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Wh"ts Behind THE BEBLIN CBISIS SOCIALIST - LABOR COLLECTION LORIDA ATlANTIC UNIVERSI YJoseph Clark LIBRARY 51 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph Clark, the author of this pamphlet, is the City Editor of the Daily Worker. He served for several years in the Infantry during the war against the Axis and wa awarded the Silver Star for heroism in action. He is the author of We) the People and was formerly a national leader f the Young Communist League.

Published by NEW CENTURY PUBLISHERS, 832 Broadway, New York 3.

August·, 1948 ~ 209 PRIKT£.O IN U.S.A. ID you hear· ·Walter Heatter, or was it Gabriel D Winchell, the other day? It was hot enough in Jul but the words that came out of the radio fairly sizzled. Berlin ... crisis ... airlift ... war with Russia ... war ... war ... war. Hot weather all right, but let's not kid around with a "cold" war. Let's get set for the shooting. Atomic war-jet propelled-let's go. Those few GI's who survived the Malmedy mas acre perpetrated by the azis less than four years ago , erc probably too smart to listen to that kind of radio proaram. But maybe some of those men cauaht in the Bulge read the July 12 issue of the ew York Times. They must have rubbed their eyes when they saw a headline: "BERLINERS PLEDGE STALl GRAD STA D AGAI ST RUSSIA S" V hat' going on here? Have the murderers of MaImed become our allies? Has Stalingrad-the symbol of Nazi downfall-become a slogan for a new war? Have the 1-1'· we carried on the side of the Russians against the Nazis become protection for the azis in a revival of their cru ade against Russia and Communism-a crusade, hich we helped smash because our own country-our own live. -were endangered? When it seemed that despite all the bluster and bamboozle, the U. S. aovernment had reached an impa in Berlin, when the . S. commander in Germam·, Gen- 3 ' eral Lucius Clay, was summoned to Washington, when the talk in print and on the air was war, the Secretary of State George Marshall and President suddenly told us: "No shooting-we're going to talk, maybe even ne­ gotiate. Maybe." Thousands of planes were flying food and coal to Berlin. The papers told us the Army had a showdown plan all set. They would get an armored column, and GI Joe would shoot his way with a convoy to Berlin right through the of Germany. That was tough talk. But there was more than just talk. The latest jet fighter planes were flown to Germany. B-29's were sent over. The order was out for the registration of 19-25 years olds. Yessir, the brass and the boys in striped pants were going to be hard talking, fast shooting hombres. And the radio broad­ casting lieutenant commanders were all set to cheer us into the fox holes. But suddenly-Marshall and Truman say maybe they'll talk with the Russians. Maybe they'll negotiate.

Bluster and Backdown: U.S. Foreign Policy

, hat kind of foreign policy is it that made the State Department talk out of both sides of its mouth at the same time? Why the bluster and then the backdown? Why were we made to look so foolish? But above all else why were we nearly brought to the brink of war by the events of Berlin? Let's work our way back through the facts and the his­ tory, not the baloJ;ley and the blarney. In the ew York Herald Tribune on July 20, Walter Lippmann admitted that "the plan to establish a western German government at ... precipitated the crisis over Berlin...." 4 That plan was announced to the world on June 7. It followed six weeks of secret parleys in London between the U. S. government and a select group of its satellites-Great Britain, , and later Belgium, Hol­ land and Luxemburg. The decision to set up such a western German state was the climax of a long record of separate decisions and actions in violation of the war-time agreements among the allies who fought and defeated Nazi Germany. Above all it was a violation of the famous U.S.-Soviet-British agreement made'in the.summer of 1945. It was in the cards that separate, one-sided action on Germany would lead to a crisis in Berlin, because that city was sup­ posed to be the headquarters for the Soviet-American­ British-French control of Germany, according to the Potsdam decision. The Potsdam agreement said that all matters about Ger­ many were to be decided together and unanimously by the Big Four. The Potsdam meeting also provided for the setting up of a Council of Foreign Ministers of the Big Four to ne­ gotiate and settle the terms of peace with all the European Axis powers. Indeed such negotiations were successfully carried out and unanimous agreement reached on peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and . But by the time negotiations were started on a German our State Department had decided to dump whatever was left of the peace foundations built so pain­ fully when President Roosevelt was alive and when we were united in the war against fascism. General Marshall became Secretary of State and walked out on the Council of Foreign Ministers, abruptly ending negotiations among the Big Four for a settlement with Germany. Instead of the Potsdam agreement we got the London decision for a separate West German state. 5 Instead of the Potsdam decision for demilitarizinu and denazifying Germany we got separate action to rebuild Western Germany and its powerful Ruhr industri as a base for operations against the U.S.S.R. Instead of the Potsdam decision for a unified demo ratic state of Germany which could become part of a peaceful world we got the decision for a German rump state. Instead of the Potsdam decision to eliminate the militarists who controlled the big landed estates in Ger­ many, we got a free reign for those landed sponsor of eternal wars by Germany. Instead of an independent Germany collaboratinu peace­ fully with its neighbors, we got a German Western regime as part of the 1arshall Plan. ow the Malmedy survivors rou t shell out douuh to support German biu bu ine men and aristocrats who are makinu cartel deals with 'Vall Street bankers, especially the Dillon-Read rowd who e man, Forrestal, is the Secretary of Defense. SpecificalJy, instead of a German ettlement, w got the Berlin crisis.

