2. Masters Of Deceit: The Story Of Communism In America And How To Fight It

I found a copy of the original paperback at a free book box in Berkeley in quite decent condition.  Unfortunately, I damaged it somewhat in reading.  I can't imagine it is worth too much but as a cultural artifact, I consider it a lucky find.  Jesus what a fucking douchebag was J. Edgar.  I took this just to keep and perhaps give as an ironic gift, but then felt I should actually read it.  I really went through a range of emotions getting to the end of this book: smug contempt, ridicule, a lot of boredom but ultimately a growing sense of horror.  

Let me be straight, I am no fan of the USSR and while I consider myself progressive on many issues and I fucking hate this version of late-stage consumer capitalism we are in, I'm doubtful even a "good" form of communism would be an effective way to govern human society.  I have always been critical of those leftists who slavishly looked to Russia and their communism for leadership (I mean some of these people were still defending it even after the reality of Stalin's terror was fully revealed).  I also recognize that the U.S.S.R. was up to constant shenanigans worldwide and in the U.S. and Canada with a destructive espionage regime.  Fuck those commie spies.  Putin today is continuing a long, long tradition of Russian authoritarianism and imperialism.

As bad and dangerous as the Russkies were, the red scare of the fifties was clearly exaggerated and blown out of such proportion that its excesses got the US to be almost as bad as the communist regime it so feared.  Furthermore, fear of communism was ultimately a propaganda tool to attempt to maintain suppression of labour and black people.  Reading this book strongly reinforces that theory.  Hoover takes great pains to talk about "good" labour and civil rights organizations but basically lays out an argument that any movement that is critical of the government was already infiltrated by communism and therefore it was acceptable for the FBI to go after them.  It's a sinister model and one that has been used by governments over the years to suppress dissent.  It's particularly egregious and hypocritical here because the whole point of America is freedom.  A good example in this book is here the way her refers to the Rosa Lee Ingram case as a woman murdering her neighbour and not a Black woman who had been sexually harassed and assaulted repeatedly by her neighbour finally defending herself.  Read her real story in the link and then compare that to the propaganda from Hoover below:

what a giant shitbag

There are many points in the book where Hoover uses an example of Commie infiltration and then you do a bit of wikipedia research and see how people's rights and liberties were trampled, their lives destroyed, labour unions and civil rights initiatives ruined.

There is entertainment here, especially at the beginning, before you you get sick of Hoover's paranoia.  He relies on anonymous anecdotes telling crazy stories of safe houses and families ripped apart.  One of his favourites is when the party orders members to sell their house or divorce their wife for the cause. None of it is substantiated.  I'd love to read a thoroughly researched critique of Hoover's claims of communist party behaviour in America. He loves describing women's clothes in great details in stories about a member dodging a tail or going underground.  There is some good material here for a period thriller.  Unfortunately it all deteriorates in repetition after a while.

What's really crazy or rather just depressing is that there are still many people alive today who still believe this shit.  Really, once you read this, the anti-vaxxer movement doesn't seem that surprising any more.  People with a strong ideological agenda to defend their perception of the world will quickly and easily move to finding a fake enemy and using that to further their agenda.  I think the part that would have Hoover twisting in his grave (next to his longtime male lover, btw) would be where these "Freedom" fucks are pro-Russia.  Strange times.

Look at this asshole on the phone