THE GREATEST TRANSITION FOR MANKIND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000300390002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 2, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

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CPYRGHT
Man kind
Following is the text o( a speech by Gus Halt,
leading Communist spokesman, to a meeting spon-
sored by the Humanitas Society in McMillin
Theatre, Columbia University, op Dec. 15.
BECAUSE I AM so aware, of the pres-
sures you of Humanitas Society have been
under during the past days, I am, even more
grateful for having this opportunity to take
part in this exchange.
These pressures are in fact closely related to
the nature of the U.S. policy in, Vietnam.
When the aggression could not achieve its goals
in Vietnam through demagogy, fenced in -hamlets,
through the so-called advisers, through the cor-
rupt Diem regimes, through 'anti-insurgencyt, it
shifted to the , present policy of genocide, ~ to . a
war of depopulation, to the most brutal policy of
saturation bombing, to the most' heinous act of
literally burning of a people, putting a nation to
the torch, by the massive use of napalm bombs.
It is a policy based on the concept that if you
can't win the people, the people become the
enemy, the target. And the enemy must be des-
troyed. The increased attempts at creating the
atmosphere of hysteria; of jingoism, on the home
front, the threats of and acts of violence against
the Americans who oppose this criminal policy
is a corollary of the changed nature of the war
in Vietnam.
War Hysteria
THE STAFFS of the war hawks, the FBI, 'the
CIA fronts, like the Freedom House, the Birchites,
the KKK, the Billy Grahams have all taken to the
stump, not to discuss the issues, but in the at-
tempt to create the war hysteria-The The first an-
nounced casualty on the economic front is the
Appalachia program. Here the war against the
people replaces the announced war against poverty.
These changes are in fact evidence of the failire
of the old policies. They are failures because tl:c
policy of aggression and war remains against tnc
best interests of the people of Vietnam, and bee a ,e
it is against the best real interests of the people
of the U.S.
The use of a new crime to cover up thr- failure
of a past crime can' only lead to the commiting of
an even bigger crime. This is the deadly logic
of the policy of escalating the war of aggression
in Vietnam. The deadly logic of the war in Vietnam
leads to a world nuclear war. It could be the
"crime to end all crimes." It could be the: ;"war
to end all wars" because it could :end' human
existence on this globe.
On. this path there is a point of no return. There
4a' point where all discussions, all i s . ?'11
have no value' or meaning. From that PoW on,
war' frotit casualty figures, expenditures for war
budgets, of 'even the debate of who, is wrong, who
is the criminal and who the -victim - will all take
on a meaning in a qualitatively diflerent world -
if there will be one. The new bombings of. the;
CPYRGHT
So when we are discussing the war in. Vietnam
we are in fact discussing the immediate. and the
longer range prospects of every phase of human
society. I will return to this question; but let me
briefly introduce a related question.
The Big Lie
THE CENTRAL ideological Trojan horse of our
times is the use of the;' Big Lie, anti-communism.
The "canned cover" story for every war, for
every act of aggression is anti-communism. Hitler
fascism murdered 30-40rMlion -people under the
cover of fighting the ttre of. Communism. The
late Senator McCarthy"t`tatd 'it ;when he said, "I
l_ioid in my hand then called for
aggression against the liberti-es? of all Americans.
The presence of. 58 Communists in the Dominican
e ipublic -became the and seemingly
enough reason to send 35,000 U.S. Marines there.
A] Capone and Anastasia. both appealed .for un-
derstanding and respectability because, as they
'said, "after all, we are anti-Communists." The
"cover story" according to the historian, Arthur
Schlesinger, is the use of a deliberate lie. He
admits his own use of it when the facts would
not convince and justifies it by anti-communism.
Under the hysteria of the McCarthyite witch-
:'',nts. Congress passed laws that completely sub-
crted the Constitution, such as the McCarra,l
1 am not talking about people who honestly
disagree with or are not informed about the Com-
munist position. Because we know that the majority
2 our fellow Americans do not agree with us
many basic questions. This we do not resent or
ideiY*140his we welcome as a challenge.
I am talking about the big lie anti-communism,
hemagogic appeal to utter falsehoods. This kind
of, 4ati-communism has become the ideological
>rti otic of our day.
