THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . No Fiesta This Time Dear Sirs: At the close of the war big business will be bigger than before. As the world sweeps into the unknown future, when a treaty of...
...The dim line between our civil powers and the military is in danger of being obliterated entirely...
...Have they as much to teach us in the art of living as we have to teach them...
...La Follette Dear Sirs: I want to thank Mrs...
...This nation and, in fact the entire world, needs builders who can gather up the fragments of a wrecked world and rebuild them into a new social order...
...This question is worth serious consideration NOW by organized groups and individuals...
...Malcolm A. Green, of Austin, Tex., has summed up the situation relative to the matter of conscripting our youth for military services after the war as defined in the title you gave to his letter in The Progressive for March 5, "Conscription is Fascism...
...Your writers, of course, don't agree on Russia so it adds to the confusion...
...There is, however, much genuine hypochondria, inevitable among men under conscription in such an environment...
...As the world sweeps into the unknown future, when a treaty of peace ends the slaughterfest, and emerges into the postwar transition period of uncertainty, will the Government be ready for constructive action that will prevent an aftermath of bankrupt hopes...
...There must be something to Russia besides its political form of government, something to make the people pull together the way they do in conducting the war...
...Shurman, the distinguished scholar and diplomat, was at that time president of the First Philip pine Commission and to this day "his rich background of learning and experience and his deep-rooted understanding and faith in democratic principles," as Mrs...
...Nothing less than an intelligent, aroused public interest in a cooperative effort to thwart additional clandestine infringements on human rights that emanate from the throne of power politics will prove effective...
...It would not, however, eliminate publication of writings of famous thinkers on controversial subjects...
...These articles gyrate up and down and from pole to pole all at one jump and without even a change of dress...
...Souverine, Boris . . . Stalin...
...Green's point of view...
...The same is true with a Democratic, a Socialist, or a Communist paper...
...The socialist leadership is what provided her with the strength she has today...
...Yes, I'm a crank, too...
...Give A Friend The Truth I Send Him The Progressive Today Take Warning, America Dear Sirs: May I have a little space to say how well Mr...
...The Revolution Betrayed...
...Would that these facts could be seen and understood by the voters that postwar planning could be conducted along the lines of intelligence and justice and not left to the tender mercies of the beneficiaries of our present private banking system...
...They are entirely the work of the lunatic fringe who should have been discharged years ago...
...It is amusing to hear people talk of freedom in the capitalistic countries...
...As long as these are the dominant governments and likely to be for some time, because no drastic changes could be made without disrupting the war effort, the Crimean Conference was a long step towards solution of problems ahead...
...I've got dollar signs all over my vest and, of course, I don't believe in anything progressive—at least not what you call progressive...
...Christmas Gifts Dear Sirs: Miles McMillin has noted in The Progressive that the Alabama Power Commission ordered a refund of December bills to customers of the Alabama Power Corporation...
...Lyons, Eugene . . . Assignment in Utopia...
...Have their youth their Sinatras to make them swoon and to worship...
...Genevieve Toth, South Bend, Ind...
...to establish post-offices and post-roads...
...5, and Mar...
...A voice inaudible to the multitudes but heard in thunderous resonance by Bel-shazzar and his invited guests at Bretton Woods and Dumbarton Oaks as they "have drunk wine," and "praised the gods of silver, and gold, and (Federal Reserve notes...
...I don't get much time for reading, but reading The Progressive from front page to last I manage not to get too far behind in the news...
...But it seems little is said about that country's culture, ideals, and way of life...
...They preach purity and freedom: freedom for all and then have their own words deny they preach it...
...Now World War II, we are told, is to make "democracy safe for the world...
...Clara T. Runge Baraboo, Wis...
...Sufficient Reason' Dear Sirs: Sen...
...12 it seems to me that Mr...
...They should have been discharged months or years ago, but have been pigeonholed in Germfask instead...
...B e a 1, Fred C. . . . Proletarian Journey...
