thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-05-20--The Moscow Trials and the “Great Terror” of 1937-1938: What the Evidence Shows

EDITED AND HOSTED BY THE GREANVILLE POST • Editor 's Note : There are so many interested parties—starting with the leading capitalist powers and their legions of apologists— in NOT allowing the truth about the Soviet Union to come forth , that a fair and reliable evaluation of Josef Stalin , perhaps modern history 's most controversial leader—is next to impossible .
For one thing , the West 's propaganda , which has long included the questionable testimony of prominent communist apostates , professional anti-communists ( including many academics ) , and downright fascists and certifiable fantasists and reactionaries , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ literally pre-empted the field and flooded the world with a torrent of false narratives calculated to poison any potentially favorable understanding of the Soviet revolution .
In part this has happened because the anglo sphere possesses to this day the world 's most refined and aggressive apparatus for the manufacture of all types of propaganda—from coarse lies to elaborate deceptions used in hybrid wars , which due to America 's imperialism and the system 's now undeniable decay are constant .
For another , the problem lies in the near impossibility of satisfactorily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people , especially those in the developed world , simply ca n't imagine what it was like to be in Russia in the final days of the Czarist empire , the disastrous incursion into World War I , or its aftermath with the country immersed in fierce revolution and counter-revolution , while also fighting off a restorationist invasion —the euphemistically called Allied Intervention—comprising more than a dozen foreign powers , including the US , which maintained forces on Russian soil until 1920 .
This difficulty , plus the fact that truth sometimes may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rashomon , makes the work of malicious propaganda easier .
It becomes .
a matter of brute force , and quantity and ubiquity , win the day .
No need to ask here what nation has such resources , and who uses them shamelessly and continually to advance its abject and often sociopathic goals .
It is not hyperbole to say the American empire , in cahoots with prominent accomplices and vassal states such as the UK , enjoys today overwhelming informational supremacy across the globe thanks to its highly developed mass communications @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Truth with no precedent in history .
More concerning , much of this poisoned torrent of misinformation is first and foremost created for consumption by the American public , for it is the American nation that serves today , as it has since the end of WW2 , as global capitalism 's citadel , and the US ruling class , sitting atop the imperialist leviathan , is deeply conscious of the need to legitimate its rule by any means necessary .
It should be clear by now that pushing back against such mountains @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , `` a labour of fools '' , many have called it , nor does it have the psychological and financial comforts enjoyed by establishment hacks .
This fact does not deter all , however .
For there are people who fully understand that the imperial Big Lie not only covers up past horrors but facilitates present and future great crimes , and that only the truth —in whatever degree it is established , even if it succeeds only in injecting doubt about the official narratives— can slow down and ultimately cripple and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thankless task few historical researchers can match the bullheaded determination and scholarly scrupulousness of Prof. Grover Furr , the bete noire of professional anti-Stalinists .
Single-handedly , ignored by mainstream publishers , reviled by a multitude of critics , threatened with dismissal , shunned by most mainstream reviewers , and without any funding except his own resources , he has built a considerable body of work that now stands like an unexpected ledge in the middle of the road traveled by most capitalist propagandists .
What 's more , the dishonesty of anticommunist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any propaganda , it can be directed toward any target and direction according to the interests of the source , has been exposed on numerous times .
Mission to Moscow , for example , a film based on the 1941 book by FDR ambassador to the USSR Joseph E Davies , presented the Soviet Union , and Stalin , in a very good light .
The book and film showed that the truth is accessible and communicable , even when witnessed by a self-admitted ruling class American liberal capitalist .
The film , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and around the world , was remarkable because Davies , a lawyer himself , had arrived at his favorable conclusions about the Soviet Union and its leaders on the basis of his own observations , these including the `` Moscow Show Trials , '' which the ambassador witnessed and believed to be judicially fair , the guilt of the defendants satisfactorily proven .
( The wrath and consternation of anti-communists deeply embedded throughout US society , from media to the political class , and of course fellow diplomats and State Department staff , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They wasted no time in denigrating Davies ' opinions about the Soviet Union as misguided or `` naive '' , ) .
Amb .
Davies ' opinions , could not be allowed to stand , so the CIA and its minions has dutifully `` neutralised and expunged '' the pro-Soviet toxin he represented .
Thus , for example , the Wikipedia page devoted to Davies has numerous passages warning the reader about the supposed unreliability of the ambassador as a witness of USSR affairs : Davies attended the Trial of the Twenty One @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the late 1930s .
[ 8 ] He was convinced of the guilt of the accused .
According to Davies , `` the Kremlin 's fears [ regarding treason in the Army and Party ] were well justified '' .
[ 9 ] His opinions were at odds with much of the Western press of the day , as well as those of his own staff , many of whom had been in the country far longer than Davies .
[ 10 ] The career diplomat Charles Bohlen , who served under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ 10 ] Given this rather transparent longstanding record of malice toward the Soviet Union and Stalin , in particular , an experienced sovietologist such as Grover Furr is well aware that the litany of Stalin 's `` crimes '' —the Show Trials , the vaunted reign of terror , the `` brutal collectivisation '' , the Holodomor ( `` starvation of millions in the Ukraine '' ) —and many other similarly lurid stories , rest on shaky grounds .
Singly and jointly they do not hold much more water upon closer inspection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by thousands of different media voices at the time , and believed by millions ) that Stalin was guilty of murdering 66.7 million people ( later upped to 110 million ) , a magical feat , no doubt , in a country at the time of only 160 million !
In any case , while fierce , unprincipled anticommunism has been the default posture of arch-capitalist America since the Soviet Union was born in 1917 , with only a short pause during WW2 , the floodgates of invective and lies reopened with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than N. Khrushchev provided new grist for the West 's slander mills .
The natural focus of such demonisation , as has been pointed out elsewhere , was Josef Stalin .
In an interview with Nikos Mottas , editor of In Defence of Communism ( IDC ) , Prof Furr elaborated : IDC : Sixty-five years after his death , the name of Joseph Stalin remains at the epicenter of anti-communism .
The bourgeois historiography , as well as bourgeois political forces , continue the vilification of Stalin , calling him a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” who supposedly “ killed tens of millions of people ” .
According to your view , why anti-communists still focus their attacks on Stalin and what are the major sources of their claims ?
G.FURR : Defenders of capitalism need to depict communism as something horrible !
So , in addition to hiding the horrors of capitalism- imperialism , they require a “ boogeyman ” to focus on as the epitome of the “ evil ” of communism .
Stalin was the leader of the USSR and the world communist movement during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and therefore of its greatest threat to capitalism .
So Stalin would be a natural target in any case .
But there are at least two other factors .
The first is Leon Trotsky , who lied about Stalin in virtually everything he wrote from 1928 until his murder in 1940 .
Trotsky ’ s post-1929 writings were the first major source of lies and slander against Stalin and the USSR .
The second is Nikita Khrushchev .
His “ Secret Speech ” of February 25 , 1956 to the XX Party Congress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communist movement .
And it was an invaluable gift to the anticommunists of the world !
and , further to that— Concerning Khrushchev ’ s lies about Stalin and Soviet history , we must remember that very few people at the time recognized them as lies .
And nobody could prove that they were lies because Khrushchev never published any evidence .
Nor did Khrushchev , or his successors , allow even Party historians to see any primary documents in the archives .
The lies by Khrushchev and his hundreds of writers were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became the major source of anti-Stalin lies for all the anticommunist writers and “ scholars ” that followed him , right up to the present .
Some of these Khrushchev-era Soviet anticommunist works were published in the West and widely publicized by the capitalists .
Such writers include Alexander Solzhenitsyn , Roy Medvedev , and Alexander Nekrich .
Many works of Western “ experts ” on the USSR relied heavily on these Khrushchev-era falsehoods .
Important examples are Robert Conquest ’ s works ( a confirmed CIA and British anticommunist intel agent ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historian Stephen Cohen .
I consider this long prefatory note necessary because I am well aware how deeply and insidiously indoctrination works in America , with most inhabitants of the `` indispensable nation '' believing they carry beliefs about the world freely arrived at .
What Prof. Furr presents here challenges such indoctrination head-on , and is liable to prompt immediate rejection or disbelief , the conditioned responses .
After all , nothing is more difficult to overcome than a `` brainwash under freedom '' , the anglo-american specialty .
So be prepared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up when it comes to these documents .
