Masters of deceit : $b The story of Communism in America and how to fight itHoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar)
History
Masters of deceit : $b The story of Communism in America and how to fight it
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar)
Communism -- United States
Our youth want not only to talk to adults, they want to work with adults.
It is a fine thing for them to have their own groups, but it is better
if, in addition, they can participate in shared projects with adults.
If the adults can show, in action, that it is possible to combine high
idealism with solid practicality and patience, the results will enhance
character and citizenship development manyfold.
3. The communists stress _action_. This means carrying out our
responsibilities now—not tomorrow, the next day, or never. To communists
the Party means continual action, not just talk, waiting for annual
elections, meetings, or affairs. With us action must supplement good
intentions in building the America of the future. We need to provide our
youth with activity groups. To give them only a high standard of material
advantages or a constant diet of recreation is not enough. Recreation
must be made part of a life of responsibility, otherwise it becomes
merely a preface to boredom. Our young people, as well as adults, need to
be working members of our republic and citizens on duty at all times.
4. Communists accent the _positive_. In their deceptive and perverted way
they are always purporting to stand for something positive. “Better,”
“higher,” etc., are trade-marks in their language. We, too, in the true
sense of the word, should strive for goals that are genuinely better,
higher, and more noble, trying to improve self, community, and nation. A
strictly negative attitude or the philosophy of just staying afloat—all
too common today—will never meet the impact of the communist challenge.
5. Most important of all is _faith_. Let us not blind ourselves to the
fact that communists do have a “faith.” True, it is falsely placed, but
still it inspires them to sacrifice, devotion, and a perverted idealism.
The late Mother Bloor, the Party’s woman “hero,” often praised Walt
Whitman’s “The Mystic Trumpeter” as the poem she loved best. It seemed,
she said, to prophesy the coming of a “new world”:
War, sorrow, suffering gone—the rank earth purged—nothing but joy left!
The ocean fill’d with joy—the atmosphere all joy!
Joy! joy! in freedom, worship, love! joy in the ecstasy of life!
Enough to merely be! enough to breathe! Joy! joy! all over joy!
She is trying to identify communism with the dream of a world of joy. She
is exploiting Walt Whitman. Yet her feeling shows the lure of communist
“faith.” If communists can be so inspired from error, falsehood, and
hate, just think what we could do with truth, justice, and love! I thrill
to think of the even greater wonders America could fashion from its rich,
glorious, and deep tradition. All we need is faith, _real faith_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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