Genetics of Democracy Destroys Nazi Race Theories
WALLACE, HENRY A.
Genetics of Democracy Destroys Nazi Race Theories U. S. Liberty Safe Only After It Meets All Peoples' Economic Needs By HENRY A. WALLACE New Deal Vice-Presidential Nominee' /"CLAIMS to racial...
...The "conquerors" have already been driven out of large stretches of land, and occupy only a few strongly fortified positions provisioned largely by airplane...
...The noblest chapters in our history have been those filled with struggle against tyrannical denial of freedom...
...The Western race with all its mental excitability lacks creative power...
...Just what are these ideas...
...Youth Movements Parallel By GRACE MaelNNIS Secretary of the CCF Parliamentary Bloc rVFTAWA, Canada (Passed by the Censor).—Some explanation must be given as to why the recent Montreal meeting of the Canadian Youth Congress was preceded by the refusal of several influential youth organizations to send delegates and ended in the .withdrawal and alienation of others...
...Indeed, no nation in Europe is a greater mixture of tribes and breeds than the Germans...
...Anyone can .look it up in his dictionary...
...And again, how can those conditions be prevented from occurring in our country...
...Neither their traditions nor their economic opportunities permitted development along these lines...
...But here is what the handbook says concerning what it calls the "Western Race," found principally in England and i France: "Co"mpared to the Nordic race there are great differences in soul-qualities...
...They have been taken through strategy in battle, clever raids, ''and from the large masses of black and even white troops who "have deserted from Mussolini's ranks...
...The cycle of change is not complete...
...They are persistent and stick to a parpose when once they have set themselves to it...
...But no one will be removed from office for any mistakes ne might have made some years ago...
...But it is equally true that other Congresses have always given.a place for the discussion of foreign policy...
...it says: "Now what distinguishes the Nordic race from all others ? It is uncommonly gifted mentally...
...But the changed military situation has created an unclear situation for British Communists...
...It would be impossible to select a government in this country that would please Stalin...
...Chamberlain from office, because it thinks he is hampering the successful prosecution of the war...
...Basically it was due to the fact that Congress leaders allowed » certain elements in the Congress to bring about major changes in policy and attitude—particularly in regard to the war—since the C.Y.C...
...I will not be confident of the survival of democracy if most of our children, which means most of our future citizens, ecntkrue to be reaped in surroundings where poverty is highest and education is loweBt........> — Italians Lose Large Areas In* Ethiopia _ LONDON (Passed by the Censor).—Recent dispatches from the little heard of Ethiopian front reveals that a native army of more than 200,000 well-equipped soldiers occupy a~ territory in the Northwest as large as England and Wales...
...Moved as an addition to the report, it did not seek to soften or remove any of its criticism of the King government...
...They feel instantly that too loud talking is undignified...
...In today's grave circumstances delegates wanted something more than criticism of conditions, no matter how searching...
...Let me...
...fNDEED, if the acid test of worth is consistency in prosecuting the war there are many Communist leaders who have a worse record than that of Mr...
...In keeping with this stand, the National Committee of the C.Y.C...
...quote from a translation of the "Offieial Handbook for the Schooling of the Hitler Youth," the organization which includes some 70 per cent of all'the boys and girls in Germany of eligible age...
...We may talk all we like about the beauties of democracy, the ideals of democracy, the lightness of democracy...
...And as far as we know the . British Communist Party is anti-war, although it is not so obvious now from the speeches of the leaders...
...If the Canadian Youth Congress is to give a lead to youth organizations it must free itself from the type of influence which has already so drastically reduced the influence of both American and Canadian Youth Congresses...
...and in any case, it does not matter...
...Chamberlain and other people connected with the Munich Agreement removed from the Government...
...The seeds of these conditions exist here...
...The men of...
...In addition they conduct an active propaganda on the streets on even-changing and sometimes contradictory demands...
...When the existing machinery of peace fails to give them any hope of national prosperity or national dignity, they are ready to try the hazard of war...
