Our experience has shown that reasons for joining the Party are many, varied, and complicated. Each individual has his own personal problems, hopes, and aspirations. Any attempt to apply generalized, ready-made stereotypes is to leave the problem unsolved. Moreover, we must try to see the _total man_; that is, all the forces, events, ideas, and motivations that brought about his tragic decision. For that reason each member deserves careful study. In the next chapter I shall discuss the reasons why members leave the Party. Here again we must understand each member as a human being, as an individual, always remembering that even though still a bigoted devotee he is convertible. Any thinking Party member will soon recognize the basic contradictions of communism. We should be alert to help any communist back on the road to good American citizenship as soon as he shows the slightest indication that he is disillusioned with what he has found inside Party circles. What lesson can we as a society learn from the Party’s methods of recruitment? Most important, I think, is to realize that the Communist Party is attempting to exploit the rise of materialism, irreligion, and lack of faith in our society. In an era when moral standards have been lowered, when family life has been disrupted, when crime and juvenile delinquency rates are high, communists have tried to set forth a goal—dressed in attractive phrases—that would captivate the longings and hopes of men and women. They have, in truth, tried to “steal” the nobility, the fervor, the enthusiasm of a free government under God. 9. _Why People Break with Communism_ Just as important as knowing why people join the Communist Party is understanding why they leave. Here again, by recognizing the influences that cause them to reject this alien doctrine, we can do much to defeat the communist conspiracy. Always we must keep in mind that communists, even hard-core members, potentially can be converted. To the individual who asserts, “Once a communist, always a communist,” I say: “No. Every communist can be made to see the errors of his way. He must not be despised, belittled, or rejected as hopelessly lost. He can redeem himself by actively taking a stand for freedom. Every patriotic American must do what he can to bring these persons to see the truth. The ex-communist is today one of our most potent weapons against communism.” On September 9, 1957, the _Daily Worker_ published a story which stated: “Joseph Clark has resigned from the Daily Worker, of which he was foreign editor, and from membership in the Communist Party.” Clark was a Party member for twenty-eight years, always known as an ardent one. When Stalin died, Clark was his paper’s correspondent in Moscow. Yet, by his own current processes of thinking he saw the futility of the Party.