THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES
OF COMMUNISM
STAFF CONSULTATIONS WITH
RABBI S. ANDHIL FINEBERG
BISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN
DR. DANIEL A. POLING
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COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-FIFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
SEPTEMBER 4, 1957
SEPTEMBER 25, 1957
OCTOBER 18, 1957
(INCLUDING INDEX)
Printed for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities
22087°
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1958
AUG24'62
*7 33 f
O^f
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Representatives
FRANCIS E. WALTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York
CLYDE DOYLE, California DONALD L. JACKSON, California
JAMES B. FRAZIER, Jr., Tennessee GORDON H. SCHERER, Ohio
EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana ROBERT J. McINTOSH, Michigan
RicnARD Arexs, Director
H. Res. 458
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
February 19, 1958,
Resolved, That there be printed thirty thousand six hundred addi-
tional copies of the staff consultations entitled, "The Ideological
Fallacies of Communism", held by the Committee on Un-American
Activities during the Eighty-fifth Congress, first session, ten thou-
sand six hundred of which shall be for the use of that committee
and twenty thousand to be prorated to the Members of the House
of Representatives for a period of ninety days, after which time the
unused balance shall revert to the Committee on Un-American
Activities.
Attest :
Ralph R. Roberts, Clerk.
ii
CONTENTS
Page
Synopsis vn
Staff consultations with—
Dr. S. Andhil Fineberg, September 4, 1957 1
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, September 25, 1957 9
Dr. Daniel A. Poling, October 18, 1957 17
Index i
in
Public Law 601, 79th Congress
The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American
Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946], chapter
753, 2d session, which provides:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, * * *
PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rule X
6EC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES
*******
17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
*******
(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities.
(A) Un-American activities.
(2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit-
tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent,
character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks
the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and
(iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary
remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
Rule XII
LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES
Sec. 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws
and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem neces-
tary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives
shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative
agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the juris-
diction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent re-
ports and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch
of the Government.
IV
RULES ADOPTED BY THE 85TH CONGRESS
House Resolution 5, January 3, 1957
Rule X
STANDING COMMITTEES
1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Con-
gress,
(q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.
****** #
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
* * * * * * *
17. Committee on Un-American Activities.
(a) Un-American activities.
(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, char-
acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop-
aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and
attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitu-
tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress
in any necessary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by such chairman, and may be served by any person desig-
nated by any such chairman or member.
26. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in
developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary,
each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness
of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject
matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that
purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by
the agencies in the executive branch of the Government.
* * * Communism, like crime, advances and takes hold
because men ignore God. The real danger in communism
lies in the fact that it is atheistic and seeks to replace the
Supreme Being. Communism is secularism on the march.
It is the mortal foe of all the world's religions which acknowl-
edge the existence of God. Either the faith of our fathers will
triumph or communism will engulf us. In this land of ours
the two cannot live side by side.
Nowhere among the leaders of the Communist Party in the
"United States, Russia, Red China or in any other part of the
world will you find one who loves and believes in God. God is
truth. Communists hate truth and, therefore, they hate the
church.
One of the leading slogans of the Communist revolution m
Russia in 1917 was: "Religion is the opium of the people."
This was first uttered by Karl Marx, the founder of commu-
nism, in 1843. Lenin, now resurrected by the Kremlin as the
Communist idol and guide of the present and future, restated
it in 1905. And last year, Nikita Khrushchev, the present
head of the Russian Communist Party, publicly proclaimed
that Communists have not changed their opinion on religion
and said:
We remain the atheists that we have always been;
we are doing all we can to liberate those people who
are still under the spell of this religious opiate.
When Communists temporarily and passively tolerate
religion, it is for the purpose of furthering communism. But
time and again they have struck ruthlessly against Christians,
Jews, and other faiths, torturing, imprisoning, and murdering
those who hold God above the state. Those who hate God
always bring misery in their wake. They are brutal, cruel,
and deceitful. Communism denies and destroys every spirit-
ual value. No church and no church member can temporize
with it. * * *— J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau
oj Investigation.
VI
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
SYNOPSIS
Three prominent clergymen— of the Jewish, Catholic, and Protes-
tant faiths, respectively — analyzed in the accompanying staff consul-
tations '"The Ideological Fallacies of Communism."
'to*
Rabbi S. Andhil Fineberg, community-relations consultant of the
American Jewish Committee, characterized communism as follows:
Communism is a totalitarian scheme for regimenting
human existence. It subjects every aspect of life to the
wishes and whims of a bureaucratic oligarchy. It is as
different from our outlook on life as atheism is different from
faith in God. The political and economic aspects of com-
munism are derivatives of a philosophy whose ultimates
cannot resemble ours.
Communists base their view of life on materialism and on
a collective society. Our way of life is based on Judaeo-
Christian concepts and on the importance of even the most
humble individual. They think of people as creatures whose
destiny is determined solely by their material well-being.
We think of people as creatures with souls, who prize spiritual
values.
He discussed the ideological fallacies of communism concerning
God, man, private property, and power. Regarding the fallacy of
communism with respect to the existence of God, Dr. Fineberg stnted:
Ruling out, as they do, the existence of a deity and man's
responsibility to that Higher Power, they revere only human
beings. They have no hope of the hereafter; they have no
concept such as the Jews have — which, incidentally, is the
theme of our high holy days — that everyone is accountable to
the Divine Judge. They, therefore, do not have what reli-
gious people consider higher moral laws, the immutable
demands that God makes upon human beings and which
are at the base not only of our aspirations but of our concepts
of moral conduct.
His comments with reference to the Communist fallacy in regard
to man included these observations:
Lacking a spiritual basis for existence, Communist ideolo-
gists conceive of people as having no other worthy objective
but material prosperity and military might. All other
human ideals, hopes, and aspirations are sacrificed for these.
And, in pursuit of these goals for the nation as a whole,
Communist rulers assume the right to deal with all human
beings as though they were the property and chattel of the
state. Democratic leaders would never set up one-party
government. You will recall that, when the great emanci-
VII
VIII SYNOPSIS
pator Moses was told that several people were speaking
against him in the camp, he welcomed that dissent and
said, "Would that all the people were prophets and that
God would put His spirit in all of them."
Continuing his analysis, Dr. Fineberg assailed the fallacies of
communism in regard to private property by pointing out that —
* * * where property right is so limited that the concept of
ownership becomes a myth and a deception, as it is under
communism, there ceases to be the kind of personal respon-
sibility necessary for a genuinely religious life, which must
be one of owning, of giving, and of sharing, with considerable
opportunity for voluntary conduct.
In regard to the fallacy of communism respecting power, Dr. Fine-
berg exploded the theory of communism "that the beneficence of
Communists is sufficient to guarantee good government."
In response to the query as to how the forces of freedom can best
combat the ideology of communism, he pointed out that the forces of
freedom should emphasize the "proof of the superiority of our way
of life over life under communism in terms of religious and spiritual
values."
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, national director of the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith, Auxiliary Bishop of New York and Titular
Bishop of Cesariana, stated that —
* * * communism is not an economic system; communism
is basically a philosophical system, which was born of the
marriage . of two unmarriageable and unproductive units
* * * not based on reality.
He pointed out that —
* * * the existence of God and private property are both
denied simultaneously by communism. If a man has no
soul, he cannot allege that he has any relationships with any-
one outside of the state. If he has no property, he is depend-
ent upon the state even for his physical existence. Therefore
the denial of God and the denial of freedom are both condi-
tions of slavery.
He continued:
The goal of communism is the complete subjection of man-
kind to a totalitarian system which would deny both internal
and external freedom.
With reference to the relationship between the philosophy of com-
munism and communism in action, Bishop Sheen observed that —
* * * as in Christianity the word became flesh, or truth
became incarnate; in communism the ideology has become
action. There is no great diversity between any principles
of communism and communism in action. And that is why
many people go wrong in judging communism, because they,
not knowing its ideology, do not understand the present
action.
We of the Western World judge Russia by its foreign
policy. Whenever there are smiles at Geneva and Russia
apparently begins to be lenient with the Western World, we
SYNOPSIS IX
think communism is good. Whereas if you judge it from its
ideology, it is a tactic, but not a change of s}^stem.
In regard to the reason for the tremendous inroads made by com-
munism in the course of the last 50 years, Bishop Sheen stated:
There are many reasons for that. One reason is the spirit-
ual vacuum that has been created in the world. The modern
world has lost its faith, it has lost its goal and its purpose.
And the world became sick and tired of milk-and-water
systems where there was nothing so sacred that you could
dedicate your life to it, and nothing so evil that you should
risk your life to destroy it. And communism comes into a
world that is sick with relativism, and offers an absolute, and
men find a loyalty and a dedication and a consecration which
gives them great faith in a political system, without impo? ; ng
any individual morality.
As to why certain persons become Communists, Bishop heen noted
that communism —
* * * legislates for the mass, but it does not impose any
individual morality. That is one of the reasons, I think,
why some people — not all, God forbid — have an exaggerated
interest in social justice, because it dispenses them from
individual justice; they begin taking care of everyone else's
problems in order to cover up their own dark and rotten
conscience. Whenever I hear people talk about social justice
I always want to find out how much they pay their house-
keepers.
