Evening star. [volume], December 05, 1948, Page C-5, Image 58

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Korea Fears Blow by Reds
After China Is Overcome
Thousands of Communist Agitators Reported
to Have Filtered Into South Korea
and Are Stirring Things Up
By Constantine Brown
The impending disaster which confronts the Nationalist govern
ment of China is worrying not only American strategists in Washington,
but also the government of South Korea, which considers the Commu
nist victories as a direct and immediate threat to its independence.
In recent lengthy dispatches from Tokyo Gen. MacArthur has em
phatically drawn Washington’s attention to the fact that when Moscow’s
stooges in Northern Korea cross the
38th parallel and destroy the newly
bom democratic government of
South Korea, Japan itself will be
come the target and eventually the,
easy prey of the Communists.
Even the most pro-American
Japanese leaders have warned the
Allied supreme commander that
once Korea, the protruding finger
of Asia which is only a short hop
from the Japanese islands, falls
under the control of Mdscow, any
thing may happen in the Land of
the Rising Sun. Whatever does
happen, it will not be favorable to
the United States and to the cause
of democracy which we are trying
to establish there.
'
Agitators Pose as Refugees
Despite our efforts to organize
South Korea the situation there is
bad for two reasons: (1) The grow
ing pains which are inevitable in a
country which for nearly half a
century was under foreign domina
tion, and (2) the division of the
country into two zones, which has
produced an abnormal situation and
has retarded the development of tee
country.
Thousands of Communist agi
tators have come into South Korea
under the guise of refugees and
are helping to stir up trouble.
The demarcation line between
north and south is studded with
concrete pillars. Behind these pil
lars' are military posts, the job of
which is to supervise traffic between
the two areas. While the Russians
and their Korean satellites have
established an iron curtain between
tne two areas, ours is scarcely a
paper curtain.
The posts in the Russian zone are
fully manned with about 82 men to
each, in accordance with the origi
nal agreement between' the powers
which liberated Korea. Out posts
are seldom manned by more than
12 men, who have to patrol the
same length of border as the Rus
sians. It stands to reason that few
if any persons can get through from
south to north, but we are not able
to stop nearly all the agents and
undesirable characters who try to
enter South Korea from the north.
In North Korea the Soviet Union
has organized an adequate “police
force" of about 250,000 well-equipped
and highly trained men. The nu
cleus of that force is some 50,000
hard-fighting Koreans, who were
under instruction in Siberia for
several years before the collapse of
Japanese military power. They are
not only able professional soldiers,
but also have been thoroughly in
doctrinated in the principles of
communism, which they adopted en
thusiastically for its substantial ma
terial rewards.
Constabulary Well Armed
This group of soldiers is equiva
lent to the Russian MVD’s state
police. But they are all well
trained fanatics, who are ready to
light to the last, to maintain a re
gime which offers them many ad
vantages in a country where the
mass of people have few.
In South Korea we have estab
lished two forces: A police unit and
a constabulary. Neither exceeds
60,000 in number. The members of
the police force have been thor
Newton
(Continued Prom Page C-l.)
munists were not too unpopular
hereabouts while Russia was an
Ally. It is probable that any “show
down” effort at the time would have
been rebuffed and Mr. Murray
would have been replaced.
Mr. Murray bided his time until
he and the CIO were strong enough
and the Communists unpopu'ar
enough among labor to leave no
doubt as to success of the house
cleaning.
Actually a ‘Moderate’
He progressed in hif campaign as
relations worsened with Russia. The
issues of the Marshall Plan and
the Wallace third party gave him
the real opportunity to come to
grips with the leftists in his or
ganization. It became CIO policy
to support the European aid plan
and to oppose Mr. Wallace, both
the reverse of the Communist “line.”
Hie combination of issues provided
a pretty good test as to just who
was a “party-liner.” The leftists
were earmarked when they went
against CIO policy in both respects
and it gave Mr. Murray his big
issue. He charged them privately
with attempting to destroy CIO.
Then, it became CIO policy by a
big majority of the board to support
President Truman for re-election.
The CIO-PAC worked hard toward
that end. When the President won
and it was apparent labor had a big
part in the victory, the leftists were
routed. They were stunned and so
were most of the big employers op
posed to the liberal Truman plat
form. Mr. Murray decided it was
time to carry his light into the open.