Who's Right and Who's Wrong on Berlin?

But what are the rights and and the wrongs in the Berlin situation? Does the State Department have any· legal basis for alJ the shouting and bluster and threats it has made .about the so-calJed ? Well, at latest reports the Reds had not yet taken over or e, en infiltrated the ew York Times. And of this you <:an be sure, "e Reds haven't won the soul of the Times 'Vashino-ton Bureau chief, rthur Krock. 'Writing in his 'column on July 8, Krock asks the ques­ tion: "\Vhy don't we throw the book at the Russians?" He an wers: "We can't throw the book at them. becau e there is no book." 6 Krock is just talking about the legal issues involved in the Berlin crisis. The U. S., Britain and France used "forceful language," Krock says, in protestinO" Soviet re­ trictions on travel and transportation into Berlin. "But legally they are deficient," he writes, "for the simple reason that the Western powers failed specifically to re er e in all cases a corridor into Berlin through the Soviet zone which surrounds it." So there is no legal basi for all the bluster and bullying. But, as Krock puts it, is there a moral case? And was it ju t an oversight by the We tern powers that they made no legal provisions about suppl ino' Berlin? If Krock told a little more about the Pot dam decision he'd ha e to say right out that Berlin was et up as a center (or all the BiD" Four only on the basis of Big Four control and action for all Germany. As soon as you make separate deci ions for: the Western zone you destroy every legal as well as moral basis for staying in Berlin. And then Krock could have gone further and told his readers that the Russians proposed something else. They suO"O"e ted carrying out the Potsdam decisions on demili­ tarizing and democratizing Germany, setting up a united democratic German state. And they p-roposed withdmwing all occupation troops not only from Berlin but from all Germany) once that job was accomplished and the security of Germany's neigh­ bors guaranteed. And before we discharge him we'll hale Walter Lipp­ mann back to the stand and let him, as notorious a "Red" as Krock, testify about Berlin. Before the "blockade" be­ fore the decision on eparate currency, before the decision on a We t German dovernment, Lippmann wrote in the Tribune (May 27): . "","'e are in Berlin because Berlin is the capital of Ger­ many. If Berlin ceases to be the capital of German , an~ if 'Germany' is Western Germany (minus the French zone) 7 then we have no more reason to be there than we have to be in Dresden or Leipzig." The latter cities are in the Soviet occupation zone. Lippmann foresaw that if the U. S. set up such a state there would be "divisions and disorders which would surely be caused inside Germany and throughout Europe." That, we think, neatly nails the responsibility for the Berlin ruckus. It is doubly valuable evidence because it was said before the events actually occurred, the events which Lippmann said would be so disastrous to American in­ terests.

