RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION BY COMMUNISTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000400170010-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2005
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: July 19, 1965
• Content Type: OPEN

July 19, 1965
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4. Weapons scrapped m: The United States
has abandoned and declassified many impor-
tant new weapons systems after spending
millions for their development, such as (a)
the Skybolt missile (which gives a plane the
capability of hitting enemy targets without
flying over enemy soil), (b) the Pluto mis-
sile (low altitude nuclear warhead guided
missile capable of going around the world),
(c) the Nike-Zeus antimissile missile, and
(d) mobile Minuteman long-range missiles
mounted on moving trains and surface ships
so our deterrent force could not be wiped out
by a surprise attack.
5. Research stopped: The United States
has stopped research on many weapons of
the future, such as the atomic-powered air-
plane. It takes 5 years or more to bring
a new weapon from the drawing board to
the production line. This means that the
United States will fall farther behind the
Soviet Union every year because the Soviets
are racing ahead in superbombs, antimis-
sile missile, atomic airplanes, and chemical
warfare weapons?0 We are doing nothing
to develop the neutron bomb, requested by
Catholic Senator THOMAS Dom and many
other patriots, or offensive and defensive
chemical warfare weapons, or adequate civil
defense. Another neglected new weapon is
the space ship equipped with superbombs
which would maintain a position over enemy
targets just as the Early Bird satellite main-
tains its position over the mid-Atlantic.
All this unilateral. disarmament is not di-
rectly attributable to misuse of "Pacem in
Terris." But the misuse of "Pacem in Ter-
ris" is a major factor in creating the climate
which calls for the unilateral dismantling of
U.S. strength, and persuades the American
people to accept status as a second-rate
power, no longer able to defend the free
world 10
The great St. Thomas Aquinas stated:
"And as the care of the common weal is com-
ject to them. And just as it is lawfu for
them to have recourse to the sword i de-
fending that common weal against in ernal
disturbances, when they punish evi doers,
according to the words of the Apostle (Rom.
viii 4) : 'He beareth not the sword i vain:
for he is God's minister, an avenger to ex-
ecute wrath upon him that doth evil'; so
too it is their business to have recourse to
the sword of war in defending the common
weal against external enemies." 81
THE TASH AHEAD
Most Catholics are cognizant of the evil of
Communism. What they do not realize is
the imminent danger of Communism 82 and
that this threat arises chiefly because of our
failure to understand and refute the dia-
bolical Communist propaganda. There is
urgent need for affirmative action to-
88 U.S. News & World Report, 'Mar. 1, 1965,
p. 39.
29 See Soviet Army magazine Red Star, Jan-
uary 1965 and speech by Soviet Marshall So-
kolovsky, Feb. 17, 1965.
80 "Pacem in Terris Convocation" by Arnold
Johnson, Political Affairs, May 1965, pp. 47-
54.
81 Summa Theologica, Vol. 2, p. 1359.
12 See the masterful and unrefuted exposi-
tion of the military danger to the United
States and the free world from Soviet strat-
egy: "The New Myths and Old Realities of
Nuclear War" by Rear Adm. Chester Ward,
U.S.N. (Ret.) in Orbis, summer 1964, vol.
VIII, No. 2, published by the Foreign Policy
Research Institute, University of Pennsyl-
vania. Also see various Washington Re-
ports of the American Security Council, 123
N, Wacker Drive, Chicago 6, Ill.
1. Expose the misuse of "Pacem in Terris"
and refute the Communist propaganda that
calls for the unilateral dismantling of U.S.
military strength, and the surrender of Viet-
nam and other free-world outposts to the
Communists; and
2. Encourage every Catholic diocese, parish,
and family to study how to combat the dia-
bolical propaganda of atheistic Communism
which threatens the destruction of the free
world.
The Communists have an educational plan
to subvert the free world; 109,000-word-
warriors have graduated from the Castro
College of Communist Subversion in Cuba 83
and are organizing Red revolutions through-
out Latin America. Thousands more grad-
uate each year from the Soviet, Prague, and
Chinese word-warfare schools.
Catholics must start an educational pro-
gram on the techniques of communism.
Jesus promised that "the truth shall make
you free." Cuba fell because the Catholics,
who comprised more than 90 percent of the
population, were not told the truth about
the diabolical propaganda on behalf of Fidel
and Raul Castro and Che Guevara Because
of the diabolical propaganda against anti-
Communists in southeast Asia, Laos was lost
(despite the heroic labors of Catholic Dr.
