THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Reply To Seely Dear Sirs: I have read in your issue of June 4 the letter from Mr. C. S. Seely, of Chicago, in which he writes that there are "two different...
...In the minds and in the emotions of Russian Communists, Britain appeared as the incarnation of capitalist evil — Enemy Number One...
...We sold aluminum for less than market price here to Hitler for planes to kill the Spanish people and to destroy their representative republican government...
...The question which all the American people will want the answer to is, "What will be the attitude taken by the investigators of war criminals toward those financiers who furnished Hitler the money to start his program of death...
...Having forfeited the confidence of the national body, a member of its board of directors is now apparently undertaking to make war upon it...
...Like a few other "irresponsibles," as Max Lerner termed them, Mr...
...But in respect for those dead and maimed boys of ours we should demand that the investigations be conducted by representatives of the people and not of international money racketeers...
...One that will show the people their cause is just, and how dreadful and hopeless is their present condition...
...The CCLC, in contrast, is a purely local group of no influence outside the Chicago area...
...It was the first open move made to reinstate the Nazi industrialists and cartelists as leaders in the world's business...
...It's a fair question...
...16 issue, I wish to add my comment...
...If all the nations of the world and not only 46 nations are invited to the United Nations' conference to present their peace programs and see if they are willing to cooperate for lasting peace...
...I may not agree with all they say, but no one can deny the writers know whereof they write...
...And let's have the Government take over all public utilities, thereby putting the money lords in their place, which is in the ranks along with the rest of us...
...All the nations are to have the bill of rights, including freedom of speech and press...
...According to world trade reports the "peace loving Russians" increased their trade immensely with Italy during the Ethiopian "incident...
...In the interest of simple truth, I beg to present the facts: Mr...
...Did anybody, anywhere, ever hear about ANYTHING being ever stolen from anybody, anywhere, by the USSR and carted off to Moscow...
...The common man in all little countries expects to have his pockets picked...
...The officer in charge approached the young man and said: "Where do you think you are...
...After the woman had gone my friend said she had just heard a remarkable story—in fact read a letter the woman had received from her son that day, who was an air pilot in France...
...D. L. Rock Sparks, Neb...
...Why not make the old folks distributors of finance...
...Certainly Mr...
...White did, says that White overemphasizes the bad, minimizes the good, and that "there is a generous dash of fiction in the book which is not labeled as such...
...The Townsend plan can be realized without running the U. S. in debt as has this useless World War...
...Norris made showing that just one of New York's 6 international banks owned or controlled 2,500 corporations, operating from coast to coast...
...How can we hope for peace and prosperity for all the people when we have such men as that in such a responsible place...
...The answer is a profound NO...
...only then, lasting world peace can be secure for all...
...I consider both guilty as charged and would ask where were the groups of both when our "peace loving nation" was furnishing materials of war to all who could pay the price to our profit hungry "free enterprise" boys...
...M. L. Smith Manhattan Beach, Calif...
...Stalin acted in accordance with this phrase of Lenin's when Molo-tov signed the pact with the "war criminal Joachim Ribbentrop," as he is being called in the Soviet press today...
...their stopping him at Stalingrad and driving the hordes of barbarians back to Berlin wins me completely...
...The millions of Huns they have killed pay for many sins...
...And give their places to the boys and girls now with the armed forces...
...1 worship at the shrine of property rights (must be in heaven for not here on earth), and a competitive economy is my religion...
...They have paid...
...Of course, this does not include profits on war contracts...
...Grover B. Foster Dallas, Texas...
...Stalin's policy represented the opposite of protection and security...
...A. E. Wheaton Selman, Okla...
...State Department's GHQ Dear Sirs: Since the State Department moved its GHQ to Rockefeller Center, N. Y., we are getting real results in a big business way...
...I stated, at the time, the people were apt to pay dearly for this one act to promote trade and profits...
...Because of this common heritage they should work in harmony to create an economy designed to bring lasting peace rather than wars for the enrichment of vested interests...
...C. S. Seely, of Chicago, in which he writes that there are "two different organizations in the field of American civil liberties—the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee (CCLC...
...We can thus make this a democracy instead of a plutocracy...
...True, Crawford did not put the matter this boldly in his blast against Russia in your June 4 issue, yet he very well knows there is simply no other way to stop the Red tide from engulfing all of Asia as well as Europe and as much of Africa as is needed to insure future peace...
...Ray Pospisil Miami, Fla...
