Address to the Seattle Pacific College Student Body by Professor Roy Swanstrom, Department of History on July 5, 196

Swanstrom, Roy

English

Seattle Pacific University: Digital Commons @ SPU

_l 1 AMERICANISM, CHRI3TIANITY, AND ANTI- COMMUNISM Addr ess to the Seattle Pacific College Student Body by Professor Roy Swanstr om Department of History July 5, 1962 During this Fourth of July season our hearts turn to the birth of · our country and the heritage we share as American citizens. I, personally, believe we should do mor e flag-waving, on July 4 and throughout the year, as an outward expressi on of our appreciation of this heritage . I am sorry we do not see more flags di splayed on Independence Day. I am sorry the Fourth of July parade here in Seattle is such a minor event . Yesterday the parade dedicated t o the birth of our country attracted a handful of spectators. In a few weeks the Seafair Parade, dedicated to not much of anything , will attract scores of thousands . Patrioti sm and Change 1f'lhy are we Americans so undemonstrative in expressing our love for our country? Perhaps for one of thr ee reasons: (l) Perhaps it is because we ar e a r ather undemonstrative people . i.Je do not wear our hearts on our sleeves. ':.Je do not like to display publicly our innermost feelings. (2) On the other hand, maybe we really are ungrateful. ~·Je have enjoyed so much so long that we take our national blessings for granted . 1 r 1 L 2 We so readily forget the blood and sacrifi ce with which these blessings were bought. (3) A third reason might be that we have become a bit cynical about the motive s of the flag-wavers. It seems tha t patriotic demon-strations have often been monopolized by the extreme right-wing in politics, by those who profess so much attachment to the Spirit of 1776 that they count on the flintlock musket to solve every ill and denounce as sheer treason every eff ort to meet pressing new problems in new ways. Some time ago a speaker on this platform proclaimed that his highest purpose in life was to l eave for his son unchanged, the same wonderful country he inherited from his father more than half a century ago. A beautiful sentiment. But it ignores two fundamental factors. In the first place, all was not well with our country i n 1900. There was public and private corruption . Ther e was an unblushing looting of our natural resources. City slums seemed the most conspicuous product of the new t echnology. An unconscionable gulf between rich and poor threatened to produce a new f eudalism. In the second place, this speaker i gnored the fact that changes ~ ~· The old countr y l ane has become a super highway . The little old country store of song and story has become a Safeway supermarket. The little red school house has become a union high school with some such name as Briarcrest Manor . The old svfimming hole has become a heated, flood-lighted swimming pool. If there is one t hing we learn from history, it is that change i s the norm. For better or for worse , , _ J the future wil l be different from today, just as today i s different from yesterday. Changes bring new problems demanding new and different solu-tions, many of which we cannot anticipate now. The important thing is that we continue to be true to basic ideals that are Chri stian as well as American. '·!e must be true to the convict-ion that God is righteous and that He demands righteousness in men, that right makes might, nor vice versa. That every man and woman has a right to live and move and choose in freedom. But that each individual, on the other hand, cannot live unto himself al one but has a responsi bility also for the welfare of hi s neighbor. Meeting the Communist Threat Today, one of the bitter facts of life is the threat of Communism to our American institutions. I shall not insult your intelligence by reiterating the fact that, Communism is evil. ·,re all know this. Communism has written a record in history of human enslavement, of trickery and deceit, of call ously bring-ing about the death of millions of people on the theory that the end justi fies the means. As Christians, we naturally oppose a doctrine and a system that are professedly a±heistic, denying the God we love and worship. Communism is so evil that all Americans of good>dll could be expected to throw aside their differences on other issues and unite in a common effort against this threat. 