THE POPE-ALLY OR ENEMY OF DEMOCRACY?
WISWELL, TOMMIE
Why J*w$ Should Go to Palestine from If. LfSOURD osd CAUL MM AM ?Oft EL P. in hi. letter to Tha New Leader (January 26,1946) misquoted Dr. Joseph Sehwarls end demonstrated lack of knowledf* both...
...Moreover, under the present stress and misery, in the desperate fight for daily bread, for peace and security, which still seem far off, the seeking of religious solsre is bound to Increase a hundredfold...
...Cnrnmey — To the Editor: , From ARTHUR FREUD In your article "The Pope and I," I am in full agreement with you about Stalin's speech...
...I realize, as you do, that we need allies in the tight agaii st Stalinism and Fascism, but those allies will not be found in Vatican City...
...Stronq Lies About Poland From an American Lieutenant who was raptured in Italy, taken to a POW German ramp in J'oland, "liberated" by the Russians, twice earaped from the Russians, hitch-hiked across Poland, and was repatriated from Odessa in an exchange of war prisoners...
...It pursues its own objectives, and its diplomacy, which throughout a thousand years has been second to none, has recently maneuvered with Fascists in Italy, Spain, and Argentina, while in France it took a determined stand against Nazism...
...When the Pope couples his pious words with denudations of these countries' rulers, I will have a little more faith in his liberal attitude...
...Although I did not see Miss Strong personally, I was in Poland when she was, and several of my acquaintances met her in Lodz...
...I never met a Pole who could not recite a list of crimes committed by the Russians, ranging from mass murder through rape to looting, who did not think that the Russians were responsible for the failure of Bor's Warsaw rising, and who'did not hold the Russians to be the equal of the Germans in brutality and savagery...
...Among the displaced Jews in Germany are about 60,000 Polish Jews and about 10,000 Hungarian Jews...
...He has a hard time to switch ever, to make the world forget his support and alliance with Fascists iu Italy, Slovenia, Rumania, Austria, and other Countries...
...For your ever-increasing succestt Washington, D. C...
...For a certain period, here and there, the Vatican may lie forced to tolerate Fascists, but it csn never lose sight of the fact that totalitarianism is intrinsically opposed to the international authority of every religion...
...P. again misquoted Dr...
...I walked with them on the highways, rode with them on trucks and refugee trains, lived with them on their fsrms and in their city homes...
...But you see, the Pope is only getting back from a lost position, just finding his bearings again in this "new victorious democratic" world...
...Just a short while after the Pope made his hypocritical address, we find his favorite Cardinal feasting and chumming with Franco's Fascists...
...Schwarts's statement, look like this: Rumania________ 262,600 Hungary_______________ 76,000 Poland________________________ 230,000 Germany_____________ 100,000 Sweden (refugees)_______ 12,000 Switzerland (refugees)_______ 38,000 Italy snd Balkans____________ 76,000 Slovakia ___________________.....„ 15,000 Total: 807,500 To these should be added about 50,000 to 100,000 displaced Jewish persons who live in Western Europe, but, in the words of (he Preliminary Memorandum which Dr...
...Let's realize that the hierarchy is the enemy of Socialism and the friend of reactionaries, monarchists, and Fascists...
...This means that even if all of the visas under the Polish mi.I Hungarian quota were given to the displaced Jews in German camps, H would take ten to twelve years before the 70,000 Polish and Hungarian Jews could be brought to the United State...
...It will throw a few crumbs (in the form of words) to the workers and then act in concert with the worst reactionaries (polite word for Fascists...
...I .el's not kid ourselves...
...Rather, let us go to all workers — Protestant, Catholic and Jew- with the message of organization and action...
...Joseph Sehwarls end demonstrated lack of knowledf* both as to the situation of the Jews in Europe end conditions ia Palestine...
...Hut I never met a Pole who did not hate the Russian...
...The natural growth of the Arabs is therefore not twice as high ss thst of the Jews but only about 50 percent higher...
...I am all for a crusade against nationalistic-aggressive Russia but as a Socialist I would not accept the Pope as an ally...
...The Pope - Ally or Enemy of Democracy...
