THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Arab and Asian Students Tell What a Communist Is The Progressive's April feature, "What Is A Communist?," circled the globe and brought comment from more than a dozen...
...He is an astringent spirit, sorely needed by us who muddle through the good and evil of our day...
...Dictators of the Hitler-Stalin type are only happy to liquidate non-violencers if they happen to get in their way...
...But really, now, aren't we spending too much of the printer's time on pro and con of Milton Mayer...
...Ahmed Farid Khalifeh Arab, Palestine I do not know what Communism is, but I do not like it for it did not solve my problem in Palestine...
...Jealousy and hatred grow in his heart...
...It remains yet to be seen, however, whether or not the pen is mightier than the atom bomb...
...Mrs...
...McDonald means the industrial centers of North China and Manchuria, they could easily be neutralized from the air...
...James E. Curtis Haverford, Pa...
...Age-Old Dilemma Dear Sirs: Milton Mayer's "The Tribute Money" in the March issue presents the age-old dilemma of the conscientious individual who finds himself opposed to the prevailing policies of the state...
...I even forego a few movies and such to pay my subscription...
...He thinks freedom should be sacrificed for the improvement of the common cause...
...William S. Shirley Pursglove, W. Va...
...There were 59 present...
...You know what neutralization is...
...37 responded, and we selected a representative sample.—The Editors...
...If Mrs...
...The most glaring of these peculiarities seems to me to be his overweening contempt for the masses, whom I would define as at least the majority...
...Miss Rosario Gimeno of Gulmbal Elementary School in Guimbal, Iloilo, Philippines has made an urgent request for old school textbooks and novels...
...Farouk Foued Wassif Iraq A Communist is a nationalistic and patriotic despot...
...Dear Sirs: Thank you particularly for Milton Mayer...
...A Communist is also one who gives everyone only what he needs...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Arab and Asian Students Tell What a Communist Is The Progressive's April feature, "What Is A Communist?," circled the globe and brought comment from more than a dozen foreign countries as well as the 48 states...
...Stephen Iwanick Bremerton, Wash...
...McDonald, and others of her persuasion, always manage to overlook the fact that Korea is the logical jumping off place for an invasion of Japan...
...2. An over-idealistic humanitarian who has seen the unhappiness of mankind and wants to help humanity and his fellowmen...
...It has been provided by measures taken in setting up the garrison state necessary to conduct modern warfare...
...Dear Sirs: I disagree with Mr...
...He believes in the equality of men if this equality will strengthen his country...
...I like Milton Mayer...
...Books Needed Dear Sirs: Wars not only destroy factories and homes...
...Their sincere determination to give their fellow men a life worthy of human beings is admirable...
...There isn't a dull sentence in it...
...Philadelphia 7, Pa...
...Kenneth Venn Ann Arbor, Mich...
...Why can't he write about something besides Mayer...
...In about a year, the Collector ran out of printed and mimeographed threats, and though they will collect what I owed them in 1950 from the rebate they owe me on 1952, with interest, I feel that the protest was legitimate...
...Essa Frei Palestine A Communist is the citizen of the future...
...Russian troops, or Chinese "guerrillas" operating out of Manchuria or Russia, could sweep down the Yalu in a few days, cutting off any troops extended beyond it...
...Can't we have him every month...
...McDonald will consult her map once more, she may note, somewhat to the north of the Yalu and frowning down on it like a fly-swatter over a fly, a little place called Siberian Russia...
...Bulova time...
...Furthermore, it has been amply demonstrated that an alarming number of people have dictatorial ambitions, and if there were no deterring force we could expect t6 see these would-be Napoleons sprouting up all over the place, clashing with each other and creating general havoc...
...3. Finally, a Communist may be a jealous failure, who hopes to better himself by getting richer under such a fraternizing regime...
...The book gives me at least quite a different impression from the part on which I commented...
...Rev...
...Full details can be secured by writing to: Ada Dolan 20 South Twelfth St...
...Miss Myrophora Zerlari Greece A Communist is a follower of Marx and a supporter of Stalinism, who respects materialism above all, believes in revolution, and calls for peace...
...O. J. Callanan Auburn, N. Y. Dear Sirs: Everything Milton Mayer says exactly suits me...
...Louise Rounds San Diego, Calif...
...They think of giving all humanity a full, peaceful, and interesting life...
...Miss Nadia Nagaty Egypt A Communist is a radical socialist who thinks that our political and economic problems will be solved if we unite all the world's nations into one government...
...Moreover, I am conducting my own campaign against the Great Books Foundation, and to top it all off, I think Mayer is quite wet much of the time...
...Bless him...
...1. Morris Rubin will be one of the leaders of the 24th Institute of International Relations for people of college age and up, to be held at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., July 10-19...
...H.Jay Erfurth Chicago, 111...
...Where the machinery is social and political instead of material, the process is known as "liquidation...
...Fuard A. Barahim British Crown Colony of Aden A Communist is one who shares everything with his brother—bread and money...
