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| 53. CQMMONISi: AND THE HT3UC justice towards oppressed minorities. The penetration of this liberal group by Communists would naturally cause conflicts and difficulties. It has been charged that their Catholic friends tend to minimize or overlook such infiltration. It is even asserted that Catholics themselves occasionally join front organizations at the behest of liberal members. Finally, it is charged that Catholics under such influences do not appreciate fully the dangers of Communism. The outstanding proponent of this opinion in recant years has been Mr. Patrick Scanlan, managing editor of the .Brooklyn Tablet. In the concrete, the problem is not so simple as it appears in print. To this writer, it is quite easy to understand why Catholics interested in social reform should be cautious in accepting charges of Communism. Possibly this attitude is subconscious justification of his own past opinions. Yet in October 1945, the Gannett group is circularizing the clergy with pamphlets which leave the impression that the Full Employment Bill is a Communist plot. Reactionaries of this type have consistently charged that measures of social reform -— many of them could have been taken verbatim from papal encyclicals — were Communist * Laws passed since 1933, most of which were accepted by the Republican platform of 1944, were labeled as Soviets-inspired. Not only were programs impugned, but individuals were slandered recklessly* The loose tactics of the Dies Committee led to the maligning of many liberals who were not only not Communist, but who were strongly opposed to Communism and hated by Communists (Norman Thomas, David Dubinsky, A. Philip Randolf). Many groups were using the anti-Communist fight as a thin disguise for anti- Semitism* The result of all this was a very natural tendency on the part of many- Catholics, this writer included, to discount the "Communist scare" as exaggerated and inaccurate. Extremes tend to beget extremes, and loose charges of Communism breed loose denials of Communism. 9 The facts presented in this Report would indicate that both extremes are wrong. The problem of Communism here is more serious in its full implica- tions than many of us have been willing to admit. But inaccurate statements of the problem would serve only to continue the confusion, and permit Communists to work unmolested. Communists have been successful in using the liberal group, not only because of their broadmindedness and anxiety for justice, but also because false charges against themselves and their fellows confirmed their opinions that anti-Communism was but a disguise for reaction and oppression. Communists inveigle liberals into front organizations by appealing to all the points noted above. With some, it is an expression t5f broadminded- ness to belong to organizations favoring the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.H. is presented to them as a land of complete" equality, where social justice prevails, and where oppression of various types has been eradicated. The well-wo^n contrast between the "tyranny" of the Tsars and the revolution of the downtrodden proletariat is used to the full. Above all, the liberal imagination is fired by the prospect of a land which will prove that poverty and economic injustice are unnecessary. Opponents of the Soviets are slander- ed as narrow-minded clericals and capitalist reactionaries. The picture of the Soviet Union is made particularly'appealing to minorities subject to dis- crimination, such as the foreign-born, the Jew, and the Negro. From all this springs a good will towards the Soviet, and a corresponding tolerance towards their American representatives, the American Communist Party. |