-hungry media and press.
So virtually, the Indian Government was run by the Soviet Union. So isn't it surprising that the Communist Party of India could make inroads into only 3 states?
16/03/2016
Following our Pedro's enthusiastic promotion of this book, I thought I will share a few more nuggets of wisdom from Bezmenov.
The result of the demoralization of religion is a phenomenon referred to as the "death wish". This expression is borrowed from a book by a Soviet dissident writer, Igor Shafarevich, titled "Socialism as a Historical Phenomenon". (YMCA Press, Paris, 1977) Dr. Shafarevich in analyzing the 'dead' civilizations of Egypt, Maya, Mohenjo-Dara, Babylon, etc., comes to an ominous conclusion: EVERY ONE OF THESE CIVILIZATIONS DIED WHEN PEOPLE REJECTED RELIGION AND GOD, AND TRIED TO CREATE 'SOCIAL JUSTICE' ALONG THE SOCIALIST PRINCIPLES. Thus, Socialism, according to Shafarevich, may be a manifestation of an inborn human instinct of SELF-DESTRUCTION, if unrestrained -leading ultimately to PHYSICAL DEATH OF ALL MANKIND.
Dr. Shafarevich seems to be another gentleman with interesting ideas, and a lot of knowledge to which professional historians are not privy. According to history, the Mayan civilisation was destroyed by Spanish invaders - an idea which he refutes. And he has even discovered the reason for the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation!
---------------------------
Another gem...
Yes, KGB encourages DEMORALIZATION of America through the 'mass culture' by relying upon the help of the "useful idiots" of the entertainment business. No, the Beatles, Punks
and Michael Jackson are not on the KGB payroll. They are on YOUR payroll. All the KGB had to do is to slowly and gradually CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDES and kill your RESISTANCE to the demoralizing addiction your kids call 'music', make it acceptable, NORMAL; make it a part of 'American culture' where it does not belong and never did.
---------------------------
Now let's look at how you treat your military. What is the image of the military presented to you and the rest of the world in the American press and the electronic media? If there is a U.S. general, he is called a trigger-happy 'warmonger', a 'hawk' and 'aggressor'. One of the most popular TV series - M.A.S.H. - presents your military as a bunch of very humorous, hysterically funny bunch of psychotics, queers, alcoholics and otherwise rather unruly characters. Recently I saw a film titled "Rage", where the Pentagon is depicted as a cruel experimentor, testing chemical weapons on unsuspecting American farmers. And it is shown on TV exactly at the very same time when Soviets are using chemical weapons in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos, and provide the same to their Iraqi 'brothers' for their fraternal genocide in Persian Gulf. Have you EVER seen a movie or a TV series about THAT? Every American student knows the name of the Vietnamese village Mi-Lai and what it stands for, namely,' an "American war crime. " Do you remember the name of the Soviet pilot who shot down the Korean passenger airliner with 269 passengers aboard, including some 60 Americans and a US senator? Do you remember the name of that senator? Does anybody in America EVER learn from American media the names of thousands of Cambodian and Afghani villages TOTALLY EXTERMINATED by the Soviet military?
He is writing this before Dubya jumped into Afghanistan and Iraq, so he can be forgiven to a certain extent. But he obviously has not seen the Rambo series.
---------------------------
And what do you know? Even McDonald's and KFC are in the pay of the KGB!
Demoralization in the area of food CONSU MPTION patterns is also effective in the introduction of such things as 'junk foods'. No, KGB agents do not put chemicals into American food and drink. It is done by some American mega-monopolies who operate along the same principles as Soviet 'Obshchepit' (Public Food Service): they look at consumers as 'units of consumers', not individuals. Abolishing freely competing SMALL food companies, who HAD TO
TREAT YOU INDIVIDUALLY to survive economically, these giants of indigestion artificially CREATE consumers' tastes and demands which may not be in the interests of your health but surely in the interests of the monopoly profit. And here I tend to agree, at least in part, with America's ralph-naders, and consumer protection groups, although I do not share their ideas on the solution of the
problem.
---------------------------
Well, friends! Even the UN General Assembly is under Soviet Control.
The average American may not even realize that the 'International Court' is nothing but an artificial creature of the Soviet-controlled General Assembly of the UN.
---------------------------
Now I get where Pedro is coming from! Having subverted the whole of the world including McDonald's and the UN General Assembly, the Soviet Union dissolved itself to allay suspicion! Since the whole world is now clandestinely controlled by communists, they do not require a particular country any more.
Being a leftist liberal who is one of the (unknowing) Soviet minions (according to Bezmenov), I can expect to be liquidated or moved into a concentration camp the moment the communist takeover is final. So till ten: Red Salute, Comrades!!!
16/02/2017
Pedro, I apologise. Whatever you said is correct. Destabilisation, and subsequent takeover of the USA by Russia is imminent.
July 16, 2019
Yuri Bezmenov told a prophecy then, which sadly now became true. Everything he did to warn us was nothing short but a heroic act. Love letter to America showcases his worries for a culture that is on the brink of ruin.
May 19, 2021
"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..."
Love Letter to America opens with the above quote; a warning from the author to the creeping threat faced by the neo-Marxist ideological subversion of American institutions; like academia and Hollywood.
"Tomas Schuman" was the pen name of author Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov. Yuri Bezmenov was a former KGB agent who defected in 1970; via India, on to Greece, then America, before settling in Canada. In Canada he taught at The University of Toronto, and wrote for Canada's public broadcaster, The CBC. Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-communist lectures and books from the 1980s. Tragically, he died of a heart attack on January 5th, 1993, aged 54.
Yuri Bezmenov:
The book is not very long; the version I have is a thin 47 pages, but it is very dense. Bezmenov writes in a clear, concise and pointed manner. As its title suggests, the format of the book is a letter to the American people; whose culture and country Bezmenov loves deeply. He mentions that his life was likely saved by America, and wondered at an early age how he could hate a country that saved his life:
"As a war-time child, I survived partly thanks to such "decadent capitalist" (as the Soviets say) things as "Spam" meat, condensed milk and egg powder that were supplied to my country by the USA through the lend-lease program of World War II."
Bezmenov's writing here is very good. Marxist doctrine advocates for global conquest, and the USSR actively supported and fostered many socialist revolutions around the world; in the name of socialism/communism.
Bezmenov provides many historical examples of countries that have had their cultures and societies subverted by Soviet propaganda, making them ripe for socialist revolutions. He mentions in one of his TV interviews that the perceived stereotypical operations of the KGB doing things like hiding microfiche in modified Pepsi cans, tapping phones, and putting hidden microphones in clocks accounted for only roughly ~15% of the budgets and operations of the intelligence agency. The lion's share of their budget and work went towards ideological subversion of their enemies.
