© 2013, 2016 by David Horowitz
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2013 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation. Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
First paperback edition published in 2016.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED
THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Horowitz, David, 1939–
The black book of the American left: the collected conservative writings of David Horowitz / by David Horowitz.
volumes cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59403-870-9 (ebook)
1. Socialism—United States. 2. Conservatism—United States. 3. New Left—United States—History. 4. Horowitz, David, 1939—Political and social views. I. Title.
HX86.H788 2013
335.00973
2013000496
Acknowledgments
The essays and articles in The Black Book of the American Left and the project itself would not have been possible without the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the dedicated individuals who staff it. Foremost among these are Mike Finch, who is the operating head of the Center, its fundraiser, and an informed counselor in all we do, and Peter Collier who has been my literary collaborator and friend for nearly fifty years. Mike Bauer gathered and helped to edit all the articles contained in these volumes, and John Perazzo and Elizabeth Ruiz helped with the research on many of them. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the love and support of my wife April through the years of writing and editing these volumes, and to thank her for being there for me.
Contents
Preface to The Black Book of the American Left
Introduction to My Life and Times
PART I · Reflections From My Life
1 · Left Illusions
2 · Why I Am No Longer a Leftist
3 · Reality and Dream
4 · My Conservatism
5 · Black Murder Inc.
6 · Treason of the Heart
7 · A Political Romance
8 · Reflections on the Road Taken and Not
9 · Letter to the Past
10 · Think Twice Before You Bring the War Home
11 · The End of Time
12 · Getting This Conservative Wrong
13 · What My Daughter Taught Me About Compassion
14 · Something We Did
15 · Who I Am
16 · Peter and Me
PART II · Reflections on the Left
1 · Goodbye to All That (with Peter Collier)
2 · My Vietnam Lessons
3 · Semper Fidel
4 · A Decade Overrated and Unmourned (with Peter Collier)
5 · Keepers of the Flame (with Peter Collier)
6 · Carl Bernstein’s Communist Problem & Mine
7 · Political Cross-Dresser
8 · Still Lying After All These Years
9 · Repressed Memory Syndrome
10 · Fidel, Pinochet & Me
11 · Marginalizing Conservative Ideas
12 · Can There Be a Decent Left?
13 · The Left and the Constitution
14 · Neo-Communism I
15 · Neo-Communism II
16 · Neo-Communism III
17 · Discover The Networks
18 · Keeping an Eye on the Domestic Threat
PART III · Slander as Political Discourse
1 · Paul Berman’s Demented Lunacy
2 · In Defense of Matt Drudge
3 · Target of a Witch-Hunt
4 · The Serial Distortions of Sid Vicious
5 · The Surreal World of the Progressive Left
PART IV · Two Talks on Autobiographical Themes
1 · Plus Ça Change: Fifty Years Gone By
2 · Reflections of a Diaspora Jew on Zionism, Israel and America
Preface to The Black Book of the American Left
The idea for these volumes came about as the result of a self-inventory undertaken to map the development of my political views over the last thirty years. This inquiry involved a survey of all the articles and essays I had written as a conservative—since the day Peter Collier and I published a cover story in the Washington Post Magazine announcing our “second thoughts” about the left and our departure from its ranks. These writings, which were assembled with the indispensable help of Mike Bauer, added up to more than 690 articles and essays, and a million and a half words. Some were lengthy considerations of “big” issues, others reactions to current events, and some were polemical responses to political opponents. But when I had looked over this body of work, I realized that virtually everything I had written was really about one subject: the American left.
The ancient Greek poet Archilochus was the author of a philosophical fragment that became the focus of a famous essay by the writer Isaiah Berlin, which he called “The Hedgehog and the Fox.” In his fragment Archilochus observed, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” For whatever reason, in the many years I have been a writer I have never been a fox. It is true that my subjects have been varied, and I have even authored two volumes of philosophical reflections about mortality and life. But the primary focus of my work—even of those thoughts on mortality and existence—has remained one big thing: the nature, deeds and fortunes of the political left.
The first part of my life was spent as a member of the “New Left” and its Communist predecessor, in which my family had roots. After the consequences of those commitments became clear to me in the mid-1970s, I came to know the left as an adversary; and if sheer volume were the measure, as its principal intellectual antagonist. Some have seen