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| 56. COMHJNISM AND THE HJBUC A potentially dangerous publication is the Communist version of Readers* Digest,going by the name of Readers« .^fr^ It is subsidized by Charles Chaplin, pro-Communist actor, and has enticed noted Americans, including one very prominent Catholic, into issuing statements for it to publish. Its editor, Everett Gleason, contributes heavily to Communist front causes. Most •f its propaganda is done through a central news digest, patterned along the line of the famous Washington letters for businessmen. Material for this section is prepared by the Communist Labor Research group. On the other side of the picture, Communists are conducting a virulent campaign against Readers * Digest, because it has printed articles unfavorable to the Soviet Union* \In staid Virginia, the Reasoner noted that students at Union Theological Seminary have discontinued their subscriptions to the Digest, after the expose in In Fact. It is interesting to note that divinity students are reading la Jfact (see Appendix I), which is one of the more vicious Communist publica- tions because of its wide circulation among liberals and trade unionists. This writer, after experimenting with subscriptions to Communist publications under various names, found that In Fact lent its mailing lists to frant guoups • far more frequently than did the professed Communist publications. Authors and Triters* It would be impossible in the space available to do adequate justice to the Communist infiltration of the writing field. The excellent chapters in Eugene Lyons, The Red Decade, are not dated after four years. They should be read for adequate documantation of this incredible situation. The"Cocktail front" and the "typewriter front" are so widespread in their ramification as to defy brief analysis. Furthermore, work in this field is to be intensified by the Independent Citizens' Committee for the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, which is being built up as the number one front for cultural and propaganda work. This may replace the older fronts, such as the various Writersf • Congress, League of American Writers, and the like. Its relationship to Hollywood Writers' Mobilization and similar groups has not yet become clear (see Appendix III). The Communist tuchnique with writers pppears to be threefold. In the first place, genuine liberals are attracted by the* devices acted earlier. The others are won over by the "club and carrot technique". The carrot approach, a second method, is to give favorable publicity and organized support to any writer who is willing to follow the Party Line. The club method, a third technique, is to smear those who disagree* One of the more recent examples is the "ganging up" on "White's book on Russia. While White did not spend enough time in Russia to write a scholarly report, nevertheless he spent just as much time as other writers who came out singing glowing praises of the Soviet experiment. But their books were extolled, while his was dragged in the mire. Liberals who profess devotion to free speech and abhor censorship fcut pressure on the publishers to withdraw the book. Such tactics are often successful. Few publishers are in the book business for philanthropic motives, and accord- Aggly dislike public meetings, circular letters, and the like denouncing their publications. To head off such difficulties, they may even hire "advisers" for their editorial staff. Communists in such koy positions can kill or play down unsuitable books and push those considered satisfactory. Thus Edgar Snow's The Pattern of Soviet Power or Andrew Roth's Dilemma in Japan, can be sure of excellent publicity and fine reviews, while Dallin, Chamberlin, and Lyons are pushed aside. |