Disagree with - "It all comes apart once they know we know". Seems to me that a big part of the exercise of power is in forcing the peons to go along with the lies. Even when everyone knows they are lies. Famous quote: "They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them", variously attributed to Elena Gorokhova or Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Agree that - "They have always been doomed to fail". The nature of totalitarianism is - slaves always revolt. Eventually. And of course, the modern left always eats it's own. When the 'useful idiots' have served their purpose, they are consigned to the dustbins of history.