He continued:
It is always well to investigate the moral background of
those who become Communists, as it is always a good princi-
ple in talking to people not to be so interested in what they
say as in why they say it. Why do certain people say cer-
tain things? For example, if you ask me a question, and I
immediately begin insulting you or the committee, you
shouldn't pay any attention to what I am saying, but to why
do I say it, to what is wrong with me.
A young man one day knocked Lincoln down in a hospital
in Virginia. He didn't recognize Lincoln, and he said to
Lincoln, "Why didn't you get out of the way, you big, long-
legged spider?" And Lincoln said, "Young man, what's
troubling you on the inside?"
Very often skepticism is a moral position ; that is to sa} 7 , it
has been determined by behavior. So the intelligentsia will
sometimes follow communism because of their behavior.
Among the courses of action which he suggested in undertaking to
cope with the international Communist menace was the expulsion of
Russia from the United Nations, and the insistence by the West on
the liberation of certain suppressed peoples.
22087°— 58 2
X SYNOPSIS
Dr. Daniel A. Poling, editor of the Christian Herald, stated that—
Communism is a driving dynamic faith. It has all of the
passion that we associate with the early Christian church.
But its basic tenet, its first principle, is atheisim It not only
disregards, but it refutes and denies, the Christian ethic. It
has absolutely no concern for the individual. We believe
that government is made for man, and not man for govern-
ment. Communism teaches and practices that the individual
is not only the servant of, but the slave of, the state. He
exists for "the state. His personal well-being is of no con-
sideration at all if the strength of the state is in any way
mitigated or jeopardized by this individual. * * * Com-
munism is a total and comprehensive philosophy. It is a
way of life, It is a coverall, body, mind, and soul. It is
the universal enslavement.
Dr. Poling pointed out that so-called peaceful coexistence with the
Kremlin is both incredible and impossible, that so far as the Kremlin
is concerned peaceful coexistence means peaceful submission.
"Communism," Dr. Poling continued, "has made, in the opinion
of some of us, a moral debacle of the United Nations." He asserted
"that there was every reason for us to withdraw recognition of
Russia." He urged that individual citizens join in the efforts of the
several patriotic organizations of the Nation which are dedicated to
resisting communism.
In regard to the manner in which the forces of freedom can compete
in the world market place of ideas with Communist ideology he stated:
* * * We need to emphasize not what material things we
have here, but the realities of freedom and the fact that com-
munism is slavery. It is the destruction of the very aspira-
tions of the soul. It is enslavement of the body, and you can
prove that by pointing to Communist slave camps all over
the world, and not only the enslavement of the body, but the
enslavement of the mind and the soul. And remember one
thing; there are more than one billion human beings who
believe in one God — the Moslem, the Buddhist, the Roman
Catholic, the Protestant, and the Jew.
We should lay emphasis upon the fact that communism in
its first tenet is atheism. We have obscured that idea too
often. We need to point to what we have on our coins,
"In God We Trust." We need to get that across, if you
please. We are getting the dollar across, but we need to get
across the thing that we really finally live by in this country.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
wednesday, september 4, 1957
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Washington, D. C.
STAFF CONSULTATION
The following consultation with Dr. S. Andhil Fineberg was held
by the staff of the Committee on Un-American Activities at 10:10
a. m., Wednesday, September 4, 1957, in room 226, Old House Office
Building, Washington, D. C.
Staff members present: Richard Arens, director (presiding);
Richard S. Weil, staff member; and Col. William F. Heimlich,
consultant.
Mr. Arens. Today we shall consider "The Ideological Fallacies of
Communism."
We are pleased to welcome to the consultation on this subject
Rabbi S. Andhil Fineberg, who is the community-relations consultant
of the American Jewish Committee.
RABBI S. ANDHIL FINEBERG
Mr. Arens. We would like, for the purpose of this record, if you
please, sir, your name residence, and occupation.
Dr. Fineberg. My name is S. Andhil Fineberg. I reside in Mount
Vernon, N. Y. I received my doctorate from Columbia University.
I have occupied pulpits in Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and
Mount Vernon, N. Y.
Mr. Arens. Please give us a word about how you first became in-
terested in the subject of communism.
Dr. Fineberg. For the past 10 years I have directed the program
against communism of the American Jewish Committee, but my in-
terest in the subject began when I was serving in the United States
Marine Corps during World War I. Among my friends were Mr. and
Mrs. Boris Bogen, of Cincinnati, who were thoroughly acquainted
with Russian political developments. When the Czar was deposed
in March 1917, they were very happy.
They were horrified when the Bolsheviks, an insignificant part of
the Russian population, violently came to power in October of the
same year. The Bogens knew that the Bolsheviks, or the Commu-
nists as they were later called, were totalitarian who destroyed a
democratic Russian government. I learned the facts in 1918 from
people who knew that these new rulers of Russia were militant atheists
steeped in theories of economic determinism and dedicated to the
proposition that human beings do not possess souls, nor conscience,
nor obligations to Deity.
Mr. Arens. May I ask, Dr. Fineberg, whether you would charac-
terize communism as just another economic or political system?
2 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
Dr. Fineberg. If the communism of the Soviet Union involved
only a difference of political theories, or of economic theories, as some
Americans have fatuously believed, we could debate the merits of
communism in this country dispassionately.
Mr. Arens. What, then, is communism?
Dr. Fineberg. Communism is a totalitarian scheme for regimenting
human existence. It subjects every aspect of life to the wishes and
whims of a bureaucratic oligarchy. It is as different from our outlook
on life as atheism is different from faith in God. The political and
economic aspects of communism are derivatives of a philosophy whose
ultimatcs cannot resemble ours.
Communists base their view of life on materialism and on a col-
lective society. Our way of life is based on Judaeo-Christian concepts
and on the importance of even the most humble individual. They
think of people as creatures whose destiny is determined solely by
their material well-being. We think of people as creatures with
souls, who prize spiritual values.
Mr. Arens. Dr. Fineberg, you are a man of the cloth of a great
religious faith. Please tell us if there is a basis for coexistence or
consistency between adherents of the Jewish faith and adherents of
communism.
Dr. Fineberg. As far as coexistence is concerned, religious people
have alwa3 7 s accepted the idea that we must be willing, while opposing
evil, to live with it. I reject the thought that there must be inevitable
military war with the Communists, a clash which would end in vast
destruction, but I wish to say, unequivocally, that Judaism and
communism are absolutely incompatible. As early as 1919, the
American Jewish Committee declared:
Everything that bolshevism stands for is, to the Jew, detestable. The Jewish
traditions wed him to law and order. The Bolshevists are the enemies of law and
order. * * * The great mass of the Jews are faithful to their ancient religion, and
are ever ready to help their brethren in distress. The club of the Bolshevist
knows no brother and he despises religion.
Mr. Arens. Have the religious forces of the world, in your judg-
ment, been as vigorous in opposition to the spread of communism as
they might have been?
Dr. Fineberg. Too few religious leaders have accepted the respon-
sibility of refuting Communist propaganda. Like most Americans,
clergymen have been against communism without studying it and
without effort to expose its fallacies.
Mr. Arens. How do ymi account for that?
Dr. Fineberg. Most religious leaders have taken the view that
the best way to combat communism is to perfect our own Nation.
"Let us be thoroughly honest," they say, in effect, "and no one will
cheat us. Let us not attack communism lest we injure civil liberties
in our own land."
In the main I agree with the proposition that the first obligation of
religious people is to set our own house in order and to improve our
own system. But I believe it is an error to stop there. One cannot
keep thieves from breaking into our houses by merely being honest,
and I have never seen an instance where counterfeit coin was banished
by merely minting more good money.
Mr. Arens. Would you draw a distinction between the activities
of the Communists and the ideolog}^ of communism?
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 6
Dr. Fineberg. The villainies of Communist leaders have become
well known. But unfortunately people assume that these scoundrels
acted contrary to Communist doctrines. Even Stalin, having been
denounced by Communists, is assumed to have acted in an anti-
Communist fashion. Actually, Stalin and all the other Communist
bureaucrats whose villainies are now known were and are the incarna-
tion of communism. They were thoroughly indoctrinated and whole-
hearted Communists. They did what communism required of them,
even though their comrades later made scapegoats of them.
Political murder and kidnaping, ruthless purges that slaughter
multitudes, imprisonment and execution without trial, and other such
atrocities have been customary under communism because that is
what communism brings. No government, including our own, can
guarantee that everyone will respect the civil rights and civil liberties
of others. But enormous injustices are inherent and inescapable under
communism. They are inevitable where power is so highly centralized.
We cannot point out often enough that it is Communist ideology which
is responsible for the countless crimes of Communist bureaucrats.
Mr. Arens. Dr. Fineberg, what do you consider to be the prin-
cipal ideological fallacies of communism, which cause the reprehensible
Communist conduct, to which you have alluded?
Dr. Fineberg. Those fallacies are concerning God, man, private
property, and power, to mention only the principal ones.
