Delinquency Behind the Curtain
GEDYE, E. R.
Delinquency Behind the Curtain Satellite youths are revolting against the Communists By G.E.R. Gedye Vienna Newspapers in satellite countries, particularly Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland,...
...We have been indifferent to the barbaric and scandalous conditions in workers' clubs...
...On February 2, for example, the Tiybuna Robotuicza of Poland carried this story about young ruffians under the headline, "From Samba to the Gallows": "The causes of this behavior are to be found in a phenomenon which we usually call 'Bikinism' and 'hooliganism,' now so widespread that it has become a plague...
...Obviously, the hooliganism now sweeping through the satellite countries represents a revolt against the merciless Communist system...
...Gedye Vienna Newspapers in satellite countries, particularly Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland, have been devoting a great deal of space lately to the problem of controlling youth...
...On February 7, the Polish Home Service, in a Warsaw broadcast entitled "The Hooligans Must Be Liquidated," declared: "Hooliganism has become a problem which calls for immediate countermeasures The campaign against the zoot-suit boys has diverted attention from the sources of hooliganism...
...No one could possibly believe that a stray broadcast or modern dance tune, heard over the usually jammed Voice of America, is so effective that it undoes Communism's spadework and produces a wave of hooliganism...
...Now, however, articles about this group center around such terms as "hooliganism," "Bikinism" and "zoot-suit boys...
...Faced with all the state-provided opportunities for advancement, they prefer to indulge in alcoholism and hooliganism The various rights accorded to youth make young boys feel they can do anything they want...
...The younger generation, brought up under Communism as "perfect" citizens, used to be described in idyllic terms...
...The fashion in dress for boys and girls is anything which annoys the party Not only are children encouraged to spy on their parents, but teachers are forced to report any comments the children may innocently make among themselves in school on their parents' views Because some girls scrawled 'Don't be silly' on a poster headed 'Proletarians, awake.' the whole class was subjected to prolonged police investigation Older girls break down on the long night shifts and bitterly resent compulsory military training...
...Newspapers like Rumania's Gazeta Invatamantului and Czechoslovakia's Svobodne Slovo have been carrying similar stories...
...A more accurate appraisal of "the youth problem" appeared in the Nova Kuttara of December 6: "We have shown no concern for the individual The wrong conceptions are fundamentally our fault There are no instructions for vigilance regarding the conditions under which 'Bikinism' influences youth...
...By attaching foreign labels to the shenanigans of their own youth, Communist leaders hope to convince people at home and abroad that pressent difficulties are a result of foreign influence...
...And a young refugee who reached Vienna reported: "Youth in Czechoslovakia stands largely aloof from Communism...
...Which of these explanations is the correct one...
...Communist neglect and Even the argument that delinquency among Polish youths 15 to 20 years old is a result of the German occupation is unconvincing...
...Indeed, only two credible explanations can be given for this Iron Curtain youth problem: Either the Communist educational system produces hooligans, or they are the result of a revolt against the system's incessant pounding...
...But the world is fully aware of the indoctrination program their boys and girls are subjected to almost from birth...
...The mere fact that the press is carrying on a youth-behavior program is an indication of how serious the situation behind the Iron Curtain must be...
...Only one Pioneer [Young Communist] in ten is a real Communist...
...There must be an end to empty dogma and automatic slogans instead of youth education...
...Concerning similar demoralization among the youth of Hungary, the Communist Youth organ Szabad Ifjusag admitted on September 13: "We recruited 'tractor girls' but tolerated their being treated outrageously...
...It extends from monkey haircuts to pistol and knife, and from the daily bottle of spirits to armed attacks on persons and business, and finally from the samba and boogie-woogie to prison and the gallows The accused rejected the fine schools and books at their disposal in favor of drunkenness and a wild life...
...Many young boys cannot differentiate between good and evil...
...The answer to this question can be found in the official party newspapers of various satellite countries...
...The public must be aroused to fight hooliganism...
...They ignore the advice of parents, teachers and foremen In workers' hostels, little attention is paid to youth welfare even the flies there die of boredom...
...The Communists have had nine years to correct this...
...This broadcast, designed for home consumption, virtually admits that the rowdyism alarming rulers in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary is a direct result of Communist leaching...
Vol. 37 • April 1954 • No. 15