...It is true that other Congresses have not discussed the Secretary's report...
...Two thousand years ago there was nothing about the ancestors of the modern English or Germans to indicate either scientific, artistic, inventive or philosophic ability...
...And demands for peace at Hitler's price were common only a few short weeks ago...
...In both there is a steady adherence: to a policy of collective security up until October 1939...
...The Hitler-Stalin arrangement which made possible the present war will be thrown into the discard with the Locarno Treaty, the Austro-German Agreement and the German-Polish understanding...
...A master breeder who had a dictator's control for several generations might be able to fix a standard blue-eyed, long-headed, fair-haired type of the most approved Nordic specifications...
...And when science fails to furnish effective leadership, men will exalt demer gogues, and science will have to bow down to them or keep, silent...
...So our little reds are ready for anything...
...And it is a popular one as many people are inclined, not without reason, to associate Old Man Chamberlain with the French traitor, LavaL But how the removal of Chamberlain would help to end this imperialist war I do not know...
...I mention Carver simply because he is one example of a truth of which we today "are deeply convinced* Superior ability is not the exclusive possession of any one race or any one class...
...This is, of course, nonsense...
...Wallace, has become a symbol of government aid to the vast and needy agricultural population...
...Carver was born in slavery, and to this day he does not definitely know his own age...
...This race has produced only a few outstanding men...
...Concerning what it calls the Nordic race...
...1 The contribution of the Communist Party to the campaign to remove the Men of Munich is a propaganda which envisages Stalin straining at the leash to help Britain but being held back by the presence of men like Chamberlain in the British Government...
...the Western race are . . . loquacious...
...It also prevented a dear-cut line of action on domestic issues, condemnatory criticism almost, entirely replacing the" concrete program of former Congresses...
...117E must remember that down through the ages one ™; of the most popular political devices has been to blame economic and other troubles on some minority group...
...At the same time we believe that military victory alone will not suffice to achieve the ends for which youth stands...
...We shall _find m our own country some of the conditions that have made possible what we see abroad...
...foundation for a lasting peace...
...When their normal life fails to give them anything but monotony and drabness, they are easily led to express themselves in unhealthy or cruel ways, as by mob violence...
...When we understand that it has not been known since the war started that a Communist parliamentary candidate has saved his t election deposit—which means that no Communist has been able to pall one-eighth of the votes cast—we can measure the C.P.'s political importance...
...Only the lack of heavy artillery and planes has kept the native armies from completely routing Italy...
...Then the line would be the brave revolutionary one of fighting one's own capitalists for the revolution, transform the imperialist war into a civil war...
...the German mini thinks in terms of propaganda exploitation...
...If one hundred thousand German babies were raised under the same conditions as one hundred thousand Hindu babies or one hundred thousand Jewish babies, would there be any particular difference...
...Moved by a member of the Montreal United Church Young People, seconded by a French-Canadian member of the Montreal Millinery Union, this resolution was supported by those groups which later withdrew...
...In non-jingoistic, non-sectarian fashion it...
...Perhaps that was partly because this scientist, who belongs to another race, had deepened my appreciation of plants in a way I could never forget...
...And yet I wonder if any scientists would care to claim that one hundred thousand children taken at birth from these families would rank any lower in inborn ability than one hundred thousand children taken at birth from the wealthiest one per cent of the parents of the United States...
...Student Christian Movement and the Cooperative Commonwealth Youth Movem3nt have indicated that they will reconsider their relations with it-Undoubtedly there was a reason for this action which is bound to have far-reaching effects...
...Now a strenuous campaign is raging to have Mr...
...For myself, I can do nothing to lift this coagulated clot of confusion, at least on the basis of honest responsible thnking...
...National Committee outlined steps to be taken to strengthen democracy in the struggle against fascist aggression, affirming: "We are eager to be informed of ways and means by which Canadian youth organizations may be of practical service to the country...
