THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM No Guts Dear Sirs: It seems to me that the essential point raised by Sidney Lens in the October issue is extremely well taken; namely, that many present-day liberals are...
...Why not admit it and look for a new road...
...Secondly, even if we were to concede that our military might has been the real deterrent—which I do not—this still does not answer the question of militarism...
...Lewis W. Petterson, Jr...
...But the point at issue is whether they are fighting militarism, whether they are taking the initiative in winning back for us, the public, the civil liberties we have lost, whether they are putting forth bold new programs and bold new ideas on internal and foreign policy...
...This I believe to be an honest criticism of a policy and not an emotional prejudice against the Catholic Church as such...
...How naive can a reviewer get...
...This has given rise to many ambiguities of theory and practice, needing constant elucidation for Catholics and non-Catholics alike—as Mr...
...Not all liberals, of course, have yielded to pressure from the right, and I so indicated in my original article...
...it is a way of life which gripped nations such as pre-war )apan, a way of life based on thought-control, fear, conformism, the domination of the military mind in political and business affairs...
...More and more it appears that minority groups are becoming exempt from any form of honest criticism...
...I see nothing inconsistent with the democratic process in a private pressure group voicing approval or disapproval, or acting as an economic or social force to express an opinion or attitude it holds in conscience...
...The answers of Mr...
...namely, that many present-day liberals are suffering from a serious internal disorder—no guts...
...4. It has ceased being a "pressure from lift" and a force against conformity...
...is very realistic and fit to raise sympathy among the sensible readers, but what a caricature of reality...
...It seems to me that if their doctrine were offensive, they would be concentrating on a different type of armament than they seem to be producing...
...2. It has diluted its support for civil liberties by accepting curtailment of civil liberties...
...Was "unity" more important to Mr...
...They didn't because the military is not their main weapon, it is bordinate to their policy of social subversion...
...Only the Church itself, in fact, can say, with authority, which are greater or lesser...
...In the recent election campaign ADA issued a pamphlet called Voting Guide 1956...
...6. presents no real opposition to the partisan foreign policy...
...I am afraid," writes Filler, "that Gessner does not fully appreciate that Lindeman picked his 'naive' democracy out of the very air of the pre-World I period...
...Still, it is vital to the growth of a democracy that all groups, majority and minority, be open to an honest appraisal and, if they so merit, a rational criticism...
...Three invitations to speak at local service clubs followed and, of course, the new Soviet economic attack came in for a lot of attention...
...But he completely muddies the issue, and gives his opponents a perfect opening, by dragging in, and attempting, it seems, to ressurect, the pungent carcasses of pacifism neutralism, etc...
...Nevertheless, it is true that in many areas liberals have been dropping the ball more often than a fourth-string out-fielder in the Little League...
...Lens' Fine Article Dear Sirs: I would like to congratulate Sid Lens on his fine article, "Sewer Liberalism...
...The most popular question at meetings of this nature is, "Why don't I get information like this in the popular press...
...Neuberger are very weak indeed, I think...
...Liberalism has supported a bi-partisan policy which is obviously a failure...
...Tyler's misconstruction of this point evades the necessity of speaking to the main issue: is it true that liberalism has lost its courage, that it is no longer anti-militarist, that it has succumbed to pressure from the right...
...We should now ask them some pointed questions...
...the Church does reserve the right of censorship for its members...
...In practice, the Legion signifies an extension into the domain of the movies of the custodianship exercised by the Church in other matters...
...Yet liberalism at the Democratic convention made no effort to rid the party of Eastland and the dozens of other Eastlands...
...If occasionally a pressure group is to be criticized for its excesses, so, too, should private and governmental agencies and officials be criticized for acceding to excessive demands...
...The third part, written by Tyler, finally tells you what to do as a citizen...
...or about Poujade, who is a half-educated demagogue, not an "illiterate"—he is a bookseller)—may your readers find in this keen report an accurate view of our errors and debates, but of our hopes for a united democratic Europe too...
...I don't know...
...Just what steps do Tyler and Neuberger plan to take to end it, and when...
...My intention at that point was to stress that Storm Center argues against censorship of any kind, and that there should not be surprise that the Catholic agency entrusted with the judgment of films has registered opposition to so clear a challenge to fundamental Catholic doctrine...
...On the contrary, this movement is not at all flourishing, and many splits and disagreements have already appeared among the members of the party...
