Oct 27

Oct 27 The Enemy Within

“Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand
And rivers that ran through every day
I must have been mad, I never knew what I had
Until I threw it all away”

— Bob Dylan, I Threw It All Away, from Nashville Skyline (1969)

As the 2024 U.S. Presidential Campaign comes to a climatic end, Donald J. Trump has infused his normally over-the-top undemocratic rhetoric with still another steroid cocktail, repeatedly referencing “the enemy from within,” “the enemies of the people,” “враг народа,” and “vermin, poisoning the nation’s blood.” Tonight, Trump is holding a rally in Madison Square Garden styled after the one held on February 20, 1939, by the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi group. Undoubtedly, Trump and his warmup acts will make references to ‘the enemies within.”

According to the New York Times, the phrase “Enemy of the People” first entered the political lexicon in 1789, with the French Revolution, but the phrase dates to 49 BCE when the Roman Senate declared Julius Caesar “an enemy of the people.” Caesar, who first conquered Gaul and then served as its Roman governor, wanted to return to Roman political life, so he crossed the Rubicon—an illegal act because of his status as a military commander—three days after the Senate’s declaration, starting a civil war.

Many associate the phrase with the Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy of the People. The protagonist in the Ibsen play was a whistleblower who hoped to call attention to a town’s contaminated water supply over the objections of the authorities, who were more interested in protecting the town’s economic wherewithal—think Jaws. Sound familiar? Climate change scientists should gird themselves for prosecution by a Trump-controlled U.S. Department of Justice. When “Drill, drill, drill” once again becomes the order of the day, those scientists will be dubbed the “enemy within” if they raise objections, no matter how scientifically rooted.

Joseph Stalin is the Twentieth Century dictator who gave the phrase its modern punch, using it to justify show trials and purges that left an estimated 1.2 million Soviet citizens dead. The Great Purge or Great Terror began in 1936 and ended in 1938. It at first focused on Soviet politicians opposed to Stalin, expanded to the Red Army, and then extended to ethnic minorities and ordinary citizens. Ironically—something Trump may want to keep in mind as he threatens mainstream politicians, so-called liberals, and journalists—Stalin’s purge of the military had disastrous consequences for the Soviet Union during World War II.

The Steven Millers, Elon Musks, Kash Patels, and other clueless Trump minions might want to take another lesson from the Great Purge. When Stalin declared the purge over in 1938, he criticized the NKVD, the Soviet interior ministry that had carried out the executions. Two of its leaders, Genrikh Yagoda and Nikolai Yezhov were executed on Stalin’s orders. During the next four years, we could see a rash of familiar names falling out of open windows.

Today, members of Chicago’s Russian émigré community held a solemn ceremony in Jane Byrne Plaza—site of Chicago’s infamous Water Tower—to honor those who died during Stalin’s purge. In total, just under 20 people took part. The ceremony was a simple one, with each participant reading the names of ordinary people who were executed during the Great Purge.

The Chicago event was one of 80 commemorations throughout the world, most scheduled over the next two days. The annual event is referred to as the Return of Names. It begins at 12:00 AM Moscow time on October 29, which is why the 4:00 PM time was chosen. For practical reasons, today’s Chicago action predates the October 29th official date by two days. More people can participate on a Sunday than a Tuesday.

First held on October 30, 1974. the initial commemoration was organized by imprisoned dissidents Kronid Lyubarsky and Aleksey Murzhenko, with the focus being on political prisoners. The two dissidents and other prisoners staged a hunger strike, as political prisoners continued to do until the Eighties came to an end.

On October 30, 1989, activists held the first demonstrations honoring the memory of Stalin’s victims by forming a human chain around the KGB’s Lubyanka facility. Shortly before the Soviet Union dissolved on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation declared October 30th as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression.

Subsequently, the decision was made to commemorate the victims of Soviet repression on October 29th, the eve of October 30th, which remains a day devoted to honoring political prisoners.

The Russian organizers have created an elaborate website (beware before clicking the link, this is an .ru website) to facilitate October 29th commemorations in cities throughout the world. I was told that Vladimir Putin’s government now tries to block access to the website. It includes a bot that “randomly generates the requested number of names of executed people from a pre-prepared sample. It includes 120,000 [records] from the Open List database.” During today’s Chicago ceremony, the participants read an estimated 100 names. Many of those named were young people who otherwise lived ordinary lives.

Particularly notable was the performance of a Bach Prelude by violinist Natalia Sokolova, who wrote the arrangement. Her playing was pitch perfect, producing the solemn atmosphere warranted by the occasion.

The most notable comments came from Igor Studenkov, a regular at events sponsored by Voice of Free Russia—Chicago. He held a biography of Vyacheslav Dombrovsky, his great grandmother, who was imprisoned by Stalin, but who survived the purge with other imprisoned members of Studenkov’s family. He was visibly moved as he recounted his family’s history.

As I walked to dinner following the 45-minute commemoration, I remembered that Trump was about to take the stage in Madison Square Garden, where he would spew his bilge to over 20,000 followers, some of whom hold Nazi-like views. So, as he “weaves” using the recycled phrases, “The Enemy of the People” and “The Enemy Within,” we will have another taste of what awaits the country should Trump prevail.. As with prior Russian émigré demonstrations, I was once again struck: Looking through a foreigner’s eyes sometimes helps you realize what you have. Hopefully, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, we won’t throw it all away.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]