Yuri Aleksandrovich Bezmenov , also known as Thomas David Schuman (in English: Tomas David Schuman) (Born in 1939 , in the city of Mytishchi ( Moscow Region , USSR) ; died in 1993 in Windsor (Ontario) , Canada ) - a specialist in Soviet propaganda, misinformation and subversive activities, an employee of the KGB , worked at the Novosti Press Agency, the USSR Embassy in India . In 1970, he fled to the West, where for some time he lived under the name Thomas Schuman. After the KGB calculated it, he publicly disclosed some information about Soviet propaganda and sabotage activities in interviews, lectures and several brochures.
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Biography
Yuri Bezmenov was born in 1939 in the town of Mytishchi, in the suburbs of Moscow. Father was an officer in the General Staff of the Soviet Army. He studied at the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University , specializing in Indian culture and Indian languages. During the training, he also became a junior officer in administrative and military intelligence. After completing the training, the KGB was finally recruited. The first appointment was to India as a translator in the Soviet economic assistance group, which was involved in the construction of an oil refinery in the states of Bihar and Gujarat . After about two years (in 1965), he was recalled back to Moscow, where he was appointed to the Political Publications Department of the Novosti Press Agency. According to Bezmenov, about 75% of the agency’s employees were actually KGB officers, while the rest were controlled by KGB authors, PR specialists, informants, etc. Also, there was really no news at the Novosti agency. He said that as a journalist, he had no such function as news coverage. Its main function, in addition to writing, editing and translating propaganda materials that were supposed to be distributed in foreign media, was to accompany foreign delegations, soldering them, “brainwashing them” and doing other work so that they would bring that information and opinions to their countries that were needed for the implementation of the USSR ideological sabotage. Then he alternately worked at the Novosti Press Agency in Moscow and at the Soviet Embassy in India as a press officer, and later as a press attaché.
Escape to the West
In 1970, Bezmenov fled from India to Canada. According to Bezmenov, he could not trust anyone: neither the Indian police, nor the staff of the US embassy or other countries, since they could hand over the Soviet defector. His flight looked just like extinction. He took the image of hippies who walked in large numbers near the embassy, joined their group and after some time left the country. The CIA helped Bezmenov "transform" into another person - Thomas Schumann. In an interview [1], Bezmenov explained the reason for his flight as follows:
| Personally, I have never materially NOT suffered from communism simply because I grew up in the family of a high-ranking military officer. Most of the doors were open to me, most of the expenses were paid by the government ... The main reason for my escape was a moral protest against the inhuman methods of the Soviet system. First of all, I protested against the oppression of our dissidents and intellectuals ... Secondly, when I started working at the Soviet embassy in India, I was horrified to find that we are a million times more oppressive than any other colonial or imperialist power in the history of mankind. What my country brings to India is not freedom, progress and friendship between nations, but racism, exploitation, slavery, and economic inefficiency. Since I fell in love with India, I discovered in myself something that, according to the KGB standards, is very dangerous and is called “shattered loyalty”. This is when the agent likes the destination country more than his own. I literally fell in love with this beautiful country, a country of significant contrasts, but also of great humility, great tolerance and also philosophical and intellectual freedoms. My ancestors still lived in caves and ate raw meat while India was a highly developed nation six thousand years ago. Therefore, obviously, the choice was not in favor of my own country. I decided to run and completely separate myself from the rude regime. |
The process of ideological sabotage
In his lectures, interviews and brochures, Bezmenov described the methodology of the Soviet Union's work with countries that needed to be weakened and subdued. This is a process of ideological sabotage. Bezmenov emphasized that this was not about espionage . “If we summarize all the time, money and efforts of the KGB directed outside the USSR, we will see that only 10-15% is spent on espionage. The rest is spent on ideological sabotage, which for the most part is carried out by means that do not contradict the laws free countries, and can only be seen if you give yourself a little time, effort and insight to see it " [2] Ideological sabotage has four stages (hereinafter, the scheme from Yuri Bezmenov’s brochure" Letter to America with Love " [3] page 22. Translation is not short in parenthesis - in the original language).