I am including a few more quotes in my review than I normally might, both for my own future reference, and to give any readers of this review a sampling of Bezmenov's writing here.
Bezmenov mentions Sun Tzu early on:
"All warfare is based primarily on deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight - by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy's country..."
Sun-Tzu, Chinese philosopher
500 years before Christ, the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
I. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent's country.
2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time;
3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals
of your enemy's country.
5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
6. Turn the young against the old.
7. 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":
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex. Take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt; ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5. By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word."
Bezmenov writes on the establishment of this subversion:
"This process has many names: psychological warfare, ideological aggression, propaganda warfare etc. The KGB calls it активные мероприятия, or "Active Measures".
Somewhat prophetically, Bezmenov writes that race relations can be mounted at the tip of this subversive spear. This is what modern Critical Race Theory is all about:
"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. The Communist 'solution' for racial problem is 'final': they simply murder those who are different AND stubbornly insist on remaining different. Stalin played with whole populations of 'ethnics' - 'resettling' Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians in Siberia, relocating Crimean Tartars from the tropics to permafrost and Koreans from the Far East to the Kazakhstan deserts. But unfortunately, an 'average' American never recalls these commonly known facts when his attention is drawn to domestic 'racial discrimination' issues by those who profess 'racial harmony' along the socialist principle guidelines. Why? Simple: because American 'race discrimination fighters' NEVER MENTION these facts. If the USA were located on a separate planet from the Communists, I would probably agree with Martin Luther King when he said that" America is a racist country'. But when these statements are made on THIS planet and in THE MOST INTEGRATED NATION IN THE WORLD, I say to your 'fighters for racial equality': you are hypocrites and instruments (even if unwilling) of DEMORALIZATION."
Bezmenov writes of life in the Soviet Union:
"My motherland is still, after more than half century of 'victorious Socialism', a country without even common household refrigerators, and yet boasts of their 'space exploration' and tremendous military might, which have done absolutely nothing to improve the day to day life of Soviet citizens..."
Socialism/communism has been a ~100-year social experiment that has failed in every country it has ever been implemented in. A broad metric often used to convey the horrors of this failed political theory is "100 million dead in 100 years." We also fought a ~60 year Cold War against this ideology. And still, it is ever more fashionable for Western academics, pundits, authors and other assorted useful idiots to forward the political aims of this anti-human set of ideas that runs contrary to the core ethos of our own civilization...
I am staunchly anti-totalitarian and anti-authoritarian; be it leftist, rightist, or other implementations. I am a strong supporter of the doctrines of freedom, liberty, individualism, and meritocracy.
Somehow, however, much of academia, the press, the rest of the mainstream media, Hollywood, etc seem to be only concerned with the threat of authoritarianism from the right. At the risk of adding too much personal politics into a book review, I would opine that not enough attention is being paid to the encroachment of far-leftist politics in the above-listed institutions. As such, I think this book is an important work; from an insider raising the alarm to a largely apathetic and complacent public.
*****************
Love Letter to America was an excellent short read. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
5 stars.
Love Letter to America opens with the above quote; a warning from the author to the creeping threat faced by the neo-Marxist ideological subversion of American institutions; like academia and Hollywood.
"Tomas Schuman" was the pen name of author Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov. Yuri Bezmenov was a former KGB agent who defected in 1970; via India, on to Greece, then America, before settling in Canada. In Canada he taught at The University of Toronto, and wrote for Canada's public broadcaster, The CBC. Bezmenov is best remembered for his anti-communist lectures and books from the 1980s. Tragically, he died of a heart attack on January 5th, 1993, aged 54.
Yuri Bezmenov:
The book is not very long; the version I have is a thin 47 pages, but it is very dense. Bezmenov writes in a clear, concise and pointed manner. As its title suggests, the format of the book is a letter to the American people; whose culture and country Bezmenov loves deeply. He mentions that his life was likely saved by America, and wondered at an early age how he could hate a country that saved his life:
"As a war-time child, I survived partly thanks to such "decadent capitalist" (as the Soviets say) things as "Spam" meat, condensed milk and egg powder that were supplied to my country by the USA through the lend-lease program of World War II."
Bezmenov's writing here is very good. Marxist doctrine advocates for global conquest, and the USSR actively supported and fostered many socialist revolutions around the world; in the name of socialism/communism.
Bezmenov provides many historical examples of countries that have had their cultures and societies subverted by Soviet propaganda, making them ripe for socialist revolutions. He mentions in one of his TV interviews that the perceived stereotypical operations of the KGB doing things like hiding microfiche in modified Pepsi cans, tapping phones, and putting hidden microphones in clocks accounted for only roughly ~15% of the budgets and operations of the intelligence agency. The lion's share of their budget and work went towards ideological subversion of their enemies.
I am including a few more quotes in my review than I normally might, both for my own future reference, and to give any readers of this review a sampling of Bezmenov's writing here.
Bezmenov mentions Sun Tzu early on:
"All warfare is based primarily on deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight - by SUBVERTING anything of value in enemy's country..."
Sun-Tzu, Chinese philosopher
500 years before Christ, the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
I. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent's country.
2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time;
3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals
of your enemy's country.
5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
6. Turn the young against the old.
7. 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":
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex. Take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt; ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5. By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word."
Bezmenov writes on the establishment of this subversion:
"This process has many names: psychological warfare, ideological aggression, propaganda warfare etc. The KGB calls it активные мероприятия, or "Active Measures".
Somewhat prophetically, Bezmenov writes that race relations can be mounted at the tip of this subversive spear. This is what modern Critical Race Theory is all about:
"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. The Communist 'solution' for racial problem is 'final': they simply murder those who are different AND stubbornly insist on remaining different. Stalin played with whole populations of 'ethnics' - 'resettling' Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians in Siberia, relocating Crimean Tartars from the tropics to permafrost and Koreans from the Far East to the Kazakhstan deserts. But unfortunately, an 'average' American never recalls these commonly known facts when his attention is drawn to domestic 'racial discrimination' issues by those who profess 'racial harmony' along the socialist principle guidelines. Why? Simple: because American 'race discrimination fighters' NEVER MENTION these facts. If the USA were located on a separate planet from the Communists, I would probably agree with Martin Luther King when he said that" America is a racist country'. But when these statements are made on THIS planet and in THE MOST INTEGRATED NATION IN THE WORLD, I say to your 'fighters for racial equality': you are hypocrites and instruments (even if unwilling) of DEMORALIZATION."
