Thorez-Goebbels Propagando Crocked French Morale
HASTINGS, MALCOLM
Thorez-Goebbels Propagando Crocked French Morale By MALCOLM HASTINGS fN AN interview which should serve as a warning to.the United .States, where * the Communists are assiduously seeking to...
...We were told" that that could have happened only in Russia...
...According to Mr...
...At the core of the affair, there is something.deeper, and a lot more sinister, than the honest, simple thieving that the average American .voter understands and forgives ever so often...
...American nations, including our own...
...ftsrhaps .nothing illustrates more glaringly Moscow's betrayal of France and cf all the democracies, "than the fact that on June 15, the day after the Germans had entered Paris, all Communists jailed by the French government for...
...M?rquez had l*Pt2 take determined action against German elements in Misiones, a Nazi strongW"M...
...the United States, would raise the roof in many of the Latin-American countries...
...after the...
...May the American people understand the significance of these words "fV their own sake and for the world's...
...yr> • '"There was the Laval-Flandin group, for example,'' he went on...
...tne President, Roberto Ortiz, did resign * over this picayune graft...
...His story is particularly valuable to America which, in many respects, is facing the same problems that confronted France both in internal and external policy...
...I Mr...
...In that is our hope...
...I knew officers who fought to obtain transfers from the army in the field to the Maginot line in order to escape the horrible atmosphere created among the troops by Communist propaganda...
...Nothing, so fait been said about Groppo...
...The wealthy classes were, on the whole, opposed to the war, for reasons of their own...
...There was the France of the Popular Front, which had continued to function after the Stalin-Hitler pact without the Communists...
...The Mar-sellaJHi-they assured the, people, had once mere become the battle hymn of the Communist Party...
...opinion that the Petain government will not be able- to maintain itself because it is not satisfactory to Hitier...
...We must forget Britain's mistakes in the past...
...fatally divided into three parts upon the outbreak of the war...
...That is why Hitler ..- "ci'usBg to grant permission.to .the Petain government to move U> Paris, fw in Pajjt there are new resident other elements when- Hitler intends ;. us< for his Jgpn, elements like the former Communist and present FaseiM IXirict...
...Such were the consequences of the work of the Communists among the people and in the army...
...There followed the famous letter addressed to the government by the...
...Thorez-Goebbels Propagando Crocked French Morale By MALCOLM HASTINGS fN AN interview which should serve as a warning to.the United .States, where * the Communists are assiduously seeking to undermine the nation's will and capacity for defense, Alexander Kerensky, premier of the Democratic Provisional Government after the downfall of the Czarist regime, described for the Njew Leader how the Stalinists did the traitorous job in France...
...I believe that had Italy joined France...
...Argentina, where a large cache of illteit...
...Few persons know France as well as he does...
...Add to this one other factor and the "rp*j mar Land Scandal" (which has been coiapeB*" with the Stavisky case in France) beftew* smell more like high international than merely a simple case of graft...
...gP as a matter of fact, the Minister of Dr...
...Under the circumstances thus created, the very first defeats suffered by the French as the Germans advanced sealed the country's fate...
...Hatred of the army officers was assiduously cultivated, j?st as it was in Russia in 1917-18, as part of the task of demoralizing the armed forces...
...People abroad used to taunt us Russians with the shame of the peace of Brest-Litdvsk, the separate peace concluded by the Bolsheviks with the Germans in 1918...
...Kerensky characterized it as "an attempt to find scapegoatsJ"m "The only hope of France and of Europe lies now in British vktitllMfc Kerensky concluded...
...It is a fact that the notorious Von Papen was in Moscow for a long time...
...Even among the Catholics, the Communists had made a very deep impression with their propaganda...
...So when we begin to try to u?derstandvLatin-America, the first thing to do is^ to clear the mind of misconceptions...
...He and Mrs...
...Innumerable secret printing, plants set up by the Communists long *n advance began pouring out millions of subversive anti-war leaflets...
...The activities of the Communists were an exact repetition of what they did in Russia when we Russian Socialists and democrats were struggling with the problems set us by' the revolution at home and the task of holding the enemy at the front,'.' Mr...
...All instructions from Moscow passed through him "as secretary, of the French Communist Party...
...As a consequence, large numbers of Catholic priests and youths entered into collaboration with the Stalinists...
...against Germany...
...It was all so very clever...