...Instead, let's get after the intelligent and liberal Catholic with the message of Socialism...
...BOHN'S article stressed the humanitarian influence exercised by the Catholic Church in a world in which totalitarianism and the worship of ruthless strength are still menacing the democratic nations...
...The excellence of your work in the past year has l>een shown by Its frequent quotation in such journals as Tims...
...All through history the Catholic Church (but not Catholic individuals) has been against progress and liberalism...
...And what threatens us today is not resction, but totalitarianism...
...With such forces we cannot compromise or unite...
...It Is true that the Vatican has not carried on a consistent democratic policy everywhere...
...Even more important is the fact that, though the Vatican may sometimes reveal its authoritarianism, and reactionary tendencies, it hae never been totali-tai ion...
...4 -E...
...The United States immigration quota for Poland amounts to 6,624 persons yearly and for Hungary to 800 yearly...
...2—E...
...I was at the FEPC rally in Madison Square Garden, and the Catholic Church was conspicuous by its absence...
...One may, of course, venture to.estl-rnate that after a generation or two the number of Jews and non-Jews in Palestine (after a Jewish immigration of 860,-000) may equalize itself a* a r*«ult of the higher fertility of the Arab...
...He overlooked only a "minor" problem: the United States quota laws...
...You are very courageous in publishing your journal...
...Thar* are about 760,000 Jewa in North Africa and in the Middle East and soma of them wish to enter Palestine...
...I hope you will pardon my speaking so strongly, but I feel that to write anything but the plain truth about Poland is a miserable and heartless labor which no decent person would undertake...
...I wonder how the brave Catholic workers who died fighting these ssme butchers felt about thst...
...Schwartz submitted to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, "whose ultimate solution will have to be sought primarily through emigration...
...To do that, we do not have to kiss the hand of the Pope...
...7—The natural increase of the population in Palestine is not one percent a year for the Jew* and two percent for the Arabs, as E. P. maintains, but about two percent for the Jews and three percent for the Arabs...
...Joseph Schwartz testified before the hearings of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry (January 7, i»46) that about 600,000 (not 6(0,006) would like to go to Palestine...
...In exact figure*: 1943—Jews, 2.1 percent, eon Jews, 8.2 percent...
...Name withheld...
...Schwarti when he says: "In Dr...
...As long as Ihe Vatican persists iu this attitude, it helps ths cause of democracy...
...This time it is your unholy alliance with, of all people, the Pope...
...Many of them I found to Ire extremely leftist in their political and economic views: among the people with whom I lived were officials and employees of the Lublin government — some of them were Jews—and labor leaders...
...If today the Vatican takes the same unflinching stand against Communist totalitarianism in Catholic countries, it must be considered an ally of the democracies, at least for the part of the way now before us...
...1944—Jews, 2.3 percent, non-Jews, 3.4 percent...
...Thia is not a time when a strong ally ran be rejected for abstract reasons or because of differences on parochial schools, birth control, etc...
...Schwartz'* own statement we read that of 860,000 Jews, 76,000 desire to g* to Palestine (less than 26 percent...
...I hardly need say that I am opposed to Stalinism, but for the Soviet people, and opposed to the Catholic hierarchy, but for the Catholic workers...
...I encountered Pols* of every > lass and description, the big majority being peasants or city laborer...
...This means over 2(0,0001 .t—The correct figures, in accordance with Dr...
...In short, Miss Strong is not only writing s "slanted" propaganda story—she is writing a direct and damnable lie...
...We allied ourselves with Russia (nolens volens) in this war to get rid of one aggressor—only to see another coming up...
...Schwartz did not say 76,000 but stated that "at least 75 percent, if not more would wish to go to Palestine now...
...You mention only Spain...
...The number of those Jews in Europe who need to emigrate to Palestine will therefore amount to 850,000 to 900,000...
...Rather, they will be found in the people* of India, China, Japan, Europe and wJierever men are fighting for freedom and progreee...
...6—If 860,000 Jews coma into Palestine in the next five years, the Jewish popula-tion in 1961 will amount to about 1,560,-000 (600,000 for the present population, plus 860,000 immigration and 100,000 natural increases), while the non-Jewish population will amount to 1,266,000 (1,100,000 for the present population, plus 166,000 natural growth...
