THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Alabama Arrogance Dear Sirs: What happened in Alabama has hurt us seriously in our international relations. It is tragic and so unnecessary. The dominant group in Alabama...
...Congress should be advised to examine this question with great care, and not with the bias evident in your editorial...
...Paul (February 24, 1961), New University Thought (Autumn, 1960), Frontier (June, I960),'and the Washington Post (November 26, 1960), among others, have underlined the mendacity of the film and its shameless father...
...They have put racism before the future of our country...
...When the Soviet leader, Mikoyan, was in Cuba in February of 1960, he was bitterly criticized in Cuba for the invasion of Hungary...
...Conrad L. Dorn Kelseyville, California HUAC Exposed Dear Sirs: In "The People's Forum" (June), H. F. Kohl of Springfield, Ohio, asked ". . . how a picture [Operation Abolition] with sounds of the actual disorders in San Franciso could be 'scandalously inaccurate', as . . . stated in an April editorial...
...As for the group who tried to make the trip: They are human beings and Americans...
...It does offer a challenge to U.S...
...Certainly," answered Wheeler...
...But eighty-two per cent of Cuba's exports consists of sugar, and when the United States cut off the purchase of sugar, it forced Castro into the Russian orbit...
...Sheldon Pollack Executive Director Americans for Democratic Action San Francisco, California Protest from Israel Dear Sirs: Several years ago, friends in the United States sent me a gift subscription to your excellent magazine which my wife and I and our Israeli friends have come to relish more and more with each new issue...
...Among the many articles by keen thinking and highly principled Americans we have enjoyed several excellent ones by Milton Mayer...
...Further, why assume that the justice Eichmann might receive in Sweden or Switzerland will be superior to the justice he is receiving in Israel...
...It simply is not true that Castro's Cuba constitutes a threat to western democratic institutions, or to the best interests of the United States people...
...But never as long as we let the armed services help set our policy...
...W. T. Knox Cranford, New Jersey Ferry's Creative Plan Dear Sirs: "Peace Through Disarmament," by W. H. Ferry, in the May Progressive deserves the widest possible reading and consideration...
...And not many among our "allies" believe it any more...
...On the other hand, the Israeli is presented as a dull, bloodthirsty fellow who knows nothing but blind obedience to his own "Fuehrer," Ben-Gurion...
...Anthony Peranio Faculty of Civil Engineering Haifa, Israel The Chinese Threat After reading W. H. Ferry on disarmament in the May Progressive it struck me that a very important point was missed...
...The National Council of Churches of Christ, representing forty million American Protestants, has issued a 15,000 word report telling the truth about Operation Abolition...
...He is a dedicated Cuban nationalist and humanist...
...They do not believe in the dignity and freedom of all men...
...If Public Law 78 is allowed to die quietly without careful planning in certain areas, the losses to labor are liable to be greater than the gains that the migrants might make...
...Dulles had succeeded—or were to succeed—it would prove a pyrrhic victory for the United States in the absolute sense of that term...
...bloc has either the power or wisdom to rule the world...
...Demonstrably the Red Chinese have shown little finesse in their drive for world domination...
...Your writer presented a far more optimistic account of this venture than is warranted by the facts...
...I suggest that a fair judgment of what took place in San Francisco, and a more complete judgment of the political capabilities of students, can be aided by hearing this record...
...I believe and hope it is too late for Allen Dulles and his Central Intelligence Agency to repeat in Cuba the "successes" earlier of overthrowing Prime Minister Mossedegh (Iran, 1953...
...He has dared to compare the violence, murder, and complete depredation of the Nazis with the "crimes" of the Jewish people—including their latest "crime" against Eichmann...
...But, no...
...What Nazi was ever punished by the Third Reich...
...All informed circles state that Castro has the support of the Cuban people...
...It will not be done, as Ferry has done, by calling scientists dirty names...
...In Kfar Kassim, the Israeli soldiers responsible for the unauthorized attack on Arab villagers were given prison sentences, even though this outburst of violence occurred at a time when tension between Arab and Jewish Israeli was very high...
...their belief is in white supremacy...
...These arc more than distortions...
...And so long as he lives and heads the Cuban government, Cuba will not become a Communist satellite...
...If there is something better, let us have it, promptly, and act...
...White questioned: "You have admitted that, Mr...
...Ferry barely touched on the problem of Red China...
...If one of our great 26 THE PROGRESSIVE religious leaders thinks this is true, what must the Cuban people think Of us...
