The Naked Communist

by W. Cleon Skousen

  It is extremely confusing to freedom fighters -- especially in the satellites -- when they watch the failing Communist economy being bolstered and fed by 39 Western nations. In the U.N. the distortion of justice and common sense bewilders them. In diplomatic circles the constant capitulation and compromise outrages them. A refugee from a Russian slave labor camp wrote to me: "There must be a noose of ignorance around the necks of the West. Don't they know we would eventually overthrow the Communist leaders if the West would just stop feeding, fondling and coddling them?"

  In the minds of these people, it borders on criminal neglect when we withhold the impact of powerful peaceful pressures which are available to us. During World War II we promised freedom to all of these satellite peoples. And we should never let the Communists forget that Stalin promised them freedom. In his order of the day, No. 130, dated May 1, 1942, Joseph Stalin declared:

  "It is not our aim to seize foreign lands or to subjugate foreign people.... We have not and cannot have such war aims as the imposition of our will and regime on the Slavs and other enslaved peoples of Europe who are waiting our aid. Our aim consists in assisting these people in their struggle for liberation from Hitler's tyranny and then setting them free to rule in their own lands as they desire."7

  Neither should the West allow Nikita Khrushchev to forget what he has said: "The Soviet Union deeply sympathizes with all the nations striving to win and uphold their independence. And these nations can rest assured that the Soviet Union, without any meddling in their internal affairs, without stipulating any conditions, will help them to strengthen their independence for which they fought so hard."8

  The unbelievable bald-faced deception of such statements should motivate free nations in their firm resolve to strike back at Communism on every front. Too often the western apologists for coexistence and "peace at any price" are panicked when it is suggested that economic and political pressures be applied in order to squeeze the Soviet empire into an internal explosion. They wail that such action will disturb the peace behind the Iron Curtain. And indeed it would. In fact, it should be a standard object of strategy to disturb the peace of the Red leaders. This was precisely what President Woodrow Wilson was talking about when he said:

  "I will not take any part in composing difficulties that ought not to be composed, and a difficulty between an enslaved people and its autocratic rulers ought not to be composed. We in America have stood from the day of our birth for the emancipation of people throughout the world who are living unwillingly under governments which were not of their choice.... So long as wrongs like that exist in the world, you cannot bring permanent peace to the world. I go further than that. So long as wrongs of that sort exist, you ought not to bring permanent peace to the world, because those wrongs ought to be righted, and enslaved peoples ought to be free to right them."9

  Just the moment the Western powers develop the courage to clamp a total trade embargo on the Communist empire and then combine it with a policy of "go home and take your spies with you," the hearts of Iron Curtain freedom fighters can once more surge with hope.

  Not until then will America's eloquent Captive Nations Proclamation mean anything.

  What Can the Ordinary Individual Do?

  The war between freedom and slavery is not just a fight to be waged by Congressmen, the President, soldiers and diplomats. Fighting Communism, Socialism and the subversion of constitutional government is everybody's job. And working for the expansion of freedom is everybody's job. It is a basic American principle that each individual knows better than anyone else what he can do to help once he has become informed. No citizen will have to go far from his own home to find a faltering battle line which needs his aid. Communist influences are gnawing away everywhere and thousands of confused citizens often aid and abet them by operating in a vacuum of their own ignorance. The task is therefore to become informed and then move out for action!

  Just to stimulate a little positive thinking, here are a few elementary suggestions for different types of individuals:

  Suggestions for Parents

  1. Stay close to your children to make sure they are being trained to think like Washington and Lincoln, not like Marx and Lenin.

  2. In providing physical needs for your family, don't forget their spiritual needs. We are in an ideological war. From a Marxist viewpoint an atheistic mind is already three-fourths conquered.

  3. Take your children to church, don't send them. Be sure they are getting true religious values, not modernistic debunking.

  4. Help your children grow up. Don't fall for the current Socialist-Communist line that parents are a detriment to their children. They are only a detriment when they don't do their job.

  5. Children require a formula of 90% love and discipline.

  6. Do not fall for the "permissive" school of psychology which says discipline will harm human development. Such thinking produces hoodlums with maladjusted personalities who are likely to fall for every "ism" that comes along. A child needs to know that he lives in an orderly world. Discipline is part of it -- not extreme harshness but a reasonable and consistent enforcement of the rules.

