Evening star., 1949-04-14
Ideo of Propaganda Drive
Aqoinst Reds Questioned
Senator Fianders Would Ss,sNsr
Russian People With Handhhs
The Political Mil
~ xx ~~rW~w
Er Gssl& lIweai~

ysasl;keAl offensive. t-vakH ycvs
egrAs~c psupak &ndA to fhs R4S,ar ~
themselves. Is proposed a. a2Sra A.sr
aS~ IN the present cold sar ~g;h tar 81 -f
government ey Senatns FaAude,s - q,
maat. Republican To SET ;aa prepass =
into thw hands ant mInGs o. tae R-At.se
people the Vermont Seaatos s4ssrsis ..4r
the Woke al America the radio agpx-aee,
dealing With America and tSs csssne-a >
IDEAS nov operated ey TIE StA's rrpsrs.
nent ns revised to n; shis po.is.rA! e..rss~
But he would 60 mach fuFthes Ne "a,
advocated the use ot guided rs.Ssl4s, 49,
remotely controlled alrp2aass % 49,.
millions Of pamphlets and hAndA..ls utsa
Russian eit!sens, IN all parts et E~N,a
The message which Senate FsAy3e
wiSlles particularly to set across "a
that there is no hostility en- The pa .
the American people and their 0oFrguUrsl
TO the Russian peonle-cnly 70 tns Ccae.
munist Russian government sec"ad
reasons whs Americans and tie Ns#y.s
aemoeraeaes fear The asErwASssc rolsesrR
the Soviet government, and CIV tNsS
arming against thai government.
Calls for Ingenuity.
A little more thought. a iitile mo,~ -
the Safne ingenuity which devised the auto
matte training mechanism ioT aniiaHesa't
guns and the pTopinqntty fase can ds'se
means es Spreaasng = heavenly etuaGcass
over the great plains Of Eastern Elroie
Mr. Flanders told his colleagues "CAptsss
balloons released from planes or eS oshsr
means can support htoadraStlng mechanism
on local wave lengths o. even ioadSpeAksf
mechan.Kms connected With phonograpa
records
Immediately the question arises ~hs'
will oe the effect and the value Of ge''snS
these messages across 10 the Russian pee.
ple2 It's = practical matter. particularly 4
there Is 10 be large EFFORT and expenditure
TO carry out such a campaign. II there any
reason to believe that the Russian people
would undertake 10 overthrow their govern
ment-eecause Of something told thrm ~
outsiders
The answer to this seems to ee that ths
Russian people will overthrow their govern
ment only when IL becomes unoearaele ana
when--and this Ia greatly Impottant-they
have In addition 10 the desire, the strength
and arms TO overthrow II. That ik what ths
Russian people did 10 the Cxartss govern
mcnt. There Is. however, a possibility that
the proposed political offensive ~ill have an
effect on the thinking Of the Russian peo-
pie aronsing In them q growing dis,tpst Of
the Polithufo, II that happens The dif'ieulues
OF the Communist leaders will be greatly ia
creased.
Shift From Defensive,
Mr. Flanders argues that the proposed
new offensive would be an excellent Ahift
from our present defensive, In which. as he
says. We spend billions 10 arm ourselves and
our allies to counteract troubles which cost
our Communist adverSaries mere millions"
And MIR Flanders throws out nnaiiy . aug
gestion that. unless the American oovern-
ment does launch his proposed political 6f-
fenslve. he may md himself voting against
the North Atlantic Security Treaty when
that pact comes before the Senate for Tatl-
fcation. He inttmates. TOO. that there may
be other Senators who will feel stfonRly
enough about this matter TO join him IN
this reluctant enterprise.
The fundamental basis OF Senator Flan-
ders' proposal Is that the Russian people are
not our enemles~-nor We Ihslfa~~bul that
with a little. or great deal Of peTSuAdiuK
the Russian people viii become enemies Of
their present government, II they are moi
so already Not To be cynical but merely
reminiscent. IL Is easy TO remember the days
when We said We were not enemies OF tie
German people and that the aims Of the Naxi
government should not be attributed 70 the
people. And IL was not 10 faany srAfs ago
that we we're excusing the German people
on the ground that the Kaiser, not the peo-
pie. were our enemies
Certainly Hitler seemed TO have the back
Ing OF q majority of the German Tsops.
whom he was able TO convince that undsr
his rule they we're better off and improving
all the time. In the end II Was not prepa-
ganda but guns. not an uprising OF ths
people but attack from without, which put
an end TO the Nazi regime. In the iiEht of
past performance II would be folly 10
abandon D strong. armed defensive attitude
toward the Russian menace and substitnts
Q political offensive. A combination OF the
two would be more effective.