Communism's Postwar Decade
WOLIN, SIMON
Communism's Postwar Decade THE GAINS AND LOSSES OF COMMUNIST PARTIES IN THE NON-COMMUNIST WORLD SINCE 1945 By Simon Wolin Introduction by Sidney Hook Introduction By Sidney Hook Simon Wolin's...
...42 Communism seemed to have gained a firm foothold in the Western Hemisphere...
...Even the large party "apparat" is unable to stop these reverses, though it includes thousands of salaried employes...
...Nor is he like an ordinary member of an ordinary church...
...As a result, at the 1954 elections the Communists lost 70 per cent of the strength they possessed only seven years earlier...
...Speaking in Parliament on February 28, 1949, Nehru said: "Communist policy has resulted in violence, including murder, arson and looting...
...Today, it has been almost eliminated from Parliamentary activities, although the party has taken an active part in election campaigns...
...In Finland, too, Social Democrats have recently dislodged Communists in several unions...
...Ost-Probleme...
...On the party's initiative, the Front sent greetings to the North Korean army and denounced the United States for the use of bacteriological weapons...
...The facade of various "democratic fronts," in itself an admission of weakness, has been used in several Latin American countries: in Brazil the Democratic Front for National Liberation, in Paraguay the Patriotic Union for Struggle Against Foreign Intervention, in Cuba the National Democratic Front, in Chile the United National Front Against Imperialism and Feudalism...
...On October 7, 1949, the General Secretary of the party, Lawrence Sharkey, was sentenced to a year in prison for having made a similar statement...
...In Italy, they succeeded after the war in seizing money, buildings and printing shops which had belonged to Fascist organizations...
...Communist Party Membership Communist parties were among the first casualties of the cold war...
...The defeat, however, was not as smashing as these figures seem to indicate...
...Australian Facts and Figures, Department of the Interior, Canberra, Nos...
...After the war, it profited from the mounting trend toward independence and the growing anti-Western feeling...
...But a determined stand against Communism at this time of its weakness might prevent its recovery and deepen its wounds...
...The Indian Trade Union Congress declined the invitation, but 32 individual labor leaders accepted...
...One Communist group, the Red Flag, was implacably anti-British, while another, the White Flag, favored negotiation but rejected the agreement reached...
...Party Secretary Marcel Servin stated at the 1954 Party Congress that the percentage of workers in the party was unsatisfactory, and said: "Hardly more than 25 per cent of our members are organized in factory cells...
...While in last year's elections 65.9 per cent voted for Communist-controlled unions, and 34.1 per cent for non-Communist unions, this year the Communists obtained 54.8 per cent against 45.2 per cent for their opponents...
...But only in Holland, France and Italy have they succeeded in seizing the central trade-union organizations.10 In Great Britain, Communists occupy leading positions in the National Union of Mineworkers, Amalgamated Engineers, and National Union of Railwaymen, as well as positions as shop stewards...
...Recent estimates place its strength at 300,000 to 350,000.6 This process was accompanied by a decrease in the number of party cells from 46,223 in 1946 to about 19,000 in 1954...
...In 1950, the Communist party claimed a membership of 24,000, but its actual strength was estimated at under 10,000...
...Toward the end of the 1940s, in a sharp about-face, the Communist parties took the line of direct action and civil war...
...Communists have been eliminated from leading positions in the Socialist-dominated Federation Generate de Travail de Belgique, but retain some local strength...
...R. Swearinggn and P. Langner, Red Flag in Japan, Harvard, 1952, pp...
...In the four Scandinavian nations, especially Sweden, internal bickering took on the form of intermittent purges of high party leaders.8 At the Belgian Party Congress, convened in December 1954, most of the members of the Belgian Politburo, among them three former Cabinet ministers, were dismissed...
...The Iranian Tudeh party finds many well-wishers among Army officers but few among enlisted men...
...7. BEIPI, Paris, July 1, 1955...
...Favorable conditions seem to be developing for them in Vietnam and Indonesia, which are not discussed in this study because of fluctuating conditions there...
...In 1952, they joined the Democratic Electoral Front, a coalition of parties supporting Arbenz...
...New York Times...
...Though unable to win a large following at elections, they are capable of exerting considerable influence in various front organizations...
...Semi-legal and illegal Communist parties, notably in Latin America, are capable of keeping important contacts in governments, parliaments and labor unions, and of pulling the wires from the underground...
...According to the Argentine Socialist leader, Dr...
...The danger of a Communist comeback, therefore, is still serious...
...Thus, in Peron's time, the Argentine party, though under police surveillance, was not outlawed and had good connections in the Government...
...Thus, on October 12, 1948 a Communist leader, Gilbert Burns, was sentenced to six months in jail for subversion as a result of his statement that, if Australia should become involved in a war with the USSR, the Communist party would fight on the side of the Russians...
...The West German Communist party publishes 12 dailies with a circulation of from 5,000 to 50,000...
...New York Times, February 21, 1955...
...39 With this remarkable contribution to Communist ideology, the Brazilian party now tries to establish close ties with other South American Communist parties with the ultimate objective of creating a Union of People's Democracies of Latin America...
...Communist violence flared up during 1948 and 1949 in Madras, Hyderabad, Travancore-Cochin and West Bengal...
...176,535 (11.89%) --- --- --Saar ......--- --- --- 37,936 (8.4%) --Sweden...
...The All-Indian Trade Union Congress tried, under Communist pressure, to turn economic strikes into political strikes...
...30, 38, 42...
...In sparking armed revolts, the Communists have achieved their greatest, although only temporary, successes...
...The membership, in which workers never constitute the majority, includes many disgruntled elements of the middle class, frustrated intellectuals, and students...
...But, parallel with these peaceful activities corresponding to the ostensibly moderate program, the Communist party was engaged in subversion...
...In the riots in Tokyo, which lasted about five hours, 200,000 to 300,000 persons took part...
...In May 1949, the Congress decided to prepare for a general strike, but the great majority of workers rejected this policy...
...The party's activities are now centered on promotion of the Communist "peace campaign" and anti-Americanism.20 Burma Burma achieved independence by an agreement with Great Britain on January 27, 1947...
...The overall picture is one of constant internal strife and political realignments, but also an influence far exceeding numerical strength...
...The initial instability of the new regimes in such countries as India and Burma, which achieved independence after the war, and the natural lack of immediate spectacular changes in, for instance, the Philippines,13 breed disillusionment and opposition which are easily channeled toward the well-organized, demagogic Communist parties...
...The seizure of China provided a tremendous political and psychological boost for Communism throughout the continent of Asia...
...This is especially true in the West, whose workers understand that their lot under Communism, where strikes are a capital offense and free trade unions are impossible, will be one of forced labor...
...The specific nature of these exceptions only serves to confirm the general rule...
...Intransigence, denunciatory rhetoric, words of appeasement, tough talk, or conferences at the summit--all may on occasion have their uses, but they are no substitute for political intelligence...
...These peripheral followers are, of course, more sensitive to changing trends of public opinion than regular party members...
...The decline in influence among workers is sharper than the drop in party membership...
...its associates polled an additional 2.4 per cent of the votes and won 5 seats.28 The great majority of Communist voters were concentrated in a few states...
...Special efforts are made to keep contact with the Army...
...In Uruguay, the Communist-dominated labor federation (UGT) reached a peak of influence in the early postwar period, but since 1948 has lost much of its strength...
...In formulating a political strategy in the defense and extension of the free world, intelligent anti-Communists will find Mr...
...The total for the pro-Communist left wing amounted to 30 per cent, as against the 37 per cent it obtained in the union elections of 1949.35 Latin America During the war and in the first postwar years, Communism achieved considerable success in Latin America...
...He is a dedicated person working with fanatical zeal and prepared to make great personal sacrifices while in the grip of his belief...