  7. Because "youth problems" happened to be one of my own areas of professional study, I wrote a book designed to answer the Communist and Socialist charge that modern parents cannot do a good job of raising children.10

  8. Be active in PTA. If you are not, Communists and centralized planners will take over.

  9. Have a "freedom library" in your home. Include good biographies of the founding fathers.

  10. Take a little time each day to keep up with political problems at home and abroad.

  11. Subscribe to a good news magazine.

  12. Where you have older children, make current events part of the dinner table talk. Be quick to point out left-wing slanting of news, TV or radio broadcasts. There is far more of this slanting than most people realize.

  13. Organize a family, a neighborhood or church study group. Help your family realize that there is a great struggle going on in the world which they can help to win.

  14. Let your children see that you are interested in civic affairs, that you participate in political affairs, that you are concerned with what is going on. They borrow many of their own attitudes from you.

  Suggestions for Teachers

  1. The most important single force in winning against Communism is in the field of education. Therefore you are in the front-line trenches.

  2. Be certain you have taken time to get a good background on Communistic thought so you can detect it quickly wherever it appears.

  3. Define for students the difference between the factors which made Americans the first free people in modern times and the principles which have destroyed freedom wherever the Socialists and Communists have taken over.

  4. Help the students understand that free enterprise has produced and distributed more material wealth than any other system man has yet discovered. Point out that it also permits most of our citizens to make a living doing the things they enjoy. At least they can change jobs if they don't like what they are doing. It is also vital for students to appreciate that the remaining weaknesses in our system are important, but they are minute compared to the monumental problems of the bare-subsistence economies under Socialism and Communism.

  5. Beware of those who come pretending to help education when they are trying to seize control of education. Socialist and Communist planners have ambitions to eliminate all local control -- which means the teachers themselves would lose control.

  6. Be alert to the fact that education was infiltrated by the Socialist-Communist contingent over thirty-five years ago. Many of them were top-echelon personalities who worked their way into leading educational organizations. Because they were hard workers they gained sweeping control of some of our most respected institutions.

  7. Read "Education for One Socialist World," which is Chapter 8 in The U.N. Record, by Chesly Manly (Henry Regnery Co., Chicago, 1955). On page 175 Mr. Man
ly lists a number of books which every teacher should read in order to be aware of the attack against American education during the past four decades.

  8. In addition, you will find the following books helpful:

  Conquest of the American Mind, by Dr. Felix Wittmer, (Meador Publishing Co., Boston)

  What's Happened To Our Schools? by Rosalie M. Gordon, a pamphlet published by America's Future, Inc., New Rochelle, New York.

  The Turning of the Tides, by Paul W. Shafer and John Howland Snow. (Long House Publishers.)

  Progressive Education Is Reducation, by Jones and Olivier. (Meador Publishing Co., Boston.)

  Brainwashing In The High Schools, by Dr. E. Merrill Root. (Devin-Adair, New York)

  Communist-Socialist Propaganda In American Schools, by Verne P. Kaub (Published by Lakeshore Press, Madison, Wisconsin.)

  9. If any of the educational organizations to which you belong are Socialist-oriented, try to recapture them. Do not try to do it alone. Gather a group of alerted teachers around you and move forward as an organized group.

  10. Encourage the teaching of "Communist Problems" in the school. Such a course can become an excellent vehicle to teach American students how to appreciate their own way of life. The name of the course is important. "Communist Problems" is likely to be more acceptable than teaching "Communism."

  11. Watch for slanted passages in text books. Socialist authors have invaded the textbook field. So have some with even more radical views. Brainwashing in the High Schools, by E. Merrill Root, is an analysis of 11 American history books which reflect the destructive left-wing line.

  12. Don't be misled by the current atheistic drive to take God out of the classroom. "Separation of church and state" was to keep creeds out of the curriculum, but not God. It would be as unconstitutional to teach irreligion in the classroom as it would be to emphasize some particular religion. As teachers we are not to teach a particular faith, but parents are within their rights when they insist that the classroom is not be used by those few teachers who seek to destroy faith. Teachers who believe that teaching atheism is a necessary part of a good education are not really qualified to teach in a Judaic-Christian culture. They are entitled to be atheists but, as public employees, they are not entitled to teach it. If they do, they are violating an important constitutional principle.

  13. Encourage patriotic speakers at school assemblies. Excellent films are also available. Many organizations now have well-informed speakers who can give impressive talks on subjects which arouse excellent student response.

  14. When a Freedom Forum is held in your area, try to attend.

  Suggestions for Students

  1. The mind of the student is considered a major battlefield by Communist strategists. The Communist conquest of a country is always preceded by the extensive activities of "converted intellectuals." However, the most vigorous antagonists of Communism are some of these same intellectuals who have been disillusioned and returned to the side of freedom.