...The Legion of Decency issues no orders to anyone...
...Michael—like Father Dulles and other Catholics who recognize the official bounds of the Legion's authority— may be underestimating the practical force of its classifications and recommendations...
...It is extremely disagreeable to have one's country presented so inaccurately abroad...
...Perhaps Filler may be referring to my account of a pre-World War I college play Lindeman wrote, but here I wrote: "Aside from the joyous naivete and the Ibsen plot which would have greatly amused the older Lindeman...
...Certainly that is not true of men like Justice Douglas and James P. Warburg...
...It is divided into three parts and for some 111 pages it deals with what it considers to be the political issues...
...John Michael Milwaukee, Wis...
...Senator Neuberger's reactions were rather personal in one or two places...
...Everyone in the late campaign, for instance, remembers the statement that "you can't have Eastland and us both...
...But it should be explained that while the Legion of Decency is an agency of the Catholic Church, it is not one to whose judgments Catholics owe "absolute obedience...
...It makes recommendations which are designed to help the individual to form his own conscience about motion pictures...
...The suppression and censoring of books and movies, indeed, of any media through which ideas may be transmitted, is unhealthy to a democratic way of life...
...Lens missed the boat...
...Dworkin wrote: "Specifically, it [Storm Center] does not confront the problem for democratic countries of the absolute obedience in Catholicism to the definition by constituted agencies of the Church of what may be read, seen, heard, or otherwise experienced without imperiling eternal salvation...
...News and World Report of September 18...
...Missed I tried to cut you out of my budget, what with a baby coming, a house a-build-ing, and the squeeze of tight money drying up most of my building contractor husband's business, but it just didn't work...
...The class of 1938 is not called up for the war in Algeria: but only, as is normal, the men born in 1936 who reach the age of 20...
...Jacqueline Lecorcher Sainte Sairne Aube, France Mayer's Keen Report Dear Sirs: Warm congratulations to Milton Mayer for his brilliant article on France in the October issue...
...Michael for his comments...
...Martin S. Dworkin New York, N.Y...
...We can only hope that by speaking out forthrightly and by discussing the weakness of liberalism and its causes, the ranks of the more courageous liberals can be augmented...
...Is the loyalty program so institutionalized (and are liberals afraid to attack such an "institution") that it is here to stay...
...I have no argument with this statement...
...May your readers read it again and find it, in spite of some poetical or caricatural exaggerations (about the economy, for instance, which is in recovery now and by far not as deplorable as the government's budget...
...Mrs...
...5. It has stopped proposing new social maneges such as national health insurance nationalization of certain industries, con-nting itself merely with some improvement existing welfare programs...
...For example: Is there to be an end to the Cold War...
...It is imperative that we keep alive the spirit of logical criticism of our national groups, popular or unpopular, majority or minority, since this is, after all, part ot our heritage of free speech...
...And of course his out-of-context slur on Gus Tyler is just blatant McCarthyism...
...Robert Gessner New York, N. Y. What One Individual Did One of your correspondents recently asked for suggestions of what individuals could do in an effort to alert democracy to its danger...
...particularly Douglas, who is the only one 1 know personally...
...Dworkin Responds Dear Sirs: I am grateful to Mr...
...Needless to say, they were snapped up, so I am enclosing $5 for 20 more copies, as I don't want to be caught short again...
...The irrational, emotional, and untrue attacks of the hate-mongers have made sound, honest criticism a distasteful business...
...Why defend the personal integrity of the liberal officials, when that integrity is neither questioned nor at issue...
...William Basnight Philadelphia...
...Nowhere did it state that the liberal in calling on other voters must always be careful not to sacrifice principle for expediency, or that the voter will judge him by his idealism and his fervor, or that he must use the election campaign as a beginning for other idealistic political activity...
...I have a hunch, too, that Lindeman would be sadly amused by the unprofessorial mis-application of the description to the whole of his philosophy...
...The Catholic Legion of Decency is a case in point...
...I took them along and offered them to those interested in further study as the best summary of the situation I had found...
...Harvard Law School Cambridge, Mass...
...If a producer or an exhibitor responds to the Legion's pressure, he does so voluntarily, but if a legal censorship agency says no to a film, he has no choice—nor do the people...
...We don't really need a lot more Neubergers and Tylers, in or out of office—effective or ineffective— but a few prophets, if you will, to lead us out of the wilderness of compromise that has marked the past decade...
