To the editor:
The five "Communist Rules for Revolution" quoted in the letter by Bob Bormann in the Dec. 10 Deseret News are complete baloney. The usual list, repeatedly published by various conservative organizations, has 10 numbered points and includes the fictitious claim that they were captured in Dusseldorf in 1919 by Allied Forces.It seems I have to debunk this story every few years. On July 25, 1985, a Reader's Forum letter included the full list, and on Aug. 10 you published my letter quoting authorities who characterized these rules as "a total fraud," "an obvious fabrication" and "an implausible concoction of American fears and phobias."
Two years ago - on Dec. 23, 1988 - you published my "Urban Legends" column concerning these same supposed takeover rules; the headline was "A Fabled Master Plan."
Among many excellent studies that have discredited the story, I recommend Morris Kominsky's 1970 book, "The Hoaxers" (pages 600-611). He concluded that the supposed document is "a fraudulent concoction." Another interesting expose by Sen. Lee Metcalf of Montana appeared in the Congressional Record for Aug. 13, 1969 (pages 23697-99); he even quoted J. Edgar Hoover who called the document "spurious."
You'd think that with the current breakdown of communism, the fairy tale about these rules guiding a plan for world domination would disappear. But apparently some people still believe that whatever they dislike about the modern world can be blamed on a communist plot that's outlined in 10 simple rules supposedly composed more than 70 years ago.
Jan Harold Brunvand
Salt Lake City