Because when it comes to Soviet history , and communism in general , what you are likely to have on your mind is definitely upside down .
—P .
Greanville ince my two-part essay `` Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform '' was written in 2004-5 , a great deal more evidence has been published concerning the Opposition , the Moscow Trials of 1936 , 1937 , and 1938 , the Military Purges or `` Tukhachevsky Affair '' , and the subsequent `` Ezhovshchina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Terror '' after the title of the extremely dishonest book by Robert Conquest first published in 1968 .
The newly-available evidence confirms the following conclusions : * The defendants at the Moscow Trials of August 1936 , January 1937 , and March 1938 , were guilty of at least those crimes to which they confessed .
A `` bloc of Rights and Trotskyites '' did indeed exist .
It planned to assassinate Stalin , Kaganovich , Molotov , and others in a coup d ’ etat , what they called a `` palace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The bloc did assassinate Kirov .
* Both Rights and Trotskyites were conspiring with the Germans and Japanese , as were the Military conspirators .
If the `` palace coup '' did not work they hoped to come to power by showing loyalty to Germany or Japan in the event of an invasion .
* Trotsky too was directly conspiring with the Germans and Japanese , as were a number of his supporters .
* Nikolai Ezhov , head of the NKVD from 1936 to late 1938 , was also conspiring with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evidence about the role of NKVD chief Nikolai Ezhov than we had in 2005 .
Ezhov , head of the NKVD ( People ’ s Commissar for Internal Affairs ) , had his own conspiracy against the Soviet government and Party leadership .
Ezhov had also been recruited by German intelligence .
Like the Rights and Trotskyites , Ezhov and his top NKVD men were counting on an invasion by Germany , Japan , or other major capitalist country .
They tortured a great many innocent people into confessing to capital crimes so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a great many more on falsified grounds or no grounds at all .
Ezhov hoped that this mass murder of innocent people would turn large parts of the Soviet population against the government .
That would create the basis for internal rebellions against the Soviet government when Germany or Japan attacked .
Ezhov lied to Stalin , the Party and government leaders about all this .
The truly horrific mass executions of 1937-1938 of almost 680,000 people were in large part unjustifiable executions of innocent people carried out deliberately by Ezhov and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among the Soviet population .
Although Ezhov executed a very large number of innocent people , it is clear from the evidence now available that there were also real conspiracies .
The Russian government continues to keep all but a tiny amount of the investigative materials top-secret .
We can ’ t know for sure exactly the dimensions of the real conspiracies without that evidence .
Therefore , we don ’ t know how many of these 680,000 people were actual conspirators and how many were innocent victims .
As I wrote in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began to suspect as early as October 1937 that some of the repression was done illegally .
From early in 1938 , when Pavel Postyshev was sharply criticized , then removed from the Central Committee , then expelled from the Party , tried and executed for mass unjustified repression , these suspicions grew .
When Lavrentii Beria was appointed as Ezhov ’ s second-in-command Ezhov and his men understood that Stalin and the Party leadership no longer trusted them .
They made one last plot to assassinate Stalin at the November 7 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Bolshevik Revolution .
But Ezhov ’ s men were arrested in time .
Ezhov was persuaded to resign .
An intensive investigation was begun and a huge number of NKVD abuses were uncovered .
A great many cases of those tried or punished under Ezhov were reviewed .
Over 100,000 people were released from prison and camps .
Many NKVD men were arrested , confessed to torturing innocent people , tried and executed .
Many more NKVD men were sentenced to prison or dismissed .
Under Beria the number of executions in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 % of the number under Ezhov in 1937 and 1938 , and many of those executed were NKVD men , including Ezhov himself , who were found guilty of massive unjustified repression and executions of innocent people .
Some of the most dramatic evidence published since 2005 are confessions of Ezhov and Mikhail Frinovsky , Ezhov ’ s second-in-command .
I have put some of these on the Internet in both the original Russian and in English translation .
We also have a great many more confessions and interrogations , mostly partial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes many more confessions .
These were published in 2007 in a semi-official account by Aleksei Pavliukov .
All `` mainstream '' – that is , anticommunist – and Trotskyist researchers falsely claim that there were no conspiracies .
According to them , all the Moscow Trial defendants , all the military defendants , and all those tried and sentenced for espionage , conspiracy , sabotage , and other crimes , were innocent victims .
Some claim that Stalin had planned to kill all these people because they might constitute a `` Fifth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Other anticommunists prefer the explanation that Stalin just tried to terrorize the population into obedience .
This is an ideological , anticommunist stance masquerading as an historical conclusion .
It is based upon the historical evidence and is inconsistent with that evidence .
Anticommunist historians ignore the primary source evidence available .
They even ignore evidence in collections of documents that they themselves cite in their own works .
Why do the anticommunist `` scholars '' , both in Russia and the West , ignore all this evidence ?
Why do they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no conspiracies existed and that Stalin , not Ezhov , decided to execute hundreds of thousands of innocent people ?
The only possible explanation is that they do this for ideological reasons alone .
The truth , as established by an examination of the primary source evidence , would make Stalin and the Bolsheviks `` look good '' to most people .
Collectivization of Agriculture Saved The World from Nazis and Japanese… We have an example of this ideological bias in the way anticommunist scholars and writers treat the Bolshevik collectivization of agriculture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immoral and unjustified .
Yet collectivization provided the capital for the crash industrialization of the USSR .
And only industrialization made a modern Red army possible .
Without a technologically-advanced modern army the Nazis would have conquered the USSR .
Then , with the resources and manpower of the USSR and the rest of Europe behind them , the Nazis could have invaded the British Isles .
Nazi armies would have been a far more formidable foe against all Allied powers .
Meanwhile the Japanese , strengthened by the petroleum of the Soviet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far more formidable enemy for the USA in the Pacific war .
Millions more Slavs and Jews – `` Untermenschen '' to the Nazis – and millions more Europeans and American soldiers – would have been killed .
That this did not occur can be attributed , in large part , to the Soviet collectivization of agriculture .
This is an obvious conclusion .
There was simply no other way than by collectivizing agriculture that the USSR could have industrialized , and thus stood up to the Nazis and Japanese .
The only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Right and Trotskyite conspirators : to make peace with the Germans and Japanese , even if that meant granting them huge trade and territorial concessions .
That would have greatly strengthened the Axis powers in their war against the U.K. and the USA .
For purely ideological reasons anticommunists can not admit that collectivization made it possible for the Axis to be defeated .
And So Did The Defeat of the Conspirators in 1936-1938 Whether they were able to seize political power through a `` palace coup '' , or whether they would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Japanese attack as they only way they might be able to overthrow the Stalin government , the Opposition conspirators were planning some kind of alliance with the Axis .
In fact they would have had no choice , as they realized themselves .
A USSR weakened by internal revolt , with or without an invasion from abroad , would have had to make trade , territorial , and ideological concessions to its major potential adversaries simply in order to avoid invasion and inevitable conquest .
At a minimum , a USSR led by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treaties with Germany and Japan that would have provided the Axis powers with huge natural resources , possibly with manufactured goods as well .
The military conspirators were contemplating going much farther than mere trade with the Axis .
They were contemplating an outright military alliance with Germany .
That would have meant millions more soldiers to fight alongside the German Wehrmacht .
Therefore , in foiling the machinations of the Rights , Trotsky and his supporters , and the Military conspirators , Stalin saved Europe from Naziism – again !
No doubt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insist , in the face of all the evidence , that there were no conspiracies in the USSR and no collaboration with the Germans and Japanese .
Once again they refuse to admit these truths on purely ideological grounds because doing so would seem to justify Stalin ’ s actions .
Bukharin , Not Stalin , To Blame for the Massive Repressions One interesting aspect of this is that Nikolai Bukharin , leading name among the Rightists and one of its leaders , knew about the `` Ezhovshchina '' as it was happening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Stalin that he wrote from prison .
It gets even better .
Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a member of the Rightist conspiracy , as he himself was .
No doubt that is why he welcomed Ezhov 's appointment as head of the NKVD -- a view recorded by his widow in her memoirs .
In his first confession , in his now-famous letter to Stalin of December 10 , 1937 , and at his trial in March 1938 Bukharin claimed he had completely `` disarmed '' and had told everything he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this was a lie .
Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a leading member of the Rightist conspiracy -- but did not inform on him .