...On November 17, 1947, the AFPFL severed its connection with the Communists because of their "guile and deceit" and the plot to seize power by destroying the AFPFL from within...
...cit., p. 206...
...99,019 (4.8%) (Sept...
...None of the dominion CPs is now able to win a single seat in Parliament...
...Fortunately, these attempts failed because of the strength of popular opinion against them...
...the hope that the wartime Grand Alliance would, after victory, become an instrument of international stability and economic rehabilitation...
...Seton-Watson, op...
...20 The 6th National Conference of the Communist party, held in Tokyo on July 23, 1955, inaugurated a new tactical program...
...Their representatives were invited to participate in several Western and Northern European coalition governments...
...The Italian party, like most Western Communist parties, is further weakened by internal quarrels caused by personal rivalry and by two elements carried over to the West in emulation of the Soviet example: collective versus personal leadership, and "soft" versus "tough" policy, the former advocated in Italy by Togliatti...
...In addition, 4,000-5,000 agents are full-time party employes.7 There are also about 60 Communist-front organizations in France, including youth, musicians, architect groups, a society to combat tuberculosis, etc...
...All candidates nominated by the Communist party lost their deposits, having failed to win the required minimum of votes...
...Since then, it has lost about half its membership, while the CISL claims 1.8 million members, a figure said to be somewhat exaggerated.11 In 1953, Communists dominated 76 per cent of trade-union membership, and in 1954 only 60 per cent...
...Experience has shown that merely outlawing a Communist party is no barrier to its development...
...In February 1951, the party's Central Committee adopted a resolution stating that "secessions in the enemy camp must be utilized...
...After the 1953 elections to the House of Councilors (upper house), the number of representatives there fell from 3 to 1.16 At the elections of 1955, the left-wing Socialists, associated with the CP...
...Negotiations with Britain caused splits within the Communist party...
...Wolin points out, are not the most significant aspect of the situation...
...The organizational weakness of the party, he said, is reflected in the fact that every fifth member dodges the payment of membership dues.4 The special place occupied in Western Communism by the two Latin nations, Italy and France, deserves special attention...
...And when they fall away, a great proportion often remain under the sway of Communist ideology and can be galvanized into activity again...
...During World War II, he joined the staff of The New Leader, which he served as Associate Editor and to which he has been contributing regularly ever since...
...Confiscation will hit only those capitalists who "closely collaborate with the U.S...
...the ostensible disbandment of the Comintern--all these factors combined to create a vast capital of good will toward the Soviet Union and the various Communist parties...
...5. These figures were published in the Communist newspaper L'Unita, Rome, on January 8, 1955...
...The Communists will always offer themselves as open and secret allies to the dispossessed and discontented of the world...
...For they cannot, thankfully in virtue of their democratic values, bring themselves to do to Communists, their dependents and families what Communists as a matter of course--even of pride--do to those whom they merely suspect of opposition...
...It is important to remember in considering Mr...
...Some superior souls tell us that since "we are all anti-Communists now" we can turn to other things...
...Western Europe The pro-Soviet feeling generated during World War II ran high in all Western nations...
...This is a familiar device to which Communism has frequently resorted for the achievement of certain temporary objectives...
...A decline in Communist strength in the Italian labor movement is indicated in the shop-steward elections carried out in the first half of this year...
...Keessing's Contemporary Archives, London, pp...
...It is assisted by a number of crypto-Communist periodicals...
...REFERENCES 1. This table is compiled from figures published by the U.S...
...In the Presidential election, it supported President Videla and was rewarded with three Cabinet posts...
...In late 1953, some trade unions were reported to have started a campaign to oust pro-Communists...
...L'Humanite reported that at the 13th Party Congress in 1954 only 46 per cent of male delegates were workers, and that of 174 women delegates only 39 were workers...
...Under the leadership of Moscow-trained Luiz Carlos Prestes, the Brazilian party was engaged until recently in terroristic activities...
...This is particularly true of the hard core which constitutes the organizational hierarchy from the cell leader up...
...In France, membership of the Communist-dominated Confederation Generate du Travail shrank from 5 million in 1947 to 2.7 million in 1953...
...Considerable amounts of arms and ammunition were dumped into the sea and found by the police...
...In Israel, the only one among these nations in which regular Parliamentary elections are held, the Communist party has a small but stable following...
...The defeat was so obvious that in several instances it was officially admitted by the Communists...
...To counteract Communist influence, a Democratization League was organized in 1949 which made strong inroads into the Communist-dominated unions...
...Communist regimes can destroy democratic groups by force...
...Strength of the International Communist Movement, pp...
...As a rule, therefore, the decline in Communist voting strength is proportionately higher than the decline in party membership...
...For an illegal party this may seem a delirious idea...
...They never accept defeat, and they are continuing to work hard...
...Nevertheless, the Communists' decline may be more apparent than real...
...It has been estimated that the present party strength in the regions it formerly controlled is about one-tenth of what it was in 1949.22 The defeat caused new splits in the Communist party and a political realignment...
...Thus, in Ecuador the Communist party has one seat in Congress...
...The party's National Organizer, John Gollan, said at the Congress: "One of the reasons we are growing so slowly is that you cannot refresh a party of 30,000 to 40,000 members from a Young Communist League that has only 3,000 members...
...New York Times, May 10, 1955...
...In the 1950 elections to Congress, Communist representation declined from 6 to 2 members...
...An important difference between the two countries is that in Italy Communist influence among intellectuals is weaker than in France, while the party's hold on trade unions is stronger...
...Their dynamism, a characteristic feature of every totalitarian party, explains why their influence is usually out of proportion to their numbers...
...In the elections of 1952, it had obtained 25 seats out of 109...
...More important is the fellow-traveling Mapam party, which in 1949 won 19 seats, in 1951 15, and in 1955 only 9 seats and 7.3 per cent of the total vote...
...6. Ost-Probleme, Bad Godesberg, February 4, 1955...
...He undertook the original research for this study under the sponsorship of the Free Europe Committee, which has since been utilizing it as a basic research tool...
...Only in France and Italy do Communist voters still constitute an important sector of the electorate...
...Nine of them left the celebration, angered by the attempt to make them tools of a Communist-front organization...
...Its success was manifested during a strike called on February 18, 1951 by the Waterside Dockers Union, affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions...
...The Soviet Government squandered this capital within two years...
...Not a single major engagement took place between Government troops and the rebels...
...See C. P. Romulo, Crusade in Asia, John Day, New York, 1955...
...In Italy, the Communist publications are less numerous than in France, but the circulation of some periodicals is higher...
...Sentiment in the United States is almost universally anti-Communist...
...COMMUNIST STRENGTH IN 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 Austria...
...In the municipal elections of 1950, it obtained 2.4 per cent of the votes and won one seat in Tel Aviv and one in Haifa, but none in Jerusalem...
...Or illusioned non-Communists will imagine, whether it is in Southern Asia or South America, that they can "use" the Communists without the Communists using them...
...28...
...The strike was followed by violence, demonstrations, derailment of a train, and other incidents...
...general longing for a durable peace...
...This important feature of Communist influence in India was reflected in the elections to State Assemblies, in which the Communist party obtained 6,259,333 votes out of about 92 million...
...Not content with thus watering down its proletarian essence, the party tried to attract elements which could by no stretch of the imagination be called progressive...
...cit., p. 340...
...The three chief Communist-dominated unions, the electrical, mine and leather workers, have been expelled from the Canadian Congress of Labor, but Communists are still active in several unions...
...Experience has shown that these parties, backed by the treasury, diplomacy and intelligence service of the second strongest world power, have a remarkable recuperative capacity...
...As far as Communist parties themselves are concerned, in countries where they are not mass parties, the problem is one primarily of intelligent security...
...In France, party membership reached a peak in 1947, after which a much more drastic decline than in Italy set in...
...The appeal seems to exist in Soviet-controlled nations, where the younger generation is exposed to the party's monopolistic influence...