Mr. Arens. Then may we proceed, if you please, with consideration
of each of these principal elements. First of all, what is the fallacy
of communism with respect to the existence of a supreme deity, God?
Dr. Fineberg. Ruling out, as they do, the existence of a deity and
man's responsibility to that Higher Power, they revere only human
beings. They have no hope of the hereafter; they have no concept
such as the Jews have, which, incidentally, is the theme of our High
Holy Days, that everyone is accountable to the Divine Judge. They,
therefore, do not have what religious people consider higher moral
laws, the immutable demands that God makes upon human beings and
which are at the base not only of our aspirations but of our concepts
of moral conduct.
In Judaism, we say, "Put not your trust in princes." We believe
that without divine inspiration and that which the Creator gives us
of his own eternal wisdom, we would flounder forever from one tempta-
tion to another. In brief, unless the Creator has provided for man's
morality, human life must resemble jungle, life.
Mr. Weil. Would you say ours is a religious nation?
Dr. Fineberg. In our society there are many agnostics and some
atheists, but there is tremendous respect for religion and for those
values which can be readily traced to religious authority. Americans
are guaranteed genuine religious liberty. Behind the Iron Curtain
religion has been drastically curtailed and atheism has been state
promoted.
Mr. Arens. Now, having dealt with Communist negation of the
concept of God and of all religion, may I invite your attention to the
second fallacy which you suggest in the ideology of communism,
namely, Communist fallacy with reference to man.
Dr. Fineberg. Lacking a spiritual basis for existence, Communist
ideologists conceive of people as having no other worthy objective
but material prosperity and military might. All other human ideals,
4 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
hopes, and aspirations are sacrificed for these. And in pursuit of
these goals for the nation as a whole, Communist rulers assume the
right to deal with all human beings as though they were the property
and chattel of the state. Democratic leaders would never set up one-
party government. You will recall that when the great emancipator
Moses was told that several people were speaking against him in the
camp, he welcomed that dissent and said, "Would that all the people
were prophets and that God would put His spirit in all of them."
The Communists claim that someday there will be, as a result of
their efforts, a humanity which will somehow maintain an earthly
paradise with no government at all. Toward the promised "wither-
ing away" of the governments they have established, the Communists
have made no progress whatsoever. Far from bringing about a
classless society where all people are equal, the Communists way of
life has widened the gap between those who possess power and those
who lack it. What Communism does to people has been well de-
scribed in Milovan Djilas' book, The New Class. Communists form
an elite master group while the overwhelming majority of the popula-
tion are deprived of the most essential features of desirable existence,
such as the power to make important decisions, the right to engage
in political action, and the opportunity for effective dissent. This
is why I say communism is a way of life entirely different from our
own.
There is no escape in a Communist regime from Lenin's democratic
centralism, incidentally, another example of the depravity of Com-
munist language. Democratic centralism compels everyone to yield
resignedly to the decisions that those at the top make. No one is
permitted to question the rightfulness of those decisions. Anyone
who can call that democratic when it applies, as it does in Communist-
controlled countries, to every facet of existence, is already in intellec-
tual bondage.
Mr. Arens. Now, may we consider the third fallacy which you
suggest in the ideology of communism, namely, its concept with
reference to private property.
Dr. Fineberg. Neither Judaism nor Christianity has challenged
the right of private property. The Bible assumes, as does nearly all
of our religious literature, that every individual should have some
material possessions. However, according to the religious view of
things, no one possesses anything without obligation and responsi-
bility to others. Religious people assume that they must use what-
ever property they have not only for their own benefit, but also for
the welfare of others.
Let me say parenthetically that there has been no objection in re-
ligious thinking to people who agree to common ownership such as a
partnership or a corporation or a cooperative. There is no religious
objection to a nation's running its post office or owning its railroads.
But where property right is so limited that the concept of ownership
becomes a myth and a deception, as it is under communism, there
ceases to be the kind of personal responsibility necessary for a genu-
inely religious life, which must be one of owning, of giving, and of
sharing, with considerable opportunity for voluntary conduct. The
good life, as we envision and experience it, is impossible without some
personal independence.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 5
Let me explain this by comparing the status of a man who serves
as the captain of a ship owned by a private corporation. How ridicu-
lous it would be if he resigned his office and became a sailor on a United
States Navy boat, saying, "Now I own my own ship." The fact that
all citizens of the United States "own" the Navy does not create any
such situation as the word "ownership" describes when a man owns
his own boat. In fact, a government employee is independent only
in a country where private employment is open to him. It is in a
free market with private enterprise that one can enjoy greatest inde-
pendence and freedom of action. It would be better to have a
dozen Scrooges competing for one's labor or competing for one's
produce than to have one monopolistic government as the sole em-
ployer and purchaser. Total government ownership destro} T s the
possibility of freedom of thought and action.
Property is so closely related to the individual's choice of conduct
and to his way of life that Judaism has always recognized private
property rights. Jews developed many laws regulating inheritance
and transfer of property, business activities, and the like, but private
property was never declared to be an evil per se, as it is under com-
munism. Under communism the individual loses along with his
property, his opportunity of expression in the arts, and for the develop-
ment of his culture. Let me cite the fact that there is no law in
Russia against printing a Hebrew book, but for 40 years none was
printed because no one could get the paper or type. In a free society
every cultural group can publish what it pleases. In a Communist
country, a culture must die if the hierarchy refuses to let it have the
physical means of producing books and periodicals.
A cruel fallacy of communism is the impression created among
innumerable people that ownership is identical when the individual
owns something and when "society" owns it. In actuality, there is
a vast difference in ownerships. Individuals and small groups
manage and control that which they own, while the "possessions" of
50 or 100 million people must be managed and controlled by the
relatively few at the top. In America, the electorate can at least
change the administrators by ballot. In a Communist country, none
but the top administrators can make any important change of any
kind.
Mr. Arens. And now, if you please, what about the fourth fallacy
which you have suggested in the ideology of communism, namely, its
concept of power?
Dr. Fineberg. Among democratic people, there is a great distrust
of government. We hedge the power of those who control govern-
ment by a great many devices. I need hardly tell Americans of the
many limits that restrict and restrain those who govern us. We keep
the man who obtains political power from thereb} 7 acquiring power
over our press, over our educational institutions, and over our various
cultural and social activities. We encourage a tremendous number
of voluntary organizations to do things which the government might
do. But the primary point I want to make here is that there is a
skepticism about those who govern. No man is considered so
righteous that power may not corrupt him.
Among Communists, on the other hand, the theory is that the
beneficence of Communists is sufficient to guarantee good govern-
ment. They excoriate people of wealth and those whom they call
6 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
"the ruling classes" in non-Communist countries and say: "We per-
fectly wonderful benevolent unselfish creatures will take over all of
the power that the Fascists have but we must have a great deal more
power — unlimited power. We will assume the reins of government
and being determined as we are to advance the good of everyone, we
will create that heaven which does not exist even in the hereafter."
Amazingly, many people put such faith in human beings as a Com-
munist despotism requires of its followers.
Mr. Arens. Is that why the Communist doctrine has had such
fantastic success in sweeping vast areas of the world in so short a
time?
Dr. Fineberg. That is part of the reason. Where people are so
unhappy that they crave drastic social change, they are likely to
accept glittering promises such as the Communists make. Unless
analyzed and disproved, Communist theories are highly alluring.
But it would be a grave error to think that Communists, with all of
their wretched failures and unpardonable brutalities can point to no
successes. To be sure they deceive, beguile, and betray, but they
can boast of some triumphs in rapid industrialization.
Mr. Arens. Now may I invite your attention to an area of inquiry
that should be of immediate practical concern to all of us, namely,
how can the forces of freedom best combat in the world market place
the ideology of communism?
Dr. Fineberg. I am glad you limited your question to the matter
of ideology because there are many things our Nation has to do abroad
to meet the threat of communism, such as foreign aid, military assist-
ance, exchange programs, technical assistance programs, and the like;
but in regard to ideology I would say that we must begin at home
right here in the United States. We must overcome the idea that
communism will doom or destroy itself. We must cease to let this
be a one-sided intellectual war, with the Communists using every
facility while many of our best minds are apathetic.
In Communist schools the relative merits of communism and of
Western Democracy are constantly contrasted. The faults and defi-
ciencies that crop up in Western culture are magnified. The virtues
are overlooked. But this process has been going on continually and
it has produced extremely capable propagandists for the Communists.
When courses of study or even lectures concerning communism are
suggested in the United States, someone always is on the spot to
declare that such instruction is altogether unnecessary.
As long as the American public refuses to examine the theories of
communism and to understand the fallacies, this tremendous move-
ment which has declared from its inception that it will destroy the
religious way of life and expunge our American outlook on life, is
bound to win many a contest for the minds of men.
Mr. Arens. Can we win this struggle for the minds of men by an
approach which tells of the productivity of this Nation, how we can
produce more television sets and automobiles and things of material
value than can the Communist society; or should our approach, in
your judgment, point out the ideological, spiritual fallacies of commu-
nism and how communism has an ideology which is diametrically
opposed to the undergirding forces of our free society?
