AMERICA'S ACE IN ASIA
Douglas, William O.
America's Ace In Asia by WILLIAM 0. DOUGLAS THE REVOLUTIONS that erupted in Asia on the heels of World War II are still in full swing. They are crucial to all of us. Heavy stakes hang on their...
...The young Asians read these books and pamphlets avidly...
...These uncommitted peoples of the world are the balance of world power...
...Russia is competent and able to launch her own far-flung Point Four Program...
...Russia has a thriving system of socialized medicine...
...In Asian eyes Russia has solved most of the problems with which Asia still struggles...
...It points to the one decisive advantage that we have over Russia in the contests for the minds and hearts of the uncommitted people of the world...
...They knew a capitalism that took great dividends out of a nation and plowed few dividends back into housing, schools, or hospitals...
...In recent centuries he was a European...
...They have had great success in Asia doing just that...
...It is under exceedingly competent management...
...In Asia we must be identified with the political democracies such as Burma, India, Indonesia, and Israel, not with reactionary feudal regimes...
...But to make them positive influences in our foreign policy we must, first, shift our emphasis from the military to the political, and second, go to Asia with humility, offering to help them solve their problems their own way...
...That is potent talk in Asia these days...
...The factories are modern, and they hum with activity...
...The result in official and public attitudes toward Asia has been almost tragic We and Asia have moved poles apart in our thinking...
...That is why Russian propaganda has strong appeal in Asian circles when it proclaims: "Look at what we did in 35 years...
...Russia has cleverly assumed the role of the liberator and posed as the champion of every people trying to escape foreign domination...
...Marxist literature, however, flooded Asia...
...Russia has geographical propinquity tct the area and can use her new cities, factories, and farms as showplaces...
...The burning desire for independence For centuries Asia has been under some overlord...
...These ideas reject the Marxist philosophy of one master plan to which all men mu>t bow...
...The moral of Hungary is plain...
...The best of the skilled laborers in Asia get roughly half of that...
...They were long treated by the West as inferior people...
...Only when the progress of Soviet Russia is compared with the progress of other Asian countries can the true threat of Soviet communism be evaluated...
...Supreme Court, is one of the nation's foremost advocates of basic revision in American foreign policy...
...The Asian seeing Russia is greatly impressed...
...We know that the Soviet educational system has great limitations, being hitched as it is to the narrow view of life reflected in Marxism...
...The Asian attitude toward capitalism I speak particularly of south Asia —India, Burma and Indonesia...
...If Russia can get peace, that system will pour out a plethora of goods and supplies, as well as technicians, into all of Asia...
...The unorthodox—and at times even the liberal—is confused with the subversive...
...It was indeed through the feudal regimes that the colonial power remained in control...
...But the desire for independence continues as one of the most powerful political forces in the East today...
...The Russians, on the other hand, have made a fetish of equality...
...We took the lead by granting the Philippines their independence at the end of World War II...
...Russia has plenty to eat, enough to wear, and an organized theater that keeps every community entertained...
...Various influences have driven America farther and farther from the new Socialists of Asia...
...The farm machinery is outmoded by our standards, being largely of the vintage of 1930, but it is modern by Asian standards...
...The Russian socialist system works...
...Russia's reaction to it, the way she managed it, and the reign of terror which she launched in that brave land sent Russia's prestige into a decline the world around...
...The Communists, of course, never campaign on the merits or demerits of communism as a political creed or as a way of life...
...For that was the literature—the only available literature—that gave practical political programs to the young revolutionaries who were plotting against the colonial powers that held them down...
...It helped set the goal they wanted...
...The average wage in Russia is close to $600 a year...
...Most of them repudiated the Communist tactics of violence and terror and are strong in the democratic faith...
...The Russians can be expected to play their role in that struggle skill-fully...
...We have been circling Russia with military alliances...
...Asia's capitalism was the kid Karl Marx inveighed against...
...And the other reason is that the credit we earned at Manila, we lost in other capitals...
...In Asia we must by deed, as well as by word, espouse the democratic cause...
...It involves one's own self and his children —his pride, dignity, and ego...
...So far as economic organization is concerned, Russia represents the ideal in many Asian eyes...
