His basic argument, which underlines all his writing, is that since World War Two British institutions have been slowly taken over by Marxist thinking which is designed in the long term to undermine Britain in order to move towards a global socialist state. In his firing line are politicians, the education system, immigration, religion, the undermining of marriage and the family and the media, especially the BBC, who he sees, with good reason, as being complicit in it. He is scathing about the "drinks and lunch" culture where deals are made between politicians and journalists in Westminster, away from the public's gaze. He makes clear that this is not a conspiracy in the sense that we usually understand it.
He asserts that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not the end of socialism but in fact provided Marxists with an excellent opportunity to pretend that they have abandoned their extremist views and enter mainstream politics and he identifies several leading New Labour politicians as having been involved with extremist groups in the past who now claim to have moderated their opinions. So does this make Francis Fukuyama complicit in this deception, having declared in 1992 that the end of the Soviet Union was "the end of history"?
Hitchens himself used to be an extremist Marxist so this would help give him insight into their tactics. For example, he recounts how in the post-war period very keen communist supporters were told not to actually join the party because it would be too obvious what they were up to. Personally, that tells me everything I need to know.
When I finish it I may write a more detailed review.
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5 Responses to “Book Recommendation: The Broken Compass by Peter Hitchens”
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On order!
23 August 2009 at 10:00Like you, I thought Peter Hitchens was a bit of a crackpot, but his pronouncements have been spot on in recent years.
See for yourself!
I have to agree with both the original post and Fausty's comment (and link, even though all four video clips are no longer avilable!) although I still have some reservations about Hitchens.
23 August 2009 at 11:29We are living in such an important transitional time, where there is hardly any real resistance to what has been planned all along and is now coming to pass.
In this, Hitchens is right in saying that the demise of the USSR was an opportunity to take the fight elsewhere. Think of Boskone in E E "Doc" Smith's Lensman series of novels, for example: the principle is exactly the same.
Hitchens is one of those worth watching and taking note of, but only as one constituent part in the overall scheme of things. There are others also worth reading/listening to, and one's overall and (hopefully!) well balanced view should derive from all those sources, combined with one's own intelligence, experiences and (to an extent) gut feelings.
Overall, then, I thank you for this useful summary so far, and I look forward to the promised follow-up review.
The Left has largely regrouped under the 'Green' banner. In 'global warming' it has finally found the horse to pull the cart it has had waiting since Soviet Russia collapsed.
23 August 2009 at 12:37Thanks for pointing out that the videos are no longer available, John.
23 August 2009 at 13:51Drat!
I've got two of his books: The Abolition of Liberty and The Abolition of Britain, both excellent books.
23 August 2009 at 14:02I'll now order his latest one as well.
While we're on the subject another good book is Living in a Fascist Country by Vernon Coleman.
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