ADDRESS AT THE ONE HUNDRETH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GREATER PROVIDENCE YMCA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R001700030014-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2003
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: May 14, 1953
• Content Type: SPEECH

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ADDRESS AT THE ONE HUNDRETH ANNUAL MEE~'NG
OF THE 1 R HOVIDENCE YMCA
Y l , 1953
When Governor Sherman Adams, on behalf of Mr. Colt, told me of the
invitation to come to Providence, I answered that I was not in the speech-
making business.-My job was to get just as little publicity and as much
anonymity as possible. Also I reminded him that as Head of the Central
Intelligence Agency I keep entirely out of politics.
Governor Adams, who is
doing a great job in Washington, is a vary
persuasive man. He told me this was not a political occasion. It was a
chance, he said, to talk on a subject which he knew I had been studying,
namely, what was happening to the youth in the Soviet dominated areas of
the world and what the Communists were trying to do to youth, even in the
free countries.
So I accepted your kind invitation and am glad to have this chance
of being with you on this significant anniversary in the work of the YMCA
My son, a veteran of Korea, has often put this question to me, and
in various forms I have had the same kind of inquiry from many others of
his generation. The question is this: Why is it that the Coimuunisi;s seer:
to be so successful in getting the fanatical support of their youth behinc_
a cause we all know to be false? And why is it that in many of the coun-
tries of the free West that same, dynamic force seems to be lacking in the
younger generation?
Note that I said, "seem to be successful." I do not accept thy impl
cation of the question. I recognize that appearances justify it and I
concede that the answer is not an easy one.
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The!,teason why the West appears to come off second best in this
Italy was more costly in terms of casualties, than even World War II:.
is the men lost in Flanders Field and at Verdun who would be the poIitienL
leaders of Western Europe today if they had survived. Their loss in turn
has affected the younger generation of today.
Then too in some of these European countries, and here Germany can
be added with particular force, and idea of another war is unbearable foa,'
both the older and the younger generation. Many want to have nothing ti
do with anything warlike, even preparation for defense.
In other countries more remote from the inunediate danger, although
they too are threatened by it, it is hard, particularly for the younger
generation, to appreciate the great peril of the moment. This is true 71o
some extent in the United States, despite the war in Korea.
Russia, and China too, suffered grievously in recent wars and -et
the young men there seem all too ready to sacrifice themselves for .he
State and even for new military adventures. How has this cotta, abou7 ?
The Soviet leaders have somehow managed to capitalize on the d s-
illusionment of youth in the period between the World Wars arri part_-cu-
larly after World War II. They well understood the instinctive des_..re
perished in World War I. which for countries like France, England
comparison varies from country to country as we look at the Free Wild.
Take certain countries of Western Europe, for example.
It is hard for us to appreciate the extent to which two world ,rears,
1914 and 1939, sapped the strength of Evxope by decimatiag its youth.
If at times we feel that there is a lack of vigorous leadership in .;ome
European countries, we must realize that the very best of European youti.
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 of youth` 'Q ?c~eeri ortRele$c 4g031EAOS~OYAE~Da $1 N 1 cr~ ~o1 l 9
cause, particularly a cause that involves mass youth movements. Suct
movements seem to have far more appeal in the Slav countries and the
countries of Eastern Europe than, say, in Anglo Saxon countries where
the feeling of individual responsibility is highly developed.
But even in the United States the strange ideology of Communism
seemed to have a surprising appeal to youth in the post-war, post-delres_
sion era of the 30's - and to an extent that is not yet fully known.
Where youth is insecure there is a tendency to join mass movements,
to accept discipline and direction. The Communist leaders have cleverly
traded on the desire of youth to be led.
In the Communist world there is a carefully worked out system oa
youth indoctrination which molds many of them into being slaves of t-.
system. Unfortunately their fanaticism -- evidenced, for example,
among many of the Communists we hold as prisoners of war in Korea -- is
not less dangerous because it is synthetically created.
The Soviet policy toward youth is clearly illustrated by the pai.teruu
of youth organizations which has been establishad not only in the Soviet
Union but also in every country which has come under Communist rule. In
the Soviet Union there is a succession of youth organizations. Non-Com-
munist youth organizations have long since been disbanded and mast
their members forced into the common Mold.
The Communist youth organizations are mass organizations. Mumb=rsh
for most is automatic at the outset with successive steps of woedirg out-
as the young people grow up. Children -- both boys and girls -- are taken
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into the Oetobrists before they are eight. At 10 or 11 they "graduate"s
into the Young Pioneers (of whom there are some 13,000,000) which keels
them until they are 14 - 16. The next step is into the Konieomol, the
elite youth organization of some 9,000,000 from whom eventual pay--y
membership is drawn.
