George Kennan (Part III)

(7) ideology. . . taught them that the outside world was hostile and that it was their duty eventually to overthrow the political forces beyond their borders.

(8) since capitalism no longer existed in Russia . . . it became necessary to justify the retention of the dictatorship by stressing the menace of capitalism abroad. . . But there is ample evidence that the stress laid in Moscow on the menace confronting Soviet society from the world outside its borders is founded not in the realities of foreign antagonisms but in the necessity of explaining away the maintenance of dictatorial authority at home.

(9) we find disturbing in the Kremlin's conduct of foreign policy: the secretiveness, the lack of frankness, the duplicity, the wary auspiciousness, and the basic unfriendliness of purposes . . . When there is something the Russians want from us. . . their policy may be thrust temporarily into the background; and when that happens there will always be Americans who will leap forward with gleeful announcements that "the Russians have changed," and some who will even try to take credit for having brought about such "changes".

(10) the Soviet concept of power, which permits no focal points of organization outside the Party itself, requires that the Party leadership remain in theory the sole repository of truth. . . The leadership of the Communist Party is therefore always right. (to be continued)

Reference:
1. [George Kennan]. "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in Foreign Affairs, 1947.
2. US Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.(http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/March)
3. Una McGovern ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.,2002.