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The Naked Communist

Author	W. Cleon Skousen
Illustrator	Arnold Friberg
Cover artist	Izzard Ink Publishing
Language	English
Subject	Communism and Socialism
Genre	Non-fiction
Published	1958, 2014 (Izzard Ink Publishing)
Publication place	United States
Pages	398
ISBN	978-1630720797
Dewey Decimal	335.4 22
LC Class	HX44 .S5585 2009

The Naked Communist is a 1958 book by an ex FBI agent, United States author political theorist Cleon Skousen. The book has been reprinted several times, the most recent of which was a 2014 printing through Izzard Ink Publishing, and has sold more than 1 million copies.

Synopsis

The author posits and seeks to describe a geopolitical strategy by which the Marxist–Leninist Soviet Union was attempting to overcome and control all the governments of the world that were not members of the Communist bloc.

Reception

Critical reception for The Naked Communist has been divisive. Max Blumenthal heavily criticized the book in his 2009 book Republican Gomorrah, where he dismissed it as a "right-peddling conspiracy tract". In contrast the book has been highly praised by Glenn Beck and American neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the latter of which stated that “The Naked Communist lays out the whole progressive plan. It is unbelievable how fast it has been achieved.”

IMPACT

The 45 communist goals outlined to overcome and control all the governments of the world listed in "The Naked Communist" were entered into the Congressional record on January 10, 1963. The following is a copy of that congressional record. Many of these goals have been championed by the U.S. Democratic Party, and are listed in the Democratic Party Platform.

Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963

Current Communist Goals

EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, January 10, 1963

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.

At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand .

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

References

1. Umbr(a): The Object. The Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture. 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
2. Vegső, Roland (2012). The Naked Communist: Cold War Modernism and the Politics of Popular Culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780823245581. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
3. Haddock, Sharon. "Beck's backing bumps Skousen book to top". Deseret News. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
4. ^ Forest Glen Durland (2003-03-24). "Communist Goals (1963)". Retrieved 2014-12-13. Cite error: The named reference "UHUH" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. Blumenthal, Max (2009). Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party. Nation Books. p. 331. ISBN 1568583982. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
6. Wilentz, Sean (October 18, 2010). "Confounding Fathers". The New Yorker. 86 (32): 32. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
7. "The Kelly File with Ben Carson". The Kelly File with Ben Carson. YouTube.
8. "Urban Faith The Naked Communist". Urban Faith The Naked Communist. Urban Faith.
9. Mattingly, Phil. "Ben Carson's Longshot Presidential Bid Suddenly Looks a Lot More Realistic". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 June 2015.

• 1958 books
• History books about communism
• 20th-century history books
• History books about the Soviet Union