The Useful Idiots How Every Revolution Devours Its Own

They cheered in the streets. They built the barricades. And the moment the revolution won, they were the first to be purged.This is the story of the "useful idiots" — the moderate socialists, anarchists, trade unionists and idealists who helped communist vanguards seize power, only to be destroyed by the very movement they made possible. From Lenin's Bolsheviks turning on the Mensheviks and Nestor Makhno's anarchists, to the Soviet liquidation of the POUM in the Spanish Civil War, to Stalin's Great Purge devouring the Old Bolsheviks themselves — history keeps revealing the same three-step pattern: the alliance, the seizure, the purge.This is Part 1 of The Path of Conquest — a sketch-style breakdown of how power is really taken.⏱️ CHAPTERS0:00 Introduction: A Betrayal at the Moment of Victory0:40 What Is a "Vanguard"?1:58 "Useful Idiots" & the United Front2:50 The Playbook: Alliance, Seizure, Purge3:40 Russia 1917: The Alliance4:25 Russia: The Purge (Makhno & Kronstadt)5:20 Spain 1936: The Popular Front6:15 Spain: The May Days & Andreu Nin7:03 The Great Purge8:18 The Pattern9:17 The Lesson & What Comes Next📝 A note on honesty: the phrase "useful idiots" is popularly attributed to Lenin, but there's no record he ever said it — we say so in the video. This is an educational history breakdown, sourced from the documented historical record.🔔 Subscribe — Part 2 follows the pattern out of the history books and into the present.#History #Communism #ColdWar #RussianRevolution #History Explained