Despite the harsh words he said
about them at Portland, Mr. Mur
ray is a “moderate" among CIO offi
cials as to ways of handling Com
munists. A number of his top as
sociates favor tossing out the Reds
immediately. This means, for ex
ample, If the big Electrical Work
ers’ Union refuses to conform to
policy then revoke the charter and
kick them out. Leaders of the big
United Auto Workers and the
Textile Workers are among those
Who feel that way.
Mr. Murray believes his methods
will be completely successful in the
•nd and that he will attain success
without damaging the CIO seriously.
Be has made great progress towai^i
his goal.
oughly screened and are considered
reliable by the Seoul government
and by the American military com
mand.
Hie constabulary, however, con
tains a number of doubtful ele
ments who reached South Korea
from the Soviet-dominated zone and
were placed in the ranks, where it
was easiest to take care of them.
Hie constabvlarymen are well
armed.
By a curious coincidence the re
liable Korean police, however, are
poorly armed, possessing only
swords, pistols and tommyguns. It
would not be democratic, our repre
sentatives are said to have argued,
to provide other weapons to % force
which is intended merely to main
tain civil order.
No wonder that the Korean gov
ernment, which is fully aware of
existing conditions, lives in a con
tinual state of fear and urges us to
keep our weak military forces in
Korea as long as possible. President
Synghman Rhee realizes that the
American contingents in Korea could
not repel a full-scale invasion from
the north, but he believes the pres
ence of Americans at this time will
prevent a coup from the inside.
For the last 12 months the Soviets
have been actively tearing down the
economy of South Korea. This is
being done not only by forbidding
any profitable economic intercourse
between the two parts of the coun
try, but also by sabotaging the
country’s currency. Printing presses
have been set up in North Korea
and large quantities of spurious
notes are being dumped into South
Korea, thus depreciating the cur
rency.
400 Political Parties
In most cases the counterfeit
money gets into the south without
detection, although there have been
some instances in which smugglers
were caught. Some eight months
ago the Korean police intercepted
two hogsheads full of currency at
Inchon. The usual protest was sent,
with the usual result that nothing
happened and the number of Ko
rean banknotes increased alarm
ingly.
Political conditions in South Ko
rea also are unsatisfactory. There
are no less than 400 political par
ties under the present system. Any
man who has two friends and some
ideas of his own can form a po
litical party. In fact, however, there
are six real political parties which
have representatives in the newly
elected Parliament. The ablest and
most helpful to the government is
the dissident Communist group,
which is headed by a Trotsky sym
pathizer and is even more bitterly
opposed to the Stalin brand of
communism than some of the old
line Democrats.
Unsettled political conditions
would be bearable and could be
overcome in due course of time if
it were not for the fact that the
Soviet Union, which has effectively
split Korea into two parts, means
to gobble up the south. At the
present time Russia is using all
methods of conspiracy to soften up
its intended victim before it sends
in an armed force.
There is dire poverty in Korea to
day, due not only to the manifold
problems which that "liberated’'
country faces, but also to the pres
sure of the Soviets.
Sad but Inevitable
It was obvious to those who de
cided on partition of Korea that
half of the country could live with
out the other. But while in the
north the people must accept their
fate without a murmur, as in other
Communist-exploited countries, in
the south the people can object and
protest loudly. And they are doing
so, not only on their own initiative,
but also at the instigation of agita
tors who pass easily through our
“paper curtain.”
Despite the Seoul govermnment’s
tongue-in-cheeck expressions of con
fidence that democratic Korea will
survive, every one in the administra
tion expects a blow from the north
as soon as Generalissimo Chiaug
Kai-shek’s score has been settled.
To the fatalistic Orientals this is
sad, but inevitable. They console
themselves with the thought that
no one can escape his destiny.
This situation fills our people,
however, with anger and distress.
We lost thousands of our best young
men on Okinawa, Saipan and other
Islands, where they fought the Jap
anese single-handed.
The war in Asia was different
from that in Europe. Throughout
the Pacific we fought practically
alone. Also we did not lull ourselves
with the idea that we were fighting
to restore democracy in lands where
such a thing—in the American
meaning of the world—is unknown.
We fought in Asia to liberate the
peoples from the yoke of the ruth
less military dictatorship of the
Tokyo warlords. We also fought
because we had been aggressively
provoked by that dictatorship.