...As a result, we have missed opportunities for warm and enduring alliances with people who are basically as democratic in philosophy as we are...
...There are remote medical units that reach even the remote sheep camps...
...That advantage is in the concepts of liberty, freedom, and equality which are deeply ingrained in our way of life...
...Russia, on the other hand, is going to these allies and saying, "We will grant you economic aid and technical assistance without strings attached...
...Russia has a standard of living that is extremely high by Asian standards...
...It had little social consciousness...
...Asia's industry was not converted into an instrument for raising the standard of living of the nation...
...Why become involved in American commitments...
...These four main influences in Asian psychology indicate why the Soviets have been able to grow in influence and prestige in Asia...
...This has had grave consequences—from the refusal to let Japan trade with Red China to a belief that Nehru, the most effective opponent of communism in Asia, is either an agent of the Kremlin or a stooge of the Communists...
...In Asia we must think more in terms of people and their dreams of freedom, than in terms of guns and dollars...
...It will get more intense as the years pass...
...Though we are not an arrogant people, we have seemed to be in Asian eyes...
...Those who refused us military alliances became suspect...
...But at the same time they are thorough-going Socialists whose blueprints for their country provide that the government should own not the shops or farms of Asia, but the mills and factories...
...For Asians are suspicious that he who pays the piper always calls the tune...
...We have unconsciously enlarged the category of subversives to include those whose ways and habits of thought are strange and disquieting to us...
...These ideas of liberty mean freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and freedom of conscience that have no counterpart in Russia...
...She is using them in that way today...
...The reason is not difficult to divine...
...Government of the few, by the few, and for the few is nearing its close in Asia...
...The same comparison holds true all over Russia...
...Why not do it our way...
...She is indeed already doing it...
...To them, Russia has proved that socialism on a national basis really can be successful...
...And we opposed Indonesian independence so long that today in Djakarta we are often identified with the forces that tried to keep that nation under Dutch rule...
...Friendships are made not by lavish grants but by kindly attitudes and common objectives...
...The Persians still think we were essentially responsible for keeping Iran under the British thumb...
...Today only a WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS, Associate Justice of the U.S...
...Our outlook has been primarily military...
...We have been highly suspect in Asia, for we have propped up decrepit war lords, financed medieval kingdoms, and been the close ally, not of liberal leaders, but of the reactionary influences in Asian life...
...Once we understand Asia and appreciate that she wants equality above all else, we can build enduring alliances diat will outlast the Communist regimes...
...The balance of political power in the world lies in Asia...
...In some vigorous democracies such as India and Burma, the economic and political feudalism that once prevailed has largely been dissipated or is in the process of being liquidated...
...Our attitudes have been conditioned by our outlook...
...The message of Hungary reached understanding hearts and minds in Asia...
...The socialist influence is the result of several circumstances...
...For years they plotted and schemed to get their revolutions started...
...The desire for equality Asia is the home of the bulk of the colored people of the world...
...We are, therefore, not the economic model for most of the new Asian societies...
...This article is adapted from an address by Justice Douglas at a banquet honoring the memory of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
...And the Socialist is almost a synonym for the Communist...
...Some emerged as Communists...
...Once we throw our weight behind the new democratic forces in Asia as they emerge, rather than behind the dictators, we will make our Western ideas of freedom and liberty more powerful than any Communist creed...
...Today Russia competes with America in supplying both capital and technical aid...
...Many young Asians accordingly became steeped in Karl Marx, Leninism, and other branches of Soviet political thought...
...The Russians are more clearly identified with the revolt against feudalism in Asia than we are...
...Certainly our voice in Asia has not been the voice of Jefferson proclaiming the Declaration of Independence...
...These issues have all been powerful rallying calls by the Communists...
...He operated through existing feudal regimes...
...Asians remember they were segregated in separate schools...
...Asians remember that they were always servants, not equals...
...Under Gandhi and other nationalist leaders, independence became a potent force...
...But in general we have never been associated in Asia with land reform, with economic democracy, or with political democracy...
...It is a reason why some Asian nations might well go spinning toward communism if they agreed to receive massive financial assistance from the West...
