Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1950-06-16
Technique Of Big Lie,
Repeated Million Times
By BRADFORD v. CARTER
For Labor Press Association


.s,,,tiro holocaust was one of the piacheS'
naees in the history of mankind
The technique of the big lie IS oelng useu
4. th;. country today and the result Is ieai
hvxteria and panic. The reactionaIies Pc;
.Ss;r love of country by showing no COM
Jsrce in its institutions or its vltallty. 10 nuaA
4hem tell it, the nation is on the Dim - .sins
sster. (Some patriots SAID tne sanne
n the days of George Washington too')
- r,.. roact;onaries' new Bible is John T.
r,.n,s .sTbe Road Ahead" Hundreds OF tnou-
- ~ tbis hysterical drivel have been ois-
t~;hvted bv the anti-labor Commlttee tor C Coi
Irrational Government. A condensed Veisioh
"a ths hook appeared in the February ISSUE
~ the Readers Digest (montnly cliuc
q non 00O). The Committee Tor Consulu.ios.
Government has sent out 4,OOU,Ooo Postcai0
calling attention to the Dlgenst coiiuehsao. 49,
penr;nts of the digest are being mailed OUT 70
;aL;,,;d,,aIs throughout the C o un tr from
hanks business firms and physicians; Inc
theme is repeated in newspaper eoitorlais anu
IN political advertisements
Here is how the poison spreads Dr. waiter
r Co,1rtnay, pastor of the Flrst rIesDS
Church in Nashville, Tenn- preacheo SCI sei
mon extolling the book, and the Con','.ee .'
FOR Constitutional Government reprinted ule
sermon and circulated it widely Inc Iiiiiiis,
narrated what Flynn said, that among otner
about as democratic as Stalin
Fulton Lewis, Jr, that radio oracle for the
business world, in a recent broadcast SAID tne
ADA was formed "by those OPA lons-haireo'
left-wing star-gazing, mouth-nansins-oPeh,
tair-haired BOYS when they were bounced out
of the government
Commenting Easter Sunday on the Court
nav sermon, Holding Carter, in the Auanta
Journal. said the sermon "strays as far iron
NTa. fha
resurrection we celebrate today as IT does from
the political and economic realities OF our
harrassed world"
Flvnn called the ADA in his book tine
central planning and propaganda machine OF
the National Socialist Economic Planners In
this country" Note the words he capitalized
Note also that the official name OF Hitiers
Nazi party was National Socialists. Coincl-
dence, or design
Flynn called Socialist Planners" the as
sassns and the most dangerous enemy OF our
form of government He said "there is no need
TO make a fine point of distinction between
Communists and Socialist Planners
There's the big lie, at its fanciest, repeat
ed in o 600. 900 copies of the February Read
ers Digest; repeated hundreds OF thousands OF
times In the Flynn book ITSELF peddled by the
Committee for Constitutional Government re-
peated more millions of times in reprints OF
the digest, and in editorials, and political ad-
vertisements.
The ADA tried to nail the lie. 1t asked the
editors of Readers Digest for chance to re-
ply Dewitt Wallace, the editor, refused, de-
claring the reply was not of sufficiently wide
popular interest" What about public respons-
ibility, Mr.. Wallace? Or fair play? Or TRUTH
Francis Biddle, former US attorney gen
eral, now ADA national chairman, pointed
out the Digest article was part OF the current
reactionary campaign to broadcast sensational
charges and ignore the denials; to smear with
false isues and refuse to hear the facts; to
hit and run. Mr.. Wallace turned deaf ear.
But then, the Digest is this kind Of mag
azine: 1t ran page of testimonials to Flynn's
book, including quote from review In the
NY Times, which said the book was 'one OF
the two most important books about the con-
temporary American scene that we will have
this year" What the Digest left out of the
quote was the reviewers explanation that the
two books were important only because "they
are the latest and most extreme manifests-
tions Of an endemic hysteria presently affect
ing considerable segment of our society"
AS the Nation, liberal weekly, put 1t re-
Gently, readers of the Digest should know
they are getting mot merely piety and hints
for self-improvement, but propaganda and
brass knuckles." .......
Now, for those in the labor movement who
perhaps came in late and are not familiar
with ADA, the group was organized to rid the
liberal movement of Communists, and has
been highly commended in doing so. In fact.
Its constitution bars membership to Commun-
lists. Top leaders OF labor are on Its national
board. II is an organization of progressives
dedicated TO the achievement of freedom
and economic security for all people every
where, through education and democratic
political action"
ADA's statement of principles lists its be-
liefs In planning and goes on: Eve believe that
all forms OF totalitarianism, including Com
munism, are incompatible with these objec-
tives. In our crusade for an expanding democ-
racy and against fascism and reaction, we
welcome as members of ADA only those
whose devotion to the principles of political
freedom Is unqualified"
That statement appears on the editorial
page OF every issue of the ADA World, Of
ficial ADA monthly publication.
John 7. Flynn and the Readers Digest, and
the Committee for Constitutional Govern
ment could have checked these statements
easily.
But were they interested in truth, or only
smear?