1 4 But 1.ve find that this is not so - we Americans, even we Christians, find ourselves confused and at cross-purposes in this endeavor that should inspire a united front . \ lhy is this so? Y~ own belief is that the high cause of anti-Communi sm has been weakened by thr ee related factors : (l) Some anti - Communist effort has been uninformed and i nept (2) Some anti - Communist effort has been downright immoral (3) Some anti-Communist effort has been based on a faulty basic philosophy. Uninformed Anti-Communism l'1uch anti-Communist effort has been based on ignorance of 1.Vhat Communism i s all about . Here are some exampl es, taken somewhat at r andom: Some time ago I read a letter to the editor of an educational journal attacking Communism. This letter criticized Communism on the basis that under that system all ~ paid the ~ ~' regar dless of the task. The fact is, there is a t~der differential between skilled and unskilled work, between management and labor, in the Sovi et Union than there is in the United States. In our country, truck-drivers sometimes make as much money as college presidents and rock-and-roll cr ooners make more than State governors. In the Soviet Union the contrast between the income of the average worker and the more favored members of society makes a mockery of Marx's di ctum to the contrary. ~~ I 5 Communism has been attacked on the basis that all Russians live in direst poverty. the fact is, Russia has a r ather respectable standard of living for Eastern Europe. This is far below that of the United States, but higher than that of many so-called capitalist countries and much higher than the Russia of pre-Communist days. Some criticism of Communism is based on the idea that Marxism is so ridiculous that any sixth-grader can refute the arguments of the brainiest Communist . The fact is that Marx was an highly educated, intelligent man, versed in philosophy, economics , sociology, and history. Marxism is, indeed, based on fundamental fallacies, but the average Marxist can make it appear so reasonable and attractive that it takes all the mental acumen we can muster to point out the weaknesses. It seems to me that a particularly inept method of fighting Commun-ism is to use this critical struggle as an instrument to fight other people with whom we disagree, but who are not Communists . A case in point is the tendency to mobilize opposition to some joint enemy such as "Communi sm and collectivism·' or "Communism and creeping socialism·; on the assumption that these are pretty much the same thing . One r ecent publication goes further and proclaims: Such terms as communism, socialism Fabianism, the welfare state, Nazism, fascism, state interventionism, egalitarian-ism, the planned economy, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, Ne1" Republicanism, and the New Frontier are simply different labels for much the same thing . Now I don't have any particular desire to defend ''creeping socialism11 , or creeping anything else, but v1e must face the fact that this type of 6 approach weakens the anti- Communist cause by dividing the opponents of Communism against themselves. The theory behind this approach is that (l) Communism is fundamen-tally a system based on government ownershi p and control of the economy, and (2) increasing government ownership and control of the economy of the United States will result in Communism. This tactic is faulty, for a number of reasons: (l) History does not show a single example of a nation going Com-munist by such means . All Communist nations have gone Red by either revoluti on or military action. (2) The term .)cr eeping socialism<~ is so very vague . 1-Je know what Communi sm is: It is a highly organized conspiracy directed by the Kremlin. But what is ·•creeping socialism;;? That term has been used to describe everything from the graduated income tax to construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. No two Americans agree on how much Government owner-ship and control we should have in this country. No doubt too much gov-ernment interference in the economy at the expense of private enterprise is a bad thing 9 but expressions such as ·'creeping socialism11 are worse than useless because they do not spell out where the line should be drawn between public and private enterprise . Probably there should be less government action in some areas and more in others; this is a per-plexing problem that demands sober thought and serious debate, not over-simplified and emotion-packed slogans . A r eal danger is that if we build up an intense and blind opposition to all government action we 7 might make our government helpless t o assume necessary povmr s in a cold or hot war against Communism or any other threat to our national well -being. (J) Finally, this type of approach falls directly into a Communist trap . The Communists carefully cultivate the idea that the struggle be-tween the ~destern and Communi st worlds is essenti ally one between two rival economic systems - a struggle, incidentally, that they believe they will win. Actually, the struggle is far, far deeper than this; it in-volves contrasting views as to the very nature of the world and of man and of the reasons for our existence . Another harmful inaccuracy propagated by anti-Communist movements is the claim that the Communi sts have always won in their struggle with the 1·lest and that the so- called 11f r ee world'1 has al ways lost . Since the Reds c}.aim that they are riding "the wave of the future '' and will inevitably win , this over-pessimism on our part again plays right into the Communists ' hands . Actually, the Communists have suffered some pretty serious setbacks f r om time to time . (Unfortunatel y , not often enough.) They lost out in Greece as a result of the Truman Doctrine . Their str ength has declined in Fr ance; in 1951 ther e were ninety-nine Communists in the French National Assembly while in the 1958 electi ons only ten were el ected . The Commun-ist tide in Italy seems, at least for the moment, to have passed i ts crest . In f act, the Communists expected to take all of ·.Jestern Burope as a r esult of the distresses of ··1orld ~·!ar II ; in t his they manifestly 8 failed, due in part to American aid. The Co~nunists failed to take over South Korea. In many other countries their efforts to take over have been thwarted . They could, of course , still win out in any of these areas . They are an ever-present threat. But at l east we don ' t have any reason to believe the Reds are supermen who can never be beaten. That type of pessimism will discourage the dedication, hard work, sacrifice and inspired effort that can turn the tide . Another particularly inept way to attempt to fight Communism is to do so in a vacuum. Many busy anti-Communists appear to believe that Co~unism is an isolated phenomenon that can be faced without regard to other critical movements of our time. There are anti-Co~unist films and books and articles and speeches that ignore such developments as the revolution in technology and sci ence, the thr eat of nuclear war , the struggle of former colonial peoples for national independence, and the population expl osion . For instance, much discussion of the bloody Korean confl ict ignores the plain fact that the United States had two objectives in that struggle, not one, to repulse the Co~unist threat to South Korea and at the same time prevent expansion of that conflict into 1.nforld ~·Tar III. Anti- Communism and Morality My second main point is that sometimes the fight against Communism in the United States has not only been inept but dovmright immoral. More specifically, some irresponsible men have used the struggle against Communism as an excuse to engage in the very worst kind of 9 character-assasination. No one~ r egardless of the nobility of his character or the value of his contribution to his country, has been immune . The founder of the John Birch Society claimed that ex-President Dwight Eisenhm•er was actually a member of the Communist Party. In his book, The Politician, he wrote: ~'Milton Eisenhower (the former Presid-ent's brother) is actually Dwight Eisenhower 's superior and boss within the Communist Party • . •• For (the former President) there is only one possible word to describe his purposes and his acti on . That word is treason . " The late Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was called 11 a Com-munist agent'! and Allen Dulles, former head of our Central Intelligence Agency ''the most protected and untouchable supporter of Communism, next to Eisenhower himself, in Hashington. '' !~ll of this might be laughed off as a big joke or the product of a diseased mind, but the tragic thing is that many people, including some who call themselves Christians, actually believe this kind of unmiti-gated falsehood . The John Birch Society has branches in at least thirty-five states and thousands of members, many of them wealthy and very in-fluential. Turning to the Democratic side, I have her e a statement distributed during the 1960 presidential campaign by a man who called himself a Christian evangelist. It is headed, ''The pink, punk , pro- Red r ecord of Senator Jack Kennedy. ·1 10 In this so-called :•inside election report, " Kennedy is accused of deliberately promoting the Communist cause in the United States. TrJhen we examine the statement, we find that the ~rriter objected to certain Kennedy votes in the Senate. (In each of these votes Kennedy voted with the majority, so the implication must be that a majority of the members of the United States Senate are pro-Communist . ) The most important of these votes were cast i n favor of economic and military aid to Tito 0 s Yugoslavia. You will recall that some years ago, Tito, viho is a Communist, broke with the Kremlin and Yugoslavia since then has been outside the Communist bloc. 1.•Jhat this critic failed to mention in this misleading ·'inside report'; was that the purpose of send-ing American aid to Yugosl avia v.ras to endeavor to separate Ti to further from the Communist bloc and encourage him to throw in his lot with the West against the Kremlin. Also, since Tito is getting along in years and will soon have to relinquish his leadership, it was considered a good move to encourage pro-American sentiment in the hope that post-Tito Yugoslavia will be more friendly to the United States. Incidentall y, thus far this effort has not been too successful, but surely the attempt was well-meaning and thoroughly patriotic. Yet this vote inspired the title 11The pink, punk, pro-Red record of Senator Kennedy. '1 ive vJill all realize how this type of tactic weakens the anti-Communist cause. ':.!hat could please the Kremlin more than to see the American people distrust one