Whenever we hear it said that Communism threatens us from within and without; whenever we are told that the Soviet Union menaces our "way of life" and wants to conquer the world; whenever we are summoned to a Holy Crusade that- if it is allowed to begin- will ravish the entire earth, we recall the following simple facts of history:
Mussolini killed whatever democracy existed in Italy by claiming that Italy was threatened by Communism;
Hitler destroyed the German Republic with the same weapon;
Tojo broke the resistance of the people of Japan by using the identical thesis;
Franco murdered the Spanish Republic in the name of the "Red menace";
The Axis launched World War II under the slogan of saving the world from Communism.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Whenever we hear it said that Communism threatens us from within and without; whenever we are told that the Soviet Union menaces our "way of life" and wants to conquer the world; whenever we are summoned to a Holy Crusade that- if it is allowed to begin- will ravish the entire earth, we recall the following simple facts of history:
Mussolini killed whatever democracy existed in Italy by claiming that Italy was threatened by Communism;
Hitler destroyed the German Republic with the same weapon;
Tojo broke the resistance of the people of Japan by using the identical thesis;
Franco murdered the Spanish Republic in the name of the "Red menace";
The Axis launched World War II under the slogan of saving the world from Communism." in the context of "Foreword to the 1954 reprint." to mean that wisdom is timeless.