Appearance
The Naked Capitalist
There are so many falsehoods contained in the review comments posted here by various readers that there is not enough space to address them all. However, briefly:1. SKOUSEN's BACKGROUNDI am the first person to request and obtain Skousen's FBI personnel file and related documents (1900+ pages). Skousen misrepresented his FBI experience. It was primarily administrative -- not investigative -- and he had very little exposure to internal security matters.[...]2. NAKED CAPITALIST (Review of Quigley's Tragedy and Hope)(a) Quigley's book contains no footnotes or bibliography. Consequently, there is no way to confirm the accuracy of anything he presents.(b) Skousen never contacted Quigley to ask him any questions or to request copies of any documents in his possession---even though he cites Quigley as an authoritative source.(c) Quigley explicitly described Skousen (and Gary Allen who also made comparable comments about Quigley's book) as intellectually dishonest in their use of material from Quigley's book.3. SKOUSEN ON JACOB SCHIFF / BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTIONThe claims made by Skousen (also repeated by Gary Allen in his book, None Dare Call it Conspiracy) about wealthy members of "the elite" who "financed" revolutions have been discredited by such scholars as Dr. Antony Sutton.The FBI's Central Research Section wrote an 11-page critique of Skousen's 3/71 article in Law and Order magazine entitled "Home Grown Subversion". This article repeats many of the assertions made by Skousen in Naked Capitalist.When J. Edgar Hoover learned that Skousen had written his article in Law and Order, Hoover handwrote an inquiry on an internal FBI memo, which asked if data in FBI investigative files could authenticate what Skousen presented.The Central Research Section took 2 weeks to check all of Skousen's references (there weren't very many) plus they checked all data contained in FBI files and in relevant Congressional hearings.I copy below a pertinent excerpt from the FBI review memo.Page 1: "Synopsis""Purpose of memorandum is to answer Director's inquiry regarding article captioned as above in March 1971 issue of Law and Order magazine...We are circumspect with Skousen because of his efforts to capitalize on Bureau career to benefit his anticommunist activities. Article claims `dynastic rich' (inheritors of wealth) subsidizing `force of violent revolution' to help rich take over country for `good' of humanity.Skousen's claim that Karl Marx turned to `democratic socialism' as means to seize power not substantiated. Marx never renounced violence of class struggle or proletarian revolution. Skousen claim that wealthy class financed Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 not supported by research and his charge that Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb and Company gave $20 million for ` final triumph of Bolshevism' not validated.Skousen's allegations that tax exempt foundations have given money to civil rights groups and functionaries, including several militant black nationalists are generally valid but include inaccuracies. Several grants verified, as listed by Skousen, from Ford Foundation to organizations he alleges carry out `policies and propaganda favoring a globalist strategy.' Skousen's reference to `left-wing collectivists' seeking Federal constitutional convention is unsubstantiated. Only such effort known was made by late Senator Everett Dirksen who wanted amendment negating U.S. Supreme Court 1964 `one man, one vote' ruling which calls for equal population in voting districts."Page 3"Claims Regarding Financing The Russian Revolution"One especially dubious claim by Skousen is that scholars are beginning to discover that, wherever Communist revolutions have succeeded, it has been due to financial aid by some of the wealthiest people in the world. As evidence for this claim, Skousen maintains that several `dynastic banking families' financed the Communist revolution in Russia.According to Skousen, Leon Trotsky, in his biography, refers to some of the `loans' coming from British financiers as far back as 1907. Trotsky's book, `My Life' (page 202) mentions only one such loan, that of 3000=2 0pounds by an `English liberal' to help cover some expenses of the 1907 Bolshevik Party Congress in London. Trotsky states that years later the Soviet Government paid back the loan for which all Congress delegates had been cosigners."Page 4: "British Subsidies""By 1917, Skousen asserts, the major subsidies for `the revolution' were being arranged by Sir George Buchanan, then British Ambassador to Russia and Lord Alfred Milner who was in Russia as a special representative. One source suggested by Skousen refers merely to `private interviews' not further identified, as documentation for the above claim. A second source, citing hearsay, refers only to British aid to the March 1917 revolution that overthrew Czar Nicholas II but not to any aid of the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917.""Jacob Schiff""Skousen charges that Jacob Schiff (1847-1920) of the New York investment banking firm, Kuhn, Loeb and Company, furnished the Communist leaders around $20 million for the `final triumph of Bolshevism' in Russia. This figure is reportedly cited in the February 3, 1949 edition of the now defunct `New York Journal American' by Jacob Schiff's grandson. According to his biographer, C.A. Adler, Jacob Schiff in his letters and speeches blamed the Russian Imperial government of Czar Nicholas II for anti-Jewish policies and practices and personally gave about $500,000 for relief of Jews in Russia prior to 1917. Schiff later was reportedly sympathetic to the Provisional Government, providing one million rubles for its `liberty loan' in April 1917, but was strongly opposed to the Communists in Russia.Review of microfilm records of the February 3, 1949 New York Journal American failed to locate any article about Jacob Schiff and possible financing of the Bolsheviks as Skousen alleges. No evidence was found to substantiate Skousen's claim that between 1918 and 1922, Levin paid back 600 million rubles to Kuhn, Loeb and Company. It is noted that notorious anti-FBI critic, Dorothy Schiff of the New York Post, is a granddaughter of Jacob Schiff."