What if I told you nearly 9 out of 10 college students admit they’re faking their beliefs just to avoid social backlash? Not in China, not in the old Soviet Union — but right here in America.

That striking reality was part of this week’s conversation on Breaking Battlegrounds, where hosts Sam Stone and Sean Noble sat down with Northwestern University professor Gary Saul Morrison to explore why authoritarian patterns never truly disappear.

Stone, reflecting on his own lifetime — from the Cold War to Clinton, Obama, and Trump — posed a sobering question: Are we doomed to keep forgetting the damage done by communism and socialism, only to repeat the cycle?

Morrison’s answer was unsettling.

“The Soviet Union lasted 74 years — and it could have lasted much longer. There was nothing guaranteeing its collapse.”

He explained that authoritarian regimes excel at maintaining control. They don’t sell prosperity; they sell knowledge — how to build secret police systems, how to isolate opposition, and how to atomize a society so thoroughly that no one dares to resist.

And while America doesn’t have gulags or secret police, Morrison warned that today’s cultural climate can mimic the same dynamic in softer form. On campuses across the country, students stay silent out of fear — not of imprisonment, but of ostracism, ridicule, or academic punishment. A recent survey showed nearly 88% of students at major Midwestern universities pretend to be more progressive than they truly are.

This self-censorship creates an environment where even a small, radical minority can dominate the conversation. When everyone is afraid to speak out, authoritarian logic thrives — even in a democracy.

Morrison closed with a reminder: unless societies deliberately strengthen democratic structures and defend open debate, the cycle of forgetting — and repeating — will continue.

Transcript

**Sam Stone: **So is this a pattern we're sort of doomed to keep repeating in a certain sense?

**Gary Saul Morrison: **You know, that sounds pessimistic, but it may even be optimistic because it looks forward to the end of the cycle. You know, I mean, the Soviet Union lasted for 74 years and it might well have lasted a lot longer. I mean, there was nothing guaranteeing it collapsed. And of course, you know, Chinese communism is still there and very strong.

The problem is that they know how to maintain and keep power. You know, when the Soviets were competing with the US during the Cold War for influence in Africa, they couldn't compete by offering them prosperity. They couldn't do it. They didn't have it themselves. But what they could do is offer leaders knowledge on how to create a secret police force which will maintain control regardless of what else happens.

They could sell it to Middle East dictatorial leader. That is one thing they really know. And that makes, you know, Western powers vulnerable. We don't know that as well. Democracies aren't as good as, you know, in that. So once they gain control, it's, you know, unless there's a war, it's very hard to figure out, you know, how they would ever lose control. I mean, it happens, but it's, it's, you know,

**Sam Stone: **You would need very strong democratic structures if it's going to happen without a war, right? Because the tendency of anybody in power is to try to hold on to it. But particularly with communism, it's a ladder where each wrong, each step is supposed to ensure the strength of the foundation underneath them.

**Gary Saul Morrison: **Yeah, I mean, you know, it's... When you have a well-organized secret police force that can arrest anyone at any time and subject them to unspeakable kinds of psychological and physical torture, and everybody knows it, you atomize the population.

Which is ironic because they're supposed to be collectivists but they atomize the population so that no one even dares to talk to anybody else and then opposition is impossible. You understand? That won't happen in a society like ours where people do talk to each other. I mean they can try to live in a bubble but somebody's going to be outside that bubble and you can't completely bubble yourself. You will hear something.

But you know in a society with a well wrought secret police force, you know, knowledgeable because they have a lot of experience on how to do it, that you know it becomes much harder even to imagine how they could fall.

**Sam Stone: **Do the pro-communist groups now out there or the groups that are utilizing this ideology to advance their agenda, do they utilize these techniques, these sort of surveillance and control techniques within their own environment? So in other words, within a university environment, do you have some of these groups actively seeking out to gather information?

On people who oppose them to target them in return?

**Gary Saul Morrison: **Yeah, it's well first let me point out that some groups actually are explicitly Communists they when they call themselves democratic social right if you look at what they say, you know, their language is commune You know, the East Germans also call themselves the German Democratic Republic that it's a deceptive word right think democratic, you know, they mean in the other way and yes in places like, you know universities people are afraid to talk out.

I have people who every now and then call me because they just have to say something to somebody because they're so upset with how things are going. And they know I won't repeat it or give away their names. So I hear this. There was recently a survey of students at a couple of universities in the Midwest, major universities.

That came up with, you know, I don't know how they did this, but 88 % of the students said that they pretended to be more progressive than they really were. Because they were afraid of, now here it's not physical torture of course, but social ostracism, right? You know, or disapproval of their professors, which could matter. You know, so yes, I mean, there's no secret police, there's no centralized body.

But here it's done by everybody is afraid that everybody else is afraid and therefore they know they will suffer consequences. Even if only a small group, you know, really believes this stuff. If everybody, if nobody else dares to resist, then a small group can dictate. And it's very hard to how big the group is, you know, in cases like that. And I really don't know.

Listen to the full episode of Breaking Battlegrounds anywhere you stream your podcasts!