THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
the people's forum Let the South Alone Dear Sirs: The work of desegregation is the job for spiritual-minded men and women of both the black and white race of the South. I would like to suggest...
...And isn't it significant that in the course of the article Mr...
...indeed, I think a remarkable percentage gave evidence of their interest...
...The answer is silence...
...Always bear in mind that we in the South—liberals as well as conservatives— are concerned with Negroes who through no ultimate fault of their own are not only extremely backward, intellectually, as a group, but also are of an emotional orientation completely different from that of their brothers in the North...
...Electing the right man is all very well when there Is a right man, not a choice merely as to the lesser of two mediocrities...
...Mayer Defeated Himself Dear Sirs: I disagree with subscribers who dislike Milton Mayer's articles...
...Our racial problem here in the South is far more complicated and serious than many non-Southerners realize...
...Mayer reveals that Signor Olivetti, who maintains a social welfare program which (in an impoverished country where public welfare is next to non-existent) is not of the usual religious faith in Italy but is, in fact, half Jewish and half Protestant...
...For weeks I got a voluminous pile of letters and postcards from your readers...
...I am a Southerner and I speak from the heart...
...I don't know who is more grateful to you —the Europeans for a chance to see "Another America" or I, as an American, for your presentation...
...The magazine is passed on and many have a chance to read it...
...Stassen should be given full Cabinet status to draw on the ingenuity of American thinkers in formulating specific proposals for the elimination of war-brewing tensions...
...America's Opportunity Dear Sirs: It is evident from recent moves of the Soviet leadership that the United States faces a challenge unequalled in our history, and one that must be met with bold and imaginative action...
...I am afraid that the aspect of your country^ shown in The Progressive the best aspect of the United States, it seems to me—is the least known abroad...
...The Reporter is better than Time, but people don't know what to believe In It...
...C. P. Brannin Dallas, Tex...
...Only analysis of error or of the past can map a path for the future...
...However, those partial steps will be more realistic if taken in relation to a clear-cut final goal such as set forth by Bolte in The Price o[ Peace—A Plan for Disarmament...
...and of the U.S...
...Integration must be slow, socially, economically, and educationally—if it is to work at all...
...The outcome of this competition will determine the nature of the dominant institutions of the world in the next few generations...
...But I am getting just a little tired of the eternal bemoaning and bewailing...
...And I suggest that it is a Very Bad Egg indeed, if all we can do is run around in tight circles shaking our heads...
...If there were not white men of good will in the South, the Negro would have long since been annihilated...
...To do so we must focus on positive movements to eliminate tensions rather than on military alliances...
...Can they analyze, then organize a course of action for the rest of us that offers some hope of success...
...So thanks for giving us at least a variety of biases in The Progressive...
...For example, should the races be suddenly thrown together in our schools (I exclude universities) pell mell and overnight, the standard of education for the white majority would be greatly lowered for a number of years...
...Surely not southern European countries but rather the Anglo-Saxon...
...There is always some good in his effusions—but he is usually too verbose and given to mental exhibitionism...
...We must be prepared to take whatever partial steps are possible, such as President Eisenhower's aerial reconaissance proposal or the idea of a pilot project where international teams would inspect in the U.S.A...
...Senator McCarthy has put so much fear into Americans working in countries around the world that it seems good to see at least one magazine that is fearless...
...Many of your subscribers are only too well aware of what's wrong...
...dwight L. bolinger Ann Arbor, Mich...
...3. The decrease in expenditures on offensive weapons could be diverted to economic and technical aid, in long-term loans and administered by the United Nations, to countries now dangerously envious of the superior material standards of living in the United States...
...It occurred to me that your readers may include some who recall Connolly's work, and I would therefore like to request any such to send their reminiscences to me...
...There may still be time for the United States to recover its traditional position as the hope of millions who see the distant glimmer of a better life...
...Weary of Bewailing Dear Sirs: The more I read your fine magazine, the more I read those pitifully few others aimed at intelligent readership, the more I read your readers' letters and rehash political issues with my own circle—the more I am depressed...
...lecture tour, but there are references to other tours, under other auspices, of which details are difficult to get...
...Perhaps most poor Italians, being a friendly and warm-hearted race, are more capable of rising above their miserable living conditions and can beg with winsome smiles, but I do not believe their southern "Old Church" neighbors, the French and Spanish, are generally as noble...
...I would like to suggest that the North play a hands-off (especially mouth-off) policy, and let the South solve her own problems...
...You have access to some good brains, steeped in historical example and political reality...
...4. Can independence be reconciled with a developing world community...
...the rest I am happy to avoid...
...But only organization—in the sense of a plan of campaign—¦ ensures that this path is followed...
...Really, Mr...
...Who are the leaders in the field of social justice...
