THE PROBLEM OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM IN 1945
Facts and Recommendations
Rev. John P. Cronin, S .S .
A Confidential Study for Private Circulation

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THE PROBLEM OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM IN 1945
Facts and Recommendations
Rev. John P. Cronin, S .S .
A Confidential Study for Private Circulation

cronin_john-0027
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19. AMERICAN COMMUNISM relatives, and other persons under strong and direct influence by the memb«» ers, and by sympathizers and dupes who can be substantially controlled• The writer believes that it is a fallacy to judge Communist strength primarily in terms of membership* A high percentage of Communists are leaders* Even those who lack leadership caliber are often well-trained and capably led* ' They devote most of their time and energy to the work. In the social field, they, cannot reasonably be compared with the thirty million Catholics in this country* A more reasonable comparison would be with the number of Catholic priests and laymen who have a comparable interest in social problems, and who devote approximately the same percentage of time as that demanded 'of Communists. V:e might also compare Catholic publications devoted primarily to social questions with the incomplete list of Communist publications in Appendix I* Indoctrination of Members* Each recruit to the Communist Party is supposed to master the wsciencewof Marxism. For this purpose, the Party has schools, discussion clubs, and the like* In these schools, members are ' taught not only Marxism, but also history, economics, the labor movement, and current events, all from a Communist viewpoint. They learn parliamentary law and tactics for organization and agitation. At times they have been trained in military science* In addition to this basic training, members are supposed to subscribe to the Daily '.'orker and the Worker (Sunday)* Since the circulation of these papers is close to 22,000 and 80,000 respectively, it is clear that not all Communists are faithful readers. The circulation figures for Political Affairs (formerly The Communist), the theoretical organ of Communism, are still lower(8,OOoTTThe New^Masses stresses the cultural viewpoint, and Science and Society the intellectual. Most Communist publica- tions run an annual deficit, as will be noted in Appendix I* These deficits are made up by fund drives, and occasionally by Party "angels.w The select few agitators who work with the Comintern will get the authentic Party Line through the Agitators* Notebook, printed in Russian but circulated and translated abroad. In addition to the strictly closed Party schools, there are general schools open to the public, but completely controlled by the Party. Among the more prominent of these is the Jefferson School, in New York City. The staff is heavily peopled with Communists, and the courses follow the Line. A Jewish branch, the School of Jewish Studies, opens on Oct. 22, 1945. In Chicago, the school is the Abraham Lincoln School (formerly the Horkers* School) equally well penetrated with Communist personnel* Newark, N. J. has the New Jersey Labor School, under Doxey Wilkerson, a well-known and able Kegro Communist. In Philadelphia, the title is the Philadelphia School of Social Science and Art. Los Angeles boasts of a People's Educational Center, while the San Francisco counterpart is the California Labor School, which is the first Communist-controlled school to be accredited for returning veterans. Boston is to be educated in democracy through the Samuel Adams School, Each of these schools attempts to sponsor a summer school and a camp. As far as possible, they attempt to enroll local labor unions as sponsors and to secure members of these unions as students* Four': new schools are planned for Pittsburg, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Seattle. On the whole, the Communists seem well satisfied with these schools as infiltration and front organs, as well as sources of additional training for their own members. A brief summary of the school program is found in Lettergrams 167-171, issued by the National Republic, Washington, D.C* The \vriter would caution extreme care in the use