...Robert S. Hoagland Tacoma, Wash...
...Michael has done, may therefore be more academic than actually operative...
...I wrote an article for the local paper using the Suez affair as an example of how capitalism is losing to communism, and how colonialism is a handicap in this great struggle...
...And how about civil rights...
...Perhaps I didn't state this point well...
...Here are some examples of what I mean: It is not true that "the proportion of those who follow the illiterate Poujade is ever-growing...
...The Tylers and Neubergers have led us since approximately 1947...
...Jean Marie Daillet Moutiers-au-Perche Orne, France Naive Reviewer Dear Sirs: Quibbling with reviewers is a literary luxury I've never been able to afford, but I do want to take time to correct a serious misstatement in Louis Filler's review in the October issue of The Democratic Man: Selections from Eduard C. Lindeman which I edited and for which Max C. Otto contributed an introduction...
...Each of these groups advances its interests in a variety of ways, including strikes, boycotts, refusal to ride buses, as well as through persuasion...
...Sidney Lens Chicago, 111...
...First, he has been honest enough to be critical of a motion picture with whose theme he is in obvious agreement...
...As he says, I am aware of the limitations of the Legion of Decency as an official agency of the Church...
...And it is hard to make them understand that there are any relatively non-relative principles involved...
...Even though we get another liberal magazine weekly, I found myself missing your pungent thoughts—and Milton Mayer's always provocative musings...
...But the principle of a pressure group acting in the social sphere is not only wholly consistent with democracy, but probably necessary to its functioning successfully...
...Eight copies of your September issue on Russia, "The New Soviet Challenge," arrived in time for the last discussion...
...Winning" has become more important than what is won...
...I'm absolutely certain they are...
...I was not referring to it specifically in citing the general principle of censorship which is a basic doctrine of Catholicism...
...but their number is small...
...Militarism means more than guns and planes...
...We are all too prone to point out the faults in something with which we do not agree and to ignore the faults which may fall within our own sphere of beliefs...
...Nowhere in my editorial comments or in my biographical sketch do I describe Lindeman's democracy as naive...
...Moreover, the pressure upon the layman to look upon all degrees of authority as equally absolute, once the principle of the Church's absolute authority is accepted, can be overwhelming...
...As a Unitarian I can't understand these people who carp at Mayer just because they don't always agree...
...The first is specific, and concerns the status of the Legion of Decency as a Catholic agency...
...Lens Missed the Boat Dear Sirs: Mr...
...Ever since the disappearance of the New England town meeting, our democracy has thrived by virtue of pressure groups—labor, business, conservationists, veterans, religious or racial minorities (or majorities), conscientious objectors, teachers, women, ad infinitum...
...That it is constituted in ways different from other, older Church agencies may have to do with its origins and functioning within the framework of American institutions...
...The problem isn't whether Senators Douglas and Humphrey (and Neuberger) are decent people...
...Ethelmae Yeakel Watson Sacramento, Calif...
...As confirmation of this thesis I refer readers to a major interview of a top U.S...
...Shocked by Mayer Dear Sirs: I am greatly shocked by Milton Mayer's article, "Vive la Debacle," in the October Progressive...
...Both Gus Tyler and Senator Neuberger seem to deplore the lack of a positive program for liberals which I presume they expected Lens to lay down as the basis for a penetrating discussion among progressives of all sorts—"sewer" and otherwise...
...My second point, which is general, is that there is a careful distinction that must be made between a pressure group, such as the Legion of Decency, that pressures communicants of the Catholic faith in its selection of motion pictures, and a censorship authority that, acting with legal force, can prevent a film from being shown to all...
...But Tyler knows that the emphasis has shifted from idealistic content to organizational efficiency...
...It is this preoccupation with "efficiency" and winning office, rather than emphasis on principle, which is becoming the liberal trademark...
...For all practical purposes, the Legion may be regarded as the agency of the Catholic Church officially charged with judging films...
...Catholics and Censorship Dear Sirs: Martin S. Dworkin's article, "The Hurricane's Clouded Eye," in the October issue deserves praise on two counts...
...In the first place, the Russians could have taken all of Europe during most of the last decade, and certainly between 1940 and 1950, but they didn't...
