Roanoke Rapids daily herald. (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1948-1949, 1948-09-30
Truman Is As.
Anti.COrnmuniSt
As Dewey
THOMPSON
DOROTHY THOMPSON

IN lfle CdIllpdl6h Shoh go eAs0
countercharges concerning Com
munists in the Government, it IL
important that the time element I
should be considered.
President Truman is AZ anti
Communist as Mr.. Dewey and
should be credited with reorten-
tating our foreign policy in the
face of the indisputable reorien-
tation of Soviet policy following
the war. That took courage and
Mr.. Truman had it. He also had,
no doubt, a heritage Of person :
mel from a previous situation.
He took his advisers, however,
from hard-headed, realistic and
unflichingly patriotic men, who
have shown themselves as pre-
pared to accept the present ehal-
lenge, while earnestly pressing
for peace, as anyone in Mr.. Dew
ey's encourage.
The fact that there is a change 4
in policy to meet changed ex-
ternal facts must affect GIJern-
ment personnel. For the intelli-
gent political mind it. is there
fore essential to ask not only
whether an employee ever has
been a Soviet sympathizer, but
when.
After the Sixth Congress Of
the International Communist
Party, in 1895, which modified
international revolution in favor
of a united front against Facist
aggression, and was followed by
the PRONUNCIATION Of the Soviet
Constitution-on paper very lib
eral-world sympathy went TO-
ward the Soviets. Early in 1885
most liberals were "fellow-trav-
elers" in hoping for solidarity
against Hitler and believing in
the forthcoming democratizl-
ton of the Soviet Government.
But in 1887 the Soviet purges |
ahenated sympathizers and even
caused the detection Of Commun-
list Party members. 1t was then
that Whitaker Chambers left
the Party. Our Government,
however, was adopting a neutral
attitude between communism and
fascism at this time. Against
great popular pressure it did
not, for instance, intervene in
the Civil War in Spain.
Though Mr.. Chambers claimar.
he broke with Mr.. Hiss In 1887,
he never went to the Govern
ment with his warnings about
Communist personnel until 1899.
Why that year? In 1899, Stain
made his pact with Hitler and
Russian stock was at an all-tims
low. Thousands left the Com
munist Parties. The Roosevelt
Administration denounced the
pact and, when Stain marched
in coalition with Hitler against
Finland, denounced the team as
joint aggressors. Robert Sher-
wood, close to Roosevelt, wrote
a popular drama extollins the
Finnish Resistance. II there
were Communist sympathizers
in the Government in 1899, expos
ure of them would have gotten
an ear, and the Government
might have been willing to give
protection to those, like Mr..
Chambers, who dared risk Conn.,
muniSt revenge.
But in l941 the Hitler coalition
attacked the Soviet Union. Again
sympathy swung to the U. S. S.
R. A British Tory Government
welcomed the Russian alliance
instantly: Six months later the
attack on Pearl Harbor brought
US into the alliance, and then
nearly everyone was, to some
extent, a "fellow-trayeler." !.
Communists ardently sup.
ported the war. Deep-dyed con-
servatives worked with Soviet
friendship and relief committees.
The penetration of Communists
into Government agencies-not-
ably into OWI-was publicly
warned against by some; but
few paid heed for they were, for
the time being, loyal to the U. S.
A. Col William Donovan, who is
no radical, took known Commun-.
lists into the OSS. The millionaire
Ambassador to Moscow, Joseph
Davies, felt called upon to justi-
fly the 1887 purges. Maxim Lit
vinoff, in New York, predicted
notifications of the Soviet re-
gime, accompanied by greater
liberalization of the American
economy. The West, not the So
viets. gave the greatest aid to
Marshal Tito.
1t was in l945, after Yalta(
that public opinion again swung
radically. Roosevelt presented
his report on Yalta not with en-
thusiasm but as reluctant COT
promise. Almost his last act was
return to world revolutionary
protest to Stain. And the open
return to world revolutionary
policy in 1945 put a new Tor old)
face on the Soviets.
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