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December 5, 2012
by Jeffrey Kopstein, The Globe & Mail
They were uninterested in mere compliance or obedience; they wanted devotion. That was the moral of a story related to me by one of my first college professors, a refugee from communist Hungary.
In 1952, on a normal workday, he was summoned to an office meeting of the entire staff of the literary magazine where he worked. The Communist Party secretary began his speech, “As comrade Stalin teaches us …” Upon hearing the name “Stalin,” his colleagues in the front row stood up and began to cheer. Soon everyone stood up and began to clap. At the side of the room sat a small, eagle-eyed man who kept close watch on the work force. What was he looking for? The enemy of the people.