What is Russian communism?

Title

Creator

Forrest, M. D.

Language

English

Year

1953

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Tenth installment.

Fulltext

by Rev. M. D. Forrest, M.S.C. 9tUiallme*d CANDID ADMISSION // "S EFORE the House Investigat1/ J ing Committee, in 1930, William Z. Foster, twice the candidate of the Communist party for President of the U.S.A., gave the following testimony. I take only those answers which refer to the present matter. The testimony has been officially recorded and is also given by Mr. Hamilton Fish, who was chairman of the Committee, in his book, The Challenge of World Communism (pp. 157-159). Chairman: Can you tell us more definitely if the principles of the Communist party, as advocated in this country or anywhere else, are the same? Mr. Foster: Yes. Chairman: Do the Communists in this country advocate world re volution? Mr. Foster: Yes, the Communists in this country realize that America is connected up with the whole world system, and the capitalist system displays the same charac teristics everywhere — it makes for the misery and exploitation of the workers — and it must be abolished, not only on an American scale but on a world scale. (Writer's note: It would be in teresting to know exactly, or, rather, to get Communists to tell us exactly what they mean by the "capitalist system." Why, for them any land owner, shop-keeper, or banker is a capitalist, as Mr. Bebrits, a Com munist editor, admitted in his testi mony. And Foster should well know that, if there is one system that most signally “makes for the misery and exploitation of the workers" and re duces them to the condition of helpless slaves, that system is as suredly the putrid system that pre vails in the U.S.S.R.) Chairman: They (the Commu nists) are opposed to our republican form of government? Mr. Foster: Most assuredly. Chairman: That is, what you ad vocate is a change of our republi can form of government and the substituting of the Soviet form of government? Mr. Foster: I have stated that a number of times. Chairman: Now, if I understand you, the workers in this country look upon the Soviet Union as their country; is that right? Mr. Foster: The more advanced workers do. Chairman: Look upon the Soviet Union as their country? Mr. Foster: Yes. (Writer's note: Why not ship them off to “their country" and let them get a taste of the appalling tyranny and slavery that prevails there? In three months they would be begging Uncle Sam to bring them back to the land of the free!) Chairman: They look upon the Soviet flag as their flag? Mr. Foster: The workers of this country and the workers of every country have only one flag and that is the Red flag. That is the flag of the proletarian revolution; it was also, incidentally, the flag of the American Revolution in its earlier stages. The Red flag has been the flag of revolution for many years before the Russian revolution. (Writer's note: Mr. Foster should revise his notion about flags. There was a variety of flags in America prior to the Revolution; the evolu tion of the present U.S.A, flag is a very interesting study. New Eng land had a red flag with a white square in the left top corner while it was peacefully living in union with Old England. Whatever signi ficance can be attached to the few red flags — I know of none which was completely red-adopted in cer tain territories, certainly nothing approaching the abominable mean ing of the Soviet flag was signified by any of them. And to imply any identity or even true analogy of signification between any one of them and the Red flag to which Foster professes allegiance is about as sensible as to state that priests who hold their hands outstretched in an ordination are giving the Fas cist or Nazi salute!) Chairman: Well, the workers of this country consider, then, the So viet government to be their country. Do they also consider the Red flag to be their flag? Mr. Foster: I have answered quite clearly. Chairman: Do you owe alle giance to the American flag? Does the Communist party own allegiance to the American flag? Mr. Foster: The workers, the re volutionary workers, in all the ca pitalist countries are an oppressed class who are held in subjection by their respective capitalist govern ments is the abolition of these go vernments and the establishment of Soviet governments. Chairman: (after proposing three more questions): I do not want to (Continued on page 2i) SUMMER, 1953 Page 11 The Necessity of Teaching • • • (Continued from page 14) able to keep religion separated from education. The opponents of the suggestion for the compulsory instruction of religion in the public schools advance the theory that this would result in chaos and tur moil. They say that the group in the' majority would force their will on the minority. They aver that if a Catholic public school teacher is assigned to teach religion as an ad ditional subject, it will make him feel prejudiced to the pupils in his class who might be Protestants. However, the writer believes that there is no difficulty of teaching religion in the school even if the students belong to different religious sects. The objection of prejudice is only theoretical and does not act What is Rnssian Communism? force you to answer if it embarras ses you, Mr. Foster. Mr. Foster: It does not embarrass me at all. I stated very clearly the Red flag is the flag of the revolu tionary class, and we are part of the revolutionary class. Chairman: I understood