Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Arthur Koestler: “I Was Ripe to be Converted”

Rob Edwards

Arthur Koestler: “I Was Ripe to be Converted”

  • The economic misery of the Depression led many people to find a new hope in communism

  • Seduced by soviet propaganda, many intellectuals saw the Soviet Union as a champion of peace and social justice

  • A faith is not acquired by reasoning, or acquired at all for that matter. Rather, it is an idea the grows like a tree

  • He became converted to the communist party because he was “ripe for it” and lived in a disintegrating society thirsting for faith.

  • He didn't just become a communist over night though

  • It all started in 1914 when he witnessed his father's financial and emotional demise through those crushing times

  • He torturously acquired a social conscience through penny-pinching his whole life, and learning to detest the obviously rich people

  • Horrified when he learns of the extreme measures that fat capitalists go to to increase their own profit, including burning crops to keep prices up, even though people are starving

  • Déclassé people didn't want to admit their own ruin, many found comfort with the Nazi party and blaming their problems on the Jews

  • Many intellectuals like Koestler were ripe for conversion to communism because of the rapid moral disintegration in the society around themselves

  • After studying Marx and Engels, many of these intelligentsia were captivated by the promises of communism


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