  2. You will never have more time to study Communism than while you are in school. Try to get a genuine understanding of it. Learn its philosophy, its history and its fallacies.

  3. When you run across dedicated Socialists, remember that the only difference between a Socialist and a Communist is in the method of takeover. The desire to seize monolithic control of society is the same in both. Sometimes people forget that USSR stands for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Some people count Socialism "good" and Communism "bad." In reality the two are twins.

  4. Be quick to detect left-wing slanting in textbooks and lectures.

  5. Become acquainted with the latest Communist "line." Work up answers to their charges and proposals.

  6. Be sure to remain fair and forthright. Never stoop to Communist tactics to win a point.

  7. You can enjoy school far more when your education becomes purposeful. Get acquainted with the Communist problems and it will suddenly make economics, history, philosophy, political science, sociology and psychology come alive. These are all related to the war for survival in which we are now engaged.

  8. Be conscious of the fact that people look at world events through one of two windows. Out of one window the students (and sometimes the professor) see only blue skies. Out of the other window the student can see storm clouds. This is the window to watch. This is where history is being made, and the person who doesn't keep his eye on this window is caught unawares when the storm breaks. On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, most Americans had to move from window No. 1 to window No. 2 with great speed. They came close to being too late. Damage from the world's threatening political storms can be avoided only by anticipating them -- by being vigilant and alert.

  9. If you have difficulty in philosophy and your mind is plagued with doubts, read the experience of a student described in the last chapter of this book.

  10. Resist the radical element on campus who advocates "mass action" and violent demonstrations. These are usually the tools of Communist agitators. They get students to demonstrate, and this usually provokes a fight. When the police try to restore order, the Communists slip away in an effort to let the students take the blame. When Communist agitators got the students to wreck the Congressional hearings at San Francisco during May of 1960, the judge decided to release them because he felt the students could already see how they had been duped into fronting for professional anti-Americans.

  11. Organize a student group to study Communism and Americanism. Challenge Socialists and pro-Communists on the campus. Publish a paper. Set up a speaker's bureau. Write letters to your school paper. Get experience in making peaceful democratic processes work.

  12. A rapidly growing student organization with a patriotic purpose is "The Torchbearers." Suggestions on how to set up a school chapter may be obtained by writing to The Torchbearers, 5354 W. 126th Street, Hawthorne, California.

  Suggestions for Businessmen

  1. Remember that Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Madison, Adams, and the rest of the founding fathers were not "colonial aristocrats" as some textbooks proclaim, but were just successful businessmen. Because they were willing to sit down and think through the problems of their day, we inherited a free nation.

  2. Take time from the pressures of business to stay informed. Subscribe to a good news magazine.

  3. Become a member of an organization which will send you frequent intelligence reports on current problems. One of the most effective private agencies in this field is the American Security Council, 205 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois.

  4. Take an active part in the political party of your choice. Watch for the strong Socialist influence which is trying to take over both parties. Do not hesitate to throw your financial strength and your time behind the fight for freedom. It cost Washington $65,000 to leave his business and serve in the Revolutionary Army. In current inflated money values this would represent nearly half a million dollars.

  5. If you belong to a service club, get it in the fight for freedom. Most civic clubs have a special committee to inspire patriotic interests. Invite speakers to keep the business community alert.

  6. Sponsor essay and speech contests in the schools to promote American ideals and resistance to deceptive Communist propaganda.

  7. Openly resist the sale of goods to the Soviet empire and call for a total embargo against the USSR and her satellites.

  8. Work for a more equitable tax structure which is not arbitrary and confiscatory. Economic freedom is part of political freedom.

  9. If your employees are in a union, seek the cooperation of union officials in conducting a study course on Communism for your personnel. If no union is involved, ask your employees whether they would like such a course. The American Security Council can provide a complete program with speakers, films, tapes and literature. Many other organizations are also available to help.

  10. Get your local Chamber of Commerce behind regular Freedom Forums which will help keep the entire community alert.

>   11. Be careful not to contribute to an organization until you know it is a bona fide patriotic group. Unknowingly, some businessmen have been financing cited Communist-front organizations. If you are a member of the American Security Council, you can check on any organization or any individual through their files.

  12. Constantly keep in mind that American business is a major target for Communist propaganda. Be alert to any activities which could feed ammunition to the enemy.

  13. Furnish views and suggestions to your State and Federal legislators. A letter to a congressman has more impact than many people realize.

  Suggestions for Legislators

  1. The war between freedom and slavery can be lost in the legislative halls of free men. The wave of Socialism which is sweeping many free western nations toward a kind of suppressive feudalism is gaining ground. In this battle our legislators are on the first line of defense.