...John Haynes Holmes Chairman, Board of Directors, ACLU New York, N. Y. * * * Incident In France Dear Sirs: Your editorial "The Other Ger many," in the Apr...
...Seely states that "there is no connection whatever between these organizations...
...This army would be composed of the very cream of our young men, boys with desires and ambitions to have a home and families, boys with ideas and desires to help plan and build the future...
...Prior to his going the mother insisted that he, her son, should commit the 91st Psalm to memory, and to please her he did so...
...They have shown good sense in most of their actions and I am inclined to bear with them until all the facts are out...
...And force money to circulate through the (Townsend plan) and compel the controllers of private money to put their money into circulation, or not get any returns on their money...
...We are told that the action of the present conference was simply the keeping of a promise made at Mexico City by our State Department...
...I have no interest in social security, social gains, nor "progressive" programs...
...The German then replied, "You are in the wrong place and had better move on," whereupon he ordered his tank filled with gasoline and allowed him to fly away...
...A new branch is now forming in Chicago...
...International Bankers Dear Sirs: A few years ago, former Sen...
...One gets some idea from a report the late Sen...
...Not that I no ticed...
...Chamberlin, subscribe to such methods...
...My creed is to abolish all taxes and substitute a program of collection for benefits and services...
...Weak, small, helpless nations and peoples, no col-orline is drawn here, are ruthlessly plundered and the spoils are shipped back to London to fatten a few parasites lolling there in idleness...
...A big majority of the Congress has gone over, bag and baggage, to aid the plutocrats to make slaves again of the producing class...
...Do you, Mr...
...30 issue permits me to tell of an incident which came to my attention about a year and a half ago, or when our army was going into France...
...T. 3. Welsh Chicago, 111...
...The fact is that the Chicago Committee was founded by and affiliated for years with the American Civil Liberties Union as a local branch of the national body...
...Eric Johnston, who made the same trip that Mr...
...So he is found with the "haves" and how faithfully he beats their tom-toms...
...Stalin's pro-Hitler policy was neither a security policy ("national policy," "protection policy"), a personal whim, nor a sort of vengeance for the Munich deal...
...The "have-nots" are poor sources of revenue...
...Peace, under what is called "free enterprise" was ably defined by Ambrose Bierce as "A period of cheating between two periods of fighting...
...It is of no importance where the scheme was first made public...
...We must d r i " e capitalism — the American word for fascism—off the earth, as we hope we have from Europe, before the worthwhile people of this world ever seen any more rest...
...Their first concern is to help their neighbors, not rob them...
...Stalin and his advisers seem to be the world's best minds...
...Sixteen Russian correspondents, all of whom were in the Soviet Union much longer than Mr...
...Charles K. Chilberg Portland, Oreg...
...White had a right to make his report on Russia, though I question whether freedom of the press gives him a moral right to include unlabeled fiction in a book that purports to be a record of fact and observation...
...Mrs...
...Most of your letter-writers do not know there are more and larger cities buried in the sands of Asia and Af rica than now exist...
...I shed few tears over the 16 Poles...
...The people must have a dynamic leader like John L. Lewis, the greatest and best champion labor ever had, as he has many times proved in his great fight for the coal miners...
...They are not fitted for service in the State Department...
...The USSR is fortunate in its possession of an abundant supply of natural resources, (we of America come next in such favorable position...
...Stalin's policy of pro-German neutrality resulted, first, in the elimination of the French front by Hitler, and then in the invasion of Russia, in which the Russian lives lost were more than the human losses of all the other belligerents...
...T. E. Mahood Kinistino Saskatchewan, Canada Mayer In Frisco Dear Sirs: On June 28 at 8:00 p. m., Mr...
...I believe Mr...
...How much longer can the people tolerate a government where one man has the power to tell a thousand what they must eat, the kind of clothes they must wear, the kind of hovel in which they house their wives and children, the kind of education their children must have, the kind of treatment they get in sickness and at last the kind of coffin in which they are buried...
...Twenty-seven years of history have not eradicated from the Soviet concepts this fundamental anti-British orientation...
...Of course, one shouldn't expect those radio commentators whose checks come from those concerns, to mention anything that would jeopardize their jobs...
...Argentina was exactly the same kind of an ally of Germany as Spain was and rendered every service possible to Germany as a U-Boat base and supply base as well as a Nazi headquarters on this side of the Atlantic...
...That might be forgiven if he was not fostering another war—a war that will determine whether capitalistic "freedom" is more to the liking of the "common man" than the "regulated freedom" sponsored by the USSR...