...Referring to railwaymen's strikes, he declared: "It [the Communist party] has looked upon these strikes not from the trade-union or economic point of view, but as a weapon designed to create a chaotic state in the country...
...Though Challenge is well edited and makes strong efforts to overcome the usual dullness of Communist press organs by giving space to fiction, sports and pin-up girls, all efforts to build it up have been unavailing...
...174,257 (5.4%) --- --- --Belgium* .. --- --- 300,099 (12.66%) --- --Denmark .. --- 255,236 (12.5%) --- 141,094 (6.88%) --Finland ....--- 398,618 (23.5%) --- --- 375,820 (20.2%) France .....--- 5,004,121 (26.0%) (June) 5,199,000 (26.2%) (Nov...
...Appreciation of the fighting spirit and sacrifices of the Soviet people...
...Prior to its suppression, the party had been active in the elections to Congress and in the Presidential election of 1945, receiving in both instances about 10 per cent of the total vote...
...A manifesto issued by the "tough" opposition complained that "revolutionary vigilance [within the party] has turned into police control which only aims at suppression of any critical utterance and of any doubt of the correctness of party policy and the alleged infallibility of the leaders...
...The decision to abandon violence legalized the Communist party...
...THE FAR EAST: Japan The first postwar years were marked in Japan by an expansion of Communist activities...
...cit., p. 12084...
...According to the present Party Secretary, John Gollan, the main weakness of the party is fluctuation of the membership, resulting from inability to keep new recruits in the ranks...
...As long as this capacity is not destroyed, a rude awakening, as after the seizure of Czechoslovakia or China, threatens us every morning...
...by this device it was able to reach remote villages, enliven the election campaign, and win an amazing percentage of farmer votes...
...Toward the end of 1950, the party realized that its violent tactics had failed to win sufficient support...
...In Denmark, Communists have varying degrees of strength in a number of local unions, especially in Copenhagen, but have failed to win control over any of the 75 national organizations...
...The harsh measures adopted by the Government (especially after the outbreak of the Korean War), economic stabilization, and Soviet policy (notably the refusal to release thousands of Japanese POWs and to admit Japan to the United Nations) decimated party ranks...
...had been seized, though the party was not outlawed...
...But the great majority of workers, Nehru added, rejected such methods...
...Takeo Naoi, "Japanese Communists Go 'Lovable' Again," THE NEW LEADER, September 19, 1955...
...Strength of the International Communist Movement...
...Over and above that, exposure rather than punishment is sufficient, and much more desirable...
...One of the two Japanese central labor organizations, the National Congress of Industrial Unions (NCIU), affiliated with the Communist World Federation of Trade Unions, was under strong Communist influence, although party members constituted a small minority in the unions...
...Of the 41 national unions making up the Norwegian Federation of Labor, they have controlled, since June 1953, only the weak Tobacco Workers' Union, with 1,300 members...
...By that time, the rebels had been dislodged from their main positions, and it became obvious that they would soon be defeated...
...The latter decrease reflects a social transformation within the party...
...Strength of the International Communist Movement, p. 48...
...This is especially true of the Communist parties, whose strength derives to a large extent from fellow-travelers and Communist-front organizations...
...On June 27, 1952, the Australian Council of Trade Unions decided to suspend three unions because of their affiliation with the Communist World Federation of Trade Unions...
...Fourth, the Communists have learned to mask their doctrine until they have acquired power...
...and Austria, where the constant small percentage (5.4) represents the balance between the rising number in the Soviet and French Zones and the decline in the British and American Zones...
...According to the author, 5 per cent of the party membership represent salaried party functionaries, 16.9 per cent trade-unionists, 12.9 per cent white-collar workers, 14.5 per cent businessmen and professionals, 3 per cent students, and 20.8 per cent farmers...
...In the attempt to achieve a legal status, the party announced its decision to abolish terroristic methods...
...The Communist central labor organization (CTAL) was established in 1938 under the leadership of Lombardo Toledano...
...A general strike was scheduled for January 30, 1947, but General MacArthur's ban proved sufficient to foil the ambitious Communist plans...
...In former and present colonies and dependencies, there has often arisen the paradox of the empire-building Soviet Union appearing as a champion of liberation from imperialism and the white man's domination...
...As in all such cases in Latin America, the Communists were unable to put up any serious resistance to the suppression of their party.41 What a small party can achieve by the method of dominating a government by remote control was shown in Guatemala...
...It is significant that at the last Presidential election on October 3, 1955, the illegal party did not of course present its candidate, but the man it backed won...
...Thus, in Britain the estimated number of party members decreased from 60,000 to 35,000, and the membership of the Young Communist League, according to a report presented to the 23rd Party Congress in London in April 1954, dropped from 3,283 in April 1953 to 2,838 in April 1954...
...In Belgium, the two Communist dailies, the French Drapeau Rouge and the Flemish Rode Vaan, together had a circulation of about 100,000 in 1946 and 60,000 in 1949...
...Its defeat was even more sweeping than its success...
...For these and many other reasons which cannot be developed here, the struggle for freedom cannot be merely a defense of the status quo...
...4. For a Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy, June 24, 1955...
...The Communist leader in Egypt is among the ten wealthiest landowners in the country...
...Party membership dropped from 108,000 in March 1950 to 69,000 in December 1950, to 56,000 in September 1951, to 48,000 in March 1952, and to 30,000 at the end of 1953.15 In 1950, 113 Communist publications were suppressed, and by the end of the year about 2,000 pamphlets, leaflets, posters, etc...
...Until then, the Communist parties were often considered mere left-wing groups, on a level with other national parties...
...Democratic regimes cannot by their very nature destroy Communists, really destroy them, by force...
...Its circulation among British youth is falling...
...And yet the aggregate strength of Communist parties in the West still amounts to about 2.5 million members...
...Many grave and difficult political problems remain to be solved...
...Without their tie to the Kremlin, most Communist parties throughout the world would have little more than nuisance value and would be absorbed by local movements of indigenous discontent...
...Introducing an anti-subversion bill in Parliament, Nehru's deputy, Sardar Patel, stated on February 25, 1950 that Communism constituted "a danger to the existence and security of the state...
...The complete failure to mobilize the workers was partly offset by a moderate success in the countryside, where armed guerrilla bands operated for years.26 Nehru's government took a strong stand against the Communist rioters...
...For their election campaigns, French and Italian Communists possess funds in amounts unavailable to any other party...
...Victory, liberation, the alleged patriotism of the Communist party, its vastly exaggerated role in the anti-German resistance created a favorable climate for Communist growth...
...The 500 underground military units, created at the outbreak of the Korean War in anticipation of an early "liberation" of Japan, were disbanded...
...The Communists have learned from events where their opponents have not...
...This was reminiscent of the Indian Communist party's stand at the beginning of the last war...
...As had the Great Purges and the Soviet role in the Spanish Civil War a decade earlier, so now the new Soviet imperialism shattered many illusions...
...As a champion of free enterprise, Arruda admonishes the farmers not to bother about kolkhozes: "The program does not pose the question of the nationalization of land...
...All Latin American Communist parties are said to be directed by a special Soviet office in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to which is attached a school for training agents for work in South America...
...Party stalwarts directed their fire against the United States and the leftists against Great Britain...
...The remaining group have been described as associated with the Communist party.30 The Three Dominions Communist party membership and voting strength in the three dominions Care insignificant...
...Today, it is active only in Ecuador and Paraguay...
...In addition to the Daily Worker, with a circulation of 14,000, the party publishes in London a theoretical weekly, World News, and several bulletins of district party committees...
...Force alone, without a dynamic domestic policy, cannot destroy the roots of Communism, which usually lie outside of what is often considered its specific terrain...
...New York Times, May 22, 1955...
...American, British, Belgian, Swedish, Japanese and many other trade-union organizations have considerably reduced the Communists' influence by forcing them out of key positions which they had captured...