...When I was a small boy, George Carver, a Negro who is now a chemist at Tuskegee Institute, was a good friend of my father's at the Iowa State College...
...It must be prepared to face up to the war and the grave problems arising from it, it must become a thoroughly representative and democratic body and it must create in youth confidence in its ability to_build a future for the Vice-President FEW men have been as close to the American soil—and those who draw a meagre living from it—as Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace has been...
...In a study of human genetics recently made by the National Resources Committee, it was found that among given racial groups, intelligence ratings varied with the environment...
...The seed bed of the great leaders of the future, as those of the past, is in the rank and file of the people...
...Russian spokesmen have indicated many times that they have no regard for any public men m Britain, Conservative, Liberal, or Labor...
...Their energy is displayed not only in warfare but also ur technology and in scientific research...
...But no one can claim with scientific certainty superiority for 'any race or nation so far as its inborn genetic characteristics are concerned...
...They are like a whelp besieging a citadel, all noise and no power...
...American youth organizations want-a Congress whose conceptions of youth's needs grow from American soil and whose policies are framed to meet those needs rather than dependent upon the varying policies of a foreign government...
...Under what conditions do men of the ruthless dictator type rise to power in^a modern nation ? Under what conditions do they persuade a whole people to accept a philosophy, and to follow a line of action, that violates many of the finest achievements of humanity and exalts many of the worst...
...The handbook' discusses the various races found in Germany and other parts of Europe...
...Russia will enter this war on the side that pays her best: or stay neutral if she thinks that will be more advantageous...
...Youth in particalw Jj anxious and willing to diaehai# its duty to the full in rapport ¦ the war against Nazism aait**" cism recognizing that a victory for the totalitarian forces would mean the complete destruction of all liberty and democracy...
...Our great newspaper* coaU summarize all top news, print it on this lightweight paper aad u an airmail supplement reach Europe in 24 hours, the I^r But and Australia within a week and South America in 48 hours...
...Last year's meeting wa3 no exception...
...The Reich Spreads It Thin The sleepy-eyed husband in England who regards the matutinal ritual of reading one's news-paper while eating the breakfast egg as sacred maycoraplain about the thinness of the newspaper doe to the shortage of newsprint...
...It was he who first introduced me to the mysteries of botany and plant fertilization...
...In seeking to answer these questions honestly, we shall inevitably come upon certain truths that are not flattering to ms...
...PROM the first hours of this year's 'Congress it became evident that this policy had been fundamentally altered...
...But the attempt to retain unity by evading the most vital issue of all was to forfeit the confidence of the delegates...
...The defeat of this amendment was the .immediate cause of the withdrawals...
...We must see to it that they do not...
...Even in such a democratic country as ours, there are some who would claim that the American people are superior to all others...
...Wallace at a public meeting sponsored by the Lincoln's Birthday Committee held in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York...
...Meanwhile, I just want to indicate that there is a really important body of working-class opinion in favor of the removal of ¦ Mr...
...If there is somewhat greater diffusion of opportunity and wealth—if the children of all classes get enough to eat and good schooling—if all children are given an opportunity to realize to the full their inborn faculties to serve the general welfare, we may expect genius to sprout more evenly from all economic classes of society...
...If Hitler is victorious against Britain and has his great military power still fit for action the Nazi-Soviet pact will not save the Ukraine or the-oil wells of the Caucasus...
...Simultaneously with proper measures designed to win the war we must preserve democracy at home and lay the...
...their destiny to another political system...
...Arms for the struggle have come mainly from Italian stocks...
...T is the fashion in certain quarters to sneer at those * so-called "poor whites," who suffer from poor education and bad diet, and who live in tumble-down cabins without mattresses...
...We: see no practical possibility 1 of electing a government that does not include a nominee of the Conservative Party...
...Intelligence quotient ratings generally seem to be more a matter of education and up-bringing than of heredity...
...The word Aryan as used by scientists and not by dictators means the people of the Caucasian race who speak one or another of the Indo-European languages...
