From Under the Rubble, Episode 0: Introduction
Dr. Fleming explains the theme of the series, invoking the example of Russian dissidents who were not content to criticize specific policies of the USSR but zeroed in on the flawed principles on which the regime rested. The USA, which began as a constitutional republic, has tended more and more to accept the principles of the French Revolution. Even conservatives accept leftwing theories of equality and human rights as the cornerstone of their ideology. To resist the radicalization of America, we must debunk the false principles that justify the destruction of authentic American liberties.
Original Air Date: November 20, 2015
Show Run Time: 17 minutes
Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming
Show Host(s): James Easton
Transcript available now for Charter Subscribers and a la carte purchase.
Become an Charter Subscriber to Access
or purchase a la carte.
or login via the right column if you are already a Charter Member.
From Under the Rubble℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2015. All Rights are Reserved.
A thoroughly rewarding project, Dr. Fleming and Mr. Easton. I await future episodes!
As you are well aware, “From Under the Rubble” was a significant milestone in the history of Russian dissent. The hints of Solzhenitsyn’s conservative traditionalism were becoming evident to the Soviet authorities and proved useful in discrediting him in the West, particularly after his forced exile. Of course after his speech at Harvard and his polemics with Richard Pipes and others, the gloves were off to the great satisfaction of the KGB.
It might please you to know that Igor Shafarevich’s book “Russophobia” is well-known and well-appreciated among many in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Montenegro.
I had dinner with Shafarevich in Moscow. The intermediary was a Serbian lady, and we ate in a very fashionable businessman’s club run by a Serbian manager with Serbian cooks. When the manager asked me if we wanted to eat Russian or Serbian, I laughed and asked, “Who would eat Russian food, when there was Serbian available?” Shafarevich was as courteous and affable as he was brilliant. When I tried a line of conversation that would have drawn out an anti-Semite, he politely but firmly declined, saying, the problem with Russia was created by liberals. The fact that a very large proportion of Jews are among the Russophobes is, while not quite accidental, a distraction from the main point. Deracinated people living among aliens are naturally drawn to ideologies–liberalism, communism, fascism–that subvert the traditions of order. Later, I acquired an English translation prepared by the CIA. What lies have been told about this great man, and what fools people have been to believe them!
In listening to Dr. Fleming’s remarks on the similarity and difference between the Soviet and American empires, I was reminded of a remark by Neal Postman in comparing Orwell’s _1984_ and Huxley’s _Brave New World_. Orwell was the better artist, yet Huxley was the better prophet. In Orwell’s novel books are burned; in Huxley’s no one wishes to read one. And so the same end is achieved.
An excellent discussion. Dr. Fleming may well be correct in his ultimate political pessimism, but I hold that Americans are under a moral obligation to try to set things right, collectively and not just in their own lives. As I have asserted elsewhere, the Camp of the Saints problem is no longer theoretical, and cannot be evaded through any type of quietism. Sadly, decent persons can no longer flee the political realm (well, for not much longer …). This is nothing more than a result of the “shrinking of the planet” through instantaneous communications and rapid global transportation. We have to fight, and thus our attentions should be turned to the right ways to act and resist, and not only to live.