JUSTICE DEPT TRAVESTY
DALLIN, DAVID J.
East and West Justice Dept Travesty By David J. Dallin IN HIS LETTER TO The New Leader. June 11, James Farrell has drawn anew public attention to an issue of great importance— the case of the...
...This column is in the nature of a letter to all of the friends who have put these questions to me, and who, apparently, approve my qualifications fordiscussing them...
...In addition, groups of revolutionary emigres from Poland, Russia, Germany, Italy and Spain have found a haven and political freedom in this country...
...But, having joined, why do they stay so long' One of my closest friends, a sincere, kind thoughtful and intelligent man, remained in tht .Communist Party 16 years...
...People m this situation knew that the Communists will do their best to bedevil them—and they suspect the reception the rest of us will accord them...
...I sat in the courtroom while Louis Budenz was testifying and saw the looks of hate shot at him by the 11 Communist leaders...
...These great liberties were a source of legitimate pride to Americans...
...tated and credits will probably be granted, at] the abyss between Belgrade and Moscow in-1 evitably deepens, and Tito starts systematically.I to doublecross Stalin...
...Consisting of dissident Communists, are divided among themselves over a number of issues, but they are unanimous in their attitude toward "Stalin- " ' ism,"'official Communism, and the Cominform...
...There is no democratic procedure...
...Whittaker Chambers, when he cut loose, Went to an isolated farm and kept his gun handy...
...So does The New Leader, as we know from a previous editorial on the Kutcher case...
...I support that demand," Farrell says...
...Subordination to Moscow waB the reasorf why new political methods had to be applied to the Communist party...
...I have talked with some of them under circumstances conducive to utter frankness...
...When people get into the Communist movement and find out what it is like, what makes them stay so long...
...A mutual, insurmountable "* hate burns in the hearts of both Stalinists and Trotskyttes...
...A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER of "subversive" political groups have been active in the United States during the last eighty years...
...Leaders deny today what they said yesterday...
...I am just about the most normal, average and ordinary sort of American citizen you could find...
...If tomorrow the Soviet government were replaced, all public interest in American Communism would immediately vanish...
...In October, 1948, Kutcher was fired and his case has since been under review...
...What has changed is his foreign policy...
...Revolutionaries of all shades formed groups, published periodicals, and issued manifestos in this country...
...it does not enjoy any significant popular support...
...The reason why certain young men join a party like the Communist is that they are sensitive, they have imagination and they are dissatisfied' with what may be called the standard promise of American life...
...Pietro, in 1943, lost both legs: Having learned to walk on artificial limbs he found a minor job with the Veteran's Administration in Newark, N. J., classifying wage scales under a training program...
...Among the multitude of Soviet spy cases brought to light in Canada, Japan and the United States, not one single Communist dissident has been implicated, while Communist fellow-travellers were often involved...
...Without Moscow's support he has gradually become cautious...
...Anarchists, advocating overthrow by force and abolition of all governments, were free to preach their gospel...
...THIS DEEPER SATISFACTION the Comma nist movement promises them...
...They demand inner satisfaction...
...He did not deny that after the war he resumed membership in the Socialist Workers party...
...Heaping obloquy on him, as is being done in the current trials ami investigations, is wrong...
...For men who are talented, to whom success comes easily, merely making a living—¦ or even making a fortune—is mere child's play...
...Anyone who values his reputation will think long and hard before braving the sort of slander which they can spread...
...My experience with Communists has been considerable...
...its influence on the labor movement is infinitesimal...
...Foster and hi: followers talk in terms of saving the worldwhich, to sensitive young men, sounds bettei than saving money...
...Thousands of Communist dissidents have been put to death in Russia, hundreds driven to suicide, and Leon Trotsky himself was killed by the NKVD in Mexico...
...By itself, the party would be unimportant: it has not achieved any Orsetoral success...
...A Communist party has existed for almost three decades now, and its subversive program and 'tactics have been well known to the public, as well as to the authorities...
...I may not know all about them, but I think I am in a position to outline some of their motivations...
...I heard the efforts to besmear him...
...We should make it clear to all Communists that, once they really break loose from Bolshevik ways, we shall receive them back into sooiety at full human beings...
