the communist peace front

BACKGROUND:

The Communist Peace Front The pros and cons on the Nuclear Test Ban Agree-

ment and the increased Soviet propaganda for “peace” both suggest the need for more perspective on the Com- munist concept of “peace.”

Of course, the limited denigration of Stalin by Khrushchev, the advent of the nuclear age, and the Sino-Soviet dispute have all, no doubt, left their mark on Soviet strategy and tactics towards “peace” and other questions. Few would suggest, however, that the Krem- lin has abandoned its program designed, as Khrushchev put it, to “bury” us. Nor is there reason to assume that Khrushchev has abandoned the fundamental Marxist- Leninist assumptions.

SO long as the Communists remain true to their dogmatic beliefs and continue to push their ambitious aspirations it is necessary to keep informed on the Communist concept of “peace’‘-however cordial Khrushchev may appear at the moment.

What do the Communists mean by “peace,” and how have they pursued this goal?

The end of World War II saw the creation of a number of international front organizations, many patterned after those of the 1920s and 1930s and all of them stressing “peace.” (F or a brief sketch of the Communist use of fronts, particularly to appeal to various nationalities and races, see Communist A@irs, “Communist Front Activities and Africa,” Vol. I, No. 6, April-May 1963) .*

Communists were vigorously active in the congresses and meetings that initiated such organizations. Openly, often through governments-controlled delegations of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European states; and secretly, through disciplined Communist groups within the delegations from non-Communist nations, they worked to place Communists in vital posi- tions in secretariats and on committees controlling agendas and the selection of delegations. Once this basis of power was achieved, it was not difficult to en- sure that the controlling groups at subsequent congresses and assemblies were Communist.

The most difficult Communist problem was to avoid alienating non-Communists by too-open support of SO- viet Policy. In time, of course, the U.S.S.R. saw to it

IFor the general use of fronts by the Communists, see such sources as Franz Borkenau, World Communism A History of the! Communist Znternational (Ann Arbor Paperbacks: Univ. of Michi- gan Press, 1g6a), pp. 161-401 passim; J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit (New York: Pocket Books Inc., lgsg), pp. 181-226; gobert Nigel Carew Hunt, The Theory and Practice of Commun- ism: An Introduction (New York: Macmillan, lg51), pp. 154-161; Gerhart Niemeyer and Joseph M. Bochenski (eds.), Hcmdbook of Communism (New York: Praeger, ig61), pp. 147-18~~ passim; Stefan Thomas Possonv. A Century of Conflict: Communist Tech- - , _. niques of World Revolution (Chicago: Regnery, lg53), pp. 208-231 and passim; and Rodger Swearingen, The World of Communism (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, lg6z), pp. aon-nag.

For post-World War II development see also such sources as the reports on Communist propaganda activities by Evron M. Kirk- patrick (ea.) Target: The World (New York: Macmillan, lg56), pp. 125-336; and his Year of CTisis (New York: Macmillan, lg57), pp. 43, 139-142 and 382-398.

that those organizations would give frill support to its policies. In delegation after delegation, in organization after organization, the non-Communists came to see the light and withdrew. In most cases they had gone the limit by way of compromise, believing that the Communists really shared their aims and that conces- sions could, in time, win sincere collaboration.

Front Organizations and Their Purposes

A front organization is an auxiliary unit of the Com- munist Party. It may be only a national one, in which case it assists the “local” Communist Party; or it may be an international Communist movement also directed by Moscow.

Their general purpose is to advance the cause of communism. Their main task is therefore to disseminate propaganda. They are, essentially, Soviet-controlled agencies of political warfare, continuously engaged in attacking non-Communists and defending Soviet policies.

More specifically: (1) They recruit, work upon and try to convert to communism “progressives,” left-wing socialists, neutralists, and pacifists; (2) on those occa- sions when the Communist Parties are pursuing a “popular front” or “united action” policy (as in the 1930s and now) front organizations are used; and (3) they act as a cover for secret Communists-and where communism has been outlawed, for the Communist party itself.

