The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-30
Press, Radio Films Utilized to Promote L. Fascism

stands back, practice-kicking for the
moment when it will become an
open organizer for Fascism, espe-
cially among its lower middle class
readers. The unity Of the entire
press on the advance toward Fas-
cism appeared with memorable
clarity in their unanimously blood
curdling strike-breaking during the
San Francisco strike. The preva-
lence Of all this strike-breaking,
cooperation between capital and
labor" company union, Iow-wage
and pro-war propaganda in the
press is striking objective evidence
of the Fascist offensive in the
United States.
Within this general picture, the
private showing by Publisher Hearst
Of The President VaniShes" as
sumes additional significance. The
story reported from Hollywood is
that Hearst, after seeing the film
which demagogicaIy debunks a
publisher like Hearst only to en-
phasize its false theme that the
President can and will prevent FaS-
cism and war, angrily complained
to the producers. The movie there
fore was cut severely.
have no proof as to why Pub
Usher Hearst did this, or why he
later attacked the movie editorially.
But two obvious possibilities appear.
One is that he did both to have an
"out" in case it developed that he
was directly concerned with the
production and distribution. The
other is that he thought the dem
agogy Of debunking him went too
far.
President Okays Fascist Film
Another outright Fascist movie,
Gabriel over the White House"
was produced officially by HearSts
Cosmopolitan Pictures. According to
an article by Iris Hamilton in the
Pacific Weekly, this film was sent to
the President, who saw 1.-THE ana
his wife and his secretaries-three
times" The President offered sew
eral suggestions to make the pic
ture present the program he in
tended to carry out himself"
Pro-war, pro-Army, pro--Marines,
recently affiliated with HearstS film
duced by Warner Brothers, a giant
company, include Here Comes the
Navy" Filtration Walk" and
Devil Dogs of the Air"
The manufacture of public opin-
ion to meet the needs of the Fas-
cist scheme of things requires two
processes, coordination of the shops
producing such raw materials as
news and movies, and centraliza-
ton Of control. The beginnings of
both already are present in the
United States. And Baron Hearst
and the Roosevelt government,
again, are leading in developing
them.
While the Mussolini authored
Pilgrims Progress of Fascism, Man
of Courage" was Pickering in empty
houses, the Hearst papers were puff
fling it to the point of taxing news
stories headlined with the lie that
demand" was holding it over! And
Roosevelt legislators have already
presented a communications bill
which, as the newspapermen's union
quickly protested, would open the
way for government censorship of
the press.
Perhaps the most striking evil
dence of the Fascist trend of the
main streams of capitalist propa-
ganda is the fact that the same Fas-
cist Army plot which the McCor-
mack-Dickstein Committee strove to
cover up was obviously played
down." after the first unavoidably
sensational break, by the major met
ropolitan daiIies. I happen to know
that several telephone wires were
kept warm, on the day the story
broke, by calls from the financial
district to news offices. Thus I'm
siders" volunteered to the news
papers the 'low-down" that the
story wouldn't stand up. Meaning
that Wall Street didn't want it to
stand up. One does not need to
prove or even know this, however,
to recognize the fact that the Fas-
cist Army story was dropped as
gracefully as possible.