It is dangerous because under its spell, any-
ting goes. This_ kind of anti-communism is it
capon against everything progressive it is a
tool of oppression. It has become the main ideo-
logical weapon of all anti-democratic, anti-labor,
anti-Negro, anti-intellectual forces in our country.
It is the tool of the pro-war and -pro-fascist forces
in our land.
THE VERY NATURE. of this "artillery of words"
bout Communism is a critical assessment of the
state of our social science. For some 90 percent of
his torrent of cliches is` not devoted to any-rational,
bjective examination of the stated subject. It is
of a weighing of the facts, It is not a dialogue
about, nor a challenge to the ideas or, the- 6"onceptp
f Communism. Its very purpose is not to discuss
ommunism.
Rather it is a gigantic fraud. It is an exercise
'n inflating the ghost, it is an emotional appeal
bout the evils of the apparition, it is sticking
the pins into a conjured-up caricature image of
North *trep Per R -
14~ ;
North sb'i's~~
j -ffiL~iai~9tP21f't21P~s`lOO
dangerous step along this p i A
2-8
The Greatest Transition
y
 CPYRGHT
page
clo - c c7e , i 1 process of constant change. That this is a law of
subversion, about a world-wide conspiracy against nature is now quite well accepted in the scientific
Smokescreen for Aggression
munism of L.S. corporate power now visits tragedy challenging capitaliiism on all fronts. The new order
upon other peoples, but its ultimate victim, if it is socialism.
is not checked, must be the American nation.
ALL WHO *hink or actin the realm of politics do From Ao.to Action
,
.
If this poisonous smog engulfs our country and the their historic purpose and gave way : to a higher
rest of the capitalist world, the stage will be set form of relationship. Each reflected and served a
for the madness of ;a nuclear disaster. Thus the specific level of human development. New social
responsibility of clearing the air, of rejecting this systems entered the stage of life as an answer to
poison is not ours alone, but becomes an indispen, new social and technological developments.
sable prerequisite for peace and freedom as well ' In this view of history capitalism was an im-
as democracy. portant stibp. It was an answer to a specific level
Just as Hitler's "anti,communism," after in- of human life. Now new problems are pushing for
flicting horror upon the world, ultimately led the ii solution, a technological revolution is taking
German nation to catastrophe, so the "anti-com- place - a new social order has emerged. It is
I SPEAK about this now, not as a defense of the continuous change fully applies to social systems
Communist Party, not from any narrow, rtisan as it does to all of nature. Marxism makes this its
considerations. I speak against it because $ig point of reference.
Lie, anti-communism, has become the gr'-hcipal Thus, each economic system, slavery, feudalism
smokescreen for the war of aggression in Vietnam . and capitalism
has had its day
They all served
all '` theory, a point of reference, a specific otophical question has become alive. It hasVmoved
our ion to the U.S. policy of aggression in qualitative point of a social explosion. Civiliza-
equate capitalism with democracy and freedom.
. This pbintof reference necessarily dictates a con-
servative --.a status quo, and finally, a reactionary
attitude ? to all problems of life. This point of ref-
erence becomes a rationale for wars of aggression.
he capitalist way of life is referred to as the
American way of life. They view any change, all
The point of reference that capitalism is the
ultimate of perfection leads to a policy of arrogant
superiority and chauvinism. This leads to a policy
of genocide against people of underdeveloped
countries, of the burjng and destruction of whole
peoples, holding other^.people as inferior and ex-
bendable, to the theory- of the master race. Thus,
iA 1948, Lyndon Johnson prpglaimed:
"No matter what else we have of offensive or
defensive weapons, without superior air power
America is a bound and throttled giant; ITP-otPnt
and easy prey to a]ty yellow dwarf with a pocket
knife."
A Changing World
JAN 2 1966
Of c se, there are variations and shadings, revolutionary transition. The basic hallmark of this
and it is tti ie people do react on the basis of im- epoch, therefore, is the revolutionary transition
mediate self-interest without reference to, or the from capitalism to socialism and later to Com-
knowledge of how these actions are related to monism.
theories, but in a fundamental sense the ideological For Marxism, this is a point of reference.
points of reference tend to polarize around two A distinct phase of this overall revolutionary
inain oulooks. process, this period of transition, is the explosive
One starts and ends with the concept that cap breakup of the old capitalist-imperialist empires.
