Mark Sashine
OpEd News
January 2, 2007

Although it seems obvious that the gradual slide of the US society towards lawlessness is more of the German type just due to the simple fact that most Americans are of the German origin and so is the US main religion, it should also be clear to the people that evil transformations have a lot in common no matter where those occur and that’s why we should discard our arrogance and learn from the unfortunate experience of the others.

Thus the text below is my translation of an excerpt from the book ‘Stalin and Stalinism’ by Russian historian Roy Medvedev [Re: Russian magazine Znamya, # 4, 1989]:

“…. Eventlually the GPU (Central Political Agency- Political Police- M.S) expanded and became NKVD (People’s Commissariat on the Internal Affairs- M.S). It took over regular militia (police) force and the border patrol. Then it was granted even more powers. A Special Commission was created consisting of the People’s Commissar of NKVD, his deputies, Chief of Militia or his deputy and Chief Prosecutor or his deputy. That Commission had powers to incarcerate people to the labor camp, jail or send to exile up to the term of 5 years initially ( then it became 10 and even 25- M.S) without ANY DUE PROCESS. Its decision could be revoked only by the Presidio of the Executive Central Committee.

After the Kirov’s assassination in 1934 and the first ‘open trials’ in 1936 Stalin and Yeshzov ‘weeded’ the cadres of the NKVD. At the same time the salaries of the NKVD employees ( sic!- M.S) quadrupled and they were granted special privileges- from the good apartments and rest houses to the governmental awards for the ‘successful operations.’ In 1937 it ballooned in size. It became huge, with its own divisions and regiments, hundreds of thousands of regular employees and tens of thousands of officers. It expanded its regional offices to all the regional centers, plants, parks, railways, libraries and even theaters. Special files were opened on tens of millions of people. The 4th section of the NKVD was spying on the members of the ruling party. There were special sections to spy on the NKVD people themselves and super secret sections to spy on the spies. The whole country was covered by the network of voluntary rats and snitches. The NKVD people were taught that corporate, NKVD discipline was a highest duty. They were taught ‘skills’ including the Spanish Inquisition methodology which they afterwards applied in practice. In the open, of course, torture was prohibited.

The powers of NKVD were extraordinary. But in 1937 Central Committee granted the NKVD EMERGENCY POWERS ( sic! M.S) for one year to ‘crush the enemies of the people.’ Immediately after that 18 members of Central Committee were arrested.

Eventually those emergency powers were granted indefinitely.

All that machine worked for one person – Joseph Stalin. But it had its own inertia too; local officers needed to justify their existence and the only job they had to demonstrate was to find (!), arrest and incarcerate the ‘enemies of the people’”

And now, dear readers, when you know what I know do you understand what Homeland Security is up to?