...With such a man as that, as true to the toiling millions as Lewis has shown himself to be on many hard fought fields to the miners, organized wealth would quickly be brought to its knees and the great producing class would be blessed as never before, and could never be with the slowness of the late New Deal...
...Bob La Follette made a speech in the Senate on May 31, which I think every reader of your magazine should read and I think it should be published in its entirety...
...I think it well that we go far towards giving the Russians credit for good intentions rather than rub the sore spots...
...Also, he prefers a boss that won't call on his children and his grandchildren every few years to die for him...
...Seely states that "the CC LC operates mainly in . . . the Middle West, (while) the ACLU is an East Coast organization...
...Milton Mayer will speak in San Francisco at 414 Mason Street on the topic "The Freeman's Dilemma" at a meeting sponsored by The War Resisters League, The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Fellowship of Reconcilia-tion, and the Socialist Party...
...To blame Stalin and to curse his policies is easy...
...Disregard Of Principle Dear Sirs: Congratulations to your paper for its many able articles...
...William J. Brady Philadelphia, Pa...
...Bone inserted some articles in the Congressional Record showing that the international banks of London and Wall Street had loaned the Hitler government money to finance the building of his war machines...
...Fascism, like Great Britain, lives and moves, thrives and grows, ONLY by exploitation...
...Lasting Peace Dear Sirs: Can there be a lasting peace after the war in the Pacific is ended ? The answer is yes...
...It would be interesting to know just who is paying for his raving...
...The matter of the Reds asking the Swedish government to suppress a periodical which attacks Stalin is a bit disturbing, but again I prefer to withhold judgment for further facts...
...The capture of the Chicago Committee by partisan elements led to the resignation of all its outstanding leaders and supporters, and its recent disaffiliation...
...wherever they went...
...White, said that "it contains far too many inaccuracies to serve as a proper interpretation of a great nation and a great people...
...It deserves a reply...
...He assuredly isn't another Jesus, or even a Eugene Debs, both of whom practiced their preachments to the end...
...I am a veteran of World War I and the father of a veteran of World War II...
...Just a short time ago Rep...
...did he quit, or was he dismissed for reasons unknown to us...
...He landed near an army camp which proved to be a German camp...
...For example, Hitler's barbarians destroyed scientific research institutes, libraries, schools, theaters, art galleries, etc...
...When thieves fall out, the honest man wins...
...The nation with the soundest constitution, giving the people more freedom of happiness, shall take the leadership and insist that no nation is to have peacetime compulsory training because the nations with such training have failed to secure peace for themselves, but endanger the peace of other nations...
...Barnes can rouse the people to the extent that they learn we could have abundance without war and with less time expended on washing and ironing, and other like chores, he has done a deed of immense value to humanity...
...Permit me to quote from an article written by me 5 years ago, in March, 1940, at a time when the Soviet Government was annexing certain Polish and Baltic areas in order to create a security system: "While the guns of other peoples thunder, Stalin is rounding up territories, occupying new regions, taking air bases, locating military contingents — in one word, he is 'protecting the frontiers.' Will this last...
...All because these several governments are all alike "totalitarian...
...When that will be accom plished then, and...
...As an admirer and supporter of President Truman, I would say to him: "Get rid of Stettinius, Clayton, and Rockefeller, as quickly as you can do so...
...I have never been in any doubt as to the latter...
...It is a compromise with the Nazis and the Clerics without the slightest element of statesmanship...
...I have never said that Stalin was justified in his deal with Hitler...
...Vandenberg, a Wall Street Republican, and Ed Stettinius, plutocracy's Secretary of State...
...But the people whose labor produces our living and all wealth have no one now to guide the ship of state, with any thought to them...
...Our delegation at the great San Francisco meeting to plan for peace is headed by Sen...
...They all are cordially invited...
...It was a splendid and a very enlightening speech, one that every American should read and think about...
...Holmes preaches in your issue of June 11 when he says that William White has the right to publish his collection of lopsided truths and falsehoods on the Soviet Union, but his colleagues of the press do not have the right to say that it is a lopsided and partly untruthful book...
...Barnes was much too mild and should have included the fathers also...
...Hitler's Germany was, of course, no bosom friend, but, since it fought British imperialism, it was doing a useful job...
...It sprang, rather, from those fundamental concepts which, since Lenin's time, have guided the foreign policies of the Soviet Government...
...And all this in the name of crushing Hitler...
...Voor-his inserted an article showing that the American financiers' "take" from their war financing in this country is about one and one-half billion dollars per year...
