MUST OFFER RUSSIAN PEOPLE 'THIRD CHOICE'
Dneproff, V. & Spassky, A.
Dear Editor: The New Leader encourages all letters, irrespective of subject or point of view. This is your department; let's htar from you. So that w* can print the groatest number of divergent...
...The Russian people found themselves between two fires and here love for their native land played the decisive role...
...Of this there is fresh evidence every day, furnished by the thousands who continue to fee to the West...
...But the Germans (or to be more exact the Nazis) soon showed their true aims...
...Calif...
...The war came to an end The hopes— if there ever were any—wilted The MVD, the Stakhanovite tempo, and kolkhoz serfdom returned in full force...
...The Arniy, the tvhitecollar class artd, heedless to say, the workers ahd peasants will welcome a change which will bring the people freedom from poverty and hunger, and what is most important, freedom from ever-present fear...
...But habit is hard to break...
...Chamberlin seeks to equate to a certain extent the attitude of the peoples of Russia in these two periods...
...ism as doctrine but against Communism in action...
...IN COMPARING the Civil War period of 1917-1920 with World War II, Mr...
...Dneproff was e lawyer in the Ukraine, and Mir...
...on the other hand, this country can illafford the loss of your stimulating paper...
...Counts' article on the "cultural and scientific conference for world peace...
...At the beginning of the Russo-German war there was general hatred of the Soviet-Communist regime, but the means bf translating this hatred into action were not present...
...The extermination of millions of Jews, the tormenting of Red Army prisoners with inhuman working conditions and semi-starvation, the seizure of millions of peaceful inhabitants for forced labor in Germany, and the complete absence of what the author calls "the third choice"—a choice to which the Russian people could orient themselves, a choice where they would find support—soon changed this picture...
...Spassky an engineering professor in Leningrad, before the war...
...This contribution I can ill-afford...
...are now in the United States...
...The Soviet power depicted antiBolshevik and self-determination movements as a return to the old preRevolutionary order...
...I was especially pleased to read Prof...
...the peasantry failed to give active support to anti-Bolshevik forces...
...N. Y. Must Offer Russian People Third Choice' From V. DHEPR6fF and A. SPASSKY (The authors of this* letter, both Russian forced laborers in Germany during the war...
...And above all the Russian people must be offered a third choice...
...People" in The New Leader of April 9, 1949...
...Enclosed please find a money order...
...It fully Justified my previous emphatic refusal to have anything to do with it...
...The German armies, during the first phase of the war, were welcomed in many villages with flowers...
...The real third choice—the Western democracies and above all the United States — were friends and allies of the Soviets, friends of Stalin...
...A FEW WORDS in conclusion with respect to the author's assertion that "The Soviet power is not only Stalin or the Politburo (but also) a broad ruling class that has a Vested interest in Its continuance...
...The New Leader should be required reading in all colleges, by the officers of all unions, and by all legislators...
...The Marshall plan and particularly the signing of the North Atlantic Pact show that the democratic world understands the necessity for taking realistic defense measures not against Commun...
...Undue reliance ori propaganda at the expense of military preparation would of course be foolhardy...
...TWENTY YEARS LATER, when the Germans invaded Russia, precisely the same peasantry—still the majority of the population—took a clear-cdt hostile attitude toward the Soviet-Communist regime...
...Gritting their teeth and repressing in the depths of their hearts their old and bitter hatred of the Soviet regime, the peoples of Russia went forward to beat the Nazis...
...I cannot understand why you do not raise your subscription price from $3.00 to $5.00...
...William H Chamberlin's article "USSR: Government vs...
...Your paper is worth $5.00, and if it costs ^hat to put it out, I see no reason why you should be ashamed to charge it...
...From HOUSE JAMESON You are doing a magnificient job...
...And this Soviet effort had a considerable degree of success...
...I need hardly add that I often disagree with you...
...I doubt if you would lose hardly any of your present subscribers, though it might deter new subscriptions...
...These two periods are not really comparable...
...Berkeley...
...Reader Urges Us To Raise Prices from NEIL E. FALCONER I RECEIVED MY COPY of the paper today and noted your appeal for funds...
...We agree that one must not oversimplify the problem of "an evil government and a good people" and on this basis neglect measures of military preparedness in reliance on the Success of psychological warfare...
...But if it is a choice of evils, I Wonder if you have not overestimated the evil of raising your price...
...During the Civil War the population and particularly the peasantry had no clear concept of what the Soviet regime would bring and so adopted an attitude of neutrality...
...Hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops surrendered...
...WITH A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST we read Mr...
...New York...
...The peasants, having become masters of the soil in the course of the revolution, were afraid of a monarchist restoration and the return of the landowners...
...All other magazines, I believe, have raised their prices either during or since the war...
...So that w* can print the groatest number of divergent opinions on divtrse subjects, we requtst you limit your letters to 250 words or less...
...When the War started, it seemed as if the floodgates had finally broken...
...While it is true that there is a top layer with a vested interest in the survival of the Soviet regime, this is not a broad class, but only a comparatively narrow caste consisting of the top level of me party < and of course of the MVD...
...We — who lived a quarter of a century under the rule of the Soviets and "choose freedom" as soon as the opportunity presented itself — should like, however, to add a few words based on our personal experience...
...Many Methodists dislike to have members of their group like Harry Ward and Jack McMichael lending their names and influence continually to communist front movements of this kind...
...He argues that the Soviet regime, if it did not have the active support of most of the people, had, in any event, their passive acquiesence...
...But these men do not represent the RUssiah people...
...There was no "third choice" ti be seen on the horizon...
...They were joined by Te>.?ran, Yalta and Potsdam...
...The Nazis were the foreign oppressors who in addition had deceived us in our hopes of liberation from the Communist yoke...
...Fan Mail Comes From NY, Reno From EDWARD LAIRD MILLS YoUH INFORMED and discriminating analysis of current social and political developments is invaluable...
...Both are now members of the Russian League for People's Freedom...
...First Methodist Church Reno, Nevada...
...But it is equally wrong to ignore the temper cf Jthc peoples of Russia...
...The hatred increased...
Vol. 32 • April 1949 • No. 17
