Evening star., 1948-07-26
Horrible People Encountered
At Convention by Rebecca West

of gaseous vapor when one infolds
it in a skin and allows it to bt
itself within those limits when one
wants a balloon to go up.
One need, however, put no res.
ervations whatsoever on the degree
to which the convention was con.
trolled by Communists. Among The
people who looked as if they might
have written the Guru letters ane
these sad boys and girls were 6
number of people who would not
have written the Guru letters anc
were not boys and girls, but tough
and expert men and women. They
were the Communists who were
running this movement.
If one was not experienced
enough to detect them the rank
and file gave it away. To give one
example, I saw the rally from a
S1.30 seat in the stadium, and in
front of me was union man who
repeatedly gave the Communist
salute and was in ecstasy over the
whole proceedings A Communist
only permits himself to feel
ecstasy over proceedings when his
party bosses hsge told him that
that is permitted to Communists.
The whole Wallace convention
was Communist, and it was not
straight Communism, it was Com
munist humbug. The Communists
do not believe in their ticket,
though I have to own that the
nomination Of Senator Glen Taylor
as Vice President looked to me
mighty like practical politics. If
Henry Wallace was in the White
House, only the presence of Sen
ator Glen Taylor as Vice President
could keep Americans wishing that
nothing would happen to their
President, the way good Americans
should
Seen as Negotiable Group.
But do not believe that they
want Henry Wallace in the White
House at all. l think they know
that if they succeeded in engineer
ing the election of a President so
far below the standard of other
Americans in public life they would
discredit themselves and cause an
acute reaction. They merely use
his candidacy to collect the disaf-
fected into negotiable group.
1t was obvious to anybody IA
miliar with the trouble raising
technique of the Communist party
in other lands what some of their
other objectives meet. They do not
want racial equality, they want to
make the Negroes a discontented
- with an unconstructive
discomfort which will lead them
nowhere-and to foment race riots,
which would cause civil disorder
here and discredit the United States
abroad.
They do not want peace. They
want war with Russia in which
they could count on a nice crop
of SNUG and self-satisfied traitors
who would sabotage American ef-
forts at self-defense; and what is
more, they want the American
government to be embarrassed in
its negotiations with Russia by the
knowledge of the existence of those
traitors.
But I do not believe that the
Communists will be able to realize
their ambitions, and this Is where
the quality of the Henry Wallace
followers comes in. Communism is
an exhaustive and exhausting dis
cipline. 1t makes the enforced
observances and restrictions of
Roman Catholicism seem soft and
easy way of living. The rank and
file of the new Wallace party, the
woolly-witted olders and the sad
ooyS and girls, could not take this
discipline.
Wallace Called Poor Speaker.
There was very significant proof
of that at the rally. Mr.. Wallace is
a bad speaker. He has a large and
spongy voice that hangs in mass
in the air without attempting to
make brisk progress to the ear.
His own followers could not make
the effort which was necessary if
they were to follow their leaders
speech. They could not control
themselves even to the extent of
sitting still in their seats or on the
grass and pretending to listen. They
mad to get up and walk about. They
had to leave the hall. They began
this exodus after Mr.. Wallace had
been speaking for a quarter of an
hour, and by the time he had fin
shed speaking about a fifth to a
fourth of his audience had disap-
peared.
1t was not that they had to catch
trains; transport had been provided.
It was just that they were soft peo-
Pile. But the Communists do not
know how to handle soft people and
will not be able to. retain them.
Sees a Fascist Potential.
What happens to them, to those
xooIy wits and those sad boys
and girls whe have known the
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