THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Speak Up! Dear Sirs: I was impressed with Stringfellow Barr's article in the December Progressive because it puts our international problems on a constructive plane. As I try...
...Pacifism must offer not draft refusal but food for the hungry child— something positive...
...And then Sen...
...We have opposed the seating of the Chinese government among the members of the United Nations...
...They further called upon President Truman to "give the free world the moral, courageous, and bold leadership for which it is crying...
...Stanley R. Rolnick 417 Sterling Court Madison, Wis...
...It has been said that one of the reasons that George Bernard Shaw was so universally hated at one time was because he dared to separate Christ from Christianity...
...For a while it seemed that Sen...
...January Best Yet Dear Sirs: Congratulations on the beautiful job The Progressive is doing to bring some light into our confused minds...
...Sense of Guilt Dear Sirs: Within the past few days we have listened to numerous speeches having to do with foreign policy including those of the President, an ex-President, a governor, and, most recently, a foreign policy adviser...
...Yet we wait in vain for word from our leaders to alleviate this terrible suffering...
...v. Cannon) Of the 70 men convicted for refusing to register for the draft, five have been rearrested and will soon be back in court...
...Sherrill further said, "I have reason to believe that church leaders in other lands are expressing to their governments judgments similar to those which I have ventured to communicate to you...
...Robert Treuer, Editor Wisconsin CIO News Milwaukee, Wis...
...Increasingly the truth is being made plain to us that we live in a moral universe and that the Spirit which pervades it is one of righteousness...
...When are the churches going to do it...
...Joseph McCarthy has done more to foster dissension and promote disunity in our country than all the "Made in U.S.A...
...We know that because of floods in North China this pattern may repeat itself this year...
...Academic Freedom Dear Sirs: I should appreciate receiving, for use in a dissertation, information about academic freedom and tenure cases in American colleges since 1870...
...That way lies either our mutual destruction or defeat on our part by Soviet imperialism...
...It emphasizes the role of nationalistic thinking in preventing the policy-makers as well as the rest of the population from understanding the effects of their actions upon people in other nations...
...Now, Sen...
...There are administrative solutions available which could be legally used to keep these men from returning to prison, if the officials of either the Department of Justice or Selective Service had any desire to halt these prosecutions...
...My criticism of pacifism is that it is too vague, uses too many big words, and does not offer a clear-cut and easily understood alternative to the philosophy of market economics and proletarian revolution...
...This does not mean, however, that the world can be reformed simply by opposing conscription and defense preparations...
...The Christian Church has an almost unblemished record for enshrouding war with a halo of moral respectability...
...Albert H. Querin Portland, Ore...
...The members of this panel of this court are of the opinion that the Justice Department should carefully reexamine this case and all others of a like nature with a view of relieving young conscientious zealots from the overwhelming burden of carrying the felon's brand past the period of rash decision and throughout their lifetime...
...Otherwise we continue to push Peiping closer to Moscow, antagonize our friends everywhere, including Asia and Europe, bleed ourselves on the basis of Stalin's timetable, and perhaps eventually play into the hands of the men in the Kremlin by beginning a preventive war against them and thus completing our political and military isolation...
...In the review of a first prosecution the judges of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth circuit said: "There is room here, however, for executive action...
...Lyle Tatum Executive Secretary Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors 2006 Walnut St...
...The Council felt that in the event of the use of the atomic bomb against the United States, then it "could be justifiable for our government to use them in retaliation with all possible restraint...
...The problem is the lack of a moral and rational economic and political orientation...
...Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil—that put darkness for light, and light for darkness—that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter...
...Jane Edwards Silver Springs, Md...
...What could be more significant for a progressive American than the fact that the greatest religious force of our age is Communism, and how can we as progressives redirect this force...
...Pacifism must make us moral and rational personalities once again and destroy the romanticism and asceticism of the suburban dweller...
...They are warm and impulsive to help...
...J. W. Mesick Pontiac, Mich...
...Church and War Dear Sirs: On Dec...