...Not in outward form, but by camouflaged procedure...
...Serge, Victor...
...That contribution to your columns should be circulated over the whole country somehow...
...This is a subject well worthy of our keenest attention...
...Particularly the fact that that nation has made possible any freedom for ourselves as well as all the other nations of the earth...
...Valtin, Jan...
...5 issue, and I want to add my personal orchid for the excellent movie column by James S. Hamilton...
...Keep up the good work...
...All the features were fine in that Mar...
...26, Mar...
...They have applied for transfer, to the Army, merchant marine, or medical corps, but because this might result in medical discharge, they have been denied the transfer...
...Trotsky, Leon...
...While even this does not put the masses on the same basis as their masters, it at least removes the slavery status...
...Utley, Freda . . . The Dream We Lost...
...Gide, Andre . . . Return from the U. S..S...
...This would help to obliterate the infamous cartel system...
...Without this foresight they would not have foreseen what was coming and prepared for it in so short a time...
...E. H. W. of P. O. W. Camp, Thornton, Ill...
...12 numbers: Rubin, Chamber-lin, and Mayer on the front page...
...In other words, how the national vigor, fitness, ideals, plus the criminal and racketeering status there stack up with those of ours in our beloved country...
...Russia 20 Years After...
...Lyons, Eugene . . . The Red Decade...
...The greatest falsification in this article is the impression it gives that there is organized resistance at Germfask Camp...
...The only fair method is for the people residing there to vote in a free plebiscite under whose rule they wish to be or if they desire inde-pendence...
...And the result is that of a divided society of multi-millionaires, housed in comfort and luxury, and millions of honorable citizens housed in neglected slums...
...Orchid For Hamilton Dear Sirs: The Progressive deserves an orchid for its first Feature Supplement and Review...
...The "work or fight" struggle in Congress seems to be closely connected with conscription of our youth—all towards militarizing this country if labor is not made safe against being driven to work for the profit of employers in the sacred name of preserving our strength on the field of battle...
...George Mann Glenburn, N. D. * * * A Changed World Dear Sirs: I certainly enjoy The Progressive very much...
...They feel rather an obli-gation to demonstrate that programs of forced and unpaid labor must be inefficient and lacking in any moral incentive...
...Out of the Night...
...Smith, Andrew...
...Leon Henderson makes his prognostication more definite by putting it at 15 million...
...It should be recorded that the Georgia Public Service Commission took a similar action on Dec...
...In my opinion there ought to be a rigid enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Law that has remained ineffectively dormant ever since its enactment...
...At present the above mentioned letters are but "the voice of one crying in the wilderness...
...La Follette's vote for Wallace for Commerce Secretary is sufficient reason for my discontinuing my subscription to The Progressive...
...Social conditions now offer The Progressive, with its large circulation and great prestige, an opportunity to formulate a progressive and constructive program, to step out into the front ranks and lead this nation into a better way of life...
...I only can praise all the writers in The Progressive...
...One older man has a wife and 8 children...
...Take the Feb...
...So far, the outlook from Yalta is not so encouraging...
...Joseph Ramsperger Los Angeles, Calif...
...We need to read such subjects in order to have an informed and unbiased mind and spirit of tolerance...
...Mr...
...We areall one big, happy family...
...Conscription Stickers Dear Sirs: In the Mar...
...The "Tobacco Road Gang" is a creation of Time's journalistic flare...
...J. Luther Kibler Newport News, Va...
...World War I was fought, supposedly, to "make the world safe for democracy...
...John M. Work of Milwaukee tries to garble the facts in comparing the Russian system with the Nazi...
...Before taking up the alleged acts of vandalism, it is important to understand both that they are done by a very small group of men, and that these men are either physically or mentally sick or both...
...Justice and right are still in the balance...
...In my opinion if the people of any country have this much of a foundation to build on they can get some place...