Lenin called them “transmission belts” because they linked the Communist Party (the driving force) with the masses. They are also termed “democratic” or “mass” organizations in the Communist jargon. As Lenin put it:

Every sacrifice must be made, the greatest obstacles must be overcome, in order to carry on agitation and propaganda systematically, perseveringly and pa- tiently, precisely in those institutions, societies and associations-even the most reactionary-to which proletarian or semi-proletarian masses belong.2 The largest International Front Organizations are the

World Council of Peace (WPC); World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU); World Federation of Dem- ocratic Youth (WFDY); International Union of Stu- dents (IUS); and the Women’s International Demo- cratic Federation (WIDF). These all deal with the category of people indicated in their title, the WPC having the broadest base. Then comes a group of pro- fessional organizations: the World Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE) ; International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) ; World Federation of Scientific Workers (W’FSW) ; International Organiza- tion of Journalists (IOJ); International Medical Asso- ciation (IMA); and the International Radio and Tele- vision Organization (OIRT). Last is an organization which so far has been restricted to the countries once

*“Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder,” LittIe Lenin Library No. PO, (New York: International Publishers, 1940).

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occupied by the Nazis plus Israel, the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR).

They are Subservient to Moscow

The most noticeable feature which these organizations have in common is their complete subservience to MOSCOW. For example, when Stalin quarreled with Tito, the Yugoslavs were promptly expelled from every front organization. When Khrushchev reversed the policy, they all invited the Yugoslavs back but they were politely rebuffed at that time. The second common feature is their financial dependence on Moscow. No accounts are ever published, because to do so would reveal the source of their extremely large funds.

The third feature is their complete lack of democratic control. Each is autocratically directed by a Secretary- General who is a dedicated Communist receiving in- structions direct from Moscow. He is assisted by an inner circle of hand-picked men, usually Communists, who form the Bureau (a small group of top officers) and among whom policy is discussed. The Secretariat also consists mostly of trusted Communists. No real voting takes place either over the “election” of officers or the approval of policies. This is all done by “acclamation.” Some vice-presidents are well-meaning dupes-non- Communist believers in co-existence, or Neutralists- chosen in order to provide a “respectable” cover.

It is difficult to assess the relative importance of the various fronts because each operates in its own sphere, and size is not the only criterion. In one sense the World Council of Peace is the key organization because all the others are linked with it and help to disseminate its “peace” propaganda. It has also been the most successful in attracting non-Communists, but consequently has had the greatest difficulty in keeping its members in line with Moscow policies.

After World War II, during the Berlin Blockade crises, the “World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace” was organized in Wroclaw, Poland, Aug. 25-28, 19~8. This was the beginning of the WPC.3

After the founding conference in Wroclaw, a con- tinuing organization called the International Liaison Committee of Intellectuals was set up; it, in turn, called (on February 1949) the First World Peace Congress in Paris in April 1949. The Congress took place April 20-25 simultaneously in Prague and Paris; part of the meeting had to be held in Prague because of visa difi- culties experienced by some of the 2,200 delegates from 72 countries.4

3The pamphlet “The Story of the World Council of Peace” (Vienna: Gazette Zeitschriften G. m.b.H., Ca. 1962) distributed

at the Congress for General Disarmament and Peace in Moscow in July 1962, states that “a group of writers, scientists and other leading men and women from co&tries both’ East and West, and in&dine the Soviet Union and the United States. met at Wroclaw in Poland. They underlined the dangers result&g from the increasing tension between East and West, called for an organized struggle for peace and urged the setting up of groups of ‘defenders of peace’ through the world. At about the same time a national peace conference was held in New York while in the summer of I@ a similar conference was held in Britain.”

‘Dokumente und Entschliessungen (Berlin: Deutscher Friedens- rat [German Peace Council], 1956) See also Dr. Heinz Badner, “The Storv of the World Council of Peace.” (Vienna: Gazetta Zeitchriftek G. m.h.B.; undated na-page pamphlet printed ca. 1962).