...U.S...
...Did we by any word or deed of our government show concern for this national tragedy...
...J. F. Westrick San Diego, Calif...
...We can still turn the tide if there are enough of us...
...All have served their original prison terms...
...Selective Service could give these men deferment classifications for which they are eligible from information readily available...
...Compromise in Korea Dear Sirs: The present crisis in world affairs furnishes a startling illustration of our nationalistic inability to see ourselves as others see us...
...Thirty-two million people starved to death in China last year...
...I liked especially your "Ten Heroes of 1950" and Helen Mears' article on U. S. foreign policy and Asia...
...The National Council also looks upon the "police action" in Korea as a "hopeful factor which should be retained and strengthened...
...D. W. Burch Cambridge, Mass...
...Readers of The Progressive, speak up...
...It seems clear from the mass of material published in the New York Times since MacArthur's "victory offensive" that he has disregarded at least the spirit, if not the letter, of his position...
...Dick Roberts Chicago, 111...
...2. Have we made practical moves in Asia to show the people of China that we have a constructive policy to offer instead of communism...
...It is many years since the head of our government has met with the head of the Russian government, or even sent an intimate personal friend, as Roosevelt sent Hopkins, to negotiate with him...
...Wherry of Nebraska should be awarded the trophy...
...Christian Judgment Dear Sirs: "The Ten Heroes of 1950" by Morris Rubin in the January issue was the most Christian judging of world personalities I have ever seen anywhere, anytime...
...It seems to me incredible that a magazine of such brilliance as yours is not better known in this country...
...Biggest Fool Dear Sirs: For some time I've been trying to settle in my own mind who has made the Biggest Fool of Himself in Congress...
...We can't stop it with guns...
...Interested persons should let their opinions be known to Congress, the Department of Justice, and Selective Service...
...Pacifism must be militant against poverty, famine, and disease, and against corrupt and oppressive leaders...
...In a telegram to President Truman, Mr...
...Unless we want to become bogged down in Asia in a war we cannot win, and weaken ourselves to the point where Western Europe separates itself from us for self-preservation, compromise in Korea represents the only sensible course of action...
...Now is the time to tell your friends, your Congressmen, your President, and other American citizens what you think...
...Our whole Anglo-Saxon tradition is one of trying to understand the other man's point of view, and working out together some arrangement that is a compromise for both...
...Let us attempt to shed our blinders and evaluate some of the recent developments leading to the present Chinese crisis from the viewpoint of a citizen of the world...
...It's impossible to shoot an idea, and stupid and costly to try it...
...We know why a great fear haunts our people and why military preparations of whatever magnitude only deepen our sense of insecurity...
...Margaret D. Gray Chicago, 111...
...Lest I be investigated by some "Un-American Committee," at this point, I want to make clear that I am attempting to follow Tom Paine rather than Karl Marx...
...Mr...
...It would mean using the American genius to build, not to destroy...
...All five would be ineligible for the draft if they were willing to comply with the Act...
...Jim Burton Newaygo, Mich...
...Front for Communism Dear Sirs: The Progressive is a front for Communism, and I do not wish to support it...
...I do not think so...
...Sometimes it seems to me that our leaders want us to identify negotiation with appeasement...
...These could begin by our rebuilding the schools, orphanages, and hospitals which we helped to destroy in Europe and in Asia...
...Either he or whoever was responsible for his decision acted in flat disregard of the opinion of our UN allies...
...As I try to analyze why my sons and other women's sons may have to die in the Orient, these are some of the questions I ask myself: 1. Have we done everything in our power to negotiate our differences with China and Russia...
...Pacifism must offer moral and rational leadership and an economic and political philosophy for our time...
...No doubt they have...
...Many persons concerned with the preservation of democratic ideals, including a national CIO convention, protested the original prosecutions of these men...
...Creaking Conservative Dear Sirs: The Progressive is a creaking conservative in an age of power and progressive action...
...You can't fool all the people all the time...
