Evening star., 1948-05-20
The American Communists

There are two ways of evaluating the
Mundt bill, which is designed TO restrain
some and expose other activities OF the
American Communists and their 1rienos.
One way is to condemn the bill on the
basis of provisions it does not contain ana
things it would not do. A very Impressive
case can be made out against the measure
by setting out hypothetical situations ana
applying to them provisions which are not
in the bill. There has been good deal
of this sort of criticism. But it is worthless
because it has no basis in fact.
It has been contended, for example, that
Henry Wallace's third party might nave 10
register as a Communist-front organlza-
tion if this bill becomes law. Since this
contention is typical of much OF the Ill
informed criticism, it is worth examining.
Among other things, the bill is aimed al
Communist political organizations ana
Communist-front organizations. Ihese
terms are defined in the bill. A Communist
political organization is one that Is under
the direction and control OF the Worlo
Communist movement. communist
front organization is one, other tnah
Communist political organization, Whlch
reasonably is found to be Cd under the
control of Communist political organlza-
ton. (2) primarily operated for the pur-
pose of giving aid and support TO
Communist political organization, to
Communist foreign government, or 10 Ihe
world Communist movement, or I'd one
whose views and policies are adopted ana
advanced because they are those OF
Communist political organization, Com
munist foreign government, or the world
Communist movement. Before any or
ganization can be held TO be Communist
front organization, the Attorney General,
after full investigation and hearing, must
affirmatively find 1t to be such. Then, as
a further safeguard, the accused organl-
cation is given the right to have its case
reviewed by the Federal courts, including
an appeal to the Supreme Court.
When any one suggests, in the light OF
these provisions, that the Mundt bill would
apply to the Wallace third party or any
comparable group he is simply confessing
ignorance of the facts or dismal lack OF
confidence in the integrity of the Congress-
the Attorney General and the Federal
courts.
The other way of evaluating this bill is
to examine the provisions it actually con-
tains and the things it actually is intended
to do.
This bill is predicated on the conclusion
that the American Communist movement
is foreign controlled, that its ultimate OBJ
jective is to overthrow free American
institutions in favor of Communist die
tatorship controlled from abroad, that its
activities are carried on by secret and con-
spiratorial methods, that these activities
constitute an immediate and powerful
threat to the security of the United States,
and, finally that present laws are not ade-
quate to deal with the Communists
The proposed new law tackles the prob
lem from four directions. First, it makes
unlawful, and subject to severe penalty,
setting up of totalitarian government in
the United States under foreign control"
This has nothing to do with theoretical
communism, freedom of thought, etc. 1t
is aimed sQuarely at actiuity intended to
set up Communist-controlled dictatorship
in this country. The second approach Is
found in the registration provisions, which
would require that the names of officers
and members of Communist political Or
ganizations and the names of the officers,
but not the members, of Communist-front
organizations be filed with the Attorney
General. The third approach is to deny
passports to members of Communist po-
litical organizations in an effort to restrict
contact between American Communists
and their international comrades, while
the fourth is to deny Federal employment
to any one who knowingly belongs to
Communist political organization.
There is no use blinking the fact that
this BILL if it becomes law, will mark
significant departure from the traditional
American approach to problems of this
kind. But it is also important to keep in
mind that the Communist concept of
world revolution and the methods used to
implement it are also new to- our expert
ence and dangerous to our existence.
The bill, in The Stars opinion, represents
in it's sponsors words sincere effort ito
protect freedom from those who would
destroy it without infringing upon the
freedom of all our people," If enacted, its
constitutionality would be subject to the
judgment of the courts, and the protection
of the courts would extend to all indi-
viduals and groups accused under 1t. How
effective it will be remains to be seen, but
it deserves a trial and it is to be hoped
that the Senate will concur In the favor
able action taken by the House.