...And it was the Pope's representative in Austria, Cardinal Innitzer, who in 19.'t8 advised the people to vote "ia" for the Anschluss—signing o(T with "lleil Hitler...
...I am an Austrian...
...True, the Pope's speech was so much in con-trast, full of humanity and all the fine Words that go with it...
...I'o the Editor: I HAVE.just read your open letter on Poland in The New Leader, and I should like to offer my congratulations...
...This poor old world sorely needs the tonic of democratic Socialism to cure its many ills—let's not confuse the issue by suggesting the alliance of contrary force...
...I would not even put it past the Catholic Church to make * deal with Stalin, n it suited their purposes—in fact, I predict just such a pact will eventually be made...
...The Jewish majority will come to some 900,000 and not 70,000...
...In this sense the Vatican may be considered an ally of the democracies which are now, in fact, engaged in a bitter struggle against authoritarianism in many parts of the globe...
...The underestimation of the influence of religion has been a mistake, of which liberals and Socialists have often been guilty...
...We [relieve that it is s Christian duty of every progressive-thinking American to see that justice be done to the million and a half Jews in Europe who have nowhere to lay their heads and the majority of whom face the prospect of building their homes over the unmarked graves of their loved ones...
...you have a further duty of making yourself known to those who do not yet know The New Leader...
...but do not JUjt us forget that Tiso in Slovenia, An-tonesro in Rumania, Papen in Germany, received the highest Papal Decorations in the midst of their Fascist activities...
...OUR READERS TELL US From ANDREW W. GREEN To the Editor: I ENCLOSE $6 for subscriptions for two of my friends...
...Free* TOMMff WIS WELL f» Me sTsbfer...
...That, I believe, was always your stand too (and Of all intelligent Socialists) until you allowed yourself to be taken in by mere word*—words belied by actions taking place as your lines were being written...
...P. mentions the fact that the Jews in Germany -wish to emigrate to the United States and concludes "given a chance the majority would come to the States...
...Only when an outraged world has tumbled them from their seats of power will he dare to raise his voice—and then, only to try and ingratiate himself with the new party in power...
...Deliberately shutting our eyes to the fact that the influence the church sways over large masses in all nations, amounts to disregarding a social force of supreme importance...
...But even the figure of 860-900,000 Jaws from Europe would serve to "upset" all calculations of E. P. about the number of Jaws and Arabs in Palestine...
...This is how the political Catholic Chinch behaves—if given the power...
...From their description it sounded like the usitsl conducted tour —she wss in Lodz, I believe, to view ths scene of some Germsn atrocities, In any case, as 1 told you last spring, I traveled across .Poland evading and avoiding the Russians—from Posen to Lublin on my own...
...and 1 am afraid the same would happen in accepting the help of the political church...
...Do not let us forget that Dollfuss built the new "Christliche Staat" based on the Quadragesimo Anno issued by Pope Pius XL, and backed it up by militant clerical troups (Heimwehr) which finally led to the bloodshed against the Socialists in Austria and the establishment of a complete totalitarian government of Schuschnigg...
...It reminded me so much of Hitler all over, relying on a strong army...
...The Catholic dictators in Spain, Portugal and Argentine are as bsd, if not worse, than the Stalin regime...
...The Spellmsn incident is important on y because it symbolizes the attitude of the Catholic Church (yesterday, today and tomorrow...
...Don't forget, too, thst they are the sworn enemies of Socialism, by their own words...
...1—Dr...
...From ALEXANDER ROSS Tb.th* Editor: Or...
...6— The potential reservoir for Jewish immigration to Palestine la not limited to the 860-900,000 parsons in Europe was seek admittance to Palestine, ft tikes*, this is • pressing necessity...
...1 HAVE enjoyed Th* New Leader for years, and the Home Front column in particular, but once In a great while I read something in it which makes me mad...
...But all such long-range estimates are of no practical use since the Arabs are likely, as in the rase of other people, to reduce their fertility with continued economic development and urbanization...
...We' must not let our hatred of Stalinism push us into company just as reactionary...
Vol. 29 • March 1946 • No. 10