The West Germ.an Rump and a New Currency

Just to prove how impossible our position was in Berlin once we made a decision to form a West German rump, take the currency conflict which led the Russians to tighten all access to Berlin. Under the Potsdam agTeement there was to be a unified policy for all Germany. There was to be one currency. In fact the four powers shared the plates from which the cur­ rency was printed. But on June 18, the three Western powers decided to put out separate currency and they also tried to introduce this into Berlin which is the very heart of the Soviet occupation zone. What kind of case did the State Department have after that? But they decided to bull through anyway. They or­ o·anized that great air lift. They decided to throw millions of dollars into the impossible task 9f supplying the in­ dustry as well as the consumer needs of two-thirds of a city of 3,000,000 people by air. And to show that the issue wasn't that of preventing the Berliners from starving-the Soviet Government came right back and said, "OK, we'll feed the western zone of Berlin as well as our own." 8 Where did that leave us? As though all that was not enough our "allies" and satellites in the whole ruckus took a powder. Again let's call Walter Lippmann to the witness stand. In the flemld Tribune column of July 20, he said that the plan for a West German government "does not have the support even of those western German politicians who are directly dependent upon the British and American military governors. We have known all along that the French government agreed reluctantly and under severe. pressure, and that the' approval was wrung from the French lational Assembly only by the narrowest margin. Now we see that the German Minister-Presidents in the British and American zones do not want to form a Western German government, do not .want to draft a constitution, and do not want to be identified with the purposes of the whole policy." . Lippmann continues: "A German policy which the Ger-' mans do not want, the French do not want, the Poles and the Czechs do not·want, which the Russians, of Course, do not want, '" hich, in fact, the civilians in the State Depart­ ment do not want, cannot be such a masterpiece of states­ manship that Europe must take it or else." But it was that "masterpiece" which was used to create the Berlin crisis. True enough, the State Department forced the French government to accept the "masterpiece." But the shaky condition of the French government was shown when its Cabinet fell on the issue of militarizing the nation to back up the anti-Soviet bloc. Fren"chmen know that rebuilding German fascism and turning against the is the very same policy which brought defeat and degredation to their country in 1940. And even those stooges in Germany the State Depart­ ment lined up for its Western rump balked at forming a "o·overnment." Knowing that the people of Germany would not back them in this maneuver, they had to be 9 pressured into line by the State Department Gauleiters in Frankfurt. But the Berlin chapter of our foreign policy since Potsdam is just one in a book of crisis. We've been jump­ ing from one "showdown" to another and moving farther and farther away from what all of us ""vant-a stable and just peace. ' Berlin. is just a part of the German problem. And Ger­ many is just a part of the world problem. Must that prob­ lem be solved by war? ot if the people have their way. But there will be war, a terrible atomic war, if we the people allow the bankers and the brass to continue taking our country from one crisis to another. Since Berlin is really the problem of Ger­ many and Germany is part of the world problem, let's see how the bankers and the brass are dragD'ing u to war . through their German and world poli ies.

Potsdam: Plans for 'Postwar Germany

One of the most solemn deci ions Stalin, Truman and Attlee made at' Potsdam was to wipe out once and for all the roots of German militarism and fascism. In foxhole bull sessions from the Mediterranean to the Rhine and th~ eckar I remember my buddies saying: "This time it has to be different. vVe can't let the German do it aD'ain " Some GI were doubtful:" aah, it will be ju t like la t time-the big shots will get together with the German biD' shots again and it'll be the same old merry-go-round." Others argued: "Why don't we let the Russians take over in Germany? They know first-hand what the Tazis did. They'll know how to handle them." Of course some of them ,~ere off ba e. They were mad 10 about the Nazis and about the buddies they had lost. So they talked about wiping out all Germans. Cooler heads knew that was wrong as well as impossible. At Potsdam the representatives of America, Russia and Britain talked sense. In the words of the document: "The complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany and the elimination or control of all German industry that could be used for military production ...' eliminating the present excessive concentration of eco­

nomic power as exemplified in particular by cartels. s I n­ dicates, tru t and other monopoli tic arranO"ements. German militarism and azi m will be extirpated."