...It is America's opportunity, and duty, to take the initiative in pointing the way to peaceful relations among peoples...
...It might be necessary to add staggering appropriations for this purpose, but half-hearted measures will no longer suffice, and in any case the cost in lives and moral stature would be trivial in comparison to the cost of continued attempt to convince the world by an overwhelming show of armed might...
...Peter J. Celliers Washington, D. C. Data on James Connolly Dear Sirs: I am preparing the biography of James Connolly, the Irish rebel and labor leader, who was executed for his part in the Rising in Dublin, Ireland, at Easter 1916...
...Gratitude in Finland Dear Sirs: I thought you might be interested in knowing that we are entering a subscription as a gift from the group of foreigners here at this international school for the teacher who tried to teach us Finnish...
...news whatever...
...Magazines for Friendship Dear Sirs: I want to thank you for the boost in the April issue about Magazines for Friendship...
...I don't have any Great Ideas...
...A real service rendered by his book is to make clear that the Administration's present arms reduction, arms control proposals are not full-fledged disarmament, that our world will not be finally safe from war until we have reached total world disarmament under law...
...Albert Croissant Magazines for Friendship Occidental College Los Angeles, Calif...
...Your readers interested in obtaining a copy of the 35 cent pamphlet should write: Toward Freedom, 343 S. Dearborn St., Room 503, Chicago 4, Illinois...
...But I can tell a bad egg without necessarily being able to lay one—good or bad—myself...
...4. The office currently occupied by Mr...
...Mind you, I'm like everybody else...
...It is most unlikely that we shall move in one leap from a booming arms race to total world disarmament under enforceable law...
...May I respectfully suggest an editorial target...
...This crisis will brook neither half measures nor antiquated methods...
...Marjorie C. Dermedy Los Angeles, Calif...
...The school subscribes to Time and The Reporter, but we get The Progressive irom an American exchange teacher in Helsinki...
...James H. Koehler Saigon, Vietnam Truk, Too Dear Sirs: The letter from Charles A. Ryerson in India (Office Memo of the June Progressive) was wonderful...
...The Negro rode out the ferocious storms of the Reconstruction Days, and by the grace of God he will ride out hurricane desegregation...
...N. Y. Colonialism Examined Dear Sirs: Toward Freedom, a newsletter on colonial affairs, has just published "Colonialism and Your Vote, A Program for '56 and the Years Ahead...
...Under your title, you carry the subhead: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free...
...However, I want to strike one note of adverse criticism...
...I am inclined to agree with Lash's criticism of Bolte's contention that there is "no half way house between all-out arms and total, UN-enforced disarmament...
...The Disarmament Goal Dear Sirs: I appreciated greatly your July issue review by Joseph Lash on the current disarmament books by Senator Flanders and Charles Bolte...
...C. Desmond Greaves Editor The Irish Democrat 53 Rosoman Street London E.C.-l, England Happy Trend Dear Sirs: On this, my third tour of the country in five years, I find The Progressive more widely read and more frequently and approvingly quoted than ever before...
...They, too, would probably like to do something...
...Time and again during a pleasant evening of bemoan and bewail, I have asked: "Yes, but what does one do about it...
...It ends by setting forth Toward Freedom's concrete policy proposals and suggestions for specific action in this pre-election period...
...Kurt Bergel Director Chapman College Tours Orange, Calif...
...Best but Least Known Dear Sirs: Half a year ago I sent a gift subscription to The Progressive to a friend of mine who is an Italian journalist...
...I've always liked to operate on the theme: "Analyze, then organize...
...The old wounds made by the Civil War are said to be healed...
...However, I must take issue with a statement of his in his July issue article on Italy...
...The North has not cornered the U.S...
...We need a formal, long-range plan, embracing ten or fifteen years...
...W. D. leith Miami, Fla...
...Why make new ones...
...3. What should be the role of the U.N...
...Writing to Congressmen is all very well, but it has its limits...
...We should more wisely prepare for integration in the schools by building more and better "Negro schools" in the immediate future as an endeavor to elevate, somewhat, the Negro's educational standards, meanwhile encouraging mixed classes, from time to time, in urban centers where there is a conceivable chance of success...
...Robert Pickus Chicago, III...
...2. Does the Communist threat justify postponement of colonial freedom...
...John Singleton Truk, Caroline Islands Mayer Too Verbose Dear Sirs: We suggest that you limit Milton Mayer to a page or two—no more...
...Our daily newspaper is in French and if you neither speak nor write it, as myself, you get no U.S...
...market on brains or good will...
...The amendment killing the school construction bill was punitive, and therefore defeated its purpose—to abolish ignorance, one of the chief causes of prejudice...
...5. We should mobilize effort and money to Initiate an extensive program of student exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union...