that. Mr. Foster: And all capitalist flags are flags of the capitalist class, and we owe no allegiance to them. (Writer's note: This last answer means plainly that Communists in the U.S.A, claim to owe no alle giance to the Stars and Stripes, and profess allegiance only to the flag of the proletarian revolution, which is guided, controlled, and ordered from Moscow. In other words, Fos ter's admission means that Commu nists throughout the world own no allegiance to the lawfully elected government of their respective coun tries, but, on the contrary, profess unswerving allegiance and blind obedience to Soviet Russia!) USING FREEDOM TO CRUSH FREEDOM Here in free America, as in other free countries, we find a contempt ible organization, the Communist Party, taking advantage of dem ocracy to overthrow democracy; using freedom of speech to exter minate freedom of speech; availing themselves of freedom of assembly to eliminate freedom of assembly. Just suppose that in Soviet Russia a party attempted to organize in order to introduce the American form of government and destroy the Soviet system! We cannot make ually exist. Let us say a Catholic teacher teaches English only, and he does not feel any prejudice to wards his Protestant student. If this teacher is assigned to teach religion, will it necessarily mean that he will feel prejudiced towards the Pro testant students? Will the assign ing of religion as an additional sub ject for him to teach change his at titude of non-prejudice and fairness towards his Protestant students? The answer is "No." Hence, the objec tion of prejudice is only in theory. With all the foregoing argu ments, we can, therefore, say that if the aim of education is not to produce children and youth who are merely well-informed and skilled but without moral and reli (Continued from page 11) everyone who is conversant with the Soviet system knows well that no such attempt would be tolerated, and that even those who, without aiming at the overthrow of the So viet government, merely strove to introduce a truly democratic system of voting would be promptly liqui dated. No papers could possibly be published advocating any but the despotic Soviet system; no meet ings could be convened to launch a democratic system; no speeches could be delivered to advocate free elections. To suppose such an in vestigation in the U.S.S.R. as I have been describing, which was a reality in the U.S.A., and to ima gine in addition that, as in the ad vocated another form of government was allowed to pursue his way and continue his propaganda, would be to suppose or imagine an impos sibility. Yet here in our midst, in "the land of the free and the home of the brave," here in a country that is known throughout the world for its democracy and liberty; here in a land where workmen have singu lar advantages and effective means of redressing any grievances; here in a Republic where flourish freedom of religion, freedom of speech, free dom of assembly, freedom of voting for whom one wishes, freedom to express one's opinion and to cri ticize the government and even the President, we find despicable trait ors who, while refusing to give alle giance to the flag of their homeland which guarantees such freedom, pledge their complete loyalty to a gious; if the aim of education is to produce citizens of deep and in telligent convictions; if in this age of materialism, in this period of human life when the struggle for human existence seems to be the only goal towards which humanity's efforts are directed to attain its hap piness, all other considerations, particularly those of spiritual value, are ignored and forgotten; if we are to prevent the tide of communism from engulfing us; if we are to maintain rightfully our place as the "only Christian country in the Orient;" then, religion must be given a paramount place in our national life, and the teaching of it must be made necessary, better still com pulsory, in our schools. horrible alien power and use (or, rather, abuse) the very freedom of their homeland in order to crush out the vestige of that freedom and establish in its place the Soviet system, which has emerged from the bowels of hell and strives with diabolical ingenuity and infernal power to pollute the entire world. America is very tolerant; but there is such a thing as being too tolerant when it comes to the ques tion of dealing with the worst kind of criminals. Freedom must not be allowed to grow into unbridled license. As the gangster and the murderer are checked by drastic laws, or at least severely punished by the State, so also those who are disseminating the worst kind of dis loyalty to the State, the most terri ble form of treachery to their coun try, and the most awful species of enmity to society, and who are actively striving to attain their in iquitous ends under the aegis of an alien government, should be effect ively checked and, if they stride to persist, put where they can no longer exercise their baneful in fluence. By all means let them, if they so desire, migrate to their be loved U.S.S.R. — and remain there "for the term of their natural lives." A mother gives her children whatever freedom is advisable; but we cannot imagine any sane mother allowing a wayward child to take from a shelf his father's razor when she knows that the child's intention and avowed purpose is to slash her own throat at the very first oppor tunity! Page 24 THE CAROLINIAN

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