Einstein was a Commie

[DialecticMaterialist]

Yes, strange but true. The FBI have over a thousand pages on Albert Einstein due to his communist activities. Not that this has any relevance to any discussion. I just like to bring it up when somebody goes "Einstein believed in God." by saying "Einstein was also a communist."

http://foia.fbi.gov/einstein.htm

 

[Pyrrho]

In document 9b, page 9, an office memorandum dated July 27, 1955 states: "Einstein affiliated or his name extensively associated with literally hundreds of pro-Communist groups. No evidence of CP membership developed. Extensive investigation in Germany conducted by G-2 at our request with negative results."

He wasn't a Communist.

 

[Malachi151]

Didn't we already have this discussion?

Reclaiming Einstein's Legacy
Why the FBI went after the "Person of the Century, and how the same mistakes are being repeated

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/FBI/Reclaiming_Einstein_Legacy.html

I thought this was all already discussed in the Why Socilaism - Eisntein thread.

Why Socialism:

http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil.

From the FBI site:

"An investigation was conducted by the FBI regarding the famous physicist because of his affiliation with the Communist Party. Einstein was a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937-1954. He also served as honorary chairman for three communist organizations."

More info here too:

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/condition_of_modern_american_soc.htm

Also, Einstein did NOT believe in God. He used some fancy wording sometimes to keep himself out of trouble, but he did nto believe in God. When pressed on the issue he would say things like the univierse is my God and science is my religion, and things like that to keep himself from being ostracized from the community.

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.
-- Albert Einstein

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
-- Albert Einstein

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
-- Albert Einstein

One strength of the Communist system ... is that it has some of the characteristics of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
-- Albert Einstein

Looks like a commie to me

Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.
-- Albert Einstein

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.
-- Albert Einstein

Following his wife's advice in responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein of the International Synagogue in New York, who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding “Do you believe in God?” :

I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings.
-- Albert Einstein

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
-- Albert Einstein

"Both deism and traditional Judeo-Christian-Islamic theism must also be contrasted with pantheism, the notion attributed to Baruch Spinoza (d. 1677) that the deity is associated with the order of nature or the universe itself. This also crudely summarizes the Hindu view and that of many indigenous religions around the world. When modern scientists such as Einstein and Stephen Hawking mention 'God' in their writings, this is what they seem to mean: that God is Nature."
-- Victor J. Stenger

 

[Jedi Knight]

In document 9b, page 9, an office memorandum dated July 27, 1955 states: "Einstein affiliated or his name extensively associated with literally hundreds of pro-Communist groups. No evidence of CP membership developed. Extensive investigation in Germany conducted by G-2 at our request with negative results."

He wasn't a Communist.

I agree. Given Einstein's stature and intellect, every perverse group was trying to say he agreed with their perverse ideology. Communists certainly tried to claim Einstein for their own. It is a good thing that Einstein wasn't a communist because that would have lessened what he was.

JK

 

[DragonLady]

I would hate to be remembered for the mail I get...especially the e-mail!

I have to agree with Pyrrho and Jedi Knight -
I think "causes" of all kinds like to actively solicite celebrities of all sorts -it's kind of equivalent to 'product branding'.

"If so-and-so agrees with us, you know we must be good".

 

[Malachi151]

Umm.. Einstein wrote work on Communism and Socialism, and was a member of communist organizations. Are people reading the facts here? The isssue is, was he himself a communist/socialist, and the anwser is yes.

 

[Jedi Knight]

Umm.. Einstein wrote work on Communism and Socialism, and was a member of communist organizations. Are people reading the facts here? The isssue is, was he himself a communist/socialist, and the anwser is yes.

What communist organizations was Einstein a member of?

JK

 

[DragonLady]

You posted:

"An investigation was conducted by the FBI regarding the famous physicist because of his affiliation with the Communist Party. Einstein was a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937-1954. He also served as honorary chairman for three communist organizations."

An "affiliation" doesn't mean he directly espoused their beliefs. It simply means that somehow his name was connected with it. This could mean a bunch of things -maybe his name was on a mailing list, or he attended a meeting, sent them a check, or publicly agreed with something they published.


"a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937-1954"

Again, what does that mean? I keep getting mail telling me I'm an 'honored member' of different things -many of them organizations I've never heard of, and usually the small type tells me that if I want to retain that coveted status all I have to do is send a small check....

A "sponser" typically means someone has sent money. And very often that's carefully misworded too. "Purchase our patriotic red, white & blue garbage bags for a small donation of $150.00 US, and know that your money will help sponser our youth educational program...blah, blah, blah". Then the small print tells you they are teaching young AIDS patients how to properly clean their needles or some such.

"thirty-four communist fronts"

Excuse me...but doesn't the word front seem a little questionable? Usually, the word means that something appears to be something it's not. Just like the "youth educational group" that teaches safe copulation-with-critters techniques or a money-laundering 'front'. It's a business or organization that leads one to believe it's doing one thing, but is actually doing something else. They carefully design themselves to look like legitimate charities or businesses while hiding their real agendas for the sole purpose of gaining public acceptance, support and/or donations.