...That is one reason for the growth of the socialist philosophy in Asia...
...It took America 165 years to achieve the same results...
...it is not about to fall apart...
...We are protagonists of capitalism, not socialism...
...Independence, being newly won, is highly prized and jealously guarded...
...and their military alliances with us are hitched to economic aid...
...They can bring us victory if we will only make them vital forces in our domestic affairs and translate them into affirmative terms when we come to foreign policy...
...The Soviets now compete with us at every level in Asia...
...Russia poses as the model —as the inspiration for new socialist states that are emerging from feudalism...
...It is sad to relate, but largely true, that America, never a colonial power in Asia, inherited the suspicions that Asians have of all colonial powers...
...The basic struggle between democ racy and communism in the decades ahead will be for their loyalties...
...Large parts of Asia knew a capitalism that ran on a sweat-shop basis, exploiting labor...
...it was not in the bookstalls of Asia...
...Asia still uses the wooden plow...
...They have, indeed, worked hard to be identified with what was the original American creed—that all men are created equal...
...Many of those Asians who two decades ago were members of secret societies, steeping themselves in Marxism, are today leaders of their countries...
...Russia has more scientists, engineers, and agronomists than she knows what to do with...
...The nations allied with us are mostly needy nations, many of them yet to have their democratic revolution...
...Then the Communists would have a powerful argument that the country had become a tool of Western powers...
...On Asian farms most of the work is still done with the hands...
...At times he was an Asian...
...Asian countries that lived for years under foreign control do not desire the foreigner to have any finger in their pie...
...The American Declaration of Independence was an inspiration to them...
...But the events of Hungary showed Asia in stark reality the nature of the colonialism that Russia espouses...
...Squalor and poverty flourished in the industrial environment of Asia...
...Any advantage which Russia may enjoy over us will vary with current events...
...Asia suffers greatly from inadequate medical care...
...The white men who ruled Asia for centuries were not all evil men...
...During the last three or four decades Asians have been dreaming of independence...
...As for socialism, Russia, the socialist state, makes great capital out of the fact that she already has in operation the socialist regime which the other Asian nations have only in blueprint...
...Baku, Tashkent, Stalin-abad, and Alma Ata in central Asia, which I saw in 1955, are modern cities...
...The reign of intolerance which we have experienced at home has narrowed our horizons and made us less daring and imaginative in our thinking...
...His travels In Asia, the Middle East, and the Soviet Union have resulted in several notable books, Including "North from Malaya," "Beyond the High Himalayas," "Strange Lands and Friendly People," and "Russian Journey," reviewed In this Issue...
...If we are to cope with these Asian revolutions intelligently, we must have an understanding of the forces behind them: The rebellion against feudalism Asian feudalism, like the species that flourished in Europe several centuries ago, is the ownership of the wealth of a nation by a few interests...
...There are in Asia today feudal principalities as medieval as any regime Europe knew in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries...
...Prior to Stalin's death America had a virtual monopoly as a supplier of capital to the impoverished areas of the world...
...All medicines are free...
...Russia's farms are indeed highly mechanized...
...and country after country was seized by it...
...These ideas of liberty mean independence for all nations, big or small...
...Russia long proclaimed against colonialism in Asia...
...As to the equality of people, this is a firm article of the American faith, but, generally speaking, that has not been reflected in our Asian policy...
...More emerged, not as Communists, but as Socialists...
...There are dentists' chairs in every factory and every university...
...That is partly due to the fact that the Philippines have never been identified with the great Asian revolutions...
...Asians remember how they were often used as virtual slaves, how they were treated as chattels by the white man, how they were exploited as victims of the opium trade...
...The desire for equality is in many ways the strongest single force in Asian psychology today...
...That influence both from Soviet Russia and from Red China has been much greater than we of the West have imagined...
...The British set many good standards and left behind a rich deposit of due process of law in Burma, India, and Pakistan...
...And they have acquired great dividends from the fact that Red China, North Korea, and North Vietnam are allies from the other side of the color line...
...The colonial powers of Asia made the color line a factor in the daily administration of their laws...
...These ideas of liberty leave room for political, literary, and artistic idiosyncrasies which Russia does not tolerate...