...Jack Cypin Long Island University Brooklyn, N. Y. Weakness of Pacifism Dear Sirs: A. J. Muste, in his article, "Accent the Negative," in the December Progressive, describes the anti-moral and anti-rational nature of a world which is more interested in war than in education, civil rights, or world economic development...
...Documents will be copied and returned, and cases will be treated anonymously on request of contributors...
...We know we can never undo the wrongs we have committed, but that it does lie within our power to repent and to undertake measures of restitution...
...Dispatches indicate that there was a considerable amount of pressure as well as advice from UN members to stop short of the border of Manchuria in order not to alarm Peiping unduly...
...The Department of Justice has well-defined powers of deciding not to prosecute as a matter of policy in the furtherance of democratic justice...
...Knowland of California has settled the question beyond doubt by advocating that we reestablish Chiang Kai-shek in China by force...
...E. E. Coleman Grand Rapids, Mich...
...But MacArthur was not impressed...
...Arthur L. Gilbert Los Angeles, Calif...
...Perhaps emboldened by the results of the recent elections, he embarked upon his reckless advance and the resulting military and political debacle...
...Four days later, the newly-organized National Council of Churches, through its president, Henry Sherrill, loaned its weighty morality to the God of War...
...Sherrill cautioned against "self-righteousness and hatred, which give impulse to a holy or preventive war, and reluctantly accepts the necessity of military strength to serve as a deterrent to aggression...
...Philadelphia, Pa...
...6, the International Council of Churches issued a statement on the atomic bomb, saying that its use violates "no moral principles if used to defend human freedom...
...What we are waiting for is a call to repentance, to reconciliation, and to good will and for a foreign policy based upon tolerance, mercy, and justice which we can support...
...The fundamental idea of communism, socialism, and Henry George single tax philosophy—that the earth, with its natural resources, belongs to all instead of a few for exploiting the many—is an idea that is spreading over the whole world, thank goodness, and is not being stopped by war, nor otherwise...
...Nomination Dear Sirs: Considering that Sen...
...What all of these gentlemen together with many of the news commentators and others fail to take into account is the fact that great numbers of our people are not interested in votes, in retaining office, in face-saving, in party prestige, in war profits nor in schemes that would, if necessary, destroy most of the world to save ourselves...
...It is because of the tremendous sense of guilt we feel for having subscribed to the tyranny of "Unconditional Surrender," to obliteration and atom bombing, and finally, our acquiescence to the partition of the countries in which the vanquished peoples live...
...The American people are generous...
...Plea for CO's Dear Sirs: The Selective Service Act of 1940 sent more than 6,000 men to prison who violated the Act because of religious, political, or other sincere conscientious objections...
...But we are told only: give billions that we may prepare to kill...
...that the God who rules it will not be mocked and that whatsoever we sow, that shall we also reap...
...McCarthy of Wisconsin took the lead and held it for some time...
...The January issue was the best yet...
...Only public opinion can halt the continuous prosecution of this minority group...
...The problem is not war and the emphasis upon war, and the problem is not immoral and unrational people...
...Elwood Cronk Pleasantville, N. Y. Inspiring Dear Sirs: The January Progressive is not only good, but also inspiring...
...The extremely conservative view of the Department of Justice is emphasized at this time by second prosecutions of men who have already served one prison term for refusal to cooperate with the Selective Service Act of 1948...
...This I emphatically protest...
...Communists, I wish to nominate him for the 1950 Voice of Russia award...
...As mobilization increases it is apparent that the U. S. Department of Justice is willing again to prosecute men to the utmost of its ability where selective service violations are the result of conscience...
...Spreading Idea Dear Sirs: The only way to stop the idea and spread of Communism is to answer the arguments for it, if we can...
...Along with these initial steps we should undertake a constructive role in the revolutionary movements of the world...
...Stringfellow Barr's idea of meeting Communism with a constructive program, administered by a world corporation, appeals to Americans...
Vol. 15 • February 1951 • No. 2