, Little did our fighting men realize
that in place of domination by a
country with only 90,000,000 in
habitants—poor and lacking raw
materials—we would facilitate the
establishment of another military
ideological dictatorship. This dic
tatorship is maintained by the
U. S. S. R., a country of nearly 200,
000,000, which is far more dangerous
and ruthless than Japan ever was,
because of its wealth in raw mate
rials and its clever, subversive
methods of lnfliltration.
It is in this light that the tragedy
of China, and its strategic appendix
Korea, is regarded by those who
realistically visualize the threat to
our own country.
Reds in 'Shooting War' in Hyderabad
Thousands of Villages
Reported Colonized
By Communists
(Alfred Wagg, veteran foreign
correspondent, recently returned
from the state of Hyderabad,
where, he reports, there is con
siderable Communist activity.
His account follows.)
By AlfarfWag*
In the Orient, like everywhere else
in the world, the Communists rise
to power wherever they can exploit
misunderstandings or disputes. In
Hyderabad, a landlocked state in the
center of India, I have Just wit
nessed this past summer and fall
a fine example of this Communist
technique.
While India and Hyderabad
argued as to whether Hyderabad
should be an independent country
or not, the Communists moved in
and set up thousands of their own
parallel governments on both sides
of the #India-Hyderabad frontier in
defiance of both government au
thorities and behind a convenient
news censorship blockade of the
India government which controlled
the telegraph lines out of Hydera
bad—all prelude to a potential
Communist controlled India.
Caught in Shooting War
These events took place as Brit
ain’s Foreign Minister Bevirt was
telling the world that communism
in the Orient was a greater threat
than in the West; and while I was
in the middle of a “shooting war”
between the Communists and the
Hyderabad government troops, a
war which clearly indicated the
vast extent of Communist control
in India’s 700,000 villages where over
two-thirds of her population live
and among the rural populations of
the small neighboring countries.
Since India’s independence in
August 1947 when she gained full
membership in the Commonwealth,
India has been busy fighting for the
strategic and rich Kashmir, fight
ing, disgruntled Naga headhunters
in Assam and fighting for wealthy
Hyderabad with an apparent and
obvious underlying motivation to
reunite the old imperial India under
one flag as a preliminary step to
erecting a dominant political power
in Asia which can dictate both the
political and commercial tune in
Asia against East or West. But as
first success has filled theif ears,
little serious thought has been given
to the Communists and their in
creasing threat to the Nehru gov
ernment.
While the government of India
has celebrated their rise to power,
the Communists have been busy
"colonizing” villages all over India
where their own parallel govern
ments administer the law. run the
police, and train their own militia
in preparation for the day when
they expect to grab India as a “first
step” toward their ultimate objective
of uniting the Orient under Russian
Communist influence, a job already
far too well along in that y>ther
great land mass of Asia, China.
Went on Raid Against Reds
Just before India's army invaded
and “crushed” Hyderabad resistance
in five and a half days, I went on
a raid by Hyderabad forces against
the Communists who were holding
a village they had “colonized” called
Behrampalli. The Communists had
refused to let the local magistrate
enter on his normal village rounds
and when a police officer tried to
force his way into the village, they
took him prisoner, drove nails
through his heels—and then made
him walk toward the next village
until he finally dropped from loss
of blood, only to die Jn his tracks
a few minutes later.
Shortly after daylight, the morn
ing of our raid, our mortars began
lobbing 3-inch bombs onto Behram
palli village fort. After each salvo
I watched the debris rise and gray
smoke, play pantomine over squatty
silhouettes of mud and stucco build
ings. A fragile quiet between salvos
was taunted by an occasional Com
munist sniper’s rifle crack.
More than 3,000 such villages as
Behrampalli are to be found in the
same area of the Hyderabad-India
frontier that faces India’s Madras
Province. I,shuddered to think how
long it might take to "de-commu
nize” these 3,000 villages with their
tough, well-trained militia by force,
RED FORT SURRENDERS—Hyderabad government troops (in
helmets) round up prisoners at the base of a fort that had been
held by Communists in Behrampalli Village. The photograph
was made by Alfred Vfagg. author of the accompanying article.
let alone the impossibility of ever'
rooting the Communists out with
current mild anti-Communist pol
icy of the Nehru government. In
other parts of India, particularly
South India, the number of these
Communist parallel governments is
multiplied many times 3,000.
To the Hyderabad troops and
police, talcing Behrampalll was a
task that ended when they finally
surrounded the fort and forced the
surrender. To them it also meant
"Betting even'’ with the Commu
nists for some of the atrocities
committed against their units. For
my curious soul the most exciting
part of the show was still at hand.
