THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Frightened Liberal Dear Sirs: I expected a sharp and stimulating debate when I noted Cecil Hinshaw's "Am I Subversive?" with a reply by Arthur Schlesing-er, Jr. Although...
...To the immorality and futility of warfare add hypocrisy, of which there are innumerable incidents in history...
...I believe that "just as we must thank God that there are some Hinshaws in our land," so must we pray to God there are few Schlesingers so lacking in humility...
...Can he support either by history...
...House of Commons London, England Davis' Inconsistencies Dear Sirs: A recent issue of The Progressive carried a full-page ad for the latest book by Jerome Davis, Peace, War and You...
...In his broadcast of April 16 President Eisenhower said: "A nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be based upon any race in armaments...
...As one concerned with the problem of peace, I read the book...
...James C. Murphy Cheyenne, Wyo...
...For the relationship of the individual to the state, whether it calls itself democratic or communist, is an important matter, and will not be solved by attempts at sarcasm or distortion...
...Does Schlesinger think survival for democracy, or for a nation, can be preserved through national physical defense...
...Any man who can at once be as penetrating, as superficial, and as guilty of name-calling is terribly in need of a lesson in humility...
...Schlesinger stated, "Throughout our history our moral sensitivity has been quickened and renewed by the lonely dissenter," and then goes on to characterize one of these dissenters as "foolish," "noble, but idiotic," "boring" and guilty of "spiritual arrogance...
...If, therefore, there are friends in America who could help us with donations we should be very grateful...
...To confuse this with the spread of communism is inexcusable, dangerous, perhaps intended in some quarters...
...Perhaps in another and kindlier world each man can be a law unto himself, but every value he holds dear would be destroyed if each individual in this world were free to decide whether to obey the law or make his own...
...Robert S. Hoagland First Unitarian Society Schenectady, N. Y. Democracy's Way Dear Sirs: It is Schlesinger who seems to show suicidal tendencies...
...One of the author's suggestions for the reader is to be active in a peace organization...
...The real basis for the functioning of democratic government has gone when citizens begin to choose—even on the most idealistic and conscientious grounds—which laws they are going to abide by...
...If the author is correct that injustices in any country promote war, then the existence of slave labor is important information to those seeking peace...
...Norman Thomas says: "The world's one immediate hope lies not in the cessation of conflict between totalitarianism and democracy, but in a transfer of conflict out of the realm of atomic war...
...churches ought to develop public opinion and teach the idea in their schools, and the social and cultural organizations ought to be educated for it...
...Until we develop a more perfect system than majority rule (with minority rights) the minority has a real responsibility to abide by majority decisions...
...The book has many internal inconsistencies...
...But Mr...
...Perhaps his feeling that "the Russians might take us over first," is more significant than he thinks...
...Is Schlesinger, as a historian, unaware of this important historical contrast or unconcerned about its bearing upon democracy's survival...
...I have read Schlesinger here and there for some years now, so that these words come as carefully chosen and deliberate ones...
...The American Friends Service Committee and the Fellowship of Reconciliation are listed along with groups such as the Committee for Peaceful Alternatives and the American Peace Crusade...
...Gerald Wright Alexandria, Va...
...We should have a continuous campaign going on, hammering into everybody's mind the fact that disarmament is not a wistful dream but is an absolute requirement for civilization's survival...
...Ten countries in Africa are represented both in the British and French spheres...
...Hinshaw did an admirable job, it is difficult to believe that Mr...
...His "Suicidal, Not Subversive" is not even honest—for he has refused to face any of the issues except by changing them into different ones more to his liking, or perhaps more nearly at his level...
...Mr...
...If one is interested more in human welfare than in adherence to abstract principles, there is plenty of work to be done within America's legal process—a realistic and relevant (as distinguished from pacifist), foreign policy to be developed, and a freer, more human life to be created at home...
...All that glitters is not gold—and Hinshaw's thinking is so far superior to Junior's that Junior doesn't even know what he is talking about...
...Is this really the best that Mr...
...Fenner Brockway, M.P...
...It was most wholesome...
...Wilson A. Head Chicago, 111...
...Although Mr...
...India threw out the British with nonviolence and emerged probably the world's most democratic nation...
...Everybody's Business Dear Sirs: The crucial issue of today is world disarmament...
...Schlesinger, with manifest pride, urges the use of force, "respect for law" and "power" to "restrain the brutalities of power...
...Very seldom have I seen as reputable a person as Schlesinger make such a spectacle of himself in setting up a straw man to be downed by name-calling...
...Hinshaw's reply, I'm curious as to whether Art couldn't reform and make a useful statement of his position...
...Russian expansion is a historical sequence easily observable...
...Jack and Carol Urner Washington, D. C...
...The Decisive Point' Dear Sirs: I was much interested in the Hinshaw-Schlesinger debate, but there is an important point to which I think neither writer gave proper emphasis...
...Peace must come through changed human attitudes...
...Oppenheimer if there was any defense against the atomic bomb, he answered, "Yes—peace...
...Mrs...
...His prepossession with his own brilliance is preposterous...
