USEFUL IDIOTS

[Shapiro, Fred]

In quick searches of the newspaper databases, I see the earliest usage of "useful idiot" or "useful idiots" in a Communist context as N.Y. Times, June 21, 1948.  The earliest usage I see that attributes "useful idiot" or "useful idiots" to Lenin is Christian Science Monitor, July 14, 1961.

Fred Shapiro



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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 8:19 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Fellow Traveler"

On the same topic, is there an early cite for "useful idiot", which was supposedly used by Lenin in this sense, but apparently hasn't been found in Lenin's work?  It's been revived in the right-wing blogosphere and/or Fox News to characterize Democrats who have been putatively "duped" by leftists, Islamists, or whoever.

LH

On Jun 11, 2014, at 7:51 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:

> fellow traveler (OED, 2., 1936)
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> 1933 _N.Y. Times Book Review_ 23 Apr. 2 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  ROMANOF is a "fellow traveler," as Trotsky phrased it, more generally and sympathetically read by the Western world than by Russia.
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> Fred Shapiro
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