Bezmenov writes of life in the Soviet Union:
"My motherland is still, after more than half century of 'victorious Socialism', a country without even common household refrigerators, and yet boasts of their 'space exploration' and tremendous military might, which have done absolutely nothing to improve the day to day life of Soviet citizens..."
Socialism/communism has been a ~100-year social experiment that has failed in every country it has ever been implemented in. A broad metric often used to convey the horrors of this failed political theory is "100 million dead in 100 years." We also fought a ~60 year Cold War against this ideology. And still, it is ever more fashionable for Western academics, pundits, authors and other assorted useful idiots to forward the political aims of this anti-human set of ideas that runs contrary to the core ethos of our own civilization...
I am staunchly anti-totalitarian and anti-authoritarian; be it leftist, rightist, or other implementations. I am a strong supporter of the doctrines of freedom, liberty, individualism, and meritocracy.
Somehow, however, much of academia, the press, the rest of the mainstream media, Hollywood, etc seem to be only concerned with the threat of authoritarianism from the right. At the risk of adding too much personal politics into a book review, I would opine that not enough attention is being paid to the encroachment of far-leftist politics in the above-listed institutions. As such, I think this book is an important work; from an insider raising the alarm to a largely apathetic and complacent public.
*****************
Love Letter to America was an excellent short read. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
5 stars.
October 25, 2020
He did warn, did you listen?
August 26, 2025
Від Оксани Забужко (кого ж іще!) дізналася про Юрія Безменова - "колишнього" кгбіста, який у 1980-х втік із совка в Америку й у книжці "Love letter to America" розповів світові, яким чітким і дієвим алгоритмом користувався СРСР для захоплення країн. Польща, Угорщина, Афганістан, Монголія, Куба, Сирія - десятки разів алгоритм показував свою ефективність.
Рушійна сила війни совка, а тепер і росії проти світу - це ідеологічна підривна діяльність, ідеологічна диверсія: зміна сприйняття реальності в умах мільйонів.
Перша стадія: деморалізація. 15-20 років.
Найтриваліша стадія, мета якої - виростити одне покоління, яке не відрізняє реальність від картинок.
- Релігію, освіта, ЗМІ та культура.
Знецінення якісної освіти, брехня в медіа, створення фальшивих поп-ідолів -> «Створення в суспільстві повністю викривленої картини реальності, в якій ніхто, попри доступність інформації, не зможе дійти логічних висновків стосовно самозахисту та оборони країни, сім'ї чи спільноти».
- Структури: закон і право, безпека, внутрішня та зовнішня політика -> недовіра до системи правосуддя та правоохоронних органів, політична розʼєднаність, відсутність обороноспроможності, послаблені звʼязки з партнерами.
- Життя людей: родина і здоровʼя, праця, права різних груп людей -> ненависть і розколи всередині суспільства.
Друга стадія: дестабілізація. 2-5 років.
- Політика: безвідповідальна боротьба за владу як самоціль, популізм -> бажання "сильної руки", "великого брата".
- Економика: руйнування торговельних відносин -> податливість "великому брату".
- Суспільство та зовнішні відносини: ще більша ізоляція від зовнішніх партнерів, вороже оточення.
Третя стадія: криза.
Захоплення влади, за потреби воєнне вторгнення (у багатьох випадках диверсія успішно перетворила країни на маріонетки й без воєнного втручання).
"Якщо попередні стадії добре пророблені, більшість суспільства повністю дезорієнтована та неспроможна протистояти й може навіть вітати такі дії".
Четверта стадія: нормалізація.
"Слово нормалізація тут застосовується іронічно. Коли радянські танки в'їхали в Чехословаччину 1968 року, Брежнєв сказав «Тепер ситуація в братній Чехословаччині нормалізована»".
Ця інформація вражає, я читала з відкритим ротом... Але не дарма взяла слово "колишній" кгбіст у лапки, тому що колишніх не буває.
Незважаючи на горду втечу з совка, Безменов совок привіз із собою в Америку.
Він називає боротьбу за права ЛГБТ+ частиною підривної роботи, штучно створеною проблемою, яка відволікає від реальної проблеми - "захисту сексуальної моральності".
Каже, що поп-культура "викликає залежність" і вчить дітей критикувати авторитети, і що з цим американці навіть без кгб впоралися - добровільно слухають "корисних ідіотів розважального бізнесу" (Бітлз і Майкла Джексона).
Далі діда зовсім несе, він бере будь-який побутовий аспект американського життя й каже, що це результат підривної роботи. Наприклад те, що в Америці популярні командні види спорту, які дивляться вдома по ТВ замість того, щоб самим займатися спортом, а потім на олімпіади приходять совєцькі спортсмени й показують супремасі, а потім американці починають вірити, що соціалізм - це харашо.
Навіть боротьбу проти расизму називає ліцемірною, тому що в порівнянні з совком, який винищує етнічні меншини, в Америці все нормально, тому ви не розумієте, дурачкі, що розпалювання цього питання теж справа рук кгб.
Профспілки - теж частина деморалізації! Бездушна медсестра кидає помираючого хворого в лікарняному ліжку, щоб піти на страйк із вимогою підняти собі платню на жалюгідних 50 центів на годину. Егоїстична, жадібна, жорстока медсестра.
Навіть фаст фуд - це якась деморалізація... Але тут я вже втратила всі сили чіпляться хоч за щось раціональне й лягла спати.
Те, що стосується загального алгоритму диверсії - неймовірно корисна інформація для всього світу.
Але все, що йде безпосередньо від автора - мракобісся.
Оскільки весь цей алгоритм Оксана Забужко описує в "Найдовшій подорожі", рекомендую краще читати її (або навіть вікіпедію), а не скаженого діда-гбіста
Рушійна сила війни совка, а тепер і росії проти світу - це ідеологічна підривна діяльність, ідеологічна диверсія: зміна сприйняття реальності в умах мільйонів.
Перша стадія: деморалізація. 15-20 років.
Найтриваліша стадія, мета якої - виростити одне покоління, яке не відрізняє реальність від картинок.
- Релігію, освіта, ЗМІ та культура.
Знецінення якісної освіти, брехня в медіа, створення фальшивих поп-ідолів -> «Створення в суспільстві повністю викривленої картини реальності, в якій ніхто, попри доступність інформації, не зможе дійти логічних висновків стосовно самозахисту та оборони країни, сім'ї чи спільноти».
- Структури: закон і право, безпека, внутрішня та зовнішня політика -> недовіра до системи правосуддя та правоохоронних органів, політична розʼєднаність, відсутність обороноспроможності, послаблені звʼязки з партнерами.
