The Current State of the Watchtower & The Cynicism of Soviet Communism

by cofty 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  cofty

  I am reading a book by Victor Sebestyn called "Revolution 1989 - The Fall of the Soviet Empire". If you lived through the astonishing collapse of communism in the late '80s I highly recommend it.

  What has struck me is the description of life under Communism in the six Soviet satellite states of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

  Here is a couple of paragraphs that really stood out to me as a possible parallel to the current climate in the regime of JW.org.

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  Once idealism or revolutionary fervour had disappeared - certainly by the Soviet invasion of Czechosloakia in 1968 - the system stagnated. The talent pool in the various Parties dimished. Advancement was not on merit, but on obedience and loyalty to the Party. Discretion was rewarded, initiative, originality and brainpower frowned upon. Occasionally some highly intelligent, creative and efficient apparatchiks reached senior positions but they were exceptions. Cynicism ate into the soul of communism. Belief grew irrelevent to Communist functionaries. 'Little by little it became a more or less theoretical thing...like the second coming of Christ,' said Oleg Troyanovsky, who had been a diplomat in several of the satellite states after 1945. 'You preach it, you are supposed to believe in it, but no one really takes it seriously. Ideology took second place to national interests, sometimes it was just a cover for national interests.'

  The Party had to protect itself from the people. In 1917 the first thing Lenin did was set up a secret police force, the Cheka. Upon Soviet 'liberation' after World War Two, each of the new Communist regimes had established within weeks similar organisations, all carbon copies of the Soviet model....The Stasi in East Germany was called the 'sword and shield of the Party'. Erich Honecker was fond of telling its officers later: "We did not seize power in order to give it up". Over time the methods of all these agencies became less violent. Torture chambers were turned into filing rooms. The task was still essentially the same, though: to ensure the supremacy of the Party. But there were subtle differences. For the most part, the secret police and their political masters ceased to think they could make people believe in communism. All citizens had to do was pretend they believed and outwardly conform. It became an increasingly spiritless charade.

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  I was blown way by the similarities. What do you think?

  It also bodes very well for the Watchtower's demise. More to come...
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  LV101

  "More to come...." can't wait to read more and god speed their demise.
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  besty

  I agree - the good news they are now out on the streets and we can ask them :-)
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  Laika

  Cofty, do you ever sleep? ;)

  Interesting thread though. I do think there'll be a quick collapse, in the Congregations I know well once the current elders die off there is hardly anyone who seems capable of stepping in. I can't speak for the whole Organisation though.

  Maybe serving where the need is greater will soon mean moving to the West?
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  besty

  I think the move out of Brooklyn is a huge red flag* from the leadership - this is not a statement of confidence.

  * red flag - red flag - geddit? oh never mind...
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  Comatose

  All citizens had to do was pretend they believed and outwardly conform. It became an increasingly spiritless charade.

  wow.. It's JWs today.
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  fresh prince of ohio

  what's sad is that one of the most important indicators of outward conformity is the shunning.
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  Giordano

  I certainly think that is a description of Bethel as well as the overall community of JW'S. The conformity, the way the pecking order is set up always reminded me of communist governments.

  I remember reading on this site about an ex witness with graphic design chops being invited to Bethel (NY) for a couple of weeks to help out the graphic design department.

  The department was not well run and he found opposition for his recommendations, in particular when he questioned the head of the department why a half a million state of the art graphic system was sitting unused in a storage room the answer he got back was they hadn't found anyone spiritually mature enough to run it.

  When I read that I thought once again it's like communism. Total control at the cost of efficiency. I wouldn't be surprised if as many as 50 percent of the people in the organization are just pretending to be believers.
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  Gorbatchov

  Did you know the current Russia statesecretary of foreign affairs was raised in soviet burocraty?lavrov is still playing political chess.
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  neverendingjourney

  The constant "churn" of membership has historically helped isolate the Witnesses from succumbing to the same fate, I think. It has re-supplied the organization with a fresh set of true believers to prevent it from becoming completely ossified.

  I suspect that's coming to an end, though. The growth has slowed down tremendously over the past 20 years. If the constant stream of new believers dries up and leadership doesn't do anything to instill a renewed sense of vigor, I have no doubt they'll eventually go the way of the USSR. Actually, the Worldwide Church of God is probably a better example, but that's a topic for a different thread.