...After we have won, these things will be straightened out...
...Kutcher is demanding a public hearing for himself and for his party...
...The theories of Marxism Leninism explain the imperfections of the pres ent and point alluringly to a better life to come Having more rapidly acquired learning thar practical experience, the young idealists sign i red card and accept the tough discipline ol Communism...
...The new member soon begins to notice things which fail to jibe with his ideals...
...What makes it formidable is its connection with the government of a great power...
...If a man is willing to run the danger and unpleasantness of this sort of thing, the least we can do is honor him for his courage...
...The Home Front Without a Card By William E. Bohn PERHAPS IT IS BECAUSE of the publicity about Whittaker Chambers, Alger Hiss, Dr...
...No systematic loyalty checks were ever necessary, no purges were conducted...
...Similarly, our and Britain's attitude toward Yugoslavia Changed: trade with it will be facili...
...They accept Lenin and Marx, but violently reject Stalin and Molotov...
...Frank F. Oppenheimer and a whole galaxy of brilliant young men, but wherever I go nowadays I am asked the same questions: How does it happen that so many fine, talented, idealistic young people turn Communist...
...and all loyalty checks and trials would become unnecessary...
...As the antagonism of {he Soviet Union toward this nation assumed dangerous proportions, the American Communist party became Russia's willing tool, reservoir of informants, spies and saboteurs...
...Soon he discovers that the penalties of desertion are heavy...
...J Whether dr not the Kutcher case is uniquejj the travesty of justice committed—involving at it does principles of foreign policy and the dem-i ocratic conduct of home affairsP-can have gravel' consequences...
...Backed by Moscow he was aggressive' and insolent, as in his attacks on Venecia Giulia and Austria and the shooting at American flyers' over Yugoslavia...
...Leaving them means pulling away from friends, giving up activities, habits, ways of life...
...you can make money...
...His investment in Communism is piling up...
...They answer: What is called a good job is not enough and making money doesn't interest us...
...June 11, James Farrell has drawn anew public attention to an issue of great importance— the case of the legless war veteran James Kutcher, who was dismissed from a governmental post not long ago because of his membership in a Trotskyite party...
...They can rejoin the human race without making out any card...
...Questions about Russia are not answered satisfactorily...
...None of my friends did precisely that, but I know a number who secured inconspicuous jobs and did their best to drop out of sight...
...It would be absurd to surmise that Moscow secret agents are disguised as Trotskyites...
...Their philosophy is a cross between revolutionary romanticism, "proletarian" exclusiveness, and negation of hardboiled Realpolitik...
...America says to them: You oan^get a good job...
...Richard Armour...
...But all the time he is*getting in deeper...
...Tito remains the same ruthless dictator he was before...
...James Kutcher belonged to the Socialist Workers party before the war...
...What ought we to do about them after they finally cut loose...
...It involves going from a warm, tight, active society out into a cold world...
...But, because the party was put oil the "subversive" list by the Department of Justice, he automatically became "disloyal...
...He was drafted, sent to Italy, and in the battle at St...
...Many of the most conspicuous ones, beginning with William Z. Foster, I knew long before there was a party called Communist...
...The young member is uneasy, but he says to himself: "These are just matters of temporary tactics...
...RES HOVER, COME OVER The happiest 6! Cortrniuniiii, Without regard to mxii, Af* thoee who've ]ttst unclenched their felt And learned to irSile—the exes...
...I often asked hhr Vhy it took him so long to get out,' and as ofter he patiently tried to explain...
...And this brings me to the only practical point of this little essay: our attitude towards exCommunist§ is all wrong...
...Can you trust a person who has traveled with a crowd like that...
...Many who have left the Communist party I knew before, and have known during and since their time in "the movement...
...the Yugoslav danger te Italy aftd Austria has now abated...
...TROTSKYITE GROUPS...
...That communist ideology7 It not always identli cal with Soviet policy became manifest last year, when the Cominform broke with Marshal Tito...
...Has something changed now, to make a deviation from the traditional course necessary...
...For the first time, a revolutionary group has chosen to serve the purpose of a foreign government, and one which considers itself an implacable enemy of the United States...
Vol. 32 • June 1949 • No. 26