...But then the program proceeds to state the party's political objective, which consists in the transformation of Brazil into a people's democracy: "The system that would be capable of carrying out the radical changes outlined in the party program is the people's democratic one...
...Prospects for future successes seemed good...
...with 152 Deputies in the Chamber, it then became the strongest party in France...
...New York Times, April 25, 1955...
...This process, which has continued to the present, can be observed in all aspects of Communist activities...
...the Middle East Journal, Washington, Winter 1955, p. 21: Egypt 8,000 Jordan 1,000-2,000 Israel 5,000 Iraq 3,000-5,000 Lebanon 10,000 Sudan 1,000-1,500 Syria 10,000 Turkey 3.000 34...
...The two left-wing parties together polled the second largest number of votes...
...Ten years ago, it was estimated at 330,000, and the parties polled an aggregate of about one million votes in various national elections.37 Because 15 out of 20 Communist parties in Latin America are illegal, and because all hide behind various "fronts," it is difficult to trace their development...
...Notwithstanding the party's and the League's weakness, their efforts to infiltrate trade unions, cooperatives, sports organizations and the like are often successful...
...Though illegal since 1947, the party is capable of large and variegated activities...
...Subject to the whims of the Kremlin, they are prepared to accept, or not militantly reject, any ideological tendency of any group which will march side by side with them in the struggle for political power...
...A new party program, published on April 25, 1951, while denouncing Nehru as an agent of British imperialism and monopoly capitalism, called on workers, peasants, "toiling" intellectuals, and the "progressive" bourgeoisie to form a "democratic front" with a view to establishing a "people's democracy...
...In February 1951, it adopted a new "tough" program which forbade members, under penalty of death, to divulge party secrets...
...In the immediate postwar period, some Communist parties adopted an ostensibly moderate policy in an effort to win popular support and to camouflage activities against the existing regimes...
...About the Author Simon Wolin, consultant on Soviet affairs for Radio Liberation, has long been an expert on problems of world Communism...
...Party membership in Belgium is reported to have decreased since last year from 30,000 to 25,000.9 Voting Strength The influence of a political party is more correctly measured by the number of votes it wins than by the number of card-carrying members...
...Trade-union membership amounted to: Year Number December 1946 4,849,329 June 1947 5,594,699 Winter 1947 6,268,432 June 1949 6,655,483 Second half 1949 6,252,868 At first, Communist infiltration tactics in the trade unions met with considerable success...
...Undisguised Argentine delegations have taken part in many American and other Communist party rallies, such as the Youth Festival in Bucharest last year...
...But these skeletons have shown a great capacity for acquiring living flesh...
...in the Presidential elections in Mexico on July 2, 1952, the joint left-wing candidate, Lombardo Toledano, obtained about 2 per cent of the votes...
...WEST EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 213,066 (5.4%) 219,969 (5.4%) --- --- 228,228 (5.4%) --376,765 (7.49%) 234,541 (4.74%) --- --- --- 184,098 (3.5%) --- --- 94,523 (4.6%) --- (Apr...
...There was serious apprehension that in the next elections the Communist party would dislodge the Congress party and establish its rule in Andhra...
...In the first legislature of the newly formed state, consisting of 140 members, 42 were Communist party representatives and 4 were fellow-travelers...
...The greatest recession was suffered by the national dailies, while national reviews have achieved considerable success...
...A new political realignment followed, the essential elements of which were legal activities and united-front tactics...
...33 Today, Brazil is considered one of the main Communist strongholds in Latin America...
...For this failure he blamed the dull and abstract articles, and the constant rehash of the same ideas and phrases...
...Some of them--in Communist-led communities--are on the payroll of the local administration...
...9- Ost-Probleme, February 4, 1955, 10...
...But four years later, at the only Parliamentary elections so far held in Burma, the CP failed to win a single seat, although its satellite, the BWPP, obtained 6 seats out of 233...
...Strength of the International Communist Movement...
...Notable exceptions to this rule are Italy, where the number of Communist votes increased, though the combined strength of Communists and Nenni Socialists decreased, obviously as a result of fluctuation between the two political twins...
...But the line was reversed at the 2nd Party Congress in February 1948, soon after the founding of the Cominform...
...Most of them have reached these positions as efficient organizers, but not as Communists, and the vigorous anti-Communist stand of the Trade Union Congress has further curtailed Communist influence in the British labor movement...
...The Communist party polled 4.5 per cent of the votes and won 23 seats out of 362...
...Since the beginning of the decade, anti-Communist groups in Australia have carried on a successful campaign to oust Communists from key positions in trade unions...
...For Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy, February 6, 1953, English edition...
...The only relevant distinction that applies here is between "intelligent" and "unintelligent" anti-Communism...
...A large number of periodicals are adapted to special groups of readers, such as members of the professions, youth, trade unions, women, ex-Fascists...
...But, while Czechoslovakia was seized in 1948, the situation in the other two countries has since undergone a drastic change...
...Robert J. Alexander, "Communism South of the Border," The New Leader, December 27, 1954...
...After the war, he joined the ideological unit of the Voice of America, where as a political analyst he helped shape key broadcasts on international Communism...
...Non-European Nations The recent development of Communism in non-European nations has been uneven and has proceeded along different lines from Communism in the West...
...New York Times, July 28, 1955...
...For this purpose, the program promises everything to everybody and discards the basic tenets of Communism...
...the existence in the USSR of a numerous class of intellectuals and general literacy command their respect...
...At the 5th Congress of the Japanese Communist party, a moderate program calling for "peaceful revolution" and allegedly rejecting affiliation with international Communism was adopted...
...That is what is lacking, and no political party has a monopoly of ignorance...
...But Soviet expansionism, the establishment of satellite governments and totalitarian regimes under Moscow tutelage, and the support of this process by Western Communists reversed the trend...
...When the Communist party was declared illegal in 1953, the BWPP became the most active Communist element in Burma...
...Whether we invoke the slogans of "containment of Communism" or "liberation from Communism"--and containment does not mean appeasement nor liberation war--the free world, and the United States at its head, must address itself in a massive way to the still outstanding evils of the status quo...
...Thirdly, the membership figures of Communist parties, as Mr...
...Representatives of the middle class and the professions are achieving mounting influence at the expense of workers...
...Sectarian views were current in our ranks to the effect that rich and even middle peasants represented a counter-revolutionary force...
...The voting strength and the estimated membership of Communist parties in Latin America are shown in the following table: Membership 1947 1954 Country Seats Vote (claimed) (estimated) Argentina none 30,000 40,000 Bolivia illegal 2,000 Brazil illegal 130,000 60,000 Chile illegal 50,000 40,000 Colombia illegal 10,000 5,000 Costa Rica illegal 20,000 5,000 Cuba illegal 30,000 30,000 Dominican Republic illegal 2,000 negligible Ecuador 1 0.9% 3,500 5,000 El Salvador illegal 1,000 Guatemala illegal 2,000 Haiti illegal 500 negligible Honduras illegal negligible Mexico none 25,000 5,000 Nicaragua illegal 500 500 Panama none 500 1,000 Paraguay illegal 8,000 2,000 Peru illegal 35,000 10,000 Uruguay 2 2.3% 15,000 15,000 Venezuela illegal 27,000 20,000 Thus, the combined strength of the Communist parties in Latin America amounts to less than 250,000...
...After the election of pro-Communist President Arbenz in 1950, the Communists developed highly successful activities...
...The party participated with some success in Parliamentary elections...
...membership in the new union rapidly increased, and the strike collapsed...
...Numerically, the Bolsheviks were not very strong when they took power in Russia, and they have always realized the difficulties of building and keeping mass parties in countries in which a revolutionary situation was not rapidly maturing...
...The Labor Movement Communist efforts to win influence in trade unions have by no means been unsuccessful...
...In the Communist strategy outside of Europe, a definite trend can be discerned...
