THE NEW SPY CASE
DALLIN, DAVID J.
The New Spy Case By David J. Dallin JUDITH COPLON and Valentin Gubkaev, arrested for espionage last week, deserve special attention as interesting personalities. Tha type of spy described In...
...Tha type of spy described In history books, thriller novels, and movies is a low and corrupt individual ready to do anything -moral or Immoral—and to cell his services to any or all buyers...
...But scores and perhaps hundreds of her colleagues of both sexes continue to spy in all sorts of American agencies...
...Schools have the obligation to deal with these teachers in such a way that they will feel free to do their best work, to think and speak and act so that they can give to their students the best that is in them...
...This is why democracy has to be "made use of" in every possible way...
...a network of legal pro cedure and immunities is its other trait Little is known about Valentin Gubichev himself...
...in all simplicity, that you ought to hire anyone who has the requisite degrees and guarantee him job security, may have the best of intentions, but they give little evidence of having thought the matter through...
...i But my charge against Communist is even more serious than this...
...But among men who know Communists best, this statement will be approved...
...And as the cigarette advertisers intone, among the men who know Communists best, they are not recommended as educators, I have spent almost nil my life at school...
...There should be on eVery campus a healthy competition of ideas...
...Even the reactionaries, even the narrow-minded ones, could be good in' ¦trustors...
...It is widely realized that it is a vital point in running a democratic society...
...They despise democracy because it is so easy to subvert it—because do/ens of Gubichevs and scores of Coploni quietly continue their work...
...Tryve Lie wax consistently protected s his personns and tried to convince the United Stai^ Government of their integrity...
...She served only one country...
...Fro in our very good friend, Dr...
...And that is a part of what education is to accomplish...
...It was hypocritically called "explaining Russia in Russian terms...
...and to the United Nations...
...The effect was helpful and healthful...
...but in the end I found it instructive and profitable...
...Broadus Mitchell, we received a fine letter presenting a contrary view...
...Ilardl, any liberal, no matter how broad minded, will urge us to hire traitor to teach in our public schools...
...Tn« Soviet Union, ol course, employs a multitude of spies of this traditional brand and, in competition with other powers' agencies, has to remunerate them well for their service's...
...DEMOCRACY means freedom to recruit traitors and educate spies"— such is the prevailing notion in Moscow as well as among leading Communists throughout the world...
...But were they available to Judith Coplon...
...S li e received little, if any, payment...
...What is more, she was interested in the "fundamentals of life" and possessed a "great gift of righteous indignation...
...In Judith Coplon we see a new type of spy: a girl above average in intellect, in moral conduct, in devotion to public affairs, and with that force of "righteous indignation" which creates heroes, traitors, saints, and spies...
...In his cool and cynical attitude toward the United Nations, Lavivnti Beria, the real head of all Soviet secret service, no doubt demands justification for every dollar spent in connection with this superfluous organization and fof every man released for service at Lake Success...
...THE POINT AT ISSUE is whether Communism is just one faith among many—to be treated with as much respect, let us say, as Mohammedism, Anarchism, or the Single Tax...
...IN THE SCHOOLS in which I have taught I have known teachers with every possible conviction...
...They do this despite the fact that they live in a country where facts and truth are readily available...
...If this case had occurred soon after the Soviet revolution, revolutionary excitement and romanticism might have explained it...
...An educational system should offer its students the greatest possible variety...
...They reject the basic ties which hold our society together...
...I doubt whether it has ever been adequately discussed or whether any comprehensive set of principles relating to it has ever been drawn up...
...Mitchell meets this argument by equating Communism with all faiths "sincerely and strongly held...
...Their minds are closed...
...Judith was graduated in 1943 and a few years later went to work for the Department of Justice...
...never to talk to his colleagues about his special assign, ments, and who in this country *s his actiial superior, contrary to tyie formal allegiance to Mr...
...They believe that it is all right for them to lie and cheat and steal...
...This view is widely held...
...It is very much to our credit that so many persons are concerned about this problem...
...tft IT HOT MONSTROUS that present-day Russia, under Stalin's government, can still appear to honest and intelligent Americans as a land where high ideals of social justice are being carried out...
...To her, Soviet Russia was the incarnation of her ideals of social justice, the fulfillment of her quest for a better world...
...Now French Italian and English Communists hav openly acknowledged this fact...
...I, too, was expelled as a teacher in a prominent university' At the time it Was a painful experience...
...And now we see this girl, a Barnard College graduate, becoming—in her search for justice and equity - a secret informant of the Soviet government...
...He was a riproaring Republican, and he argued for high tariffs openly in the history t|,.- .. But it was honest and open argument...
...If this sort of things is to be l'tmdne and effective, teachers as well ns students must be open-minded, and hospitable to ideas...