According to Mikhail Frinovsky , Ezhov 's right-hand man , Ezhov probably promised to see that he would not be executed if he did not mention his own , Ezhov 's , participation ( see Frinovsky 's confession of April 11 , 1939 ) .
If Bukharin had told the truth -- if he had , in fact , informed on Ezhov -- Ezhov 's mass murders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people could have been saved .
But Bukharin remained true to his fellow conspirators .
He went to execution -- an execution he swore he deserved `` ten times over '' * -- without revealing Ezhov 's participation in the conspiracy .
This point can not be stressed too much : the blood of the hundreds of thousands of innocent persons slaughtered by Ezhov and his men during 1937-1938 , are on Bukharin 's hands .
I agree with historian Geoffrey Roberts when he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the `` Ezhovshchina '' will be unacceptable to ideologically-motivated people .
I have not reached these conclusions out of any desire to `` apologize '' for the policies of Stalin or the Soviet government .
I believe these to be the only objective conclusions possible based on the available evidence .
I make no claim that the Soviet leadership was free from error .
Stalin ’ s vision of a socialism leading to communism was obviously faulty in that it did not come to pass .
During Stalin ’ s time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s leadership , the Soviets made a great many errors .
Error is , of course , inevitable in all human endeavor .
And since the Bolsheviks were the first communists to conquer and hold state power , they were in unknown waters .
It was inevitable , therefore , that they would make a great many mistakes – and they did .
However , any objective study of the evidence and the historical record shows that there was simply no alternative to forced collectivization and industrialization – except defeat at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Likewise , the fact that the Right , Trotskyite , and Military conspiracies really did exist but were snuffed out by the Soviet leadership , which managed to out-maneuver Ezhov and foil his conspiracy as well , proves that once again the USSR – `` Stalin '' – saved Europe from Naziism and all the Allies from an immense number of additional casualties at the hands of the Axis powers .
* Bukharin 's two appeals for clemency , both dated March 13 , 1938 , were reprinted in Izvestiia September 2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were rejected , and Bukharin was executed on March 15 , 1938 .
I have put them online in English here .
[ To be added at the end of Part One of `` Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform '' ] Addendum Please listen this fine podcast by Revolutionary Left Radio Ezhov ’ s interrogations : I have translated all of Ezhov ’ s interrogations available to me as of July 2010 and put them online here : Furr , Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov , `` Bukharin 's Last Plea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ http : //msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/bukhlastplea.html - translation of Russian original published in Aktual ’ naia Istoriia for February 2009 at http : //actualhistory.ru/bukharin_last_plea Furr , Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov , `` Nikolai Bukharin 's First Statement of Confession in the Lubianka '' in English translation , Cultural Logic 2007 - http : //clogic.eserver.org/2007/Furr_Bobrov.pdf Furr , Grover .
`` Evidence of Leon Trotsky 's Collaboration with Germany and Japan . ''
In Cultural Logic for 2009. http : //clogic.eserver.org/2009/Furr.pdf Holmstr�m , Sven-Eric .
`` New Evidence Concerning the 'Hotel Bristol ' Question in the First @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Logic 2008 .
At http : //clogic.eserver.org/2008/Holmstrom.pdf Furr , Grover.Khrushchev Lied : The Evidence That Every `` Revelation '' of Stalin 's ( and Beria 's ) Crimes in Nikita Khrushchev 's Infamous `` Secret Speech '' to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25 , 1956 , is Provably False .
Kettering , OH : Erythros Press & Media LLC , 2011 .
At Amazon.com ; at Erythros Press & Media : at Abebooks.com ; at Abebooks.co.uk ( United Kingdom ) Furr ( ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ( `` Anti-Stalin Villanies '' ) .
Moscow : Algoritm , 2007 .
Home page : http : //www.algoritm-kniga.ru/ferr-g.-antistalinskaya-podlost.html Brief summary in this interview : `` The Sixty-One Untruths of Nikita Khrushchev '' ( Interview with Grover Furr ) .
http : //msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/litrossiainterv0608_eng.html ( original here : http : //www.litrossia.ru/article.php ?
article=3003 )

EDITED AND HOSTED BY THE GREANVILLE POST
By Grover Furr
• Editor's Note: There are so many interested parties—starting with the leading capitalist powers and their legions of apologists— in NOT allowing the truth about the Soviet Union to come forth, that a fair and reliable evaluation of Josef Stalin, perhaps modern history's most controversial leader—is next to impossible. For one thing, the West's propaganda, which has long included the questionable testimony of prominent communist apostates, professional anti-communists (including many academics), and downright fascists and certifiable fantasists and reactionaries, like the lionised Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, has literally pre-empted the field and flooded the world with a torrent of false narratives calculated to poison any potentially favorable understanding of the Soviet revolution. In part this has happened because the anglo sphere possesses to this day the world's most refined and aggressive apparatus for the manufacture of all types of propaganda—from coarse lies to elaborate deceptions used in hybrid wars, which due to America's imperialism and the system's now undeniable decay are constant . For another, the problem lies in the near impossibility of satisfactorily translating cultural and historical contexts. Contemporary people, especially those in the developed world, simply can't imagine what it was like to be in Russia in the final days of the Czarist empire, the disastrous incursion into World War I, or its aftermath with the country immersed in fierce revolution and counter-revolution, while also fighting off a restorationist invasion —the euphemistically called Allied Intervention—comprising more than a dozen foreign powers, including the US, which maintained forces on Russian soil until 1920. This difficulty, plus the fact that truth sometimes may have several possible versions, a la Rashomon, makes the work of malicious propaganda easier. It becomes. a matter of brute force, and quantity and ubiquity, win the day.
No need to ask here what nation has such resources, and who uses them shamelessly and continually to advance its abject and often sociopathic goals. It is not hyperbole to say the American empire, in cahoots with prominent accomplices and vassal states such as the UK, enjoys today overwhelming informational supremacy across the globe thanks to its highly developed mass communications systems, a truly Orwellian Ministry of Truth with no precedent in history. More concerning, much of this poisoned torrent of misinformation is first and foremost created for consumption by the American public, for it is the American nation that serves today, as it has since the end of WW2, as global capitalism's citadel, and the US ruling class, sitting atop the imperialist leviathan, is deeply conscious of the need to legitimate its rule by any means necessary.
It should be clear by now that pushing back against such mountains of deceit is neither easy nor pleasant, "a labour of fools", many have called it, nor does it have the psychological and financial comforts enjoyed by establishment hacks. This fact does not deter all, however. For there are people who fully understand that the imperial Big Lie not only covers up past horrors but facilitates present and future great crimes, and that only the truth —in whatever degree it is established, even if it succeeds only in injecting doubt about the official narratives— can slow down and ultimately cripple and defeat the imperialist agenda.
In this thankless task few historical researchers can match the bullheaded determination and scholarly scrupulousness of Prof. Grover Furr, the bete noire of professional anti-Stalinists. Single-handedly, ignored by mainstream publishers, reviled by a multitude of critics, threatened with dismissal, shunned by most mainstream reviewers, and without any funding except his own resources, he has built a considerable body of work that now stands like an unexpected ledge in the middle of the road traveled by most capitalist propagandists. What's more, the dishonesty of anticommunist propaganda, the fact that, like any propaganda, it can be directed toward any target and direction according to the interests of the source, has been exposed on numerous times. Mission to Moscow, for example, a film based on the 1941 book by FDR ambassador to the USSR Joseph E Davies, presented the Soviet Union, and Stalin, in a very good light. The book and film showed that the truth is accessible and communicable, even when witnessed by a self-admitted ruling class American liberal capitalist. The film, target of bilious attacks in the US and around the world, was remarkable because Davies, a lawyer himself, had arrived at his favorable conclusions about the Soviet Union and its leaders on the basis of his own observations, these including the "Moscow Show Trials," which the ambassador witnessed and believed to be judicially fair, the guilt of the defendants satisfactorily proven. (The wrath and consternation of anti-communists deeply embedded throughout US society, from media to the political class, and of course fellow diplomats and State Department staff, was soon seen in many quarters. They wasted no time in denigrating Davies' opinions about the Soviet Union as misguided or "naive", ). Amb. Davies' opinions, could not be allowed to stand, so the CIA and its minions has dutifully "neutralised and expunged" the pro-Soviet toxin he represented. Thus, for example, the Wikipedia page devoted to Davies has numerous passages warning the reader about the supposed unreliability of the ambassador as a witness of USSR affairs:
Davies attended the Trial of the Twenty One, one of the Stalinist purge trials of the late 1930s.[8] He was convinced of the guilt of the accused. According to Davies, "the Kremlin's fears [regarding treason in the Army and Party] were well justified".[9] His opinions were at odds with much of the Western press of the day, as well as those of his own staff, many of whom had been in the country far longer than Davies.[10] The career diplomat Charles Bohlen, who served under Davies in Moscow, later wrote:[10]
Ambassador Davies was not noted for an acute understanding of the Soviet system, and he had an unfortunate tendency to take what was presented at the trial as the honest and gospel truth. I still blush when I think of some of the telegrams he sent to the State Department about the trial.(p.51)
I can only guess at the motivation for his reporting. He ardently desired to make a success of a pro-Soviet line and was probably reflecting the views of some of Roosevelt's advisors to enhance his political standing at home.(p.52)
Given this rather transparent longstanding record of malice toward the Soviet Union and Stalin, in particular, an experienced sovietologist such as Grover Furr is well aware that the litany of Stalin's "crimes"—the Show Trials, the vaunted reign of terror, the "brutal collectivisation", the Holodomor ("starvation of millions in the Ukraine")—and many other similarly lurid stories, rest on shaky grounds. Singly and jointly they do not hold much more water upon closer inspection than Solzhenitsyn's ludicrous charge (repeated by thousands of different media voices at the time, and believed by millions) that Stalin was guilty of murdering 66.7 million people (later upped to 110 million), a magical feat, no doubt, in a country at the time of only 160 million!