[NOTE: The reason why the Bureau could not find "any article about Jacob Schiff" in the 2/3/49 issue of the NY Journal American is because it was NOT an article! Gary Allen used this same reference on page 69 of his book, None Dare Call it Conspiracy. In reality, the "quote" appears in a society gossip column by an unknown person who wrote the gossip column under the pseudonym "Cholly Knickerbocker". This is what passes for "factual "evidence" in conspiracy circles and which people like Gary Allen and Cleon Skousen foist upon gullible and ill-informed people! Also see Dr. Antony Sutton's rebuttal of the claim regarding Schiff's support of the Bolsheviks in Appendix II of his 2001 book, WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION. Appendix II is captioned "THE JEWISH-CONSPIRACY THEORY OF THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION".]Page 5:"Hearings Regarding Schiff, 1918Allegations that Jacob Schiff and other Jewish investment bankers helped to finance the Communist revolution in Russia have appeared in the past. In 1959, at the Director's instructions, such an allegation against Jacob Schiff was checked out in a review of the hearings conducted in December 1918 by a Subcommittee of the Committee of the Judiciary, United States Senate. Entitled `Brewing and Liquor Interests and German Propaganda' the hearings also covered Russian and Bolshevik activities in this country and Europe prior to that time. The hearings absolved Kuhn, Loeb and Company of alleged pro-German sympathies and failed to bring out any information indicating that Jacob Schiff helped to finance the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. [FBI file 100-407194-6].Skousen's claim that other international bankers were involved in financing the Communist takeover apparently comes from a book, `Czarism and Revolution' by Arsene de Goulevitch, a former Czarist Army officer who fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. Goulevitch in turn attributes the information to a document published in Rostov, Russia, in 1919 which reportedly attributed the information to the archives of a high French Government office (not identified).From the same sources Skousen notes that Trotsky later (after 1917) married the daughter of one wealthy contributing banker named Jivotovsky. Trotsky's book. My Life, and all available biographies on Trotsky contain no references to the name Jivotovsky and indicate that Trotsky's second marriage, about 1904, lasted until his assassination in 1940 in Mexico City.
The Naked Capitalist
In response to those trying to link Skousen to Carrol Quigely, do a little research. Like much of Skousen's work, "The Naked Capitalist" is really just a collection of half-formed ideas, personal biases and fear. The scholarhip of the book is shaky at best and the one scholar, Georgetown University historian Carroll Quigley, who Skousen claimed endorsed Skousen's ideas in the book, did everything he could to distance himself from Skousen.[...] to the 1971 issue of the journal Dialogue, where Quigely denounces Skousen's ideas and calls him dishonest."Skousen's personal position," Quigley wrote, "seems to me perilously close to the 'exclusive uniformity' which I see in Nazism and in the Radical Right in this country. In fact, his position has echoes of the original Nazi 25-point plan."
The Naked Capitalist
Skousen misrepresents Quigley's own words on some key points in his attempt to push his (Skousen's) own agenda. Here is what Quigley says about the overthrow of Chiang Kai-Shek:-----Chiang Kai-shek was a man of considerable ability and experience, and may not himself have been involved in the corruption of his regime, but he was deeply involved personally with cliques and gangs of persons whose chief aims were to profit from their public positions and from their close associations with Chiang and to resist, by any means, efforts to reform or strengthen China which might reduce their opportunities for corruption. These relationships, in 1945, in some cases had continued for almost twenty years. American aid and the contributions of the Chinese themselves disappeared in the network of corrupt and mutually beneficial relationships which were spread throughout the system and which made it impossible for the Chiang regime to provide a decent living for the people of China or even to defend itself against possible enemies, internal or external. Arms and supplies from abroad were dissipated, vanishing in one way or another, sometimes forever; but on other occasions they turned up subsequently in the hands of guerillas or of the Communist enemies of Chiang's regime. An enormous and incompetent army drained from the peasants, at low prices, large requisitions which were sold, usually for private profit, at high prices into urban black markets. In the two years following the defeat of Japan, $1,432 million in American assistance to China vanished in one way or another, and at the end the Chinese Army and the Chiang regime was weaker than ever.------- Quigley, TRAGEDY & HOPE, pp. 905-6.Everything which Quigley states here about how the criminality of the Kuomintang brought about its overthrow can be studied in great detail in such works as Suzanne Pepper, CIVIL WAR IN CHINA. Skousen however misrepresents both the events in China, as well Quigley's textual comments about events in China, in order so as to mislead the reader into thinking that somehow Quigley has "admitted" that Mao was brought to power by a Wall Street conspiracy. It should be emphasized that even had Quigley made such an idiotic statement, it wouldn't count against the overwhelming historical evidence which shows that Chiang Kai-Shek was overthrown because he was totally out of touch with his own people. But Skousen actually misrepresents Quigley's own statements so that something like the above passage cited from Quigley's own text is hard to imagine if you gain your impressions of Quigley from Skousen. It's not an honest book by Skousen and shouldn't be mistaken for such. This was Skousen's own attempt to push his ideological agenda, no more, no less.
