Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-07-13
BY MAN EASTMAN
(Reprinted from The Readers Digest for July
PART |

IhRl i
NEW great events in history command more adn1ra-
tIon man the heroic fight OF The Russian armies
and people against Adolf HltlerS military machine
There is a mixture OF pride IN our admiration, too,
because the Russians fighting on our Sdea graft
ude because their Incompatible feat of arms gave Us
chance to prepare.
Russa's stand has moreover taught many Ameri-
who did not know II before that the Soviet Union
going concern with which II Will be our task 10
eelabera4e after the II any iron ieHted reaction
still blind 10 this fact their brains are buried
in the past Collaboration with powerful Russia Will
be main preoccupation Of living Americans for a.
long time
If this collaboration is 10 be successful however
il Will have be based facts, and not on propa-
ganda Elementary prudence demands that our people
understand RuSSaS' position in the global conflict,
know the attitude of her ruler toward the Anglo
Saxon nations and without any intervening pipe
dreams the character Of her regime 1t is abso-
lutey vital to our own national celfnterest that we
discard wiShful thinking and base our policy on UNI
clouded fact.
I ET Us remember that the stubborn resistance Of
IL the Russians no IuStifes communism than
the stupendouS assault of the Germans justiies
nazism.
THAT simple and obvious fact must be held stead
tasty in mind If our policy toward Russia Is 10 have
force And if our policy does not have force, you may
be sure it will not command the respect OF Stain.
The Russian leader Is not mollycoddle who can be
SoftSoaped into doing what cold calculation does not
recommend. The only sound way TO do business with
Stain Is to let him know we thoroughly understand
his Setup well as our own. The speech that weighs
with Stain must be trm, brel In courtesy oluhtlS
concerned with the real issue al stake If we want the
Russians to respect us, must let them know that
not dupeS
II is natural since she fights brilliantly beside
us To be a little undiScrimnatng in our praise or me
Soviet Union Americans who 60 there are especially
prone this fallacy. because Russians, as wendell
Willkie observed. much like Americans. They
are like their bold good humor, generosity and
taste for doing things in big way. They are Ike us
also in their disposition TO revolt against tyranny 1t
has always required huge police machine TO hold the
Russians down and the present one the biggest the
world has seen.
Nevertheless, there is deep difference between
Russians and Americans. Their revolts never got any
where; ours did, that is the difference. They came
into modern history serfs and humbled subjects OF
a semi oriental despotsm. We came in as westward
pioneers exploring beyond the reach of any govern
ment each of enforcing his own laws with his own
musket And even before we started for the frontier,
we had behind the longvctorious struggle OF the
Anglo-SaXon common man for rights which no gov
eminent could touch The Russians had no victory
behind them and rights which their ruler could not
crash through like a man on horseback through
paper hoop
V'HE revolution which overthrow the car was an
L attemp to attain our western principles of liberty
But that could not be done in eight months; and
within eight months, Lenn, with his tightly organized
small group of Marian crusaders, had seized power
and laid the foundations for new deSpotism which
was 10 become after his death and the rise of Stain
as vozhd infinitely more ruthless than the cars.
Lenin invented-with mennial freedom Tor the
his goal-the system of totahtarian one
party tyranny which stamps out all actual freedom
completely Mussolini and Hitler borrowed Lenns
technique and applied il in their own countries Stain
who despises the and fears freedom-per-
fected II the home groundS eXtlnguShIng III rus
STA the last surviving of the democratic concept
of the rights of man His great purge in which an
estimated 100000 people were shot imprisoned.
was a purge of all who might conceivable oppose his
despotic power. That Stain absolute dictator Is
the simple truth And il is important truth that
am not going leave it IN my own words
The Soviet Union, everybody knows that has the
courage TO face the fact is dictatorship absolute
as any other dictatorship in the world
That statement, made by Franklin j. Roosevelt,
Feb II 1910 is as true today II was then
Such being the case. what should he, IN sober
political wisdom our attitude toward Russia since
Hitler forced her into the democratic camp? Exactly
this Give all possible military help; offer unbounded
praise TO the heroiSm of her people and her soldiers
extend every courtesy TO her government But If we
believe in democracy be dignified and intelligent not
mudded and mawkish. To those in the kremIn Amer
lean gullbility is only one more evidence OF bour-
geos decadence.'
INSTEAD Of that an astonishing number OF our lnllu-
Il entail men and magazines and newspapers are
fawnng on Russia You would think Stain was some
stern deity who held the destiny OF the whole planet
IN his hands.
Don't say a word against Stain or he won't ac-
cept our tanks. to be the attitude Of some OF
those who giving away the national treasure
so ayidly.
This is an attitude Of spirit which find diplomat
cally foolhardy morally dsgraceful and dangerous 10
the survival of Democratic institutions within TINS
country
Discovering virtues in Stains tyrannouS regime
has become main preocCupatlon for many ln'elec
tuas and public officials President Roosevelt led off
when he remarked perhaps with a smile. that the
Russian constitution guarantees religious freedom