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| 28. AMERICAN CQULDNISU At the present moment, the Communists are making strong efforts to . win over the Jewish community. The latest formulation of the Line is found in Political Affairs for October, 1945. The article by Alexander Bittleman stresses the fact that "progressive Jewish trade unionists must become the actual leaders of these mass struggles and a leading factor in the anti- fascist and progressive unity movements of the American Jews." They will now support Zionism, (pp, 930-931). One of the main agencies for infiltra- tion was the Jewish People's Committee (for United Action Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism),- a group formed in 1936 when the American Jewish Congress and and the "world Jewish Congress refused to admit Communist organizations. However, the resolutions adopted in the 1945 New York State Communist Convention bracket the Congress with the I. I". 0. as "democratic** organiza- tions. Also recommended to Party members was the newly formed "Jewish School for Jewish Studies1*, which is thoroughly staffed with Communists and Party Liners. At the moment, the Party is striving to capture the delega- tion of 100 Polish Jews, to be sent to Poland for a survey, under the auspices of the American Federation of Polish Jews, The chief co-ordinator for Jewish Communist activity is Mary Himoff, who works particularly among "mass organizations," According to a reliable and well-informed Jewish source, she recently stated "There are thousands of Jewish organizations in the United States with hundreds of thousands of members. We Communists are trying to organize all of them into giant mass organizations, which we will eventually control, and many of which we are presently directing." She also stated that the Jewish people are "definite- ly swinging towards the left and becoming friendlier to the Soviet Union and to the Soviet Government." Among; the mass organizations indicated is the American Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists, and Scientists, which is one of the important front organizations for the Jewish Community. Another cultural wing is the Committee of the Ikuf, which publishes Jewish Culture, and is organizing a book club as a means of spreading Communist literature. For mass appeal, the Morning Freiheit Association was formed on September 30, 1944. The Morning Freiheit is an important Yiddish Communist paper. One of its editors is Abraham Chapman, whose brother Emmanuel is a well- knevm Catholic professor^ (See Appendix I) Icor is another Jewish cultural front. The main attraction the Communists offer to the Jewish people is the argument that Communism stands for complete euuality of races, religions, and -cultures. They portray the Soviet Union as the ideal state where complete cultural autonomy exists. So bitter is the average Jew against discrimination, that he tends to accept uncritically any group which claims to work against it. It would be interesting if authentic information could be given such groups about existing Antisemitism in Russia, Millions of Jews have been sent to the bleak Asiatic state of Birobidjan. Pogroms against Jewish refugees or returning Jews are commonplace in Soviet Ukraine, Poland, Rumania, and Bulgaria. (Cf. Solomon M, Schwartz, "Antisemitism in Russia," Common Sense, August 1945), Displaced persons being repatriated to Poland are fleeing back in terror. (New York Times, Oct. 7, 1945). American Jews forget that when they were agitating against the Nazis during the early years of the War, the U.S.S.R. had a friendship pact with Hitler. During the great pogroms in Palestine in 1929, American Communists, in accord with the Soviet Line, supported the "Revolutionary program" of the Arabs. Even the Freiheit printed articles and cartoons against the Palestinian Jews. Such is the sincerity of Communist interest in the Jews, |