THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
••• THE PEOPLE'S FORUM ••• Reply To Scott Nearing Dear Sirs: Apparently Scott Nearing's reference in the Aug. 20 issue to The Progressive's "bitter anti-Soviet attitude" has been occasioned by...
...I haven't the faintest pretense of being an historian, so will not attempt to compete with Mr...
...The enterprise would grow into one huge business of businesses—"of, by, and for ALL of the people...
...27 issue .of'1 The Progressive, may have the unfortunate effect of inducing complacency among the opponents of conscription...
...Neither Clemenceau, nor Foch, had much admiration for his, (even then), lack of courage...
...And it considers spheres of influence but another name for imperialism...
...One thing is certain: there has been indoctrination...
...not having, as some families I have known, as many as 16 members of their families tortured and murdered...
...j. wunderlich New York, N. Y. Suggestion Dear Sirs: I notice "you omitted your September 10 issue to give your employes a week's vacation...
...There are cases where it is difficult to say "here is right, and here is wrong," but not this one...
...D. Obnsteen Los Angeles, Calif...
...Barnes' statements were "ridiculous" and suggested that an objective picture of the case could be gained from Pertinax, The Gravediggers of France Janet Flanner, Petain, the Old Man of France Pierre Cot, Triumph of Treason Since I trust that you wish to offer your readers a full opportunity to make up their minds, I hope you will recommend the above three titles to them as source for another picture of the case Petain than Mr...
...I am four square for the Murray Bill...
...John Haynes Holmes, but I feaii that his article, "The Bomb'Kills the Bill," in the Aug...
...27— "The Road To Full Employment...
...Charity condemns as a lie the claim that any nation or group of nations was solely responsible for the war...
...The Conscription Fight Dear Sirs: The fight against peacetime conscription is not won...
...The firing has ceased, but the lying continues...
...Barnes' piece...
...Barnes attempted to picture Marshal Petain as innocent and his case as another Dreyfus affair...
...So many of the "educated" class are, in spite of all their learning, as gullible to .propaganda as the mighty masses and often possess less common sense...
...I have the very highest respect for "the Rev...
...It is a recognized fact that Pe-tain's record in World War I was not all that Mr...
...Barnes on that ground...
...Russia's Contribution Dear Sirs: Articles I have written for various papers endorsing the Russian practice of distributing its national wealth equitably among all classes of its people have not been printed...
...Knowing nine languages, he used them and his love ©f liberty to fight fascism for the past 23 years...
...The suffering of innocents cannot be atoned for by added suffering of more innocents...
...Too fair, a sojourn in Buchenwald would have been better, with Mr...
...Morris, 111...
...nor having been sent into the horrors of German prison camps...
...In those days he spoke out fearlessly against evils wherever they occurred, but I, too, have noticed a change in his attitude where Russia is concerned and a willingness on his part to whitewash aggression and to avoid such unpleasant subjects as slave labor...
...But there was a war on, and outside of routine griping, we were prepared to ship out for the Pacific when the time came...
...7, 1941, there has been a general desire for a truthful investigation and report of the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan...
...Time was when I hated to miss anything Mr...
...It has revolutionized military value and made obsolete conscript armies...
...Every American should read a full report on the Kent case and demand at once a Congressional investigation...
...9,1941...
...That the situation grew gradually worse should not be the responsibility of the hopeless ones...
...E. S. Port Lewis, Wash...
...R. H. Knapp Saginaw, Mich...
...She felt that Mr...
...Elizabeth Zutt Evansville, 111...
...It seems to me your paper takes such a sane and understanding attitude on all the national questions...
...That was while the war was on...
...I like to read Bob La Follette's writings, also Phil's...
...6, "Protector of the Nation's Wilderness...
...Barnes states...
...Nearing asks for a Communist supporter to write in your paper to counteract William Henry Chamberlin's articles, I wonder if Harry Elmer Barnes and Commander Seely are not sufficient...
