THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM America Earns Disdain Dear Sirs: James P. Warburg's article, "The Sham Battle Over Foreign Aid," (The Progressive, October), is something every American concerned with his...
...Quite ironically, it's the best argument for disarmament I've seen in a long, long time...
...I am shocked to read this drivel from Mayer's pen...
...But if you are going to compare the upholstery in their cars with ours, don't forget to mention the fact that we're driving different models and that we're going in an opposite direction...
...I am sure the Russians basically are no different from any other peoples and, when understood, as lovable...
...A neutral status and Chiang are incompatibles, and the Formosans would bid them a glad adieu...
...There is only one other mentality comparable to this sort of superficiality and that is the American Legion-McCarthy mentality...
...Young Workers Dear Sirs: The Progressive is one of the few publications that carry interesting and independent views on labor, and therefore I thought you would like to learn about a new and independent youth union, Young Workers of the World, which believes, as you do, that there is a need for more education about unions and the labor movement...
...The Communists go just so far and no further...
...I know that bombs kill and maim...
...It has been debased and distorted by materialistic theology, but we still have Tolstoy's Kingdom of God, the Quakers, and the spiritual evolutionists who believe that only by retaining the concept of a superhuman good as a goal can man ever evolve to a higher and better species than he is at present...
...May I ask how much better is communism than fascism if both succeed in suppressing our traditions and rights...
...If the government is wrong on a great issue, such as peace or thermonuclear war, it is the duty of every individual who believes it wrong to oppose it...
...It differed in one thing, in that it actually mentioned that outmoded word "God," in the quotation of St...
...Does Mr...
...When Mayer has something to say, he says it as few journalists can—I will not soon forget his piece on Judge Barnes—but he has not had much to say in the last year or so...
...There is much on this page to appeal to the best in all of us—much to arouse question of the purpose behind the policy of our government in the Taiwan Strait...
...And that is what we ought to be negotiating for right now...
...Philip Rosen Larchmont, N.Y...
...Gavin would like nothing better than for America to devote herself solely to preparation for military supremacy...
...Charles G. Morris New Haven, Conn...
...War is evil but the alternative is more evil...
...Their prime endeavor is to keep America at a fever-pitch of hatred, fear, anxiety, and suspicion...
...The time to protest is today...
...What they are attempting to say is that it is always necessary to support any government policy, however dangerous or foolish...
...A warning issued in 1955 hy Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, former commander of our Asiatic Fleet, is relevant...
...Since I don't know of another magazine that would print his stuff if you did not, I'm with you for another year—during which time I hope that you will be able to weed some of the cliches out of your editorial and other columns...
...that all is matter...
...But to pretend, in all solemnity, that a rump regime, decaying on a small island, is the true government of China and has the sole right to speak for that mighty nation is sheer folly...
...Ambassadorial discussions in Warsaw, separating by many thousands of miles those who will have to make the final decision, simply will not work...
...Army, Retired Washington, D.C...
...With that situation facing them, how can Communist China be accused of "unprovoked" shelling of Quemoy...
...Yet can you name one modern industrialized state that has collapsed unless conquered...
...in the Middle East...
...Apparently all he needed to confirm his rosy picture of communism was to discover that Muscovites have only one head, two eyes, one nose, and that they actually looked at him with their eyes just like everybody else—their real eyes—and smiled...
...Is not now the time for the President to walk that second mile for peace...
...and that the Gospel of Utilitarianism alone makes sense...
...Gavin's book is nothing but a rehash (with a Buck Rogers twist) of the same old, stale, shop-worn State Department-military arguments...
...I realize that those who take to the sword perish by the sword, but those who don't take to the sword perish in concentration or slave labor camps...
...We liberals were ready to die fighting fascism, though some "liberals" were only willing when the Russians had been attacked...
...Would the maintenance of so-called national prestige, or face, be worth the loss of millions of lives—Americans and others—especially if that nation was trying to maintain a most questionable position...
...They were there because of the system...
