Hollywood screenwriter Anna Louise Strong was basically a Communist propagandist. When in 1956 Khrushchev “revealed” Stalin’s crimes, Strong suffered a mental breakdown over the “betrayal.” Later she confessed:
“We knew all these things for twenty-five years, and I kept silent for the cause of socialism. What am I supposed to say?”
(Which I connect to next-generation Richard Rorty, who was a 25-year-old Leftist when Khrushchev gave his speech. Later Rorty would say: “I think that a good Left is a party that always thinks about the future and doesn’t care much about our past sins.”)
Not only Leftists rationalize dishonesty and forgetfulness in the face of evil, but theirs is a terrible track record.
Sources:
Tracy B. Strong and Helene Keyssar, Right in Her Soul: The Life of Anna Louise Strong, Random House, 1983, pp. 204, 283.
Yes and very much in line with my experience with them.