Dr. Fineberg. You have put your finger on one of the fallacies
underlying our own efforts to combat communism which we would not
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 7
have made had our clergy, our educators, and others of our best minds
not run away from this subject.
If all that people want is more food, better machinery, and bigger
guns, the Communists will have as much to offer as we have, as far
as national product is concerned. What use will be made of it is
another matter. Communist planners are capable materialists,
ready to sacrifice all other considerations. They are not deflected
by spiritual or religious considerations. Because of their bureaucratic
system and their failure to take the human soul into account, they
have some bad economic problems; but they can solve those by doing
as they have heretofore, by herding millions of people into slave-labor
camps and by exacting every last bit of labor and sacrifice from the
toiling masses.
When we tell people in backward countries of our many bathtubs
and our splendid cars, the Russian propagandist had better be taken
into account, for he says "the reason the imperialists have all these
luxuries is that they took your oil, your rubber, and your other raw
materials."
If all that we can do is offer material advancement, let us not forget
that the Communist countries offer the same things. It is foolhardy
to say that all you need do is to give people a better material existence
to keep them out of communism at the very time that the Soviet
Union itself is willing to help backward countries materially.
What Communists cannot offer, what they do not have, and what
we can provide is best described as "spiritual values." We can sup-
ply, if our clergy will furnish the material, proof of the superiority of
our way of life over life under communism in terms of religious and
spiritual values.
Mr. Akens. We thank you, Dr. Fineberg, for your contribution to
the subject, "The Ideological Fallacies of Communism."
Dr. Fineberg. Let me say it has been a pleasure to be here dis-
cussing this subject with you. I hope that the House Committee on
Un-American Activities will continue its efforts to educate the Ameri-
can public on the nature of communism. It should be apparent that
exposing the misdeeds of Communists is not enough. We must not
fail to expose the soulless nature of communism and to refute the de-
ceptive arguments of its ideologists. In the tremendous battle for the
minds of men religious leaders eveiywhere should see to it that some-
thing more than the needs of the body are brought into account.
(Thereupon, at 12:35 p. m., Wednesday, September 4, 1957, the
staff consultation was concluded.)
22087° — 5S 3
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1957
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
New York, N. Y.
STAFF CONSULTATION
The following consultation with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen of the
Catholic Church, was held by the staff of the Committee on Un-
American Activities, at the offices of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y., at 3 p. m., on
Wednesday, September 25, 1957.
Staff members present: Richard Arens, director (presiding), and
Col. William F. Heimlich, consultant.
Mr. Arens. We are pleased at this time, on behalf of the Committee
on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives, to con-
sult with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Auxiliary Bishop of New York and
Titular Bishop of Cesariana on the subject, "The Ideological Fallacies
of Communism."
BISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN
Mr. Arens. As a point of departure in our consultation, may I ask,
Bishop Sheen, if you could give us the benefit of 30111- judgment on the
principal ideological fallacies of Communism?
Bishop Sheen. When one speaks of the ideology of communism
one is speaking of a philosophy. That is what it means, basically,
ideology.
Well, the first ideological fallacy of communism is that it is an
artificial system imposed on reality, both economic and political.
What is this artificial system? This artificial system is the con-
glomeration of two distinct philosophies that were united in the brain
of Karl Marx. One was the system of idealism which issued from
Hegel, which he was obliged to study, as were all students in Germany.
Hegel's philosophy was called dialectical idealism. It was idealism
because it was concerned with ideas. It was called dialectical be-
cause it was concerned with how ideas developed, mainly by contra-
diction.
Suppose, for example, we were decorating a room. One said, "Let
us decorate it in red," another said, "In green," and we compromise
for blue. That would be a development of an idea through contrast,
fiction, and contradiction.
After Marx studied this particular system he then read a book of
Feuerbach, Ludwig Feuerbach, entitled "The Essence of Christian-
ity," which was an attack upon all Hegelianism and was an affirma-
tion of the crudest kind of materialism.
10 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
Marx said he was absolutely incapable of controlling his enthusiasm
when he read this book, with its emphasis on materialism. Then
there came to the brain of Marx the idea of uniting a part of Hegel
with Feuerbach. He said, "Wouldn't it be a wonderful idea to take
the dialectics which belong to Hegel's idealism and apply them to the
materialism of Feuerbach?" If one did that, one would then have
dialectical materialism. The philosophy would then be how material-
ism grows.
Marx then proceeded to show that materialism grows, or every-
thing material grows, by contradiction, the same as Hegel said ideas
grow by contradiction. And the example that his colleague Engels
gave was that 3^011 drop barley on the earth; the barley is negated by
the earth; out of the negation of the barley by the earth there comes
an entirely new harvest of barley, different in quantity and quality
from that which was sowed.
Up to this point it is only a philosophy, but it is a philosophy which
is purely mental and without any basis in reality.
He now goes to France, where he meets Proudhon, explains the
system to Proudhon, and Proudhon says, "Marx, you are a typical
German; this is up in the air; it's too idealistic and nobody will be
interested in it." Proudhon suggested that he appby it to the social
order.
And the application to the social order was this: Now it is not only
matter that has within itself a tension; it is society that has the ten-
sion. It is not just barley and earth negating one another; those who
own property are negated by those who do not own property, and
those who do not own are negated by those who do own; and out of
the two comes- a new social order, and that new social order is
communism.
The point, therefore, is that communism is not an economic sys-
tem; communism is basically a philosophical system, which was born
of the marriage of two unmarriageable and unproductive units;
namely, Hegel and Feuerbach.
Mr." Areas. May 1 inquire at this point: How does this philosophy
of communism compare with reality?
Bishop Sheen. Well, the first point 1 made was that it was an
ideology that was not based on reality.
Mr. Arens. 1 should like at this point, if you please, to ask j-ou to
pursue that specific train of thought to tell us how in your judgment,
communism varies from or contradicts reality?
Bishop Sheen. Well, first of all, it is perhaps going into it too
philosophically to say that what Marx was really talking about were
contraries instead of contradictions, that the earth is not the contra-
diction of I he barley seed, it is something that complements it.
Bui now getting more precisely down to earth, why is the ideology
in conflict with reality? Because it is in conflict even with the reality
of communism. Why, if contradiction, dialectics, tension are inherent
in nature and in history, why is it that dialectics do not apply to
communism? Why doesn't communism beget its negation?
And they have never been able to answer that particular question;
Hie only concret e answer that was ever given to it was Mao Tse-tung's,
a month ago, when lie said, "You must allow for variations and even
new contradictions within a Communist society." And for that Mao
Tse-tung has been reproved by the Communists.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 11
Mr. Arens. Does the philosophy of Communism encompass a
concept of God?
Bishop Sheen. No; there are several reasons why there is no place
for God in communism. One is because of its concept of freedom.
Suppose I correlate the problem of religion and the problem of freedom
in answering your question, and let me begin with freedom and then
go to religion.
A man is free on the inside because he has a soul that he can call
his own. Wherever you have the spirit you have freedom. A pencil
has no freedom, ice has no freedom to be warm, fire has no freedom
to be cold. You begin to have freedom only when jdu have something
immaterial or spiritual.
Now, freedom must have some external guaranty of itself. The
external guaranty of human freedom is property. A man is free on
the inside because he can call his soul his own; he is free on the outside
because he can call something he has his own. Therefore private
property is the economic guaranty of human freedom.
Suppose now you concoct a system in which you want to possess
man totally. On what conditions can you erect a totalitarian system
so that, man belongs to you completely? One, you have got to deny
spirit; two, you have got to deny property.
That is why the existence of God and private property are botli
denied simultaneously by communism. If a man has no soul, he
cannot allege that he has any relationships with anyone outside of the
state. If he has no property, he is dependent upon the state even for
his physical existence. Therefore the denial of God and the denial
of freedom are both conditions of slavery.
Mr. Arens. Is there, in your judgment, room within the philosophy
of communism for moral concepts?
Bishop Sheen. Yes, there is, if you use moral in the Communist
sense of what is expedient or nonexpedient for a totalitarian system.
What is true and what is false, what is right, and what is wrong in
communism? Anything that favors the Communist cause is right.
Anything that deters it or obstructs it is wrong.
What is true under the Communist system? Truth is what is
helpful for establishing the revolution; false is what obstructs it.
Mr. Arens. And what is the goal of communism?
Bishop Sheen. The goal of communism is the complete subjection
of mankind to a totalitarian s} :r stem which would deny both internal
and external freedom.
Mr. Arens. May I ask you if you see a distinction between the
ideology of communism and communism in action; does it work out
the way it was conceived to work?
Bishop Sheen. May I before I answer that question bring out one
other point about the ideology
Mr. Arens. Please do.
Bishop Sheen. That will help us, I think, answer that question. It
has to do with the problem of what is a person. There is a difference
between a person and an individual. An individual is replaceable.
When you buy oranges you can say, "I don't like that one, give me
this one." But you cannot say that about children.
Every person in the world is irreplaceable and unique. Now,
democracy is based upon the concept of persons, not individuals.
The political philosophers of communism said that it was based upon
12 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
individuals, and individuals could be massed, and out of the mass
came communism.