...iC- The struggle for freedom has united all races in Abyssinia: Mohammedans, Christians, Amhar-ras, Galias and the scattered oth-_ers...
...When a political system fails to give large numbers of men the freedom it has promised, then they are willing to hand ove...
...In 1938 the Congress had held that a cause of war "lies in the attempted isolation of ourselves as a nation from the world situation...
...If the C.Y.C...
...The British Philatelic Maganm was the first to print on a^eather-weight paper, producing a Vk ounce issue some three yean aft...
...The Chairman ruled against it, they challenged his ruling and were defeated...
...everybody knows that the removal of-Mr.- Chamberlain would only make room for a man who would ; • proseeute the war with greater vigor...
...In his work as a chemist in* the South, he correctly sensed the coming interest in the industrial use of ifie products of the farm—a field of research which our government is now pushing...
...Although much is known about his background, the public usually does not recall his extensive works in the important . field of genetics, making him one of the nation's experienced agricultural scientists...
...One cannot overlook the many points of similarity in American and Canadian Youth Congress crisis...
...Two CCYM delegates moved that the report be discussed...
...Jews are of course Aryans, so are Hindus, so are Germans and French and English and most Americans...
...But everything is being prepared for a full-blown war policy if instructions take that line...
...In addition to this, the-world has changed for Russia too...
...Just as a favorable environment is needed to help the development of great leaders and great scientists, so a good environment is essential to preserve our liBerty...
...Chamberlain...
...British Communists' Activity Stalled As Leaders Await Line from Moscow Labor Sentiment Grows For Chamberlain Ouster By JOHN DAVIS Glasgow City Councillor GLASGOW, Scotland.—If I had a magnifying glass and a microscope I should be able to show my American readers a grotesque political comedy...
...I The Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the Young Liberals, the Montreal United Church young people and the Montreal Millinery Union hate iB severed connection with the Congress...
...It went so far as to favor general conscription "in the event of direct military attack on Canada" or "in the event of Canada's participation with other democratic states in defense against aggressors...
...The imperative need is for us to ask ourselves under what conditions our liberty can be lost...
...While very critical of the Canadian Government's policies, the C.Y.C...
...If both groups were given the same food, housing, education and cultural traditions, would they not turn out to have about equal mental and moral traits on the average...
...No such experiments have been made or are likely to be made and so no absolutely scientific answer can be given.- But when I raise such a question, I mean to imply that every race, every nation, and people from every economic group of society are a great genetic mixture...
...met bast July in Winnipeg...
...Republican p n b 1 i c i t y men have maligned him in every conceivable manner...
...It is outstanding, for truth and energy...
...It is the first indication the world has had that Stalin's foreign policy is decided by his reaction to the personality of those seeking a pact with him...
...A complete reversal of this policy is also possible should Stalin line up with Hitler and Mussolini...
...Big Business dislikes him for his work in behalf of the American rural worker...
...While the Communists have no' electoral importance they are frantically active in the trade unions, cooperative societies and -other affiliated organizations of the British Labor Party...
...the American reader may peg his complaint on the thinneaa of news in general...
...T is true that on many im-* mediate youth problems the reports of the 1940 Congress contain valuable proposals...
...Theicharge that the Congress no longer represents the majority of Canadian youth would appear to be founded on fact...
...These papers are flown via Lis-bon to escape the Allied blockade and are used here as a propaganda stunt and to obtain ftr-eign exchange...
...These first British attempt and now the German experiment contain a real challenge to tar newspaper m a n u f a cturon tad newspapers...
...They are predisposed to leadership by nature...
...1JERE in the United States, our own population is a blend of many races...
...In the long run, democracy or any other political system will be measured by its deeds, not its words...
...all Communist venom just now is confined to the aged British statesman who tried an appeasement policy and failed...
...I I * So, in effect the British Communists want a more vigorous prosecution of a war they tell us is inter-imperialistic, with Britain as - the chief culprit...