The U. S. Zone: 1948

That was t~e pledge. That was the least we owed the men of Malmedy as well as the men of Anzio and the Ar­ dennes, the men who marched from ormandy to Munich. Well, Munich is the capital of Bavaria in the U. S. 0 ­ upation zone. Here it is three years since the pledge "'a made. The followinO" appeared in the . Y. Herald Tribune on July 17: "Former Nazi are returning to a position of influenc in Ba arian political, economic and social life to a danO" r­ u and ominous degree, it has been reported officiall l Berlin headquarters by the American Military Go ei 11­ ment' de- azification branch for Ba aria." And the arne day (June 8) that the papers caried the text of the deci ion to et up a " e t German tate in io 1a­ tion of the Potsdam agreement, the ew York Times cor­ re pondent in Berlin, Drew fiddleton, cabled hi paper: " everal other British and Western measures to wo and win German political and economic support in the political battle with the Soviet Union also were di 10 ed. II These included: "A general amnesty to former members of the armed Elite Guard (Waffen SS) ..." Cartels? Every honest American who was in the Ameri­ can Military Government and worked on breaking up the giant German trusts which were the financial backbone of Hitlerism has been fired. James S. Martin, former chief of the Decartelization Branch of the Military Government, U. S. Zone, told of "case after case in which experienced workers and middle­ sized businessmen have been refused licenses to operate or to ply their trades for the sole reason that the result would be to introduce competition with established busi­ nesses which had flourished under the azi reo-ime." ( 10 vember 16, 1947). Having cleared the infamous Krupp family of the charge of .waging aggressive war the U. S. Military Tri­ bunal in Nuremburg, Germany extended the same white­ wash to the directors -of I. G. Farben. This billion-dollar chemical trust was part of the big business gang which brought Hitler to power and sponsored his drive for world domination. The sorry alibi of the U. S. judges was that the directors of the Farben cartel were "followers-not leaders." A footnote to this betrayal of the men who died fighting the azis is that I. G. Farben was directly tied up with Standard Oil of this country. It was this same tie-up which deprived American soldiers of artificial rubber sorely needed when America was attacked. We didn't have it be­ cause of secret patent agreements between I. G. Farben and the Rockefeller oil trust here. Another source of German fascism was the German Junker, or big landowner. The decision to set up a we t German state crossed the T's and dotted the I's on the policy which has favored not only the pro- azi indus­ triali ts and bankers but also entrenched the land-owning 12 . aristocrats. To our shame it is only in the Soviet occupa­ tion zone that the big Junker estates were divided among the farmers and the big trusts broken up by representatives of the German people.

Who Runs the U. S. Zone?

Who are the men behind this betrayal of the men who fell at Malmedy? Who benefits from this German "master- piece:' • Directly there are men like James Forrestal, in charge of our armed forces, formerly with Dillon-Read, which was tied directly to the German cartels. There is William H. Draper, also with Dillon-Read, and now Undersecretary of the Army. Draper worked person­ ally with Clay in creating the Berlin "masterpiece." W. Averell Harriman, special representative of the E. C. A. (Marshall Plan) was connected with Brown Brothers, Harriman Co., . Y. investment bankers. Robert A. Lovett, Undersecretary of State was conn~cted with Harriman's investment company. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, was chairman of the Board of Hudson Ba Mining and Smelting Co. Secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, wa former head of Emerson Electric Co., St. Louis, Mo. Charles E. Saltsman, Assistant Secretary of State, was president of the N. Y. Stock Exchange. Paul Hoffman, Administrator of the E. C. A. (Marshall Plan) was president of the Studebaker Corp. These are only a few of the direct representatives of Wall St. who make our foreign policy and are responsible for the Berlin "masterpiece." Their banks and corpora­ tions are making millions right now as a result of the draft, the Marshall Plan and the . 13 There is the more than $2,000,000,000 part Germany has been given in the Marshall Plan. If GI's were worried that we'd be on the same merry-go-round after this war, the Marshall Plan confirms their worst fears. Following we had the Dawes Plan. Over 4,000,000,000 American dollars were poured into Germany, which built up her war potential under the bankers and Junkers who ruled Germany. Then, as now, the British, French and American governments wanted Germany as a spearhead to destroy communism and the Soviet Union. So they sowed the Dawes Plan. We reaped Malmedy-and the mil­ lions dead and maimed in World War II. Following this war we have the Marshall Plan, which assigns a central role to German business. . Of course Germany must be rebuilt and its people allowed to build a sound economy. But under the Marshall Plan this rebuilding goes on with the same industrialists, bankers and Junkers who brought on two world wars. And here the same Dillon-Read, Standard Oil and Morgan in­ terests are willing to risk the lives of present and future generations through their investments and grabbing of German industry. The only people in Germany who could prevent that country from taking a warlike and fascist path again, the workers and farmers, are being hampered, their militant leaders persecuted and framed, their trade unions curbed in U. S., British and French zones. Crude frame's like the "M" plan do ument are used to whip up a "Red care." Thi "M" plan was palmed off as a German communist plot to create disorder and revolution. It was officially backed by the British and U. S. authorities. But later even the lYovernments of Britain and the U. S. had to admit the "M" plan was a phoney. But it's all part of the game­ to build up German reaction and to prevent the German workers and farmers from establishing popular and demo­ cratic government all over Germany-the way they have 14 achieved it in the Soviet occupation zone under the leader­ ship of the Socialist Unity Party. At Potsdam the decision was made that Germany shall pay reparations to repair a small fraction of the terrible damage wrought by the azis in Europe. But John Foster Dulles. the Republican spokesman of the bipartisan policy which created the Berlin "masterpiece," tipped his hand way back at the of the BiD" Four For­ eign Ministers. Instead of repairing the damage brought on by Nazi invasion, Dulles favored rebuilding German capitalism under the old cart~ls .and trusts. Dulles aid at that time that re-establishing the connec­ tions between big bu iness in Germany with the rest of the , orld would bring "prosperity." He meant prosperity for the Schroeder Bank of which he was a representative for ears. This was an international bank with German, British and American branches. It was a bank which qrought prosperity to Hitler and helped him build up his war machine. It brought prosperity to Dulles and other bankers and industrialists here and in Britain. But to the people of Germany it brought fascism. To the people of Europe it brought the devastation and death of World 'War II. And it brought war to the American people. And now after World War II, Wall Street is behind the State Department plan for a separate D"overnment of V\ est­ ern German.