Italism is the beginning and the ultimate of all . For those who reject the law of change in human
human systems. They have a rationale for their,, affairs, this new reality, this revolutionary process,
partisanship. They admit capitalism has its weak- is',a shock. They refuse to accept it as an inevit-
nesses, but it's the best man can do. By this logic able development. They try to attribute it to some
they attribute the faults of capitalism to weak- kind of a "conspiracy," to "infiltration," to "sub-
r}esses in human nature, andylr*nsfer the positive: version." They have not yet adjusted to the fact
features, of human nature as contributions of cap that, yes, civilization has now reached the plateau
s" alism-.4Thus the brutalities of capitalist fascist where the people of each nation want freedom
Geri any are placed on the doorstep of a German and independence - and they demand it now.
persox Ity trait. And the scientific. achievements; They now demand the simple right to determine
Of the -human mind 'are hailed as ,products of cap-' for themselves all matters within their national
stalism.' Much effort is put into the attempt to' bqi ndaries. They all want an equal place in the sun.
community. That it is also a law of social systems
is bitterly fought by those who want to give cap-
italism the appearance of foreverness.
tThey insist.on reaping the full benefits from their
labor, and from 'their national resources. This desire
for independence, is not. new. The desire for in-
dependence was,boigi with oppression. What is new
is that they have the er env hni.a_ will
-
- W for It. This is. the, meaning
are ready to
I the national liberatlaft% movements and national
hberat oti wars. This Is the meaning of the slogan,
'Ya`nkee Go Home." The cause of those fighting
.for independence in any corner :of' the world is - as
Just as was of r cause at Valley Forge.- This is also
our basic point of reference.
H prey and. History.
tl7CENTLY vice-president Hubert Humphrey,
the Earl Snowden of the Johnhorr set, stated the
V.S. government point of view on ibis fundamental
question. This goes Into explaining the roots of the
present -U.S. foreign policy. Keep in mind that he
is the spokesman for a country with more military
bases around the world than all other countries put
together. Here is how Humphrey put it; ."There is
THE STARTING POINT for ~the other point of a bold now form of aggression' which could rank
e discovery o f gtin-
with the
n
i
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mpo
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itary :
refere a is. chi gins world A p e p in mi
only abaf h i AM ~ iu i i i X 1 3 e i ~ fuse o v O f A 7 " V -8
 0
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Pa Wr.
Some things in life do change very slowly. The Pentagon wants to establish a military coin-
Hu l e fini 1~ t~~ p ,Ce1AnR0Rq?-0044*R800T9&3 0
which to dominate the affairs of Asia.
U.S: independence in 1776. This ragged, army was The war is not over, but symbolically, this week
not a challenge to the British people, they were a', the Chase~Manhattan bank and the Bank of America
challenge to the British throne representing cold- announced the establishment of their Vietnamese
nial- aristocracy. branches. These are investment banks. They are
The challenges of the national liberation revolu- not there to make "loans to the or
re
tions around the world are not against the self- poor peasants,
interests of the American people. They' are not a to cash G.I. checks. This is the financial structure
*a sag* 9)
challenge to our national honor. They are a chal- for the U.S. big business economic penetration
lenge to the right of U.S. corporations to exploit
their people and their national resources. They.are The Business of War
a challenge to foreign military domination.
Humphrey, speaking for U.S. big business, wants THIS IS what the ? shooting is all about. Big
to deny the course of history and in so doing also business is for the policy of military aggression
denies our revolutionary past and condemns our because it opens the way for economic and political
own war of national liberation. For cur victorious aggression.
war for independence was a classical example that Big business is for the policy of aggression be-
still inspires the national liberation movements of cause it means war profits.' This year the General
today. Motors Corporation made almost two biltioq dollars
We are for independence of all nations. We are in profit. And some 36 of its 40 industrial plants are
for an end to all fo, ms of. colonialism. Within this involved in war production. The point of 'reference
context, we are fotpeaceful coexistence between for big business is their selfish limitless dri e i
nations including untries with different social private .profit. U.S. foreign policy is geared
systems. drive, to this point of reference.