Karl Marx discussed the problem of person. He said a person in
a democracy is supposed to have value because he has a soul and was
created by God. He was perfectly right in saying that that was the
basic principle of democracy, but then he went on, in some works
that are not very well known, and he reiterated the idea in one of his
introductions to "Das Kapital," in which he said the person has
value only inasmuch as he is useful to the revolutionary movement.
The moment he ceases to be useful, he no longer exists.
That is why liquidation can be right, because right is not in objec-
tivity, right is in what the party determines to be right.
Mr. Arens. Does not the Communist philosophy have an end
result which they perceive to be good, a kind of a millenium on earth?
Bishop Sheen. Yes; communism has actually taken from Chris-
tianity.
Mr. Arens. It is a perversion of Christianity, however, is it not?
Bishop Sheen. Oh, yes; certainly. But it has taken from Christi-
anity the notion of a final retribution and judgment; there is no such
thing as coming into the Kingdom of God without a trial; individually
there is not, collectively the world itself will not pass into another
world without a last judgment and a great conflagration.
Now, communism is much more right than the liberalism of the
19th century. The liberalism of the 19th century believed in auto-
matic progress; nothing can stop it. Their view of progress was
quite wrong, because all you have to do is simply to count up the
interval between wars; the interval between the Franco-Prussian War
and the First World War was 45 years; and then between the First
World War and the Second, 23, so they are becoming more frequent.
Progress is not automatic.
Communism, however, instead of believing in automatic progress,
said there has to come a moment of trial, of conflict, of purgation —
a kind of a last judgment. That is the moment of violence and rev-
olution, and the imposition of party authority on the mass that is
seized. Then there comes peace.
So they have taken over something there from Christianity and
perverted it, and they believe in a millennium, but they believed it
would happen much more quickly than it has.
Marx, for example, was sure that the last country in the world that
would ever be Communist would be Russia, because it did not have
the intrinsic contradictions of capital and labor, therefore it could
not become communistic. But both Marx and Lenin expected that
within 20 or ,30 years it would, and the revolutionists of 1917 thought
it would be within 5 or 10 years. And the millennium today is receding.
Colonel Heimlich. Plow do you account for the fact that so few
people have acquired domination over so many in a state such as
Russia, where even Lenin thought such revolution or communism
would be impossible?
Bishop Sheen. It is easy to make a touchdown when you run on
the foul lines. Remember that the Communists operate in a much
broader field than the rest of the world, who are governed by a very
definite sense of right and wrong and respect for human personality
and human truth. When you do not obligate yourself to a concept
of truth and right, you have a much larger area in which to operate.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 13
Mr. Arens. Do you perceive a distinction between the philosophy
of communism, what communism purports to be, and what com-
munism is in reality as it has been sweeping over approximately one-
third of the globe?
Bishop Sheen. No; I find that, as in Christianity the word became
flesh, or truth became incarnate; in communism the ideology has
become action. There is no great diversity between any principles of
communism and communism in action. And that is why many
people go wrong in judging communism, because they, not knowing
its ideology, do not understand the present action.
We of the Western World judge Russia by its foreign policy.
Whenever there are smiles at Geneva and Russia apparently begins
to be lenient with the Western World, we think communism is good.
Whereas if you judge it from its ideology, it is a tactic, but not a change
of system.
Mr. Arens. Is there a basis for trust or confidence upon which we
could have sound negotiations with the men of the Kremlin?
Bishop Sheen. There is absolutely no basis. As Lenin himself
said, lies, deceit must be used in order to attain the Communist goal.
Mr. Arens. May I revert, if you please, to the theme that was
posed a moment ago, by Colonel Heimlich, namely, in view of the
fallacies of communism, why is it communism in the course of the
last 50 years has made such tremendous inroads throughout the
world?
Bishop Sheen. There are many reasons for that. One reason is
the spiritual vacuum that has been created in the world. The modern
world has lost its faith, it has lost its goal and its purpose. And the
world became sick and tired of milk-and-water systems where there
was nothing so sacred that you could dedicate your life to it, and
nothing so evil that you should risk your life to destroy it. And
communism comes into a world that is sick with relativism, and offers
an absolute, and men find a loyalty and a dedication and a consecra-
tion which gives them great faith in a political system, without im-
posing any individual morality.
Mr. Arens. You have given us a diagnosis of the disease; do you
have a remedy to suggest?
Bishop Sheen. Remedies can be political, economic, moral, edu-
cational. As regards education, I believe in informing people about
the philosophy of communism. I insist on the philosoplry, because
that is the only way that communism will ever be understood.
Politically and juridically, there should be a tightening of our laws
so that we could get back to a condition that we had in the days when
our country began, when we knew practically only one traitor, and
we could name him. And history carried on the name of Benedict
Arnold.
Now the name is legion. It is no longer a scandal to the American
people that there is a traitor, or that we have traitors b} r the thousands,
perhaps hundreds of thousands.
Colonel Heimlich. Does that not indicate, sir, what you said
earlier, that this very lack of some spiritual value, some rock on which
we can anchor our moral life, is lacking?
Bishop Sheen. Yes.
Colonel Heimlich. And the Communist, as you said — and I
thought it was so very well put — has his faith in his system which
imposes no morality, a discipline which does not discipline morally.
14 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
Bishop Sheen. It legislates for the mass, but it does not impose
any individual morality. That is one of the reasons, I think, why
some people — not all, God forbid — have an exaggerated interest in
social justice, because it dispenses them from individual justice; they
begin taking care of everyone else's problems in order to cover up
their own dark and rotten conscience. Whenever I hear people talk
about social justice I always want to find out how much they pay
their housekeepers.
Mr. Arens. May I inquire if you feel that is one reason why, in
our work in the Committee on Un-American Activities, we find within
the Communist network, and within the framework of those who are
under Communist discipline, vast segments of the intelligentsia of
this country, because they have lost a moral foundation for their
lives?
Bishop Sheen. Yes. It is always well to investigate the moral
background of those who become Communists, as it is always a good
principle in talking to people not to be so interested in what they say,
as in why they say it. Why do certain people say certain things?
For example, if you ask me a question, and I immediately begin
insulting you or the committee, you shouldn't pay any attention to
what I am sa}ang, but to why do I say it, to what is wrong with me.
A young man one day knocked Lincoln down in a hospital in
Virginia. He didn't recognize Lincoln, and he said to Lincoln, "Why
didn't you get out of the way, you big, long-legged spider?" And
Lincoln said, "Young man., what's troubling you on the inside?"
Very often skepticism is a moral position, that is to say, it has been
determined by behavior. So the intelligentsia will sometimes follow
communism because of their behavior.
Colonel Heimlich. What can we as Christians, or as believers in
God and God's law and God's creation, do to blunt the attack of this
ideology of communism?
Bishop Sheen. Well, I was going to come to the Christian solution
of it in answer to your question, because I mentioned several wa} r s of
suggesting remedies.
Mr. Arens. Proceed, then please, at your own pace.
Bishop Sheen. I think that the United Nations should expel Russia
for certain actions, particularly in Hungary. Two, I think that the
United Nations should be turned upside down. You see, the United
Nations is made up — and because I haven't thought about this for
some time and my language may need some correction — of the
Security Council, and then there is the aggregate General Assembly.
I think that the General Assembly should be on top, because the
General Assembly for the most part is made up of small nations. The
small nations must depend upon moral right, since they cannot
depend upon physical power. Let them therefore be the legislative,
judicial body, and let the Security Council of the powerful nations
execute the decisions of the small powers.
And furthermore, when the United Nations was set up it was set
up with five powers. Suppose it were set up with 5 policemen who
were supposed to take care of the civic peace of New York City, and
1 of the policemen robbed a bank; should he have the right of veto
against the other 4 policemen who wanted to arrest him?
Colonel Heimlich. Of course this right was insisted on by the
Soviet Union, represented b}^ Mr. Molotov, at the time of the San
Francisco Conference.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 15
Bishop Sheen. I know it was, and I talked about it to 25,000
people the night before the United Nations opened in San Francisco;
and a New York newspaper carried an editorial making fun of me
because I said Russia would abuse the right of veto.
Then as in regard to what Christians can do, remember that
Christians are asked to do something for which they have no imple-
mentation. We happen to live, remember, in a dualistic civilization.
It used to be a unitary civilization, when Christianity was Christen-
dom, and Christendom was civilization. The power and the force of
Christianity do not have any organs by which their spiritual and
moral power can find action, corrective action. Christianity must
operate solely in the realm of suggesting ideas.
Mr. Arens. I do not quite understand your observation that
Christian organizations, churches, and the like, do not have organs by
which they can make their ideology effective.
Bishop Sheen. Well, for example, there is no waj' of influencing
a whole judicial s} T stem from a Christian point of view, from a moral
point of view, to include Protestants and Jews and Catholics. There
is no way for the spiritual forces of the Nation, for example, to in-
fluence an economic system or the international order.
Mr. Arens. Can't they influence them because of their impact
upon the individuals who represent the people in the governments?
