The canonization of an illusion

I recently read a review (1) of an apparently carefully researched book (2) on the activities of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. The book examines critically the reality behind the myth. A German tv documentary expressed similar concern (I don't have a reference at the moment). A recent article also examines Mother Theresa's legacy. (3)

There are other heroes whose image appears to have been manufactured. One of them happened to be a strong backer of Mother Theresa. His name is John Paul II, or Karol Wojtyła, before he became the pope. The widely propagated image of the late pope is that of communism's adversary. Unfortunately, this is a manufactured image, not reality. There are many puzzling episodes in his life. The same is true for his ideas/ideology. He was catapulted into sainthood with a turbo-speed. But as time goes by it is becoming more and more clear that reality contradicts the propagated image. The story is much bigger and is linked to the Solidarity movement of the 1980s in Poland, which was also a fake.

(1) Tim Challies, Book Review - Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict, August 16, 2005.

(2) Aroup Chaterjee, Mother Theresa: The Final Verdict, Meteor Books (2002).

(3) S. Bedford, Mother Theresa's troubled legacy, New Internationalist, September 2014. In conclusion, the author writes "Over the years, Forbes India, Britain’s Channel 4 TV and journalist Christopher Hitchens have all investigated the millions of dollars unaccounted for by Missionaries of Charity. But their reports have not been enough to spur public action: awareness can only go so far against the idea of the consecrated."

Comrade Orban

The career of the current prime minister of Hungary, Victor Orban, began at quite an early age of 14, when he became the secretary of KISZ, the communist youth organization in his school. Orban maintains that membership in KISZ was necessary when applying for admission to a university. Perhaps. Possibly. However, there is a difference between being a member and being organization's secretary. In communist parlance secretary is Comrade Number One. It should also be verified whether the membership in the communist youth organization was obligatory when applying for the university. For example in Poland members of communist organizations received extra points in the qualification process.

We should keep in mind that one could not simply become a secretary in any communist organization spontaneously. In the case of young communists the school functionaries had to make sure that the "right" candidate won. Only the most trusted cadre had a chance to hold this position. It implied also that candidate's family was trustworthy from the ideological point of view.

In his story Orban said that he became disenchanted with Communism during his two-year military service before entering the Eotvos University in Budapest. It does not seem believable. It sounds like a typical Communist excuse.

He graduated with a law degree in 1987. He wrote his master's thesis about the Polish trade union movement Solidarnosc. However, one should remember that writing theses on controversial topics was restricted to those whom the communists trusted. Therefore the Orban's story is not credible. Most likely he was being prepared for a new role in the near future, which is exactly what happpened.

Orban's story is a strong argument for the Communists' anticipation of the coming changes. There was nothing spontaneous about the changes 1989-90. The scenario of reshaping Communism so that the power and control remained in the same hands was simultaneously being prepared in different countries of the Soviet bloc.

In 1989 he received the Soros foundation stipend for a stay in Oxford, where he spent four months. His tutor was Zbigniew Pelczynski, a man with excellent contacts in Polish communist circles. Incidentally, another pupil of Pelczynski was R. Sikorski from Poland, whom the communists also prepared for a future role of a "right-wing" or "conservative" politician.

The early career of Orban is full of fortuitous circumstances. Typical for young Communist delegated to new challenging tasks ahead.