...It is only in those countries "liberated by Calvin and Luther" that one finds the lot of the common man alleviated by modern comforts and enriched by humanitarian principles...
...The periodicals in which they would be recorded are unobtainable in Europe...
...elaine welch Seattle, Wash...
...Boil it down, Mr...
...Editor...
...a 25,000 square mile area containing major military installations and a representative segment of the countries' economic and industrial make-up...
...Now, I cannot agree with Mr...
...So we are very grateful for The Progressive...
...As recently as June 4, Harold Stassen stated at a briefing conference for non-governmental organizations in Washington that the present U.S...
...and Mrs...
...Unfortunately, such disarmament is not the goal of our government...
...Now is the time to minimize the artillery and to pursue the objective psychologically, remembering that the problem down here is genuinely serious...
...I would like to do something...
...As William Faulkner has pointed out, the whole situation could get entirely out of hand—to the great detriment of liberalism in all of its ramifications...
...It seems to me that we are all of us well aware of the deficiencies of our era...
...Would it not be interesting to ask your contributors this question: What does one do about it...
...In eulogizing this colorful land, Mayer said: "Some day...
...The average Southerner is a victim of aggravated emotionalism and is not on speaking terms with those who bombard him with negatives— never has been and probably never will be...
...Mrs...
...In order to eliminate all suspicion of propaganda motives, such a conference might well be jointly sponsored by the United States, the U.S.S.R., and India...
...All countries would be invited...
...rodney shaw Oconomowoc, Wis...
...I hope your circulation figures reflect this happy trend...
...You may be interested in knowing what he wrote: "I appreciate The Progressive highly...
...Files of the Weekly People have largely disclosed his S.L.P...
...5. Is independence compatible with a healthy world economy...
...Dr...
...To me, they are stimulating and sensitive...
...It has excellent contributors, and one really gets the news...
...Now is the time editorially to praise those in the South who are adapting themselves to a more just and humane organization of society...
...I went to school with him and know he's serious in what he says (with a little Mayer-ish exaggeration...
...Mayer...
...The pictures he recommends I try to see...
...Our sentiments are certainly the same from this somewhat isolated but fascinating island of Truk...
...However, aside from this criticism I think the article splendid and I say: "Let there be more and more Olivettis...
...and the Socialist Party of America...
...The world will not stand still, nor can we afford to let it drag us along...
...Mayer is defeated by his own remarks...
...Shirley H. Orvis Viittakivi International College Hauho, Finland Fearless Dear Sirs: The only magazines received In Saigon in English are Time and Newsweek...
...The following suggestions are submitted for consideration: 1. A world conference should be held for the sole purpose of discussing the contributions by all countries towards the furtherance of peace and the betterment of peoples...
...2. An immediate moratorium should be placed on the production of offensive weapons, specifically on long-range bombers, nuclear bombs, and intercontinental missiles, which only inflame East-West passions and tempt neutral nations to conclude that there is no significant moral advantage on the side of the West...
...He spent the years 1902 to 1910 in the United States, and was connected first with the S.L.P., then with the I.W.W...
...somebody ought to find out why the Old Church peoples, Roman and Greek, of southern and eastern Europe have so much better a time than their brethren liberated by Calvin and Luther...
...Northerners are running the risk of making breaches in our wall of national solidarity...
...Joseph Golden Washington, D.C Keep Dworkin Dear Sirs: Martin Dworkin is the only movie critic I have read anywhere who can be trusted to see through both trash and artiness...
...and the U.S.S.R...
...Delbert Barley Ithaca...
...in the U.N...
...Our standards are already low enough as they are...
...I suggest that knowing the truth is an essential prerequisite, but that action based on truth makes for freedom...
...I know that, idealistically, a spade should be called a spade no matter what the consequences, but for positive results the virtue of practicality should be given higher consideration...
...Slow Down Integration Dear Sirs: The Progressive strikes me as one of the most compelling liberal publications available today...
...I hope that many and many a copy of The Progressive and other good magazines will be sent each month to some foreign quarter...
...Oh yes, without doubt there is a debt which Southern whites owe to the Negro race, but I'm preaching on practicality now...
...Written by William Bross Lloyd, Jr., editor of Toward Freedom, this 42-page pamphlet is an attempt in this preelection period to focus attention on colonialism and American foreign policy...
...policy is "safeguarded semi-disarmament," i.e., an agreed reduction in the level of arms, not complete disarmament...
...The United States—our country—simply cannot afford the majority population of the South to be more ignorant than it already is...
...Keep him on...
...indeed, only wilful prejudice or pitiful ignorance can blind us to the trends in our times...
...The pamphlet traces America's traditional anti-colonial stand, its contemporary record, and then considers alternate answers to five key questions: 1. Is American anti-colonialist tradition outdated...
Vol. 20 • September 1956 • No. 9
