Posted on 07/31/2010 3:59:43 AM PDT by iowamark
The prominent "progressive" historian Howard Zinn, whose books are force-fed to young people on many college campuses, was not only a member of the Moscow-controlled and Soviet-funded Communist Party USA (CPUSA) but lied about it, according to an FBI file released on Friday.
The file, consisting of three sections totaling 423 pages, was made available on the FBI's website and released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from this writer.
Zinn taught in the political science department of Boston University for 24 years, from 1964 to 1988, and has been a major influence on the modern-day "progressive" movement that backed Barack Obama for president.
Although Zinn denied being a member of the CPUSA, the FBI file discloses that several reliable informants in the party identified Zinn as a member who attended party meetings as many as five times a week.
What's more, one of the files reveals that a reliable informant provided a photograph of Zinn teaching a class on "Basic Marxism" at party headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951. A participant in the class said that Zinn taught that "the basic teaching of Marx and Lenin were sound and should be adhered to by those present."
The FBI file also includes information on Zinn's pro-Castro activism and support for radical groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Progressive Labor Party (PLP), Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and Black Panther Party. Much of the latter was in connection with Zinn's support for a communist military victory in Vietnam. His dealings with the Communist regime in Hanoi included a visit to the communist capital.
Zinn was included on the "Security Index" and "Communist Index" maintained by the FBI. The "Security Index" was more ominous and included individuals who could be detained in the event of a national emergency.
The files confirm Zinn's membership in the party from 1948-1953 and one says he was "believed to be a CP member as of October, 1956." However, he denied membership in the party when interviewed by the FBI in 1953 and 1954 and claimed to be just a "liberal" or "leftist." He did admit involvement in several CPUSA front organizations, the documents say.
A 1964 FBI memorandum refers to Zinn as "a professor and writer who has a background of known membership in the Communist Party (CP) and has continued to demonstrate procommunist and anti-United States sympathies." It says that while Zinn had denied membership in the CPUSA, his denial "was not supported by facts"-a reference to the substantial evidence and eyewitness testimony provided by informants in the CPUSA.
In 1961, it says, Zinn "attempted to recruit students to attend 8th World Youth Festival [a communist-front gathering] and was described as pro-Castro in 1962. He publicly protested United States demand for withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba."
Hence, Zinn wanted the United States and its citizens to be vulnerable to a Soviet nuclear attack.
In 1966, Zinn's name appeared on a list of sponsors of a testimonial dinner for Herbert Aptheker of the American Institute for Marxist Studies. Aptheker was a member of the national committee of the CPUSA.
After his death earlier this year, tributes for Zinn came from such luminaries as Bob Herbert of The New York Times, Eric Foner in The Nation, The Huffington Post, convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, Jane Fonda, Ralph Nader, and Bill Moyers.
A video tribute to Zinn has been posted by the Institute for Policy Studies, the pro-Marxist think tank in Washington, D.C. Nader was one of the speakers, praising The Progressive magazine for regularly running Zinn's column, including one in which Zinn had attacked Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
For its part, The Progressive carried three tributes to Zinn after his death. "I hope, in sharing our thoughts, we can mitigate the grief and summon the energy to carry on. That's what Howard would have wanted," said Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive.
Nader proposed a "Zinn Institute for Peace and Justice" to carry on his work.
But in the same way that he tried to deceive the FBI agents who interviewed him about his CPUSA membership, it is now obvious that Zinn had been deceiving his "progressive" and "liberal" fellow-travelers for decades.
This includes most recently the Hollywood left.
Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States, was made into a film, "The People Speak" which aired on the History Channel on cable television. It includes performances by actors and artists such as Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, Marisa Tomei, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, and Danny Glover.
Dr. Libby H. O'Connell, senior vice president for outreach and chief historian for A&E Television Networks, described the film in glowing terms, saying that Zinn was "moving his message from high schools and college campuses to film..." and that A&E's History channel was honored to be the vehicle for that. She said that "The performers' commitment to Zinn's message makes this [film] a labor of love."
A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of The Hearst Corporation, Disney-ABC Television Group and NBC Universal.
In the film, actor Matt Damon observes, "Change doesn't come from the top, but rather from the bottom. Without everyday citizens pushing to make a difference, there would be no America." Damon reads the Declaration of Independence in the production.