I wanted to know where the Com
munists got their arms and ammu
nition, who trained them and
where, and what the average Com
munist convert in India or Hyder
abad thought he was fighting for.
No Interrogation System
The Hyderabad forces had no
proper system of turning the pris
oners over to an intelligence unit
for interrogation, so'I set out by
begging English-speaking officers to
translate for me.
Even in a war against the Com
munists there are two sides to every
question. Por instance, in Hyder
abad, India's agent general, Mr.
K. M. Munshi, an able lawyer in
private practice, who was spear
heading India’s claims against Hy
derabad, told me many times in
private conference that the Hyder
abad troops were not shooting
Communists at all—but were mur
dering innocent Hindus. Munshi
caught between his duty to de
nounce Hyderabad in line with
India’s policy and his fear of ulti
mate Communist control of all
South India, stated repeatedly that
communism in South India was a
greater threat to India’s security
than Hyderabad’s militant Moslems
who were currently sloganizing for
Hyderabad’s independence or the
potential, of a Moslem-led Hyder
abad Joining Moslem-led Pakistan
in a war against India.
In contrast, on the other side of
this argument, which was conven
iently providing room for Commu
nist gains, the Moslem Prtme Min
ister of Hyderabad, Mir Liak' All,
personally denied to me that his
troops were shooting any “inno
cent Hindus."
The Prime Minister explained
that his troops were trying to
control the Communists, who were
guilty of outrages against the cit
izenry, and that if any one, Hindu
or Moslem, joined the Communists,
they would become the target of
government action. Wherever there
was armed resistance to normal
forces of law and order, his direc
tive was to “shoot.”
The Prime Minister counter
charged that the Indian Union was
using any means to force Hyder
abad’s accession to India, including
making it all too easy for the Com
munists to cross the frontier with
arms and ammunition and grain
secured from government ration
shops in India’s Madras Province
He charged that the Indian Union
were, was full knowledge, allowing
the Communists to weaken Hyder
abad’s defenses as India itself pre
pared to invade his country at a
time when the dispute over Hy
derabad’s legal and moral right to
remain independent was up for
consideration by U. N.
I was witnessing a "back door
war” that was evidence of the ex
tent of Communist activity com
plete with their trained guerrilla
troops which in the event of war
between East and West, would be
come a serious menace in that part
of the world; a very important part
of the world for America because
India has airbases that are only
three hours bomber flying time from
Russia’s secret industrial and chem
ical plants.
As I began to interrogate the
“Communists" who surrendered at
Behrampalli my first reaction was1
that India’s Agent General in Hy
derabad was perhaps right. The
men looked like ordinary Hindu vil
lage folk, barefoot, wearing the
usual thin white cotton dhoti
wrapped about their waist and hips
and draped down over the leg. But
when I saw the palms of their hands
with those revealing black powder
stains, it was evidence to me that
they all had been handling guns.
There were some 60 men. Old
and young in about equal numbers.
An old man was finally identified
as their leader. This seemed com
pletely out of line with the normal
Communist routine used in other
countries where they mainly har
ness and ride youth and labor into
power.
Religion Exploited
After chatter back and forth, it
evolved that the changed Commu
nist approach was aimed to coin
cide with the village custom so as
to make their infiltration easier.
The Communists began by retain
ing the authority of the village elder.
Hence at Behrampalli it was an old
man who was selected as the local
Communist leader.
The system of the village com
mune, which has been the organi
zational pattern of India’s village
Ultimate Objective Is
To Unite the Orient
Under Moscow
life for nearly four thousand years
before the Christian era when the
worker labored according to his
ability and wfcs paid according to
his need, is not disturbed by the
Communist dogma. Also cleverly
exploited is the Hindu religion that
prescribes how each of the four
main castes starting with the
Brahmin or priest and then the
soldier, the merchant and lastly the
worker, will rule the world in turn.
In sum total the villager is made
to believe that his poverty is due to
the merchant-capitalist who ruled
the world for the last few hundred
years and that now it is his, the
workers’ turn, to rule the world
through communism. It is further
explained that this is, in fact, his
own village system simply modern
ized and expanded by Russian ex
perts who are his friends and co
workers.
No Match for Russians
This simple, high-powered med
icine has been all too successful in
India over the past 10 years. Of
course, the facts are that the village
commune of ancient Indian origin
was a highly decentralized feudal
unit where local committees changed
annually at harvest time ruled after
very democratic village elections.