...This nation needs men and women of vision, men and women who have plans for rejuvenating our shattered economic system, a program for rehabilitating the human victims of this war, who have blueprints for a social system in which unemployment and poverty are unknown...
...Most men in the camp are not anxious to see either the camp or the work program an outstanding success...
...We here at home can still demand from Congress that plans be laid for a peaceful postwar world...
...Thanks Mrs...
...What will be done at San Francisco depends much upon whether America will stand up for and demand that true Americanism prevail...
...Commander Seely is about the only contributor who offers any constructive program...
...Yalta—A Step Ahead Dear Sirs: The Crimean Conference of the Big 3 should end the crocodile tears shed for that "poor" Polish government-in-exile, which stayed a safe distance from the fighting...
...It is plainly evident to all informed persons that the coming peace to be settled and proclaimed to the world at the end of this global blood-bath will not be a just peace and in the best interests of all the nations concerned...
...Duty Of Congress Dear Sirs: In the last few months you have had the courage to print several letters in the columns of the People's Forum calling attention to the provision of Article 1, Sec...
...There is no such thing as a "gang...
...Perhaps if associations and individuals made known their concern in this matter, as well as interest in a decent postwar world, to their Senators and Congressmen it might inspire them with courage to lend their influence toward a real effort for enforcement...
...It is greater than any state paper emanating from our State Department since the war began...
...Giuseppe Antonio Borgese has warned us just in time...
...They are aware that after the settlement, this same world force of competitive greed will again begin openly to function against their system of government, instituted in favor of social, economic, and racial equality...
...John C. Mueller Brentwood, Mo...
...La Follette especially for reviving in The Progressive of Feb...
...Let America take warning at San Francisco...
...Serge, Victor . . . From Lenin to Stalin...
...Devault, have sin cerely asked for work of greater importance, others feel that the importance of the work can not compensate for the evil results of accepting it under compulsion...
...Kaiser...
...The sort of 50-50 proposition that the masses have in this and every other capitalistic country is of the one horse-one rabbit variety, with the owners and bosses having the horse...
...Pseudo-Liberals Dear Sirs: Every time The Progressive arrives it gives me a few hours of disgusted feeling...
...I believe if The Progressive would inaugurate this screening program, it would increase its stature in the minds of its subscribers and contributors as one of the nation's outstanding publications...
...Lenox B. Smith Northampton, Mass...
...Have they socialite or leisure classes to make the Sunday rotos to give the more ordinary mortals something to which to aspire, when they get enough money ? It may'al-so be wondered how Russia's physical fitness compares with other countries, including ours...
...Bernard Raymund Columbus, O. * * * Soviet Guarantees Dear Sirs: In a letter published in your Forum of Mar...
...He and other readers will be interested in knowing that the American Friends Service Committee has been distributing thousands of these correspondence stickers as part of an active campaign against conscription...
...They are party papers...
...Chamberlin has never admitted that the Curzon Line was established after the Treaty of Versailles without Russian participation or that Lithuania and Bessarabia were taken away after the end of the first World War by a Series of unofficial wars when Russia was too weak to do anything about it...
...If Mr...
...This would eliminate trash by the McCabes, etc., on subjects listed by Mr...
...Malcolm A. Green, Austin, Texas, in the March 5 issue, is constructive criticism, and should be welcomed and encouraged...
...Hugo Wolter Ann Arbor, Mich...
...It's just too bad it can't be in every home in the U. S. A. to educate the people who are still in the dark...
...Not long ago a sample copy of one of McCabe's prolific writings was sent to me...
...Confidence Dear Sirs: I enjoy The Progressive...
...Many of these grievances are justified...
...OPPOSE PEACETIME CONSCRIPTION" and they sell for cost: 25c a hundred...
...Kaiser...
...12 issue Reader Dwight Bolinger of Los Angeles suggested that since the War Department is planning to use stickers on all correspondence to popularize peacetime military conscription, something similar ought to be done by the opposition...
