The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Norman Thomas At Seventy I CAUGHT Norman Thomas, whose seventieth birthday is being observed by countless friends and admirers, as he was about to take wing on a...
...Nixon was especially abominable...
...My wife has felt as I have about the toughness of our sort of life??and we have been happy...
...As the servant of this party, you have campaigned for the Presidency six times, for the Mayoralty twice, for the Governorship twice, and for a seat on the City Council once...
...What goes on under the Laborites in Britain and under so-called capitalist parties in America differs only in degree...
...You knew that this party would never make a success at the polls...
...We cannot," he said, "keep up this arms race indefinitely without developing a garrison state, and we cannot maintain a garrison state under modern conditions without impairing liberty, jeopardizing prosperity and making war almost certain...
...But, in connection with the effort to develop armament control through the United Nations, we may create the essentials of world government...
...Had you remained in the Christian ministry, you would have occupied a series of conspicuous pulpits...
...Then think of the men, beginning with Samuel Gompers, who were at least partly educated or inspired by the Socialist movement...
...In the end, you have achieved a national reputation...
...We should make democracy more appealing by improving race relations here among us, securing civil liberties for all and uniting with other nations in the conquest of poverty...
...I brought a blush to the face of the old Socialist when I said that he had probably done more than any other man to teach the American people the real nature of Communism...
...A look of disgust clouded Norman's face as he grunted: "Low-grade stuff, bush-league stuff??except for the speeches of Stevenson, Javits and a few others...
...If you could go back to 1917??knowing what you know now??would you make the same decision...
...There is where hope lies...
...Stevenson has a different idea...
...Quickly, he disclaimed any great success in this field...
...The answer, fortunately, took less time than the question...
...We must transfer the struggle out of the realm of war...
...Between campaigns, you have been busy to the point of ruthlessness...
...Next I asked about the political campaign which had been brought to a close on the previous day...
...Thomas quoted Schumpeter to the effect that old words about which we have debated so hotly have now lost their meaning...
...Yes," said the septuagenarian, "I am satisfied with the way my life has been spent...
...The most important question which you can put to an old man is one about his own life: "Look, old fellow, when you were a mere youth you were associate pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church over on Fifth Avenue...
...When I brought up the subject of the Socialist contribution to American political and social history, the old candidate suggested an interesting idea: "Imagine," he said, "our going through this past century with exclusively American types of radicalism??without the cross-fertilization which came from European thinking...
...After long labors and many disappointments, he is still fired by hope of success in this field...
...In its service, you would not find a good salary, an easy life or the sort of reputation which a young man naturally seeks...
...But you are widely regarded as one of the keepers of the national conscience...
...You have started societies, written books and pamphlets, made lecture tours, talked over radio and television...
...After criticizing it all these years, what did the old Socialist think of it...
...My question to you is this: Are you satisfied with the way in which your life has been invested...
...We cannot conquer Communism unless we raise the standard of living throughout the world...
...You would have been assured of a good salary and a comfortable life...
...Instead of that, you left the church and joined the Socialist party...
...You left the church, but you did not succeed in leaving the ministry...
...We have gone through an unadmitted revolution...
...Each of these campaigns involved an enormous amount of grueling labor...
...You have never been elected to public office and you never will be...
...In 1932, the Socialist platform was the only one which pointed to what we later called the New Deal...
...The American people," he said, "do not now understand Communism or know how to fight it...
...There is a deep-seated notion that they have to talk down to the masses...
...Something happens to men when they go into politics...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Norman Thomas At Seventy I CAUGHT Norman Thomas, whose seventieth birthday is being observed by countless friends and admirers, as he was about to take wing on a speaking tour to North Carolina...
...I brought up, inevitably, the American industrial system...
...There is no longer," he went on, "any such thing as laissez-faire...
...The will to peace has been Norman Thomas's motive force from the start...
...The idea of a great struggle between the workers and the capitalists made sense in the time of Eugene Debs, but not now...
...I cared more for social improvement than for the smooth and easy existence of a conventional and fashionable church...
Vol. 37 • November 1954 • No. 46