The erman Ruhr \ \lId b 111 uch a g ernment. That's the same Ruhr which wa the arsenal of German aD"QTession. ow the old German indu trialist are given a han e to step right back into p sition of ontral in the Ruhr. But there i this qualification. Wall Street moves right i!l with them. 0 wonder, when so many millions of dollars can be gotten so easily by and for big bu incss, that a State Department controlled by Wall Street refuses to abide by the Potsdam decision for a united, democratic 15 Germany, for getting rid of the Nazi industrialists, and for repairing the -damage caused by fascist aggression. For all these reasons the Republican-Democratic govern­ ment in Washington has broken off all attempts to settle the German question on the basis of our wartime agree­ ments and to sign a peace with Germany. But when you get right down to cases, mak.ing peace with Germany and settling that crisis really requires negotiations and friend- hip between the and the Soviet Union.

A German Settlement

'When you get down to cases the real national interest of the United States and the Soviet Union do not conflict anywhere in the world. Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that, and therefore he urged not only that the two nations co­ operate in war but also to build the foundations of a last- ing peace. . Differences in social and economic systems do not neces­ sarily lead to war. It is only when greedy, profit-hungr , special interests want to car e out control of the oil and the rubber of the Ruhr and of the world for themselves that the endanger the peace of the world. And it is such special interests that the State Department and the bi­ partisans represent. Unless peaceful relations are e tablished with the .S.S.R., we can't help moving from one crisis to another and into a situation like that in Berlin where a false move of a finger on a trigger can touch off the most terrible war in hi tory. Clearly, therefore, a settlement with the Soviet Union i in the interests of the American people. B the same token those who have organized the cold war and the "get-tough" policy are working directly against meri an interests. 16 A settlement of the German problem therefore means sitting down and negotiating with Russia. However, what we hav..e done so far is to appease the German reac­ tionaries, making them our allies against the Soviet Union. But we know where such leads us. J LIst ten years ago the o-called Western world Went to Munich and appeased the same German reactionaries in the hope they would march against communism and against the Soviet nion. And recall what happened after Munich. The bipartisan sponsors of the cold war try to turn history upside down and claim that sitting down and mak­ ing peace 'with Russia is ."appeasement." But Munich proved wst the opposite. At Munich in 1938 Britain and France sat down with Hitler and Mussolini-not with Rus­ sia. They encouraged Hitler's clrang nach Oesten-Hitler's drive to the East. Today the big business-controlled press tries to con­ vince us that only the "Reds" want a' peaceful settlement with Russia. The American Communists are proud of their opppsition to Munich ten years ago. 'We are equally determined to prevent a new Munich-a new "\Vestern anti-Comintern" pact-as the Hitler Axis formed it before 'Worlel War II. We supported the Roosevelt policy of unit­ ing all democratic forces against fascism and the policy of friendship and alliance between America and Russia. That policy saved America from Axis aggression. The betrayal of that policy can be seen in the Berlin "masterpiece" and the threat of war today. When the Progressive Party was formed at Philadelphia, July 23, it demanded a truly American foreign policy. That means a policy which insures peace and security for our nation. Therefore this Wallace movement called for cool and calm negotiations with Russia, not for a c~ld war. It called for friendly relations between Russia and America­ not a hot atomic war. So the warmongering press called that the "communist line." 'ow that's a real compliment 17 to the Communists. To say that the Communists want peace for America, not war, is praise. B~t what an insult it is to the American people as a whole to Imply that Amer­ icans support a pro-fascist warlike policy. As a matter of fact practically all the Protestant Churches of this country have said exactly what the Pro­ gressive Party and Wallace said: "Sit down and negotiate with Russia-make peace not war." Surely the churches or merica are not Communist controlled.