...They were all anti-Communist business and professional people, but they all thought Chiang's policies were aggressive and recklessly provocative...
...in a mood to approve of all arms expenditures, no matter how fantastic...
...True, we learn slowly, but flaming crosses, chain gangs, McCarthyism, and Governor Faubus represent violations of our system and, in the long pull, they are short-lived...
...Box 205 Moline, 111...
...God and the Soviets Dear Sirs: Except that it was more readable, Milton Mayer's article in the October Progressive was monotonously like all the other articles I have read by materialists and pacifists who visit Russia...
...We in the Anglo-American communities have a sentimental belief that right invariably conquers...
...The articles by Milton Mayer and James Muir are good examples of such fair and intelligent writing...
...China Unfit Dear Sirs: Communist China now seeks and has long sought admission to the United Nations...
...As a potential enemy state it cannot be ignored, and as the present ruler of more than 600 millions of human beings it cannot be ignored...
...Clyde Martin Chelmsford, Mass...
...Let's get more fresh prose and fresh thinking into The Progressive...
...What they considered best for Formosa was a neutral status...
...Hugh B. Hester Brigadier General U.S...
...It is little wonder that the ordinary individual has such a distorted idea as to what Communism is...
...I was in Formosa when Matsu and Quemoy were threatening to embroil us in 1955, and I sampled opinion carefully on that island...
...Marx and Myth Dear Sirs: Lewis Coser's review of Earl Browder's new book, Marx and America, in the October issue of The Progressive, calls to mind once again the persistent myth that the illusion of prosperity of the American worker of the present proves Marx wrong...
...War is hell alright...
...Esme Wynne-Tyson Selsey, Sussex England Metropol: Another View Dear Sirs: Enough people have returned from Russia's slave labor camps that it is impossible to deny their existence...
...Certainly Washington knows perfectly well that her European allies do not support her point of view in the Chinese crisis . . ." (France: La Monde, September 19, 1958...
...The YWW membership is open to all youth, no restrictions as to race, religion, or sex, and regardless of whether or not the member is employed in a typical youth occupation or is still in school or job training...
...I quote from some of them: ". . . The French people do not hide their misgivings about American policy with respect to Quemoy and Matsu...
...Just try to visualize what would have happened if Germany had won the last war...
...He devotes about two pages to the subject...
...Louis Obed Renne Menlo Park, Calif...
...Regardless of the antagonism of America's ruling class and their kept press, the Communist regimes are mak-ifig progress in creating a better life and living conditions...
...The opinions and backgrounds of the members vary, thus stimulating thought and interest in current labor theory and avoiding the possibility that YWW might develop a narrow doctrine or sectarian attitude...
...The former is "bad" and the latter "good" publicity...
...There are too many people in The Progressive who do nothing but say what they said before...
...Modern history, however, should teach us one obvious truth...
...He considers war eternal, inevitable...
...It is one thing to say "My country, may it always be right," but quite a different thing to say "My government, right or wrong...
...Whenever we threaten or take to the sword —as in Berlin, Iran, Formosa, Turkey, and Quemoy, what do we see...
...I have decided to cut down, and had about decided to cut out The Progressive, which most of the time does not tell me anything about the world that I did not know and had not heard before, when the October issue arrived with Milton Mayer's article on Russia...
...Our chain gangs were not made up of people who criticized or disagreed with the system...
...I queried Formosan friends, Japanese residents of Taepei, and veteran American missionaries...
...I. C. Frendberg Bismarck, N.D...
...The Chinese Communists have an indisputable claim to the offshore islands . . ." (England: Manchester Guardian, September 4, 1958...
...Southern Liberals' Dilemma Dear Sirs: In the October People's Forum Mrs...
...Gavin won't be satisfied until America is one big, bristling ICBM base...
...Lawrence Fernsworth U.S...
...Sheer Folly Dear Sirs: The San Francisco Chronicle of October 1, 1958, has a page headlined nuclear war looms over quemoy...