‘1’11~ Congress called on those who work for peace in every country to organize themselves into committees for the defense of peace. It elected a World Committee to coordinate their efforts. In a manifesto, unanimousl?: adopted on April 25, 1949, the Congress “dennunced the arms race, the atom bomb, the reamlament of West Germany and Japan, and “denounced colonial systems and military alliances.” The Congress also established “International Peace Prizes” for the best motion pic- tures and the best works in literature and arts which promoted peace among peoples.

The Congress also launched the World Committee of Partisans of Peace, which held its first meeting in Rome, October 28-31, 1949, where its first step was to expel the Yugoslav Peace Partisans after Tito’s breach with Stalin.

The World Committee met in Stockholm March 15- 19, 1950, and launched the Stockholm Appeal calling for the absolute prohibition of all weapons of mass de- struction, with strict international controls to insure the observance of the ban. A call was made to peace workers everywhere to collect signatures to the appeal.

The Second World Peace Congress was held in War- saw Nov. 16-22, 1950. This Congress was planned for Sheffield, England, but the British authorities turned back many delegates and refused visas to others, so it had to be transferred to Poland. Clement Attlee, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said on Nov. 1. 1950, that this peace movement was “an instrument of the Politburo” whose aims were to try to paralyze the efforts of the democracies to arm themselves. “They seek to persuade the workers of the Democracies to re- fuse to manufacture arms,” Attlee said, “but at the same time they urge the workers of the totalitarian states to increase their efforts in munitions produc- tion.“B

WPC was Initiated in 1948

The Warsaw Congress decided to give the movement a more permanent constitution, and the World Council of Peace came into being, with headquarters in Paris.

In 195 1 the WPC was expelled by the French government for fifth-column activities” and had to move its headquarters to Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1954 the organization moved to Vienna, where it established itself under Soviet protection.

After the occupation forces withdrew and Austria re- gained its independence, the WPC was for a time per- mitted to remain, on condition that it observed Austrian laws; but on Feb 2, 1957, the Ministry of the Interior announced that the WPC had been banned and its offices closed because it “interfered in the international affairs of countries with which Austria has good and friendly relations.” The activities, he said, were “directed against the interest of the Austrian State.“’

Though invited to Prague, the WPC never in fact went there. It has no official headquarters at present, but in practice, its business is conducted under cover of a new organization, established in Vienna in 1957, called the International Institute for Peace (IIP).

s“Manifest des Weltkongresses der Kampfer fur den Frieden” in Dokumente und Entschliessungen. pp. 7-10.

oHansard, Nov. 2, 1950. 70bservm. London, Feb. 3, 1957.

Activities of the WPC Activities of the WPC include irregular peace con-

gresses and-lesser meetings, peace campaigns such as the “Stockholm Appeal,” a Cultural Commission, awarding of International Peace Prizes, promotion of international trade, and a publications program, the latter now being carried out through the International Institute for Peace.

Major Congresses of the WPC number six as of 1963; they were: April 1949, 1 st World Peace Congress, Paris and Prague; November 1950, 2nd World Peace Con- gress, Warsaw; December jg52, Congress of the Peo- ples for Peace, Stockholm; June 1955, World Peace As- sembly, Helsinki; July 1958, Congress for Disarmament and International Cooperation, Stockholm; July 1962, \liorld Congress for Disarmament and Peace, Moscow.

Seven campaigns, some of them highly successful propaganda operations, have been waged by the WPC. The first and most successful was the Stockholm Ap- peal, launched in March, 1950, three months before the Communists invaded South Korea. The appeal, which emphasized the banning of atomic weapons, eventual11 collected about 500 million signatures, most of them in Communist countries. This was followed in November 1 g5o by the “Warsaw Appeal,” a second signature campaign calling for the immediate convening of a five- power conference to settle current disputes, including the Korean War. Six hundred million signatures were claimed.