...In the election of 1952, it nominated 107 candidates, but none was elected...
...won 89 seats against 74 in 1953, The most recent elections, those for prefectural assemblies (corresponding to American state legislatures), took place on April 23, 1955...
...The new aggressive policy proved a failure, decimating party ranks and alienating sympathizers...
...In the April 9, 1947 elections to the Constituent Assembly, the Burmese Communist party won 7 of the 247 seats...
...Sooner or later they will organize their groups and parties...
...At the general elections in 1945, the French Communist party polled 5 million votes, and this number has since undergone little change...
...In the Parliamentary elections of 1951, it increased its representation from 4 to 5, and at the elections of 1955 it won 6 seats and 3.2 per cent of the total vote...
...93,706 (4.3%) --- --- 391,362 (21.6%) --- --- ----- --- 4,910,747 (25.67%) --- --- --1,360,443 (5.7%) --- --- --- 607,413 (2.2%) ----- 91,815 (0.15%) 21,642 (0.1%) --- --- --14,077 (19.5%) --- --- --- 12,400 (15.9%) (Comm...
...Since 1947, the climate has changed...
...The reversals, as usual, caused splits in the party and evoked sharp criticism for "softness" in both the Cominform journal and Pravda (January 7, 1950...
...Thus, the Communists still command more than half of Italian labor, but they have lost about 14 per cent of their strength...
...Intellectual and bourgeois elements play a more important role in the Communist parties of the Near and Middle East than elsewhere...
...Most provincial organizations have their own press organs...
...At the end of 1949, it was estimated that about 40 per cent of Japanese students were under the influence of the Communist-dominated National Federation of Self-Governing Student Associations.14 In 1950, before its suppression, the party newspaper Red Flag reached a circulation of 300,000...
...BEIPI, January 16, 1955, p. 19...
...44 This policy makes the Communists more acceptable allies primarily to fanatical nationalist groups, which join them in the mutual hope of strangling the unlovely ally after victory, and it weakens democratic opposition...
...While in the strong Scandinavian democracies, and especially under the Anglo-Saxon two-party system, disaffection swings public opinion to the main opposition party, in weak democracies, especially under the system of proportional representation, it can benefit the Communist parties...
...In Great Britain, the Communist press is negligible...
...He complained about the weakness of the youth organization, and stated that only 11 per cent of French Communists were under 25 years of age, while 29 per cent were over 50...
...More important were its successes in the trade-union movement...
...8. BEIPI, May 16, 1953...
...The main political organization in Burma was the leftist Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), with which the Communist party was in contact...
...No less devastating was the decline in Communist voting strength...
...A party spokesman stated at the Conference that the Japanese party would henceforth "act within the law" to "penetrate deeply into the masses...
...In elections to the Australian Legislature, the Communist vote has shown some fluctuation, but the number of votes and the fluctuations are too small to indicate a definite trend...
...Strong but unsuccessful attempts have been made by the Communists to seize leadership in Latin American trade unions...
...They are then compelled to do their recruiting through front groups and through non-Communist organizations into whose strategic posts they have infiltrated...
...In 1947, NCIU membership reached 1.5 million...
...In Chile, the party works mainly through fellow-travelers in other groups...
...We can go so far as to establish contact with remnants of Nazi organizations, the 'victims' of denazification...
...it was public opinion that resented and "prevented" the development of Communism...
...But no nation has yet proved able to destroy the roots of Communism...
...The evils of the status quo will always stir into revolt the sensitive, the idealistic, those who hope for better things and have the courage to fight for them...
...Wolin's study helpful...
...Once the keys of power are in their possession, however, they turn on their former allies with a fury all the more fierce for being so long concealed...
...27 The first elections to the House of the People (lower house) and the State Legislative Assemblies were held in India between October 25, 1951 and February 21, 1952...
...In other non-European nations, Moscow's successes have so far been much below its own, not always unreasonable, expectations...
...Despite the increased number of seats, the number of Communist representatives decreased...
...Of special significance is the fact that Communists are losing ground among the working class...
...Rabid anti-Yankeeism is the outstanding trait of all such organizations...
...In many nations, "the existence of an intelligentsia both ideally and personally frustrated, of a peasantry suffering from overpopulation and land hunger, of an exploited and bewildered unskilled working class, and of national humiliation or colonial subjection, give Communists their opportunity...
...This prompted Nehru's Congress party to launch a vigorous anti-Communist election campaign...
...the organization is now out of existence...
...Keessing, op...
...They won only 15 seats out of 196...
...The degree of their disintegration can be seen from the following figures:1 1946 1950 1954 Austria 150,000 100,000 60,000 Belgium 100,000 35,000 30,000 Denmark 60,000 22,500 16,000 France 850,000 600,000 450,000 German Federal Republic 300,000 200,000 125,000 Great Britain 60,000 40,000 34,800 Italy 2,300,000 1,600,000 1,700,000 Luxembourg 3,000 500 500 1946 1950 1954 Netherlands 50,000 33,000 33,000 Norway 40,000 14,000 7,500 Sweden 60,000 33,000 30,000 Total 3,973,000 2,678,000 2,486,800 In the first four-year period, European Communism lost one-third of its effectives...
...2. According to Communist data, party membership in 1950 amounted to 2.3 million in Italy and to 300,000 in France (Bolshevik...
...Walter Z. Laqueur, op...
...Having failed with revolutionary tactics, the party resorted to the catch-all policy of a united front...
...In the Congressional elections of 1953, the Communist party, now called Labor party, supported the Front, which won 51 out of 56 seats in the one-chamber Congress...
...A steady decline of Communist strength and influence started in all free European nations...
...7, 1950, p. 25...
...April 1, 1954, p. 528...
...Membership in it was estimated by the above-quoted Senate subcommittee as follows:33 Syria 10,000 Lebanon 8,000 Israel 3,700 Iraq 1,000 Jordan 250 Saudi Arabia None Yemen None Egypt 3,000 Turkey Very few Iran 20,000 Afghanistan Negligible Prior to World War II, Communism was weak in most of these nations...
...Thus, the Secretary of the Guatemalan Communist party, called the Labor party, Guerra Borges, reporting in the Cominform newspaper on the 2nd Party Congress in 1953, stated with unusual frankness: "The Congress resolved to change the name of the Communist party of Guatemala to the Party of Labor, taking into consideration the fact that in the present stage of development of the country the name Communist party prevented the party from developing as quickly as the situation and the present condition of revolutionary struggle in the country required...
...318,466(10.3%) --- --- --- 244,826 (6.3%) Switzerland --- --- --- 49,353 (6.0%) --* Since 1949, women have participated in the ballot...
...They now realize that their best chance of victory depends upon working through others, not only through cleverly disguised front organizations but through non-Communist groups, especially where they can capitalize upon the ignorance, naivete, ambition or cupidity of the leadership...
...But it is receding in the democracies, where youth has a chance for comparison and free choice...
...Their most sensational reverse took place at the famous Fiat motorcar works in Turin, where the pro-Communist vote dropped from 63.2 to 36.7 per cent of the total vote, and the non-Communist unions registered an increase from 36.8 to 63.3 per cent.12 Conclusions The peak of Communist strength in the free nations of Europe was reached in 1947, the year when the first battles of the cold war broke out...
...In the following year, 8,500 Communists and Communist sympathizers were thrown in jail...
...A typical example is Belgium, where in 1946 the Communists doubled their prewar strength and polled 11 per cent of the votes...
...New York Times, October 13, 1955...
...Soviet military might, equipped with the best up-to-date techniques, impresses them...
...In these nations, as elsewhere in South America, Communist strength lies outside overt parliamentary activities...
...36 This was not done under persecution by the Government, which the article praised as "progressive...