But viewers were never told that Zinn favored the imposition of communist dictatorships on the people for whom he was supposedly speaking. And that his commitment, at least when he was a CPUSA member, was to the Soviet Union, not the United States or its founding documents.
However, at the time of the airing of "The People Speak" last December 13, some critics detected something was seriously wrong with the propagandistic effort. Liberal television reviewer Tom Shales of the Washington Post called the film "heavy-handed and agitproppy."
Worse than that, we now know that Zinn had been a secret communist who duped the Hollywood figures and rock stars into playing roles in his Marxist propaganda campaign.
And the campaign continues. "The People Speak" is now being distributed in the form of "The People Speak DVDs," complete with screening kits and gear. Proceeds go to the "Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport" community campaign "dedicated to extending Zinn's vision and inspiring people to stand up and SPEAK OUT."
Although one FBI document says that Zinn's listing on the FBI security index was cancelled in 1955, another document shows Acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray informing the U.S. Secret Service in 1972 that Zinn was "potentially dangerous" because of various factors, including his involvement in groups "engaged in activities inimical to [the] U.S."
Of course, this is not how the "progressives" who idolized Zinn and voted for Obama see it. Dave Zirin wrote in the "progressive" publication The Nation after Zinn's death that he was "a historian who made history" and that "we should strive to build on Howard's work and go out and make some history." He also spoke at the Washington, D.C. tribute to Zinn, calling him "our teacher" and a "fellow fighter for social justice."
Bill Bigelow of the "Rethinking Schools" website said Zinn was "an activist-a socialist, a pacifist, an antiracist, who never strayed from his conviction that humanity was capable of making this a much better world."
That "much better world" turns out to be communism.
While Zinn usually avoided sounding too pro-communist in his public statements, he gave an interview in 2003 defending collaboration with ANSWER, an "anti-war" group sponsored by the communist Workers World Party. "I don't believe in setting political tests for a broad-based movement that is centered on one issue, like ending the war," Zinn said.
He rejected "red-baiting," explaining, "My own attitude is: if there is a demonstration against the war, and I believe in the goal of ending a war, I won't ask who organized the demonstration. You march with people who have signs representing many different groups and ideologies but you are all there for the same purpose, stopping the war. I distrust the sincerity of people who peck away at broad-based movements by pointing to organizers or participants who have special political positions."
He reiterated: "We should not give political tests to people who do good organizing work."
Asked if the "war on terrorism" was "just a cover to perpetuate US global hegemony," Zinn replied, "Exactly. It is also a way to cover up the failure to solve domestic problems and build support for a President who got into office through a political coup and needs to show he has a mandate he doesn't deserve."
Not surprisingly, the Socialist Workers Party and International ANSWER also sent in tributes posted on the official Howard Zinn web page.
On the website of the Center for American Progress, the pro-Obama group funded by billionaire George Soros, Matthew Yglesias conceded the point that Zinn's popular People's History book was "neither good history nor good politics, offering basically nothing in terms of ways to think about solutions to the problems of the world..." But he said it was nevertheless read by "most of the best people" and "that's a pretty impressive achievement."
It is impressive and shocking that so many of these "best people" were taken in by Zinn's secret agenda of installing communist dictatorships in such places as Cuba and Vietnam in the name of "the people."
Now, in death, he may be hoping to see "the people" take power in the United States.
Was he a paid agent or just doing it because he was a true believer?
His books stink, and lie.
He stinks, and lies.
bttt
BTTT PING!
Great scoop by Cliff for those that might have missed it. The FBI ‘redacted’ lots of names as well. Probably names we all know too well now, like some on Beck’s chalkboard.
T Y !!!
Someone post the pic of Claude Rains.
Howard Zinn: I Never, Ever Signed a Petition Claiming Bush Had Foreknowledge of 9/11; And Yet Here I Am Writing on the 911Truth.org Website That Bush Had Foreknowledge of 9/11
###
Excerpt:
As Charles Johnson wisely notes: Truthers lie.
Politico is flacking for Van Jones by “reporting” that fellow Truther signatory Howard Zinn is rushing to Van “Astronaut” Jones’ defense, claiming he (Zinn) was “misled” about the petition. Thus, by implication, bolstering “Astronaut” Jones’ claim that he was misled.