...Leading Senators are now demanding that the mystery must be solved...
...Answers Barnes On Petain Dear Sirs: You really shouldn't print articles like the one of Harry Elmer Barnes, entitled, "France's New Dreyfus Case In Reverse," in your Aug...
...When France was sold out like no nation ever before had been, when there were not enough arnjs (the Revolution was fought sometimes with pitchforks and bare hands, as did the brave Underground workers and those of the Maquis) and above all, enough non-decrepit and courageous Frenchmen willing to fight the Germans longer, what else could a De Gaulle do but escape the death penalty of the Nazis, and serve his country on foreign soil, since his own had been betrayed...
...But I, for one, desire the whole world to know we are fed up with this mess...
...Never was the world in greater need of the Lincolnian attitude of malice toward no people, charity for all, than now...
...Renew Your Subscription Today...
...We were scheduled for the Pacific when we returned from the ETO...
...20 issue, it seems to me that that is exactly what The Progressive has been trying to do...
...3. Fear of the atomic bomb may be utilized for support...
...Charity is no less concerned with the right of small nations to have friendly big nations neighbors, than with the right of big nations to have friendly small nations neighbors...
...R. O. Coolidge Minneapolis, Minn...
...And I would like to see that bill become a law...
...Until these specific charges are officially disapproved by Congress, they must be accepted as history and TRUE in every particular...
...The American Legion has announced that universal military training is "doubly necessary" now...
...Hutchins and Dr...
...Hurrah...
...W. F. Hiller Brighton, Colo...
...Elbert D. Jones Lebanon, Ind...
...If Communists honestly believe the nations Russia has gobbled up are happy over their fate, they would readily grant those states the right to free, democratic elections, if for no other reason than to settle world criticism...
...20 issue, you have omitted two of the most vital elements to the accomplishment of your objectives...
...It should function as an "open corporation...
...can sit there and glibly praise a man who, senile and a coward, tacitly approved...
...There is only one reason we do not more openly rebel against it than we are doing...
...The German People Dear Sirs: The Progressive deserves a great deal of credit for its excellent list of writers...
...In all France's history, glorious and otherwise, only Petain collaborated with the enemy, approving the monstrous laws of racism, only he handed over political prisoners who had sought and found refuge on French soil...
...That is the punishment— dishonorable discharge and a prison sentence...
...Marshall to push immediate adoption of conscription legislation...
...I have three friends miraculously returned half-alive, from German ; camps...
...2. Return of the veterans may mean anything so far as peacetime military training is concerned...
...Rubin, and "World Disarmament Now," by Oswald Garrison Villard both express such excellent philosophies...
...While I agree with the suggestion made in the last paragraph of his letter in your Aug...
...I wonder why this is...
...Richard H. Shuffelbarger CPS No...
...Nearing wrote or said in lectures...
...Sane And Understanding' Dear Sirs: I want to tell you how much I appreciate The Progressive...
...Overnight, an inward rebellion .rose, undefined in many of us, clear in many more, against the Army...
...I like the Forum...
...This truth the underprivileged milliohs of the world know by intuition and otherwise...
...Although they have become citizens, are they really a part of our democratic set-up...
...We feel we have contributed our share—some years of the best part of our lives—and we want to go home...
...It sees in the fear it plants among smaller nations, the distrust it plants between larger nations, the seeds of war...
...Charity, as Lincoln conceived it, humiliates no person nor people, but blesses with peace both those who give and those who receive it...
...He was chosen as representative of France to Franco because of this...
...An entirely different light is cast upon the whole situation...
...But with every mother's son and daughter without exception, it is the material things that are needed and wanted...
...Barnes painted it...
...Hans Lamm New York, N. Y. * * * Praise For Barnes Dear Sirs: I have much enjoyed the two articles by Dr...
...I never heard of the Wilderness Society until I read the article mentioned above—and I immediately sent my dollar ,to become a member...