In any case, while fierce, unprincipled anticommunism has been the default posture of arch-capitalist America since the Soviet Union was born in 1917, with only a short pause during WW2, the floodgates of invective and lies reopened with a vengeance after 1956, when none other than N. Khrushchev provided new grist for the West's slander mills. The natural focus of such demonisation, as has been pointed out elsewhere, was Josef Stalin. In an interview with Nikos Mottas, editor of In Defence of Communism (IDC), Prof Furr elaborated:
IDC: Sixty-five years after his death, the name of Joseph Stalin remains at the epicenter of anti-communism. The bourgeois historiography, as well as bourgeois political forces, continue the vilification of Stalin, calling him a “dictator”, a “bloodthirsty tyrant” who supposedly “killed tens of millions of people”. According to your view, why anti-communists still focus their attacks on Stalin and what are the major sources of their claims?
G.FURR: Defenders of capitalism need to depict communism as something horrible! So, in addition to hiding the horrors of capitalism- imperialism, they require a “boogeyman” to focus on as the epitome of the “evil” of communism. Stalin was the leader of the USSR and the world communist movement during the period of its greatest triumphs, and therefore of its greatest threat to capitalism. So Stalin would be a natural target in any case.
But there are at least two other factors. The first is Leon Trotsky, who lied about Stalin in virtually everything he wrote from 1928 until his murder in 1940. Trotsky’s post-1929 writings were the first major source of lies and slander against Stalin and the USSR. The second is Nikita Khrushchev. His “Secret Speech” of February 25, 1956 to the XX Party Congress was a devastating blow to the world communist movement. And it was an invaluable gift to the anticommunists of the world!
and, further to that—
Concerning Khrushchev’s lies about Stalin and Soviet history, we must remember that very few people at the time recognized them as lies. And nobody could prove that they were lies because Khrushchev never published any evidence. Nor did Khrushchev, or his successors, allow even Party historians to see any primary documents in the archives. The lies by Khrushchev and his hundreds of writers were eagerly picked up by Western anticommunists and became the major source of anti-Stalin lies for all the anticommunist writers and “scholars” that followed him, right up to the present.
Some of these Khrushchev-era Soviet anticommunist works were published in the West and widely publicized by the capitalists. Such writers include Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Roy Medvedev, and Alexander Nekrich. Many works of Western “experts” on the USSR relied heavily on these Khrushchev-era falsehoods. Important examples are Robert Conquest’s works (a confirmed CIA and British anticommunist intel agent) and the biography of Bukharin by American historian Stephen Cohen.
I consider this long prefatory note necessary because I am well aware how deeply and insidiously indoctrination works in America, with most inhabitants of the "indispensable nation" believing they carry beliefs about the world freely arrived at. What Prof. Furr presents here challenges such indoctrination head-on, and is liable to prompt immediate rejection or disbelief, the conditioned responses. After all, nothing is more difficult to overcome than a "brainwash under freedom", the anglo-american specialty. So be prepared to see the world the right side up when it comes to these documents. Because when it comes to Soviet history, and communism in general, what you are likely to have on your mind is definitely upside down.
—P. Greanville
First iteration July 31 2010
By Grover Furr
S
ince my two-part essay "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" was written in 2004-5, a great deal more evidence has been published concerning the Opposition, the Moscow Trials of 1936, 1937, and 1938, the Military Purges or "Tukhachevsky Affair", and the subsequent "Ezhovshchina", often called "the Great Terror" after the title of the extremely dishonest book by Robert Conquest first published in 1968.
The newly-available evidence confirms the following conclusions:
* The defendants at the Moscow Trials of August 1936, January 1937, and March 1938, were guilty of at least those crimes to which they confessed. A "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" did indeed exist. It planned to assassinate Stalin, Kaganovich, Molotov, and others in a coup d’etat , what they called a "palace coup" (dvortsovyi perevorot). The bloc did assassinate Kirov.
* Both Rights and Trotskyites were conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were the Military conspirators. If the "palace coup" did not work they hoped to come to power by showing loyalty to Germany or Japan in the event of an invasion.
* Trotsky too was directly conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were a number of his supporters.
* Nikolai Ezhov, head of the NKVD from 1936 to late 1938, was also conspiring with the Germans.
Ezhov
We now have much more evidence about the role of NKVD chief Nikolai Ezhov than we had in 2005. Ezhov, head of the NKVD (People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs), had his own conspiracy against the Soviet government and Party leadership. Ezhov had also been recruited by German intelligence.
Like the Rights and Trotskyites, Ezhov and his top NKVD men were counting on an invasion by Germany, Japan, or other major capitalist country. They tortured a great many innocent people into confessing to capital crimes so they would be shot. They executed a great many more on falsified grounds or no grounds at all.
Ezhov hoped that this mass murder of innocent people would turn large parts of the Soviet population against the government. That would create the basis for internal rebellions against the Soviet government when Germany or Japan attacked.
Ezhov lied to Stalin, the Party and government leaders about all this. The truly horrific mass executions of 1937-1938 of almost 680,000 people were in large part unjustifiable executions of innocent people carried out deliberately by Ezhov and his top men in order to sow discontent among the Soviet population.
Although Ezhov executed a very large number of innocent people, it is clear from the evidence now available that there were also real conspiracies. The Russian government continues to keep all but a tiny amount of the investigative materials top-secret. We can’t know for sure exactly the dimensions of the real conspiracies without that evidence. Therefore, we don’t know how many of these 680,000 people were actual conspirators and how many were innocent victims.
As I wrote in 2005, Stalin and the Party leadership began to suspect as early as October 1937 that some of the repression was done illegally. From early in 1938, when Pavel Postyshev was sharply criticized, then removed from the Central Committee, then expelled from the Party, tried and executed for mass unjustified repression, these suspicions grew.
When Lavrentii Beria was appointed as Ezhov’s second-in-command Ezhov and his men understood that Stalin and the Party leadership no longer trusted them. They made one last plot to assassinate Stalin at the November 7, 1938 celebration of the 21st anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. But Ezhov’s men were arrested in time.
Ezhov was persuaded to resign. An intensive investigation was begun and a huge number of NKVD abuses were uncovered. A great many cases of those tried or punished under Ezhov were reviewed. Over 100,000 people were released from prison and camps. Many NKVD men were arrested, confessed to torturing innocent people, tried and executed. Many more NKVD men were sentenced to prison or dismissed.
Under Beria the number of executions in 1938 and 1940 dropped to less than 1% of the number under Ezhov in 1937 and 1938, and many of those executed were NKVD men, including Ezhov himself, who were found guilty of massive unjustified repression and executions of innocent people.
