Evening star., 1953-03-18

hind the Iron Curtain as a peace
This is the first Of three articles based
on first-hcnd observations in the
Middle East and surrounding areas.
delegate and finds the Red car
pet rolled out for him.
A university student with pow
erful family connections is fat
tered as an advance-guard in
tellectual.
The young Arab returns to
the Middle East and soon finds
himself a cog in the Communist
organization within his trade
union The mullah breaches that
religion is respected in the Com
munist world, that communism
is not incompatible with Islam.
The university students connec-
tionS get him a job with a key
government ministry, and either
through flattery or blackmail he
is induced to take orders from q
Communist contact.
This is the way Moscow'S
agents work in their patient,
long-range program in the vast,
sandy, poverty-Stricken Middle
East. The stakes are Cd domi-
nation of a hundred million peo-
pie, (2) control of strategic ap-
proaches to three continents, and
90 access to the worlds greatest
oil reserves.
Red Program Rolls On.
Joseph Stalin's death will
mean no pause in the Red pro-
gram. The word went out i'm
mediately from the new master,
Georgi Malenkov. There will be
no relaxation of Soviet interest"
in the workers of capitalist and
colonial countries"
This interest centers on youth.
The slow. steady drive has been
spreading infection among young
people - students, intellectuals
and workers. An extensive tour,
all the way from Kenya. Colony
in East Africa to Iran on the
USSR's borders in Asia, makes
these conclusions inescapable:
l.. Soviet agents in many
guiseS. aiming their heaviest ar
tillery at the young educated
groups, have achieved notable
gains which have permitted
Communists and usable fellow
travellers to penetrate high
places.
2. Soviet propaganda hits
first at the intellectuals, then at
labor. then at religion, preying
upon youthful ideals Of social
justice, upon the embitterment
of mass poverty and upon the
ancient and modern prejudices
and conflicts in which the whole
area abounds.
3. The Communists have sue
cessfully penetrated virtually all
nationalist movements, some to
a greater degree than others IN
the cslrrent surge of African and
Middle East natiDna1isrns. They
use these passions as q tool for
keeping backward nations in a
state Of turmoil, and to whip up
hatreds for Western nations.
Universities Penetrated.
Communist success in pene-
trating the universities of the
Middle East, both among the
faculties and the student bodies,
is admitted by most persons in
authority. The penetration has
been extremely strong in Egypt
and the Sudan, and is increas-
ing noticeably in the other Arab
countries.
Many a student of good fam
lily, sold a Communist bill of
goods, will turn up at a later
date in a key job with a gov
ernment ministry, where, either
as convinced Communist or a
fellow traveller, he will serve
Moscow'S purposes.
In the field of labor the Com
munistS have made steady gains.
In places where trade unionism
is permitted, they have concen-
trated on capturing workers in
such key industries as railways
and communications. In the
Sudan they have taken over the
executive of the Trade Union
Federation. The World Fedora
tion of Trade Unions, a tool of
the Soviet Union, has steadily
increased it's pressure through
out the Mideast in the past year.
In the field of religion they.
have used the services Of en-
bittered or ambitious sheikhs
and mullahs to further Soviet
propaganda. They have used
the Soviet Unions anti-Zionism
with telling effect in the Arab
world.
Aim to Create Turmoil.
In the field of nationalism
they have called for united
fronts against what they term
"American-BritiSh Imperialism.
They have joined honest ma
tionalist movements and made
significant headway in some
cases toward pointing such
movements in the direction of
the chaos they seek.
All this has been done with
small forces. That factor has
led many in authority to dis
count the Importance of the
Red drive in this strategic part
of the world. Yet the Commu-
nists never have needed or
wanted unwieldy, undisciplined
large numbers. A small core is
sufficient to assert influence
among vast masses of under
schooled, underfed. underclothed
people.
The immediate goal is not the
capture Of governments. The
while T1attern 0f Communist