I Was a Communist
ALREADY as a young boy in the early 1940’s I learned much about communism, since my father was an enthusiastic communist. I was raised in a middle-class home in Sweden, and as is true with most young boys, my father was my ideal. I would help him distribute communistic propaganda leaflets in our neighborhood. And although communism is legal and is represented in the government, it was not popular and I suffered ridicule from my playmates.
As a teen-ager I think I differed in some respects from other boys and girls my age. I took an interest in world problems and had a more serious view of the future. And the more I learned about the communistic ideology, the more convinced I became that communism was the only solution for distressed mankind.
Peace by Means of Communism
Then the time came for me to do military service. The daily contact with munitions and instruments of killing increased my dislike of war and violence. The communist party program in Sweden demanded a substantial reduction of Swedish armaments and in time a total disarmament. This appealed to me. I could see a future communistic world without weapons and war. I became convinced that, mostly by peaceful means, communism would conquer the world.
When I was through with military service I had a fervent desire to improve the world, and I decided that the best way to do it was to support communism’s efforts. I read all I could find about the party program. I learned how the power of capitalism and imperialism was to be broken, how the nations would be united under one form of government, and how the world would become one great collective society without class distinctions or salary gaps.
The communist party promised to work for disarmament, dissolution of military pacts, removing of troops and bases from foreign territories, test-ban agreements, ban on nuclear weapons and destruction of existing nuclear stockpiles. To me this seemed to be the best program in the world. I felt that I had to become an active propagandist for this policy. My first ‘convert’ was my young wife, whose folks were social democrats. We joined a communist youth organization in Sweden called DU, which in Swedish stands for Democratic Youth.
Joined the Party
In the fall of 1959 I applied for membership in the communist party. As the communists are interested in having an elite party and not a mass party, there are certain requirements that one must meet to become a member. However, in Sweden the requirements are rather lenient compared to communist countries or where communism is illegal. I met the requirements and received my membership book after paying my fee, which was forty Swedish kronor ($8) for the first year. My wife was still too young for membership.
As a member of the DU and communist party, I had many opportunities to get acquainted with communists, young and old. Some of them were nice people. However, we were disappointed when we noticed that most of the young people in the DU organization only showed up at the meetings when there was a dance and entertainment on the program. Only a few came on study nights. Few seemed to care about shouldering responsibility.
Another Viewpoint
At our meetings we never discussed religious matters, but party statutes said that each member should always be treated with respect and tolerance, no matter what his religious and ethic values. Thus, when my wife and I were visited one day by a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses we could see no reason why we should not treat him in the same respectful way. Soon we were having fine discussions of topics that interested us, especially about how peaceful conditions on earth will be established.
At first we thought that the prospects of the new order of peace about which he talked so much was very much like the new order the communists promised to establish. But little by little he was able to show us that the means to establish and maintain such a new order must rest with a source higher than man. He noted from history how one man-made political system after another had failed to establish peace.
A Time of Decision
It was at a communist party meeting in the early part of 1961 that I decided to get more familiar with the local congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses. I remember sitting there at that party meeting observing my fellow communists in action, and thinking: How can a righteous human society ever be established and maintained by such imperfect men? On what basis can they guarantee lasting peace, justice and equality? How can they guarantee the honesty required of subjects in a society where all resources of the earth are to be evenly distributed? How can they guarantee the true love that is needed to keep such a society together, when they do not even use the word love in their program? How can they solve the really great problems of mankind, such as sickness, aging and death?
Suddenly I heard my name being mentioned from the platform. I pricked up my ears and heard that they had chosen me for a certain commission in the party executive. What should I do? After the meeting that night I told the chairman that I could not accept the commission.
Soon thereafter I resigned from membership in the party, and both my wife and I resigned from membership in the DU. The chairman tried to persuade us, saying: “You don’t need to leave the party for religious reasons; there are even priests who are members.” We explained that we did not follow the example of priests.
Making Comparisons
Although I had resigned from the party, we still had roots in communism. We were not altogether certain what to do. In July 1961 the so-called Östersjöveckan (Baltic Sea Week) was to be held in Rostock, East Germany. It is an annual international communist meeting with delegates mainly from the countries around the Baltic Sea. My wife and I had been planning to attend. But a mental conflict arose because Jehovah’s witnesses were having an international assembly in Copenhagen that same week. We decided to go to Rostock.
All the time we were there in Rostock we were trying to compare ‘our convention’ with the convention that the Witnesses were attending in Copenhagen. We noticed the conduct of ‘our delegates’ and thought of the conduct of the Witnesses. I must say we were disappointed with many of ‘our delegates.’ They were smoking and drinking heavily and the moral standard was not very high. Sometimes quarrels and trouble occurred. We would say to each other: ‘This surely is not happening among the Witnesses in Copenhagen.’ We had in mind the good conduct of the Witnesses we knew in Sweden. We had noticed that they did not smoke, get drunk or engage in immorality. We also thought of their firm neutral stand as to politics.
The consistent refusal of Jehovah’s witnesses to take part in warfare had made a deep impression upon us. The communists often talked about the horrors of war and especially of nuclear war. But we often asked ourselves: Why do not the communists themselves disclaim any connection with wars of the nations as the Witnesses do? Why all this talk about not killing people with nuclear bombs when the communists themselves learn to kill with guns? What difference does it make to the victims? During the Baltic Sea Week the communists talked much about the Baltic Sea as the “Sea of Peace,” and they claimed that the countries around the Baltic Sea should make up a nuclear-free zone. But why did the Russians at that time accompany this claim with detonations of superpowerful hydrogen bombs up at Novaya Zemlya, just 1,000 miles northeast of the Baltic Sea?
The questions piled up. Of course, we knew the communists had their explanations, but by this time we wanted more than explanations—we desired evidence that the communist way could help people live together in peace. Such evidence was lacking. On the other hand, we knew of the desirable circumstances that obtained among Jehovah’s witnesses. So on our way home from Rostock we agreed that we had been at the wrong place. We should have been in Copenhagen among Jehovah’s witnesses.
In the fall of 1961 we cleaned from our life and home all political and atheistic literature. The year 1961 was one of great changes for us, and we finished it by symbolizing our dedication to Jehovah God by water baptism on December 31. Since then we have been active in teaching others—including our little son—about God’s peaceful new order of things.
For the last five years we have had the privilege of serving as full-time ministers, using most of our time in preaching and teaching the Bible. And in August 1969, when Jehovah’s witnesses had their “Peace on Earth” International Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, we were there and learned more, not only about the hope for a better system in which to live, but also about the true means to realize it—God’s kingdom under his reigning King, Jesus Christ.—Contributed.