Some of the most dramatic evidence published since 2005 are confessions of Ezhov and Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov’s second-in-command. I have put some of these on the Internet in both the original Russian and in English translation. We also have a great many more confessions and interrogations, mostly partial, of Ezhov, in which he makes many more confessions. These were published in 2007 in a semi-official account by Aleksei Pavliukov.
Anticommunist Scholars Hide the Truth
All "mainstream" – that is, anticommunist – and Trotskyist researchers falsely claim that there were no conspiracies. According to them, all the Moscow Trial defendants, all the military defendants, and all those tried and sentenced for espionage, conspiracy, sabotage, and other crimes, were innocent victims. Some claim that Stalin had planned to kill all these people because they might constitute a "Fifth Column" if the USSR were attacked. Other anticommunists prefer the explanation that Stalin just tried to terrorize the population into obedience.
This is an ideological, anticommunist stance masquerading as an historical conclusion. It is not based upon the historical evidence and is inconsistent with that evidence. Anticommunist historians ignore the primary source evidence available. They even ignore evidence in collections of documents that they themselves cite in their own works.
Why do the anticommunist "scholars", both in Russia and the West, ignore all this evidence? Why do they continue to promote the false notions that no conspiracies existed and that Stalin, not Ezhov, decided to execute hundreds of thousands of innocent people? The only possible explanation is that they do this for ideological reasons alone. The truth, as established by an examination of the primary source evidence, would make Stalin and the Bolsheviks "look good" to most people.
Collectivization of Agriculture Saved The World from Nazis and Japanese…
We have an example of this ideological bias in the way anticommunist scholars and writers treat the Bolshevik collectivization of agriculture. Anticommunists have long attacked it as immoral and unjustified. Yet collectivization provided the capital for the crash industrialization of the USSR. And only industrialization made a modern Red army possible.
Without a technologically-advanced modern army the Nazis would have conquered the USSR. Then, with the resources and manpower of the USSR and the rest of Europe behind them, the Nazis could have invaded the British Isles. Nazi armies would have been a far more formidable foe against all Allied powers. Meanwhile the Japanese, strengthened by the petroleum of the Soviet Far East, would have been a far more formidable enemy for the USA in the Pacific war.
Millions more Slavs and Jews – "Untermenschen" to the Nazis – and millions more Europeans and American soldiers – would have been killed. That this did not occur can be attributed, in large part, to the Soviet collectivization of agriculture. This is an obvious conclusion. There was simply no other way than by collectivizing agriculture that the USSR could have industrialized, and thus stood up to the Nazis and Japanese.
The only alternative was the one promoted by the Right and Trotskyite conspirators: to make peace with the Germans and Japanese, even if that meant granting them huge trade and territorial concessions. That would have greatly strengthened the Axis powers in their war against the U.K. and the USA.
For purely ideological reasons anticommunists cannot admit that collectivization made it possible for the Axis to be defeated.
And So Did The Defeat of the Conspirators in 1936-1938
Whether they were able to seize political power through a "palace coup", or whether they would have to rely on a German and/or Japanese attack as they only way they might be able to overthrow the Stalin government, the Opposition conspirators were planning some kind of alliance with the Axis.
In fact they would have had no choice, as they realized themselves. A USSR weakened by internal revolt, with or without an invasion from abroad, would have had to make trade, territorial, and ideological concessions to its major potential adversaries simply in order to avoid invasion and inevitable conquest.
At a minimum, a USSR led by some combination of conspirators would have made treaties with Germany and Japan that would have provided the Axis powers with huge natural resources, possibly with manufactured goods as well. The military conspirators were contemplating going much farther than mere trade with the Axis. They were contemplating an outright military alliance with Germany. That would have meant millions more soldiers to fight alongside the German Wehrmacht.
Therefore, in foiling the machinations of the Rights, Trotsky and his supporters, and the Military conspirators, Stalin saved Europe from Naziism – again!
No doubt this is why anticommunist "scholars" insist, in the face of all the evidence, that there were no conspiracies in the USSR and no collaboration with the Germans and Japanese. Once again they refuse to admit these truths on purely ideological grounds because doing so would seem to justify Stalin’s actions.
Bukharin, Not Stalin, To Blame for the Massive Repressions
One interesting aspect of this is that Nikolai Bukharin, leading name among the Rightists and one of its leaders, knew about the "Ezhovshchina" as it was happening, and praised it in a letter to Stalin that he wrote from prison.
It gets even better. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a member of the Rightist conspiracy, as he himself was. No doubt that is why he welcomed Ezhov's appointment as head of the NKVD -- a view recorded by his widow in her memoirs.
In his first confession, in his now-famous letter to Stalin of December 10, 1937, and at his trial in March 1938 Bukharin claimed he had completely "disarmed" and had told everything he knew. But now we can prove that this was a lie. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a leading member of the Rightist conspiracy -- but did not inform on him. According to Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov's right-hand man, Ezhov probably promised to see that he would not be executed if he did not mention his own, Ezhov's, participation (see Frinovsky's confession of April 11, 1939).
If Bukharin had told the truth -- if he had, in fact, informed on Ezhov -- Ezhov's mass murders could have been stopped in their tracks. The lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people could have been saved.
But Bukharin remained true to his fellow conspirators. He went to execution -- an execution he swore he deserved "ten times over"* -- without revealing Ezhov's participation in the conspiracy.
This point cannot be stressed too much: the blood of the hundreds of thousands of innocent persons slaughtered by Ezhov and his men during 1937-1938, are on Bukharin's hands.
Objectivity and Evidence
I agree with historian Geoffrey Roberts when he says:
In the last 15 years or so an enormous amount of new material on Stalin … has become available from Russian archives. I should make clear that as a historian I have a strong orientation to telling the truth about the past, no matter how uncomfortable or unpalatable the conclusions may be. … I don’t think there is a dilemma: you just tell the truth as you see it. ("Stalin’s Wars", Frontpagemag.com February 12, 2007. At http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/35305.html )
The conclusions I have reached about the "Ezhovshchina" will be unacceptable to ideologically-motivated people. I have not reached these conclusions out of any desire to "apologize" for the policies of Stalin or the Soviet government. I believe these to be the only objective conclusions possible based on the available evidence.
I make no claim that the Soviet leadership was free from error. Stalin’s vision of a socialism leading to communism was obviously faulty in that it did not come to pass. During Stalin’s time, as during the short period of Lenin’s leadership, the Soviets made a great many errors. Error is, of course, inevitable in all human endeavor. And since the Bolsheviks were the first communists to conquer and hold state power, they were in unknown waters. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would make a great many mistakes – and they did.
However, any objective study of the evidence and the historical record shows that there was simply no alternative to forced collectivization and industrialization – except defeat at the hands of some combination of capitalist powers. Likewise, the fact that the Right, Trotskyite, and Military conspiracies really did exist but were snuffed out by the Soviet leadership, which managed to out-maneuver Ezhov and foil his conspiracy as well, proves that once again the USSR – "Stalin" – saved Europe from Naziism and all the Allies from an immense number of additional casualties at the hands of the Axis powers.
* Bukharin's two appeals for clemency, both dated March 13, 1938, were reprinted in Izvestiia September 2, 1992, p. 3. They were rejected, and Bukharin was executed on March 15, 1938. I have put them online in English here.
[To be added at the end of Part One of "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform"]
Addendum
Please listen this fine podcast by Revolutionary Left Radio
Justin and Jeremy from Proles of the Round Table join Breht to elucidate the Marxist-Leninist perspective on Joseph Stalin.
Listen to Proles of the Round Table here: http://prolespod.libsyn.com/
Support Proles of the Round Table here: https://www.patreon.com/prolespod Sources for this episode include, but are not limited to, the following: "Another View of Stalin" by Ludo Martins
"Fraud, Famine and Fascism" by Douglas Tottle
"Khrushchev Lied" by Grover Furr
"Class Struggles in the Soviet Union" by Charles Bettelheim
"Stalin" by Ian Grey
"Stalin" by Isaac Deutscher
"Origins of the Great Purges" by J. Arch Getty,
"Blackshirts and Reds" by Michael Parenti Submit your logo design by emailing us here: therevolutionaryleft@gmail.com Outro: "The Red Flag" by Billy Bragg
Find and support their work here: http://www.billybragg.co.uk/
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Join the SRA here: https://www.socialistra.org/
Additional Bibliography
Documents
Ezhov’s interrogations: I have translated all of Ezhov’s interrogations available to me as of July 2010 and put them online here:
Lubianka. Stalin I NKVD – NKGB – GUKR "SMERSH". 1939 – mart 1946. Moscow, 2006.