...a Fascist France at the top, and a Communist France at the bottom...
...Kerensky continued...
...He may be the Laval of Argentina, and there is scarcely any doubt that he has been hoping to turn Argentine interests in the direction of Nazi Germany...
...with meaehtn ** of the old government and various political leaders, including Blum, SB the defendants, Mr...
...Argentinian 'Cliveden Set' Framed Ortiz Graft Scandal to Rid Cabinet of Anti-Nazis By BRYCE OLIVER News Commentator at Station WEVD, New York...
...When Hitler...
...the ultra-patriotic propaganda of the French Communist Party preceding the war, that she could rely upon Stalin's cooperation in a conflict with Germany...
...546,000 for land for...
...Obviously, when' we consider the strict Argentine attitude toward personal integrity in politics and business, it would be possible to effect a government upset, and place Castillo in control of the Cabinet, if even the suspicion of corruption could be made to attach to people close to the President.' And it is noticeable that the exposure of the "Palomar Land Scandal" was all set for an explosion at almost the moment President Ortiz returned to active duties after a protracted absence from office...
...In fact, most of the land of the Province is owned by about fifty families...
...Hitler rejects the policy pursued by Bismarck after.ft(Sjleiex» defeat of France in 1S70...
...sabotage "of the war were re-leaaed, and .on the same day the Communists staged a "parade", which was addressed by Maurice Thorez, French Communist leader...
...GERMANY'S objective now is to fan the,discords in France, to incite the various camps of the French people against one another, to keep Frute in a state of turmoil and disorganization...
...AS regards the trial staged by the Petain government at Riom...
...Kfcrensky, it was the .Stalin^Hitler pact of August, 1939, which broke France's will to fight.' France, he said, had placed her hope upon assistance from Soviet Russia, having been lured into the belief by Moscow's "collective security" policy, and...
...it would be well to understand the pattern, of .the Argentine case in advance—no matter...
...Thorez had become a veritable tribune of the people of the vintage of 1793, while Duelos played the big role behind the scenes...
...There was no Communist propaganda among the British and the Poles...
...The HiflSHW are subsidizing a paper called "La France et le Travail,'' which repregf|B)a iot's views, although Doriot himself has declined to write for the naper...
...Within twenty-four hours the Communist Party changed its policy...
...Pedro Groppo, is_ Castillo's strongest"¦tat, porter in the Cabinet.' He is not accused of being in any way ¦ part of the conspiracy...
...Nfta-rally, Laval was sadly disillusioned after the Stalin-Hitler pact...
...The outline of the scandal follows a pattern ail-too familiar in this part of the world—the government was induced to pay...
...which is oppfs|||:to detain, believing that England .is certain to be defeated and that Fnujte should frankly collaborate with Germany...
...Thorez, Duelos, Marty and others had made a tremendous impression upon French public opinion in stirring the people to...
...This peace party went into eclips...
...There's I***" thing wrong with such a picture...
...government will be much-more -clerertPtJH cuted...
...In the bourgeois camp the situation was not much better, for it must not be forgotten that many of the leading poliical leaders and journalists of the bourgeois parties, conservative and liberal, had supported strongly the policy of collaboration with Soviet Russia as an essential part of the French defensive system...
...They believed that the leaders of the Communist'Party would immediately break with Moscow...
...That-may be a little bit difficult for the average North American, to believe because he's been taught that graft' is the normal pattern of politics in Latin-American countries.' But that is one of the misconceptions which make understanding so difficult between our people and the people of the Southern republics...
...All of this will be hard, for the people of the United States to under...
...They suddenly perceived that their leaders had deceived them, had used them as political playthings...
...into the minds and hearts of the French people," Mr- Kerensky said...
...The discipline of the troops collapsed irremediably...
...everywhere on <!• continent...
...Laval is not acceptable to Germany," Mr...
...This hope was deliberately encouraged by Italian Fascist agents operating in France, with the idea in mind, of course, of driving a wedge between France and England...
...but the man the...
...All in all, the Argentine graft wasn't much over a few hundred thousand...
...He is an extreme French imperialist, who has always believed that England W» responsible for France's failure to organize a powerful continental bloc against Germany...
...The workers were almost paralyzed with shock...
...But now our critics have learned by the experience of France how poisonous Bolshevist propaganda can be...