The old commune of India, without
political ties even to the next vil
lage, would hardly be a match for
the totalitarian Russian methods,
an aspect of the problem that is
never explained to the villager.
At Behrampalli as throughout
India, as I learned this summer, the
product of the Communist program
is an arrogant villager without faith
in his country’s own government.
This holds true whether his village
was in Hyderabad or India. In this
way Nehru’s government, the Hyder
abad government or any government
except a Communist-controlled gov
ernment, would be constantly pressed
and pressured from the grass roots.
To this end the village men had
been made jealous and unhappy and
were told that they could get more
fruits of labor through communism
—and in the fbsence of leadership
on their own level from either the
government of India or the Hyder
abad government, they had taken the
cue from the Communists, taking
the law into their own hands and
setting up Communist parallel gov
ernments. *
In Gandhi’s death India lost the
leader who could effectively deal
with the poor on their own level
and inspire confidence and follow
ing. In the gap the Communists
have a free field, free to influence
and guide India’s backward masses.
Here is the grave danger, a danger
that Nehru and the others were re
! luctant to admit to me.
Instructed on Weapons
By tedious questioning I found
out that the training of these Com
munist converts was not left to
chance. Every few weeks a Com
munist flying squad of 30 to 40 men
with automatic rifles and Sten guns
came from India’s territory and vis
ited Behrampelli and other nearby
villages. Their Job in this thorough
canvass routine was to show the vil
lagers how to use their arms pur
chased by the Communists in ba
zaars in India, how to camouflage,
how to repair their firearms, how
to make road blocks and how to set
up their own parallel government.
In addition to bringing grain, arms,
ammunition, the squads brought
pamphlets and literature printed in
the local lingo, Telegu.
The pamphlets used illustrations
reprinted from United States Army
training manuals showing how to
drill, how to camouflage, how to
build road blocks and how to ad
minister medical aid—all of which
ironically was supposed to impress
the natives with modem ’’Soviet”
methods.
The villagers reported to me that
these flying squads that visited
Behrampalli came from supply
bases in India at Bezwada, Ellore,
Guntur and Guruzala in India’s
I Madras Province. A few of the vil
|l|gers had been taken to a camp
'some 25 miles southeast of Madhir
on the Madras-Hyderabad frontier,
where the Communists provided
full-fledged training that even in
cluded intelligence reporting.
The Army’s the Same—Yet Somehow It’s Different
By Milton Monitor
Former Staff Sergeant, A. U. Serial No.
32759694; North Africa, Italy, France
PORT DIX, N. J.—It’s still the
Army!
The conveyor belt moves relent
lessly from the moment the selectee
comes through the Port Dix gate.
It moves more slowly, perhaps, and
it is cushioned with wads of top
brass orders to make the recruit feel
he’s a human being.
But it’s the same old military
assembly line for the youngsters
stumbling through one of life's more
bewildering experiences—the transi
tion from a civilian to a soldier
world.
1 went through all this six years
ago. I tried it for size again, a
paunchy interloper among the latest
peacetime citizens heeding the 1948
call of their friends and neighbors.
This time for me there was a
basic, wonderful difference. I came
out through the same door I went in.
Greeted by Friendly Major
Being swept along the Port Dix
receiving line today is an experience
crowded with yesterday’s memories.
A recruit’s first day starts the
night before. It begins With the
awareness of tomorrow that makes
sleep an elusive stranger. By 6 a.m.
I was driving down to Port Dix.
There I was met by the public in
formation officer, a friendly major
who assigned a helpful lieutenant
and captain to see that I got on my
way. It was a lovely Indian summer
day.
(That' other morning was icy.
After the good-bys I waited for a
plodding railroad train that must
have escaped from the Smithsonian
►Institution. After a ride on wooden
benches that I hoped never would
end, we finally reached Port Dix.
Then, for more than an hour we
stood in wet snow before the Army
decided it needed men.)
Directly inside the post gate is the
IRP, also known as the Initial Re
ceiving Point. A sergeant read a
prepared speech of welcome. In
front of us were the first of many
forms to be filled out. A sergeant
disguised with the title of guide was
assigned to our group. His first
task was to escort us to hot coffee
and doughnuts.
