Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Fifth Freedom
apart from its contributions to dependent development in the US
interest. 29
The concept of “Communism” was further elaborated by a prestigious
study group of the National Planning Association and the Woodrow
Wilson Foundation, headed by William Yandell Elliot of Harvard, in
1955. The study observed, quite accurately, that the primary threat of
what they call “Communism” is the economic transformation of the
Communist powers “in ways which reduce their willingness and ability
to complement the industrial economies of the West.” 30 This insightful
comment provides a good operational definition of the term
“Communism” as it is used in American political discourse. If a
government or popular movement is so evil as to undertake a course of
action of this sort, it at once becomes an enemy. It has joined the
“monolithic and ruthless conspiracy” to steal what is ours, namely, their
resources, and by definition, it has been taken over by the Russians—
and we will act to ensure that it is, so that we may legitimately proceed
to terminate this scandal by subversion or intervention, all with the
noblest intent and in defense of the highest values. “In other words,” as
the Argentinian-Mexican writer Gregorio Selser explains with a
somewhat clearer vision, “the North American puritans meekly sacrifice
themselves to care for the flock, gobbling any willful lamb that proved
intractable to their protection.” 31
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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