...It appears to this reader that The Progressive's Editors are over-wary at times in their endeavor not to appear to favor the Communist regimes...
...We might well be able to get this in exchange for letting Communist China have Matsu and Quemoy...
...When they said "Rosenberg" to your "Beria," Mr...
...John C. Holt II Boston, Mass...
...It only makes the situation worse...
...And this is bound to prove true especially for the American ambassador, who can only parrot the outmoded views of the U.S...
...Thomas Broderick Schenectady, N.Y...
...Mayer realize that the Communists are doing their utmost to ensure that none of their rising generation will ever "live there...
...President Eisenhower should personally, in the writer's opinion, meet with the top leaders of Red China to discuss, and if possible resolve, the great issues dividing their respective countries...
...I would be interested in learning what conclusions the Editors do not share...
...If my Formosan friends could not have a neutral status, they preferred being taken over by Communist China without our intervention...
...Who can deny that our system liberated us and now guarantees our right to attack it...
...I prefer the former to the latter if I must choose...
...No other government in the world, except possibly Mr...
...The great point is that the idea of God is not officially rejected in the West...
...German Youth Dear Sirs: I want to congratulate you on the excellently written, thoughtful, and thought provoking article by Don O. Noel, Jr., "Children of the Vanquished" (The Progressive, October...
...Among the gravest threats to peace, among the biggest stumbling blocks to disarmament, are the activities of the warhawks and their salesmen—the Gavins and the Raymonds...
...Mayer Back in Form Dear Sirs: I subscribe to more magazines than I have room to keep, time to read, or money to pay for...
...The United States would be wise to follow the advice of many of its friends and allies and refuse to support the Nationalists on the offshore islands . . ." (England: London Times, September 8, 1958...
...And this is particularly necessary when the power of life or death over society itself lies as now almost wholly in the hands of one mortal man...
...Now he is back in his best form...
...Mrs...
...When you told them their elections were not really free because every candidate had to be a Communist and they said neither were ours because everyone had to be anti-Communist, didn't you show them the difference between limiting an election to candidates of one belief and "limiting" it to those of all other beliefs...
...Our expensive war potential is proving to be merely a temptation to our leaders to play a puerile game which in the Atomic Age can lead only to global holocaust...
...A Neutral Formosa Dear Sirs: When President Eisenhower "unleashed Chiang" after the Korean War he asked for what is happening now on and around Quemoy...
...Anneliese J. Elias Deerfield, 111...
...The sad fact about our foreign aid program, and our foreign policy in general, is that it is earning us the world's disdain, if not hatred, rather than good will...
...We don't have to be clairvoyant to know that unless we are prepared to resist, and let them know in a firm manner, war with the Russians and Chinese is coming...
...Idolatrous Claptrap' Dear Sirs: Finding something in The Progressive like Jack Raymond's laudatory review of Gen...
...We instinctively think that evil always defeats itself in the long run...
...Milton Mayer is a pacifist, which should mean that he is against violence, like the God of Genesis and the central character of the New Testament...
...To survive we must be ready to fight...
...At a press conference some time ago I heard the President state that unless we win the good will of people in other lands we have won nothing...
...They are equally unintelligent, equally emotional, equally far from the truth...
...Gavin's War and Peace in the Space Age was disconcerting, to say the least...
...Only if they know that we intend to resist, and are capable of doing so will they desist...
...J. Ray Shute Monroe, N.C...
...Mayer, as long as people go crow-shooting, you are not one of the rich and neither am I. We're just well-fed...
...Alice Franklin Bryant Seattle, Wash...
...The explanation is now, as always, "national unity...
...If I had not just come from West Germany and Austria where there are hundreds of thousands of escapees—that's what they call them there—from Communist countries, I would not have been so shocked by Mayer's naive appraisal...
...Progressive 'Over-wary' Dear Sirs: In the October issue of The Progressive, the following statement appears: "Communist China's offer to negotiate, which came in the midst of its ruthless and unprovoked shelling of Quemoy . . ." It is my understanding that Chiang Kai-shek had transported some 100,000 of his army to Quemoy...
