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Yuri Bezmenov was, for many years, a propaganda agent of the Soviet KGB (Committee for State Security), the U.S. equivalent of the CIA.
After years of serving the Communist Party in Moscow, he decided to escape and settled in Canada and later in the United States. Once there, he narrated the atrocities of communist socialism and, in turn, explained the tactics employed by the Soviet Union to destabilize its enemies.
Bezmenov explained in an interview with host G. Edward Griffin, back in 1984, the process of ideological subversion or psychological warfare applied by the KGB in the United States to destabilize the country.
“But in reality the main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all. According to my opinion, and the opinions of many defectors of my caliber, only about 15% of time, money, and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other 85% is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare” said the former agent.
“What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.”
Bezmenov’s escape
Bezmenov had a long journey before he was able to settle in the west: from India he fled to Greece, where he contacted the American embassy, and after a series of interviews by the CIA, a diplomatic operation was carried out so that Canada would accept him as an asylum seeker. Years later, in the interview with Griffin he continued to explain the process of ideological subversion:
“It’s a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first stage being “demoralization”. It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy exposed to the ideology of [their] enemy. In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least 3 generation of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism; American patriotism.”
The former KGB agent clarified that it would take 15 to 20 years to dismantle a demoralization process:
“Most of the people who graduated in the 60’s, dropouts or half-baked intellectuals, are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, and educational systems. You are stuck with them. You can’t get through to them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You can not change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior. In other words [for] these people the process of demoralization is complete and irreversible. To rid society of these people you need another 15 or 20 years to educate a new generation of patriotically minded and common sense people who would be acting in favor and in the interests of United States society,” he added.
After this, the interviewer interrupts Bezmenov and asks him “and yet these people who have been programmed, and will be promoted in their positions because they are prone to Soviet ideas, will these be the same people who will be marked for extermination in this country?”
“Most of them, yes. Simply because the psychological shock when they will see in [the] future what the beautiful society of equality and social justice means in practice, obviously they will revolt. They will be very unhappy [and] frustrated people, and Marxist-Leninist regime does not tolerate these people. Obviously they will join the [ranks] of dissenters; dissidents. Unlike the present United States there will be no place for dissent in future Marxist Leninist America. [Now] you can get popular like Daniel Elsburg and filthy rich like Jane Fonda for being a dissident [and] for criticizing your Pentagon. In [the] future these people will simply be [he makes a squishy noise] squashed like cockroaches,” answered Bezmenov.
The process of psychological warfare in stages
“The next stage is destabilization. It only takes 2 to 5 years to destabilize a nation. This time what matters is essentials; economy, foreign relations, [and] defense systems,” Bezmenov said.
“This is what will happen in the United States if they allow these idiots to lead the country into crisis. Promise people all kinds of wonders and paradise on earth. Destabilize the economy, eliminate the principle of free competition, and put a Big Brother type government in Washington D.C., with benevolent dictators like Walter Mondale – former Vice President of the United States under Jimmy Carter’s administration and Democratic candidate for the presidency.”
Finally, the former KGB agent described the United States as a nation that was “in a state of war, an undeclared total war, against the basic principles and foundations of this system.”
The picture drawn by Bezmenov more than three decades ago has many coincidences with the current situation in the United States. Does this mean that the Soviet Union won the psychological war? Where will the anti-patriotism that today is spreading in the schools and universities of the country end up?
It is difficult to say what the immediate future of the United States will be, but it is worth watching Bezmenov’s complete interview once again, so that everyone can draw their own conclusions and understand what the real threat is in the land of freedom.
Emmanuel Rincón is a lawyer, writer, novelist and essayist. He has won several international literary awards. He is Editor-at-large at El American // Emmanuel Rincón es abogado, escritor, novelista y ensayista. Ganador de diversos premios literarios internacionales. Es editor-at-large en El American