7k The making of the napalm bombs designed for
THIS IS the fra;@,ework for our position on the the specific purpose of 'burning.human flesh in mass
U.S. aggression in ietnam. We are .against the U.S. is. now also a profitable war industry. The leading
policy of aggressing. because it is against' the best Manufacturers of these tools that turn peaceful
interests of the sal }e of Vietnam and because it villages` into blazing infernos are the Tennessee
is against the best interests of our own people. Gas Transmission Co. and the Chemetron Corp.
We are againste U.S, policy of aggression be- As is the case with these two corporations, what
cause the eaeel'atiq%- is on fie . rails that is danger- weaves tough the directors of all the napalm
ously 'leading to a: world nuclear, war. The logical bomb makers is the interests of the. Rockefeller
and unavoidable end of the present policy off family. The oil is stolen from the colonial world
escalation is a War with North Vietnam, China l and sent back as napalm bombs to further enslave
and a world nuclear war. them.
Inj 1964 ) -Edward Lansdale, the Man from A criminal, war policy brings out depraved
Uncle CIA, en writing only for the eyes of his criminal features of U.S. politics. The hTixons, Dirk-
conspirators, rote, referring tdo_ some proposed seas, Fords and Rockefellers are the front-line
new policies:" cheerleaders for a speedier escalation o$ the war.
"Each falls Mort of understanding that the Cons- They call for more-US. troops to Vietnam. Then,
monists have let loose a revolutionary idea in ? like vultures, they hail-the growing casualty lists.
Vietnam, and flat it will not die by being ignored, ' They count the U.S. dead as votes and the caskets
bombed or - thered by us." Then he added, like ballot boxes. With scavenger-like glee they
"Ideas do ie in such ways." Publicly proclaim --_ the war will be on election
issue - as the list of _U.S. dead grows, the chances
of Republican victory grow with it. They demand
the sending of U.S. youth to die and they use the
S
grief-stricken parents for their degenerate political
THE R'LUTIONARI' idea of national liber-
ation is not a communist invention. The credit f#jr purposes.
its birth goes? to the very system Lansdale reps=
gents - capitalism: He is more right than'te knov+ c~ OUR CONCEPT of what is the solution for the
Ideas do not.-die that way: They are Plot going war in Vietnam logically flows from our basic points
to die that-{way in Vietnam, in the Dominican of reference. The solution must start from the
Republic, is,-i ongo or in Rhodesia. In fact, when premise that the people of Vietnam, and the people
the time for an idea has arrived, they never die -= of Vietnam alone, must have the right to determine
they triumph. And the idea bf the end of eolo- their own affairs.
nialism has arrived. This is odt? ,point of reference. The National Liberation Front in South Vietnam
The forces of aggression findit v6r~ A ult to represents 20 of the most influential political parties
get around , the incontrovertible clear facts in and peoples' organizations in South Vietnam. The
Vietnam, such as: Communists are one of the forces in this people's
There are only two forces in Vietnam. These are coalition. It is not a political alliance committed
the people of Vietnam and the - U.S. forces of to socialism. Its objective is independence. There.
aggression. There are no Chinese or Russians there. fore, to deal with the realities of Vietnam is to
It is one of the great ironies of history that the ? deal with the one force that has the political con-
U.S. Seventh Fleet prowls the coast of China, that fidence of the people. The refusal of the Johnson
U.S. armed forces make Taiwan their military base, Administration to recognize this. reality is proof
U.S. bombs fall in North Vietnam within hearing positive that its professions about negotiations for
and eyesight of the borders of China, the U.S. peace is blatant demagogy. If these realities are
military installations in Japan, Okinawa, Guam; recognized, then the 1954 Geneva Agreement can
the Philippines encircle and provide launching be the basis of a settlement. Then the four points
pads for attacks on China. But in spite of these presented by ]ianoi can become the basis of talks.