...Back to that hellish trinity— Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover...
...Hatred of Britain was one of the first among these fundamental concepts...
...Why not plan to retire the old folks from gainful occupation...
...William Card Executive Director Chicago Council of American-Soviet Friendship Chicago, 111...
...From a financial standpoint it would seem they made a good investment, since to date they hold only 100 billion dollars in bonds and as time goes on and the debt increases their holdings will increase and so will their "take...
...it was weakening a powerful enemy of the Soviet Government...
...Stalin And Hitler Dear Sirs: On May 21, 1945, The Progressive carried a review of my book, The Real Soviet Russia, by Norman Thomas...
...Did any mothers' or fathers' organizations protest...
...Carting off to Berlin or their several homes whatever they could conveniently carry—and they commandeered entire trains to move the loot—so that Berlin itself, as well as thousands of modest homes and cottages throughout Germany, were found loaded to the rafters with the plunder, stolen from the ravaged lands...
...It is true its headquarters are in New York, but it has official representatives in every state and important city of the Union, and has local branches in over 30 cities including Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles...
...Defends Russians Dear Sirs: "The Last Column," M. H. R., May 28 issue: I suggest that we go a bit slow in condemning the Reds for certain policies which are getting under our skin...
...And it seems to me evidence to confirm it can be found in the nations which were overrun and are being overrun...
...His main concern is, which boss country will leave him something for sustenance...
...I believe any honest answer must be in the affirmative...
...I am no Communist...
...This letter he wrote from France contained the information that while he was flying across some certain place in France, he was compelled to make a forced landing as his gasoline supply was exhausted...
...I was in an art studio of a friend of mine, who had just said goodbye to a woman who was leaving as I stepped in...
...Compromisers on fundamental principles always do...
...Gus Ppieffer Cincinnati, O. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Sen...
...Bob's Speech Dear Sirs: Sen...
...When Hitler marched into the Ruhr district one English industrialist made him a loan of 30 million dollars...
...Neither depends for exis-ence on expanding foreign trade...
...Logical Conclusion Dear Sirs: We enjoy very much reading The Progressive, find your articles most worthwhile, and appreciate your realistic approach to the fundamental social problems of the day...
...A little less physical activity, and more reasoning should be in order for the great mass of people...
...ESTELLE ROSS San Francisco, Calif...
...People lose faith...
...The war years 1941-1945 were only an interlude...
...But is there no difference between Russia and the others...
...The incident of war that took nearly a million American lives and that will eventually sum up to $300,000,000,000, should not and does not disturb the friendship or business agreements of these world conquerors...
...A Period Of Cheating' Dear Sirs: The Progressive has rendered a great service to its readers by giving William H. Chamberlin enough rope to hang himself...
...You can never have unanimity among people...
...Their contribution during the past decade is such that I can excuse them for almost anything...
...At the same time, we find it difficult to understand why so many of your contributors refuse to follow their own reasoning through to the logical conclusion that a change to a socialistic society is essential...
...David J. Dallin New York, N. Y. Barnes Too Mild Dear Sirs: In regard to the article, "Feminism and War," by Harry Elmer Barnes in the Apr...
...His recent participation in the Town Meeting of the Air would have surely brought joy to Hitler had he been alive to hear it...
...It is absolutely foolish to hope for it and every informed person knows it...
...Thomas says, "cannot prove his bald assertion that Stalin was justified in his deal with Hitler . . . Stalin's policy toward Hitler was not forced by an absolute necessity of protecting Russia...
...The boy could think of nothing, being so flustered, but he said: "I am in the secret place of the most High, under the shadow of the Almighty...
...It is hard to believe the Reds have no reason for this...
...The Reds have contributed so much for the good of the world that I am inclined to give them rope to carry on...
...Crawford classifies Russia with Germany, Italy, and Spain...
...Instead of a leader who tries to get along with organized wealth, we need one who will swat it in its tracks by taking from the big bankers the right to coin money and return it to the Congress...
...Had I the time and you the space, it would be interesting to tell here the story of the Chiacgo Civil Lib-eities Committee...
...The fact is that I have never, either in the book under review or in any other book or article, expressed approval of the Soviet-German deal of 1939...
...The review, favorable on the whole, contained a few remarks which could create misunderstanding...
...If any nation refuses to cooperate and unite for a lasting peace, such a nation must be treated as a sick pa tient...
...If both of them—Germany and Britain—emerged feeble from the war, Soviet influence in Europe and Asia would accordingly grow...