...Censorship Dear Sirs: As a devoted fan of Martin Dworkin's, I. would like to comment on two points in his review of the movie Storm Center ["The Hurricane's Clouded Eye," October issue...
...But what I deplore above all is that a publication of your standard would publish an article which is so completely lacking in objectivity and is full of conscious—or unconscious—mistakes and falsehoods...
...Harold S. Fowler North Manchester, Ind...
...There are many other examples of this kind, and it is to be regretted that they form a picture of France which is very far from the truth...
...The blemish is not fatal in a review which patronizingly praises "Lindeman's career [as] sound" while thinking him "well-meaning but a bit dull and old-fashioned...
...It has the force of Papal approval and encouragement behind it, transmitted by the hierarchy, the priesthood, and the Catholic press...
...In opposition to this thesis Gus Tyler called me a "conservative" for being as anti-militarist in 1956 as I was in 1936, and chose to miscontrue one of my criticisms...
...One of the points he makes is that the policy of the Soviet military "is primarily defensive as far as global war is concerned...
...Frances Meyer Schenectady, N. Y. Lens on Liberals Dear Sirs: I thought my October issue article "Sewer Liberalism" would help awaken the conscience of liberals by pointing out how far right liberalism has traveled under right-wing pressures...
...I can not agree for two reasons...
...If so, I am afraid Sidney Lens is right about the Tylers and the Neubergers—even if he happened to cite the wrong page of the wrong book regarding their current philosophy...
...Tyler and Mr...
...3. It has shown a lack of courage in fighting McCarthyism, ceding the leadership to others...
...I know the picture of "crying mothers and sisters, and girl-friends saying good-bye to soft-bearded boys...
...I'm proud of you because you don't make him "conform...
...Father Avery Dulles, S.J., makes this clear in an article on the Legion of Decency in America, the Catholic weekly (June 2, 1956): ". . . the film ratings issued by the Legion of Decency do not have the force of ecclesiastical law...
...As a pragmatic humanist Lindeman described and practiced democracy as the new morality, and as such he was as "naive" as John Dewey...
...Wanted: Prophets Dear Sirs: What Sidney Lens' pungent piece on "Sewer Liberalism" really seems to boil down to is this: America needs among its left-wing a substantial group who do not finally go along in any given showdown with the lesser of two evils...
...Second, and perhaps more important, he has been courageous enough to state a criticism of a minority organiration...
...To raise the qualifications of its powers as they are strictly defined, which Mr...
...Michael's own clairfying remarks exemplify...
...Filler need not be afraid, period...
...My thesis was simple: 1. The major current of liberalism has abandoned its traditional anti-militarism...
...1953...
...I don't want to expatiate a long time about political matters: I am not qualified, as I am only a French girl of twenty who, though interested in the destiny of her nation, generally contents herself with her literary studies and other pre-occupations of her age...
...Long may you progress...
...But to remark on this point now, I must say that Mr...
...I feel that it would much more become the Neubergers and Tylers to explain to us just what their future program envisages as regards peace, civil liberties, and civil rights—to take just three major topics...
...Lens did a good job in the October issue on the relativistic liberals: and it is too bad he left himself open to adequate rebuttal as a man like A. J. Muste would not have...
...The Neubergers have done a good job in their relative way...
...Senator Neuberger claims that our mil-itary might deterred Russia from taking Europe...
...The local priest who cites the Legion's rating of a film gives it enormous power-— as movie exhibitors and distributors can attest...
...I only wish that Lens had had enough sense to leave innuendos and dead herring to the faction to the right...
...Robert G. Weyant Kent, Ohio Pressure vs...
...Tyler in the final analysis than doing something dramatic for civil rights...
...diplomat in the U.S...
...Where was Tyler when the Democrats came out with that milk-toast plank designed to guarantee the sacrosanct "unity" of the racists from Dixie and the liberals and Northern trade unionists...
...I think he is right when he compares unfavorably the frightened and conforming liberals of today with those of the past who dared speak out against the evils of society, including war, even when their views were non-con-forming and unpopular...
...My point of criticism was that in this part —the only one which tells you what to do —the whole emphasis was on efficiency, ringing doorbells, and the like...
...America has been losing the cold war...
...There are a few men of the old liberal tradition...
...The label "bigot," whether racial or religious, has come to act as a deterrent to those who would point out weaknesses or faults within an accepted minority group...
Vol. 20 • December 1956 • No. 12