...In our form of government, the armed services have no place in policy making...
...nor do you have to leave your code of right and wrong at the state's borders...
...Don Harvey Chicago, Illinois 'Sounds of Protest' Dear Sirs: Milton Mayer's recent article, "The Found Generation," listed several sources of student-produced materials on the House Un-American Activities Committee and on the film Operation Abolition...
...C. K. Stedman Enumclaw, Washington The Military's Role Dear Sirs: I am in accord with most of the letter in the May issue by James ?. Kline of Evanston, Illinois, but one of his points is appalling to me: "A military leader has not only the right but the duty to press his views vigorously when policy is being formulated...
...Ferry has demolished every possible contrary argument...
...Mel Wax, correspondent for the New York Post, said: "Never in 20 years as a reporter have I seen such [police] brutality...
...after carefully reading each parry and thrust between "Eichmann" (who in his schizophrenic turn is cither a Nazi monster or a spokesman for non-violence) and "Israeli" (who is really Mayer's stereotyped image of the Israeli) I realized that something had gone amiss, but deliberately...
...In the Havana Pact signed by the United States and ratified by the Senate in 1959, we agreed "to use all appropriate means to prevent any person, national or alien . . . from starting, promoting, or supporting civil strife in another contracting state...
...The Soviet bloc has learned to live with the deviationist Tito and western capitalism will have to learn soon to live with mavericks like Castro...
...They have shown little faith in the ultimate superiority of Communism, and have often taken a more direct approach than the Russians in attempting domination...
...This, it seems to me, Ferry has presented...
...Lillian Smith Clayton, Georgia Cuba Not Communist Dear Sirs: It is much too late to believe that any action, however outrageous, can still be taken against a nation or people by the simple technique of labeling them Communists or Communist satellites, as we have done with Cuba...
...They claim the "riots" were started by students, including Bob Meisenbach, who was acquitted by a jury of this specific charge on May 3, 1961, J. Edgar Hoover notwithstanding, and that the San Francisco police were the victims of the students' brutality...
...Hugh B. Hester Brigadier General U.S...
...We are currently hearing a lot about expense accounts...
...Our nation's present policy must be abandoned...
...Wheeler...
...satellite again...
...Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma (Laos, 1958, and again 1960...
...In his dialogue, Mayer creates an amazing dichotomy...
...The sooner we return to this important tradition the better...
...The result is a dehumanization of society and the brutalizing of us all...
...And Castro is not likely to destroy capitalism by his humanism, nor is he likely to turn over control of Cuba to any foreign country or alien ideology, whatever our official propaganda and mass "information" media may proclaim...
...Sheriff Matthew Carberry of the city and county of San Francisco, after the altercations were over, stated: "There was no act of physical aggression on the part of the students...
...The controversial film, Operation Abolition, based on this incident, continues to be shown throughout the country but raises more questions than it answers...
...This pamphlet, which has been widely praised for its clear and factual presentation of the events surrounding the San Francisco hearings, may be obtained from Americans for Democratic Action, 41 Sutter Street, San Francisco 4, for fifteen cents a copy...
...On August 9, 1960, on "The Goodwin Knight Show," on Los Angeles television station KCOP-TV, Burton White, a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, while discussing the distortions of the film Operation Abolition made the following statement: "I am basing my discussion on the fact that the film does have inaccuracies, does have distortions...
...they arc plain untruths...
...But what shocks me, a Southern woman, is that the governor himself behaved irresponsibly—as if he did not care how his words or his acts affect the United States and its prestige...
...democracy to begin to function again in a- true sense and an opportunity for U.S...
...You don't have to possess a passport to enter...
...If Mr...
...Your job, it appears to me, is to present different points of view on pressing problems in an effort to reach a peaceful solution...
...Many responsible publications, including The Reporter (November 24, 1960), the Californian (July, 1960), The Catholic Bulletin of St...
...The Christian Century for March 22, 1961, with full documentation, cites six examples of film splicings and omissions and ten examples of unjustifiable sound-track manipulations...
...When Castro came to power, he even considered hiring Dean Acheson as his foreign policy adviser...
...Many persons think war is inevitable, given human nature, but I do not agree...
...At my first reading of "Eichmann in Israel" I was slightly incredulous...
...It offers a way out of the impasse in which our nation finds itself...
...James A. Pike, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in California, has been so disillusioned by United States actions that he has declared, "We are guilty of every single thing that we profess to hate about the Communists...
...It is distributed by SLATE, a student organization at the University of California at Berkeley...
