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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

Opinion: Democrats got their political playbook from Lenin (Vladimir, not John)

AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko / A policeman stands in front of barriers that block access to Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral and the Lenin Mausoleum in the background on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko / A policeman stands in front of barriers that block access to Red Square with St. Basil's Cathedral and the Lenin Mausoleum in the background on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022.

When you have bad policies and cannot sustain your authority based on quantifiable results, you do what Democrats have done these last few years: You weaponize the government against your enemies.

It is not a novel construct. In 1918 the oppressive Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin (the 100th anniversary of whose death was on Jan. 21) laid out his plan to keep the communists in power with his infamous “Hanging Order.” This was an order he sent to his Bolshevik leaders in his government (his Deep State) when starving middle class farmers known as kulaks dared to push back against his government. It reads as follows:

“Comrades! The insurrection of five kulak districts should be pitilessly suppressed. The interests of the whole revolution require this because ‘the last decisive battle’ with the kulaks is now underway everywhere. An example must be made.

“Hang (absolutely hang, in full view of the people) no fewer than one hundred known kulaks, fat cats, bloodsuckers.

“Publish their names.