The most ridiculous WPC propaganda operation was the “Germ Warfare” campaign, launched at a Bureau meeting in Oslo, Norway, in March 1952. This campaign, which enjoyed only limited success, alleged that U.N. forces in Korea were using germ warfare.

A “Negotiate Now” campaign, launched in Vienna in December 1952, was a renewal of the Warsaw Appeal. This was followed, in January 1955, by the ‘Vienna Appeal” which repeated the Stockholm Appeal against atomic weapons. The WPC claimed that more than 650 million signatures were collected.

The “Berlin Appeal” was another repetition of the Stockholm Appeal against atomic weapons. Launched at a WPC Bureau meeting in East Berlin in 1957, it again urged the cessation of atomic tests which were “contaminating both land and water.”

Further but less intensive campaigns against nuclear weapons, sponsored by the WPC, have been taken up by various local and national committees and groups.

A cultural commission was set up in 1951 to organize exhibitions and exchanges. Its main function is to select each year IO or so artists or writers of world re- nown whose anniversaries are then celebrated by WPC.

The WPC decided in 1949 to award annually three International Peace Prizes, worth about $I~,OOO each, for literary, artistic, film or scientific contributions to peace. These prizes are quite distinct from the Stalin Peace Prizes, worth about $27,000, which have been awarded by the Soviet Government to nearly all the leaders of the WPC (renamed “Lenin Peace Prizes”).

Promotion of International Trade in another incon- gruous activity of the WPC, which took the initiative in holding a “World Economic Conference” (Moscow, April 1952) that gave birth to another front organiza-

tion called the Committee for the Promotion of Interna- tional Trade (later changed to International Committee for the Promotion of Trade). Though its headquarters were disbanded at the end of 1956, some of its national committees are still active.

The World Conference Against Atom and Hydrogen Bombs-held annually since 1955 on or near “Hiro- shima Day” (August 6) usually in Tokyo or Hire- shima-is organized by the Japanese Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) with in- creasingly close cooperation and assistance from the WPC and the Japan Peace Committee (an afliliate of WPC). (For more detail, see “Gensuikyo’s Conference on Nuclear Weapons Splits,” p. I 5).

The Conference of Asian Nations for the Relaxation of International Tension, organized with WPC help in New Delhi in 1955, set up a permanent Asian Solidarity Committee in Delhi with national solidarity committees in many countries, most of whom also belonged to the parallel Peace Committees.

In 1957, as the result of the ‘Lmarriage de conven- ante” between Soviet communism and Arab nationalism, an Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Conference was held in Cairo. This extended the movement to the Mid- dle East and Africa, and an Afro-Asian Peoples’ Soli- darity Council (AAPSC) was founded with a permanent secretariat in Cairo. This in turn has organized subsidiary meetings, such as an Afro-Asian Youth Con- ference in 1959. The former Asian Solidarity Commit- tees have been renamed Afro-Asian Solidarity Commit- tees, including the one in the Soviet Union. The AAPSC represents an uneasy alliance between Soviet and Chinese Communism, Arab nationalism, Pan Afri- canism, and Asian neutralism. (See Communist Af- fairs, Vol. I, No. 5. Feb-Mar. 1963, p. 7; and Vol. I:

No. 6, April-May 1963, p. 6). The Latin American Conference for “National Sov-

ereignty, Economic Emancipation and Peace,” held in Mexico City in 1961, was hailed by Communist propaganda as a move in the struggle against “United States domination.” Though nominally convened by a repre- sentative Latin American committee, the conference was organized primarily by members of the WPC.