Bishop Sheen. Again, that gets back to what I was sa3 T ing, which
was merely the proposing of ideals. The impact is not as it is, for
example, in a baseball club, where a man who breaks training can be
penalized immediately, or where I myself could be subject to disci-
pline if I refused to obey the laws of the church. It is over them as
in our present structure of society the sun is over us, but we can do
many things under that sun.
One way in which the spiritual and moral forces of the Nation might
be harnessed would be to insist in the United Nations over and over
again on the liberation of certain suppressed peoples, particularly
Poland. World War II started on account of Poland. Whatever
happens to Poland, therefore, will happen to the world. And we
should never let go of the question of when is Poland going to decide
its own fate, when is Hungary going to, when is Albania, and not be
deterred by any other problems. No problem is settled until Poland,
Hungary, and the other nations behind the Iron Curtain have their
problems settled.
Mr. Arens. What can the individual do? Here are Mr. and Mrs.
Jones out in Dubuque, Iowa, or Kansas City, Mo., or here in New
York City; what can they, as just ordinary Americans, do, if anything?
Bishop Sheen. They can become more articulate about what they
believe to be right and good for the world. It happens that we live
in a mass civilization. We read the same newspapers; we listen to the
same news commentators; we read almost the same magazines; and
w T e settle down to the complacency of mass opinion. And persons to
their neighbors will express moral opinions concerning the United
Nations, the suppressed peoples behind the Iron and Bamboo Cur-
tains, which they never have expressed to governments and to the
United Nations. And if these common people ever express some-
where else than over a back fence their moral convictions concerning
what is happening in the world, I think they would make an impact.
16 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
Mr. Arens. Is there some other point that you, of your own voli-
tion, would like to make, even though we may not have asked j'ou
about it?
Bishop Sheen. From a purely spiritual point of view, we have been,
of course, very much concerned with Russia, since what we call the
revelation of Fatima in 1917; from April 13 to October 13, 1917,
there were a series of revelations in Fatima about Russia spreading
revolution throughout the world. In 1917 we entered the World War.
The Kerensky government was falling, or had fallen; the Czar was
killed, and no one ever would have thought that Russia would then be
a world power.
The fullness of this revelation has never been given out by the
church. Some say it will be given out completely in 1960.
The revelation further said that Russia would eventually receive
the gift of faith. I think we will live to see, all of us will live to see, the
end of communism in Russia. Communism has no way of propagating
its masters. The monarchy has; democracy has; communism has
none, except exile, cutting throats. Good is self-preserving; evil is
always self-defeating.
There is no such thing as the liberation of China until Russia itself
disintegrates. I believe that, when Russia does disintegrate, Russia
will be one of the great spiritual and moral nations of the world, be-
cause one thing that communism has done in Russia is that it has
restored a sense of discipline and dedication, which is very much on
the decline in the Western World. From a truly Christian point of
view, what has happened in Christianity in the modern world is that
Christ and His cross have been separated, and the Western World has,
to some extent, taken Christ without His cross, and made Him a femi-
nine Kiwanis booster.
Communism has taken the cross without Christ, and when you
take the cross without Christ, you get tyranny and concentration
camps. There is no love on it; it is a cruel instrument of contra-
diction. That is the religious situation of the world.
Who is closer to the ultimate reconciliation, of the two? Not the
Western World, with its tawdry, cheap, sentimental Christ. Russia
is closer, with its cross. And Russia will eventually be one of the
greatest spiritual and moral forces in the world, within 50 or 100 years.
Colonel Heimlich. When it has restored Christ to its particular
cross?
Bishop Sheen. That's right.
Mr. Arens. May we conclude the consultation by expressing our
thanks for the contribution which you have made to our study of
"The Ideological Fallacies of Communism."
(Whereupon, at 3:45 p. m., Wednesday, September 25, 1957, the
staff consultation was concluded.)
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1957
United States House of Representatives,
Committee on Un-American Activities,
New York, N. Y.
STAFF CONSULTATION
The following consultation with Dr. Daniel A. Poling was held by
the staff of the Committee on Un-American Activities at the office
of the Christian Herald, 27 East 39th Street, New York City, at 2:30
p. m. on Friday, October 18, 1957.
Staff members present: Richard Arens, director (presiding), and
Col. William F. Heimlich, consultant.
Mr. Arens. We are pleased at this time on behalf of the Committee
on Un-American Activities of the House of Representatives to consult
with Dr. Daniel A. Poling, the editor of the Christian Herald, with
respect to the subject, "The Ideological Fallacies of Communism."
DR. DANIEL A. POLING
Mr. Arens. Doctor, what do you regard as the principal fallacies
in the ideology of communism?
Dr. Poling. Well, sir, communism is a driving dynamic faith. It
has all of the passion that we associate with the early Christian church.
But its basic tenet, its first principle, is atheism. It not only disre-
gards, but it refutes and denies, the Christian ethic. It has absolutely
no concern for the individual. We believe that government is made
for man, and not man for government. Communism teaches and
practices that the individual is not only the servant of, but the slave
of, the state. He exists for the state. His personal well-being is of
no consideration at all if the strength of the state is in any way miti-
gated or jeopardized by this individual.
Communism, as we regard faith and the Christian ethic, is unmoral.
This is at the heart of the great and irreconcilable controversy.
Mr. Arens. Does this faith of communism, or this force of commu-
nism, translate itself into action which can be appraised?
Dr. Poling. It does. It translates itself into action. For instance,
I have just come back from the Far East. I met an old friend out
there who, when I first knew him, was the treasurer of one of our
orphanages in Canton. He was a fine young man. He was happy
to remain in Canton after the Communists came in because he wished
to continue to serve the little children in that orphanage. He was
betrayed to the People's Government, charged with stealing from the
orphanage. He was taken into custody and he was held in solitary
for 8 months, brought out and tortured for 3 days and 4 nights, or
perhaps it was 4 nights and 3 days, and by that time he was ready to
17
18 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
confess anything. He made his confession and what it was he does not
now remember. Bringing the account books to him, they asked him
to show where he had taken this money, and he could not. The poor
fellow could not because he had not stolen. They changed the charge
to lying. He had lied to the People's Government. He had not taken
the money, and he had confessed to taking it, and therefore they
charged him with lying. So they tried him on that, and found him
guilty and sentenced him to 3 years, and he served the 3 years at hard
labor in a briclsyard working with bare hands. He came out broken,
of course, and was branded a criminal, so that he could not secure
work, and he became a rice louse, begging from stoop to stoop.
After 18 months and after many trips to headquarters, he persuaded
the authorities to allow him to get to Hong Kong. There is movement
to and fro, as you know, across the border. Right now there are as
many as 40,000 refugees fleeing from the marvelous liberties of com-
munism in Red China to Hong Kong, where a desperate situation
confronts them.
He got to Hong Kong, and he is now the treasurer of one of our
largest orphanages, called the Peoples Garden. He had been there
some 8 weeks when I came to see him. He had partially regained his
strength but will never be the same. Death is marked on him.
When I got to Taipei, I told this experience to our Ambassador,
Mr. Rankin, and he smiled and said, "Mr. Poling, that is it." He
said, "To understand communism, you must understand why that
could be. It is injustice, complete incredible disregard for the
individual, but nevertheless it is the realism of communism."
He told me that in Nanking, shortly before the Embassy was
moved, and while he was acting in the stead of Dr. Stuart who was
then our Ambassador, but who was ill in the United States, there were
two cases in one week in the People's Government court. In one a
man was charged with the murder of his wife, and he was found guilty
and sentenced to 90 days. In the other case, an employee of the
People's Government was charged with stealing ink from the office.
He was found guilty, sentenced to be executed, and his head was
chopped off.
"Now," Mr. Rankin said, "there is just nothing in that that is
understandable to a Christian, or to a free man anywhere in the world,
is there? But to the Communists in the first instance the man had
committed a purely personal crime; he murdered his own wife. He
of course should be punished, and the criminal act should be recog-
nized, but it was simply the murder of his wife. But in the second
instance, the man had committed an offense against the People's
Government. He had stolen ink from the People's Government.
His offense was heinous, and it was complete, and he was sentenced
to be executed and his head was chopped off."
Mr. Arens. You have pointed out something that is almost in-
credible to the Western mind, and to a person who is inculcated with
even the basic Christian precepts. Why is it, then, if communism is
such a hideous force, that it has swept over vast areas of the earth
with such incredible speed, and today threatens to engulf other areas
of the earth?
Dr. Poling. How often I have asked myself that question. I
found one answer. If you do not have anything — and this is the case
in Asia particularly where millions of people wonder whether they may
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 19
reasonably hope to have a handful of rice in the morning — a promise,
even if it is a lie, is something. Now, that is one answer. That is
part of the answer to the question. Communism purports to offer
the answer to multitudes and millions of people, underprivileged,
hungry, starving. Communism moves in on us at our weakest point.
They blow up the great lie of colonialism and charges of imperialism.
You know Goebbels said that if 3*011 repeat a lie often enough, people
will believe it, and 3*011 will even come to believe it 3 r ourself.