- Життя людей: родина і здоровʼя, праця, права різних груп людей -> ненависть і розколи всередині суспільства.
Друга стадія: дестабілізація. 2-5 років.
- Політика: безвідповідальна боротьба за владу як самоціль, популізм -> бажання "сильної руки", "великого брата".
- Економика: руйнування торговельних відносин -> податливість "великому брату".
- Суспільство та зовнішні відносини: ще більша ізоляція від зовнішніх партнерів, вороже оточення.
Третя стадія: криза.
Захоплення влади, за потреби воєнне вторгнення (у багатьох випадках диверсія успішно перетворила країни на маріонетки й без воєнного втручання).
"Якщо попередні стадії добре пророблені, більшість суспільства повністю дезорієнтована та неспроможна протистояти й може навіть вітати такі дії".
Четверта стадія: нормалізація.
"Слово нормалізація тут застосовується іронічно. Коли радянські танки в'їхали в Чехословаччину 1968 року, Брежнєв сказав «Тепер ситуація в братній Чехословаччині нормалізована»".
Ця інформація вражає, я читала з відкритим ротом... Але не дарма взяла слово "колишній" кгбіст у лапки, тому що колишніх не буває.
Незважаючи на горду втечу з совка, Безменов совок привіз із собою в Америку.
Він називає боротьбу за права ЛГБТ+ частиною підривної роботи, штучно створеною проблемою, яка відволікає від реальної проблеми - "захисту сексуальної моральності".
Каже, що поп-культура "викликає залежність" і вчить дітей критикувати авторитети, і що з цим американці навіть без кгб впоралися - добровільно слухають "корисних ідіотів розважального бізнесу" (Бітлз і Майкла Джексона).
Далі діда зовсім несе, він бере будь-який побутовий аспект американського життя й каже, що це результат підривної роботи. Наприклад те, що в Америці популярні командні види спорту, які дивляться вдома по ТВ замість того, щоб самим займатися спортом, а потім на олімпіади приходять совєцькі спортсмени й показують супремасі, а потім американці починають вірити, що соціалізм - це харашо.
Навіть боротьбу проти расизму називає ліцемірною, тому що в порівнянні з совком, який винищує етнічні меншини, в Америці все нормально, тому ви не розумієте, дурачкі, що розпалювання цього питання теж справа рук кгб.
Профспілки - теж частина деморалізації! Бездушна медсестра кидає помираючого хворого в лікарняному ліжку, щоб піти на страйк із вимогою підняти собі платню на жалюгідних 50 центів на годину. Егоїстична, жадібна, жорстока медсестра.
Навіть фаст фуд - це якась деморалізація... Але тут я вже втратила всі сили чіпляться хоч за щось раціональне й лягла спати.
Те, що стосується загального алгоритму диверсії - неймовірно корисна інформація для всього світу.
Але все, що йде безпосередньо від автора - мракобісся.
Оскільки весь цей алгоритм Оксана Забужко описує в "Найдовшій подорожі", рекомендую краще читати її (або навіть вікіпедію), а не скаженого діда-гбіста
August 12, 2021
This book should be required reading for all citizens and subjects. The book explains how we are constantly being manipulated by a totalitarian world government of elite. The author only really mentions the KGB as the source of the manipulation, obviously, one must take into context history and current events, and one can appreciate that this subversion is happening daily, 24/7. Destruction of our society, broken families and disoriented populations, which are then controlled by an elite.
The author, from his training and experience, shows how methodically this destruction of global society is being done, and America is the front line as most of the rest of the world has already been lost to totalitarianism.
Many would be manipulated to say this author is just another conspiracy “nut,” but he would ignorant, as this book clearly spells out the methodical nature of those masters of the KGB, CIA, FBI, and the hundreds, if not thousands of entities designed and controlled to destroy society and family.
The author keeps silent about the masters behind all this, the creators of the USSR, which we know are the tribe of Bolsheviks, the rootless cosmopolitans who own Wall Street, Mainstream Media, Hollywood.
The author, from his training and experience, shows how methodically this destruction of global society is being done, and America is the front line as most of the rest of the world has already been lost to totalitarianism.
Many would be manipulated to say this author is just another conspiracy “nut,” but he would ignorant, as this book clearly spells out the methodical nature of those masters of the KGB, CIA, FBI, and the hundreds, if not thousands of entities designed and controlled to destroy society and family.
The author keeps silent about the masters behind all this, the creators of the USSR, which we know are the tribe of Bolsheviks, the rootless cosmopolitans who own Wall Street, Mainstream Media, Hollywood.
June 6, 2022
A very profound book, It spreads light on how Russia spreads misinformation and manages to destabilize the countries, which she viewes as enemies by aggrevaging their inner problems, and maintaining erosive influence from inside. She indeed has had ambitions to spread to the west every 100-years, but the book explains her goals and methods, fabrications, truth-bending attitudes the false positive image she manufactures maintain her influence.
September 3, 2021
Saw it happen in my country, now in shambles. Seen it happen in many more. See it happening in the US... IMO this simple book should be required HS reading, along with a significant portion of history class emphasizing the murderous collectivist movements of the 20th century and the ideologies behind them, which are still very much alive and thriving today.
Read
June 6, 2021Stunning demonstration of the difficulty of predicting the collapse of the USSR. In this booklet published in 1984, an ex-Soviet journalist / KGB informant who defected in 1970 voices his worries about the US falling to the Soviet Union. He was writing only seven years before the total dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The man lived until 1993, so I wonder what his thoughts were after the fact.
March 17, 2022
Yuri Bezmenov (aka: Tomas David Schuman 'defector' from the USSR) was born in 1939 in Moscow. He was the son of a senior officer of the Red Army. "In February of 1970 he disguised himself as a hippie complete with beads and wig and joined a tour group to escape to Athens. He contacted the United States Embassy and, after a long debriefing by U.S. Intelligence, was granted asylum and went to Canada." Ideological subversion, propaganda news, subversion, charts, diagrams, and more, fill the pages of this testimony of Yuri Bezmenov. Yuri warns: '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.'
And as we see mirrored today during 2021-2022:
"In the area of foreign relations America is being pushed further and further into isolationism and defeatism. Few remaining friends look with horror at the destiny of those nations who were betrayed and abandoned by the USA and try to find 'their own solutions', which often comes as 'establishing friendly relations' with the USSR and its Communist empire."
- Excerpts:
500 years before Christ. the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
I. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent's country.
2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time;
3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals of your enemy's country.
