Editing Useful idiot (section)

== Early usages ==
The term ''useful idiot'', for a foolish person whose views can be taken advantage of for political purposes, was used in a British periodical as early as 1864.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://wordhistories.net/2021/03/26/useful-idiot/ | title='useful idiot': Meaning and origin | date=26 March 2021 }}</ref> In relation to the Cold War, the term appeared in a June 1948 ''[[New York Times]]'' article on contemporary Italian politics ("Communist shift is seen in Europe"),<ref name=oed/> citing the [[Italian Democratic Socialist Party]]'s newspaper {{ill|L'Umanità|it|L'Umanità (quotidiano)|italic=y}}.<ref name="nyt-1948">{{cite news|title=Communist Shift is seen in Europe; Tour of Two Italian Leaders Behind Iron Curtain Held to Doom Popular Fronts|first=Arnold|last=Cortesi|work=The New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1948/06/21/archives/communist-shift-is-seen-in-europe-tour-of-two-italian-leaders.html |date=21 June 1948 | access-date = 30 December 2018}}</ref> {{lang|it|L'Umanità}} argued that the [[Italian Socialist Party]], which had entered into a [[popular front]] with the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI) known as the [[Popular Democratic Front (Italy)|Popular Democratic Front]] during the [[1948 Italian general election]], would be given the option to either merge with the PCI or leave the alliance.<ref name="nyt-1948"/> The term was later used in a 1955 article in the ''[[American Federation of Labor|American Federation of Labor News-Reporter]]'' to refer to Italians who supported Communist causes.<ref>{{cite news|title='Useful Idiots' Keep Italy Reds Strong|first=Syd|last=Stogel|publisher=American Federation of Labor News-Reporter|year=1955}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' first used the phrase in January 1958, writing that some members of [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] considered social activist [[Danilo Dolci]] a ''useful idiot'' for Communist causes.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862833,00.html|date=13 January 1958|title=Italy: From the Slums|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> It has since recurred in that periodical's articles, from the 1970s,<ref name=time-battlefield>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909730,00.html|date=2 November 1970|title=WORLD: The City as a Battlefield: A Global Concern|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> to the 1980s,<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jacob V.|last=Lamar, Jr.|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966229,00.html|date=14 December 1987|title=An Offer They Can Refuse|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> to the 2000s,<ref>{{cite magazine|first=James|last=Poniewozik|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2009/11/03/tv-marks-obama-anniversary-with-documentaries-aliens/|date=3 November 2009|title=TV Marks Obama Anniversary with Documentaries, Aliens|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> and 2010s.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Joe|last=Klein|url=https://swampland.time.com/2010/11/26/israel-first-yet-again/|date=26 November 2010|title=Israel First, Yet Again|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/14/wednesday-words-useful-idiots-don-draping-and-more/|title=Wednesday Words: Useful Idiots, Don 'Draping' and More|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|first=Katy|last=Steinmetz|date=14 March 2012|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref>

In the [[Russian language]], the term "useful fools" ({{langx|ru|полезные дураки}}, [[Romanization of Russian|tr.]] ''polezniye duraki'') was already in use in 1941. It was mockingly used against Russian "[[Nihilist movement|nihilists]]" of the 1860s who, for Polish agents, were said to be no more than "useful fools and silly enthusiasts."<ref>The expression was used, e.g., by Russian literary critic {{Interlanguage link multi|Vasily Bazanov|ru|3=Базанов, Василий Григорьевич}}, when commenting on [[Nikolai Leskov]]'s [[anti-nihilistic novel]]s: "Русские «нигилисты» в руках польских агентов, судя по роману Лескова, были не больше как «полезные дураки» и глупые энтузиасты, которых можно заставить итти в огонь и в воду" ("According to Leskov's novel, Russian 'nihilists' were for Polish agents no more than ''useful fools'' and silly enthusiasts, which could be goaded to go through fire and water."), citing from Bazanov's monograph  "Из литературной полемики 60-х годов", Государственное издательство Карело-Финской ССР, Petrozavodsk, 1941 [https://books.google.com/books?id=J5chAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5+%D0%B4%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%B8%22 p. 80] The phrase refers to a contemporary opinion that Russian revolutionary movement (colloquially called "nihilists") was a result of anti-Russian agitation by  the [[January Uprising|Polish insurgents]].</ref>

While the phrase ''useful idiots of the West'' has often been attributed to [[Vladimir Lenin]], he is not documented as ever having used the phrase.<ref name="safire">{{cite news |last=Safire |first=William |date=12 April 1987 |title=On Language: Useful Idiots of the West |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/12/magazine/on-language.html |access-date=19 July 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In a 1987 article for ''The New York Times'', American journalist [[William Safire]] reported about his search for the origin of the term. He wrote that a senior reference librarian at the [[Library of Congress]], Grant Harris, had been unable to find the phrase in Lenin's works. Safire was also out of luck contacting [[TASS]] and the New York headquarters of the Communist Party. He concluded that, lacking solid evidence, a cautious phrasing must be used, e.g., "a phrase attributed to Lenin..."<ref name=safire/>