...E. E. Cassel St...
...Barnes there as reporter...
...To say the least they are unwise...
...In case you have mislaid the pa-p*r the address is: The Wilderness Society 1840 Wintwood Place, Washington, D. C. A. P. Bailey Elyria, O. A People's Corporation Dear Sirs: The Federal Government might be able to provide immediate, permanent employment by creating an ordinary business corporation, with broad, unlimited powers of operating all kinds of enterprises ffomA to Z (agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retailing, etc...
...Petain, as all reactionary French people of the old school, was an ardent Catholic, and never forgave the Republic for separating the Church fromthe State—as any progressive will agree is simple justice to both...
...Now the war is over...
...Instead of facing and acknowledging these truths, Communists slip around them like eels and come up with some other argument...
...With but few exceptions, there is no other reason...
...Petain's friends, the Gestapo, and he weighs 45 kilos, where he formerly weighed more than double that...
...The ending of the war-and the atomic bomb have, it is true, made the task of the proponents more difficult, but they may have compensatory "advantages," as pointed out by Conscription News: 1. Many of the opponents have emphasized delay, rather than outright opposition...
...with the hope that they will more or less with one voice support what the War Department advocates...
...With others, it is political rights...
...Proponents may argue that there is now no reason for further waiting, since opponents were only'against consideration of the issue during wartime...
...But when Communists deliberately smear as fascists all who honestly question Stalin's aggressions and anti-democratic acts, it is time they were reminded that in America there are groups of people called democrats, socialists, and progressives who believe in an economy of abundance coupled with all the freedoms—people who believe in more and more democracy, not less...
...I think we all should work for the preservation of our natural wilderness and scenic areas...
...His hands have been forever ruined for his art, his leg hurt, most of his teeth knocked out by Mr...
...Holmes, peacetime military conscription is not dead...
...And "facts are stubborn things...
...There can be no more obvious fact than this phase of the economic policy of the Soviet Government...
...With some, religion appears uppermost...
...However, as Hanson Baldwin points out, "It may mean that the total character of war which we hitherto had thought had approached its ultimate, will be even more total and that all civilians may have to become soldiers...
...4. So long as public opinion polls indicate that a majority of the people favor peacetime training for everyone there will be a constant threat of legislation...
...We must redouble, not relax, our efforts...
...93 Harrisburg, Pa...
...Barnes, comfortably installed in safe America, I shared the lot of the French people practically through two wars...
...Pass The Progressive Along It's American, Alert, Accurate For The Murray Bill Dear Sirs: I like The Progressive and don't want to miss a single copy...
...Millions of persons seem to have anywhere from a hundred to millions of dollars available...
...Why should they not invest it in such a corporation since the Government has become a major stockholder...
...So we'll go, for God knows how long, into the Army of Occupation...
...8, 1941, establishing the men responsible for the Pearl Harbor attack be accepted or rejected...
...now they haven't any sympathy even with the old democratic forces and would like to see-all Germans starved and annihilated...
...It has been surprising that those to whom this land has only recently given asylum, as Thomas Mann, Emil Ludwig, etc., have left in them nothing of the "milk of human kindness...
...And the fight on our hands will not be an easy fight...
...Meanwhile the proposal to continue the drafting of men for two-year periods of service is attainment of peacetime conscription in effect even without legislation...
...However, I happen to have lived the greater part of my life in Paris, where, contrary to Mr...
...That which appeals to all humanity, above everything else, whether we admit it or not, is bread and butter...
...or driven into slavery by his hero, Petain...
...Eventually, every employee should be urged to become a stockholder...
...Mrs...
...Why are these men, who should know the German people well, so bitter and so undemocratic...
...Everybody in the United States should have a right to become a stockholder and pay for his shares either with money or any goods or property the corporation could use...
