The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-01-03
How Many Reds?
Some Are Communists
Because It's Healthy
BY Erik Won Kvehnelt-L eddihn

by Erik Won kuennetf-Leddihn @
LANS TYROL, Austria - How many Communists
are there in the Word?' This is a question l am fire.
quently asked by my American friends, and this is a diff
flcult question to answer.
We know roughly how many Catholics there are ON
this globe, because the Church takes the stand that all
those. baptized in the Catholic faith who have not by
solemn action or word r~epudiated her, must be consid.
cred her members.
The non-practicing Catholic, whether we like it or
not, is still a Catholic, though not a good one. AS a mat
ter of fact, there were and still are theologians who ar
que that all baptized persons are under the jurisdiction
of the Church. / have not inquired what the present
practice is but, until a few years ago, the formal letters
introducing newly appointed papal nulncios to Christian
albeit non-Catholic. heads of states started with the
words Beloved Son. or Beloved Daughter.
1t is q Sacrament which makes one a member Of the
Church.. A Communist, on the other hand, is . person
with a certain, we'll defined conviction which is nowhere
registered. All we have is a record Of the card-carrying
members and of the readers OF Communist newspapers.
Yet these two pieces Of evidence. Just as the commun-
list vote in unfettered elections, are by no means con-
elusive arguments as to the real strength Tor weakness)
of Communism or as to the depth Of Communist con.
vietions.
Only in the Soviet Union are Communist convic-
tons more widespread than the official membership.
There the party has the character of an 'Sorder.n The
slightest suspicion as to purity" of the Red Faith can
lead to exclusion. In the earlier years of Communism
1t was sufficient to wear a tie, a hat or a golden wrist
watch to be thrown out a one of the minor 'Chistkas"
(purges). Today a more bourgeois appearance is per-
fectly in order and there are other criteria for an ex-
cluSon. ..
Only about 3 percent of the citizens of the USSR
are members of the Party, which is so difficult to join.
1t is a safe guess to believe that those with thoroughly
Communist convictions are perhaps three times as many;
millions of other Soviet citizens have accepted one or
the other tenet of Communism. Thus it is extremely
difficult for younger people, though they are not Com
munlstS to imagine what a free economy is like)
Still, all these considerations do not alter the fact
that the Communist of the USSR form a smalish min
ority. East and South-EuropeanS are far more impervi-
Gus to indoctrination than the people of the Northwest.
Remember that Fl years of the most intensive Fascist
propaganda in Italy hardly left any traces. -
Yet whereas the number of convinced communists in
the USSR is larger than the party membership, the re-
verse. is true in the Satellite states and in the countries
west of the Iron Curtain. The membership card, only
too often, has here the character of a lfeinsurance or a
job-lnSurance. <
The public profession of Communist convictions,
also, is no indicator of the truth. Take, for instance, the
Hungarian universities. In order to become a student it
is necessary to be of "proletarian' origin, which means,
that your father must be a worker, a peasant or a red
civil servant. Still, this is not sufficient; the acceptance
of a student is dependent upon the strict examination
by a board which will Investigate his political views and
his knowledge of Marxism-Leninisn.
Yet, as we all know, the "Proletarian' and MARX
ist" students of the Hungarian universities spearheaded
the revolution on October, 1856. | have heard a large
variety of estimates as to the realities of Communism in
Hungary: The estimates as to convinced communists
vary between two and six percent.
There is, in Hungary, a proverb, saying that one
cannot be intelligent, honest and . Communist. Either
. man is intelligent and honest, then he cannot be a
OHHIHOUtSI ~ NS - q UI1O 0UO uIStuQSNI Iu6u
he cannot be honest. Or he is honest and . Communist,
then we must discount his intelligence.
In Yugoslavia, where l was three years ago, l trav-
eled during a month and did not find a single Commun-
list, though the estimates speak of 10 and IL percent.
The highest percentage, / was told, could be found in
Montenegro and Macedonia, the toughest, poorest but
least lterate parts. Yet l failed even in Macedonia and
Montenegro. %
A German historian who recently in a Russian So
cial gathering in Moscow, started to say to a group of
Red Army officers: "You, as Communists :" where
yInon fhn nffionrc hof1y dnrind oil Communist oonyic-
tons. -.e.
West of the Iron Curtain the situation is even more
complex. In Austria, Gallup pollsters inquired from the
people whether they believe in compulsory religious edu-
cation in public schools. Of those voting Communist, 81
percent insisted that this was the right thing. Italian
Communists were asked whether they thought that di-
vorce should. be made legal in Italy. All divorced and
remarked Italians have acquired foreign citizenshipl~No
less than As percent were opposed to such a law.
All which proves that in spite of all material
strength, Communism in Europe is weaker than ever
in human terms. And this is the thing which matters.