...Several editorials from England, France, and Canada on the subject appear on the page of the Chronicle to which I refer...
...To refuse to recognize the real, effective Chinese government is bad enough...
...As a de facto government Communist China cannot be ignored...
...They did not want their island to become a second Korea...
...Paul F. Albright Hollydale, Calif...
...For what purpose, other than that of building up a striking force for attacking and invading mainland China...
...If the turnover is sufficiently rapid a business can make an infinitesimal percentage of net profit on sales and still realize a substantial margin of net profit on capital invested—which is the only legitimate way to compute "earnings...
...Our Quemoy policy is not a matter of morality—as stated by one columnist—but of pure pigheadedness...
...On the assumption that Muscovites are synonymous with communism, without knowing a word of Russian, and admitting that no one can learn about a country just by looking out of his hotel window for a month, Mayer, through non-verbal looking out his hotel window for a month, and through nonverbal communication with a people anciently noted for their friendliness and individuality, draws conclusions on communism and is presumptuous enough to write articles about it...
...This is tragic—witness the case of Frank P. Graham in North Carolina even before the Supreme Court's decision...
...James Landen's letter on Senator Fulbright points up a political dilemma: How does the Southern political liberal stay in office and give us the benefit of his abilities, and at the same time secure the votes necessary for his reelection from a constituency that will not vote for a "nigger lover...
...Even if the American worker did own more, and had the leisure to enjoy more (which in reality he does not), one more severe "panic" could dump the majority of "well off" workers into the street, divesting them of their trinkets, and another war would dump them into concentration camps and remove their "leisure...
...Edward Johnson P.O...
...Evidently, the spectre of millions dead in Moscow, Peking, and Leningrad is no more attractive to the Russians and Chinese than the millions of dead in Paris, London, and New York are to the French, English, and ourselves...
...Never in all my life have I read such ignorant writing or outright lying about Communist-ruled countries as in the American press...
...Mayer, didn't you tell them of the constitutional rights which had been protected and that no iron curtain obscured the hearings or conceals the record...
...And, Mr...
...Arnold A. Silvestri Chicago, 111...
...Why isn't this ever mentioned or discussed by pacifists...
...And one idly wonders—why the "Peace" in Gavin's title...
...If there are any readers that would like to know more about YWW, its ideas and activities, just write to me...
...The worker may have more payment books for more goods than he needs, but he has as little good as ever...
...How many Americans, with their eyes glued to TV and their ears cocked to soap opera, are really concerned about any aspect of their country's welfare which cannot be spelled out in terms of their own bread and butter...
...It deceives the public but that is exactly the intention...
...Let's hope their shrill cries go unheeded...
...corpses, whether civilian or soldier, stink like hell...
...In this respect, as in so many others, the distinguished gentleman in question docs not implement his words...
...The Second Mile Dear Sirs: The Progressive magazine has done an outstanding editorial job in analyzing the facts and exposing the fallacies upon which our Formosa-China policies are supposedly based...
...At the same time, the present membership, now organized in four states, doesn't expect simply to "coat-tail" the policies of adult unions...
...Irene Koch Chicago, 111...
...Net gain on sales" is the modern way to fool people...
...Preparedness and frrmness are the only answers to the nightmare of their bully tactics...
...Public relations officials know that one must never publicize the fact that, for example, a corporation made 25 per cent net on its capital investment...
...When they said "Lebanon" to your "Hungary," didn't you tell them that we had not conquered the Lebanese and then crushed their attempt to get out from under...
...This is the only road to peace...
...War the Lesser Evil Dear Sirs: War isn't a pretty picture, even to one like me who has been fortunate enough to escape active participation...