5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
6. Turn the young against the old.
7. Be generous with promises and rewards to collaborators and accomplices.
Sound familiar?
Rules of Revolution:
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt. ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5.' By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.
THE FOUR STAGES OF SUBVERSION
I) DEMORALIZATION,
2) DESTABILIZATION,
3) CRISIS,
4) NORMALIZATION
In the context of the USA, most of these nasty things are done to America by Americans.
The Western public seldom receives the explanation of THE PRICE of the state-controlled Socialist-type education: political conformity to dictatorship, ideological brainwashing, lack of individual initiative in 'educated masses', lagging behind in development of science and technology.
The American media is a willing recipient of Soviet subversion. I know this, because I worked with American journalists and correspondents in Moscow while on the Soviet side, and after my defection to the West. People habitually refer to the American media as 'free" ignoring the obvious and commonly known fact that most of the most powerful media in the USA, is already MONOPOLIZED both financially and ideologically by what are referred to as 'liberals'. American media 'chains' BELONG to fewer and fewer owners, who, do not seem to mind that the media is being almost totally 'liberalized'.
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.
CONSENSUS. It will take a miracle (or another national disaster, such as a new world war, God forbid) to make Americans embrace ON E American ideology and to act in ONE direction after decades of disunity, dispute, partisan antagonisms and self-castigation.
- Additional Thoughts of Interest:
The concept of 'Yedinonachaliye' entails that for socialism to succeed, "the will of thousands must be subservient to the will of one." Vladimir Lenin
"We can see that all the elements of the socialist ideal--the abolition of private property, family, hierarchies; the hostility toward religion--could be regarded as a manifestation of one basic principle: the suppression of individuality." -Soviet dissident Igor Shafarevich, 'The Socialist Phenomenon'
- Works that may be of interest to you:
America Against America by Wang Huning (1991)
1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A memoir by Ai Weiwei (2021)
The Closing of The American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished The Souls of Today's Students by Allan Bloom (1987)
Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America by Rebekah Koffler (2021)
Mafia Democracy: How Our Republic Became a Mob Racket by Michael Franzese (2022)
And as we see mirrored today during 2021-2022:
"In the area of foreign relations America is being pushed further and further into isolationism and defeatism. Few remaining friends look with horror at the destiny of those nations who were betrayed and abandoned by the USA and try to find 'their own solutions', which often comes as 'establishing friendly relations' with the USSR and its Communist empire."
- Excerpts:
500 years before Christ. the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu formulated the principle of subversion this way:
I. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent's country.
2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time;
3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals of your enemy's country.
5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
6. Turn the young against the old.
7. Be generous with promises and rewards to collaborators and accomplices.
Sound familiar?
Rules of Revolution:
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt. ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5.' By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word.
THE FOUR STAGES OF SUBVERSION
I) DEMORALIZATION,
2) DESTABILIZATION,
3) CRISIS,
4) NORMALIZATION
In the context of the USA, most of these nasty things are done to America by Americans.
The Western public seldom receives the explanation of THE PRICE of the state-controlled Socialist-type education: political conformity to dictatorship, ideological brainwashing, lack of individual initiative in 'educated masses', lagging behind in development of science and technology.
The American media is a willing recipient of Soviet subversion. I know this, because I worked with American journalists and correspondents in Moscow while on the Soviet side, and after my defection to the West. People habitually refer to the American media as 'free" ignoring the obvious and commonly known fact that most of the most powerful media in the USA, is already MONOPOLIZED both financially and ideologically by what are referred to as 'liberals'. American media 'chains' BELONG to fewer and fewer owners, who, do not seem to mind that the media is being almost totally 'liberalized'.
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.
CONSENSUS. It will take a miracle (or another national disaster, such as a new world war, God forbid) to make Americans embrace ON E American ideology and to act in ONE direction after decades of disunity, dispute, partisan antagonisms and self-castigation.
- Additional Thoughts of Interest:
The concept of 'Yedinonachaliye' entails that for socialism to succeed, "the will of thousands must be subservient to the will of one." Vladimir Lenin
"We can see that all the elements of the socialist ideal--the abolition of private property, family, hierarchies; the hostility toward religion--could be regarded as a manifestation of one basic principle: the suppression of individuality." -Soviet dissident Igor Shafarevich, 'The Socialist Phenomenon'
- Works that may be of interest to you:
America Against America by Wang Huning (1991)
1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A memoir by Ai Weiwei (2021)
The Closing of The American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished The Souls of Today's Students by Allan Bloom (1987)
Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America by Rebekah Koffler (2021)
Mafia Democracy: How Our Republic Became a Mob Racket by Michael Franzese (2022)
January 12, 2025
Clear explanation of some modern social trends. This book discusses the mechanisms of national demoralization by promoting unconstructive ideas (for example, when it is more important that something sounds good instead that something works).
August 31, 2020
This was pretty interesting, though the author seems to see shadows of the (now relatively defunct) KGB behind every bush and tree.
May 16, 2023
Цю книгу я можу порадити всім і кожному, а особливо, нам, українцям. Це про те, як СССР " воювало" із умовним "заходом" за допомогою ідеології. Це дуже коротка, але корисна книжка. І болюча. Тому що читаючи їх, розумієш, що всі технології СССР були застосовані для України і 2022. І головне, дуже послідовно автор дає доступ до стратегій і тактик які нам усім довелося відчути на собі.
December 19, 2020
Yuri Bezmenov was a KGB agent who worked in the USSR "Ministry of Truth", - "The Novosti press agency", producing disinformation for the international media. Later he worked as a diplomat at an embassy in New Delhi, and due to his growing disagreement with the system, started to plan defection. Disguised as a hippie, he escaped to Canada, and later to the USA, where he gave a number of public lectures and wrote books on the dangers of communism.
This is a very short essay, and even though it's published in 1984, a lot of it rings very true today.
“There is nothing more dangerous than disillusioned "true believers" in Communism. They turn into the most bitter enemies and counter-revolutionaries” [why one shouldn't be bothered too much with them and why it's important to get rid of them first]
"...The document is titled "Rules of Revolution":
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5. By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word."