...Then comes the abrupt reversal of policy by Congress officials with the consequent withdrawal of organizations who intend to remain • with the principles on which the Congress was founded...
...It will be instructive to see how they are called upon to act...
...The danger that it will be overthrown in favor of some other system is in direct proportion to it3 failure to meet these moods...
...They incline to be taciturn and cautious...
...merely tried to place the Congress unequivocally on record as re-affirming its old stand against aggression in the light of the new developments since its last meeting...
...of party, he would be removed at the unanimous demand of the people...
...It is not enough simply to hope that these conditions will not reach such extremes here as they have in some other countries...
...The accompanying article on "Racial Theories and the Genetic Basis for Democracy," is taken from a speech made by Mr...
...But never before in the world's history has such a conscious and systematic effort been made to inculcate the youth of a nation with ideas of racial superiority as are being made in Germany today...
...They are excitable, even passionate...
...It would be easy to show from leading Communist spokesmen that they thought British capitalism was a worse horror than Nazism...
...Thus the dictatorial regime in Germany, masquerading its propaganda in pseudo-scientific terms, is teaching the German boys and girls to believe that their race and their nation are superior to all others, and by implication that that nation and that race have a right to dominate all others...
...This year's meeting planned to discuss Conscription and War Aims but the project was dropped...
...Genetics of Democracy Destroys Nazi Race Theories U. S. Liberty Safe Only After It Meets All Peoples' Economic Needs By HENRY A. WALLACE New Deal Vice-Presidential Nominee' /"CLAIMS to racial superiority are not new in the world...
...When education fails to- teach them the true nature of things, they will believe fantastic tales of devils and magic...
...I.', On-one occasion they may be campaigning for a Popular Front •» Government of all parties, on another to achieve military victory against Nazi Germany, then the next campaign is to stop the war, ¦which is imperialistic...
...on September 26 issued a statement which condemned ruthless Nazi aggression and declared that peace could not come until that system had been destroyed...
...British publications haw pioneered in lightweight editions and aerial distribution of newspapers printed on tissue-thin pa...
...This is of course nothing against them but it makes absurd the claims of superior stock...
...There,is*danger of Britain being overrun by the Nazi mechanized columns and even the supporters of Stalin cannot face that prospect with any easiness of mind...
...And if that nominee is someone we do not like, then ih the Same way as the Conservatives have to accept our people, we are bound-to accept theirs, i - Should any member of the present administration weaken in • his or her determination to fight Hitlerism to the end, independent...
...If we would only sack Chamberlain Russia's twenty million soldiers would rush to our defense and overwhelm the Nazi aggressor...
...They act more by feeling than by reason...
...As is -well known, the Congress since its beginning in 1936 had always upheld the efforts of the democracies to stop the spread of aggression...
...And it must succeed...
...In a final attempt to |rt » clear-cut endorsement of the pw* tion taken by former Congressea the following amendment «* moved to the report of the Democracy and Civil Liberties Co» mission: "The grave crisis which nef confronts Canada, with the Br»-ish Commonwealth and other nfr tions, has awakened in all ansa* a consciousness of their respoB* sibilities...
...THE slogan on which this new effort is based is "The Men of * Munich Must Go...
...Environment, of course, will continue to be very important Because of superior opportunities an undue proportion of our great leaders may perhaps come from the wealthier five per cent...
...The New Leader presents the article to its readers because it is a typical expression of the point of view of the man who probably will be Vice-President of the United States in 1941...
...Discussion on these matters was by no means cut off, but when it became apparent that the Congress was not going to face up elearlj to the war issue and work oat • collective policy to meet it, dak* gates became convinced that it no longer represented Cansdia* youth as a whole who demanded a lead and were disappointed...
...The credentials system was very loose, there being little attempt 'to- check* the Bona" fide" of delegates and no report being given the Congress until midnight of the last day...
...Later on I was to have an intimate acquaintance with plants myself, because I spent a good many years breeding corn...
...Wallace...
