Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said in an interview last year that Communists are "in our society" and are "organized" in their effort to "bring America down."

The retired neurosurgeon was talking to Baltimore News Radio's Bryan Nehman in May of 2014 about social divisions in the US, when he started explaining his understanding of "neo-Marxist" literature and how it reflected contemporary American society.

He recommended that people read Saul Alinksy's Rules for Radicals to "put a lot of stuff that you're seeing going on into perspective," noting that the book was "dedicated to Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom."

"This is what we're up against," he said.

"Go back and read what the neo-Marxists said about America and about our incredible strength and how it would be necessary to bring America down to do two essential things," the retired neurosurgeon said. "We have to destroy the American family--basically change the concept of what the family is. And the other thing they said is you've got to kick to the curb their Judeo-Christian beliefs because it provides way too much strength. The only thing that's amazing is how quickly that's occurring. There's a book called the Naked Communist by Cleon Skousen, the same guy who wrote the Five Thousand Year Leap, published in 1958. I encourage people to go and read that book."

The host asked Carson, "Who are the communists that are doing that? I mean, the Soviet Union is no longer there." Carson responded that, "They're in our society," but that people should read about it themselves because he didn't want to "feed into what people say is paranoia."

"They're in our society," he said. "They infiltrated our society. And rather than, you know, feed into what people say is paranoia, I tell people, 'Go read this stuff yourselves.'"

"They are extremely well organized," he argued. "And when you start reading these things that were written 50 and 60 years ago you will recognize them immediately as things that are going on today. Vladimir Lenin, it was kind of funny, the way he put it, 'There are a lot of people, they will not recognize what we're doing. They'll play right into our hands.' And he calls them 'useful idiots.'"