The Naked Capitalist
I ordered this book and Tragedy and Hope, at the same time, thinking from reviews already posted here that it would be a good primer before delving into Quigley's Tragedy and Hope. I am sorry I did.Rather than give a fair summary of the book, it became quite clear early on that the author was using hand picked quotations from Tragedy and Hope, not so much to summarize it and compare it to Quigley's other works, but "to prove" prophecies depicted in the book of Revelation.In light of what is going on today on the world stage, it's pretty obvious there are some unsavory characters within or financial institutions and political machines to warrant grave concern over the future of this country, but I think it does not serve conservatives well to analyze the situation in a religious context. If anything, it hurt's, not helps an objective analysis of not only Quigley, but the politics that shape world events.Skousen calls for "conservatives" to infiltrate one of the parties and begin their own witch hunt that will influence public opinion. If you look at the state of the GOP right now, I'd say that is exactly what has happened. They have purged any group of people that doesn't see world events as they interpret it will unfold through Revelation.Granted there is much to worry about in regard to government being overly centralized and political corruption, but Skousen doesn't do anything in presenting his case that helps me alleviate these concerns.Fascism and communism are kissin' cousins and it seems to me Skousen leans a little more towards the "F" word.I will still read Quigley's book and decide for myself what it supposedly alludes to and/or reveals about our times, but The Naked Capitalist was not written in such a way where I can rely on it being a reliable "cliff notes".
The Naked Capitalist
"The Naked Capitalist" was written by W. Cleon Skousen as a sort of book report or summary of Dr. Carroll Quigley's 1300 + page tome "Tragedy and Hope - A History of the World in our Time. "W. Cleon Skousen, after passing the D.C. Bar exam, was hired by the FBI in the capacity of a special agent. W. Cleon Skousen spent 16 years in J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau before leaving to teach at BYU.Dr. Carroll Quigley was mostly known as professor of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; however, Professor Quigley also taught at other ivy league schools and served on various boards and panels for the government including the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense.Dr. Quigley writes about a secret cabal of power brokers and investment bankers whose goal is a one world super state. Although the cabal started in England, it eventually was brought to the U.S. through J.P. Morgan and Rockefeller.The Rhodes -Milner Group, as in Cecil Rhodes and Lord Alfred Milner, is a secret society formed by Cecil Rhodes in the later part of the 19th century with the goal of world domination. This group is the group that Dr. Quigley is writing about. This cabal used a series of sub groups called the "Roundtables" to institute their will across the globe. Some of the organizations created by the cabal are:The Rhodes' Scholarship is one method of recruitment of new talent into the cabal."The Council on Foreign Relations" in the U.S. and their Counterpart in Britain "The Institute on Royal Affairs"The following is a quote from Quigley's "Tragedy and Hope""The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups."After reading the above quote, it is easy to understand why Skousen called his book "The Naked Capitalist". In "The Naked Capitalist" Skousen methodically removes the cover built up by the Rhodes-Milner cabal and leaves their plans naked for all to see.I highly recommend reading "The Naked Capitalist" not only because the sheer length of "Tragedy and Hope" will deter some from obtaining knowledge of the true history of the twentieth century , but also because of the perspective of Skousen himself. Dr. Quigley wasn't opposed to the goals of the cabal, he just didn't believe it should be kept secret. Unlike Quigley, Skousen was totally opposed to these goals. "Tragedy and Hope" was published in 1966. The "Naked Capitalist" was published in 1970Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our TimeAnglo-American Establishment
The Naked Capitalist
This book (The Naked Capitalist), along with the book "The Bilderburg Group", explains exactly what is going on in Government. The power of the men in the secret groups are dangerous to all Americians, and there are many in our Government at all levels. They are the Bilderburgs, Council of Foreign Relations and Trilaterial Commission, determined to make us a socialist country.