An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West - review by Graeme Kemp

Many readers and fans of the YouTube show and podcast TRIGGERnometry will be familiar with one of the presenters, Konstantin Kisin. Along with fellow presenter Francis Foster, Konstantin has interviewed a range of guests willing to challenge the dominant or conventional wisdom of our age.  An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West is Konstantin’s effort to explain and justify his own views in more detail. His aim in the book is clear:

“I’m here to offer a reality check…. (to) sound a warning to those

who romanticise the end of capitalism and believe the West is

overrated or inherently sinful and in need of punishment….”

Konstantin adds to this with the following devastating line:

“Fortunately, because my ‘lived experience’ as an immigrant

             is apparently worth its weight in gold, I’m uniquely qualified

to do this, so listen up”.   (page 12).

The result is an uncompromising, vigorous denunciation of not only those for argue for communism in the past and present, but also the contemporary advocates of critical race theory for example. As a former stand-up comedian, Konstantin Kisin delivers his analysis of contemporary cultural trends with the forceful delivery of someone used to dealing with a demanding audience. With this book selling well, it is worth getting to grips with his ideas. He is often successful I think, but it is worth highlighting where he arguably succeeds less well.

Central to the political position of Konstantin is his immigrant background – he was born in Russia, growing up in the decaying Soviet Union. And this has had a major impact on how he sees current developments in the West, particularly those who see far-left ideas in a romantic, ‘progressive’ light:

“Every time I hear talk of the desire to ‘eradicate inequality’, ‘smash

the system’ or implement a new age of ‘radical egalitarianism’ I

physically shudder…” (pages 10 and 11).

Why does Konstantin react like this? He explains that many who speak like this are…

“…the sort of individuals who Vladimir Lenin…described as ‘useful

Idiots’. They’re generally the sort of college-educated Westerner

who embraces this bankrupt ideology without having any understanding

of its real-world implications…” (Page 11).

The book then explains how destructive ideologies have started to undermine the West and its democratic, liberal values. The West is better than many lead us to believe; and it is better than many of what Kisin perceives as the naïve alternatives offered by some ‘progressives’. There is a heritage worth saving, he claims. If you like Douglas Murray, you’ll like this book….

So, who are the targets of Konstantin’s book?

It includes “radicals who thrive on conflict” (page 90). Activists who seek to undermine free speech – and who use language to obscure the truth:

“Language is decaying, and with it, are our laws, understandings 

and shared connections.” (Page 90).

Despite clamouring about being ‘inclusive’, such extreme activists are pulling society apart and excluding dissenters. Abuse of language is one device extremists used to corrupt things.

It is free speech that suffers, one of Britain’s and the West’s greatest virtues, argues Konstantin Kisin. It is the ultimate weapon against (genuine) fascism and every bad idea. Free speech was vital to ending such atrocities as the transatlantic slave trade as well as advancing the civil rights movements of the 1960s. Silencing free speech isn’t progressive – it’s regressive. Lack of debate and discussion holds back social progress. And there are enough other countries around the globe that prove this point.

And yet in Britain today free speech is often under-valued. It is often seen as dangerous. Konstantin highlights the impact of Orwellian so-called non-crime hate incidents – although oddly Konstantin doesn’t use that precise term. All sane people want to oppose genuine bigotry – but what the radical activists actually want is power – power over the words and thoughts of others. It’s about control of dissenters, argues Kisin.

And all too often journalists who should be objective, behave like activists.

An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West deserves praise for highlighting the role of the Free Speech Union in defending our right to debate and discuss. Yet as Konstantin Kisin explains, defending free speech for all can lead to misunderstandings and questioning of your motives:

“The hilarious thing is that in the real world I am known as

someone who is in the centre, where people on the right

think I am a bit soft, and people on the left think I am not

quite left-wing enough. In comedy, however, I was viewed

as an extremist”. (page 131).

Unsurprisingly, the strongest sections of this book includes not only the chapter on defending free speech, but also the value of comedy. According to Kisin comedians are increasingly self-censoring and audiences are getting more and more offended by jokes – and that makes everything blander. The danger now is that comedians are simply “parroting your opinions back to you.” (Page 125). And what’s the value in that? Bad ideas go unchallenged, again. Yet satire is vital to a free society.

And Konstantin Kisin sees no end of bad ideas that need challenging – from attacks on something called “whiteness” (page 153) and an uncritical belief in diversity (it’s neither a strength nor a weakness in a society), to simplistic arguments against capitalism. Konstantin seems to favour a kind of social democracy, when explaining that capitalism has good as well as bad points – but the positives outweigh the negatives. Just look at the alternatives he argues – countries that stifle creative individualism and enterprise, as well as free speech don’t prosper.

So, what kind of criticisms can be made of the book? While I generally like the book, I would highlight some aspects that caught my attention.

Firstly, part of Konstantin Kisin’s argument is that many ‘progressives’ and Marxists are just hypocrites – often wealthy individuals who seem to hate their own wealth and status. He highlights the relatively privileged background of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as well as more recent examples like Bernie Saunders. Denouncing Karl Marx, Konstantin exclaims that:

“…he was the archetypal person of privilege; the exact same sort

of pampered snob who espouses wokeness today, yet lives it up

in a massive house…” (Page 15).

There is of course an element of truth in this description. Indeed, other authors such as Joanna Williams in ‘How Woke Won’ (2022) have extended further this idea that ‘wokeness’ is a top-down set of middle or even ruling-class ideas forced on the people below. I do just sometimes wonder how much value there is in this observation, though. How small would a Marxist’s house have to be before his or her ideas were evaluated seriously? Surely, ideas should be assessed purely on whether they are logical, rational or evidence-based? Konstantin does usually do this, so I think such comments can be a distraction from more reasonable points. There are many reasons to critique Marx, but his postcode isn’t really one of them.

And now I’m going to sound like an old fogey – I’m not sure the book benefits from so much swearing! That might be expected in a comedy club, but I’m not sure it works so well in print in getting points across. But, that’s just my opinion. I’m not offended. Honest.

However, let me end with the admirable words of Konstantin Kisin that sums up the overall aim of ‘An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West’, when reflecting on the horrors of communism and the restrictions imposed on a full life anywhere:

“In short, Britain - and the West in general – saved me from a terrible    fate. Now, as people seek to destroy it, I want to save it in return” (Page 26).

And I think we’d all agree with that - the book is worth reading.

Buy An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin; Constable; London; 2022 here.