Evening star., 1950-05-05
The Tyranny of the Few

It is a sobering thing to reflect on how the
Communists, in spite Of their numerical insig-
nifcance, have succeeded-for the time being at
least-in carrying their tyranny to almost half
of the human race while keeping the rest of the
world in a state of constant apprehension.
In round numbers, according to latest
estimates, there are only about 25, 900 900 Com
munists throughout the globe-a figure that
represents little more than per cent OF total
world population in excess of 2000,OO0,0OO. Be-
tween 100000 and 100000 of them are the
Communists who live in Yugoslavia and free
nations like France, Italy, Britain and the
United States. a. Edgar Hoover estimates the
number of Communist Party members in the
United States as 55,000 supplemented by 100000
fellow travelers0 The reSt-between 100000
and 17,000y y0O0-are the ones who sit in control
behind the Iron Curtain in both Europe and Asia.
OF this latter group, the most numerous are
in the Soviet Union and China, the Russian
Communists totaling upward of 100000 and
, the Chinese about 100000. Taken together
with their co-conSpiratorS in countries like
Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary Czecho-
Slovakia and Eastern Germany, they add up to
hardly per cent of the peoples they tyrannize-
peoples who number in the neighborhood of
100000 900. The real power of these party men,
berS moreover, is concentrated in what amounts
almost literally to handful of individuals-the
14-man Politburo headed by Generalissimo
Stain. 1t is this agency-working through the
satellite governments that are really its obedient
servants, and through the Red fifth columns in
the free lands-that is the overall plotter and
strict director of the Kremlin's drive to dominate
the whole world or as much of it as possible
How has such a small group been able to
get as far as it has up to now? The answer
consists of many factors To begin with, the
phenomenal advance of the Red tide beyond the
borders of Russia has been made possible in no
small measure not simply by the mistakes OF
non-Soviet craftsmanship but perhaps chiefly
because of what the war left in it's wake-vast
physical destruction, bitter divisions between
non-totalitaran political parties, profound social
unrest, near-chaos in national economies, intel
lectual confusion, moral lethargy, and marked
tendency among the embittered masses to be
responsive to the propaganda, the agitation and
the siren songs of the Communists. With these
things to exploit, with its gigantic army deployed
as far west as Berlin, and with its disciplined
and fanatical agents busily engaged in conspiracy
and subversion everywhere the Kremlin has
been ruthlessly efficient in capitalizng on it's
opportunities.
ALI this represents only part of the story,
but it is enough to suggest why so few have been
fertile soil was there to begin with and once
the Communist seed was planted, the Soviet
Union lost no time, and overlooked no trick, in
speeding up the growth BY means of ceaseless
propaganda, treachery, subversion, the seizure
of key governmental posts in country after
country, the elimination of political opposition,
the establishment of one-party rule, complete
censorship, the secret police, slave-labor camps,
systematic terrorism and other totalitarian
methods of the most modern kind, the Kremln
and its agents have done genuinely effective
Job from their point of view.
It may be said, of course, that this tyranny
which is baSically the same as the dead tyran-
nies of the past-must in time disappear because
the masses it oppresses will eventually rise up
and destroy it. That may be true. Yet, with its
new techniques of inf1ltration, terror and regi-
mentation, its survival and further advance are
by no means inconceivable. Certainly, the free
nations, if they value their freedom, will not
underestimate 1t, but will do everything possible
both to check it and roll it back.