...James M. Wallace Washington, D. C. Question for Schlesinger Dear Sirs: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr...
...But in playing the case of the Democrat Boyle big and burying the story of the Republican Roberts, were they not simply following an accepted method of appraising news, that of giving prominence to the unusual and surprising but minimizing what everyone would expect or take for granted...
...Lyle Tatum Sicklerville, N. J. Biased Collection Dear Sirs: The Progressive is probably the most distorted, biased, and intolerant collection of writings I have ever read...
...I find it difficult to believe that so distinguished a historian could be guilty of such distortion unless he is either afraid of the implications of Mr...
...Adding non-violence to it is doubly taking democracy's way...
...Although it deals principally with European countries and our relations with them, it has important implications for our Far Eastern policy also...
...Adlai Stevenson put it this way: "We must try to put an end to the arms race before it puts an end to us...
...a chance to reply to Mr...
...Although Gandhi remains the outstanding example of active, constructive, non-violent, non-hateful resistance, through this method Andre Trocme, in Nazi-held France, saved several thousand Jews from extermination at a time when violent resistance failed...
...Helena Barnes Chapel Hill, N. C. Irresponsible Dear Sirs: For three weeks I have been simmering over Arthur Schlesinger's article in the May Progressive...
...Appraising the News Dear Sirs: As a newspaper man of many years experience I read Mr...
...Schlesinger's argument seems much the stronger and more sensible in every way, but I do wish he had not written so gracelessly and angrily...
...But by disarming we would avoid mass suicide and gain time for those changes to work themselves out...
...Neither made a distinction between democratic and totalitarian states...
...An example from the 1930's was the widespread collection from ranch, farm, and shop of the accumulated junk of decades, to be sold as scrap to Japan for the slaughter of Chinese, while we decried the "heartless aggression" of the invaders...
...Hinshaw is a "dope," as is anyone who agrees with Thoreau: "If the law is of such a nature that it requires you to be an agent o[ injustice to another, then I say, break the law...
...Non-Violent Methods Dear Sirs: Arthur Schlesinger's answer to Hinshaw is unconvincing...
...We will gladly send our annual report to anyone who is interested...
...Schlesinger took the trouble to read the article...
...Although there are some good points in the book and some valid suggestions, as a unit it will not stand up under critical analysis...
...It is difficult to tell just what the author of this book believes...
...Alice Franklin Bryant Seattle, Wash...
...We must talk about it everywhere...
...Hinshaw's position, or, like many others, has been overcome by the hysteria of the times...
...kept troops in Korea and the UN "clearly stated that whoever crossed the 38th Parallel would be attacked...
...Schlesinger appears to me to be an egocentric, conceited smart alec...
...The months of debate by the UN Disarmament Commission ended in a deadlock —over procedure, not principle...
...James Atkins Shackford Raleigh, N. C. Backs Schlesinger Dear Sirs: Dr...
...The Difference Dear Sirs: The May issue's debate between Hinshaw and Schlesinger I consider your greatest contribution...
...It is in the preservation and extension of the way to power—peaceful persuasion—to all people...
...His faulty reading of his opponent and of history is inexcusable...
...And although it was written before the recent change in Russian dictators and policies, it applies to our present situation with even more urgency...
...Schlesinger can do...
...Our affiliated organizations in London are mostly unions of Colonial students who have little spare cash...
...The decisive point for me is contained in Schlesinger's last paragraph—that "no better way than democracy has been thus far devised to maintain a tolerable amount of order and humanity and liberty for free men living together in society...
...Russia used violence for the same purpose and is now the world's greatest dictatorship...
...History cannot support unilateral nationalism as a possibility for solving democracy's extension or survival...
...America must keep trying to find points of agreement among the nations, and every American should be concerned and active...
...Charles M. Larson Whittier, Calif...
...Just how irresponsible can an alleged scholar be...
...must have been half asleep when he answered Cecil Hinshaw's article on civil disobedience to misquote him so consistently...
...Or maybe he didn't have time to read the Hinshaw article...
...In relation to Peace, War and You, I recommend The Progressive's readers follow one excellent suggestion by Jerome Davis, "Listen and read everything critically...
...Schlesinger seems guilty of a glib-smugness—being very much assured Dr...
...Democracy is not in majority rule of law...
...Is there slave labor in Russia or not...
...That, too, he is not likely ever to discover...
...As President Eisenhower said in his broadcast, "the details of such disarmament programs are manifestly critical and complex...
...Schlesinger represents my position more than Mr...
...There is a real question about the type of peace the latter two, among others listed, are promoting...
...When one refuses to obey laws passed by the U.S...
...When the frightened liberal uses the threat of communism to avoid a serious discussion of a pertinent issue, we are indeed in a bad way...
...Hinshaw "A Final Word" takes care of my worry there...
...Faith Justified Dear Sirs: Although we may not always agree with The Progressive and its writers, we are among those who believe that as long as voices like The Progressive's can be heard, and in some quarters heeded, our faith in American democracy is not unjustified...
...I do not feel that the reviews reflect a very careful reading of the book...
...Hinshaw does...
...Hinshaw's argument made little sense to me...