Will Russia Negotiate?

But at thi point, what about the 64 qu tion? I Ru­ sia willing to sit dO' n with u and ne otiate pea efull ­ for a settlement not only of the Berlin, but the whole Ger­ man question; not only Germany, but world pea e? There are at least three major recent examples of ju t such a desire by the Russians-in fact there were three definite offer made to u . Let's note them. 1. The Smith- 1010tov exchano-e last Ma in nversa­ tions between our ambassador to Russia and Soviet For­ eign Minister Moloto. mba ador 'Walter Bedell Smith aid: "As for the United States, the door always remain open for discussion and settlement of our differences." In hardly more time than it takes to say "Berlin crisi " Molo­ tov came back and said: "By all means-let's sit down like civilized people, settle our differences and finish the peace foundations which we started when Roosevelt was alive." What happened as a result? There was can ternation in \Nashingto.ri. Why, the "menace" of peace had reared its head. The "danger" of ending the cold war arose. '\ hat would happen to all those war contracts, the billions for U. S. Steel, for the aircraft manufacturers, for tho e mak­ ing billions out of the cold as well as hot wars. 18 So the State Department came back and said they never meant it that way at all. They said the door was opeh but then slammed it shut-and with a bang. They said no talk, no negotiation, no end to the cold war. 2. The Wallace-Stalin exchange. Just at the same time, Presidential candidate Henry Wallace sent an open letter to Soviet Premier . He a ked Stalin if he wa ready to sit down with the Americans and talk turke . .-\gain. almost a fast as you can a "cold war," Stalin replied to Wallace. Again it was, yes-we want to sit down and negotiate and on the basis that Wallace himself had proposed. What followed was another loud cry of no frc;l~l the State Department. In tead, Congres jammed through the first military draft in the peacetime history of this country. nd the contracts for new bayonets (to open C rations again, I 'uppose) were gi en to the money grabbers. 3. The \J\Tarsaw conference. This was a clear indication that Russia and all the Eastern European democracies wanted a peaceful settlement of the German question. . fter a meeting in Warsaw, the foreign ministers of the .S.S.R., Albania, Bulgaria, Czecho lovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary is ued a declaration on Germany, June 24. They criticized the London conferen e "'hich had decided to et up a rump \Ve tern state of Ger­ many. They called for negotiations, as decided before among Great Britain, ~he U.S.S.R., France and the nited tates, on five measure : a) Jointly carr ino- out the demilitarization f German . b) Big Four control of the Rulu. c) Establishment of a provi ional, peaceful. democratic government of Germany. d) Conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany in accord­ :ll1ce with the Potsdam deci ions. e) Measures for fulfilling German reparation obligation. In each of these point the \' arsa'w conference was care­ 19 ful to call for "agreement among Great Britain, the U.S.S,R., France and the United States." What was the answer to this third offer of peaceful nego­ tiations? The bluster and saber rattling in Berlin-the final painting of the Berlin "maste~iece."

