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sense of assurance. One young Communist even went so
far as to write an article entitled "My Father Is a Liar" in
the New Masses some years ago. In 1940 a group^if young
Communists booed President Roosevelt on the White
House lawn, the first time in our history that such a disrespectful act was committed against an American President. Unfortunately our school system has not fully
equipped our young men and women to see through
Communist sophistry and trickery.
The Communist movement offers attractive bait to those
who crave companionship and excitement. It offers relief
from boredom. One issue of the Daily Worker, for example, in its "What's On?" column invited its readers to —
Films, discussion, dance
Folk dancing
Welcome home party for
Mike Gold
Vote Your Own Film Club
Saturday Night Film Club
Negro-White Unity
Cultural Festival
Artists ball
People's drama theater
Spring frolic-
Maritime shindig
Jefferson theater workshop
May Day workshop dance
Soviet film
Pre-May Day social
Balalaika Symphonic Orchestra
concert
One hour of social theater
Chinese cultural cabaret
Once an individual enters the Communist Party, he
separates himself psychologically from life outside the
Party, from his former social contacts, his family, and his
business associates. He lives in a world which is hermetically sealed off from the outside by a more and more
impenetrable iron curtain of continuous indoctrination to
which he has become addicted to the exclusion of all
other outside sources of information and thought. He relies
upon Party literature, schools, and spokesmen for his
views and information. He attends pro-Communist plays.
If he attends a concert or a social function, it is one given
as a benefit for the Daily Worker or some other Communist cause. It is a satisfying experience for certain types
of people. In this closed circle the Communist hears the
same Communist cliches reiterated over and over again
with never a doubting word. It is like listening to familiar
music. He meets the same or similar people wherever he
goes, all moving in the same Communist rut. Here he can
be sure of approbation and sympathy, since he is always
among his ideological kinfolk. He is never isolated.
Added to all this is the excitement of picket lines,
strikes, mass meetings, parades, demonstrations, tiffs with
the police, and arrests. An active Communist will sometimes attend several meetings a day. In other words, there
is not a dull moment.
There is no doubt that the Communist network holds
an attraction for adventurous spirits who thrive on the
conspiratorial atmosphere within the Party, the secret
meetings, the resort to aliases, the paraphernalia of illegality and opposition to constituted authority.
Those who have a tendency to rebel against tradition
and convention — the Bohemians and the nonconformists
of all stripes —are naturally attracted to the Communist
movement. By its repudiation of so-called capitalist ethics
and moral standards, the Party provides a welcome philosophical sanction for the lunatic fringe. According to
Communist theory the family, as we know it, is an institution designed to protect and extend property rights,
which are anathema to the Beds. By branding our government as capitalistic, Communist philosophy justifies any
breach or defiance of governmental authority.
There are timid souls, persons with a distinct inferiority
complex, who are inspired to boldness when they become
part of an aggressive group. The wolf who is a coward
Page 44
Earl Browder (right!. Communist presidential candidate, 1936, crosses
hammer and sickle held by Charles Krumbein, stole secretary of the poni'
as they stood before a crowd that jammed Madison Square Garden for "*
final rally of the campaign.
singly becomes a scourge as part of a pack. Psychologic
refer to these people aptly as ambitious cowards. A Com
munist writer, who is himself a temperamental cowart
will find considerable delight and satisfaction in writi*
in the columns of the (Communist) Daily Worker $
sounding and defiant tirades against the monopolists ■
those in high places in the government.
The Party is, in a sense, a vehicle for anyone with "
ax to grind, for anyone who has become embittered eitBl
by some unfortunate personal or emotional experience,
victim of some serious physical ailment or handicap. ;
second-rate artist, a lawyer without clients, a doctor wit*
out patients, a writer without an outlet, or a pread1'
without a parish, whose personal ego is soothed by *B
thought that it is all the fault of the capitalist system. _•*
finds in the Party an instrument to vent his spleen ag»|
the imagined source of injury, as well as a recept'
audience.
It is often asked why a Communist who is most vi'"'
ment before an agency of the American government
defense of civil rights, will meekly submit without del'1!,
or protest to the slightest whim of a Soviet dictator or
Communist Party, USA, even though it may mean a C
plete repudiation of his most sacred principles. Thus |
Communist who had for years denounced Nazism an1'
its works, reconciled himself overnight to the Stalin-H1 |
Pact, and for him Nazism became merely a "matte1
taste." Similarly those who fumed against capitalism ""J
Wall Street became willing to shake the hand of J- J
Morgan as soon as Earl Browder, then general secrwB
of the Communist Party, gave such Party heresy his WJ
ing during the period when Russia was desperately se^
ing a united front against Nazi Germany.
In certain liberal circles there i.s an illusion that
Communist movement is the very epitome of demod
It is therefore worthwhile to present at this p<>>'..
description ol inner Party democracy in the highest e' I
Ions of the Party by William Z. Foster, its chairina"; 1
Political Affairs for September, 1945. Although the i1'-"1
Facts Fohum News, May, J
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