...Even inflated official Communist figures indicate stagnation and not growth in Italy.5 1951 1952 1953 1954 Communist party 2,097,830 2,093,540 2,134,285 2,145,317 Communist Youth League 438,759 431,826 442,995 430,908 Total 2.536,589 2,525,366 2,577,280 2,576,225 As regards the youth organization, the Communist L'Unita wrote on February 4, 1955: "It cannot be said that the enlistment of youth cadres is in correct proportion to organizational requirements and to efforts made in their selection and training...
...Thus, Communist party influence in the Japanese labor movement has been almost eliminated.18 Despite Government measures and its steadily declining political role, the Communist party has continued its attack against the budding Japanese democracy...
...In Mexico and Panama, in the elections of 1950 and 1952 respectively, the Communist party lacked the membership required for electoral registration...
...BEIPI, January 16, 1955...
...Such a dynamic policy has been applied with much success in the labor movement...
...In the elections of 1949, it polled 3.5 per cent of the votes and won 4 seats out of 120...
...But the 4th Party Congress, held November 7-11, 1954, adopted a new program paving the way for united action with other groups...
...Within the New Zealand labor unions, a strong anti-Communist front has recently been built...
...After that, apart from a slight increase in Italy,2 the process continued, though on a considerably reduced scale...
...its membership in 1954 amounted to less than 4,000, but it occupied key positions in some Government offices, the press and radio, and in 1954 became "the most influential single organization in Guatemalan political life and established its dominion over key institutions...
...This realignment coincided with the formation of the Cominform, exacerbation of the cold war, and the seizure of Czechoslovakia...
...Wolin's study that one may distinguish but cannot separate local Communist parties from the world Communist movement centered in the Kremlin...
...And in the industrial Seine Department party membership dropped from 105,000 in 1947 to 59,000 in 1953...
...Their role in the two European great powers, France and Italy, is ominous, and in the rest of Western Europe they still have half a million devoted members, well organized and obedient...
...5,489,000 (28.6%) --- --German Fed...
...The party's influence was so strong that the Brazilian press considered it among the winners in the election.40 In those Latin American nations in which the Communist party is legal and its voting strength can be gauged, it appears to be negligible...
...With a single exception, all prominent Communist leaders in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan are members of well-to-do families...
...In Italy, the combined vote of Communists and Nenni Socialists dropped from 40 per cent in 1946 to 35.3 per cent in 1953, but there was still real danger that the Communist party would achieve power by legal means...
...The fact that at the formation of the Cominform in 1947 only Czechoslovakia, France and Italy participated, apart from the USSR and its satellites, points to the high hopes then entertained in Moscow in regard to these nations...
...France has the most ramified Communist press in the free world...
...Thus, in 1952 a soldier was court-martialed for giving information about a new British tank to an official of the League...
...For instance, in the large Renault Automobile Works the party lost 80 per cent and the unions more than 90 per cent of their members: 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 CP members 900 754 558 350 280 290 160 CGT members 17,400 14,800 12,300 8,475 5,700 2,800 1,450 In Italy, the Communist Confederazione Generate Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) is shrinking, while the other unions, especially the Christian Democratic CISL, are expanding...
...13,049 (19.5%) --- --Italy ......--- --- 4,356,686 (19.0%) (Nenni) 4,758,129 (21.0%) --- --Netherlands .--- --- 502,963 (10.5) --- 382,001 (7.74%) Norway...
...The only pro-Communist newspaper in Burma, Guide Daily, has a circulation of 3,000, making it the smallest in the country.23 India After the proclamation of India's independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly was transformed into the first Indian parliament and operated in that capacity until 1952...
...The nature of this decline is thrown into relief by the fact that it extends to all fields of Communist activities...
...Keessing, op...
...To promote the idea of creating an "Asian-African trade-union movement," Indian labor leaders, along with others, were invited to take part in this year's May Day celebration in Peking...
...in 6 other states, it won only from 1 to 8 seats, and in 11 states none.29 In the elections to the Federal Council of States (upper house) on March 27, 1952, the Communist party and allied parties gained 11 seats out of 200...
...Party groups were organized in the unions, and in some of these Communists occupied important positions...
...But in view of the CP's excellent organization, strong contacts in Government, and ostensible renunciation of basic Communist principle, the plan cannot be shrugged off as fantastic...
...Violence was subordinated to political organization and activities carried on by Communist-front groups, primarily the Burma Workers and Peasants party (BWPP...
...this is probably a result of the party's influence among intellectuals...
...Communist party membership in 1954 was estimated at: Canada 10,000 Australia 6,000 New Zealand 50031 The Canadian Communist party, since 1943 called the Progressive Labor party, suffered a hard blow as a result of the Gouzenko disclosures...
...This is one of the reasons why France and Italy together have approximately 2 million Communists, while the rest of Western, Northern and Central Europe has a total of no more than 400,000...
...Unita in Rome has a circulation of 300,000 to 500,000 on weekdays and up to a million on Sundays...
...The membership of other Communist groups, including the BWPP, is unknown, but is considered not to exceed a few hundred each...
...For Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy, February 25, 1955...
...In the doctrinal face they show the world, every feature is now mobile...
...Communist attempts to take over Asian trade unions by putting non-Communist figureheads in as ostensible leaders have so far been unsuccessful among Indian trade unions...
...In Iceland, the Communist party has several periodicals, among them Thjodviljinn, with a circulation of 5,000, the second largest in the country...
...The Middle East In almost all the nations of the Near and Middle East, the Communist party is illegal...
...As late as 1953, it organized sabotage at the naval base of Ladaris...
...Communism's Postwar Decade THE GAINS AND LOSSES OF COMMUNIST PARTIES IN THE NON-COMMUNIST WORLD SINCE 1945 By Simon Wolin Introduction by Sidney Hook Introduction By Sidney Hook Simon Wolin's informative study raises several interesting paradoxes...
...The weak Government forces were unable to cope with the rebels, who succeeded in establishing control over a considerable part of Burma...
...Department of State on March 4, 1951, and from the report of the Seriate Subcommittee on Security Affairs, 83rd Congress, 2nd Session, published in May 1954, on Strength of the International Communist Movement...
...A resolution of the 1954 Party Congress stated: "The party notes a serious weakening of the UJRF and insufficient progress of the UJFF...
...Though this decline may be partly due to the generally growing apathy, neutralism and pacifism, it is a clear indication of a downward trend in the party's influence...
...These events show that, although "even among organized workers the [Communist] party today is certainly much less strong than it was in 1947,"19 the strength of the Japanese CP, as the party of civil war, should not be minimized...
...BEIPI, January 1, 1954, p. 15...
...The Communist leaders of the Soviet Union boast--unfortunately, not without some justification--that the 20th century may be known as the era which ushered in world Communism...
...In Madras, it won 61 seats out of 393, in Hyderabad 42 out of 175, in Travancore-Cochin 32 out of 108, in West Bengal 28 out of 238...
...There was a marked discrepancy between the development of the Communist party and the development of the Japanese labor movement...
...This development also shows that the opinion that Communism has a special appeal to youth is exaggerated...
...At present, the Communist-dominated CTAL has only one or two national affiliates of any real importance, most of the rest being small groups or even paper organizations...
...In the elections held last May by the Israeli Federation of Labor, the left wing lost supporters to the Center and Right...
...The decline of Moslem religious influence and the traditional Moslem way of life is also believed to have facilitated Communist infiltration...
...it lost about three-fourths of its voters, but made a partial recovery in the last elections: Year Candidates Vote Percentage of total vote 1945 68 112,195 2.3 1949 160 32,623 0.6 1953 100 61,831 1.1 The Progressive Labor party is very active in the trade unions...
...The new elections, which took place on February 11-27, 1955, resulted in a serious setback for the Communists...
...In many of these nations, and especially those in "awakening" Asia, which has a high priority in the Soviet blueprint for conquest, unique opportunities have arisen for Communist penetration...
...Once Communist parties are pitilessly exposed as fifth columns and conspirators, they dry up at the roots...