“Now let's move faster. People who have declared themselves to be equal will inevitably come to expect more for their individual needs,which sooner or later will tragically come to conflict with the "unequal" reality. That will automatically produce discontent. Unhappy and discontent masses are less productive than those who are happy being what they are and making the best of it. Decreased productivity, as we all know, leads to such unpleasant things as inflation, unemployment and recession. These, in turn, cause social unrest and instability, both economical and political. Chronic instability breeds radicalism as a means of solving problems. Radicalism is the precondition of a power struggle which may (and has often) resulted in violent and forceful replacements of power structures. If the situation deteriorates badly, this replacement takes ugly forms of internal civil war, or revolution, or invasion of a "friendly and fraternal" neighbor, and finally ends up in the traditional way - namely, state control. Depending on maturity of a nation, and the amount (or absence) of common sense, this control will manifest itself in the creation of a "closed society" - the opposite of what we had in the beginning. Borders are closed, censorship of the media is established, "irritants" and "enemies" of the state are executed, etc.”
“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.”
“I have never heard of a man who would staunchly face a firing squad for the sake of defending the truth of the Law of Gravity or 2x2=4. But FAITH in the seemingly irrelevant (at the time) arid immaterial teachings of Jesus Christ generated such tremendous MORAL FORCE in MILLIONS of human beings for the past TWO THOUSAND YEARS, that people willingly and happily accept violent death and tortures rather than deny their belief in Christ! Communism and its Marxist- Leninist dogma, according to some thinkers (Dr. George Steiner for one), 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...”
“A group of rock or pop-musicians with a message of 'social-justice' sugar-coated in popular 'spiritual' tunes can be actually more helpful to the KGB than someone standing in
the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine. The sugar-sweet messages of social equality from the crooning mouths of the entertainers is quite enough to accomplish the aims of the KGB without any overt activity on their part.”
“THE PRICE of the state-controlled Socialist-type education: political conformity to dictatorship, ideological brainwashing, lack of individual initiative in 'educated masses', lagging behind in development of science and technology. It is a commonly known fact that most of the
Soviet 'technological marvels' are stolen, bought or 'borrowed' from the West.”
“Introduction of NON-ISSUES is another powerful method of demoralizing at the level of IDEAS. 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.”
"If I were a Communist agent in America with millions of dollars to spend annually I would not waste it in bribing pubic servants to give away state secrets. But I would lavish and encourage the sleazy tune-smiths of that region to turn out more and more garbage 'culture'. Gaggled-headed and obscure musicians would be helped to prominence. I would seek out the more questionable publishers of the dirtier paperbacks and slip them a few hundred thousand so they could set up more respectable head offices. Wherever trend shows towards the beat generation I would offer it a helping hand. Anything that prompted the insubordination of teenagers, anything that contributes to the confusion and exasperation of parents would be most liberally endowed. The basic intention of my spending would be to break down the discipline, encourage relaxation of authority of every kind so as to build up, in as short time as possible, an adult generation that could easily go out of control. America would look desperately around for any kind of discipline to rescue them and THERE pretty as a picture, would be Communism, the most iron-fisted discipline since Sparta. The victory would be bloodless. Except of course in concentration camps, torture, prisons, and few things like that. But nobody would know about that because of censorship of the press."
“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 an 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 isto 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 subverters.”
“Very briefly on population distribution: urbanization and "delandization" (the taking. away of private land) is the greatest threat to American nationhood. Why? Because the poor farmer often is a greater PATRIOT than an affluent dweller of a large congested American city. Communists know this very well. The Soviets keep a very tight control over the size of their cities by the system of 'police registration of residence' called 'propiska '. They know perfectly well that the farmer will fight an invader until the last bullet ON HIS LAND. "Underprivileged" or urbanized masses on the other hand, may feel like meeting an invader with flowers and red banners. ALIENATION of people from privately-owned land is one of the very important methods of DEMORALIZATION.”
This is a very short essay, and even though it's published in 1984, a lot of it rings very true today.
“There is nothing more dangerous than disillusioned "true believers" in Communism. They turn into the most bitter enemies and counter-revolutionaries” [why one shouldn't be bothered too much with them and why it's important to get rid of them first]
"...The document is titled "Rules of Revolution":
I. Corrupt the young, get them interested in sex, take them away from religion. Make them superficial and enfeebled.
2. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial issues of no importance.
3. Destroy people's faith in their national leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule and disgrace.
4. Always preach democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.
5. By encouraging government extravagances, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.
6. 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.
7. Cause breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, self-restraint, faith in the pledged word."
“Now let's move faster. People who have declared themselves to be equal will inevitably come to expect more for their individual needs,which sooner or later will tragically come to conflict with the "unequal" reality. That will automatically produce discontent. Unhappy and discontent masses are less productive than those who are happy being what they are and making the best of it. Decreased productivity, as we all know, leads to such unpleasant things as inflation, unemployment and recession. These, in turn, cause social unrest and instability, both economical and political. Chronic instability breeds radicalism as a means of solving problems. Radicalism is the precondition of a power struggle which may (and has often) resulted in violent and forceful replacements of power structures. If the situation deteriorates badly, this replacement takes ugly forms of internal civil war, or revolution, or invasion of a "friendly and fraternal" neighbor, and finally ends up in the traditional way - namely, state control. Depending on maturity of a nation, and the amount (or absence) of common sense, this control will manifest itself in the creation of a "closed society" - the opposite of what we had in the beginning. Borders are closed, censorship of the media is established, "irritants" and "enemies" of the state are executed, etc.”
“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.”
“I have never heard of a man who would staunchly face a firing squad for the sake of defending the truth of the Law of Gravity or 2x2=4. But FAITH in the seemingly irrelevant (at the time) arid immaterial teachings of Jesus Christ generated such tremendous MORAL FORCE in MILLIONS of human beings for the past TWO THOUSAND YEARS, that people willingly and happily accept violent death and tortures rather than deny their belief in Christ! Communism and its Marxist- Leninist dogma, according to some thinkers (Dr. George Steiner for one), 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...”
“A group of rock or pop-musicians with a message of 'social-justice' sugar-coated in popular 'spiritual' tunes can be actually more helpful to the KGB than someone standing in
the pulpit preaching Marxist-Leninist doctrine. The sugar-sweet messages of social equality from the crooning mouths of the entertainers is quite enough to accomplish the aims of the KGB without any overt activity on their part.”
“THE PRICE of the state-controlled Socialist-type education: political conformity to dictatorship, ideological brainwashing, lack of individual initiative in 'educated masses', lagging behind in development of science and technology. It is a commonly known fact that most of the
Soviet 'technological marvels' are stolen, bought or 'borrowed' from the West.”
“Introduction of NON-ISSUES is another powerful method of demoralizing at the level of IDEAS. 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.”