As for publications, a monthly review, Horiwns (for- merly called Defense & la Ptiz), was published in Paris until 1962 by Pierre Cot and edited by Jean- Maurice Hermann on behalf of WPC. The September 1959 issue of Horizons mentions ten allied peace publications in various languages. In the January 1962 Horizons, Pierre Cot said the magazine would have to cease publication and added that for years the staff had struggled to keep the magazine alive but it lacked money. The IIP sends out various publications on peace, including those of the W’PC.”

sThe latter include the bi-monthly Bulletin of ihe World Coun- cil of Peace and such pamphlets es “What is- the World Peace Council?” and “Ten Years of the World Peace Movement.” The IIP Department of Reference and Research issues the following serial publications: Series I, “Current Documents and Papers on International Problems and World Peace”; Series II, “Current Articles, Interviews and Statements on Disarmament, Peaceful &existence and International Cooperation”; also Series III, Cur- rent Digest on Atomic. Danger.

Officers of the WPC

Until his death in August 1958, the President of WPC was the French scientist, Prof. Frederic Joliot- Curie, who, because of his Communist convictions, had lost his post as Chairman of the French Atomic Energy Commission. Then the WPC Council dropped the titles president and vice-president because all efforts to agree on a successor failed. Instead, a 22-man Presidential Committee was established; its chairman is an out- standing example of the type of intellectual leader the Communists are able to enmesh in their front activities:

Prof. John D. Bemal: Great Britain, professor of Crystallography at London University; vice-president of another Communist front organization, the World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) and of the British Peace Committee; Lenin Peace Prize Winner 1956, and Foreign member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences; Fellow of the Royal Society.e

The full Council-which is composed of individual “peace fighters,” leaders of national peace Committees and representatives of other front organizations-pres- ently numbers about 520. The Council has met 13

times; the next meeting was to be held in June 1963 in Warsaw but was cancelled due to the Sino-Soviet splitlO Council meetings are mainly for propaganda purposes; a smaller Executive Bureau decides policy and plans.

No exact figure on WPC membership is available, but special efforts have been made to attract people from all countries and walks of life. On Nov. 29, 1949, the Cominform journal, For a Lasting Peace, for a Pea- pie’s Democracy, contained the following directive on the. “Defense of Peace and the Struggle against the Warmongers”:

Particular attention should be devoted to drawing into this movement trade unions, women’s, youth, co-operatives, sports, cultural, educational, religious and other organizations, and also scientists, writers, journalists, cultural workers, parliamentary and other political and public leaders who act in defense of peace and against war.

Concerning finances, each national organization is supposed to be self-supporting. No information is available on how the enormous expenses of the headquarters organization, meetings, travel, propaganda publications, postal expenses, maintenance of offices, salaries, etc., are met. However, the WPC claims that “it is sup- ported by contributions and donations from national peace movements and individuals. It maintains a World Peace Fund account. . : “11

0011 Mav IO the East Berlin Communist .Newsuauer Neue Zeit. honoring the 60th birthday of Prof. Bemal, printed an article ad- mitting his Communist afiiliation before he became a top-secret adviser in the Allied war effort.

For details on Bemal and other members of the Presidential Committee see Badner, op. cit.

lOSee London Daily Telemanh of June o. “Badner, op. cit.,*p. 18, Ii is sign&&t that statutes for the

‘World Peace Fund,” which helps support the WPC, were decided in the U.S.S.R. According to the Soviet news agency TASS (April 27, 1961) this’i a public fund to.&ssist financially the activities of Soviet (!) social organizations which work for the strengthening~of

Though many of the front organizations are linked, the WPC is the only one that has official representatives from all the others sitting on its Council. This does not mean that the WPC in any way controls the other front organizations, but rather that it uses all of them to support and to publicize its campaigns.

The WPC has never had consultative status with the U.N. or with any of its agencies. In recent years the WPC has, as part of the post-Stalin strategy, made great efforts to woo non-Communist organizations, such as genuine pacifist bodies and religious groups. This campaign has not been very successful, largely because, however how much it tries, the WPC is unable to maintain for long the pretense that it is impartial and pacifist. It is, nevertheless, making special efforts to collaborate with nuclear disarmament groups.

