The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-09-20
ON RECOGNIZING A COMMUNIST
Nv CAROLINE BRAMMER

| by CAftOLlINE1 DIAM M EN-
The only value the Communis
party has in this country is nuisance
value. And as such, it is only valuable
to Mr. J. Carroll Reese and his Re
publican campaign strategy commit
tee. Lacking talking points, the Re
publican party has decided that its
only chance of gaining strength this
year lies in confusing the electorate
communist, hoping to persuade the
electorate to timidly accept the mega
tive promise of the Republican party.
This is why republicans in each state
are working so hard and so ludicrously
to put the party label on all who dis
agree with their nostalgia for the past
This isn't quite so silly an idea as
it would seem to the adult mind. The
reason it isn't so silly is that it is
very difficult to point a finger at true
party members because they never
admit membership. AS Haywood Broun
once said, "If l am accused of being
a communist and | deny it, no one
would believe me, and they would be
right to do so, for if l were a COM
l wouldn't admit it,
I think that in view of the republi-
can national strategy it is good
thing for voters to make a study of
the differences between communists
and liberals so that they may weather
the coming red scare without taking to
the foothills.
Martin Dies and the present Wood
Rankin committee on Un-American
Activities have been great boon to
Mr.. Reese. Their continuous search
for some bearded bolshevik intent on
blowing up the White House, the very
Intensity of their search for DOGGY
men might lead the electorate to sup
pose that there really are a lot of COM
in this country. Actually |
here are very few.
Cherish Personal Freedom |
The reason that there are very few |
S that many might be converted by |
communist arguments but few stay |
With the party long when initiated into
,arty discipline. Cross-party espion-
zee is repulsive to Americans who
lave been brought up in the tradition
f personal freedom and dignity and
My fanatics can stomach it. There
ust aren't enough political fanatics to
well the ranks and the party has
cen losing membership steadily since
93S.
In view of this loss of membership
I the past eight years, the rational
Iontana voter is not apt to be alarm
d over the red scare, remembering
lat in 1914 there were not enough
to have a ticket in the
eneral election and that in 1910, II
My 4S9 people in Montana voted for
rowder while 664 voted for the Pro-
ibition candidate, Babson. Yes, 4S9
gainst 247,9S4 people who voted the
Their parties. 1t would seem that the
in Montana, if there are
ny ARE long way from taking over !
lie state.
The communist party nuisance can
ever be overcome by the Dies-Wood :
ankin witch-hunt which is contrary I
our belief in freedom of expression Il
I'd views. But it can be overcome by
lie same process by which Franklin q
Roosevelt emasculated the socialist 4
lrty. The New Deal encompassed so
any of the best socialist ideas that d
n
e party was left with nothing to at G
act new members or to satisfy the
d. The communist party, U. S. A. a
i'll have arguments so long as social !;
justices, prejudices and discrimina- d
On exist in this country. In simple p
Drds, democracy doesn't work by it. r.
If, it has to be helped by an always il
intelligent, vigilant and t
If minded people.
Party Principles p
To set straight in our minds the
rious principles for which political "
rites fight in this country in our at ~
mpt to learn to recogize COM
unist let us first go back to the =
inciples of democracy as propounded =
Thomas Jefferson in the Declara-
IN of Independence. The yet unreal =
ed principles of the Declaration are - !,
e same principles for which Liberals .
,ht today and for which they will -
on fighting despite the hopeful red
lear of the reactionaries. The delay . :,
more than two hundred years in -
hieving the true democracy was -
reseen by Jefferson when he wrote o
the Declaration: :. all experience
S shown that mankind are more
sposed to suffer while evils are suf- h;
able, than to right themselves by CT
the forms to which they hi
2 accustomed. ia
The first "self-evident" truth of the ST
claration is THAT all men are h,