...Editor's Note: Next month...
...Viereck's Book Dear Sirs: Since I wrote my comment on Peter Viereck's article, in the April Progressive, I have read bis entire book which, on the whole, I liked, some of it exceedingly well...
...The sad fact is that they just don't seem to understand any language save that of force...
...These garrison state measures have been equally supported by Taft Republicans, Eisenhower Republicans, New Deal liberals, and "social-democrats...
...I like the People's Forum...
...Much as I sympathize with those of Mr...
...And it is precisely those socialists who "mean business" who have raised their voices loudest against both this new form of bureaucratic collectivism and its more advanced first cousin in the Soviet slave system...
...His March article, "The Tribute Money," was superb...
...E. C. Rice and ask you to keep Milton Mayer at any price...
...Friends' Institutes Dear Sirs: It occurs to us that perhaps some of the readers of The Progressive will be interested to know that Milton Mayer will head the faculty at our Institute of International Relations for the Family, to be held at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., July 25-Aug...
...Progressive readers can render a fine service to democracy by mailing their old books to Miss Gimeno during this spring-cleaning time...
...About Mayer Dear Sirs: We might object less to Mayer if we didn't get so much of him...
...Dear Sirs: I often like to read what Milton Mayer writes, but let's have a recess of letters about him, and give space to newer opinions...
...Navy during World War II, I am interested in helping in a small way to help restore normal conditions...
...What can you do with people like that...
...Miss Samira Youakim Lebanon A Communist is one of three things: 1. A broken, bitter person, who has had a raw deal of life and seen misery...
...MlSS jocelyn ARAR Spanish Turk A Communist is one who believes that economic and materialistic matters are the only basic factors in society, that religious and spiritual motivation mean little or nothing...
...Amer Shammoue Jordan A Communist is a pitiless inhuman person who thinks all the orders he receives are the best, even if he has to massacre his family...
...Mrs...
...Dear Sirs: This is a fan letter...
...E. Whealdon Salmon Arm, British Columbia Schizo on Taxes Dear Sirs: In Milton Mayer's March article, "The Tribute Money," he exhibits his enjoyment of martyrdom in stating that somebody over 25 must say "no" to the tax collector, and "Why shouldn't it be I?", as though he didn't personally know many others who were also over 25 and saying "no"—such as A. J. Muste and George Houser of the Fellowship of Reconciliation...
...Naturally, I received no such promise, but it established that I was not a tax-refuser, but a pacifist (which is much worse...
...However, we are reversing our decision to the extent of carrying the batch below...
...But I am spellbound, if not influenced, by what he writes and the way he writes...
...Moreover, no military decision in Korea can possibly protect the thousands of miles of Chinese coastline, open to attack and invasion by the world's most powerful sea force...
...Abdul Samie Sirag El Din Pakistan I have been much impressed by the individual Communists I have met...
...Mayer is all right —in small, infrequent doses...
...Ahmed Tell Jordan Three years ago I had the idea that Communists were bad men...
...Helena Hart Trenton, N. J. Dear Sirs: It seems incredible that anyone intelligent enough to read The Progressive would deny himself the whole paper because of one writer with whom he disagrees...
...Even an armchair strategist can see the holes in this one...
...As an employee, most of my tax has been withheld, but in 1950 I had the chance to withhold some $20 on my own, that my return said I owed the government...
...I am one of those who love Mayer, but I have made a much greater sacrifice than he—I have given up a complete tour of England and France by refusing to enter a contest with that for the prize—just to avoid taxes on it...
...Dear Sirs: Milton Mayer might be more worth our while if he didn't wear his bleeding heart on his sleeve all the time...
...Now I am confused because, last year I met some Communists and found them good in everything except their political ideas...
...They were sent us by a subscriber in Egypt, E. Freeman Gassett, instructor in history and political science at the University of Cairo, who polled his class of Middle Eastern students after receiving his April Progressive...
...As a coal camp preacher I suspect that I have as much contact with the masses as Viereck does from his location within the female Ivy League at Mount Holyoke...
...I am not a pacifist, nor a Christian in the way Mayer is...
...Mohammed Sidjanten Saudi Arabia A Communist is a wildcat as well as a snake...
...F. B. Riggs Whittier, Calif...
...He becomes wild, and like a wildcat cannot be tamed...
...I'd like to see more of his articles in your magazine...
...Charles D. Hornig San Jose, Calif...
...R. Mostek Chicago, 111...
...The world, America, and I need The Progressive...
...they also destroy schools and libraries...
...Talal Nabulsi Palestine A Communist is one who uses high ideals as a pretext to mask political ambition for governing the world...
...Muddled Naivete Dear Sirs: Mrs...
...He is correct in noting the lack of logic in withholding only the percentage of tax going into the military—the same percentage of the tax paid will be used for war purposes...
...While I hold no naive "Rousseaulstic" faith in the innate goodness of the masses, I frankly see no other primary force within democracy for checking "an all-powerful bureaucracy" If the masses fail then—let's face it, Prof...
