Dennis Prager argues that small, determined minorities can enable large-scale evil without majority support. He compares campus activists to the Bolsheviks, who were a minority yet overthrew Russia's democratic revolution in 1917, and the Nazis, who won fewer than half the votes in 1932 but seized power anyway.
The question is, what does the American people think? I have no— I don't have an answer to that. When they see what's going on on campuses, what do they think? Well, let me offer some thoughts on what they should think. That might, that might be helpful. They should think that a certain truly bad seed of young people has been raised in the United States and abroad, because many of these people are first generation or second generation from the Middle East. It's, it's something remarkable to witness, the support for evil on our campuses. But it's also important to remember that they're a very small minority of students. This leads to an observation that is worthy of of making. It doesn't take a majority for evil to prevail. Truly significant. I learned this in the field that I studied, communism. If you don't know what I'm about to say, you'll find this fascinating. You probably have heard of the Bolsheviks. That was the first name of the Communists of Russia turned Russian into— and the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks were the first group of communists, and they took over after the Second Russian Revolution. The first was February, and the next was October. I think that's according to the old calendar, but it doesn't matter. The same year. So there was a, a democratic revolution and then a communist revolution in 1917. The Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, took over. Now here's the point, and this is so germane to what you're seeing. The The word Bolshevik comes from the Russian word bolshoi, like in Bolshoi Ballet that you may have heard of, the most famous ballet company in the world. Bolshoi means big, so the Bolshevik was the big or majority-nik. And here's the key: they were in the minority. The majority got the name Menshevik, the folks who were much more pro-freedom, democracy, etc., etc. They were in the majority, but they got the name minority-nik. Menshe is— means less in Russian. So the Big Nick was the Little Nick, and the Little Nick was the Big Nick. But it worked. It worked. The minority took over. Same in Germany. They were not the majority party in the 1932 elections, the last free elections in Germany. Until the end, until World War II had ended, 1945. It was a minority of Germans who voted for the Nazis, but they took over. This is the great lesson: it doesn't take many for great evil to take place. For the full episode of The Dennis Prager Show, go to pragertopia.com, sign up, and become a full member.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