...Most of the discussions in newspapers and magazines referring to the ejections at the University of Washington and similar incidents—are extremely superficial...
...Great and rich American foundations appropriated huge sums for "objective" studies of Russia- which always meant that a few conscious Soviet apologists were conducting the studies...
...Since the...
...Before being sent away to serve in the United States, every one of these Gubichevs is instructed on how to behave and from whom to take orders...
...We could- and did—argue back...
...Even during the t wenties, the...
...These were the years when criticism of Soviet policies were virtually banned, when Stalin's wisdom, foresight, and entire career were being eulogized throughout this country...
...To them human life is not sacred...
...Judith Coplon has been arrested...
...If in his day at school the pupil meets Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, Catholics, Protestants and, perhaps, an occasional outspoken unbeliever, he will have a fair chance to make up his mind about the conflicting ideologies of our time...
...He would say that if faith in Communism unfits a man for teaching then fealty to any religion or political doctrine or group would do so as well...
...When I return to my native village in Ohio tha one grave that I visit is that of my former country high school teacher...
...adoration of the Soviet land might not have been too surprising...
...Textbooks on Russia replete with horrible falsifications and outright lies were used to educate the new generation of Americans...
...Since then I have seen a good deal of many sorts of educational institutions...
...And where will you draw the line...
...Those most entitled to speak arp those who know the Communists best...
...Students should be given the inspiration that springs from rivalry and debate...
...Trygve Lie...
...I am taking for granted that any board or president or superintendent will hire only instructors who have adequate professional training...
...These were the shameful years when a former ambassador, Joseph E. Davies, publicly justified the worst manifestations of Soviet tei rorism...
...and fe.'ow-travelers enjoyed priority In the State Department and in the White House...
...But, we said, ComkuuuikU are, by definition, unfit to par-tteiprUo in such a world of free exchsnge...
...Not because they are different from the rest of us, but because they are actively and insiduously against all that we hold sacred—and because it is in line With their belief and practice to deceive and befuddle the trusting yoiing — I want to keep Communists out of our schools...
...are traitors to.their country —that is if they are not Russians...
...My belief, which I inadequately expressed in that editorial, is that it is not...
...In the forties, however, after purges and trials, kolkhozes and man-made famines, Hitler pacts and predatory wars, it is horrifying that young men and women can still consider a most cruel and barbaric regime as the fulfillment of their dreams...
...BUT THE COMMUNIST does not ti into this picture...
...The problem of how teachers should lie selected and dealt with is one of the most important aspects of public policy...
...The individual human being has no right...
...Judith Coplon was a spy by conviction...
...Our argument was one which is old stuff among educators...
...Among them have been conservative Republicans, Socialists, Anarchists, free thinkers, Catholics, members of every Protestant sect and men and women who had no conscious allegiance to any faith or party...
...They are already committed...
...argument turns on the nature of Communism and Communists, I. will not admit every good liberal as an equal in this discussion...
...Nothing about the belief or allegiance of any of them unfitted them for their tasks...
...Writers who say...
...But—bebeve it or not—practically all of these folks were good, honest, successful teachers...
...Some weeks ago The New Leader published an editorial in which we took the position that educational administrators arc justified in not hiring or retaining Communists as instructors...
...It was Mr...
...She was not prepared to sell her information and documents to any other government...
...in seminars, boys and girls were competing in praise of the Soviet Union...
...The reason is that hi is not honest...
...American ''.scholars" as educators of future spies are one of these possible features ol democracy...
...I have not proved it...
...The are not merely traitors to our country They are traitors to our civilization...
...I am conscious of the fact that I have merely stated my case...
...Her teachers and colleagues confirm her "integrity,, modesty, fair play, public spirit and enthusiasm...
...The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN Communists in Education ABOUT THIS MATTER of the discharge of Communist professors k at the University of Washington the country is—and should be—acutely sensitive...
...when American magazines wert> serving their readers proSoviet meals, and when from the highest officials nothing but praise was heard of the Soviet system...
...What has appealed sensational, however, is the'fact Oat the spy was an employee of the United Nations...
...Is it surprising that, under the circumstances, out of these thousands of boys and girls a few should have gone further than some of their cowardly professors and drawn all the conclusions...
...professors often used a new device for laudatory description of Soviet Russia...
...He evei protected journalists accredited to tin United Nations when their mandates were phony and their assignments very suspicious...
...From all over the country liberals of all sorts make parallel arguments...
...He is a liar, a conniver In the editorial which I mentioned above, we said that followers of Stalit...
...He is told to take on oath and promptly break it...
...They are, therefore, as unfitted for teaching «" a one-legged man is for a race or a blind man for baseball...
...IM COLLEGES ajad universitlss...
Vol. 32 • March 1949 • No. 11
