Evening star., 1950-04-15
Meaning Of Freedom
Is Little Understood
Even in America
Communists Use Word
To BewiIder People
All Over the World
By Dorothy THOMPSON

In connection with the sesqui.
centennial of the founding oi
Washington as the seat of thu
United States Government, the
capital is celebrating $50 year.
Of American freedom.
II there is one sacred word ir
the American language it is free
DOM" Liberty is the parent ol
American democracy-a wore
never once mentioned in the
Declaration of independence. the
Constitution. or any of the great
early state papers, including the
famous inaugural address ol
Thomas Jefferson, who has beer
called "the father of American
democracy" For it is implicit
that republic of ensuffrageo
free men would be representative
and therefore democratic.
In the great struggles Of oul
century which engage every con-
tinent, state and colony to deter.
mine the future way of life fol
men Of every race and color, the
words free" and democratic
have lost nothing Of their magic
They are invoked even by those
who would destroy them. Hitler
modified the German people un.
der the slogan of "freiheit" Gree
DOM, and claimed to be "the
most democratic leader in the
world"
Reds Use Both Words.
Communists use both words
avoiding the name of communism
calling the new Communist states
peoples democracies" and Com
munist guerrillas liberation arm
les
Thus, there arises in every mind
q confusion of meanings. What
is freedom? What is democracy?
when both appear in many
guises. often as antitheses of each
other?
To the American there is nc
freedom without guaranteed civil
rights: Freedom of speech, reli-
gion, assembly; freedom from ar
bitrary arrest, Imprisonment, anc
cruel and unusual punishments
But even here we are no longer
quite so sure as we once were.
Are there no limits on these
freedoms-of speech, religion, anc
assembly-and no structures or
the right to exercise them? Does
the right to them extend to the
right to organize conspiracies tt
overthrow them? Can freedom be
the instrument Of slavery? Can II
open the way for the abolition moi
only Of the positive liberties but
Of the negative guarantees? Car
1t set up machinery abolishing the
projections of law, establishing
physical and psychological tor
lures as legitimate instruments OF
a prosecution which always wins
its cases. and the concentration
camp as the way of life" for all
real or suspected dissidents?
We know that civil liberties can,
fnGeed. be used for their subver-
sion. There was Hitler, to whom
a libertarian republic gave the in
strument for its overthrow, and,
rather than limit the freedom of
some, permitted the freedom Of
all to expire.
Long Story Of Mankind.
And in the long, recorded story
of mankind, political freedom ap-
pears rather as q series of tenn
porary freaks; not as strong, but
as fragile. We read of free repub-
lies thickening to empire, and
falling under military rule: or es-
tablishing oligarchies of the rich
who, in turn, inflame the poor to
revolts under popular demagogues,
with these invariably becoming
their dictators; of free republics
so rent by sectional or class fac
tions that they disintegrate and
invite foreign Intervention; or of
liberty degenerating into such
licentious individualism that the
community can find no defenders.
The history of freedom is thus
discouraging. For although it has
produced the most brilliant So
cieties, its political history is short
as compared with the history ot
tyranny. The whole Of Western
civilization was fertilized by the
art and philosophy of Athens; but
It's funeral was encompassed by
Sparta. despite that Sparta
brought the "glory that wa!
Greece" into stagnation.
What one learns from history
rs our remarkable founding faith
ers knew-is that freedom, being
the most precious of gifts, is, lik'
all that is precious, costly. Aris
totle asserted that it rests upor
the achievement of a "goldel
mean," and has never long sur
vived the existence of huge root
less and propertyless proletariat
1t demands a substantial degree O
economic equality. and fiourishe
best where there is not only wide
spread distribution of income. bu
also of ownership-as there wa
In the early agrarian days of thi
republic.