facts the spokesmen for U.S. aggression make the
ridiculous chadrge that China is the danger and THE PROFESSION S of willingness to negotiate
aggressor in the Far E. - by the United States are as if the villain in a
And the issues are clear' also: The Vietnamese western movie were to ride into town blazing away
are fighting for the right of self-determination from both guns, murdering anyone in, sight and
erg
for id -Approved For Reim and= (9~?-
 CPYRGHT
ego aIlttl er faPiCiS~g al~Ci yeses g e i g i _-$
If the Johnson Administration were serious about
egotiating, it would take the minimum steps of
aping the criminal bombings of the territory of
'orth Vietnam. It would agree to meet with the
me political and military power that does have
The Roots of Poverty'
IN AN ECONOMY of abundance only social in-
equity can. produce poverty. Irt: tense the very
he confidence of the South Vietnam people - the achievenients of American ca ,talism rise up to
ational Liberation Front. Short of this, the so- accuse it. Here each mal-noy, `shed child, each
ailed willingness to negotiate is nothing but substandard dwelling is a witness to the defects
ynical demagogy and' a cover for further aggres- of the social system because the capacity to produce
ion. food is so abundant.
These points of reference not only determine our The gap between capacity and "performance is a
ttitude to the U.S. policy of aggression. It is the manifestation of what Karl Marx, the founder of
tarting point for our position on other questions scientific socialism, revealed as. the primary con.
s well. tradiction of capitalist society - the contradiction
between the social character of production and the
acism in the U.S. private appropriation of its output. To be sure,
as we are constantly reminded capitalism has
THE VICIOUS systetiz of segregation, racism and changed since Marx's day. It certainly has changed
bigotry has been. poisoning the atmosphere and in this 'respect: the contradiction has become im-
minds of our people. We must finally ventilate and measurably more intense.
get rid of the stench of the slave market that has The polarization in the field of ideology Js in
permeated the moral fiber of-our country for over fact a reflection of the polarization of wealth and
300 years. We are for civil rights because it is poverty. On the one hand there are 70 million Ameri-
to the best self-interests of all Americans. And we cans who live on the level designated as poverty
are for civil rights because segregation, and dis- and deprivation. Then, only as an example, there
crimination are instruments in the exploitation of ..is one family group that owns or decisively controls
both Negro and white workers. the following: six of the major oil `hom:panies -
We are for the defense of democratic rights, source material for the napalm bombs and the
We are for strong labor unions. We support the gasoline for the bombers. (I don't mean gas
truggles of our people against the encroachment .
stations), 5 large banks (this does not count branch
s
f monopoly power, banks), 3 of the largest insurance companies, 2
s
interested in the welfare of our people. But we do dairy, sulphur, paper and chemical industries. They
so with the knowledge that these struggles all just about own Manhattan Island. The total worth
take place within a larger framework. They are a of all this is over 61 billion dollars. This is one of the
part of and are inflyeTebv the mmve ments in families that is opening the bank in South Vietnam.
history, a movement of a. revolutionary transition This is the family. so involved in the manufacture
from the old soci economic system to a new of the materials:-.that go into making the napalm
system., .Our PO n of reference prods us to work bombs. This is the rRockefeller family.
for sQcia Vie.;it molds us into a revolutionary . We view socialism as a logical solution to this
basic contradiction that produces such monstrous
* abnormality. The solution is to synchronize the
capitidigt?--,society is the gap between its potential tribution.
and its actual performance. And this is, after all,
the "most rational yardgck by which to judge a Social Rsvoiutons
social order' - the correlation between potential
and performance. It no good to tell a poverty A FURTHER 'POINT--of reference' for us is
stricken family tod at it really is better off that socialism cannot be"{imported. Soda revolu-
than the fabulousiy,*,ealthy of ancient Egypt. Such tions cannot be made or 4xdered.' will
consolation is absurd because it rests on a com- be on the order of_ the day when the majority of
parison between two' totally different social orders' Americans are eonyii1' 4d' atthere is' `1td"Other
with two totally different potentials. The poverty- solution to their problems. At that poirkL.no power
stricken family will ,judge its condition, not by the on earth can stogy? it. '
standards of ? ancient Egypt, 'b,4 by the standards With 911 due respect to the experiences of the
that it knows, or senses, are *ttlim the capacity of countries that hav tablished. Socialism, rSocialism
contemporary American society.. in the U.S.A. 4uvilluill abe patterned . after Lany other
By this