Thomas Dooley), and Catholic President
Diem of Vietnam was murdered. John F.
Kennedy, the first Catholic President of the
United States, was murdered by a Commu-
nist who was recruited into the conspiracy
by the diabolical propaganda. The fate of
the Catholic Ch ch and of the free world
depends on eosing and refuting the dia-
bolical propaganda of communism before it
ELIGIOUS PERSECUTIO
COMMUNISTS
(Mr. ASHBROOK (at the request of
Mr. HUTCHINSON) was granted permis-
sion to extend his remarks at this point
in the RECORD and to include extraneous
matter.)
Mr. ASHBROOK. Mr. Speaker, on
Monday, July 12, the House joined with
the Senate in passing a concurrent reso-
lution expressing the sense of Congress
that the Soviet Union and the Eastern
European countries should be urged to
permit the free exercise of religion. I
supported this resolution although I felt
it to be rather weakly worded. The rec-
ord is so full of the persecution of re-
ligious groups and individuals by the
Soviet Union that our action should have
been much sooner in coming and more
forceful. It is unfortunate that we are
so apathetic to the fate of our brothers
behind the Iran Curtain. I sometimes
wonder if our religious denominations in
this Nation recognize our responsibility
to those behind the Iron Curtain who
are denied freedom of religion.
The Committee on Foreign Affairs
held hearings on May 10, 11, and 12 and
issued a report on "Antireligious Activi-
ties in the Soviet Union and in Eastern
Europe." The Internal Security Sub-
committee of the Senate Committee an
the Judiciary has four excellent reports
on discrimination and religious persecu-
tion by Communist regimes. All of these
reports indicate that churches in the
Soviet Union have been systematically
annhiliated with the exception of the
Russian Orthodox Church which reached
a truce with the Soviet Government dur-
ing World War U. Showcase churches
are allowed in Moscow which visitors are
urged to see. These publications give
a detailed account of antireligious activ-
ities in the Soviet Union. These volumes
are entitled "Church and State Under
Communism" and I certainly recom-
mend them to anyone who wants to
learn more, about the fate of our fellow
man under the yoke of communism.
Volume III deals with Yugoslavia and
is particularly interesting because it is
fashionable these days to allege that Tito
has a different brand of communism in
that country. Quite the opposite; re-
ligious persecution has been as brutal in
Yugoslavia as in the U.S.S.R. In his
foreword, Senator DODD outlines the pat-
tern of oppression and brutality which
has been directed at religious activities
behind the Iron Curtain.
He notes that the various churches in
Yugoslavia "are governed by commissions
for religious affairs, headed up by mem-
bers of the Communist Party who have
received special ideological training for
combating religion." He observes that-
Those clergymen, both Orthodox and
Catholic, who resisted or denounced the en-
croachments of the state, were imprisoned
or executed.
The foreword indicates that within a
year after communism took over in
Yugoslavia, the Catholic Church, which
had a total of 2,700 Croat priests, lost
400 priests by execution, 200 who fled
abroad and several hundred imprisoned.
Three Roman Catholic cardinals have
felt the reprisal which communism
directs at religious groups who operate
independently of state dictation. Car-
dinal Mindszenty is still in the safe sanc-
tuary of the American Embassy in Buda-
pest where he has been since the Hun-
garian uprising in 1956, a fugitive in his
own land because he will not bow to the
will of the Communist masters. The late
Cardinal Stepinac felt the oppression
of the Yugoslav dictator, Tito, as did
Cardinal Wyszynski in Communist Po-
land.
It is a necessary tenet of any religious
faith, particularly the Christian, to be-
lieve that the heart can be moved and
human nature can change. This can and
should be hoped for, prayed for by those
of us who wish freedom to flourish again
in Eastern Europe and for possibly a first
time in Russia. By the same token, there
is no virtue to color blindness or refusal to
take into true account what is happen-
ing behind the Iron Curtain. Many so-
called liberal theologians seem to see
some Christian witness in seeking ac-
commodation with a regime built on ter-
ror and suppression. I disagree with
them most vehemently and will not agree
to sell any of my brothers into slavery
and depravity.