At every stage the emphasis is on discipline and Comrnwiist princ_.p1 f~
even for the youngest for whom a favorite puppet show is "Big IvEu-,."
Big Ivan is a huge blind peasant who stands for the Russian people oppr "sided
by little men labeled Czar, General, Priest, and Kulak. An owl f:_naL`..-r
cures Ivan's blindness. In the end Ivan kills his tormento:cs and des-; ::T>;
their palaces and churches.
As the final result of this indoctrination of youth the Comm, nis
Party attempts to draw upon a thoroughly disciplined and fELiatica::ly
dedicated Komsomol for its own membership
The over-all youth progreza is closely coordinated with the educa-
tional system, the sports programs and the military demands upon he yoi h.
Even the careers of Soviet youths are rigidly controlled and entr;: in-;
the restricted categories of technician or specialist is limited 70 with a good youth record. Membership in the Komsomol gu.n_:rally d,.ter
mines admission of students to universities, and without the appri::va1 of
the youth organization, it is not possible to enter into a profes:Aon.
Often even a young man's calling is chosen for him.
In reality the young people in the Soviet Union have little _?readc:c
of choice. Taken at an impressionable age, they hear only one doe?tri .
They are taught the infallibility of their leadership and tz,-,ir press.
Is it strange that so many of them come to b eelieve only in the So-riet
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ideal? Particularly since they are largely deprived of the religious
influence which might serve as an antidote for Communist materialit>m?
Not all of the Soviet youth, by any means, are consciouE that they
are the victims of coercion in their regimented organizations. On the
contrary, knowing no other sorts of youth activities most of them .ave
come to consider it a privilege to be included in those that are a ziil the more so because of the tangible rewards for the future held out to t:r~_
Komsomol youth and the party member. It is this apparent enthusiaEm, in
the absence of conscious choice, that makes Communist fanaticism the mcr
dangerous.
The systems that prevail in the European satellites do not dift'er
substantially from those in the Soviet Union itself. The Communist
program seems to achieve a high degree of success among the childre-, in
the six to fourteen age group, but in the older group, say between i.l+ a.-Id
25, there is a large degree of apathy to Communist indoctrination. In
countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia the older age group sti'l
remembers the days of freedom, and indoctrination of the children tiere
is not easy.
In fact, some youth revolt from it, particularly resenting the
system of espionage and denunciation that pervades life in the European
satellites of the Soviet. The bold Polish MIG-15 pilot, Lt. Franci?;zek
Jarecki, who recently defected to Denmark is an example of this. In a
statement that he made a few days ago he said this:
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"I had determined to get out of Poland long before I was able o
fly a MIG, because life under Communism sickened me. Nobody paid r_=, tc
escape. For years, even after I joined the air force, I didn't have a
single real friend. I didn't want the kind of friend who would be spy-~r
on me, as I myself had been asked to spy on others. Mmmm"
"Yes, sir," he goes on to say, "we are all fed up with the nevt.r
ending lies and idolizing of the Soviets and I can assure you if t&ere
was only a little more chance a huge majority of the Polish flyers wou..a
escape to the West."
The anti-religious theme;, of course, is part ieularl~T stressed in
youth training. For example in Estonia the Central Committee of tiLe
Komsomol recently circulated a pamphlet entitled "The Ten Conaiandmf ?nts
of Communism" to combat religious resistance to regimentation:
1. Never forget that the clergy are the greatest
enemies of the Commmxnist state.
2. Try to convert your friends to Communism.
3. Advise yoAr friends to avoid clergymen and Christi is.
4. Beware of spies! Denounce saboteurs!
5. Distribute atheistic literature among the potiulatiou.
6. A good Komsomol youth is a fighter for the cause of
atheism.
7. Fight the religious element wherever you can prever
its influence on your comrade.
8. A good godless youth must also be a good policeman.
9. The godless movement grows also by means of moaetar?t
contributions.
10. If you are not a convinced adherent of the godless
movement, you cannot be a good Communist and Soviet citizen.
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The prominence given to news on youth organizations in the Ccmmur_:.;r
press shows how seriously youth indoctrination is taken. Yet in some o
the satellites it is interesting to note that the Communists have And tcj
admit partial failure as a result of over-zealousness. They have had tc=
cut back the doses of Marxism that are administered and substitute nor-
-emphasis on mass sport programs, generally with a militaristic bacxgrcur:d.
including flying and gliding exercieses, parachute training, and the 1i-A!
Just the other day, on April 24th, the Communist Czech Government
ordered a sharp reduction in certain of the political education activit:ie
The 5,000 young people a month that have joined the flight from East
Germany to Berlin is evidence of the continuing distaste with whic":i you:
Germans are reacting to the Communist indoctrination they are recevin7.