Frinovsky confession of April 11, 1939, pp. 33-50. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyeng.html
(Russian original here: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyru.html )
(Russian original here: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyru.html ) Ezhov confession of April 26, 1939, pp. 52-72. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov042639eng.html
(Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovru.html )
Petrov, Nikita, Mark Jansen. "Stalinskii pitomets" – Nikolai Ezhov. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2008, pp. 367-379.
Ezhov confession of August 4, 1939. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439eng.html
(Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439ru.html )
Articles
Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Bukharin's Last Plea: Yet Another Anti-Stalin Falsification." http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/bukhlastplea.html - translation of Russian original published in Aktual’naia Istoriia for February 2009 at http://actualhistory.ru/bukharin_last_plea
Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Nikolai Bukharin's First Statement of Confession in the Lubianka" in English translation, Cultural Logic 2007 - http://clogic.eserver.org/2007/Furr_Bobrov.pdf
Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Pervye priznatel'nye pokazaniia N.I. Bukharina na Lubianke." Klio No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf
Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, eds. "Lichnye pokazaniia N. Bukharina." Klio (St. Petersburg), No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf
Furr, Grover. "Evidence of Leon Trotsky's Collaboration with Germany and Japan." In Cultural Logic for 2009. http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/Furr.pdf
Holmstr�m, Sven-Eric. "New Evidence Concerning the 'Hotel Bristol' Question in the First Moscow Trial of 1936". Cultural Logic 2008. At http://clogic.eserver.org/2008/Holmstrom.pdf
Books
Furr, Grover.Khrushchev Lied: The Evidence That Every "Revelation" of Stalin's (and Beria's) Crimes in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956, is Provably False. Kettering, OH: Erythros Press & Media LLC, 2011. At Amazon.com; at Erythros Press & Media: at Abebooks.com; at Abebooks.co.uk (United Kingdom)
Furr (‘Ferr’), Grover Antistalinskaia podlost’ ("Anti-Stalin Villanies"). Moscow: Algoritm, 2007. Home page: http://www.algoritm-kniga.ru/ferr-g.-antistalinskaya-podlost.html Brief summary in this interview: "The Sixty-One Untruths of Nikita Khrushchev" (Interview with Grover Furr). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/litrossiainterv0608_eng.html (original here: http://www.litrossia.ru/article.php?article=3003 )
Pavliukov, Aleksei. Ezhov. Moscow: Zakharov, 2007.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-05-21--Scientists in China believe new drug can stop pandemic ‘without vaccine’

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
BEIJING — A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt .
The outbreak first emerged in China late last year before spreading across the world , prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines .
A drug being tested by scientists at China 's prestigious Peking University could not only shorten the recovery time for those infected , but even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ researchers say .
Mr Sunney Xie , director of the university 's Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics , told AFP that the drug has been successful at the animal testing stage .
`` When we injected neutralising antibodies into infected mice , after five days the viral load was reduced by a factor of 2,500 , '' said Mr Xie .
China has vowed to make coronavirus vaccine a 'global public good ' once ready '' That means this potential drug has ( a ) therapeutic effect . ''
The drug uses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immune system to prevent the virus infecting cells — which Mr Xie 's team isolated from the blood of 60 recovered patients .
A study on the team 's research , published Sunday in the scientific journal Cell , suggests that using the antibodies provides a potential `` cure '' for the disease and shortens recovery time .
Mr Xie said his team had been working `` day and night '' searching for the antibody .
`` Our expertise is single-cell genomics rather than immunology or virology .
When we realised that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neutralising antibody we were thrilled . ''
He added that the drug should be ready for use later this year and in time for any potential winter outbreak of the virus , which has infected 4.8 million people around the world and killed more than 315,000 .
`` Planning for the clinical trial is underway , '' said Mr Xie , adding it will be carried out in Australia and other countries since cases have dwindled in China , offering fewer human guinea pigs for testing .
Read also : China vows to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' once ready '' The hope is these neutralised antibodies can become a specialised drug that would stop the pandemic , '' he said .
China already has five potential coronavirus vaccines at the human trial stage , a health official said last week .
But the World Health Organization has warned that developing a vaccine could take 12 to 18 months .
Scientists have also pointed to the potential benefits of plasma — a blood fluid — from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body 's defences @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients have received plasma therapy in China , a process which authorities said showed `` very good therapeutic effects '' .
`` However , it ( plasma ) is limited in supply , '' Mr Xie said , noting that the 14 neutralising antibodies used in their drug could be put into mass production quickly .
Using antibodies in drug treatments is not a new approach , and it has been successful in treating several other viruses such as HIV , Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS ) .
Xie said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' since the outbreak started in China before spreading to other countries .
Ebola drug Remdesivir was considered a hopeful early treatment for Covid-19 — clinical trials in the US showed it shortened the recovery time in some patients by a third — but the difference in mortality rate was not significant .
The new drug could even offer short-term protection against the virus .
The study showed that if the neutralising antibody was injected before the mice were infected with the virus , the mice stayed free of infection and no virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protection for medical workers for a few weeks , which Mr Xie said they are hoping to `` extend to a few months '' .
More than 100 vaccines for Covid-19 are in the works globally , but as the process of vaccine development is more demanding , Mr Xie is hoping that the new drug could be a faster and more efficient way to stop the global march of the coronavirus .
`` We would be able to stop the pandemic with an effective drug , even without a vaccine , '' @ @ @ @

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
A dispatch from Today Online
NOTE: In this medical news section we try to give our readers information about interesting and promising developments on the fight against this coronavirus (later we will extend this platform to all major medical conditions), but readers must keep in mind that we are often forced to publish materials originating within the US-style capitalist healthcare industry in which profits and not wellness is the main driver for action or inaction.
BEIJING — A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt.
The outbreak first emerged in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines.
A drug being tested by scientists at China's prestigious Peking University could not only shorten the recovery time for those infected, but even offer short-term immunity from the virus, researchers say.
Mr Sunney Xie, director of the university's Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, told AFP that the drug has been successful at the animal testing stage.
"When we injected neutralising antibodies into infected mice, after five days the viral load was reduced by a factor of 2,500," said Mr Xie.
China has vowed to make coronavirus vaccine a 'global public good' once ready
"That means this potential drug has (a) therapeutic effect."
Read also: Coronavirus vaccine trial by Moderna shows promising early results
The drug uses neutralising antibodies — produced by the human immune system to prevent the virus infecting cells — which Mr Xie's team isolated from the blood of 60 recovered patients.
A study on the team's research, published Sunday in the scientific journal Cell, suggests that using the antibodies provides a potential "cure" for the disease and shortens recovery time.
Mr Xie said his team had been working "day and night" searching for the antibody.
Read also: Sars antibodies can block Covid-19 infection: Study
"Our expertise is single-cell genomics rather than immunology or virology. When we realised that the single-cell genomic approach can effectively find the neutralising antibody we were thrilled."
He added that the drug should be ready for use later this year and in time for any potential winter outbreak of the virus, which has infected 4.8 million people around the world and killed more than 315,000.
"Planning for the clinical trial is underway," said Mr Xie, adding it will be carried out in Australia and other countries since cases have dwindled in China, offering fewer human guinea pigs for testing.
Read also: China vows to make coronavirus vaccine a 'global public good' once ready
"The hope is these neutralised antibodies can become a specialised drug that would stop the pandemic," he said.
China already has five potential coronavirus vaccines at the human trial stage, a health official said last week.
But the World Health Organization has warned that developing a vaccine could take 12 to 18 months.
Scientists have also pointed to the potential benefits of plasma — a blood fluid — from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body's defences to attack it.
More than 700 patients have received plasma therapy in China, a process which authorities said showed "very good therapeutic effects".
"However, it (plasma) is limited in supply," Mr Xie said, noting that the 14 neutralising antibodies used in their drug could be put into mass production quickly.
PREVENTION AND CURE
Using antibodies in drug treatments is not a new approach, and it has been successful in treating several other viruses such as HIV, Ebola and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Xie said his researchers had "an early start" since the outbreak started in China before spreading to other countries.
Ebola drug Remdesivir was considered a hopeful early treatment for Covid-19 — clinical trials in the US showed it shortened the recovery time in some patients by a third — but the difference in mortality rate was not significant.