That those efforts are not always successful can be seen for an event in early 1963, when the WPC suffered one of its greatest humiliations-that of being publicly ostracized by the Conference of Non-Aligned Peace Movements, which met at Oxford, England, Jan. 4-7, to set up a new non-aligned world peace organization (see Communist A@irs, Vol. I, No. 5, Feb-March 1963,

P. 7).

International Institute for Peace (HP) Is Offshoot The offshoot of the W’PC, set up in Vienna in 1957

to provide a legal cover, is the International Institute for Peace, with its headquarters at Mijllwald Platz 5, Vienna IV. The Institute was registered in Vienna in May 1957, some three months after the expulsion from Austria of the WPC, whose former offices it occupies. A Constituent General Meeting was held in July 1957, at which the Articles of Association were adopted. The avowed aims of the Institute are similar to, but rather wider than, those of the WPC-for which it acts as a front.

Like the WPC, the Ill? keeps its budget a closed secret and does not publish accounts. However, it is interest- ing to note an appeal from the Ill? which appeared in the Bulletin of the World Council of Peace, No. 6, June 1962. It said the IIP had been carrying out intensive scientific and organizational activities, and to meet “constantly growing activity and the increasing task, facing the Institute” it appealed to peace lovers everywhere to support its work with donations to: Account No. 29715, Vienna Usterreichische Landerbank, Ex- positur Wieden.

Communists Exploit Pacifism, Deride It “Peace” organizations fronting for the Communists

have, of course, nothing in common with pacifism, al- though they do succeed in deceiving some pacifists. One of the aims of Communist practice is to discredit bona fide international bodies by imitating their out- ward forms in order to mislead the public.

peace, and solidarity and friendship between peoples. The TASS report continued, “Task of the Peace Fund is the over-all assistance of the national war of liberation of peoples for freedom and independence . . .“; it mentioned the following Soviet “social” organizations: the Soviet Peace Committee, the Soviet Pugwash Commit- tee, the Committee of So+ief Women, etc.

That the Communist contempt for pacifism is almost as old as the movement itself can readily be docu- mented. Lenin said in 1916:

. . . Every “peace program” is a deception of the people and a piece of hyprocrisy unless its prin- cipal object is to explain to the masses the need for a revolution, and to support, aid and develop the revolutionary struggle of the masses that is start- ing everywhere, ferment among the masses, pro- tests, fraternization in the trenches, strikes, demonstrations. . . .I*

Another Comintern leader, Palmiro Togliatti, today Secretary General of the Italian Communist Party, said in 1935:

. . . we must penetrate among the pacifist masses, and carry out the work of enlightenment among them, using forms of organization and action which give them the possibility of taking the first step in the effective struggle against war and capitalism. We must always take two things into account. The first is that the organization of the pacifist masses cannot and must not be a Commu- nist organization. Communists must never give up explaining with the greatest patience and insistence their own point of view on all the problems of the struggle against war.13

Communist-and WPC-contempt for genuine pacifism stems, of course, from the teachings of Lenin and others on the need to overthrow capitalism by whatever means possible. Lenin stated at the 7th Communist Party Congress (Petrograd, March 6-8, 1918)) in his speech on “War and Peace” discussing the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, “History teaches us, that peace is a respite before war.“l’ War and peace are for a Communist nothing more than two different aspects, two different sides of one and the same global event- namely the ever-present class struggle in human history. Peace is nothing else than a period in which there is no massive or overt military action. Lenin has also said: “Only after we shall overthrow, finally conquer and expropriate the bourgeoisie in the entire world, and not only in one country, will war become impossible.“16

