Crypto-communism (or

cryptocommunism Crypto-communism (or cryptocommunism) is a secret support for, or admiration of, communism. Individuals and groups have been labelled as crypto-communists, often as a result of being associated with, or influenced by communists. Crypto-communism a ...

) is a secret support for, or admiration of,

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. Individuals and groups have been labelled as crypto-communists, often as a result of being associated with, or influenced by communists. Crypto-communism among political leaders aided the

sovietization of the Baltic states The Sovietization of the Baltic states refers to the sovietization of all spheres of life in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania when they were under control of the Soviet Union. The first period deals with the occupation from June 1940 to July 1941 ...

Historical use of the term

In 1947,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

described a crypto-communist as, "one who has not the moral courage to explain the destination for which he is making". In 1949, shortly before his death,

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

compiled a

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

for the

Information Research Department The Information Research Department (IRD) was a secret Cold War propaganda department of the British Foreign Office, created to publish anti-communist propaganda, including black propaganda, provide support and information to anti-communist pol ...

of the British

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

of thirty-eight journalists and writers who in his opinion were crypto-communists or

fellow travellers The term ''fellow traveller'' (also ''fellow traveler'') identifies a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member of that o ...

. In 1960,

Bruce Hutchison William Bruce Hutchison, (5 June 1901– 14 September 1992) was a Canadian writer and journalist. Born in Prescott, Ontario, Canada, Hutchison was educated in public schools in Victoria, British Columbia. He married Dorothy Kidd McDiarmid i ...

described what he viewed as a crypto-communist threat from the left wing of the

Liberal Democratic Party of Japan The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a conservativeThe Liberal Democratic Party is widely described as conservative: * * * * * political party in Japan. The LDP has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955—a per ...

under

Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...

. In

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, some accused the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

under the leadership of

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

of being a crypto-communist front.

The Black Book of Communism ''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression'' is a 1997 book by Stéphane Courtois, Andrzej Paczkowski, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Margolin, and several other European academics documenting a history of political repression by co ...

referred to some individuals as crypto-communist, namely

Damyan Velchev Damyan Velchev or Velcev ( bg, Дамян Велчев) (4 March 1883, Gabrovo – 25 January 1954) was a Bulgarian politician and general. From 1925 to 1935 he was the leader of the Military League (1919–1947), an organization of Bulgarian off ...

and

Ludvík Svoboda Ludvík Svoboda (25 November 1895 – 20 September 1979) was a Czech general and politician. He fought in both World Wars, for which he was regarded as a national hero,

References

{{communist-party-stub Communism Political slurs

Historical use of the term

See also

References