...This disunity was accentuated by the presence of ultra-pacifist .elements among the Socialists, directed by men like Marquet and Deat, who had left the Socialist Party...
...We must let bygesW^P bygones, for with the defeat of Britain Hitler would be master of the world Stod human liberty would be dead for generations to come...
...Kerensky explained...
...It is interesting to note that this was not the case among the British troops or among the Polish contingents fighting in the French army...
...under a joint command...
...These men were for peace at any price...
...Kerensky said...
...spheres but...
...National unity was the slogan...
...after the outbreak of the war, however...
...As premier...
...fere?t colors could be attempted in other...
...elements represented by de Monzie and Bonnet wanted peace...
...The Vice-President, Ramon Castillo—steely-hard, gimlet-eyed, stern disciplinarian, is one of this faction...
...the Chamber of Deputies.'^ A ND then came the terrible blow—the Stalin-Hitler pact...
...The Communists...
...Highly influential journalists like Kerillis, Pertinaxand Mme...
...All officers were lyingly pictured as 'fascists' and 'lackeys of the capitalists.' This situation was not as bad among the troops in the Maginot line...
...Contrary to the general notion in the United States, United States firms do not lose money, through bad debts in Latin-America...
...The Minister of Fias»* would have to have his eyes closed #**W tightly in order to pass the irregularity...
...gress has already decided that ManflH^SBi not actively responsible...
...By that, I mean" thaj...
...Laval would have been for, prosecution of the war against Germany...
...Stalin-Hitler pact and the debacle it produced in the hearts and minds of the French people, Mr...
...But the United States is not Argentina, The Argentinos take these little irregularities much harder than our folks do...
...They were truly catastrophic...
...The Humanit?, chief Communist organ, continued publication from a secret place...
...Awakened^ they demanded - Ortiz.' return, and the man at whom the accusing finger was aimed, General M?rquez, the antirNazi . Minister . of Wax, became the hero instead of the scapegoat that the deep intrigue had attempted -to make of him...
...But guns, tanks and airplanes are not enough to insure the renS?SlSSKI of democracy and the rebuilding of the world on new and better fouadgtiii* What the world needs is a great moral revival...
...But how little they knew the Communists or understood the game that was being played by Moscow, for years...
...apparently, they were only interested in helping some politicians in making money...
...But in...
...Kerensky said...
...among Latin-American business concerns...
...odd coincidence, Dr...
...Until the outbreak of the war, the French government was divided, Son...
...shattered that bulwark in signing the pact with Hitler, French public opinion suffered unbelievable demoralization...
...And these fifty families are the very backbone of the conservative element, the "Cliveden Set" of Argentina.« Yet, there is no suggestion anywhere that any of these families made a peso on the deal...
...It's so shocking to- the average Argentine that it has come close to destroying the government...
...The Stalin-Hitler pact was an irreparable blow to French morale and brought hopeless confusion and disillusionment...
...printing shops were being seized almost daily...
...aggressive feeling, against Hitler...
...Thorez had come from Baden, Germany, where he had found refuge when he was compelled to flee France after, the outbreak of the war...
...It was Mr...
...Kerensky said...
...So did his entire cabinet-r-all...
...AS regards the part played in the collapse of France by Bourgeois potiticiws, Mr...
...It came like a thunderbolt...
...Communist leaders demanding negotiations with Berlin...
...But because of the Argentine character, it doesn't stop there...
...military air fields at El Palomar, in Buenos Aires Province, and the price was about five times the actual value of {he Jand—but nobody in the United States would expect ?he President to resign just because of that...
...Millions of French workers listened to these broadcasts...
...And then came the terrific drive of the Germans, with thousands of tanks, airplanes and with a striking power of flame and guns that completely overwhelmed the French...
...There is in.Argentina, just as there is in other...
...It was Sn this psychological state of mind that France entered the war...
...IV Germans are also supporting Deat's organ "L'Oucvre...
...All the democratic forces of the world must suppflitfrtfe1 ain...
...Tabouis, had told the, French- people in the days of the Popular Front that the Franco-Russian alliance was a sure bulwark against Hitler aggression, and had warned, repeatedly that without Soviet cooperation France could not stand up...
...Many seem to have forgotten the line and -propaganda of tha French Communists in the days when they iwere .part of the Popular Front ,-f—-,-1-.-.-1-.-¦-.-;-1 and acted as its most vigorous supporters...
