The _Daily Worker_ serves as a unifier of policy, an organizer of action, and a Party builder. It is a public document. Hence, don’t expect to find there Party secrets, such as the identities of underground officials or decisions of confidential meetings. However, for those who understand its double talk it provides a quick means to communicate the Party line. Moreover, it does not let the membership forget the identity of the Party’s enemies and sometimes its friends. Like a vast searchlight, it gives direction to members, wherever they may be. Day after day the _Daily Worker_ drills a central theme into its readers: that life in the United States is terrible; that only in communist countries, especially in the Soviet Union, is life worth living at all. The day’s news is scanned for some incident to distort and use to browbeat the United States. Any action of the American government is always, somehow or other, part of a conspiracy to engulf the world in World War III. One rat in a tenement house becomes an army of rats devouring thousands of people. Pick out every weakness, real or imaginary. Stir up dissension. Try to weaken morale. After Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin, the _Daily Worker_ carried some criticism of Soviet Russia, for the most part pertaining to anti-Semitism and illegal arrests. Certain aspects of Russia’s intervention in Hungary were also criticized. Highly novel for the _Daily Worker_, this criticism apparently reflected the personal views of John Gates, the editor. Gates, of all the top Party leaders, appeared to have been most affected by Khrushchev’s revelations. He was severely attacked, however, by other Party officials, including William Z. Foster, and his resignation was demanded. Nevertheless, despite this limited criticism, the _Daily Worker_ remained loyal to the over-all aims of Soviet Russia and continues to belittle, mock, and criticize American life. This loyalty to things Russian has caused the _Daily Worker_ to perform some interesting gymnastics. A good example was the famous “Doctors’ Plot,” early in 1953, just before Stalin’s death. Moscow reported the arrest of nine doctors charged with plotting to kill high-ranking Soviet officials. “Moscow Nips Plot to Kill Army Chiefs,” headlined _The Worker_ (January 18, 1953), obviously happy. Then the doctors were suddenly released. Back-flipped _The Worker_ with the greatest of ease: “The Case of the Soviet Doctors, How a Socialist State Protects Its Citizens” (April 12, 1953). In March, 1953, _The Worker_ reported Stalin’s death. “STALIN: Man of Peace,” “The Cobbler’s Son Who Built a New World,” “‘His Name and His Work Will Endure Through the Ages,’” “Stalin—Architect of a Working People’s World.” In 1956 the headlines shifted: “Lenin’s Principles Abandoned by Stalin,” “Minorities Were Exiled and Mistreated,” “Says Stalin Unleashed Mass Terror 1936-1937.” One writer headed his column: “Stalin Wasn’t God—And We Weren’t Angels.”