"If I were a Communist agent in America with millions of dollars to spend annually I would not waste it in bribing pubic servants to give away state secrets. But I would lavish and encourage the sleazy tune-smiths of that region to turn out more and more garbage 'culture'. Gaggled-headed and obscure musicians would be helped to prominence. I would seek out the more questionable publishers of the dirtier paperbacks and slip them a few hundred thousand so they could set up more respectable head offices. Wherever trend shows towards the beat generation I would offer it a helping hand. Anything that prompted the insubordination of teenagers, anything that contributes to the confusion and exasperation of parents would be most liberally endowed. The basic intention of my spending would be to break down the discipline, encourage relaxation of authority of every kind so as to build up, in as short time as possible, an adult generation that could easily go out of control. America would look desperately around for any kind of discipline to rescue them and THERE pretty as a picture, would be Communism, the most iron-fisted discipline since Sparta. The victory would be bloodless. Except of course in concentration camps, torture, prisons, and few things like that. But nobody would know about that because of censorship of the press."
“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 an 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 isto 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 subverters.”
“Very briefly on population distribution: urbanization and "delandization" (the taking. away of private land) is the greatest threat to American nationhood. Why? Because the poor farmer often is a greater PATRIOT than an affluent dweller of a large congested American city. Communists know this very well. The Soviets keep a very tight control over the size of their cities by the system of 'police registration of residence' called 'propiska '. They know perfectly well that the farmer will fight an invader until the last bullet ON HIS LAND. "Underprivileged" or urbanized masses on the other hand, may feel like meeting an invader with flowers and red banners. ALIENATION of people from privately-owned land is one of the very important methods of DEMORALIZATION.”
July 18, 2022
Blowjob to America is a very short read, and laughable propaganda piece of course bordering on parody full of Whataboutism, mental gymnastics and blame everything on USSR. Unsurprisingly this Alt-right propagandist Ameriboo author seems to be admiring USSR for how evil it is and disappointed in USA for allowing all the Marxists to controls it. The author spouts all sorts of usual alt-right speaking points.
December 8, 2023
I feel conservatives really would love this book if they knew how to read. What Schuman writes about in his experience as a KGB agent is completely valid, but his argument that that's solely a Soviet or communist strategy is frankly stupid. All of the flaws in his old country's government and all of the pluses of his current one are just, fortunately or unfortunately, how countries and governments operate.
December 28, 2019
In this book Tomas Schuman aka Yuri Bezmenov (KGB defector) talks about how and why the US is being subverted by communism/cultural Marxism. Although written in 1985, it still has relevance to the present day. I believe we're still being subverted by communist and those communist are still being controlled by the governments in Israel and Russia.
September 21, 2016
Step by step overtake by communism in the road to ideology subversion, or distortion of the perception of reality: Demoralization, Destabilization, Crisis, Normalization.
June 5, 2022
Although the charts were hard to read, this was an intriguing look at America from an outsiders perspective. It challenged how I view the world around me. It was worth reading.
April 13, 2025
Authored by a defector from the USSR. Sobering insight for those in the states feeling soooo oppressed. Your intentions fashion the road to hell.
January 23, 2021
I give it 4 stars because I think Bezmenov was wrong about several things he stated in this book. However, that does not detract from the main point - how ideological subversion is implemented in practice.
The reason I filed it under "self improvement" is because the described techniques are still in use today, so one needs to know what to look for in order to identify such forms of manipulation.
What he is wrong about (paraphrasing):
- Pop and rock music adds no value
- Labour unions
- State-run education and healthcare: sure, the way it was implemented in the USSR was very inefficient; that, however, does not mean that the idea is bad in principle and that a better implementation cannot exist elsewhere. In fact, if you look at Scandinavian countries you'll see a positive example.
- Too much criticism of the US policy in the US media: the solution is not to have media biased in the "correct" way, but to have a better educated population that can cut through the bullshit. The media should criticise whatever the evidence says must be criticised.
- Race discrimination in America: of course, even back then things were much better in the USA than they were in the USSR, but that does not mean they were OK or that there's no room for improvement.
Despite these issues, the book is still worth reading - just focus on the subversion techniques and learn to identify them when someone applies them against you or your country.
The reason I filed it under "self improvement" is because the described techniques are still in use today, so one needs to know what to look for in order to identify such forms of manipulation.
What he is wrong about (paraphrasing):
- Pop and rock music adds no value
- Labour unions
- State-run education and healthcare: sure, the way it was implemented in the USSR was very inefficient; that, however, does not mean that the idea is bad in principle and that a better implementation cannot exist elsewhere. In fact, if you look at Scandinavian countries you'll see a positive example.
- Too much criticism of the US policy in the US media: the solution is not to have media biased in the "correct" way, but to have a better educated population that can cut through the bullshit. The media should criticise whatever the evidence says must be criticised.
- Race discrimination in America: of course, even back then things were much better in the USA than they were in the USSR, but that does not mean they were OK or that there's no room for improvement.
Despite these issues, the book is still worth reading - just focus on the subversion techniques and learn to identify them when someone applies them against you or your country.
February 11, 2021
Excellent book that demonstrated the parallel strategies used in communist countries in Southeast Asia. The tactics described in the book are very similar to what I have witnessed in America-fake news or one-sided news against people who speak the truth, has different viewpoints, or call out socialist agendas of those who call for "love and unity."
Every side thinks they have the truth, so who is really telling the truth? Compare the conflicting evidence, and don't allow hatred, emotions, or bias to decide your perception of a person. This book is a great guide that showed some thoughts and plans of evildoers who truly want to turn America into a communist/socialist nation. Anyone who believes in freedom and unity should be aware of the deception going on in our government.
Socialists want to divide the country-even if their slogans "sound" good. What is good for them is subjective, and often, contrary to their actions. When Americans stand together against socialist ideologies (i.e., laws enforced one-way, almost every issue is a race issue, rioting and destruction), we will prevail against foreign and domestic enemies.
Your mind is a powerful tool-don't allow corrupt people to cloud your judgment.
Every side thinks they have the truth, so who is really telling the truth? Compare the conflicting evidence, and don't allow hatred, emotions, or bias to decide your perception of a person. This book is a great guide that showed some thoughts and plans of evildoers who truly want to turn America into a communist/socialist nation. Anyone who believes in freedom and unity should be aware of the deception going on in our government.
Socialists want to divide the country-even if their slogans "sound" good. What is good for them is subjective, and often, contrary to their actions. When Americans stand together against socialist ideologies (i.e., laws enforced one-way, almost every issue is a race issue, rioting and destruction), we will prevail against foreign and domestic enemies.
Your mind is a powerful tool-don't allow corrupt people to cloud your judgment.