...They want to call their own tunes, both in domestic and foreign affairs...
...The vested interests may be a few families, a church, or a group of landlords...
...In the first place, the capitalism which Asia has known was not the healthy species which has invigorated our economy...
...The universities turn out a record number of scientists—far more than we do in this country, and in numbers beyond the dreams of the Asians...
...Heavy stakes hang on their outcome...
...Russia seizes on others in forging her new international policy...
...Public schools are in all the villages...
...We have largely lost by default to the Soviets...
...Under Bulganin and Khrushchev Russia has entered the market and broken the monopoly...
...These ideas reject all notions of regimentation of thought, of the hunt for the ideological heretic, of the oppression of political minorities, of the use of force and terror to deal with the political opposition...
...While Central Asia in the days of the Czars was about six per cent literate, it is today over 90 per cent...
...Our rich literature on the subject was collecting dust in historic archives...
...In other parts of Asia, feudalism still reigns supreme...
...These ideas of liberty, equality, and freedom constitute the one true advantage we have over the totalitarian world...
...We have done some good things in this regard...
...There was always smoldering resentment against this foreigner...
...Her technical aid is massive...
...Hungary helped the people of Asia know the true nature of the Communist world and the terror it uses to fasten a regime on a people...
...Another is the impact of Marxism on the Asian mind...
...Much of Asia today, therefore, thinks of capitalism as an instrument of oppression...
...In Moscow this supply of technicians is known as her gold reserve...
...And those suspicions were telegraphed to the sensitive Asian mind as arrogance stemming from a superiority complex...
...The Russians have never made the mistake in recent decades of introducing the color line in their foreign policy...
...It sucked a country dry, sending lush dividends to distant European capitals...
...It makes many Asians sensitive to criticism that would leave no sting here...
...The farms, though retarded by our standards, are far advanced by fanning standards Asia knows...
...As to the independence movement in Asia, we actually have a splendid record...
...It has the bulk of the people of the world—and the bulk of the riches as well...
...And those suspicions have arisen partly from our military attitudes and partly from the failure to treat the Asian on the same high plane as we treat the Englishman, the Frenchman, and the German...
...In Japan during our occupation under General Douglas Mac-Arthur we were responsible for a land-reform program that has had a profound impact on Japanese society...
...While the desire for independence and the desire to get rid of feudalism are often abstract ideas, the idea of equality is intensely personal...
...But only in recent decades did that resentment have an effective political organization behind it...
...few Asian nations remain to be liberated...
...We, indeed, have boasted that those who make their military pacts with us are beneficiaries of American largesse...
...In these nations the socialist philosophy dominates...
...It was turned out in great volume and many languages by the Russian and Chinese presses and was readily available to any group...
...Asians remember the signs "Natives not allowed...
...Hospitals are everywhere—on the collective farms as well as in the cities...
...But in the sciences, as distinguished from the humanities, it has high standards and is a bustling success...
...They preach the evils of the regime under which the oppressed people live...
...But the West did not supply the intelligentsia of Asia with the tools of revolution...
...These are significant advantages which Russia has in Asia by reason of geographical propinquity...
...Universities are scattered everywhere — engineering schools, medical schools, agricultural colleges...
...The way Asia goes will determine whether the world scales are tipped to the Communist or to the democratic side...
...The memories of discrimination against the colored races by the whites burn deep in Asian consciousness...
...Political and economic power usually merge...
...But no colonial power can rule on the basis of political democracy...
...Having just been colonial people, the Asians are opposed to any suppression or subjugation by a colonial power...
...Economic feudalism historically has been combined with political feudalism, so that the few who owned the country also controlled it...
...But somehow we never received much credit for this in Asian circles...
...Though they still have slums, they also have broad boulevards, beautiful parks, imposing apartments, sewage-disposal systems, schools for everyone, and impressive universities...
...While it remains, it will generate more demand for reform than probably any other single issue in Asian affairs...
...The revolt in Hungary was itself a hard blow to Russia...
...The competition is keen and severe...
...They seize on the most popular issues, trying to make them their own...
Vol. 21 • March 1957 • No. 3