...Because it will be settled from the standpoint of our system of so-called "free enterprise" among nations, which means, and can only mean, freedom of the strong to continue the same system of oppression and exploitation over weaker nations and peoples that led to this war, and will lead to the next, since it is the sole cause of all wars...
...Dollar Signs Dear Sirs: Please remove my name from your list...
...Naturally, his condition has not improved...
...Weird Conglomeration Dear Sirs: I have been a member of The Progressive reading public for some years...
...Officials have said that the removal of 10 or 12 men would solve the problem of discipline...
...These include some of the worst dependency cases in CPS...
...Screen' H-J Ads Dear Sirs: The very apropos letter by Albert T. Kaiser in The Progressive of Feb...
...I want to say that his presentation of the European question is the greatest exposition of present world problems I have yet read by any statesman...
...The Progressive has no national party in the back of it, and therefore is only a paper of information and education...
...Instead of harping on Russian territorial expansion, in spite of the fact Russian fighting freed Poland from the Nazi grip, why don't some of these so-called "Russian experts" admit that the disputed territory once belonged to Russia...
...It would inform them of what you wanted at least and there would be no alibi for them not acceding to your wishes...
...there must be some source of national enthusiasm, national toughness and hardihood...
...Eastman, Max . . . Stalin's Russia and the Crisis in Socialism...
...19 the article written by Jacob Gould Shurman in 1899 when the United States took over the Philippines from Spain...
...All this in the name of "sound money" and an "honest banking system...
...We are a camp of individualists...
...And it's gone...
...To sum up, Germfask is a confused situation about which it is very difficult to generalize, except that it shows conscription to be an unmitigated evil with innumerable bad effects both on the men under it and the individuals and groups who assume any responsibility for its administration...
...I'd like to try the stuff...
...Do the young go in for hepcatting and Donald Ducking there...
...Mrs...
...8 of the Federal Constitution, which is as follows: "The Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures...
...While some, like Dr...
...Harry Kantor Urbana, IU...
...George C. Hart Baltimore, Md...
...I'm a reactionary...
...Are divorces of "glamor" girls publicized and glorified there...
...One might wonder to what extent crime flourishes in the Soviets...
...Little business has been given a shot in the arm through war work, but when it begins to fold up after the show is over, no artificial respiration in the shape of Government loans will be able to revive it...
...Anyone can criticize and find fault, but one must have vision and constructive abilities, which few possess, if he would devise a better program or method of any kind...
...P. Anthony Fabrizio Newark, N. J. Competition Dear Sirs: The reason the capitalist system of government the world over is unjust is because its philosophy of economics is based on the unfair principle o f competition...
...E. Wheeler Ogden, Utah Conditions At Germfask Dear Sirs: In answer to the article in Time Magazine of Feb...
...On them are the words: "AMERICA WANTS FREEDOM...
...The system of competition in society and government is unfair because its first objective is to overpower and further weaken one individual, party, or power against another...
...I feel I can believe what I read in it...
...G. Spevlin Cleveland, 0. * * * Good Work Dear Sirs: Believe me, I wouldn't do without your extraordinarily informative paper...
...Mention has already been made of men in critical physical or mental health...
...This thing called war, and governments, and nationalities, and races, and diverse interests, and small inconsequential things like that, would vanish: Pouff...
...It seems their freedom for all peoples would embrace an austere, uncompromising, and omnipotently righteous America over all, a monopoly government America to impose "freedom" upon all the world...
...One man with an acute dependency problem was discharged from a hospital unit 6 months ago because of a nervous disorder...
...They maintain that as soon as the element of state compulsion is introduced, the element of moral ob ligation tends to disappear...
...Life, ain't it grand ? Behold...
...It will not happen, and if the next war is averted, it will be because the common people of the world have organized and risen in the power of their might and replaced our present system of competition, greed, and hate by one of neighborly cooperation and individual equality — the only ground for a just peace...
...Things are going to be different and we should prepare for the change...