Spheres | Methods | results |
FIRST STAGE. DEMORALIZATION - FROM 15 TO 20 YEARS | ||
|---|---|---|
Worldview (Ideas) | ||
| Religion (Religion) | Politicize, commercialize, reduce to entertainment (Politicize, commercialize, entertainment) | The meaning of life (Death wish) |
| Education | Universality (leveling of elite education), the content of education does not form a “coordinate system” (Permissiveness, relativity) | Ignorance (Ignorance) |
| Media | Monopolize, manipulate, discredit, not specialize (Monopolize, manipulate, discredit, non-issues) | Misunderstanding, shortsightedness / “creating in the opponent’s society a completely distorted picture of reality in which no one, despite the availability of information, can reach the logical conclusions regarding self-defense and defense of one’s own country, family or community” [4] (Uninformed myopia) |
| Culture | Fake Heroes and False Behaviors (False heroes and role models) | Limplessness, poppinism (Addictive fads, "mass") |
institutional system (Structure) | ||
| Law and order | legal positivism , immoral law (Legislative, not moral) | Belief that the system provides justice (Mistrust "Justice") |
| social relations | Rights, but not obligations (Rights vs. obligations) | Less individual responsiveness |
| Security | Intelligence services, police, military (Intelligence, police, military) | Defenselessness |
| Internal politics | Fragmentation, rivalry (Party, antagonisms) | Disunity |
| Foreign policy (Foreign) | unreliable partners (Salt ... friends) | Isolation |
Life of people (Life) | ||
| Family, society | to break up (Break up) | no loyalty (No Loyalty (state)) |
| Health | Sports, healthcare (disrupt), junk food (Sports, Medicare, Junk food) | Weak Population (Enfeebled masses) |
| Positions in the society of various groups (Race) | Lower the elites, tune groups to each other (Lower the Uppers, Bible genetics vs. environment) | Hatred, division |
| Population | Take the land, urbanize (De-land, Urbanize) | Alienation |
| Labor | Unions vs. Society | Pursuit (Victimization) |
SECOND STAGE. DESTABILIZATION (FROM 2 TO 5 YEARS) | ||
| The struggle for power as an end in itself (Power struggle) | Populism, Irresponsible power struggle | Big brother, desire for a “strong hand” (Big brother) |
| Economy | Destruction of trade and contractual relations (Destruction of bargaining process) | Compliance to the Big Brother (Yield to big brother) |
| The modus of society and order (Society fiber, Law) | Grassroots participation / Direct impact of active groups on government processes, leveling of institutional organization (Grass roots participation) | The power of the crowd (Mobocracy) |
| External Relations (Foreign) | Isolation, Communist International (Isolation, Multi-nations, and Central Comm.) | Exclusivity, Hostile Environment (Prestige, Belligerent encirclement) |
THIRD STAGE. CRISIS (2 TO 6 MONTHS) | ||
| At this stage, “radicals”, conscious and unconscious agents, and other manipulated groups should as soon as possible forcefully seize power and change the structure of power. If the previous stages were well worked out, most of the society will be completely disoriented and will not be able to resist, in addition, it may even welcome such actions | ||
FOURTH STAGE. NORMALIZATION | ||
| The word normalization is used ironically. When Soviet tanks entered Czechoslovakia in 1968, Brezhnev said, "Now the situation in Czechoslovakia is normalized." Normalization can continue as long as you like, the country is already under control. At this stage, those whose hands carried out sabotage are neutralized (including by physical destruction) | ||
Bezmenov emphasizes that these results do not have to be achieved by the efforts of a saboteur. In subversive work, the KGB uses the same principle that exists in Japanese martial arts , in particular judo - to use the enemy’s energy to overcome it (for example, not to repulse the blow, but to use the enemy’s strength against himself). “A country that is a goal obviously has problems in some area. If it is a free democratic society, then there are many different social movements in this society. And in every such society / group there are people who act against the society. For example, criminals, those who are antagonistic towards state policy, psychotic individuals who are generally against everything, and, finally, there is a small group of foreign agents bought, deceived and recruited. When all these groups are directed in the same direction, this is an ideal moment to seize and continue their movement until they push the whole society into crisis. ” On the example of religion, it is necessary to weaken it, contributing to "all kinds of sects and cults that attract people's attention. Even if such a sect is naive, it does not matter. While the generally accepted religious norm is slowly being eroded and people are straying from the main goal of religion (to have a connection with God), this works for the purpose of ideological sabotage. Next, mix real reputable religious organizations with sects. Discourage people's attention from real faith and disperse them into various substitutions. ”
Sources of information left by Bezmenov
Videos:
- Interview with Yuri Bezmenov, American television presenter, director and political scientist George іrіffіn, 1984 (with Ukrainian and Russian subtitles)
- Record of a lecture on ideological sabotage , 1983, Los Angeles , Introduction to the lecture: Part One , Part Two
Books:
- Thomas Schumann. Letter to America with Love (Love Letter to America) 1984, Russian translation - Thomas Schuman (Yuri Bezmenov) “Love Message to America”, posted on the Internet ISBN 978-0-935090-13-0
- The absence of “NEWS” is good news (No “NOVOSTI” Is Good News) 1985, Russian translation by Thomas Schuman (Yuri Bezmenov) “No“ News ”is good news”, posted on the Internet ISBN 978-0-935090-17- eight
- Black is beautiful, but communism is not (Black Is Beautiful, Communism Is Not) 1985, Russian translation is by Thomas Schuman (Yuri Bezmenov) “Black is beautiful, but communism is not”, is available on the Internet ISBN 978-0-935090- 18-5
- World Thought Police 1986, Russian translation - Thomas Schuman (Yuri Bezmenov) “World Police Thoughts”, posted on the Internet ISBN 978-0-935090-14-7
Notes
- ↑ Soviet subversive activities in the press of the free world. Interview with George Griffin with Yuri Bezmenov, 1984
- ↑ Lecture by Yu. Bezmenov on ideological sabotage, Los Angeles, 1983
- ↑ Love Letter to America By Yuri Bezmenov / archive.org
- ↑ Oksana Zabuzhko. Controlled insanity. Russia has been deceiving the world for decades / New time