In March of this year 10% of those fleeing to Western Berlin were in t l
age group 14 -25; in Apr L1 this figure had risen to 15%.
In China the Communists had penetrated the student movement 1_ang
before they came into power. Skilled agitators, on the basis of e.peri-
once gained in the 20's, laid the groundwork during the long war with
Japan. Upon this foundation the Communists were able to erect a s...ude-at,
movement which materially helped them to national power. This movmmnn-.,
known as the All-China Student Federation, was fully organized by MarcA,
1949, six months before the Communist regime formally proclaimed i-s
takeover of the Chinese government. The strength of the Federation ha
allowed it to reach abroad and spark the penetration of Southeast Asia
student movements, playing upon the deep-seated connection which 1:`_nks
overseas Chinese with the land of their fathers.
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Alongside the student movemont the Chinese Communists have cruatcd
other youth groups, very similar to those in the Soviet Union, wi -i tYi_
Young Pioneers gathering in the children of 8 to 15 years and the all-
exribracing New Democratic Youth Corps taking the older ones. Her as
the Soviet Union and in the European Satellites, the emphasis is upon
iron discipline, and, of course, complete devotion to the regime.
Side by side with the youth organizations within the Soviet Unior
and other. Cormrunist countries, there have been developed, for exte.:rnEI
use only," international front organizations for youth and students.
Their purpose is to influence the youth of the free world and to it presi
them with a picture of strength and solidarity among Communist yDuur,i.
Two of the most important of these front organizations are The Wor _d
Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Stunts
These two organizations are the vehicles of Soviet youth policy out-
side of the areas controlled by the Communist governments. Thos: who =ax
responsible for Corarnunis t youth policy on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
are not troubled by the demands of consistency. This is shown in the
stark contrast in attitudes toward military service. Behind the on
Curtain the youth organizations work constantly to integrate their mer:b?:-s
into the military system of the Communist countries. For exaa;ple, the
Hungarian youth organization issued a statement to its members on .,he
7th of May 1952 telling there that their primary task was mental an:i phv-
sical preparation for defense. On almost the same day The World F-derr-
tion of Democratic Youth, whose headquarters are in Budapest, issued a
call to all youth in the Western world to join in a conference whi_eh it
labeled "For the Defense of the Rights of Youth."
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This Congress, according to its Budapest headquarters, pror,uited ire
idea that youth should be allowed to exercise its inalienable r--ghts -: o
continue education unhampered by any demand for armed service mid tha
youth should demand that armament expenditures be reduced and t:iat th
money saved should be given towards scholarships. This app,,-al to pac`
firm and exhortation to refuse military service was, of course, .milt.:d t-
the youth of Western countries.
For youth in areas like the, Middle East, Southeast Asia and the
free Far East, the Communists advocate still another course. in thy.-
areas Communist international front organizations have call,-,d on YUU1.11
to "fight for peace with weapons in their hands." The Commiuriii;t you'.n
organizations have been training their menbers in Southeast Asia in ?=uer--
rilla tactics: and in the use of arms to participate in uprisings a s list
constituted governments of the area.
At large Communist youth festivals, such as the 1951 rally in I rlie-,
the delegates from the Communist guerrilla forces of Greece., Malaya, Nora
Korea and Viet Nari are always given the most honored place and their
active rebellion against non-.Communist governments was held up as U_-
finest example of youth activity.
On the day that the hew Japanese treaty went into effect, the t1omr i -
nists started a bloody riot against foreign military forces in Japa. .
hard core of Communists wi,o incited the riot were students f r-li i Jap. nes .
universities. They shoutt_d slogans against American military force
stationed in Japan and demanded an end to U. S. military instailati ins it
that country. At thy: very same time the Communist youth organizati,nis ii-
-,
East Germany were gle-)rifying the Soviet military forces stationed 5.:i ti.
country.
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From all this it is clear that the Soviets intend that youth ergs.
zations be used not for the development of its individual meribers 1-ut fug,'
the furtherance of Soviet foreign policy, whatever that policy may be in I.
particular area, In the Communist areas, that policy calls for yo-=th to
participate in military training, in Western Europe the policy de:l,nds
that youth be pacifists, and in the East that youth participate in acts vcc
rebellion and sabotage.
At given times the men who control the Communist youth apparw us
stage special events to show their power and to attempt to frightex_ the
West by parading samples of the millions of young people whom they can
get to dance to their tune. The World Federation of Democratic Youth,
which claims 78,000,000 members throughout the world, and The Inter-
national Union of Students, which claims 5,000,000 student members, to-
gether sponsored a series of mass demonstrations in Berlin in August of
1951 which were truly frightening by their size alone. These Berlin
demonstrations were labeled by their sponsors "A Youth Festival for Peru !,
They could more accurately be described as a threat to the free government in Western Germany.