...Madhu Limaye, Indian Communism, Pacific Affairs, September 1954, p. 198...
...The Communist party achieved its greatest successes in the state of Andhra, formed in 1953...
...The Communist party polled 2,607,675, or 31.6 per cent of the vote, as against 4,279,004, or 49.8 per cent, polled by the Congress party and its associates, which won 146 seats...
...Even in the United States, it has been estimated that the proportion of fellow-travelers to party members is ten to one...
...By guaranteeing the property of well-to-do peasants, the program takes into account economic reality...
...The way to achieve it is "the revolutionary struggle of all Brazilian patriots...
...Let them also tell us then why, since we are all anti-Communists, the Communists are winning the cold war everywhere along the line...
...Party membership was on the decline...
...With this situation, of course, we cannot be satisfied...
...Strikes led by the Congress of Industrial Unions in the first postwar years gained momentum and assumed a political character...
...This period, however, was of short duration...
...In the elections to the lower house, the Communists obtained: Year Seals Percentage of votes 1946 5 --1947 4 3.6 1949 35 9.6 1952 0 2.5 1953 1 1.9 1955 2 2.0 In 1949, the Communist party, with 35 Deputies, was the fourth largest party in the Japanese Diet...
...And, despite the fact that there is a large turnover in Communist party membership, we must not blink the fact that during the time individuals are members of the Communist party, even those who are least enthusiastic are many times more active than the average members of other political groups...
...Two central trade-union organizations came into being--the Japanese Federation of Labor, led by Socialists, and the National Congress of Industrial Unions, with strong Communist influence, In 1947-48, Communists registered substantial gains among Government officials and young intellectuals...
...This development puts a premium on political sophistication and wisdom among non-Communists...
...The Chinese Communists had the advantage of close proximity to the USSR and to the Soviet Army...
...43 Conclusions In one instance only, in China, has Moscow proved able to take full advantage of the unique opportunities which presented themselves to it outside of Europe in the first postwar years...
...Further, as indispensable as military and atomic defense is, the psychological, moral, political and cultural defense of freedom, and offense against totalitarianism, especially Communism, is no less indispensable...
...In 1952, the first May Day celebration since the Japanese peace treaty was marked by serious riots and anti-American demonstrations in which numerous resident Koreans, with no voting rights but strong Communist leanings, participated...
...But two-thirds of the 28,000 Italian cooperatives are still controlled by the Communists and provide funds for the party...
...cit., p. 317...
...Party membership in 1947 amounted to 53,700,24 and in 1954 was estimated at 40,000.25 At first, the party took a comparatively moderate line and supported Nehru's government...
...H. Seton-Watson, From Lenin to Malenkov, Praeger, New York, 1953, p. 315...
...A few examples may illustrate the situation: NATIONAL DAILIES 1945 1948 1952 1953 1954 L'Humanite 292,000 141,000 121,000 Liberation 250,000 121,000 130,000 NATIONAL REVIEWS 1951 1952 1953 Lettres Francaises 36,500 51,780 Cahiers du Communisme 36,500 33,000 44,800 PROVINCIAL DAILIES 1950 1951 1952 1953 La Marseillaise 125,000 99,300 87,000 106,000 L'Echo du Centre 44,900 37,000 Le Patriote 54,100 45,000 43,700 Liberie 100,000 84,000 76,400 75,500 According to the report of the Secretary of the French party Etienne Fajon, published in L'Humanite on November 13, 1954, the total circulation of French Communist dailies amounted to 517,000 copies, of which L'Humanite had 121,000...
...New York Times, March 16, 1947...
...Thus, the August 23, 1951 issue of its clandestine Review of Foreign and Domestic Affairs called upon "progressive" industrialists, tradesmen and engineers to join the workers and peasants in a United Front of Democratic Forces...
...The masses of the population, unaccustomed to Western-style political freedom, are little disturbed by the totalitarianism of the Soviet regime...
...3. Communist weekly World Newt, London, January 1, 1955...
...A number of clandestine publications were circulated by the party...
...at present, party agencies are netting handsome profits by acting as brokers in Italian-Soviet trade...
...But it soon became obvious that most Communist parties were not ripe for direct action...
...Strength of the International Communist Movement, p. 7. 38...
...7979, 12580, 12956...
...It is even permissible to utilize reactionary groups...
...A hard blow was dealt to L'Humanite in 1954 by the loss of a law suit against the newspaper L'Aurore, which had accused it of living on Soviet subsidies...
...The seizure of Czechoslovakia pulled the last prop from under the Grand Alliance and shook even Communist ranks...
...At the Party Congresses of 1952 and 1954, a violent struggle developed between the moderates and leftists, most of the latter being from the state of Andhra...
...In these elections, the Communists won 10 out of about 2,500 seats.17 Though this was a gain of 3 over the previous elections, the total Communist vote, which amounted to a small fraction of 1 per cent, can be discounted as negligible...
...The decline of Communist strength in Great Britain was also discussed six months later at the 20th Congress of the Young Communist League, held in October 1954, at which the League's Secretary, John Moss, stated: "In spite of the work done, the number of our members has shrunk...
...According to a report presented to the 20th Congress of the Young Communist League in October 1954, the circulation of the League's publication, Challenge, fell from 11,000 in April 1953 to 9,000 in April 1954...
...The CGIL, formed in 1944, reached a membership of over 6 million in 1947...
...In Telengana, the party even succeeded in seizing power...
...Six months after Hitler's invasion of Russia, the Communist party still used the slogan that Hitler was the greatest enemy of the international proletariat and Britain the greatest enemy of India...
...This was due to unsettled political conditions in many of these nations, splits and strife within non-Communist groups, and a shrewdly applied united-front strategy...
...Madhu Limaye, op...
...But the Communist ministers were soon ousted, and in 1948 President Videla put through Congress a law declaring the Communist party illegal...
...The New Zealand Federation of Labor called upon the workers "to abandon their Communist-dominated misleaders" and form a new dockers' union...
...Political Handbook of the World, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, 1954...
...Nine days later, the Arbenz administration, lacking public support, fled, and the new, strongly anti-Communist government took over...
...3 Acting Secretary of the party George Matthews complained at the Congress that, though capitalism is rotting, the Communist party now makes less socialist propaganda than twenty or thirty years ago...
...At present, Drapeau Rouge publishes 5,000 copies, and Rode Vaan a few hundred and is expected soon to go out of business...
...Under the impact of defeats in all its overt activities, the party is ready to go to great lengths to recapture its lost positions...
...In 1953, the party consisted of 50 per cent urban and rural workers, 29 per cent farmers, and 21 per cent middle class...
...In New Zealand, elections to the House of Representatives took place in 1946, 1949, 1951 and 1954...
...In 1951, Premier U Nu declared that "the cult of the gun" in Burma had resulted in 30,000 dead and 500,000 homeless and destitute...
...In Austria and West Germany, they are excluded from executive and administrative jobs in the unions...
...The Communist Press The Communist press in free Europe shows a decline in both the number of periodicals and their circulation...
...Other symptoms of weakening are the intra-party conflicts which in recent years have developed in most Western Communist parties...
...the Saar, where special conditions caused a slight rise in Communist voting strength...
...On the other hand, with rare exceptions the political leaders of the still free countries live from day to day in their thinking, and are more concerned with the issues which divide them from one another than with the intelligent defense of their common heritage of freedom...
...The League's efforts, coupled with economic stabilization in the country and the developments of the cold war, weakened the Communists' position and resulted in some pro-Communist unions' splitting and others joining the League...
...Secondly, in assessing the actual membership figures of Communist parties we must bear in mind that a member of a Communist party is not merely a member of an ordinary political party...
...Intervention of International Communism...
...27, 28...
...The camouflage also includes ostensible suppression of parts of the Communist program and in many instances the adoption of a misleading name...