The new drug could even offer short-term protection against the virus.
The study showed that if the neutralising antibody was injected before the mice were infected with the virus, the mice stayed free of infection and no virus was detected.
This may offer temporary protection for medical workers for a few weeks, which Mr Xie said they are hoping to "extend to a few months".
More than 100 vaccines for Covid-19 are in the works globally, but as the process of vaccine development is more demanding, Mr Xie is hoping that the new drug could be a faster and more efficient way to stop the global march of the coronavirus.
"We would be able to stop the pandemic with an effective drug, even without a vaccine," he said. AFP


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-05-21--Cults and Bioterrorism: A Toxic Duo

Cults and Bioterrorism: A Toxic Duo

ar right-wingers in the United States and other countries are pushing the propaganda line that China was somehow involved in the creation or spread of the Covid-19 virus , formally known as SARS [ Severe acute respiratory syndrome ] -CoV-2 , to the rest of the world either deliberately or from an accidental release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology .
Although nation-states have , over the decades , conducted research on and produced biological warfare weapons , there is no recent documented proof of a government being engaged in the widespread release of a biological warfare agent to cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Prohibition of the Development , Production , and Stockpiling of Bacteriological ( Biological ) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction , the short name of which is the Biological Warfare Convention , bans the production or release of bio-weapons as well as mandates the destruction of existing stockpiles .
The People ’ s Republic of China acceded to the Biological Warfare Convention on November 15 , 1984 .
China has experienced a horrifying history of being victimized by biological warfare .
The Imperial Japanese Army ’ s Unit 731 was responsible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population by spreading plague-infected fleas over Chinese cities from low-flying aircraft .
Typhoid and paratyphoid was spread throughout the city of Nanking by Unit 731 by introducing typhus germs into well water and food .
A Japanese bio-war attack on Changda infected more than 10,000 people with cholera .
Unit 731 also introduced smallpox , botulism , dysentery , and anthrax on to unsuspecting Chinese civilian populations .
Those who now accuse the Chinese government of developing Covid-19 as a weapon have neither an appreciation for recent Chinese history nor an understanding of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during World War II .
Although there is no recent history of nation-states propagating a biological warfare attack – the allegations by U.S. and British intelligence about Saddam Hussein possessing a bio-warfare capability turned out to be bogus – there is a history of dangerous religious cults being involved in preparing for or carrying out biological warfare attacks .
Since the 1970s , there have been several cases of religious cults either dabbling in biological warfare research or engaged in deploying it .
The cults involved include the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo movement , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ People ’ s Temple ” of Reverend Jim Jones , and the one that requires a much closer investigation after the spread of Covid-19 , the Chinese Falun Gong .
At the center of the current propaganda war being waged on China is Falun Gong , a shadowy religious cult that has ties to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency .
The cult ’ s newspaper , “ The Epoch Times , ” has been accredited by the Donald Trump White House and its propaganda has been championed by such Trump allies as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ted Cruz of Texas , as well as former Trump ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and right-wing radio commentator Rush Limbaugh .
Trump ’ s personal attorney , Rudolph Giuliani , whose main responsibility for Trump appears to be the proffering of far-out and discredited conspiracy theories , has accused China of creating Covid-19 as a “ bio-weapon.
” “ The Epoch Times ” has championed many bogus stories being advanced by Giuliani .
Being enticed into the world of Falun Gong is not Giuliani ’ s only entanglement with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cult , the Mojahedin-e-Khalq ( MEK ) , has turned the former New York mayor into a favorite for anyone wanting unsubstantiated allegations and propaganda to reach the ears of Donald Trump .
Falun Gong propaganda is also creeping into the pronouncements of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and America ’ s diplomatic circles .
Increasingly , Falun Gong propaganda is creeping into official press releases from the State Department with accusations that Covid-19 development was a project of the “ Chinese Communist Party.
” Similar propaganda has also found its way into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ part of the U.S. government propaganda operation that is under the auspices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors ( BBG ) .
The attempt to revive a Cold War with China has also been emboldened by the Republican Attorneys General of Missouri and Mississippi , who have both filed lawsuits against the government of China for damages from Covid-19 .
The State Department and White House war on the World Health Organization ( WHO ) , including the Trump administration ’ s freeze on funds to the international organization , has relied on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a “ China-centric ” body .
The cult , which practices the same sort of character assassination campaigns witnessed by several other right-wing organizations , has targeted the top three officials of WHO — Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesuas , Assistant Director-General Dr. Bruce Aylward , and Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program Dr. Michael Ryan — as “ Chinese Communist ” agents-of-influence .
The rhetoric is torn right out of the Cold War history pages of the 1950s .
Falun Gong ’ s “ spiritual leader , ” Li @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a cult leader .
The Jilin , China-born Li , who lives in New York City and a permanent resident of the United States , claims that he acquired “ supernatural powers ” at the age of eight in China .
These powers include the ability to walk through walls and levitate .
Li claims that extraterrestrials have invaded the minds of humans and it has led to a reliance on computers overseen by massive corruption .
In a couple of recent articles in The Epoch Times , Falun Gong appears to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runs counter to the anti-Beijing propaganda emanating from Pompeo , White House trade official Peter Navarro , and leading congressional Republicans .
On March 11 and April 26 , 2020 , The Epoch Times ran two editorials suggesting that Covid-19 was not a virus caused by the Chinese government , but one intended to destroy the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) and its international supporters .
The articles states : “ The spreading of the virus shows a clear pattern , which is , it is selectively targeting the CCP and is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are pro-communist or who have close ties with the CCP .
All regions that are hard-hit by the virus outside China are those having intimate ties with the CCP , those who have supported the CCP in terms of trade , investment , or helping the CCP improve its international image .
Likewise , individuals who have been the CCP ’ s supporters often find themselves vulnerable to the CCP virus.
” The article suggests that New York City became a hot zone for the virus because of its financial links to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United Nations and Wall Street , the latter accused of being a “ behind the curtains financier helping the Chinese Communist regime prolong its life.
” The Falun Gong articles also contain a stark warning for New York City : “ the priority is to start cleansing the CCP infiltration from New York.
” Does “ cleansing ” include carrying out a mass casualty event by a cult that also targeted Wall Street , including three targets — MSCI ( Morgan Stanley Capital International ) , FTSE Russell , Bloomberg Index — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ headquarters , and New York City ’ s “ economy , finance , commerce , media , culture , education , [ and ] Chinese-American community ?
” The Epoch Times articles offer a Covid-19 cure : “ Staying away from the CCP , condemning the CCP , not supporting the CCP can help any individual , organization , and country alleviate or even avoid the attacks of the CCP virus .
They will then embrace a wonderful future.
” Such a manifesto would normally attract the interest of the Federal Bureau of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Homeland Security .
However , with both organizations under the thumbs of Trump loyalists , such a direct threat against New York by Falun Gong has gone unnoticed .
The Epoch Media Group has become part and parcel of the Trump re-election campaign .
The Group ’ s New Tang Dynasty Television ( NTDT ) and Sound of Hope Radio Network are virtual propaganda arms of the White House and engage in echoing back and forth the same unfounded claims found in other pro-Trump media operations , including One America News Network ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; and The Washington Times , the publication of yet another Asian-founded religious cult , the Unification Church of the late Korean Reverend Sun Myung Moon .
If Covid-19 has a non-natural origin , such statements place Falun Gong squarely as a major suspect in unleashing and propagating the virus .
Cults have a history of committing acts of bio-chemical terrorism , including the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo movement , which launched a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20 , 1995 , killing 13 people and injuring thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found to be in possession of the Ebola virus that was procured from Zaire in 1992 .
The mass suicidal People ’ s Temple of the CIA-linked Reverend Jim Jones was discovered to be dabbling in bio-war research at it Jonestown , Guyana compound .
There were links between Jones and the Chemical and Biological Warfare Research at Dugway Proving Grounds , Utah and the CIA-connected research being conducted at the St. George ’ s University Medical School in Grenada .
In 1984 , the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult , an Indian mystic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ten restaurants in The Dalles , Oregon with Salmonella typhi , sending 751 people to the hospital .
Both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) were also discovered to be pursuing bio-war weapons .
An Al Qaeda affiliate , Ansar al-Islam , was reported to have conducted bio-terrorism experiments in northeastern Iraq using nerve gas , aflatoxin , and ricin .