It seems obvious, therefore, that for a Communist there exist two kinds of peace: (I) the final, everlast- ing peace when Communism has been victorious, and (2) “peace,” which is only a tactical maneuver to con- fuse the enemy, in a period when it is not appropriate or possible to use armed force. Under the present military and political circumstances (nuclear stalemate) in the world, the Soviet leaders appear convinced that it would be a disadvantage to consider the military

isLenin, “Central Committee Proposals Submitted to Socialist Conference,” (April ICJI~), Selecied Works (New York: Intemat. Publisher. 1aa1. Vol. 5. D. 217 (checked aaainst the Russian edi- tion, Coll&d‘iiiorks, 4&-ed. vol: 22, p. 164:

l*Togliatti, then known as M. Ercoli, in The Communist Inter- national, Vol. 12, No. 17-18, Sept. 20, 1935, p. 1253. He returned to his native Italy in 19~ to assume open leadership of that country’s Communist party.- --

i4V. L. Lenin. LJber Kriea. Armee und Milittirwissenschaft. a selection of Lenin’s writings-m two volumes. (Berlin: Verlag des Ministeriums fur National; Verteidigung, 1959.) Vol. 2, p. 3;7.

1sV. I. Lenin. “The Militarv Proaram of the Proletarian Revolu- tion,” Collected’ Works (4th Rnssig Ed.), Vol. 23, p. 67.

“phase” of the class struggle now; in the meantime, every action is directed toward disarming the capitalist enemy in order to have him defenseless for the political-military aspects of the class struggle. The tutor of all leading Soviet marshals today and a former chief of the Soviet General Staff, Boris M. Shaposhnikov, wrote in his work The Brain of the Army (Mozg Armii) : “If war is the continuation of politics with other means, then peace is also only a continuation of the struggle with other means.“le

In his more colorful language, Mao Tse-tung ex- pressed the same idea: “Politics is unbloody war; war, however, is bloody politics.“”

More recently, the double standards of the WPC were challenged by the British Committee of loo. It announced April 26 it had corresponded with the WPC Secretariat suggesting demonstrations at Soviet rocket bases in Eastern Europe. The press statement, signed by the Committee’s International Secretary, Peter Car- dogan, said that the Committee was also for the stopping of tests, disengagement and disarmament, and added:

The difference is that we are for the anti-war movement acting for these ends immediately and unilaterally. We shall be glad to hear that you condemn Russian rockets, nuclear weapons and military alliances and to read public statements to that effect. We know that you condemn the West- ern variety-so do we. We shall be glad to learn when you are conducting demonstrations against nuclear installations in the Warsaw Pact countries. . . . We are not impressed by verbal protestations for disarmament. We have a saying in this country that ‘deeds speak louder than words’-and we await the speech of deeds from the World Coun- cil of Peace.‘*

The WPC is Moscow’s chief weapon for the exploita- tion of the universal and justified longing for peace. It works to create, by “united front”le tactics, a general atmosphere of “moral pressure” in order to bring about a weakening of the moral strength of the free people of the world, to make them less determined to defend their liberty and to blackmail their leaders to accept “peace and disarmament” on Moscow’s terms.

That the tactics, aims and slogans of all Communist front organizations are identical and simultaneously repeated with ever-increasing volume proves that the campaign is not a “spontaneous” manifestation, as Communist propaganda pretends, but is centrally organized, directed, controlled and financed by Moscow. B.W.

1’JMozg Armii (Vol. s was published in “Voennij Vestnik” in 1927; Vols. 2 and 3 were published in the State Publishing House [Gxzidut] in lg2g), here quoted from Die Sowpetarmee-Wesen

und Lehre (Kijln: Markus Verlag, 1g55), p. 35, by R. L. Garthoff. 1rMao Tse-tung, Augewiihlte Schiften (Berlin: Dietz Verlag,

1g57), Vol. 2, p. 191-192. IsReuters dispatch of April 26, carried in the Washington Post of

April 27. IsThese tactics call for Communist groups to unite with and

eventually take over other groups and organizations, usually larger, by stressing a worthy common goal (such as peace) and the need to work together to achieve it. When the United front tactic is pursued to its logical conclusion in this way, Lenin’s description of it as being like the “rope which supports one who is hanged” becomes all too real.

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