...And as long as the latter continues and influences our attitude toward other peoples, there is danger of resumption of the firing, from which no people can hope for escape from atomic bombs carried with lightning speed to any part of the world...
...Barnes' position that I asked the editor of one of the leading liberal weeklies to express herself on Mr...
...Certainly if the people in Russia and satellite nations prefer and vote for communism and dictatorship, that is their right...
...Isn't it possible for the general public to learn these facts...
...These gentlemen hold the people to account because they voted for the Nazis and the latter became the majority in the Reichstag...
...A doctor or nurse who mistakenly poisons a patient is inexcusable, and liable to punishment...
...The War'Department has appointed a six-man committee under Gen...
...True, Russians are fed, clothed, and housed better now than under the Czars, but Hitler also did as much for his people...
...I know from experience that millions were not Nazis and did not approve what the Jew had to suffer...
...Charity condones no crime committed by Nazi and Nipponese war lords against humanity, nor the complicity with these criminals by power-loving money lords, which made possible the power the war lords possessed to threaten the world with their rule...
...Monetary reform and a Federal old age retirement pension for all citizens as an inducement to retire from further gainful pursuits, thus cutting down competition for the other fellow's job...
...Generally speaking, I think you have a fine staff of writers...
...I was so startled by Mr...
...You show your fairness in printing some of those letters which are so critical of your paper and things for which you stand, but I cannot understand the working of some peoples' minds...
...In spite of all we may do, the work of Russia will prevail...
...And if all really is well with the peoples within Russia and the tak-en-over states, why, then, the heavy censorship, secrecy, and difficulty - of Americans and British (Allies) to get permission to travel in those . countries...
...But it is only because we are driven like slaves, with as little freedom of choice over our destiny as slaves, that we are going...
...None—or nearly none—of us liked the Army...
...The fact that we were unlawfully in the war long before the Pearl Harbor attack seems strongly to support the charges in the record...
...Notwithstanding its shortcomings — and there are some—it did undeniably make this one universally needed and desired contribution to mankind...
...One is the most erudite man (and artist) it has been my privilege to encounter...
...As a subscriber, may I suggest, as a gesture for better journalism, you increase the week vacation to six months twice a year...
...I recommend that every one read the article referred to and join the Society...
...I guess we cannot do anything about it...
...I am sending him Mr...
...Two such letters which I sent to The Progressive—although it professed-, ly prints all contributions by subscribers—have met with the same fate...
...I furiously resent his insinuation of "De Gaulle" (he does not mention him by name, of course, wisely) sitting in a luxurious London hotel, or in a New York City penthouse criticizing the Marshal for not spitting in Hitler's face etc...
...Of course, we want the freedoms...
...And it is Russia, the first of great nations in all the history of the world, which successfully did this one thing which all men have waited for: it made available to all its people its material wealth...
...The means of making a living is mighty essential for a stabilized economy in this era of atomic bombs and machine production...
...It may seem odd for me to quote scripture in defense of Sovietism,* yet truth is truth in every area...
...When Mr...
...No, Dr...
...they rose to their height and to their fame during the period of democratic Germany...
...He was one of 137 who survived Buchenwald...
...The case is clear, and thank God, the real French, the "common people," have seen it so, and given the fairest verdict...
...Barnes' article, with this, by air-mail to France, with the hope that he will consent to answer it far better than I. It is not enough "that Petain was sincere" in his error which caused untold horrors and misery...
...by Morris Bf...
...I have submitted the following to the Forum Moderators in Chicago, Washington, and New York: "Has the nation four leading people who are fearless to exercise their duty to democracy and debate the following question: Shall the official record, in the Congressional Record of Dec...
...After better than three years in the Army, I have no illusions left regarding the Army...
...Barnes on Marshal Petain...
...C. C. Price Mt...
...Hankins' article criticizing the idea of non-fraternization has been realized in its abandonment, and let us hope that his other suggestions will soon be adopted and help be extended to the helpless...
