Where the News Ends

CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY

Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN No Fifth Column Army Leadership! AN advertisement which recently appeared in the newspapers expressed the view that "the only ' sound policy for a...

...At home the underground anti-Fascists aided the Allied armies heroically and effectively...
...But the slavish loyalty of the Communist to Moscow has nothing in common with the generous spirit which led Abraham Lincoln to condemn the Mexican War, that caused liberal Englishmen to incur obloquy by opposing the Boer War and other imperial...
...and Congress should demand its Immediate reversal...
...The argument is used on behalf of commissioning Communists that some of them proved their courage and loyalty in the late war...
...Some other country right or wrong" is just as immoral and much more dangerous to national safety than "My country right or wrong...
...Since the expulsion of the Germans, the revival of democratic political life has been rapid and energetic...
...No foreign commissions were required...
...baa ?· aro per relation to his qualifications as an officer...
...The punishment of Fascist criminals was promptly taken in hand by police, courts and the liberation forces...
...They are advance guards of Soviet imperialism...
...Give the Italians a Chance THE first task of the London Conference 0f Ministers will be to devise a treaty which will restore Italy to her place In the community of nations...
...But one article of the Communist faith has remained unchanged: that the Soviet Union is always right...
...and physical, must be passed...
...Whether a man is a radical or a conservative, an individualist or a eetWtiviat, a Catholic, Protestant, Jew or agnoolH...
...For the Communist parties outside of Russia have long lost any right to be considered Independent groups advocating a drastic program of political and economic change...
...This is a professional status for which many may apply, but comparatively few are Chosen...
...Should any Communist criticize publicly sny feature pf Soviet policy, foreign or interns!, expulsion from the party would be an automatic result...
...The conduct of Communists in such a war is no gauge of how they might behave in a conflict is which the .N'ociet Union was an enemy or an unfriendly neutral Huppone that Hitler had not attacked the Hot iet Union in 1941, but had concentrated kia efforts on severini the life-line* of the british Kaapirc...
...Even in the war as it took place there were several easily conceivable situations in which a Communist in high military office would have been an embarrassment...
...But the examples which have been cited surely radicate that in this hair-trigger age it is an unreasonable risk to grant a military commission to a man who, by the very tenets of his faith, must be presumed to cherish at best a dual loyalty, with a distinct priority for Moscow...
...More of that spirit is needed, if international law and equity are ever to be established on a Arm basis...
...It is surely not unreasonable tu require as one of these fest* * reasoHabl» presumption of undivided loyslity to democracy under the constitutional govern' «on( of the United Statte, And this is a ieti which no Communist could plausibly meet...
...There are many reasons why this status should be altered...
...It was obvious to all observers that the masses of the people were on our side rather than on that of the enemy...
...Could be reasonably be expected to be impartial in his reports on the Yenan regime, er in any.action which might express American policy...
...Any position short of this, according to the signer* of the advertisement, "would constitute a denial of constitutional rights, would fail to utilise all qualified soldiers and would undermine national unity...
...Or let us imagine that a Communist officer received an assignment to China...
...The matter of the restoration of the Italian colonies is, therefore, raised above any considerations connected with the punishment of a former foe...
...What slant would he almost inevitably give to propaganda messages and broadcasts...
...A democratic Italy, carrying on in collaboration with a reconstructed France, is essential to the rehabilitation of Europe...
...Political parties have been rapidly re-famed under ener-getic leadership...
...Unless the Italians are promptly given their chance to set up a stable democratic government, the Stalin dictatorship may be able to push across the Adriatic into the heart of Europe...
...This, however, happened to be a war in which the Soviet Union was a participant on the same side...
...Such a predilection, in the case of most countries, would be an individual accident...
...No nation can be expected to carry on a democratic government and conduct itself in a responsible manner as a member of the family of nations unless it has a substantial economic base...
...The soldiers fought as little as possible and with obvious reluctance...
...A prosperous and democratic Italy will add one more atrategically located link in the chain of European countries which can be depended upon to hold at least a part of Europe lined up on the democratic side...
...But there ia no such thing as an inherent constitutional rght to be an officer...
...It is important that this treaty should give Italy every opportunity to resume an influential place in the world, and almost equally important that it should he signed at once...