...Pleasel Webb Rich Los Angeles, Calif...
...If taxes continue the upward climb, a person will have to work like a dog to be able to live like one...
...When filing my return, I included a letter asking the government to guarantee that the amount still due would be channeled into non-military use, and I would forward it...
...Miss Mona Hetata Egypt A Communist is one who was led by Karl Marx and others into changing organizations by force and revolution...
...A drive across the Yalu by U.N...
...I don't always agree, but that's part of the fun of reading...
...Mayer's persuasion, however, and even though by Inclination I would often go along with the non-violence school of thought, I am never able to make myself believe that such a course would preserve civilization...
...I had to do a special bit of rationalizing myself—because while on the one hand I could say that I can't help it if my tax is withheld from my wages, on the other hand, as office manager for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, I was the one who did the mechanical work In withholding taxes, not only on my own salary, but on dozens of others, and then sent reports and checks to the Collector...
...future which exists only in the imagination of the members of the Communist Party and day-dreamers in other parts of the world...
...I would like to point out that the situation providing an "all-powerful bureaucracy" with the opportunity for "abusing politically its excessive economic power" is not being and has not been provided by the measures taken by either democratic-socialists or welfare state liberals to approach economic democracy via government action...
...But of course a good accountant makes sure his clients take every possible deduction, thereby keeping people from overpaying their taxes...
...Always he asks for more than he needs...
...McDonald's letter in the April issue showed much of the muddled naivete common to people who can find nothing wrong in any action of Red China's...
...Gerald Suslian Armenian A Communist is a person who believes that all people are equal and who believes in distributing the wealth of the country equally among its citizens...
...We felt obliged to call a halt on the publication of letters with those we carried in the May issue because we're falling hopelessly behind in using other letters for the People's Forum...
...Shawki Sawaya Syria A Communist is but a mechanical man, invented by the Communist leaders, so that he can't do anything, not even think without their permission, and under their direction and orders...
...Nell Searle Chicago, 111...
...But why I am a schizo today is this: while I left the FOR partly to avoid taxes and establish my own business which has been very successful in providing me with a tax-free income so far (not enough to be taxed)—I find that the major source of income this winter is from my tax accounting...
...As for those "vital spots", by which I believe Mrs...
...Why don't you give him a good rest every few months and make space for others...
...Miss Olympia Karageorges Greece Lasch Every Month Dear Sirs: Robert Lasch's "I See By the Papers" is an intellectual delight...
...Their slogan is, "What is mine is yours...
...troops is a military impossibility...
...I like you...
...Mayer and others like him wield very effective pens, and it has been well said that the pen is mightier than the sword...
...Both sides have been neutralizing for a number of years now...
...Could we have one People's Forum with no mention of a. good man who doesn't need the publicity...
...Viereck is not a socialist and I am, but his criticism of socialism is not very prominent in the book and is less superficial than I assumed in my rejoinder...
...Hallock B. Hoffman Pasadena, Calif...
...Viereck—democracy fails...
...Certainly the resistance of the "high aristocracy" to Hitler, in the advanced stages of German collapse, was not made to restore democracy...
...But I think there are a lot of other people and topics that rate a few more words, pro and con...
...E. A. Schaal American Friends Service Committee Philadelphia, Pa...
...This tax-refusal is a hard thing to rationalize—no one can eat a slice of bread with' out contributing to the manufacture of guns, indirectly...
...Norman Thomas New York, N. Y. Objections to Viereck Dear Sirs: While I think that Peter Viereck was ably answered in at least two of the rebuttals to his April article, I think they overlooked some rather startling peculiarities in Viereck's argument...
...Wan Hassan Malaya Communists believe that all human beings should be equal...
...It is the indiscriminate murder of people in an attempt to damage machinery...
...Yet in the same article he makes long-winded protestations about his devotion to democracy...
...Moheo Al Mahdi Eltayb Soudan From observation right in my own country I would say that Communists use force to achieve their ends and arrest natives and rob them whenever they like...
...Robert Horton West Webster, N. Y. Dear Sirs: I seldom agree with Milton Mayer, yet I find myself either reading his articles first or saving them until last, like dessert...
...I read it...
...A Communist is one who believes in the Communist ideology, which aims at world government and prosperity but is disfigured by the existing government in Russia...
...As one who served in the Philippines in the U.S...
...Dear Sirs: If there should be a vote, I am a Mayer man...
...They have established a high school with 400 ambitious students, but are in great need of books...
...This is the true shame and feebleness of "social-democrats...
...Informed adult students of economics say that if you are paying $1,000 income tax this year, your contribution will run the government about one-third of a second...
...His unique insight has the quality of distilling the significant meaning from his experience and observations...
...The hinge of the whole argument is the premise that the Chinese are fighting in "defense of China's borders...
...Some rationalizing...
Vol. 17 • June 1953 • No. 6
