Alcala 1958

mos t firml y ent ren che dsup ers titi onsof the anti -ant i-Communis t. No ma tter how con­ spir ato rial the ac tiv itie sof the Commun ist Pa rty ma y app ear to the FB I, the con fus ed "Li ber al"knows that the y are on ly deb ate s abo ut "unpop ular ideas. " Res tra int of thes e wel l-or gan ized "d isc uss ion s" would amo unt to "th oug ht con tro l,"a fat e wors e than dea th. Ph ilip Selz nick ha s wel l ana lyz ed the fal lac y of reg ard ing the American Com­ munist Pa rty as a pol itic al gro up . 8 He ins ists that "party" be qu al ifi ed by its app ropriat eadjec tiv e,wh ich is no t "po liti­ cal ," but "co mb at." Althoug hLenin ful ly und erst ood that hi s army of profess ion al rev olu tion ari es wa sin no true sen se a pol itic al par ty, he als o rea lize dthe tremen­ dou s pro pagand aval ue of thi s des ign ati on . Sel zni ck' s analy sis shows tha t Commun ist par ties must be ren amed comb at par ties . Th en the y can be evalua ted as combat team s, as uni ts of a mi lita ry org ani zat ion pre par ed to atta in its ob jec tiv esby me ans of for ce an d vio len ce. To the tota lita rian "L ibe ral ," how ever, thes e com bat team s con stit ute not hin g mo re threat en ing than a spe cie s of cur ren tly unp opu lar pol itic al dis cus siongro ups. 5. Some thi ng ou gh t to be done abou t comm un ism ,but . . . By me an s of this decei ta tota lita rian"L ibe ral "ca n talk out of bot h sid es of hi smouth at the sam e tim e. While ple ad ing firm the ore tica l opposit ion to Commun ist con spi rac y,he cou nte rswith the cha rge that the re is no sa fe , pra ctic al wa y to rest rain it. 9 Th us it is bet ter to run the risk of ext inc tio n than to permit the slig hte stcurtail me ntof "li be rty ." 10 8 Ph ilip Selznick , The Org ani zati onal We apo n: A Stu dy of Bols hevi k Str ategy and Ta ctic s (Ne w Yor k: McGraw-Hill, 19 52 ). 9 Irvin g Kristo l, "Civil Libe rties , 1952—A Stud y in Confu sion," Com men tary 13:2 28-3 6, March, 195 2; Louis Waldman, "D efec ts of the Mundt Bill ," Netv Lea der 31:7, May 22, 1948. 10 Such is the gene ral cont enti on of pseudo - Liber al books like Alan Barth' s Th e Loy alty of Free Men (Ne w Yor k: Viking , 1951 ) and Fran cis Bidd le's Th e Fear of Fr eed om (Ne w Yor k: Doub leday , 1 95 1). c ed s stitions 0£ ti- o unist. - rial i ities o ist , ed al l tes l i t ized i s ions" t l," t . il l l ed l y ing - i a t l . i t lified riate tive, i liti- h at." h o l to io al ti aries was i l t , li - a ation. 's l sis ist ti e t ti . te s, t ry ization e i j tives 0£ ce. ria i ral," , le i g ening i s tly l r i l sion s. thing t t unism, . . . s t li rian i ral" ti e. i g tic l io i t racy, rs , ti al w i 9 tion i st ent rty." 8 il , izational n: f t s (New York: McGraw-Hill, ). 9 ), ti , 52- i e tary 6, ; l an, f ts w f to l on - l s lty f : , ci l ' f e dom. or : l , 951). ly

6. Eve ry bo dyhas a right to a govern ­ me nt job . Al l wi ll agr ee tha t no com pet ent per son sho uld be dep riv ed of gov ernme nt emplo ymentfo r reason sof nat ion alor igi n, rac e or cre ed. Ne ver the less, ev er y aler t gov ernme nt mu st stri ve to protect itself from poo r secur ity risk s, no t to menti on dow nri ght dis loy alt y. In opposition to thi s leg itim ate des ire for sel f-d efe nse , the con fus ed "L ibe ral " ar gu es tha t loy alt y is too abs trac t a con ­ cep t to permi t of workab le de fin itio nand tha t no huma n per son is goo d enou gh to eva lua te the secur ity risk of ano the r mo rta l. 11 Minor inc on ven ien ces to a few Commun­ ist s and their fri en ds can cause con fus ed "L ibe ral s"no en d of gri ef and an gu ish . On the oth er ha nd ,the mos t ser iou sthre ats to the saf ety of ten s ofmi llio nsof Am eri can cit ize ns lea ve them qu ite unmoved .Su rel y, thi s phe nom eno nof twis ted sym pa thi eswill some da y pr ov ide an int rig uin g sub jec t for psy cholo gicalres ear ch. 7. Nobod yca ninc ur guil t by as so cia tio n w ithCo mmun ist s. To put acr oss th is amaz ­ ing dec ep tion, Commun ist agi tat ors be gin by appe ali ng to the Am eri can pri nci ple that gui lt is per son al, not her edi tar yor by accid en tal ass oc iat ion (a s it wa s in Na zi Germany an d is tod ay in the Sovie tUn ion an d its sat ell ite co un tri es ).Ne xt the y mes­ me riz ethe inn oce ntswith con undrum s, such as, "D eli be ra te ass oci ation wit h Fa sci sts makes on e gu ilt y,but del ibe rat eass oci ati on wit h Commu nist sma kes one as pure as the dri ven sn ow ." In the af fa ir sof the ir pri vat e lives (a s opp ose d to their tota lita rian li ve s) , the inn oce nts almost inv ari ably app ly the test of gu ilt by ass oc iation .For exa mp le, the y are not pu t at ea se to lea rn tha t the ca sh ier of their bank con sorts with gam bler s or that their daughtersare out frolic kin gwit h the town sco undrels . On the oth er hand , the se same "L ibe ra ls"fee l tha t no thi ng but 11 Bid dle, op . cit ., pp. 196, 249-52. v rybody - . l e t l i e ent ent f s 0£ i al i n, . theles , y ent ity , i ig t l alty. ate efense, ed i ral" es y tract - t le iti n n g te ity 0£ r t l. 1 veniences o - ds ed i rals" ish. , i s ts f s o ican s i . ly, enon thies i e i uing j t ological ch. y t ci tion unist . i - tio , ist rs aling ican iple s al, t ry tal i tion i ny t i l ite tries). - i e nts s, such l rate ti ists il y, te a tion nists s ." irs e rian s), nts iably l iation. For example, i l s t r king drels. , i rals" l 11 l , . .,

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