Yuri Bezmenov on Ideological Subversion

KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov (Barrera, 2022) recorded a video (Bezmenov, 2020) in which he outlined the process of ideological subversion the KGB used to destabilize a nation. This process allows for the subversion of a nation from within, without the need for military conflict. It is a slow process that involves four stages.

Screen capture from the video. Yuri Bezmenov is on the left.

The first stage is demoralization. It takes 15 to 20 years and aims to erode the values and principles of a nation’s population. This begins with re-educating a generation, then waiting for that generation to take positions in civil service, universities, business, and media. The propaganda is so extreme that the indoctrinated will reject the evidence of their senses and will be unable to act in their own best interest. Bezmenov recorded this video in 1984, and states that the demoralization stage is complete.

The next stage is destabilization in which core institutions such as the economy, the military, and foreign relations, are undermined. This phase lasts from 2-5 years and disrupts the nation’s ability to function effectively.

This is followed by a crisis stage which lasts from 6 weeks to a few months. During this crisis, a major event or series of events triggers a period of severe dysfunction in the country’s systems, leading to confusion and disorder.

The last stage is “normalization” in which adversarial forces step in to “restore order.” These forces take control of the nation and institute new ideologies. This phase solidifies control and allows the new rulers to enforce the new order. Once the adversarial forces complete their takeover, their early supporters are eliminated, as these useful idiots are no longer useful. This would be a repeat of the Kronstadt Uprising, in which early supporters of the Bolsheviks were “shot like partridges.” (Chapple, 2021)

Bezmenov believed that to reverse this process will require a national effort to reform the education system, focusing on patriotism and the history and civics that makes patriotism reasonable. He recommended that the U.S. must stop aiding communism: supply them with no credit, no money, no grain deals, and no recognition.

The KGB no longer exists in the form Bezmenov knew, and the Soviet Union has collapsed, but ideological subversion described by Bezmenov is still an effective process – the names of the players have simply changed. This process is certainly playing out in current American politics, with woke ideologues taking the place of the KGB, and the deep state replacing Soviet Russia.

 

References

Barrera, J. (2022). “Chaos Agent.” CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/yuri-bezmenov-soviet-defector-canada

Bezmenov, Y. (2020). “Former KGB Agent, Yuri Bezmenov, Warns America About Socialist Subversion.” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1EA2ohrt5Q

Chapple, A. (2021). “'Shot Like Partridges': The Crushing of The Kronstadt Uprising.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/crushing-of-kronstadt-uprising-lenin/31102658.html

On Communism

Communism goes under many names: socialism, economic equality, equity, racial and social justice, environmentalism, gender ideologies, globalism, wokeness, etc. But whatever the name, the result is always oppression and death.

Proponents of communism always have their gaze locked on the utopia they promise, and either ignore or rationalize the massive death tolls that are needed to achieve their ideal society.

Before communists take over, they argue that it is necessary that some group of people must be harmed in some way (ranging from ostracism to internment to execution). We see this today in America, where conservative and Christian employees are routinely fired from their employment, or when conservatives are deplatformed from banking systems and social media, or when there is encouragement for anti-vaxxers to be locked in their homes or to be put into camps, or when there is a call for the imprisonment and murder of MAGA supporters.

Communists are always one genocide away from utopia, for after they take over, the death toll continues to rise. This is due in part to the economic failures the communists create, but also due to political infighting, such as the Bolshevik-Menshevik Split, the Great Purge, etc. There is certainly political infighting within American leftist circles (transgenders vs TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), Zionists vs Palestinians, Palestinians vs gays, etc.). This has not gotten to the point of internment or execution, yet.

Mass grave near the Chaung Ek torture camp run by the Khmer Rouge. (Jeff Widener | AP)

When communists attempt to gain power, the “normies” either think they are inconsequential, or say that what they propose is “good in theory,” or excuse the communists by claiming they are merely exercising their Constitutional rights, rights that would vanish once they take control. Thee is a real "sanction of the victim." The communists seem innocent and idealistic, until it Is too late.

Communists use several strategies to gain power, applied simultaneously on multiple fronts:

• They move the perception of reality slowly, over decades
• They capture or encircle institutions
• They repeat Yuri Bezmenov's cycle of demoralization, destabilization, crisis (takeover), and normalization (the new ideology becomes the official ideology).

Examples of the institutions that have been captured include government and government agencies at all levels; educational institutions; mainstream media, and social media.

Other institutions that have been captured are corporations, and this is done under the banners of "DEI" or "ESG." This has resulted not only in the termination of individual employees but also damage to the bottom line. Two recent examples of the latter are Walt Disney and Bud Light, yet most corporations don't care that they are losing money and alienating their customers.

This process with corporations is usually described as "get woke, go broke." But the process frequently works in reverse: when a company starts to go broke, they seek assistance from financial management companies like BlackRock, who then support the failing company while imposing leftist ideology, making the failing company go woke as the price.

There is only one major movement against American communism: the MAGA movement. One major recapture of a solidly leftist media company was Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, which once excluded anybody to the right of Karl Marx and is now available to everybody.

It is too early to tell how far along we are in Bezmenov's cycle, but if history is any indication, when those under the influence of leftist propaganda realize what is happening, they can lurch to national socialism. The democratic socialists and national socialists then become vultures fighting over the corpse of individual rights.