An ISIL offshoot , Boko Haram , reportedly poisoned well and rivers in northeastern Nigeria with biological agents .
Falun Gong ’ s threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alarming when considering the conclusion found in a February 10 , 2014 “ UK Secret UK Eyes Only ” report from the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory ( DSTL ) in Porton Down , England .
The report warned that NSAs ( non-state actors ) could try to weaponize viruses like the deadly Ebola .
It should be noted that Falun Gong falls into the category of a non-state actor .

F
ar right-wingers in the United States and other countries are pushing the propaganda line that China was somehow involved in the creation or spread of the Covid-19 virus, formally known as SARS [Severe acute respiratory syndrome]-CoV-2, to the rest of the world either deliberately or from an accidental release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Although nation-states have, over the decades, conducted research on and produced biological warfare weapons, there is no recent documented proof of a government being engaged in the widespread release of a biological warfare agent to cause maximum deaths. The 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, the short name of which is the Biological Warfare Convention, bans the production or release of bio-weapons as well as mandates the destruction of existing stockpiles.
The People’s Republic of China acceded to the Biological Warfare Convention on November 15, 1984. China has experienced a horrifying history of being victimized by biological warfare. The Imperial Japanese Army’s Unit 731 was responsible for spawning bubonic plague among the Chinese population by spreading plague-infected fleas over Chinese cities from low-flying aircraft. Typhoid and paratyphoid was spread throughout the city of Nanking by Unit 731 by introducing typhus germs into well water and food. A Japanese bio-war attack on Changda infected more than 10,000 people with cholera. Unit 731 also introduced smallpox, botulism, dysentery, and anthrax on to unsuspecting Chinese civilian populations. Those who now accuse the Chinese government of developing Covid-19 as a weapon have neither an appreciation for recent Chinese history nor an understanding of how China was victimized by biological warfare during World War II.
Although there is no recent history of nation-states propagating a biological warfare attack – the allegations by U.S. and British intelligence about Saddam Hussein possessing a bio-warfare capability turned out to be bogus – there is a history of dangerous religious cults being involved in preparing for or carrying out biological warfare attacks.
Since the 1970s, there have been several cases of religious cults either dabbling in biological warfare research or engaged in deploying it. The cults involved include the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo movement, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult, the “People’s Temple” of Reverend Jim Jones, and the one that requires a much closer investigation after the spread of Covid-19, the Chinese Falun Gong.
At the center of the current propaganda war being waged on China is Falun Gong, a shadowy religious cult that has ties to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The cult’s newspaper, “The Epoch Times,” has been accredited by the Donald Trump White House and its propaganda has been championed by such Trump allies as Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as former Trump ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and right-wing radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, whose main responsibility for Trump appears to be the proffering of far-out and discredited conspiracy theories, has accused China of creating Covid-19 as a “bio-weapon.” “The Epoch Times” has championed many bogus stories being advanced by Giuliani. Being enticed into the world of Falun Gong is not Giuliani’s only entanglement with a cult. His support of the Iranian cult, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), has turned the former New York mayor into a favorite for anyone wanting unsubstantiated allegations and propaganda to reach the ears of Donald Trump.
Falun Gong propaganda is also creeping into the pronouncements of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and America’s diplomatic circles. Increasingly, Falun Gong propaganda is creeping into official press releases from the State Department with accusations that Covid-19 development was a project of the “Chinese Communist Party.” Similar propaganda has also found its way into the broadcasts of Radio Free Asia, part of the U.S. government propaganda operation that is under the auspices of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The attempt to revive a Cold War with China has also been emboldened by the Republican Attorneys General of Missouri and Mississippi, who have both filed lawsuits against the government of China for damages from Covid-19.
The State Department and White House war on the World Health Organization (WHO), including the Trump administration’s freeze on funds to the international organization, has relied on Falun Gong propaganda that claim the WHO is a “China-centric” body. The cult, which practices the same sort of character assassination campaigns witnessed by several other right-wing organizations, has targeted the top three officials of WHO — Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesuas, Assistant Director-General Dr. Bruce Aylward, and Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program Dr. Michael Ryan — as “Chinese Communist” agents-of-influence. The rhetoric is torn right out of the Cold War history pages of the 1950s.
Falun Gong’s “spiritual leader,” Li Hongzhi, is a textbook case of a cult leader. The Jilin, China-born Li, who lives in New York City and a permanent resident of the United States, claims that he acquired “supernatural powers” at the age of eight in China. These powers include the ability to walk through walls and levitate. Li claims that extraterrestrials have invaded the minds of humans and it has led to a reliance on computers overseen by massive corruption.
In a couple of recent articles in The Epoch Times, Falun Gong appears to be taking credit for launching Covid-19, which runs counter to the anti-Beijing propaganda emanating from Pompeo, White House trade official Peter Navarro, and leading congressional Republicans. On March 11 and April 26, 2020, The Epoch Times ran two editorials suggesting that Covid-19 was not a virus caused by the Chinese government, but one intended to destroy the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its international supporters. The articles states:
“The spreading of the virus shows a clear pattern, which is, it is selectively targeting the CCP and is aimed at eliminating the CCP and those who are pro-communist or who have close ties with the CCP. All regions that are hard-hit by the virus outside China are those having intimate ties with the CCP, those who have supported the CCP in terms of trade, investment, or helping the CCP improve its international image. Likewise, individuals who have been the CCP’s supporters often find themselves vulnerable to the CCP virus.” The article suggests that New York City became a hot zone for the virus because of its financial links to the Chinese government and the presence of the United Nations and Wall Street, the latter accused of being a “behind the curtains financier helping the Chinese Communist regime prolong its life.”
The Falun Gong articles also contain a stark warning for New York City: “the priority is to start cleansing the CCP infiltration from New York.” Does “cleansing” include carrying out a mass casualty event by a cult that also targeted Wall Street, including three targets — MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), FTSE Russell, Bloomberg Index — and JP Morgan, the United Nations headquarters, and New York City’s “economy, finance, commerce, media, culture, education, [and] Chinese-American community?”
The Epoch Times articles offer a Covid-19 cure: “Staying away from the CCP, condemning the CCP, not supporting the CCP can help any individual, organization, and country alleviate or even avoid the attacks of the CCP virus. They will then embrace a wonderful future.”
Such a manifesto would normally attract the interest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security. However, with both organizations under the thumbs of Trump loyalists, such a direct threat against New York by Falun Gong has gone unnoticed. The Epoch Media Group has become part and parcel of the Trump re-election campaign. The Group’s New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDT) and Sound of Hope Radio Network are virtual propaganda arms of the White House and engage in echoing back and forth the same unfounded claims found in other pro-Trump media operations, including One America News Network (OANN), based in San Diego; and The Washington Times, the publication of yet another Asian-founded religious cult, the Unification Church of the late Korean Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
If Covid-19 has a non-natural origin, such statements place Falun Gong squarely as a major suspect in unleashing and propagating the virus. Cults have a history of committing acts of bio-chemical terrorism, including the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo movement, which launched a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995, killing 13 people and injuring thousands of others. The Japanese group was also found to be in possession of the Ebola virus that was procured from Zaire in 1992. The mass suicidal People’s Temple of the CIA-linked Reverend Jim Jones was discovered to be dabbling in bio-war research at it Jonestown, Guyana compound. There were links between Jones and the Chemical and Biological Warfare Research at Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah and the CIA-connected research being conducted at the St. George’s University Medical School in Grenada. In 1984, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult, an Indian mystic movement, purposefully contaminated salad bars at ten restaurants in The Dalles, Oregon with Salmonella typhi, sending 751 people to the hospital. Both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were also discovered to be pursuing bio-war weapons. An Al Qaeda affiliate, Ansar al-Islam, was reported to have conducted bio-terrorism experiments in northeastern Iraq using nerve gas, aflatoxin, and ricin. An ISIL offshoot, Boko Haram, reportedly poisoned well and rivers in northeastern Nigeria with biological agents.
Falun Gong’s threat against New York City is even more alarming when considering the conclusion found in a February 10, 2014 “UK Secret UK Eyes Only” report from the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) in Porton Down, England. The report warned that NSAs (non-state actors) could try to weaponize viruses like the deadly Ebola. It should be noted that Falun Gong falls into the category of a non-state actor.