A great philosopher once stated that
the beginning of wisdom is in calling
things by their right name. Commu-
nism is a totalitarian doctrine built on
terror and control of all matters, public,
social, religious, private. The Congress
has served a great purpose in exposing
this shallow doctrine and documenting
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16610 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD --,HOUSE
their bloody record of persecution of re-
ligious activities behind the Iron Cur-
tain. It is now for the public, particu-
larly the clergy, to acquaint themselves
with the details of this godless crusade
by the men of the Kremlin and, their
satellites so they will know them by
their right name.
The concurrent resolution which
massed last week is as follows:
Whereas the Congress of the United States
deeply believes in freedom of religion for all
people and is opposed to infringement of
this freedom anywhere in the world; and
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights adopted by the United Nations
declares that everyone has the right to free-
dom of thought and religion and the right
to manifest his religion or belief in public
or in private through teaching, practice,
worship, and observance; and
Whereas articles 124 and 125 of the Con-
stitution of the Soviet Union, and the exist-
ing constitutions of other Eastern European
countries, guarantee their citizens freedom
of conscience and religious worship; and
Whereas abundant evidence has made
clear that the Government of the Soviet
Union and the governments of other coun-
tries of Eastern Europe are persecuting, in
varying degrees of intensity, elements of
their Christian; Jewish, and Muslim citizens
and Infringing upon their freedom of re-
,ligion through confiscatory taxation and
closing of religious institutions, deliberate
suppression of religious education, in.terfer-
ence', with religious and related cultural
practices, denial of regular contacts between
teligious bodies in their countries with sim-
ilar bodies in other parts of the world, and
through persistent discrimination against
persons professing and practicing their re-
ligions b1 state, party, Communist youth,
police, labor, and public organizations; and
Whereas there is also abundant evidence
that Jewish citizens of the Soviet Union
are being singled out for extreme punish-
ment for alleged economic offenses and op-
pressed in the free exercise 'of their faith
.through the closing of synagogues and ceme-
teries, curtailment of religious observances,
discrimination in cultural activities and ac-
cess to higher education, imposition of re-
strictions that prevent the reuniting of Jews
with their families in other lands, and the
arrest of rabbis and lay religious leaders; and
Whereas the Government of the Soviet
Union and the governments of other Eastern
European countries have a clear opportunity
to match the words of their constitutional
guarantees of freedom of religion with speci-
fic and appropriate actions: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Rep-
resentatives concurring), That it is the sense
of the Congress that the persecution of any
persons because of their religion by the Gov-
ernment of the Soviet Union and the govern-
ments of other Eastern European countries
be condemned, and that such governments
be urged to cease such persecution and to
permit full and free exercise of religion and
related cultural pursuits by all persons with-
in their countries,
SEC. 2. It is further the sense of the Con-
gress that the attention. of the United Na-
tions should be drawn to this resolution and
that the United Nations should continue in
its efforts on behalf of freedom of religion.
(Mr. MOORE (at the request of Mr.
HUTCHINSON) was granted permission to
extend his remarks at this point in the
RECQRD and to include extraneous
matter.)
[Mr. MaORE'S remarks will appear
hereafter in the Appendix. ]
ADLAI STEVENSON
(Mr. RUMSFELD (at the request of
Mr. HUTCHINSON) was granted permis-
sion to extend his remarks at this point
in the RECORD and to include extraneous
matter. )
Mr. RUMSFELD. Mr. Speaker, I
speak today as a member of Congress, as
an Illinoisan, and as an American, and
join my colleagues and the world in pay-
ing tribute to Adlai Ewing Stevenson-
lawyer, politician, statesman. A man the
President described as "America's most
eloquent spirit, its finest voice"; a man
praised by the Governor of Illinois as
"a public servant of the highest order";
a man termed "irreplaceable-one of our
great contemporary mean" by Senator
Minority Leader DIRKSEN. And so the
tributes continue, recalling one after
another the many memorable qualities of
this unusual man, his sparkling wit, his
basic human decency, his dedicated
leadership, .his strong sense of duty.
Adlai Stevenson was a distinguished
Princeton alumnus. The Princeton
University class of 1954, of which I was
a' member, was privileged to have Mr.
Stevenson as our senior banquet speaker,
more than 11 years ago. I have to
this day kept copies of that speech-one
of the most stirring, one of the most
idealistic, and, yet, one of the most real-
istic speeches it has ever been my privi-
lege to hear. Over the years, I have
found myself rereading his remarks,
calling it to the attention of others, and
quoting portions of it in public addresses.