Now, for instance, at the present time there is the great falsehood
about our inciting armed conflict along the Syrian frontier. I don't
believe that anyone at the beginning believed that. I cannot under-
stand how an3*one could. Of course, there are millions who have no
background knowledge at all, and along comes this accusation.
After what happened in Hungary, after communism has made, in
the opinion of some of us, a moral debacle of the United Nations,
here comes the statement, bald and bold, that we are instigating
armed conflict on the Syrian frontier. Now, some people give a
measure of truth to that. And against the incident at Suez, and
against all that has happened in the past, bringing it forward, and
holding it up in front of the people, 3*011 find multitudes and multi-
tudes believing.
Also, communism moves in on the very humanities of our Christian
leaders. We should be men of mercy. We should believe rather
than doubt. It is so easy for us, many of us, to be betra3 r ed. Again
and again men in whom I have great confidence and for whom I hold
great admiration have associated themselves in resolutions with
groups that were set up to subvert, to distract, and to draw attention
away from the central fact. They signed petitions and letters and
resolutions. They are not doing as much of it now as they did for-
merly, because, here a little and there a little, we have been able to
bring to their attention the fallacy and the fact that in the name of
the highest and the holiest, these men are moving to destroy the
very freedoms that make it possible for us to speak out.
¥011 see, after all, freedom has not 3*ct perfected its processes, but
as I said to a friend in Calcutta 3 years ago, the genius and the great-
ness of American freedom is this: that we may march and that we
may move in the direction of the ultimate. Granted that mistakes
have been made, and granted that not all of freedoms guaranteed by
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have been achieved, neverthe-
less we are free to move toward perfect freedom. The goal is in front
of us, and we are on the march. That is the difference today between
America and Communist countries.
Mr. Arens. Dr. Poling, how can the forces of freedom undertake
to stem the tide of communism? Can we negotiate binding agree-
ments with them?
Dr. Poling. Speaking to a small group at the Williams Club last
week I said that there was every reason for us to withdraw recognition
of Russia; every reason for us to go back to the nonrccognition policy
fixed by Secretary of State Colby in his letter to President Wilson,
which was a fixed policy of the United States Government for the
remainder of the Wilson administration, going through Harding and
Coolidge and Hoover. Every agreement entered into by the Com-
munists has been violated and it is apparent they deliberately moved
to deceive. Here they have become in the embassy, and in the con-
20 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
sular offices, centers for espionage and for traitorous acts. Therefore,
there is every reason for us to do that.
I also said that I believe that for us to withdraw recognition would
strengthen our position internationally, and certainly it would
strengthen our position in all free Asian lands.
But then, I added, if, with the greater wisdom of the Government
and with the greater responsibility of the Government — and the
Government is responsible — if it is now impossible to take this radical
action, then for freedom's sake, and for God's sake against atheism,
let us not act as though we believed the great lie.
In other words, let us not deceive ourselves, and let us not deceive
our allies, and let us make it perfectly clear that while we are com- 1
pelled to go on with these negotiations, nevertheless we do so with our
eyes open and we do not believe the great lie.
Mr. Arens. How can the free world contain communism, which is
moving apparently with a relentless force over the world?
Dr. Poling. I believe that so-called peaceful coexistence is both
incredible and impossible. As far as communism is concerned, so far
as the Kremlin is concerned, it means to them peaceful submission.
That is what it means. We need to face that fact. We must realize
that. Whatever we do, we must act accordingly. Peaceful coexist-
ence to the Kremlin means peaceful submission. That is the result
inevitably and finally.
Colonel Heimlich. Can we as Christians apply moral or other force
against this movement, against this insatiable demand for more
people and more space in the world?
Dr. Poling. I. don't believe I quite got your question. I am not
sure that I do.
Colonel Heimlich. Communism represents a force of evil, whereas
we believe Christianity represents a force of good and all that is
progress in the world.
Dr. Poling. That is right; communism is satanic.
Colonel Heimlich. How do we as Christians move against it?
Dr. Poling. I think every declaration pointing out the nature and
effect of communism, made in the United Nations is to the good, and
let us keep on making declarations, and let us not lose a single oppor-
tunity in spite of the fact that they are ignored and repudiated and
cynically regarded. It is tragic, to say the least, but surely there are
ways in which we can activate the resolution.
For instance, now we have named a man to go to Hungary.
Hungary declines to receive him. We ought to act on that. We
ought to say something about that, but nothing has been said yet.
Perhaps something will be said. We should insist that that man go in.
I was in Germany in August, and I met a convention of over 7,000
young Germans. One hundred and eleven came from behind the Iron
Curtain. A young Lutheran churchman said, "What happened in
Hungary is ready to happen in Czechoslovakia, in Poland, and
among the pitiful remnants of the Baltic countries. What happened
in Hungary is ready to happen in Mother Russia herself. But," he
said, "the tragedy from the standpoint of those of us who do not
consent was this: When Hungary arose, there was no support."
"Now," he said, "certainly we were left under the impression that
such action as that which occurred in Hungary was desired by the
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 21
West. Certainly it was promoted by the West, by the broadcasts,
the Voice of America, and the rest, and yet nothing happened." He
said, "We are not inclined to criticize; we don't know; but if something
could have happened, if there could have been a quick declaration of
moral support, staccato, just like that, we would have been encour-
aged. In the end there will be risings. This thing cannot be
contained."
In other words, he believes, as I do, that communism has at its
heart the seed of its own death, but it takes time for the seed to
germinate, and it takes time for the seed to come to its harvest. All
that we are doing now, with our preparedness — and whatever the
cost that preparedness must not be skimped — all that we are doing
is buying time, as I see it.
Mr. Arexs. What can the average Air. and Mrs. American do, if
anything, on behalf of the forces of freedom to stem the tide of
communism at home and abroad?
Dr. Poling. There are several things we can do. We can first of
ah associate ourselves with those movements that are anti-Communist,
definitely anti-Communist. For instance, there is the All American
Conference to Combat Communism, which brings together officially
representatives of more than 50 national organizations. These
organizations have more than 60 million members. They are such
organizations as the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and all of
the veterans organizations that are nationally congressionally char-
tered, and their auxiliaries, such as the American Legion, Veterans
of Foreign Wars, the Catholic War Veterans, and Jewish War Vet-
erans, and all of the fraternal organizations that are nationally
chartered, all of them, including such youth organizations as the
International Society of Christian Endeavor, and Allied Youth.
More than that, 1 think that letterwriting where it is done intelli-
gently and in good faith is helpful. I have, for example, written a
letter to the New York Times, associating myself with that distin-
guished churchman, Bishop Welch, the senior bishop in the Methodist
Church. We need to do more of that. We need to give support to
the men out in front.
Herbert Philbrick is doing a fine thing in the Herald Tribune.
There are many ways in which even the little man, the little woman,
and the little person may get into this conflict and be identified with
this movement. Above all, the individual citizen should support our
own Christian patriotic organizations and institutions.
Then I think that I might well say that you gentlemen who are
here today from the Committee on Un-American Activities of the
House of representatives represent the spearhead of the aggressive
continuous attack on communism. I don't know what I would do
without the material that comes month after month, and regularly,
from Washington, D. C, and from your headquarters, because that
is authoritative, and I use it in my column, "Americans All."
The very fact you and the committee are under attack is significant.
If you were not doing something, you would not be under attack.
You arc out in front, as I say again; you are the spearhead of this
attack. Your work is authoritative; it is official; and I am for it. I
think that I would like to express my personal appreciation for it.
There is the work that J. Edgar Hoover does and the FBI, the
constant and unfaltering work. I find that all over the United Slates
22 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
Mr. Hoover himself is regarded as one of the preeminent Americans
whose integrity, whose patriotism, and whose intelligence and courage
are not to be questioned.
Mr. Arens. Do you have any thoughts which you would care to
express, Dr. Poling, with reference to how the average American can
detect within his own community, and within the orbit of his own
activities, Communist infiltration and influence?
Dr. Poling. It is very difficult, and there the danger comes. I
think it is so dangerous for us to name names, and to say, "This man
is a Communist" or "This man is a subversive." But, nevertheless,
we need to be alert to the fact that when it comes to basic American
institutions and American freedoms, the man who is soft in his attitude
toward these things, even though he may not be a subversive, is not a
helpful fighter for freedom in our time. Those who come into print
and associate themselves in the daily press with movements that have
been, to say the least, far left of center, need to be answered, and we
may answer them without indicting them, without questioning their
integrity, and without questioning their basic loyalty.
You see, here it is: The man who is not a Communist — a card-
bearing Communist — but who associates himself with such activities
as many of my brother clergymen, too many of them, associated them-
selves with in the past, is worth more to communism than 100 card-
bearing Communists, vastly more.
Mr. Arens. How does the patriotic American of good intentions
peer behind the appealing facade which the Communist operation puts
up in this country for its various movements?