The Cost of a Cold War

You don't need too much imagination to realize what atomic and bacteriological war would mean on a world­ wide scale. The price we'd have to pay for the un- meri- an foreign policy of Wall Street and the brass can hardly be calculated. But right now, in the midst of the so-called cold war we are paying through the nose for this very same policy. 'Ve're paying for it every day when we go to the butcher store and pay a dollar a pound for meat or the same for butter or 25 cents for milk. Twenty billion dollars are going into the program for militarizing America. More billions go into the program for militarizino- vVestern Europe. Billions more go under the Marshall Plan to sub- idize Wall Street markets all over the world. You and I pay for all that. ot only in taxes, but in the present infla­ tion, the profiteerino- of the corporations and the cuttino­ of the real, take-home pay of labor. 'Ve pay for that Berlin "masterpiece" and every other pha e of the cold war in other ways that threaten the very foundations of American democracy. In order to put over a war program and to line us u'p in the same kind of anti-Comintern pact Hitler organized, the Administration also wages war against civil liberties. They need a police state to put us into war. That's why they organize the loyalty purge. That's why the q-.y to put over the Mundt Bill. That's why discrimina­ tion aQrtin t eQ'"roes, Jews and other minority group i 20 increased. And that is why they try to outlaw the Com­ munist Party. And labor becomes a special target of the war minded interests who seek to make this nation a police state. The Taft-Hartley law was clearly designed to weaken and smash labor orCTanization. It substitutes injunctions for the recognized rights of organization, collective bargaining and the right to strike for decent living standards. Finally the dr~ft il!Self places the youth of America under regimentation and military rule contrary to every tradition of our country. Thus you and I pay heavily. for the cold war. I ow does this mean we're going to have war? We have seen that the constant veto of proposals for peaceful ne­ gotiations has brought us into a jam. We have seen how it has undermined American prestige, and we have seen how this irresponsible policy brought abollt the sudden back­ down on threats to shoot Qur way through to Berlin. But that backdown still does not make peace. The continuation of the cold war harms America and endanCTers our security. How then can we avoid the transformation of the cold war into a hot l' ar?

We Can Prevent War

The chance of preventing war lies above all. in the hands of the people. Think back to the moment when Molotov took up Ambassador Smith and said: "OK, if the door is open let's talk peace." Even the capitalist newspapers had to admit there was a tremendous response ..from ordinary peo­ ple all over the world. In every land the common people, the workers and farmers, those who are the great majority, and those who die by the millions in war, greeted the proposal to make peace. 21 Just as the Soviet Union took the brunt of the azi at­ tack and defeated three-fourths of all the German divisions in the war-so today this socialist country has taken the initiatiye in trying to fashion a firm and lasting peace. There's no mystery there either. Socialism, which has been built in the Soviet Union, need peace. It needs peace for construction. There's no profit in "ar under socialism because there are no private munition makers, no contracts to make money out of war for a few, no investments in capitalist ~nterprise outside it own boundaries. There are no corporations su h as tho e here which made 52,000,000,000 out of the war. 1n tead there is common ownership of the means by which men make a living. And the common interest of common people" ho own the means of production is peace. ot only in the Soviet Union, but in the Balkans and in ountries like Poland and , where mil­ lions were slaughtered by the azis, new demo ratic reuime are building on socialist foundations. ot only in Europe but throughout Asia and in the l\fiddle Ea t the ommon people are fighting against im­ periali m. a in Indonesia, Indo-China, Palestine and above all in China. II th i means that the ide of the people is stronger than the side of the imperialist. It means that they can prevail auainst the warmaker . But the can do so only if the American people are stronO" enough to make their own deep desire for peace felt. .-\n . poll in this country will show that we Americans are not jinuoe , spoiling for an atomic war. Anyone, ho has een the entiment of merican churchgoers knows how "'idespread is .the desire for negotiations with Russia, in tead of war. nd the new Progressive Party movement gives promise of strikinu the strongest blow of all against the sponsors of 'Vorld 'Var III. In other words, we the people can end the cold war, stop the appeasement of German reaction, prevent the new Munich from drowning the world in blood and from being poisoned by atomic radiation. This people's crusade not only can end the shame of the Berlin "masterpiece"-it can lead to a settlement of the German que tion through negotiations with Rus ia and not through war. We can get a lasting peace for America by fighting for a truly democratic America, realizing Lin- oln's dream of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Through such a people's democracy we an have a lasting peace. That is America's need today.

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