...Is Dumbarton Oaks to become a "hoax...
...12, 1945, confirms my thinking on some of the advertising your otherwise excellent paper carries...
...F. R. Burch Seattle, Wash...
...Henry R. Smith Minneapolis, Minn...
...Will The Progressive accept this opportunity...
...Those college presidents who have endorsed this un-American program of militarism need to get Mr...
...As to the specific charges of vandalism, these are distorted and exaggerated...
...In this connection, I would like to commend to all your readers the article in Life for March 12, "Europe Wants Freedom From Shame" by G. A. Borgese, a native of Italy, but now a naturalized citizen of the United States...
...You have a variety of good writers, all well-versed in their subjects...
...Work will go to the trouble of reading a copy of the Soviet Union Constitution he will find therein that every citizen is guaranteed a job and material security in sickness and old age...
...In the main, I find its writers the weirdest conglomeration of opinion-ators I ever read...
...Criticism such as from Pvt...
...The methods used, perhaps, were un-seemingly harsh but it served the Allies when the others were unprepared for what was coming...
...World Revolution—1917-1936...
...I found him narrow, prejudiced,"and superficial and one who could not even remotely be considered as a noted writer...
...Regardless of what we think of Russian, British, or American interests in this war, we still must plan a postwar world on this basis...
...Then Congress delegates to it the power to "coin money'' by the checking system and to "regulate the value thereof" by a succession of periods of plenty and scarcity of money permitted to circulate as best suits their will for profit...
...Carl E. Harnstrom Superior, Wis...
...This teaching and practice is -conducive to the world's long list in the catalog of crime...
...31, issuing a statement to the effect that it took this step rather than modify the existing rate structure "at such unsettled times...
...Maybe, if we took enough of the stuff, Presto...
...Social conditions are now loudly calling for a new Moses who can lead this nation from war, unemployment, and poverty to peace, useful occupation, and plenty...
...Was a Soviet Worker...
...James, C. L. R...
...Philadelphia, Pa...
...Don't fool yourself with the idea of a just peace at the end of this armed conflict...
...neither, it should be noted, could happen in most northern states, where unfortunately the public service commissions are not empowered to make Christmas gifts except to the utilities themselves...
...I hope none of The Progressive's readers 'missed reading this valuable contribution to the interests of today...
...The degree of heart trouble and insanity compared with us...
...Do the victory guns of Moscow boom out the cadences of liberty, or of license...
...Robert S. Brainerd CPS Camp, Germfask, Mich...
...Time talks in terms of a gang of 30 out of 70...
...If not thus understood and justice is ignored, misery, poverty, and intense suffering will be our lot...
...Twice The Price Dear Sirs: I like The Progressive very much and wouldn't be without it if the subscription price would be again as much...
...Its contributors, almost without exception, have criticized and condemned almost all of the activities and policies of the Government while they are unwilling or perhaps unable to offer any constructive program that would remedy the allegedly wrong conditions or correct the alleged mistakes about which they so ora-torically and verbosely bellyache...
...Perry R. Davis Crown City, O. * * * Books On Russia Dear Sirs: I notice many letters in The Progressive which advise your readers to get the truth about Russia by reading such writers as the Dean of Canterbury, Edgar Snow, Anna Louise Strong, Morris Hindus, and Louis Adamic...
...and generally completely disregard the facts of life...
...If only it could be reprinted in the form of a leaflet for anti-war Americans to circulate among their friends, it would do much to awaken people to the dangers of imported militarism, which our armies are now about to destroy in Hitler's Germany...
...I believe The Progressive would do a service for its readers if it screened the publications list of Haldeman-Julius Company and published only the writings of famous thinkers...
...Some men in the camp do not even claim to be pacifists...
...C. Willing Philadelphia, Pa...
...If we don't there will be another bog of depression waiting to overwhelm us that will make the last one seem like a fiesta or pink tea jamboree...
