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| 6. WORLD COMMUNISM underground sources, but the silence of most of the American press per- mitted the Communist propaganda machine to work virtually unhindered. Recently correspondents hafre been permitted into Eastern Europe, but all dispatches are censored through Moscow. The return in October 1945 of the Congressional Committee touring Europe has also cast light upon the new Dark Continent* Fuirure developments might be watched in the light of the technique used by the Communists* Where the Red Army had not penetrated, domestic Communists have conspired for power, Israel Amter notes in the speech quoted earliert "Another point which adds strength to this movement is the creation of new labor and political parties under the leadership of Communists... Vre organized new parties in agreement with Socialists and many other political groups of labor. Thus, we enlarged many fold the membership of our new political group- ing. Our leadership and our membership within the newly organized parties everywhere remained a concentrated unit and, in this way, we are always in a position to lead any political party in desired directions.w Thus, we see a program of encirclement and agression fully as ambit- ious as that envisioned by the Axis. If the United States was sufficiently concerned over the injustice and tyranny of Hitler to risk war in aiding England, it is difficult to be indifferent to similar programs by the U.S.S.R, Statement of these facts is not war mongering* And in the llsjht of these facts, it is hardly alarmism to classify the American Communist Party and its brood of fronts as a potential fifth column. The Baltic States and Poland* In proceeding to a detailed study of Soviet imperialism, we note two recurring points. First there is the control or infiltration of the nation concerned* Secondly, there is a pro- paganda campaign within the United States to justify the existing situation. In this propaganda field, yeoman work is done by the controlled foreign language press and press services in the United States* A brief outline of this technique is given in Appendix I* Again, the normal pattern is to organize front groups for the joint purpose of influencing American im- migrants or descendants of nationals of the country concerned, and also the general public and the povernment. Most of these front groups will be noted in this chapter, and some will be listed at greater length in Appendix III* The best brief treatment of the Baltic states is found in a special supplement to the New Leader, April 14, 1945* More detailed bibliographies • can be obtained from the Lithuanian American Information Center, 233 Broadway, New York 7. The Baltic states were conquered by Russia in 1710 and 1795, but they never lost their desire for independence. They tried to achieve this freedom in 1917, but were repressed by the Bolsheviks* After military resistence, they achieved independence in the Treaty of Riga in 1921, This was lost in 1940, when Soviet troops established puppet governments, later confirmed by "free11 elections. TJith extraordinary prescience, the Soviet news agency in London announced the results in percentage terms (99.2, 97.6, and 92,9$) twenty-four hours before the polls closed. This vote was later interpreted as a plebiscite incorporating these nations into the Soviet Union* Thus Lutheran Estonia and Latvia and Catholic Lithuania were engulf- ed by atheistic communism. Soviet rule has been extraordinarily harsh* Thousands have been executed. Hundreds of thousands were deported into Russian labor camps working fourteen hours a day and receiving a diet of soup |