Ignition sequence start.

6.5.4. 3. 2.1.0. All engine running.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.

On Sunday, June 25th, communist forces attacked the Republic of Korea.

We have been compelled to create a permanent armamentous industry of vast proportions.

As a free man, I say pride in the word, Hish bin, I'm Bealina.

Three representatives of one foreign power, the Soviet Union, have been expelled for spy.

It was C.S. Lewis, who in his unforgettable screw tape letters, wrote,

The greatest evil is not done now in those sort of dens of crime that Dickens

love to paint.

Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. Welcome back to the Patreon show, 1983, the year the world almost ended.

In this episode, or many series of episodes within the main series, I want to take a look at the worker state, specifically the Soviet Union,

but also maybe take a look at some of the workers' paradises that were built in Eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War II.

First, let's talk about the rise of socialism in Russia.

The Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was formed in Minsk in 1898 with Vladimir

Lenin as one of its leaders. I think it's safe to say that Lenin became the heir to Marx

and socialist thought. He was eventually exiled to Switzerland by the Russian government. And there

were three basic or central ideas to his philosophy. These were, number one, capitalism

could be destroyed only through violent revolution. Number two, socialist revolution was possible,

but only under certain conditions, even in relatively backward Russia. Peasants, for example,

who were poor, were potential revolutionaries. Number three,

the need for a highly disciplined worker state party, strictly controlled by a dedicated elite

...