We progressed by bus to a pre
pack building and an issue of equip
ment for immediate needs—a razor,
soap, towels, etc., also a raincoat and
a helmet liner, three blankets, etc.,
and a bed in a wooden barracks with
central heating.
(They must not have expected
me the other time, because* I was
shunted to the very last tent in the
last row to windward. There were
six of us and not one knew how to
operate the pot-bellied coal stove.
So I slept in my clothes for six of
the coldest days and nights ever
recorded by man.)
Dog tags were handed to the gen
uine recruits. I sat this one out.
(The other time I was No.
32759694.)
I should make it clear here that
I telescoped four days of processing
into a few hours of one. day. I lis
tened attentively to orientation lec
tures on many subjects and heard
the articles of war again. Then came
the educational films on Army life,
including one of the dangers of con
sorting with the wrong type of fe
3
.male. It was done in good taste and
appealed to our morals, our outlook
on the family and the home.
^Orientation lectures, old style,
started at 5:30 a.m„ given by a PFC,
who apparently learned the English
language in a boiler factory. We
were herded into a theater to see
movies. It turned out to be the
same film we were to see again and
again. It left nothing to the imagi
nation and frightened even the
strongest stomached.)
And now the Army’s most-vaunted
miracle occurred. We started, in
underwear, through a labyrinth of
wood-railed corridors. A myriad of
things was handed us, and shortly
there we were—all dressed tm in
Army uniform with a heavy duffle
bag on our backs.
Gets Advance in fay
(I must confess the uniform fitted
and, anyway, I was pleased to get
something on my bare skin.)
All during the four days there are
tests—general mechanical aptitude,
automotive aptitude, shop mechan
ics, Army clerical, Army radio code,
all loaded with questions np news
paperman can answer.
And, of course, there is the good
old Army general classification test
that determines where a guy will
land, or so they say. The new
recruit gets a night’s sleep before
tackling these exams, which are
divided into four sections this time.
Sometime between adequate meals
the recruits were handed $10 in ad
vance pay. I think it was an intro
duction to the lectures on insurance,
bonds and allotments. Not even the
new Army can change these lectures
and interviews. i
■ (We will not discuss my first Army
meals.)
As it must to all recruits, there
came a trip to the medics and a
physical examination. Then, in
oculations, vaccinations, blood tests
and all that. I had a stand-in for
all this.
(My memory is muddled at this
point. I have a confused realisation
that as I blundered nakedly toward
the clothing handouts, business
like fellows were jabbing my arms
with needles. I guess it was neces
sary.)
The processing period winds up
with classification and friendly dis
cussions with an interviewer and a
counselor on just what job the
recruit wants and where he is best
suited.
I’m told the chances of getting
that job aren’t too slim these days.
The recruit also gets a chance to
study openly, instead of surrepti
tiously, his Form 20, the big yellow
card that tells his future through a
series of holes around the edges.
(My classification interviewer
called me back. He forgot to ask
if I could type.)
At the end of every stop on the
processing tour our guide saw to it
we could ride back to our barracks in
a bus. Trucks carried the duffle
bags.
,(It was night and there were two
bags on my back as I trudged
through the slush of a mile detour
to my new home in tent city.)
The major took me to the officers’
club for coffee. I^sald thanks and
farewell. Then I got into my car
and drove home.
(DUtrtbutbd br th« AuoeUtsd ritu.)
Finns Are Free but Uneasy
As Neighbors of Russians
Question Raised as to How Long Soviet Will
Tolerate a Vigorous, Self-Respecting
Democracy Right on Its Border
^ By Lothrop Stoddard
On the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea a grim game of cat-and
mouse is being played. The mouse is Finland, a relatively small, in
fertile country with less than 4,000,000 inhabitants. The cat is the giant
Soviet Union, covering one-sixth of the total land area of the globe and
fwitaintnp nearly 300,000,000 human beings. As the result of two recent
unsuccessful wars, the Finnish mouse is militarily at the Soviet cat’*
mercy. It is rigorously disarmed, has been compelled to "lease” several
vital strategic points for Soviet4
occupation, and is saddled with a
reparations bill that strains its
economy badly. By a single blow
of its powerful paw, the Soviet cat
could crush Finnish resistance and
overrun the country.
Yet Finland retains its national
identity. It remains master of its
own house and is legally free to
manage its affairs as it sees fit. Fin
land is a democracy. Finland be
lieves in individual freedom, private
property and the other features of
our Western civilization. Relatively
few Finns have any use for com
munism or the Soviet way of life.