...In the matter of war and peace, surely this nation must have something new, original, creative, humanitarian...
...I wonder why such a thick blanket of silence has descended upon the question of depletion allowances...
...His statements appear calculated to widen the gap between scientists and non-scientists—a gap which is already too wide...
...plays right into the hands of anti-Semitism...
...It is absurd for the Congressman from Alabama to speak of Americans as outsiders...
...Leslie Orear, Director Publication Department United Packinghouse Workers Chicago, Illinois Supports Bracero Law Dear Sirs: I would like to protest the inaccuracies and distortion of fact that appear in your May 1961 issue regarding the braceros and the migrant worker...
...I was in Cuba last December and January and the Cuban government was not a Communist government then and I don't believe it is now...
...So long as the Soviet Union actively exploits the pursuit of scientific knowledge for its own imperialistic ends, Western civilization has no choice but to engage actively in research...
...It is available at $2 from SLATE, Box 893, Berkeley 1, California...
...That "real estate operator" who was so joyous about his new career has yet to make his first sale...
...I do not know what they are going to call this effort, but a proper name for the project would be Operation Lunatic...
...Organized warfare is a man-made institution just as slavery is...
...In modern times war should not even be considered when setting policy...
...agricultural interests in the capacity of strikebreakers...
...Jerome Davis Executive Director Promoting Enduring Peace, Inc...
...Is it not true that we should try mediation and conciliation with Cuba instead of military force...
...It is not ignorance, it is blind, stupid arrogance that does not look at the consequences of acts...
...It is this not-caring about the fate of our country that disturbs me...
...Army (Ret...
...Ferry's do nothing to aid American society in its struggle to harness the pursuit of scientific knowledge to moral ends...
...This is a fundamental mistake...
...President Arbenz (Guatemala, 1954...
...The armed services, until recently, were considered an instrument for carrying out policy, if necessary...
...Anyone can go anywhere, together...
...Haters and goons are everywhere— in New York as well as in Anniston and Birmingham...
...West Haven, Connecticut Ferry's 'Wild' Statements Dear Sirs: W. H. Ferry stated in his article, "Peace Through Disarmament," in the May issue that: "wisdom, politics, and morals have all been ousted from our highest councils by science...
...we find Eichmann at one and the same time spewing out the Nazi poison, and trying to present to the world the benefits of non-violence...
...One which was not listed but which, judging from the response of Progressive readers to our advertisement in the January issue, your, readers have found of importance is the LP record, "The Sounds of Protest...
...The Rt...
...Mildred C. Whitney Peace Literature Service American Friends Service Committee 160 North Fifteenth Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Strikebreaking Braceros Dear Sirs: The editorial comment in the May issue about agricultural workers and the bracero program was much too charitable in its assumption that braceros are not currently be-eing used as strikebreakers...
...Neither the Soviet bloc nor the U.S...
...The dominant group in Alabama seems to care more for color than they care for the survival of our nation...
...Peter A. Wollaecer Pontiac, Michigan...
...Our choice would seem to be between cooperation and catastrophe...
...We must not forget that there are still many nations that either encourage Nazis and racists or give them haven...
...H. F. Kohl, Chairman Walter,, and of course, Operation Abolition, all would have us believe the students were Communist dupes...
...If to others there are just grounds for opposing his position, such grounds should be presented forthwith and as forcibly as possible...
...Perhaps there was some Mayeresque humor here that had escaped me...
...Gerald Gray Chairman SLATE Record Committee Berkeley, California Ammunition against HUAC Dear Sirs: The acquittal of Robert Meisenbach has again focused public attention on the many questions and considerable confusion still surrounding the student "riot" during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in San Francisco last May...
...Such wild and unprovable generalizations as Mr...
...The Bay Area Student Committee for the Abolition of the Un-American Activities Committee has prepared an excellent analysis of the film, "In Search of Truth," which itemizes the distortions and highlights the propaganda elements in Operation Abolition...
...It is important to remember that Tito did not destroy Communism by his deviationist tendencies and he did not become a capitalist satellite by accepting capitalist aid...
...Most of the world which considers itself enlightened has gotten rid of slavery...
...Jacob J. Leibson Halcott Center, New York America's Double Standard Dear Sirs: The greatest danger confronting America is the double standard of morality...
...What else do you need to qualify for entrance into Alabama...
...Let's go on to another subject...