"He also served as honorary chairman for three communist organizations."

An "honorary chairman"...oh boy...

"Mr. Einstein, we're so impressed by your reputation for living litter-free that we've decided to make you honorary chairman of our housekeeping club. Now to retain your preferred status just send us your signed affidavit and a small check....blah, blah, blah"

Sorry, but I just don't believe he would've been mixed up in that.

 

[Jedi Knight]

An "honorary chairman"...oh boy...

I am hoping I can be an honorary chairman of a new McCarthy Commission but I haven't got a letter yet.

JK

 

[Malachi151]

Umm... did you not read any of the other links or quotes?

In his own words:

http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einst.htm

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.

Your problem is that you don't know what communism/socialism is. When I say that Eisnetein was a communist you think of the Americna propaganda that you know oif about Communism, which has absolutly nohting at all to do with real communist ideology. No Eisnetien was a Stalinist, or a Leninist, or certianly not the American version of lies about those ideologies, he was a "real" communist/socialist (essentially the same thing), just like millions of other Americans prior to the end of WWII and the American anti-Communist effort..

Edit: BTW the Month Review, which he compliments is a Marxist maganize dedicated to global social revolution.

 

[Malachi151]

I am hoping I can be an honorary chairman of a new McCarthy Commission but I haven't got a letter yet.

JK

You know that your hero was a homosexual don't you? Him and Hoover both, the two biggest right-wing "nutt-jobs" the country ever had.

 

[Jedi Knight]

You know that your hero was a homosexual don't you? Him and Hoover both, the two biggest right-wing "nutt-jobs" the country ever had.

That's just commie propaganda.

JK

 

[DragonLady]

This is the paragraph before the one Malachi151 posted:

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an "army of unemployed" almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers' goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

I'm sorry, but scanning through the article I get the idea that rather than whole-heartily condoning communism, he was trying to point out all the various problems with capitalism, socialism, and communism. Granted, I haven't read it word-for-word, but that is the main idea I'm gleaning.

Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.

This leads me to believe that he thought people should be more freely able to discuss the pro's and con's. Granted, he said he was "convinced" a socialist system was the answer, but I can't help but take that to mean he was inviting debate from open-minded individuals who were willing to consider all sides of the issues.

That's just my two cents, but I honestly don't believe the man would've dived too deeply into the political lion's den if only for fear of the potential threat to his public image.

 

[BillyTK]

Einstein was a commie! And so what?

 

[Agammamon]

I agree. Given Einstein's stature and intellect, every perverse group was trying to say he agreed with their perverse ideology. Communists certainly tried to claim Einstein for their own. It is a good thing that Einstein wasn't a communist because that would have lessened what he was.

JK

So let me see if I have this straight. If you're a normal joe with commie sympathies, you're a commie. But if you are a famous and well respected intellectual with commie sympathies, you're not a commie unless you officially join the party.

And in any case, Einstein was a brilliant physicist, no doubt. How that lends weight to his political and social opinions is beyond me.

 

[DialecticMaterialist]

Also, Einstein did NOT believe in God. He used some fancy wording sometimes to keep himself out of trouble, but he did nto believe in God. When pressed on the issue he would say things like the univierse is my God and science is my religion, and things like that to keep himself from being ostracized from the community.

Actually Einstein did believe in God, just not providence. He was a Deist. Kind of like Franko.

 

[DialecticMaterialist]

In document 9b, page 9, an office memorandum dated July 27, 1955 states: "Einstein affiliated or his name extensively associated with literally hundreds of pro-Communist groups. No evidence of CP membership developed. Extensive investigation in Germany conducted by G-2 at our request with negative results."

The FBI summary says:

n investigation was conducted by the FBI regarding the famous physicist because of his affiliation with the Communist Party. Einstein was a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937-1954. He also served as honorary chairman for three communist organizations.

This is an extensive filre over 1,427 pages long. I imagine if you dig enough you can prove just about anything. However a partial summary of section 9b page 9 is hardly sufficient to overturn the entire summary from a source that likely knows more about the issue then you. Unless you are willing to say and somehow prove the above summary was a flat out lie.

 

[a_unique_person]

That's just commie propaganda.

JK

I don't think there was any dispute over the fact that Hoover lived in a house with his male friend for many years and never married.

 

[Malachi151]

Eistein stated plainly several times that his idea of God is that the universe is God, that there is no individual known as God, that there is nothing supernatural, that there is no afterlife, that there is no heave or hell, that the only way in which "God" acts is throught the forces of nature, i.e. physics. Its hardly a god concept that has anything familiar with Christian or Jewish concepts. He said sever times that the beleived in Spinoza's definition of God, which is pantheist, not deist. Deism still acknowledged a personal God, Eisntein did not.

 

[DialecticMaterialist]

de·ism [Audio pronunciation of Deism] ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dzm, d-)
n.

The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.

I admit that is different from a pantheist but that's not exactly what I'd call a personal God.