...They disappeared because of disregard of principle...
...We know that your readers in our city would want to attend this meeting...
...Surely in view of the repeated failures and blunders of so-called "private enterprise" with its monotonous repetition of wars and depressions, depressions and wars, one cannot afford to remain hidebound to the traditions of the past whether they are gloriously American or not...
...There is a strong current, gaining momentum every hour, to carry us back to the nefarious rule and empty flesh pots of a Republican regime...
...Renew Your Subscription Today We Need A Leader Dear Sirs: There are approximately 125,-000,000 people in this country who are much in need of a leader, while there are about 10 million who need no leader because they work as a unit in the running of this Government...
...They talk of leaving a vast army in Europe to avoid unemployment...
...They were suckled and trained by Big Business and that is where they belong...
...Dallin," Mr...
...It was the first shot in World War III that is sure to come unless we move the State Department bark to Washington and place at the head a man of vision and courage...
...It seems this boy was but *20 years of age when he went into the service...
...This was made clear recently in the San Francisco conference, when through the influence of GHQ, Argentina was invited to a seat in the conference...
...The odds are about 100 to 1 that they are fairly safe since they are so entrenched in the State, War, Navy, and Treasury Departments, to say nothing about radio, motion pictures, and the press...
...However, if we are to avoid misconceptions and political misjudgments in the future, we must take the more difficult path of trying to understand the sources of those policies and the trends of thought and basic concepts lying behind them...
...He and his "fellow travellers" are carrying the torch of capitalist civilization since it fell from Adolf's hand...
...Has he the courage of Scott Nearing or the intellect of departed Thorstein Veblen...
...What will these frontiers be worth, when the whole might of Hitler's armies will immediately (after a victory over France) turn against them...
...No sooner had Germany capitulated, than the old animosity against London again flared up, and what we witness today is the renewal of the struggle in a widened area, with America still undecided as to how and with whom to side...
...He came to prominence as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor...
...When I circulated a petition oi protest calling on our officials to put a stop to the unholy practice the "liberals" and progressives would not sign, as they feared that they would embarrass the Presi dent...
...Will Street always has had a very strong grip on the Congress and the Administration, but never before has it boldly come out and taken over the most important department of the Government...
...Indeed we need an honest leader who is not afraid to fight for justice in government, regardless of how powerful the enemy may be...
...Their stand in 1938, the proposal to England and France that they stop Hitler...
...It is very evident that the cause of war is the free enterprise profit system which is so lavishly being sold to the mothers and fathers of the world...
...Why doesn't someone speak up...
...Who ever heard of Walter Winchell mentioning the fact that his sponsor's private secretary is serving time for aiding Nazi saboteurs...
...Truman is whether or not he can be persuaded to declare war on the USSR, and not take too long about it...
...True supporters of the cause of civil liberties as distinguished from certain ideological interests will not be deceived, but will gladly continue their allegiance to the American Civil Liberties Union...
...Seely will not succeed in this unfriendly and unworthy endeavor...
...The United Nations must look after such a patient and give her own medicine until that nation and her people will realize that they too must learn to have respect for others and have confidence in themselves...
...And further, "White's book must rank as a highly biased and misleading report, calculated to prolong the oldest myths and prejudices against a great ally, whose sacrifices in this war have saved us incalculable bloodshed and destruction...
...We sold Japan what they wanted to murder the Chinese, and as a rule, without protest...
...James H. Wright Henderson, N. C. * * * The Townsend Plan I want to second the statements of Albert Estling of Twin Falls, Idaho, in The Progressive of May 14, regarding the Townsend plan, as a means of avoiding a calamity after the war...
...C. E. Robel Lewiston, Idaho Russia Is Different Dear Sirs: So the only true test for Mr...
...Flash...
...But his critics certainly have the right to point out what is bad about the book, and to say that it shows ignorance, recklessness and dishonesty, which it does indeed...
...Something less than 3 billion dollars...
...That is a true story for I saw the mother who had allowed my friend to read his letter...
...The fact is that the American Civil Liberties Union is and always has been a national organization, and is the only national organization in the field...
...La Follette's address has been appearing in a current series in The Progressive...
...Ray S. Kellogg Norwalk, O. * * * Share This Issue With Friends Freedom Of Press Dear Sirs: What preposterous doctrine of free speech is this that Dr...
...If Mr...
...However, we can assure you that your paper is much appreciated...
...Like countless other voluminous writers practicality has governed his conduct...
Vol. 9 • June 1945 • No. 26