This political demonstration in East Germany was probably the most
expensive youth rally of our time. Over a million German youths were
transported to Berlin in scores of railway trains and every other nears
of conveyance to demonstrate "loyalty" to Communism and the ov_.et Union.
They were joined in military type parades, shouting slogans, by ovi:r
25,000 foreign youths who were brought to Berlin from all corners c~f thc!
world, without charge to themselves. The entire bill was footed b~- thc;
Communist governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.. The coal:
must have been tons of millions of dollars. During the two weeks t-rat
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the rally lasted there was not a single business meeting or public d s-
cusBion in which any of the youth delegates could participate. Tfterw: we
many speeches, but always by the leaders of the Communist youth orga.=riza-
Lions, not by the youth delegates.
But even this Berlin spectacle had its kickback for the Soviet ,Jfiell,
thanks to our able High Coimnissioner, Mr. John J. McCloy. Almost a :nilllc=.
of the Communist youth visited the Free Western Sector of Berlin in iirr
violation of orders. Probably they went there to jeer, but they stt_yed
to wonder. Many of them wanted to stay permanently. They were shayi iu.k:
sights of the free city of Western Berlin. The most impressive sigtt
they saw was the American High Commissioner himself who sat down vi.h
large groups of these students, heard their problems and answe,re3d their
questions candidly and fuilly. Word of this spread throughout the ectir
youth festival and was an impressive contrast to Communist techniqu s o
permitting no free discussion of youth problems at the Rally.
The latest Communist youth rallies in areas exposed to the outside
world, such as Berlin and Vienna, have been less and less suecCssi`LJ_,
the Communists have become alerted to the danger o:i exposing their in-
doctrinated youth to an alternative way of life. Recently they stk.ged
a so-called world-wide youth conference in the Russian sector of Vi_enni,
under the high sounding title of Conference on the Defense o=' the s?ith,a
of Youth. To hide the Communist character of the sponsorship of this
conference, many non-Communist organizations were invited, even thi. ins i
national YMCA. The meeting was largely a failure.
This summer behind the Iron Curtain these CoSrimunist front gr o ps
axe staging four more marm,ioth conferences, one of which is called tthe
Fourth World Youth Festival for Peace. A letter written by an Eas. Uci:t=L
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to a friend in the United States while he was temporarily in West Germany
throws a somewhat sinister light on what the Soviet mean by stressing
peace in their youth organizations. "The teen-agers," this German boy
writes, "are given preliminary training by the association for sport .bnd
techniques, including glider flying, shooting, and other service prepara-
tory to entering the Army, Navy, or Air Force."
Everywhere throughout the Soviet orbit the propaganda word is peace,
but the preparation is for war.
It is well, it seems to me, that we should understand what commurisrr
is doing to youth. Dangerous as it is we should not conclude that the
is no answer. All Communist youth is not convinced or fanatical. Youth
in the Soviet Union, despite appearances, is, over-all, possibly less
fanatical than in some of the countries where Communism is newer. Scree
Soviet youth have seen the disillusionment of their parents who them-
selves had gone through Communist youth training. Youth in the Satel.ites
and in China have not seen this.
The Communist masters of the youth program have learned one less:zn
we should take to heart. In dealing with youth they have seen the us-
fulness of discipline, coupled with serious attention to the individu__+.l
members of the organization- They use this as a means of achieving h.gh
morale and obedience. Discipline, if applied on sound principles, cau
help create morale based on pride in a common experience. In some
instances the more severe the discipline the higher the Communist morrL.le.
Sometimes it is more effective to demand severely of people than to promis.
there too much and to cater to their wishes.
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The moral of this, as I see it, is that we Americans are apt i,o
underrate the importance in youth training of organizational p1ac.
For this reason we tend to attribute Soviet successes too much to deo-u-
gical training and too little to the fact that they have studied ccarefii..L!
and applied consistently the basic principles of human organization arx.
discipline.
It is great organizations like the Y.M.C.A. which can help to ins'=;i.
the proper principles of discipline area at the same time protect the fx,-.-*et()m
of the individual.
Finally it is important that we should appreciate that the youth
thu non-Communist world are looking more and more to American youth fcr,,
inspiration and guidance. The Y.M.C.A., with its ties with youth ?ro is
throughout the world, has a unique opportunity to join with the youth
of the Free World and to lend moral and other support. This is pa_uticu-
larly true in the Middle East and Asia, which have only recently gained
their independence, and where the youth are looking for some guidigig
inspiration.
If we do not take this opportunity, many of the world's youth may,
by default, slip under the influence of those sinister Communist f ont
groups, whose mission, under the guise of peace, is preparation fo fuct':..
conquest.
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