But Can Juanito Really Read?

A big reported increase in the national literacy rate is one of the absolutely predictable aftermaths of all Communist revolutions, wherever they may occur. Within a year orsoofa Communist takeover, the following series of developments will almost certainly be reported by the U.S. press:

There will be shortages, and they will be attributed to the larcenous behavior of the deposed oligarchs (or departing colonials, as the case may be), who will have absconded with all the money and all the spare parts. The new ideology, we will be told, is not Marxist-Leninist but rather “indigenous.” The new ruler’s likeness will appear on billboards, the better to exhort his subjects. But in deference to a semantic etiquette whose unwritten rules are mysteriously enforced in the U.S. press, he will be called a “leader.” Land will be reformed, but there will be bad harvests nonetheless. The explanation will always be the same: unexpectedly bad weather.

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Tom Bethell

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A big reported increase in the national literacy rate is one of the absolutely predictable aftermaths of all Communist revolutions, wherever they may occur. Within a year orsoofa Communist takeover, the following series of developments will almost certainly be reported by the U.S. press:

There will be shortages, and they will be attributed to the larcenous behavior of the deposed oligarchs (or departing colonials, as the case may be), who will have absconded with all the money and all the spare parts. The new ideology, we will be told, is not Marxist-Leninist but rather “indigenous.” The new ruler’s likeness will appear on billboards, the better to exhort his subjects. But in deference to a semantic etiquette whose unwritten rules are mysteriously enforced in the U.S. press, he will be called a “leader.” Land will be reformed, but there will be bad harvests nonetheless. The explanation will always be the same: unexpectedly bad weather.