Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec and author Joshua Lisec pushed back against critics of their book Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions and How to Crush Them, arguing that opponents have attacked the book’s message while failing to dispute its claims.
During Monday’s episode of Human Events Daily, Posobiec spoke with Lisec, his co-author of Unhumans, about criticism the book has received from progressive activists, Democratic operatives, and media figures. Posobiec began by questioning whether anyone could reasonably describe the book as supportive of communist ideology. “The first book we did had a pretty direct theme on it,” Posobiec said. “Would you call that book in any way pro-Marxism or pro-communism by any chance?”
“Well, the book has been widely condemned by Democratic socialist influencers, including the Communist Party USA,” Lisec said. "We saw a number of so-called progressives, Democratic Party operatives, media representatives widely pan the book,” he continued. Lisec argued that critics focused on labeling the book rather than challenging the historical arguments contained within it, saying, “They simply gave it a number of labels,” Lisec said. “They didn’t say that anything we said was wrong.”
“We saw outlets from the Daily Beast to MSNBC to the New York Times publish long excerpts — in fact, it was on the front page of USA Today back in 2024 — long excerpts of the book saying, ‘Oh, how could you say all of these things about these effective anti-communists who were able to defeat left-wing revolutions successfully?’”
“But at no point did they call us wrong or imply that we were lying,” Lisec said. “Which was interesting and kind of the dog that’s not barking.”
“They don’t like it, but we’re not wrong,” he added.
Lisec also rejected the idea that the book supports socialist policies, arguing that critics misunderstood one of the book’s main themes. “In order to imply that this book is somehow pro-socialist, I think you have to deeply misread everything happening in one of the key closing chapters of the book,” Lisec said.
He argued that the book instead promotes the traditional concept of noblesse oblige, or the idea that people with wealth and influence have responsibilities toward society. “We preach, frankly, on behalf of the doctrine that our betters, our elites, old money, the merchant class understood for centuries,” Lisec said. “And that is the doctrine of noblesse oblige. Could you remind me what the subtitle of the book Unhumans is?” Posobiec asked. Lisec responded: “The Secret History of Communist Revolutions and How to Crush Them.”
“Let’s not forget the ‘crush’ part,” Lisec said. “It’s not how to support them or build them up or nurture them, but actually how to crush communists and crush communist revolutions. It’s right there,” he continued. “It’s pretty clear. It’s on the front cover of the book and even on the back cover. It’s actually a book on how to crush communist revolutions, which is interesting because it almost feels like we’re living through the early stages of a communist revolution,” Lisec said.
He pointed to the growth of Democratic Socialist candidates and left-wing political movements as examples.
“When you see a communist in office in New York City, when you see DSA candidates winning across the country, when you see communists, as the president just said, a communist like Abdul El-Sayed running and perhaps winning tomorrow in the Michigan primary,” Lisec said. “A communist like Francesca Hong perhaps winning the gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin. It almost feels like you might need a book on how to crush communist revolutions,” Lisec said.