...At the head of the article by the Canadian banker, James Muir, in the October issue, the Editors make the statement: "While we do not share all of the author's conclusions on Communist China . . ." The author appears to give a favorable appraisal of Communist China throughout the entire article...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM America Earns Disdain Dear Sirs: James P. Warburg's article, "The Sham Battle Over Foreign Aid," (The Progressive, October), is something every American concerned with his country's welfare, and in particular with its good standing abroad, should read twice and think about...
...to dedicate herself solely to a holy crusade against communism, to make war her destiny...
...Thomas' beautiful and true remark that "getting to know God is like getting to know a country—you have to live there...
...Yes, I admit, we have it here, but I can write this letter, and you, I hope, will feel you can print it...
...He wants an expanded arms effort: where we're now pouring over 40 billions per year down the armaments rat-hole, he wants us to pour 15 billions per year more...
...Secretary of State...
...The sooner we understand this, the lesser the chance of war...
...He referred to Quemoy and Matsu as "two old rock piles not worth a tinker's dam" and said that Communists might take more of Southeast Asia, but that "the important thing to realize is that our intervention can't stop these things...
...He is dedicated to war, wrapped up completely in fantastic engines of death and destruction...
...It has earned you a reprieve...
...It should be one of the most important assignments and duties of the educational authorities in the American occupation forces to work with and supervise German youth activities, direct them into idealistic channels, and try to strengthen what little anti-militarist spirit has shown so far...
...Appeasement or signs of fear are the surest roads to war in dealing with the totalitarian states...
...Profits on Sales Dear Sirs: In answer to J. P. Milgram (People's Forum, October), the percentage of net profit on sales bears little relationship to net profit on capital investment...
...His life still has all the stability and dignity of a wheel of chance at a carnival, which is the nearest simile I can think of to describe a way of life that must eternally rob a Peter to pay a Paul...
...What is there in its ideology to ensure the elimination of the violence inseparable from scientific materialism, the callous experimentation on man and beasts—and Russia, remember, is "totally" scientific, with no moral inhibitions as a check—which springs from the basic irreverence for life inseparable from atheism...
...And if he decides to do so, will not he and the United States both enjoy a worldwide prestige and affection never achieved before by any other man or nation...
...Canada: Toronto Globe and Mail, August 27, 1958...
...When men of the stature of Graham and Fulbright are thus lost, they usually are replaced by those whose main qualification is their racial bigotry...
...The sooner that liberal magazines learn to defend the truths of the Fifties and not of the Thirties, the sooner will they recapture the leadership of the intelligentsia...
...Senate Press Gallery Washington, D.C...
...He is, moreover, thoroughly steeped in our coldwar ideology...
...That does not include The Progressive, as from time to time intelligent informative articles about the Communist ruled lands appears on its pages...
...In politics, as in everything else, nothing but disaster can come from evading reality...
...Here, in a liberal monthly, was a generous serving of the same idolatrous claptrap served up daily by a compliant, servile press...
...That this same corporation "made less than one cent profit on each dollar of sales" should be shouted from the house tops...
...of the far-reaching military entanglements in distant lands...
...But is a nation whose leaders (in North Korea and now in the unprovoked shelling of the offshore islands) have openly and repeatedly shown that they are enemies of all of the free nations of the world, fit to be admitted on equal terms or any terms to the United Nations...
...With a few notable exceptions the press and commentators have followed "the party line...
...Let us suppose that the whole world adopted Marxist Communism...
...Syngman Rhee's, is likely to stand with the United States in fighting for the Quemoys...
...For those "beautiful, natural, happy children" who so impressed A. J. Muste are being taught in school and Young Pioneer camps that there is no such thing as God...
...Would it be worth the sacrifice of a single young life to save the face of the Secretary of State or any other government official...
...Regardless of his many virtues and qualifications, the Southern politician will not be able to overcome a public position on integration...
...Gavin is a militarist, pure and simple...
...Mayer's 'Drivel' Dear Sirs: I have just returned from Europe and one of the first things I read was Milton Mayer's first installment on his trip to Moscow...
Vol. 22 • December 1958 • No. 12