...That article in the New Republic a long time ago, calling your contributors a bunch of disgruntled pseudo - liberals, (or something the like) was about the truest description of most of your writers...
...The charge of "feigned sickness" is partly justified in the case of a very few individuals...
...It was years before even poor-relief was arranged...
...The average reader who enjoys various articles by the distinguished writers for your columns, I believe, is insulted by the assumption that he might be interested in reading trash by those of the Mc-Cabe ilk on the subjects listed by Mr...
...It was a failure...
...Yalta did not settle the Polish question...
...Patricia S. Reith American Friends Service Committee, 20 S. 12th St...
...Give A Friend The Truth Send Him The Progressive Today Old Reader's Advice Dear Sirs: As an old reader, I want to exercise the reader's right to advise the editor...
...I offer the following list of books as a sample of what more critical thinkers have written about the paradise that is known as Stalin's Russia, and the Communist Parties: Balabonoff, Angelica . . . My Life as a Rebel...
...In the printing of these letters, with the salient facts therein expressed, you have performed a great service to mankind and one for which the people should be deeply appreciative...
...Then add a sprinkling of "true principles" at, or near, the end of their virtuous efforts: principles precisely opposite to their burden and belaboring theme...
...Every one of the writers mentioned above and most of the others mentioned by your "pro-Stalin's Russia" correspondents are either members or fellow travelers of the Russian dictatorship's various Communist Parties...
...If I read a Republican paper I know what to expect...
...There is no "campaign of studied defiance" except on the part of a few individuals who have their individual campaigns...
...Elsie V. Baldwin Harrisburg, Pa...
...It is hard not to be bitter when one sees one's friends degenerating in this way from day to day...
...Both instances are a healthy sign of independence in the state governing bodies...
...Almost everyone in Germfask has an imagined or genuine grievance which removes any loyalty he might fee] toward the program as a whole...
...The Progressive for several years has held a critical attitude towards public officials, particularly those in the national Government...
...I challenge any honest individual to read the above books...
...The Saturday Evening Post, in a recent editorial, stated there would be millions of unemployed after the war...
...Gentlemen, would you let me in on your secret: What do you smoke...
...The People's Forum is the most interesting—some of them actually can wade through the morass of the paper's journalism and still think...
...It is unanswerable...
...Frank Simpson San Diego, Calif...
...I introduce your paper to many people with whom I come in contact —and I argue with them...
...19 regarding Conscientious objectors at Germfask, Mich., as one of the men at this camp I would like to give the true facts of the case...
...Send A Gift Subscription Today Questions About Russia Dear Sirs: Much is written about Russia...
...La Follette expresses it, are a helpful guide...
...Reserve a preponderant venom for Russia...
...Stalin and the Soviet people are not fooled that this will be a just peace for all the people of the world...
...Perry M. Acker Yakima, Wash...
...E. A. Arestad Aneta, N. D. * * * Discouraged By Critics Dear Sirs: As a reader of The Progressive, I must inform you that I get very much discouraged reading all those criticisms.about the different writers, from narrow-minded people who don't know one thing from the other...
...The question naturally arises: Why does Congress exercise this constitutional power in the matter of weights and measures, post-offices and post-roads, and persistently refuse so to do in the matter of coining money and regulating the value thereof, and, to the contrary, authorize the formation of a private corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank, to act as a holding company for the national banks...
...Throw in a little dash of the apologists for poor, picked-on Germany...
...A person does not have to be a crystal-ball gazer to see that we all are living in the beginning of a changed world and my individual hope is that when the boys come back home they will be living in a world where there will be peace on earth and good will toward all men —that we have a government of the people and by the people, not of the few and by the few, and that they can have the pleasure of enjoying what mother nature has provided for us...
...Ciliga, Anton . . . The Russian Enigma...
...They are all sincere, speaking the best they know how, as they see ant believe...
...R. Gitlow, Ben . . . / Confess...
Vol. 9 • April 1945 • No. 14