And more than a century of un
pleasant experience has taught the
Russians that the Finns are a tough,
stubborn people, ready to stand up
for their rights at almost any risk
and capable of making trouble out
of all proportion to their numbers.
Struggle Is Old One
The struggle between Finn and
Russian is not new. It goes back
more than a thousand years and
represents a deep-going conflict
between sharply contrasted racial
stocks, temperaments and cultures,
rhe Finns are of Asiatic origin,
kinsmen of the Magyars or Hun
garians and the Turks. Ages ago
they migrated westward from some
where in Central Asia and occupied
not only the present-day Finland,
but also much of what is now North
ern Russia. From those latter
regions they were slowly pushed back
or absorbed by the Russian Slavs
advancing from the south. About
the same time, present-day Finland
was conquered by the Swedes, who
partially colonized the country and
gave it a basic Scandinavian culture,
though the Finnish language and
traditions maintained themselves.
Even now there is a sizable Swed
ish-speaking minority in Finland
and the ties between the two coun
tries are close.
Finland suffered greatly in tne
wars between Russia and Sweden.
Its destiny was "iolently altered by
a Russian war of aggression against
Sweden early in the 19th century,
when Sweden was forced to cede
Finland to the victorious Musco
vites. However, the Finns them
selves demanded that the rights
they had enjoyed under Sweden be
respected by the conqueror, threat
ening a fight to the death rather
than submit unconditionally. Ac
cordingly, the Czar of that day
granted Finland the status of an
autonomous grand duchy within
the Russian Empire. So the Finns
continued to manage their own
affairs and evolved a solid national
consciousness. Hieir nationalistic
solidarity was proved when, toward
the close of the last century, Czarist
Russia went back on its pledges and
tried to "Russify” the country.
Militarily helpless against Russian
might, the Finns staged an amazing
passive resistance which rendered
direct Russian rule unworkable.
This struggle against Russification
naturally accentuated Finnish na
tional feeling. So, when the Czarist
empire broke up in the Bolshevik
Revolution of 1917, Finland promptly
declared its independence. And this
was quickly recognized by the new
Bolshevik government, which, under
Lenin and Trotsky, was more inter
ested in furthering world revolution
than with the maintenance of Rus
sian rule over former Czarist de
pendencies. However, the Bolshe
| viks did try to foment a Communist
i revolution in Finland itself. That
resulted in a bloody civil war in
which the Finnish Reds got the
worst of it, their leaders fleeing to
Moscow to await better times.
Meanwhile, Finland was recognized
by the rest of the world as a sover
eign state, joined the League of
Nations and became a prosperous,
stable democracy.
Aggression Renewed
This epoch of peace and pros
perity ended with a renewal of
Russian aggression. That aggres
sion was made possible by the Hitler
Stalin pact concluded in August,
1939. Under this highwayman’s
agreement Soviet Russia was given
a free hand in the Eastern Baltic
and promptly proceeded to cash in
on the deal. The three little Baltic
states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithu
ania—which had gained their free
dom along with Finland after World
War I, were quickly brought under
Russian domination by the mere
show of overwhelming force. The
same tactic was then employed
against Finland, but with a dramati
cally different result. Far from sub
mitting to Russian demands for ces
sions of territory and strategic base
rights, which would have left Finland
militarily at Russia’s mercy, tiny
Finland defied the Russian giant to
do his worst. And when Russian
armies crossed the Finnish frontiers
they met with a series of humiliating
defeats.
By this time Hitler had unleashed
his own Infinitely vaster war of
aggression, still in amicable co
ordination with 8talin. Sc a the
civilized world, menaced by the dual
threat of totalitarianism, thrilled to
the exploits of an embattled democ
racy. The heroic Finns were lauded
to the skies, nowhere more so than
in America where Finland had long
been popular, both for its eminence
in sports and for its unique insist
ence on paying the interest on the
reconstruction loan made it by our
Government after World War I.
Russia was expelled from the
League of Nations. For a time, the
Western Allies, Britain and Fiance,
seriously considered giving Finland
military aid even though this would
have meant war with the Soviet
Union.