...They had hoped all the time that Mussolini conld be .weaned away from Hitler to the side of France...
...THHIS "Palomar Land Scandal" made some * tainted money for someone...
...How deliberate, carefully calculated the treachery of the Communists was could be observed by the, precision and efficiency with which they proceeded to act...
...sonal honor still is the main selling point in Latin-American politics, just as it is...
...While Blum had the majority, the . dissensions were nevertheless bitter, and, significant...
...THERE'S a lot.more than a simple case of . graft and- government corruption in this "Palomar Land Scandal," as Argentina's unsavory, political mess is now labeled in Buenos Aires...
...AS described by Mr...
...AAR, KERENSKY then proceeded to draw a parallel between the work of the " Communists in France after the Stalin-Hitler pact and the outbreak of the war and the activities of the Bolsheviks in Russia under Lenin in 1917-18...
...Soviet propaganda played an even greater part than that of Goebbels in shattering French resistance...
...It may be ihstffi is already so...
...Kerensky explained that while France had her "appeasers," those Who hitd sought understanding with Germany at almost any price, the main weakness lay in other directions...
...T'HE land that was sold to the government at * graft prices was owned by some of the richest families in Buenos Aires Province...
...f i Mr...
...but this country should —P* that the next aVem.pt to discredit^ detsjp^P...
...Unlike, the situation in England, there was no labor unity in France," Mr...
...And yet, the very politicians who got the'tsng were anathema to the sellers...
...Marty, another French Communist leader, fled to Moscow.- I frequently heard the Moscow radio broadcasting speeches in French calling upon the French workers to stop fighting...
...Between Vice-President Castillo and the ailing, easy-going democratic-minded President, Roberto Ortiz, no love is lost, and the faction back of Castillo has been seeking to use the President's illness—he is diabetic— to elevate Castillo to the acting-presidency...
...i 'jijgr Has the plot backfired...
...How tragically all this recalled the situation we were confronted with in Russia in our desperate efforts to keep her on an even keel, to save her from plunging into the horrors of Bolshevism...
...It was scarcely big enough to cause more than a ripple of excitement in the average United States county...
...During the period of his absence, Castillo was the acting President...
...Hitler, on the other hand, is encouraging' those cMjMP through whom, he believes, he can deepen the disunity and disorganizaflirlli France...
...The Fascists and Communists operated in their respective...
...Is it that certain interests set about deliberately to corrupt officials close to Ortiz, not so much for the purpose of making money out of the Palomar deal but for the purpose of shaking the foundations of democratic government...
...Kerensky said...
...was recently discovered by the police.*' The question for the Argentine Congies*** decide is: Was M?rquez, the anti-NaziMJnj»g of War, the willing tool of the grafter*.*4$&t Groppo, the pro-totalitarian MisUster >W . nance, the one who winked at the graftT-J-,jWy...
...Kerensky said that French Ccmmunism, directed from Moscow and carrying out a strategy long worked out in cooperation with Berlin, was fundamentally, responsible for the debacle of France...
...Kerensky, the situation was aggravated by the confusion and divisions in the Socialist Party...
...Kerensky, France was...
...The French people felt themselves completely} alone...
...France had lost the will to live as a great nation...
...Very well then: the sellers of the El Palomar lands were not interested in making graft money...
...He merely bai *P eyes closed tightly while somebody hfflP Ortiz supporters to give grounds for '^^if of corruption...
...The remaining dcfMMMP must be fired by a fervid determination to build a new lift for all pM0MThere must be a spiritual reviva", i-, France, in G«.....?any...
...There's a curious undercurrent of the scandal, which 111 try to clarify...
...It came suddenly,*' Mr...
...t .To those who know South America, and par* tipularly Argentina, this mess smells of the agent provocateur and a Machiavellian plot to overthrow democracy in Argentina for the, benefit of the Rome-Berlin Axis...
...stand...
...In the 1938 municipal elections, Thorez assured the Catholics that there.were no more religious differences between them and the Communists...
...r ¦¦¦ .**The tragedy of human beings is that they have short memories," Mr...
...The only irregular profits made were made by politicians who supported democratic Ortiz...
...Italy...
...In general, there was no enthusiasm for the war in France...
...One of the largest firms in the United States lost money on only one Latin-American account over a period of several years...