May 31, 2022
Only 82 pages. Love Letter to America was written in 1984 by a KGB Officer who defected from the USSR to Canada in 1970. Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov, who is published as Tomas Schuman, cherished freedom, and set out to warn western nations, America in particular, about ideological subversion, an effective mechanism Communists use to spread its ideology to other countries.
Here we are, nearly forty years later, and it is shocking how accurate Schuman proved to be in sounding the alarm of what was coming our way.
I have read a lot of books in my life, and I consider this among the most important of all.
Tomas Schuman died in 1993. Keep in mind that English was not his primary language. Bill White lightly edited the original version to make it more readable, but left as much as he could as it was written. I read Love Letter to America twice to fully comprehend its message.
It is $19.95 on Amazon or free on Archive.org.
Here we are, nearly forty years later, and it is shocking how accurate Schuman proved to be in sounding the alarm of what was coming our way.
I have read a lot of books in my life, and I consider this among the most important of all.
Tomas Schuman died in 1993. Keep in mind that English was not his primary language. Bill White lightly edited the original version to make it more readable, but left as much as he could as it was written. I read Love Letter to America twice to fully comprehend its message.
It is $19.95 on Amazon or free on Archive.org.
July 17, 2024
Pozycję Bezmienowa polecam każdemu. Sporo w niej refleksji i spostrzeżeń, mimo iż napisanych kilkadziesiąt lat temu to jakże aktualnych dziś.
Z opowieścią byłego sowieckiego szpiega zaznajomiony byłem od lat za sprawą jego wywiadów na YouTube, do tego przeczytałem kilka opracować na temat etapów dywersji i całości procesu. Stąd też jeśli nie chcecie wydawać $$$ na książkę (a jest tania bo kupić ją można za mniej niż 15 złotych) to polecam te źródła bądź publikacje autora w oryginale - krążącą po sieci za darmo, gdyż materiały te zbieżne są z tym co znajdziecie w Agenturze wpływu.
Niemniej jednak uważam pozycje za interesującą i skłaniającą do refleksji- ciekawym zabiegiem jest odnoszenie treści zawartych w książce do realiów i swoista komparatystyka tego o czym pisze Jurji i to co ma miejsce we współczesnych społeczeństwach. Wnioski z przemyśleń i możliwe implikacje każdy wynieść musi sam a być mogą różne w zależności od tego po której stronie barykady i poglądów się znajdziemy.
Z opowieścią byłego sowieckiego szpiega zaznajomiony byłem od lat za sprawą jego wywiadów na YouTube, do tego przeczytałem kilka opracować na temat etapów dywersji i całości procesu. Stąd też jeśli nie chcecie wydawać $$$ na książkę (a jest tania bo kupić ją można za mniej niż 15 złotych) to polecam te źródła bądź publikacje autora w oryginale - krążącą po sieci za darmo, gdyż materiały te zbieżne są z tym co znajdziecie w Agenturze wpływu.
Niemniej jednak uważam pozycje za interesującą i skłaniającą do refleksji- ciekawym zabiegiem jest odnoszenie treści zawartych w książce do realiów i swoista komparatystyka tego o czym pisze Jurji i to co ma miejsce we współczesnych społeczeństwach. Wnioski z przemyśleń i możliwe implikacje każdy wynieść musi sam a być mogą różne w zależności od tego po której stronie barykady i poglądów się znajdziemy.
December 30, 2025
Ta książka nie ma za wiele wspólnego z jej tytułem. Bardziej przypomina ona laurkę dla ameryki przeplataną z wywodami, których autora można posądzić o noszenie foliowej czapki. Jako osoba zainteresowana byłymi krajami ZSRR, nie da się z tej książki nic dowiedzieć. Autor udaje wielce oświeconego rzucając truizmy, a KGB stanowi bardziej przykrywkę do tego, żeby pan Schuman dał upust swoim poglądom i fantazjom, popełniając przy tym fundamentalne błędy. Już na samym początku autor stawia znak zapytania między Leninem i Marksem, twierdzi, że egalitaryzm prowadzi do zgubienia. A prawa człowieka? po co to komu? Autor, jak i jego “twórczość” tylko utwierdza mnie w przekonaniu, że człowiek z rosji wyjedzie, ale “ruskim” już zawsze pozostanie. Szkoda czasu na tę pozycję. Dawno około 100 stron nie czytało mi się tak trudno. Tragedia
December 18, 2020
"So basically America is Stuck, with demoralization"
Bezmenov failed to see that the Cold War was a dialectic construct that produced profit for organized criminals who used it to polarize the globe into Left vs Right while selling arms to both sides of every civil war they managed to find or instigate.
Who is Simeon Mogilevich?
What does Holodomor mean?
Why don't the American people know how the organized criminals who created the Soviet Gulag Slave state deliberately starved 12+ million people death?
Why don't the American people know Donald Trump was the laundry boy for Simeon?
Bezmenov failed to see that the Cold War was a dialectic construct that produced profit for organized criminals who used it to polarize the globe into Left vs Right while selling arms to both sides of every civil war they managed to find or instigate.
Who is Simeon Mogilevich?
What does Holodomor mean?
Why don't the American people know how the organized criminals who created the Soviet Gulag Slave state deliberately starved 12+ million people death?
Why don't the American people know Donald Trump was the laundry boy for Simeon?
April 20, 2024
In "Love Letter to America," Yuri Bezmenov warns about the danger of neo-Marxist ideas taking over American institutions. Bezmenov explains how the Soviet Union supported socialist uprisings around the world, leading to the manipulation of societies by a powerful elite. He shows how this control has caused chaos and confusion, with America being the last stronghold against total domination.
Even though the book is short, it makes you think about what's happening in the world today. Whether you believe it or not, "Love Letter to America" will make you question the state of the world around you.
Even though the book is short, it makes you think about what's happening in the world today. Whether you believe it or not, "Love Letter to America" will make you question the state of the world around you.
March 28, 2024
"This booklet is my love letter to America. I did not write it to frighten or threaten the nation that I love for its freedom, its principles, its ideals.
But if you were walking across the street with a friend and saw a car barreling down upon you both that your friend did not see, would you say nothing to your friend and move out of the way, leaving him to be hit? Of course not, and I do not intend to do that to you."
But if you were walking across the street with a friend and saw a car barreling down upon you both that your friend did not see, would you say nothing to your friend and move out of the way, leaving him to be hit? Of course not, and I do not intend to do that to you."
March 30, 2021
One of the more depressive books I've read recently. Love Letter to America does not get a 5/5 since I believe Tomas gives too much faith in some of the organizations of the USA (such as the FBI and CIA) although he does clearly and concisely explain the methods of Ideological Subversion of the KGB.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews