Evening star., 1951-11-28
CHAPTER II.
Concluding Article.)

| S44A1 4A1t q.
Concluding Article.)
! The threat of communism
! against liberty is not by any means
a purely military threat-in fact,
if we had only to face the mill
tary strength of Soviet Russia
} think there would not be any such
concern as we see today.
:. Communism is strong because it
has developed a fanatical support
and missionary ardor, which have
spread throughout the world and
appealed everywhere to some Of
] those who are dissatisfied with
:. their present condition. 1t is a
threat because it has developed
methods of infiltration and prop
aganda well-f1tted to this mis-
sionary ardor and has succeeded
in building up, even in the most
free countries, at least a strong
minority Of people who form, in
effect, a fifth column behind our
lines. In France the 1851 elec-
tions showed 26 per cent of the
voters to be Communists, in Italy
more.
We have to consider the meth
DDS by which we can battle
against the spread of communism
and so weaken its spirit that it's
missionary ardor is destroyed. I
believe that can only be done by
positive campaign in behalf of
liberty.
Liberty Still Sought.
Liberty has always appealed to-
the minds of men and today is a
far more appealing ideal than
communism or material welfare
can ever be. Even today l believe
that great majority of the peo-
pie in the Iron Curtain countries
yearn for liberty against the
communistic dictatorship imposed
upon them by small minority of
their own people backed by Soviet
troops.
And when I say liberty I do
not simply mean what is referred
to as free enterprise" I mean
liberty of the individual to think
his own thoughts and live his own
life as he desires to think and toI
live; the liberty of the family to-
decide how they wish to live, what
they want to eat for breakfast and
for dinner, and how they wish to-
spend their time; liberty OF a man
to develop his ideas and get other
people to teach those ideas, If he
can convince them that they have
some value to the world: liberty
Iof every local community to decide
how its children shall be edu-
Gated, how its local services shall
be run and who its local leaders
shall be; liberty of a man to-
choose his own occupation, and
liberty Of a man to run his own
business as he thinks it ought tot
be run, as long as he does not in
terfere with the right of other
people to do the same thing.
Theory Once Accepted.
After the American RevolutionI
and the French Revolution thet
whole world became convinced
that liberty was the key to prog
resS and happiness for the peoples
OF the world, and this theory was
accepted, even in those countries
where there was, in fact, no lib
erty. People left Europe and
came to this country. not so much
because of the economic condi-
tions as because they sought a lib
erty which they could not find at
home.
But gradually this philosophy
has been replaced by the idea that
happiness can only be conferred
upon the people by the grace of
an efficient government. Only the
government. it Is said, has the ex-
pert knowledge necessary for the
peoples welfare; only the govern
ment has the power to carry out
the grandiose plans so necessary
IN complicated world.
Those who accept the principles
OF socialism. of government direc-
ton and of government bureauc-
racy have a hard time battling
against the theology of commu-
nlsm. Our labor union leaders
cannot effectively fight commu-I
nlsm. as such. because they favor
socialist control that comes very
close to communism in the actual
measures which are to be under
taken. Even our statesmen seem
to be handicapped in the same
way.
Things We Can Do.
II We can once convince our
selves that we believe in freedom
then there are many things which
we can do throughout the world
to meet the threat of communism
1. We can conduct worldwide
propaganda in behalf of liberty.
In the Voice of America we have
already adopted the general prin-
clple OF propaganda. We should
find those people among the citi-
zens OF each nation who agree
with our principles and finance
them to put on an effective prop
aganda.' 1t is difficult enough for
Americans to judge the manner
IN which propaganda should be
spread in this country to obtain
the support of the American
people.
The whole propaganda oues-
ton should be much more exten-
slvely studied, and it should be