Associated Press makes admission on Berlin Wall

For some reason, the Associated Press in June on the 40th anniversary 
of the building of the Berlin Wall has recalled something about the Cold 
War that we communists and many other students of history already 
knew--that the Kennedy administration of 1961 was in favor of it too and 
even thought it contributed to world peace, which it probably did by 
imperialist standards.

The CIA found that it was not able to instigate a revolution in East 
Berlin against the Soviet regime and this tipped the balance away from 
opposing the Berlin Wall. Kennedy was "'positively relieved'" about the 
order brought about by the wall.(1) The Western imperialists occupied 
West Berlin and western Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the other 
part known as East Germany. Berlin is surrounded by East Germany, and 
that added to tension, because the capitalist West Berlin was in the 
middle of a state imposed by the Red Army.

Phony communist Khruschev was the leader at the time in the Soviet 
Union, and he enjoyed residual support from the Soviet masses under the 
illusion that he was carrying forward the accomplishments achieved under 
Stalin. While anti-communists attempt to blame the killings and 
repression at the Berlin Wall on us genuine communists, in fact it was the 
bourgeoisie that necessitated that wall in the first place. Furthermore, 
the U.S. government has killed more people at the Mexican border through 
"Operation Gatekeeper" since 1994 than ever died at the Berlin Wall in 
more than 25 years despite U.$. claims of being a "free country."(2)

The situation in East Germany had much more justification than the 
current "Operation Gatekeeper." Under Stalin, the Red Army defeated the 
Nazis and occupied Germany. Given the influence of opportunism and 
revisionism, it is important to say that East Germany under Stalin remains the 
only example of a dictatorship of the proletariat set up in a former 
imperialist country. While East Germany had a hard time building 
socialism, the example is nonetheless the only one we have to learn from in the 
imperialist countries--a warning to those who would sugarcoat what it 
will take to overcome imperialism in a "Great Power."

Notes:
1. Associated Press (June 16 or 17, 2001).
2. MIM Notes 1 May 2001, p. 1. More than 500 people have died trying to 
cross into the united $tate since "Gatekeeper" began in 1994. According 
the Encyclopedia Britannica, 191 people died crossing the Berlin Wall 
from 1961 to 1989.