...On June IB, 1954, a military force of Guatemalan exiles under Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas entered Guatemala...
...Writing in the Cominform journal, Diogenes Arruda, Secretary of the party's Central Committee, tells the bourgeoisie: "The program does not raise the question of the struggle for the confiscation or nationalization of banks, enterprises and capital of the big Brazilian bourgeoisie...
...As champions of Andhra's separate statehood, the Communists succeeded in establishing a firm foothold there...
...Attempts to attract the youth are made in France through two Communist-sponsored organizations, the Union de la Jeunesse Republicaine de France (UJRF) and the Union des Jeunes Filles de France (UJFF...
...but the power of the international Communist movement and its menace to the free world are greater than ever before...
...6,120,709 (22.6%) (Nenni) 3,441,014 (12.7%) ----- --- --- 328,571 (6.16%) --- --102,722 (5.84%) --- --- --- 89,882 (5.1%) ---- --- --- 41,346 (9.0%) --- ----- -- --- 168,000 (4.3%) --- ----- --- 25,659 (3.0%) --- --- --In an uninterrupted process of decline, the Communists lost three-quarters of their voters in Britain, one-half in Switzerland, more than three-fifths in Denmark, more than one-third in Belgium...
...The table which follows shows the decline in Communist voting strength in the free nations of Europe during the postwar period...
...In that body, the Communist party held one seat out of 296...
...Under favorable circumstances, they may prove able to rapidly regain the lost ground...
...During the war, it attracted some non-Communist unions and achieved considerable importance...
...In 1951, NCIU membership dropped to about 100,000...
...But the Communists are said to be too weak in Britain to take full advantage of this infiltration...
...Membership in Communist parties throughout the world has declined in the last few years...
...Somewhat different, generally higher, estimates are made by Walter Z. Laqueur in "The Appeal of Communism in the Middle East...
...actually, the number of working days lost through strikes was decreasing...
...It rose slightly in the 1955 elections...
...It has often been observed that pro-Communism in many cases is a result of political or social resentment rather than of genuine totalitarian trends...
...161-163...
...To many peoples of Asia, Africa and even Latin America, the USSR seems a highly industrialized country with a standard of living which, while miserable by Western standards, is superior to theirs...
...Department of State, publication 5586, Inter-American Series 48, August 1954...
...The only Communist member of the House of Representatives elected in Canada during the postwar period was Fred Rose, elected in 1945 and a year later exposed by Igor Gouzenko as a leader of the Canadian spy ring...
...The history of events since the Second World War has shown that the real secret weapon of the Kremlin has been the political credulity and ignorance of the opinion-makers and leaders of the Western world, who have been caught by surprise by every new phase in the Communist strategy for world domination...
...Born in Russia, he was active as a youth in the democratic socialist movement, but after the Bolshevik seizure of power continued his literary work in Germany and France...
...but our struggle to preserve the free world, not to speak of extending it, stumbles from one ineptitude to another...
...In 1953, the French party published 15 dailies (two of them in Paris), 51 weeklies, and 56 reviews and magazines...
...By 1947, the membership and influence of Communist parties in the West had reached their peak...
...In 1952, Communist leaders were banned from public office and some were arrested, but a Communist call for a general strike in protest misfired...
...Nicolas Repetto, Latin American Communism "exercises influence not so much upon the masses as upon certain groups of intellectuals awaiting a propitious occasion to get into any government, preferably one installed after a military coup...
...imperialists...
...in 1953, it nominated 90 candidates and won one seat, though the number of Communist voters continued to decline...
...Now he has amplified his findings and brought them up to date especially for this supplement, which is being sponsored by the Tamiment Institute...
...others draw their salaries from the Communist-controlled General Confederation of Labor...
...Republic --- --- --- --Great Britain --- 102,780 (2.4%) --- --- --Iceland...
...The new policy of coexistence with all groups willing to enter an alliance with the Communists seems more promising than the methods of direct action...
...What, then, is the effect of Communist activities under these extremely propitious circumstances...
...In the future, as in the past in Czechoslovakia, the way to power for the Communists will be prepared for them by illusioned non-Communists who, to achieve an immediate gain of relative unimportance, will temporize, make alliances and coalitions, and bet once more that this time and in this or that particular country the Communists will be different--sensible, sober, sincere, even patriotic...
...And on February 1, 1955 L'Humanite carried a full-page appeal for funds to maintain its existence...
...Yet, it is significant that in another Communist bastion in India, Travancore-Cochin, a similar trend appeared in the elections of February 15-26, 1954, when the Communist party won 23 out of 118 seats...
...The French party is authoritatively reported to be obtaining considerable financial assistance from the USSR...
...Soviet propaganda of nationalism, independence and state sovereignty, sincere or not, evokes a strong emotional response...
...The year 1950 marked the peak of Communist strength in Japan...
...In Sweden, they had won over several local union organizations, but during 1953 Social Democrats wrested control in some of them...
...Though only 4 of those elected were members of the Labor party, the party occupied a dominant position owing to its connections with the President, the Government and the labor unions...
...In this new democracy, the proletariat will join the bourgeoisie in a common dictatorship: "The class character of the aforementioned state will be the dictatorship of the working class, peasantry, intellectuals, petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie, based on the worker-peasant alliance and led by the proletariat and its Communist party...
...From that moment, Communist decline became unmistakable, general and steady...
...Servin called the loss of party membership "abnormal...
...Communist strength in the Belgian labor movement is now considered to be at its lowest postwar level...
...In the elections of 1946, according to Leon Blum, it was the only party that could afford to use loudspeakers mounted on trucks...
...Nor is there any more sense in those who lay the blame on a "soft" anti-Communist rather than a "hard" anti-Communist line...
...A leftist member of the Central Committee expressed his attitude thus: "America is the main enemy of peace, and England is the main enemy of national liberty...
...In many countries of the world, the Communist ideology has a greater resonance among intellectuals and professionals than among the workers...
...The second figure in each item shows the percentage of the Communist vote in the general balloting...
...The Miners Union immediately withdrew from the Federation...
...Even in its present retreat, it remains alert, dynamic and bold...
...The following year, the Community party launched an armed insurrection which was supported by other guerrilla bands made up mainly of Moslems and the Karen minority...
...Its members easily obtained visas from the Peron regime and traveled throughout Latin America supporting Peron and putting into effect Moscow's instructions...
...In one of its numerous policy realignments, the party now directed its activities toward fomenting riots and political strikes...
...The election results were as follows:32 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SENATE Percentage Percentage Communist of Communist of Year vole total vote Year vole total vote 1946 64,800 1.6 1951 93,561 2.11 1949 40,041 0.8 1953 140,075 3.05 1954 56,675 1.2 Outside of Parliament, the Communist party is intensively engaged in anti-democratic activities...
...It guarantees freedom of enterprise in industry and in internal trade...
...It claimed credit for 86 strikes in 1950 and 40 in 1951...
...Its actual strength has declined, but its potential force, the ability to take advantage of favorable situations, to turn the present retreat into a new attack, are still formidable...
...January 16, 1955...
...But nowhere was the disillusionment a landslide...
...H. Seton-Watson, op...
...Even in nations with strong Communist influence, the CP's actual strength is based on a small hard core of classless and fanatical devotees and an even smaller group of efficient intellectual leaders...
...Soviet expansionism, the economic rehabilitation of Belgium, and the Marshall Plan helped reverse the pro-Communist trend...
...It is deliberately seeking to create famine conditions by paralyzing the railway system so that foodstuffs should not be transported...
...cit., p. 20...
...In Latin America, the united-front strategy consists in building party blocs in which numerically weak but well-organized Communist parties succeed in gaining leadership...
...cit., p. 10573...
...BEIPI, January 1, 1954, p. 15...
...Fajon complained about the inadequacy of the press, and stated that in the last year L'Humanite had lost 10,000 more readers...
Vol. 38 • December 1955 • No. 60
