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Communism is denounced in the Baha'i teachings as one of the three 'false gods' at whose altars nations in this century have worshipped. (The other two are racialism and nationalism.) Shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 'Abdul- Baha, speaking of 'Movements, newly- born and worldwide in their range', stated: 'The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its influence will spread.' Leftist ideology, embodied in a variety of communist and socialist uprisings, did indeed gain worldwide momentum hardly any of 'Abdul- Baha's contemporaries could have visualized. The resulting Cold War polarized and paralyzed the world for decades, holding every human being hostage to a hair- trigger nuclear standoff. Nevertheless, the basic economic premise of communism was denounced in the Baha'i teachings as certain to 'end in disorderliness, in chaos, in disorganization of the means of existence, and in universal disappointment', destroying the order of the community. The truth of this prophecy became evident in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the worldwide collapse of communism reduced its mighty empire to a wasteland of splintered and squabbling republics.
(187:3)
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