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| n. • WORID COMMUNISM Communist activities in the conquering and liberated nations are too well known to need extended comment. Thus, in France the Communist Party of Thorez and Buclos is the ' strongest and the best organized party in the'land. Should the socialists accept their proffer of a * united front, France is in all likelihood doomed to Communist control. In Belgium, Communists are strong and vocal. In the Netherlands, their membership approaches 100,000 and their paper has a circulation of 500,000, Since these movements are well established, there is no need of supporting American fronts. Communism in England is somewhat similar to the movements in the United States, Canada, and Australia* The danger is not that it will take over control, but that it may mislead public opinion into agitating for unsound government foreign policies. Paradoxically, the advent of the Labor Party to power was a blow to Communism, since it showed the feasi- bility of a middle path between extreme left and extreme right. Sig- nificantly, it proved a tonic to Continental Socialist Parties, who began to reconsider proposals for a United front with the Communists, Indeed, Professor Laski, so often denounced as a Communist,-was a leader in the move to split Socialists away from the Communists, and was accordingly roundly denounced by Moscow, Lashiis ideology is often close to that of^ communism, but he has no connections with any Communist organization. This is a distinction of importance, since the real menace of the Communist movement lies in its disciplined organization. Thus, a liberal fellow-traveler who can be counted upon to follow the lead of the Communist apparatus may often be more dangerous than persons with much more radical views (such as Trotskyite and Lovestonite Communists) who do not serve any powerful organization. Accordingly, the sum of Enclish trends is that England and the, Empire may be counted as barriers against Soviet imperialism, whether or not their motives in doin^ so are com- pletely altruistic. In Scandanavia, the proximity of Russia is having its effect in Finland and Norway. Finland has for all practical purposes a Communist government, while Norway is feeling the pressure, Sweden likewise has been the subject of severe Soviet pressure, \7hile Denmark has lost the island of Bornholm to Soviet troops. Spain and Portugal have been subjected to considerable Communist agitation, largely from outside their countries. The program is to influence the major powers to apply such economic and diplomatic pressure that the governments of Franco, and eventually of Salazar, will fall. France, Mexico, and the United States appear to be the principal focal centers of anti-Falangist agitation. The immediate Communist concern in the United States is to get Franco out,'hoping in the meantime to get in a Communist regime, possibly under Hegrin. They are opposed to the'non- Communist Spanish Committee of Liberation, now centered in Mexico, but seem determined to concentrate upon one fight at a time. It is interest- ing to note that the Mexican group, representing the Cortez, have sent feelers through Del Los Rios and Del Prieto to Church circles, intimating that the revolution would be peaceful and respectful of religion. In the United States, the principal front organizations for Spain are the Veterans of the'Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American Committee for Spanish Freedom, the Joint Antifascist Refugee Committee, and the Spanish |