another, especially their elected leaders? How can we promote an effective anti-Communist effort in this country if ll a wall of suspicion separates Americans from one another? There is a Communist conspiracy in this country and it must be fought with vigor and intelligence . But more than three thousand years ago God Himself laid down the commandment: ''Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. '1 We cannot break the Ninth Commandment without incurring the wrath of Almighty God . The Basic Philosophy My l ast point involves the question 'vJhy, basically, are we opposed to Communi sm? ~l In answer to that question, we recognize the fundamental fact t hat Christians always, always, must put Christ and His kingdom first. Every doctrine, every opinion, every system is weighed on the scales of God ' s Word. God is our God; everything He approves, we approve ; everything He rejects, vie reject. God's will, God's standard - that is the central thing. Thus we oppose Communism basically because it is diametrical ly opposed to our Christian faith . Its principles and practices definitely do not meet the test of God's approval . Now the point is this: There is a tendency to put the cart before the horse and say ··: christianity is good because it is a bulwark against Communism. 11 ':.Je find many casting a friendly glance at Christianity on this basis . 12 Doubtless Christianity does play this role, but basically this position is all wrong . This makes a god of anti - Communism. ~nti­Communism i s made the Highest Good by which everything is judged . To a Christian, this is idolatry. The practical danger of this point of view is that it tends to ex-cuse or approve every action merely because it is anti-Communist . The case of Cuba is a good example. There Castro and his pro-Communist regime were preceded by that of Fulgencio Batista, a bl oody butcher who maintained himself in power by the worst kinds of atrocities against his countrymen. Yet we find some people actually defending Batista. 1•/hy? Because he was anti- Communist! Likewise, some have defended the Secret Army Or ganization in Algeria on the basis that it was anti- Communist. Its anti-Communism apparently excused its campaign of mass murder, including the machine-gunning of hospital pati ents in their beds. !~e f ind well-meaning but unthinking peopl e defendi ng the most flag-rant injustices merely because the regimes involved are anti-Communist. All this involves the theory that the end justifies the means - doing evil that good may come of it. St. Paul says that those who hold to such a doctrine ar e going to hell. (Romans J:8) The true Christian, on the contrary, must forever stand four square for the justice and the love of God, and str uggle against evil in what-ever attire it gar bs i tself - Communist, anti-Communist, or neutralist . Just one more word. No doubt Communism is a tremendously, f earfull y, 13 powerful form of evil, and we must fight i t tooth and nail. But the plain fact is, anti-Communism is not enough. liJe are against Communism, but what are \-Je for? As Chri stians we r eply, 11 Christ is the answer to the world's need!n And that is absolutely r ight. But it is an abstraction. We must remember that we must present Christ not only in word but in deed. In presenting Christianity as the great and all- encompassing answer, we must carry out the practical implications of our fai th in every area of human activity . Are people living in spiritual darkness? ive bring the good news of the Cross and the Resurrection . Are people in any part of the world suffering from hunger, ignorance, and disease ? Christ gave us His great exampl e in feeding the hungry, educating the ignorant, and healing the sick. Are minority r aces discriminated against, treated as second- class citizens? The Bible teaches us that God is no respecter of persons . Thus we, His f ollower s, may not possibly be. Actually, much of the success of Communism can be laid at our own doorstep . For two hundred years now, the Hestern and Christian world has enjoyed gr eat economic as well as spiritual advantages over the rest of the world. Yet it has often done comparatively little to share these advantages with the spiritually and physically hungry peoples . In our day, the Communists have moved in, with a great display of concern for people ' s physical well-being and with a pseudo-religion to fill the l l l 14 spiritual need. The burden of my message is simply this : Communism is a fearful threat. We must meet this challenge with knowledge and intelligence. But our main mission is not a negative but a positive one - proclaiming the kingdom of God. Christ teaches us to pray, ·'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven . ·' Dr . Roy Swanstrom is author of The United States Senate 1787-1801, published by The United States Senate, 1961. 

Americanism, Christianity, and Anti-Communism

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Americanism, Christianity, and Anti-Communism

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