Such aid could, however, have
come effectively only through Scan
dinavia, which sought desperately to
maintain its neutrality. So Finland,
left alone, was presently over
whelmed by the mobilized might of
Russia. In mid-March of 1940, the
Finns were obliged to sign a treaty
giving Russia everything originally
demanded. The terms were hard. Be
sides the strategic bases which gave
Russia military dominance over the
country, the rich border province
of Karelia, adjoining Russia, had
to be ceded, though virtually the
entire population, numbering some
440,000, left their homes and became
refugees in Finland rather than
pass under the Russian yoke.
Joined Axis, fcfeft With Reds
Then, only a year later, came the
split between Hitler and Stalin. The
gigantic Nazi war machine struck
for the very heart of the Soviet
Union, with seeming success. To
the embittered Finns, this appeared
an opportunity to get back their own
which could not be missed. So Fin
land joined in the attack on Rus
sia, ^though with the limited objec
live* of recovering what was right
fully hers. Nevertheless, this siding
with the Axis forfeited for Finland
the sympathy of the Western Pow
ers, joined by America a year later.
So Finland was left once more alone
with the Russian giant when the
Axis collapsed, and was forced once
more to make a peace on Moscow’s
terms. Those terms were even
harsher than the treaty of 1940.
More territory had to be ceded, plus
a war indemnity of crushing weight
for Finland’s war-depleted economy.
Nevertheless, Moscow did not ex
tinguish Finland as a nation. Per
haps the masters of the Kremlin
felt that Russia was too exhausted
by its life-and-death struggle with
Nazi Germany to take on the ex
termination of so tough and liberty
loving a people as the Finns. Per
haps they calculated that, by con
cessions, they might eventually win
over Finland to voluntary co-opera
tion. In any event, Finland, though
disarmed, militarily dominated, and
mortgaged by the war indemnity,
was left legally free to run its own
show, so long as it walked humbly
and gave no offense to Moscow.
How the Finns have reconstructed
their national life and preserved
their democratic Institutions under
the shadow of Soviet totalitarian
ism is perhaps, the greatest mir
acle of postwar Europe. Where
even free - loving Czechoslovakia
failed, Finland has thus far suc
ceeded. To be sure, Finland has
its Communist minority, aided and
abetted by Moscow, and scheming
for control. Yet Communist mach
inations have been kept within
bounds, even though necessarily tol
erated for fear or Russian reprisals.
And last July the Finnish people
had the courage to hold free and
fair elections wherein the Commu
nists were demoted to the status
of a minor party in the new Parlia
ment.
Communists Erupt
Then Finland’s current troubles
began. The Communists were of
fered places in a projected coali
tion cabinet corresponding to their
just weight in Parliament. This
offer was refused. The Communists
demanded strategic cabinet posts far
beyond their electoral status,
through which they could continue
their infiltrating strategy. When
their demands were rejected, the
Communist-dominated minority of
Finnish labor was incited to make
a series of strikes, essentially politi
cal in character, and designed like
those of France and elsewhere to
disrupt the country’s economic life
and intimidate the democratic ma
jority. In support of those strikes,
the Moscow press and radio de
nounced the Finnish government for
its “Fascist” tendencies and hinted
darkly at what might ensue if pres
ent policies were unaltered.
Nevertheless, the Finnish govern
ment has persisted in its course.
The strikes were kept within bounds
and order was maintained. Treaty
commitments, including indemnity
payments, have been scrupulously
kept. Russian provocations have
been blandly ignored. No excuse
for Russian intervention has been
given. Finland's precarious inde
pendence is thus being preserved.
How long this situation can bs
maintained is, of course, problemat
ical. In the last analysis, it pre
sumably depends on Soviet policy.
Moscow's “forebearance” toward
Finland has thus far served the
larger interests of Moscow, which
can point to Finland as a sdrt of
showpiece illustrating the possi
bility of friendly relations between
the Soviet Union and a “burgeois”
state. To violate treaty commit
ments and intervene forcibly in
Finland would destroy that stock
theme of Soviet and Communist
propaganda, besides further arous
ing the wrath of the civilized world.
This, combined with the fact of
Finland’s intrinsic powerlessness,
tends to stay Moscow’s heavy hand.
Yet it may be questioned hew
much longer a vigorous, self-respect
ing democracy can be tolerated on
the very border of the Soviet Union.
The antithesis between freedom * d
totalitarianism grows ever sharper,
while.within the sprawling bulk rt
the lli-compacted Soviet Empire .t
self discern tent at totalitarian tyr
anny and attendant hardship g a
more pronounced. By its very -
istence, a free, patriotic Finland I
a potential danger to Moscow and
its aim of world domination.