...Remember, the vital areas controlling oil and grain will still be outside the control of Hitler even if he should win this war, without which a German dominated Europe is not complete...
...In all of this I do not mean to say that heredity does not work with human beings just as truly as it does with plants and animals...
...Now it was being asked to believe that Canada could be walled off in a world of its own...
...Facing this changed war situation the'Janus-faced Communists are now straddling the fence on the war issue...
...The Nazi-corns have merely introduced a noisy band into a large movement that is not in any way influenced by them...
...Under what conditions are great numbers of men willing to surrender all hope of individual freedom and become ciphers of the State...
...But the British Communists' attitude toward the war will not be clear until the Russian Government has taken a decisive step one way or the other,_______CP Tactics in Canadian, U.S...
...In comparison with the l'J39 (Winnipeg) and 1938 (Toronto) Congresses there was a drop in the total number of delegates and a narrowing of the representation...
...Carver at that time was specializing in botany, and he would take me along on some of his botanizing trips...
...I am convinced, as a result of my study of genetics, that there is nothing in science to interfere with what might be called a genetic basis for democracy...
...The Secretary's report evaded the war entirely except in so far as it affected civil liberties and economic conditions 'within Canada...
...There is no room in present-day Communist speeches for any, denunciation of Nazism...
...In comparison with the Nordic . . . men they have much less patience...
...For years the President's most harassed lieutenant, Mr...
...To see the British Communist Party in the political life of our nation it' would require that microscope, and should one freakishly want to write up their antics, it would need an additional magnifying glass...
...I will try to suggest an explanation later...
...A much smaller number came from church, trade union, political and ethical organizations and a relative increase from those listed as miscellaneous, many of these being purely local groups...
...It is quite possible that the master breeder, being -concerned primarily with physical appearance, would find he had produced a group of blonde morons—useful to him mainly as a superior type of cannon fodder...
...The dictators' misuse of the word Aryan is pure scientific faking...
...Father Coughlin calls him "Wallace, the destroyer...
...hopes to regain and hold the confidence of Canadian youth organizations it cannot afford to ignore what occurred in Montreal...
...Under what conditions will the scientist deny the truth and pervert his science to serve the slogans of tyranny...
...The categorical imperative has not yet come from Moscow...
...It left groups free to determine the nature of Canada's best contribution to the War...
...Nor do I mean to deny that a master breeder living for a thousand years might do extraordinary things in the way of fixing human types of unusual longevity, resistance to disease, musical ability or anyone of a number of characteristics...
...Of the 274 delegates, more than two-thirds came from the cities of Montreal and Toronto...
...Democracy must apply itself to meeting the material need of men for work, for income, for goods, for health, for security, and to meeting their spiritual need for dignity, for knowledge, for self-expression, for adventure, and for reverence...
...Recent nomination for the Vice-Presidency has once more swung the spotlight on Mr...
...The Ethiopians have big stores of rifles and machine guns, and their clever rapid-moving intelligence service forestalls the cumbersome heavily massed Italian movements...
...No scientist can say today wjjh any certainty that many of the so-called backward races and nations do not have inborn genetic capacity which might flower unusually in the sciences, the arts, or philosophy, provided only economic conditions and social institutions permitted...
...The last several flights of the Clipper have brought here thin four-page featherweight *ag paper issues of the Frankfurter Zeitung...
...It may arise anywhere, provided men are given the right opportunities...
...per to save weight and postage which in the case of the Frank-furter Zeitung being flown here amounts to about 30 centi per half-ounce, is of more 'neat origin...
...However it is, we may be sure, they will do it with the unquestioning wholeheartedness of robots...
...Nordic men:for the most part possess, even in regard to themselves, a great power of judgment...
...The Labor Party, which shares in the government bf the country, takes the view that the only qualification for a post in this . government is one's capability and determination to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion...
...Men and women of many races have built our science, our literature, and our art—our finance, our industry, and our government...
Vol. 23 • August 1940 • No. 32