...I do know the protest against HUAC and its San Francisco hearings were endorsed and actively supported by California State Assemblymen John O'Con-nell and Phillip Burton, more than 700 teachers and professors from four different West Coast universities, three large labor unions, and six religious organizations including the Berkeley YWCA...
...Few, if any, among the peoples or leaders of the underdeveloped areas of the world are any longer impressed by this type of sloganizing propaganda...
...capitalism to begin to export to the underdeveloped peoples of the world some of its boasted "affluent" society...
...with the right attitude and spirit we can get rid of war too...
...F. J. Waldrop Weston, West Virginia Ferry Reprinted Dear Sirs: Readers of The Progressive who were interested in W. H. Ferry's "Peace Through Disarmament," in the May issue, may be glad to know that an expanded version is available in pamphlet form under the title, "Disarm to Parley" from the American Friends Service Committee at twenty cents a copy...
...nor will it become a U.S...
...Chairman Francis Walter of HUAC...
...Eighty per cent of the lettuce crop was harvested by Mexican contract labor behind the picket lines of the two unions...
...Through this vicious and unjustified comparison, Mayer is doing a disservice to the whole concept of non-violence' because his article will tend to enflame further prejudice and hatred against the Jews...
...This record is cut from tapes of the original radio sound track of the May, 1960, HUAC demonstrations and hearings which took place in San Francisco...
...As recently as early May UPWA Local 78 was obliged to give up a week long strike participated in by 200 of its members in the Salinas Valley on a 300-acre strawberry "patch" because of the failure of authorities to remove 800 braceros who continue to pick berries...
...In this connection, I think The Progressive ought to make abundantly clear to its readers that the Mexican government is bitterly opposed to the use of its citizens by U.S...
...Yet for over a year we have been deliberately violating this...
...This comparison, in my opinion, was such that the entire article could very easily be taken out of The Progessive and reprinted in any one of the many racist hate sheets being published in America...
...Mayer, in attempting to compare the coldblooded genocide of the Nazis with even the very worst outbursts of violence of the Jews in any period of their history (and what people are without violence...
...I know of no informed person who really believes that Castro is a Communist or is controlled by Communists...
...The second point I would like to make is that the Wall Street Journal's story on the Armour automation fund's retraining work in Oklahoma City needs more careful reading than it was apparently given...
...Was Mayer being serious...
...Is it possible that the "Jewish God of Vengeance" is so all-powerful in Israel that he will blind one and all into railroading an innocent man into assuming the guilt for the planned and deliberate murder of almost six million Jews...
...I do not personally know that the students were not dupes...
...The fact is that on March 17 the United Packinghouse Workers and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee were obliged to give up a strike in the lettuce fields of California Imperial Valley which began on January 13...
...Even Democratic Senator Frank Church of the Foreign Relations Committee said April 23, 1961, "It is altogether likely that Castro remains the favorite of the majority of the people of Cuba because he has undertaken many of the reforms that have been so badly needed...
...Chapel Hill, North Carolina Silence on Depletion Dear Sirs: During the Presidential campaign much was said about tax reform, with specific reference to expense accounts and depletion allowances for oil and timber...
...He realizes this and says so in his own dialogue...
...Perhaps the Russians would take the longer view, but, in view of past experience and the Chinese problems of population and famine, it hardly seems probable that the Red Chinese would balk because of world opinion at direct domination once the United States disarmed...
...SLATE has prepared a hair-raising recording, "The Sounds of Protest," cut from actual tapes taken at and during the HUAC "riots" in San Francisco during May, 1960...
...Would we not gain more by helping the Cuban people with economic aid and a Peace Corps than in any other way...
...It then becomes the job of all members of the body-politic to try to channel this knowledge into the correct paths...
...And let such opposition present its own and better alternative...
...In his zeal to prove to the world the folly of resistance to evil through violent means, Mayer has added his name to the list of those responsible for using the Jews as scapegoats...
...I should therefore like to call the attention of your readers to the pamphlet, San Francisco and the House Un-American Activities Committee, published by the Northern California Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action and prepared under the direction of Paul Seabury, chapter chairman and professor of political science at the University of California...
...The House Committee on Un-American Activities' chief investigator on the West Coast, William Wheeler, replied: "All right, we have admitted that...
...Helen S. Eaton Duxbury, Massachusetts Operation Lunatic Dear Sirs: Although we are faced with such exacting problems as racial conflict, delinquency, unemployment, lag in education, and unfavorable international relations, we are planning to spend billions on sending a man to the moon...
Vol. 25 • July 1961 • No. 7
