fifth column
A group within a state that attempts to subvert and weaken the state in order to assist an enemy. First used during the Spanish Civil War.
The characterization of leftists in the United States as a Communist 'fifth column' by the McCarthyist witchhunters survives today in post-9/11 America; only now Arabs and Muslims are blacklisted.
fifth column by LudwigVan October 1, 2004
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