...Rachel W. Wallen Estacada, Ore...
...Ralph T. Templin Wilberforce, Ohio Unfair Dear Sirs: Surely there are more than a few (pacifists and non-pacifists) who feel Mr...
...Or communism contained by physical barriers...
...Civil disobedience has always been the final democratic prerogative...
...Hinshaw supports the age-old principle that one should trust and reform himself first...
...This ought to be said every day...
...The only chance for that is through an agreement on universal and enforceable disarmament under a strengthened UN...
...Schlesinger's unfair argumentative tactics were so thoroughly exposed by Mr...
...However, someone should write you suggesting that even if there were no ethical or moral grounds for the position of civil disobedience, people like Schlesinger make civil disobedience indispensable...
...Anti-Imperialist Movement Dear Sirs: Anti-imperialists in America—and I know there are many—will be interested to know that the major national democratic movements in Africa, with the support of similar movements in Asia, are now associated together in the Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism...
...Whereas in Communist Russia or Nazi Germay civil disobedience is perhaps the only course left to a conscientious person, in the democratic countries one can really express himself in the political-legal process...
...Disputes Hinshaw Dear Sirs: Dr...
...Hinshaw's question, "Am I Subversive...
...May Hurlburt Smith Stanford, Calif...
...One example is that the author decries international name-calling, but labels Franco "creature and protege of Mussolini and Hitler," "killer of American boys," and other such names...
...Neither the United States nor any other nation can properly claim to possess a perfect, immutable formula...
...Hinshaw's reply...
...It has received numerous laudatory reviews...
...Warburg's Pamphlet Dear Sirs: If wisdom on our tangled international relations can be compressed into a capsule, that has been done in James P. Warburg's new 37-page pamphlet, France, Germany and Nato (The Current Affairs Press, 25 Vanderbilt Avenue,vNew York 17, N. Y. —50 cents each, three for $1...
...Or would he attempt civil disobedience as the South Africans are using against racist totalitarianism...
...Following the Easter Rebellion of 1916, P. S. O'Hegarty of the Irish Republican Brotherhood became convinced that had Sinn Fein subsequently used only nonviolent methods they would have gained just as much from England, and would have avoided the atrocities, retaliations, callousness, brutality, and terrorism which accompanied "the Trouble," and which characterize armed might...
...Most of the organizations affiliated to the Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism are political, but they include the Trade Union Movement of Tunisia, the U.G.T.T., and the Cooperative Farmers' Movement of Uganda...
...John M. Mecartney Belmont, Wis...
...Defunct organizations are listed, names are wrong, addresses are incorrect, etc...
...But I do not think he will ever get one—for I do not believe he has sufficient depth or intelligence to learn it...
...Reform, Art' Dear Sirs: Please give Arthur Schlesinger, Jr...
...M. Farmer Murphy New Canaan, Conn...
...Lasch's "I See by the Papers" in the May number with great interest...
...Incidentally, the list of organizations is full of errors...
...I heartily agree with the implication of the facts presented that a big majority of the country's big newspapers are faithless to the most important precept of an honest press, viz: to enlighten the public and protect its interest...
...Schlesinger was unfair in his reply to Dr...
...Would Schlesinger cooperate with this totalitarian step...
...In the appendix he then publishes a list of peace organizations...
...Last fall he told a group of peace workers: "There could be no long-range peace without disarmament...
...When a Congressional committee asked Dr...
...government, he in effect opposes the legal authority of which he is a part...
...Edsel A. Peterson El Cerrito, Calif...
...The problem he feels is to educate and reform the enemy, not himself...
...In two countries, the Gold Coast and the Sudan, the affiliated movements are now on the eve of securing independence and of becoming responsible for the government of their territories...
...When he speaks of slave labor in Russia he always puts the words in quotation marks...
...Of course disarmament alone would not make a peaceful world...
...What would Schlesinger do if reaction were to increase in the country and a law were passed that liberal organizations such as Americans for Democratic Action should be considered subversive with none of their leaders allowed to make speeches...
...But I guess your allowing Mr...
...These reviews reflect the deep-felt and wide-spread need for ways individuals can promote peace and prevent war...
...I believe that Cecil Hinshaw and those that take his position could more effectively serve God and man by renouncing an extreme position and by participating actively and responsibly in the democratic process...
...Smart Alec' Dear Sirs: I have just finished reading the Hinshaw-Schlesinger debate in the May Progressive...
...World disarmament is everybody's business...
...Another inconsistency is that Davis points out the futility of a containment policy, the arms race, and the use of force in international relations but then states that the Korean War could probably have been prevented had the U.S...
...Schlesinger's formula, "law as an eternal subject for criticism and change," is unavailable through his absolutism—"thus saith the state...
...Progressive subscribers would do well to read this pamphlet and to circulate it among their friends...
...I fail to understand how anyone who knows the nature of the Communist conspiracy can oppose defensive preparations...
...Don McClurg Charlotte, Mich...
...Agreed that present laws are imperfect—and some perhaps vicious—how can he disobey them without actually renouncing the democratic system which created them...
Vol. 17 • July 1953 • No. 7