Dr. Poling. Can I tell you what my experience was? I wrote an
article in the Saturday Evening Post 3 years ago to which they gave
the title, "Preachers Are Citizens, Too." In it I spoke of three
instances in which I had unwittingly identified myself with move-
ments that in themselves I judged to be correct, but in which I was
associated with men and women whom I did not wish to be associated
with. I was lined up on the wrong side. So I reached the conclusion
that I would sign no resolution that I did not write myself, or for
which I was not fully responsible as to my knowledge of it. That
came out of an experience with the distinguished president of a
theological seminary who signed the petition which was sent to the
President in support of clemency for the 11 convicted Communists.
He signed it, and he was asked to sign it by a clergyman who lives in
Philadelphia, who has organized such movements frequently. Eight
months later when it was released he discovered that it was not what
he had signed, and also that he was associated with those he did not
wish to be associated with. He telephoned me here at this office for
my advice, and I said, "Send a telegram to the President and also
send a telegram to the gentleman in Philadelphia, in which you ask
that your name be withdrawn, in which you state the case that this is
not what you signed, and that you do not wish to be associated with
those who are on that resolution or petition."
Then he wrote me a letter and he said, "What are we going to do?"
I wrote an editorial in which I stated what I have just said to you:
That I sign no resolutions that I do not write myself, or that I am not
fully acquainted with as to their beginnings, as to their purpose, and,
above all, as to those who are actually responsible for them.
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 23
Now, I think that that is the onty safe course, and a multitude of
men who previously were careless — and women, too — are not careless
any longer, and we are not having as much difficulty as we used to
have.
But on the other hand, it is not enough to be negative. We ought
to be out in front with our proposals. For instance, there is this
full-page advertisement in the New York Times by the Committee
of One Million, in which the speech of Hu Shih, the distinguished
Chinese, before the United Nations is given a full spread, in which he
tells the awful story of communism in action on the mainland of
China.
Mr. Aeens. Now, may I ask you finally, if you please, Dr. Poling,
how can the forces of freedom best compete in the world market place
of ideas with Communist ideology?
Dr. Poling. First of all, by being constructive. It is not enough
to be negative. We must state the case for freedom and for democ-
racy — what it has done.
For instance, when we are charged with colonialism, let us tell the
story of the Philippine Islands. That was told so eloquently by Gen.
Carlos Romulo, in which in 25 years, as of his statement, we accom-
plished more for the people of the Philippines, and now T the Republic
of the Philippines, than other great powers had accomplished in 100
years of colonializing in the Far East. We can tell that story of what
we did, the millions we invested, in order that a people might be
sanitary, that they might be educated, that they might be prepared
for freedom. Then we gave them their freedom.
Now, you can see how it pays off, because we have no more loyal
ally anywhere in the world than the Republic of the Philippines.
We need to tell the story of freedom — what it is. We made a mis-
take early in the days of our broadcasting of telling the world how
wonderful w^e were, and what our economy was, and what our material
living conditions were. I saw in one of the Indian English papers a
cartoon. Uncle Sam was seated nonchalantly at the top of a pyramid
of things — automobiles, deep freezes, and telephones— and non-
chalantly smoking a cigar. At the base of this pyramid little people
were staggering and falling and holding up their starved hands. That
was presented as a picture of the United States of America.
A friend of mine whom I met first in the University of London said,
"Now, Poling, that cartoon is a lie. I know that it is a lie." But
nevertheless, that is released as a picture to these millions in India,
and in Ceylon, and that is the story. He said, "For heaven's sake,
go back and get the Voice of America to tell us something else, because
we never expect to have deep freezes and bathtubs and automobiles."
But I repeat w*hat I said before. They w T ould like to know they
may have a handful of rice in the morning. We have changed the
Voice of America at that point. We need to emphasize not what
material things we have here, but the realities of freedom and the
fact that communism is slavery. It is the destruction of the very
aspirations of the soul. It is enslavement of the body, and you can
prove that by pointing to Communist slave camps all over the world;
and not only the enslavement of the body, but the enslavement of the
mind and the soul. And remember one thing: there are more than
one billion human beings who believe in one God — the Moslem, the
Buddhist, the Roman Catholic, the Protestant, and the Jew.
24 THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM
We should lay emphasis upon the fact that communism in its first
tenet is atheism. We have obscured that idea too often. We need
to point to what we have on our coins, "In God We Trust." We
need to get that across, if you please. We are getting the dollar
across, but we need to get across the thing that we really finally live
by in this country.
Mr. Arens. How do we point out the wolf of communism that is
in sheep's clothing, which it presents to the peoples of the world?
Dr. Poling. By telling what it has done and how it was done, the
rape of the Baltic countries, taking up those populations and throwing
them out of their homes and lands and farms into Siberia; what it has
meant in the slave camps; what it has meant in China, the admissions
of Chou En-lai, where he admits to 800,000 human souls liquidated.
I prefer to take the figures of Bishop Quinton Y. K. Wong, a bishop of
the Episcopal Church in China, who finally escaped, and he is now in
the Diocese of Pittsburgh. His estimate is that 40 million people were
liquidated. We need to tell the true story and we need to make it
graphic. We have been sometimes restrained by our own readers who
have been timorous about exciting or disturbing relationships in the
United Nations. Well, as I see it, more and more we need to be doing
what we are doing now there, telling the truth, and just the truth about
communism as it is. We can point out the sham of the promise of
communism by showing its morbid, bloody results.
Mr. Arens. Now, Dr. Poling, we have asked you a number of
questions on each of several facets of this tremendous problem. Are
there other areas that you would like to comment on, or anything
else you have in mind which you would like to say?
Dr. Poling. Well, it is the human interest thing that holds me in a
poignant grip. I have been going out and seeing these babies and
children ever since 1946, in the Middle East, and then with the
coming of the Korean war in 1950, in the Far East. They are children
that I have come to love, and they are beautiful children. Here, for
example [indicating], are some pictures that reached me today. Here
is a picture of a little girl that Mrs. Poling made her very own. Oriental
children are beautiful youngsters. This child saw her father beheaded.
He was the head man of a small city 40 miles from Canton. She also
saw two uncles beheaded, and she saw her family wiped out. Six years
ago she was a little girl 7 years old, who fled screaming into the night.
How she ever got across, I don't know, but she is now in our orphanage.
We call it the Faith Love Orphanage in Hong Kong.
Mr. Arens. What denomination, may I ask?
Dr. Poling. It is interdenominational. The Christian Herald is
nondenominational. When I first saw this child, she could not smile.
As you see from these pictures, she smiles all over now. These other
pictures are of children that were starved. Do you know that 6
years ago when we took the census in our Faith Love Orphanage, 80.7
percent of those children were children of fathers who had been
liquidated? The clearer word for that is murdered by Communists
when they came into south China.
Now, don't ask me to be too calm about this thing. Don't suggest
to me peaceful coexistence for this thing. If I believe — and I do
believe in the Christian ethic — if I believe in the words of Jesus, who
said, "Sutler the little children to come unto me and forbid them not,"
THE IDEOLOGICAL FALLACIES OF COMMUNISM 25
if those things are real to me, then communism which is anti-God, is
forever and eternally my enemy.
Mr. Area's. It has been suggested, if I could interpose this comment
just so our record is clear, that communism is after all only an eco-
nomic system. I believe it was the present leader of the Kremlin,
Khrushchev, who speaks of two competing economic S3*stems. Do
you have an observation to make on that?
Dr. Polixg. It is very simple. That, of course, is part of the great
lie. Communism is a total and comprehensive philosophy. It is a
way of life. It is a coverall, body, mind, and soul. It is the universal
enslavement.
Mr. Arens. Thank you, Dr. Poling, for your contribution in this
consultation on "The Ideological Fallacies of Communism."
(Thereupon, at 3:20 p. m., Friday, October 18, 1957, the staff
consultation was concluded.)
INDEX
Individuals
Pa pre
Bogen, Boris 1
Bogen, Mrs. Boris 1
Chou En-lai 24
Djilas, Milovan 4
Feuerbaeh, Ludwig 9, 10
Fineberg, S. Andhil vii, viii, 1-7 (Statement)
Hegel (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich) 9, 10
Hoover, J. Edgar vi, 21, 22
Hu Shih 23
Khrushchev, Nik it a vi
Lenin vi, 12, 13
Mao Tse-tung 10
Marx, Karl vi, 9, 10, 12
Molotov (V. M.) 14
Philbrick, Herbert 21
Poling, Daniel A x, 17-25 (Statement)
Proudhon (Pierre Joseph) 10
Rankin (Karl L.) 18
Romulo, Carlos P 23
Sheen, Fulton J viii, ix, 9-16 (Statement)
Stuart (J. Leigh ton) 18
Welch (Herbert) 21
Wong, Quinton Y. K 24
Organizations
All American Conference to Combat Communism 21
Allied Youth, Inc 21
American Jewish Committee vii, 1, 2
American Legion 21
Catholic War Veterans 21
Committee of One Million 23
Faith Love Orphanage 24
General Federation of Women's Clubs 21
International Society of Christian Endeavor 21
Jewish War Veterans 21
Peoples Garden (orphanage) 18
Society for the Propagation of the Faith viii, 9
United Nations ix, x, 14, 15
Veterans of Foreign Wars 21
Publications
Christian Herald x, 17, 24
Essence of Christianity, The (book) 9
New Class, The (book) 4
i
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