Correction: Actually Zinn doesn’t say he was “misled,” not exactly. That’s Charles Johnson’s gloss (”lied to”) on the statement. The actual staetment is thus:
“I did not sign a statement suggesting that ‘Bush had prior knowledge.’ I signed a statement calling for an investigation.”
This can be taken two ways:
1. He’s claiming an actual bait and switch, induced to sign one petition, then horrified to see his signature appended to a different one. (The Charles Johnson interpretation.)
2. He’s merely disputing what the petition means. He’s claiming it’s just a call for investigations, not a suggestion that Bush had foreknowledge of 9/11 (or that Bush premeditated 9/11). (This is Ben Smith’s belief.)
Well, either way, Charles Johnson loses. If 1 is intended, then Zinn is lying, because he had endorsed Trutherism months earlier on the 911Truth.org website itself. One does not need to be tricked into endorsing what one has already endorsed in one’s own words.
If 2 is intended, Zinn isn’t claiming he was mislead at all, and this helps Astronaut Jones not at all. Zinn is also lying in his revisionist characterization of the petition, because it’s both a call for investigations and a strong suggestion that “Bush Knew.”
In fact, it should be noted that Zinn is doing exactly what Jones is attempting to do: Having signed a petition clearly aligning himself with the craziest conspiracy theorists imaginable, he’s now claiming he either didn’t understand the petition or otherwise failed to pick up on its diamond-clear-and-diamond-hard insinuations.
But this is to be expected; I have it on no lesser authority than Charles Johnson that Truthers lie. Especially about being Truthers, and especially when caught in the spotlight.
Rest
http://minx.cc/?post=291811
He was the complete COMMIE! .. and scroll down this lib site for SO much trashy traitorism. Egawds ... he was even Matt Damon’s hero .. gag.
~~~~~~~~
*snip*
What’s more, one of the files reveals that a reliable informant provided a photograph of Zinn teaching a class on “Basic Marxism” at party headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951. A participant in the class said that Zinn taught that “the basic teaching of Marx and Lenin were sound and should be adhered to by those present…”
Zinn was included on the “Security Index” and “Communist Index” maintained by the FBI. The “Security Index” was more ominous and included individuals who could be detained in the event of a national emergency.
Frank Marshall Davis, the Communist Party USA member who mentored the young Barack Obama, was also the “security index”.
The files confirm Zinn’s membership in the party from 1948-1953 and one says he was “believed to be a CP member as of October, 1956.” However, he denied membership in the party when interviewed by the FBI in 1953 and 1954 and claimed to be just a “liberal” or “leftist.” He did admit involvement in several CPUSA front organizations, the documents say…
n 1961, it says, Zinn “attempted to recruit students to attend 8th World Youth Festival [a communist-front gathering] and was described as pro-Castro in 1962. He publicly protested United States demand for withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.”
After WW2 service and an education on the GI Bill, Zinn taught at the all female, all black Spelman College in Atlanta.
According to one of his pupils, far left author Alice Walker, Zinn shocked an audience from a local white college by declaring “Well, I stand to the left of Mao Zedong.” – this at the height of the communist takeover of China.
Forced to leave Spelman because of his radicalism, Zinn went to teach at Boston University from 1964 to 1988.
http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
If he was call a piece of sh...would that be considered racist?
This link has more info and updates:
The Van Jones link you provided is pretty awesome! I am sure that Obama’s parents and grandparents have commie FBI files as well. Obama is the quintessential ‘Red Diaper Baby’.
~~ Ping!
ALL ANYONE EVER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT HOWARD ZINN
FROM KEYWIKI
http://keywiki.org/index.php/Howard_Zinn
Have you seen this yet/PING?
have or HAD?
Good question. Those files have probably disappeared along with the rest of Obama’s records.
Most of us thought he came to class stoned (he had that glassy eyed look), plus it was general knowledge he helped multiple good looking coeds get better grades with exra-curricular activities........
Read our Sharky’s post!
STARWISE, read our Sharky’s post!!!
Gads.. all of these commies are the same..when they are not plotting the destruction of our republic and way of life, they are sexually preying on our children.
Their evil stench is getting harder for them to conceal.
Why does that not surprise me any? The rear-end justifies the mean.....
What the old saying those who do do and those who can’t teach at the college level.
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