...Others, including no doubt many of the religious and educational figures whose names appear, have been attracted by the specious liberalism of the appeal and have not thought through its implications...
...We want no fifth columnists in our Army leadership, and this remains as true in peacetime as in wartime...
...To play their part, the Italians must be given the possibility of restoring their agriculture and their industry...
...dbtmusli there would be no justification, under a democratic system, for barring anyone from ad vanceaaent in military service because of his idea*, political, economic or religio...
...It could conceivably happen on rare occasions thst an American, through some accident of birth or education, would conceive such an Immoderate predilection for England, France, China or some other foreign country as to favor Its interests unconsciously against America's...
...Sow* are well-known fello* travelers whs never paas up a chance to aign a pro-Communist manifesto...
...If, as the advertisement suggests, it ia War Department policy to grant commissions to Communists, this is a highly unsound policy...
...In the case of Russia such a predilection is a "must" in the case of the foreign fifth-column Communist parties...
...It should be noted that the Communist is not an independent thinker who repudiates the slogan "My country, right or wrong" and reserves the right to condemn his own country if it commits some act of international wrong or injustice...
...not an-aid, to the national cause...
...Britain and the United States have every reason for insisting that the treaty be signed now and that it be of such a character as to give the Italians the opportunity to stage a real renaissance...
...Severe tests, mental, mora...
...o CoMMUNISTS throughout the world have obediently and repeatedly chan (red "their" minds on every subject under the sun, from the permissibility of coalitions with "bourgeois" and "social-fascist" parties to the merits of free enterprise and the two-party system in America...
...The government headed by Premier Ferrueio i'arri is probably the most representative provisional government In Europe, Under conditions of great difficulty it is proceeding as rapidly as possible to create stable conditions and a constitutional government...
...Whatever the Allied powers can do to make Italy a going eon-rern must be done with all speed...
...The signatories are a varied group...
...There are important reasons why everything possible should be done to put Italy back en its feet both economically and politically...
...Would the consequence, in all probability, not have been the same as if a Soviet intelligence officer had picked up this enormously important piece of information...
...Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN No Fifth Column Army Leadership...
...Is there anything ia th* Commnniat record ap to Juno 21, 1941, to suggest that they would have be*n ardent supporters of the American cause if our iavotveaaenl la war with Nasi Germany had taken place ander each eircamatancew...
...The question of what one thinks of Communist philosophy is not involved...
...Such a man would not be a happy choice as a military officer or as a diplomat...
...AN advertisement which recently appeared in the newspapers expressed the view that "the only ' sound policy for a democracy" ia to make Communists and Communist sympathizers eligible for commissions in the armed forces...
...The fundamental issue involved, the Impropriety and dana*jr of promoting to positions of trust and responsibility in our armed forcen men who, by their avowed philosophy, are under strong pressure to act as fifth columnists for a foreign power is ingenuously overlooked...
...Suppose a Communist had learned the secret of the atomic bomb...
...It ia such considerations as this which should control the council of Foreign Ministers in reaching their decision...
...Or assume that a high ranking Communist infiltrated into some Army propaganda service...
...His insistence on throwing .the Italian colonies into s pool of dependencies, to be controlled by a United Nations authority, shows that be has his far-roving eye on advancing his power int* the Mediterranean area...
...The report from Condon that the signing of a peace treaty is to be postponed caused justified alarm git over the democratic world...
...There is a smug little note to the effect that this advertisement is "published as a public service" by the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties...
...Hup pes* that this had brooght him into ronlirt with the United Statos, with the Soviet Cnn-a adhering to a policy of friendly aeatralky toward Germany...
...Thus far she has been treated as an enemy...
...ventures, that animated Russian liberals and revolutionaries in the nineteenth century when they condemned Tsarist Policies in Poland and the Caucasus...
...The Italians have proved by their actions that the government which pulled them into the war on the side of the Axis eruepy misrepresented them...
...One could go on with this list of hypothetical cases indefinitely...
...Postponement of the treaty, by increasing the distress of the Italians, would add to the chances of Communist—and ultimately Russian —control of Italy...
...Generalissimo Stalin objected at Potsdam to nuking the Italian treaty the first business of the Council of Foreign Ministers...

Vol. 28 • September 1945 • No. 36


 
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