...Men are not satisfied to be merely "contented cows...
...And to charity, imperialism under any other name is a denial of the promise of a world of united nations...
...Barnes, not being affected by these...
...Charity condemns imperialism...
...Jeannette Rankin, in Congress, should have been decided in a joint session of the two houses Dec...
...Wars have shown us that...
...existence we've experienced iri the past—against blundering stupidity, against actual crookedness, plain as day before our eyes, and against -which we could do nothing...
...All dictatorships must of necessity be cruel and ruthless...
...Hankins as well as others of your contributors who are connected with the institutions of learning, are to be congratulated on their realistic, sincere and undeviating philosophy of humanity for mankind as a whole...
...Barnes and Rubin in their discussion and I think, all other article writers in The Progressive, fail to mention this all important fact about Russia...
...J. S. Keller Winona, Kan...
...If the owner of a private enterprise desires to quit, then instead of advertising for a buyer, he could sell his business to the corporation, provided he will accept stock in payment...
...No truer words were ever spoken than of Gamaliel in reference to the first Christians: "If this work be of men it will come to naught...
...27 issue, in this heat...
...The articles, "What Is The Matter With America...
...Petersburg, Fla...
...Sot...
...they, the people, must have hoped for a little more from life in doing so, especially work...
...And now—we are scheduled for the Army of Occupation...
...They crave independence, freedom...
...When that "error" (the word is far too good and mild) involves not one's own person, but the destiny of millions, then the trial and verdict of Petain were fair, indeed...
...Today he languishes in a British jail for his efforts...
...The only ultimate answer to this problem is a long-range educational program which for the next period must be quite intensive...
...It makes one's blood boil...
...These gentlemen made use, to the limit of their ability, of every advantage which imperial Germany -had to offer and they were many...
...I cannot understand how anyone can disagree with the ideas expressed in them unless they have some political axe to grind...
...but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it...
...I enjoy all of the articles except some of the letters in the People's Forum...
...I especially liked Stuart Chase's article in The Progressive of Aug...
...Various polls reflect both opposition and support...
...The charges in the Congressional Record by Hon...
...20 issue to The Progressive's "bitter anti-Soviet attitude" has been occasioned by your frank statements concerning Russia...
...Surely aggression, concentration-camp atrocities (read David Dal-lin's book), spying and terrorism, lack of freedoms, and slave labor constitute the very same evils whether perpetrated in Germany or in Russia...
...Nbne of us liked it...
...Therese H. Koscherak New York, N. Y. Petain: Another View Dear Sirs: In two recent issues of The Progressive, Mr...
...Whatever properties the Government may now have, such as war plants, vacant lands, etc., might be transferred to the corporation, in exchange for shares of stock...
...One can juggle with history as one can with statistics, and make them say what one wishes them to say...
...Frank A. Slowm New York, N. Y. * * * Two Omissions Dear Sirs: In your 10-point program for reconditioned America in the Aug...
...If a ruling had been made 40 years ago that a tree should be planted for everyone cut down, we would not be faced as we are today with the lumber shortage and all the consequences that follow the destruction of our forests...
...His are the only articles I have read in favor of the Marshal...
...Resents Redeployment Dear Sirs: I am one of many overseas service men on redeployment...
...E. Waller Paterson, N. J. * * # The Kent Case Dear Sirs: Tyler Kent, a humble coding clerk, tried to be a loyal American by divulging what he felt to be a conspiracy to bring America into the war...
...Clear Up Pearl Harbor Dear Sirs: Since Dec...
...And charity recognizes that the truth, and nothing but the truth about the responsibility of each nation, can make us free from war and the want it leaves in its wake...
...War Isn't Over Dear Sirs: The war is not over...
...Saving Our Wilderness Dear Sirs: I read with much interest the article by Richard L. Neuberger in The Progressive of Aug...
Vol. 9 • September 1945 • No. 38