Without question this speech did much
to increase my interest in public service
and to lead me to a career in government.
That evening in 1954 he gave a glimpse
of the man as he said:
If those * * * Americans who have the
advantage of education, perspective, and self-
discipline do not participate to the fullest
extent of their ability, America will stumble,
and if America stumbles, the world falls.
He gave advice which, I am convinced,
was not merely the product of a brilliant
mind, but the practical expression of a
personal philosophy:
Face the problems of your time you must,
deal with them you must. But do not allow
the alarms and excursions and partisanship
of our politicial scene to distract you, do not
let even the awful problems of the atomic
age claim .all your attention. Dare, rather,
to live your lives fully, boldly; dare to study
and to learn, to cultivate the mind and the
spirit.
He cast a bright light on politics as a
profession and did much to change the
impression of the politician from a sin-
ister figure in the smoke-filled room to a
man of dedication and eloquence in pub-
lie' life. He put in proper focus the sig-
nificance of the political process under
our system of government, saying:
The power, for good or evil, of this Amer-
ican political organization, is virtually be-
yond measurement. The decisions which it
makes, the uses to which it devotes its
immense resources, the leadership which it
provides on moral as well as material ques-
tions, all appear likely to determine the fate
of the modern world.
All this is to say that your power is vir-
tually beyond measurement. For it is to
you, to your enlightened attention, that
American Government must look for the
July 19, 1965
sources of its power. You dare not, if I may
say so, withhold your attention.
Such words are stirring to a young
man, and the thoughts behind them did,
in fact, move Governor Stevenson. Even
as he counseled to look ahead, he, too,
was looking ahead, it would now seem,
when he said 11 years ago:
There is in the moiling masses of Asia a
tremendous power, potentially the greatest
power on earth, and today our enemies con-
spire to gain the mastery of this power.
They have at their disposal, as we all know,
a powerful weapon, for communism is a per-
version of the dream of justice. And while
we see its leading attributes as the perver-
sion, the illiterate, the toiling masses still
have their eyes fixed on the dream.
We too have a powerful weapon, truth, and
we gain our strength from our thoughtful
citizenry, which seeks and holds the truth
with both its heart and its mind. The ques-
tion is, however, whether we have come to
decisive responsibility too early, before we
were ready, before we had matured suffi-
ciently. No man can say with certainty.
Personally, I am optimistic and confident,
but this question will not be answered to-
morrow; it will be answered in your lifetime,
and it will be answered in large part by you.
He presented an insight into the hearts
of those who make the decision to seek
public office when he said:
It becomes increasingly hard to attract
good men to government, and no wonder.
Thoughtful men do not enjoy living in an
atmosphere of constant guerrilla warfare and
suspicion.
I would suggest to you, then, that it is the
duty of an educated man in America today
to work actively to put good men into public
office, and to defend them there against
abuse and the ugly inclination we as human
beings have to believe the worse. I would
suggest that it is not enough merely to
vote but that we, all of us, have the further
obligation to think, and to maintain stead-
fastly the rights of all men to think freely.
Adlal Stevenson did not win his Na-
tion's highest office, although he sought
it twice. He did not live to complete the
fight for freedom which he helped wage
In the far corners of the earth. He did
not finally have that opportunity to "sit
in the afternoon sun and watch the
people dance." And yet out of these dis-
appointments, he emerged a winner,
and we all share in his successes and his
contributions.
Adlai Stevenson will be remembered
for the career he chose, for the things
that he did, for the wisdom which he
imparted, for the humor which char-
acterized his speeches, for the optimism
which he carried with him constantly,
for the deep faith he held in the cause
of freedom. He was a man who made
his fellow citizens of Illinois, America,
and the world proud to claim. him as one
of their own.
Mr. Speaker, I insert at this point in
the RECORD' the address given by Adlai
E.-Stevenson to the senior class banquet
at Princeton University on March 22,
1954:
AN ADDRESS BY THE HONORABLE ADLAI E. STE-
VENSON, 1922, TO THE PRINCETON CLASS OF
1954, MARCH 22, 1954, UPON THE OCCASION
OF THE SENIOR CLASS BANQUET
I have a number of preliminary things I
should like to say. In the first place, I am
informed that this senior class banquet is
being held at the expense of your accumu-
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