...how difficult—because the same thing in dif...
...The real victim—his name has notappXJJ* in United States newspapers as yet—"* Carlos D. M?rquez, Minister of War...
...I was amazed at the unity and solidarity I found in EngUndWrjg people there, particularly the workers, know well what they are fighting #P They know that they are not fighting for England alone but for the whole.P civilization, for culture against barbarism and for a new social order agefl***-the old...
...The demoralization of the French troops extended to the French army in Syria, where General Mittelhauser, the commander, and his staff, wanted at first to continue fighting after the signing of the armistice, but were unable to do so when the troops revolted, demanding to be sent home...
...This was the Italian counterpart to the Stalinist game of cultivating the illusions propagated through the Communist participation in the Popular Front as regards the halt that Soviet Russia would give to France...
...There was to be no more class war...
...Spain and Jugoslavia...
...The Communist leaders knew well what the end of the Popular Front game was to he: a.mortal blow dealt by Moscow, in agreement with Hitler, at the morale of-the French people...
...Bismarck supported the national government of Thserf against the Commune...
...They played the role of super-patriotic Jacobins...
...The Bolsheviks and the Germans have been working in much closer collaboration than many imagine," Mr...
...made their way to London in a hazardous escape by sea...
...If the Germans find it necessary, they will deliberately stir up a ("ommumsi revolt in France...
...Laval, you will remember, went to Moscow in 1935 as premier and laid the foundation of the Franco-Russian alliance in an interview with Stalk Thati was the beginning of Moscow's cat-and-mouse game with France...
...went underground but the underground machinery was all set for action," he continued...
...j...
...on the other hand, was more inclined to understanding with Berlin...
...Secret Communis...
...The Communists are helping him energetically in this new tasto...
...Suppose we begin this way: ? The Argentine loot was a piker grab compared with the magnificent plunder of, say, ouf own Harding^ era...
...and the first misconception is that old wheeze about Latin-American dishonesty and graft...
...And that ..was what was attempted...
...In all probability, the rank and file of, the Fascists and Communists had not been aware that their work was being directed from one center, Mr...
...accusing finger was aimed at—and by resignation President Ortiz awakened Argentina to the dangers of the path her people,were treading...
...The cry of *no war' rang from all sides .of the Communist front...
...AH this machinery could'not possibly have beep improvised overnight...
...nations, a powerful faction which believes that the democratic system offers more opportunity for corruption than the so-called authoritarian—or totalitarian—system...
...Kerensky, who led the Russian Revolution of March, 1917, has just arrived in New York from England...
...Laval's aim was the creation of a bloc of France...
...Kerensky...
...Kerensky left Paris on June 12, the day before the Nazis entered the French capital and...
...Their basic idea was opposition to the alliance with England and a determination to obtain an understanding with Italy...
...The propaganda .waged by the Communists until the conclusion of the Stalin-Hitler pact, i. e., less than a fortnight before the outbreak of the war, was directed along the most militant, anti-Hitler lines...
...Contrary to all their previous assertions,.the French Communists told the people that they were not interested in this war, that it was a war begun by British and French imperialists, that ' Franco-British 'imperialism' had to be destroyed, and that the French people had no reason whatever to sacrifice their lives in support of the 'war mongers.' This propaganda was particularly violent among the workers, soldiers, students and youths...
...The sudden, violent volte-face executed by the Communists left the workers dazed, bewildered, bitter, without a compass...
...order to understand the pattern, one must attempt to understand Argentina—and that may be"difficult...
...The party was sharply divided between the pro-war adherents of Blum and the anti-war camp headed by Paul Faure, the secretary...
...Forewarned is fore-armed...
...Kerensky said...
...Kerensky explained...
...Flandin...
...There can be little doubt as to the character and purpose of his mission.' ..According, to Mr...
...The actuality • is that even small political pickings, which we take as a matter of course in...
...The mistakes ,.f Hie Argentiue Atotjff-be eliminated...
...The British went back to England...
...So successful were the Communists in their 'collective security* propaganda through the instrumentality of the Popular .Front that Duelos, was elected a vice-chairman of...
...The Palomar deal had to go throu^ •» Ministry of.Finance...
...There was the break-through at Sedan...
...Kerensky resided in France for many years and was intimately, associated with many of the Socialist and labor leaders of the country...
Vol. 23 • August 1940 • No. 35
