COMPETITION OF IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2001
• Sequence Number: 36
• Content Type: REPORT

Appr~t~~red For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP-05795A000200010036-5
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approved,~r Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-0 7iA000200010036-5
COMPETITION
of
Ideas and Ideologies
The competition for men's minds between differing economic, social, and political
pholosophies was an important part of the 53rd Annual Meeting program.
'This section of .the Proceedings contains J?eprints of those speeches which dealt with
competing ideas and ideologies.
"The best anti-Communism 'rs moking the truth catch up with Communist
distortions, Communist falsehoods, and Communist lack of payoff on
their promises; but this must be combined with a positive alternative
from the Free World for human problems or else we are not going to
capture the imaginations of people." (Page 13)
CHARLES VETTER
U. S. Information Agency
"People should be educated in a simple language on the need of the
profit system. I think that the nasty reference to the word 'profit' has to be
taken out, or you will be working for nothing, or less than you are now."
(Page 27)
TOfi~1 CAMPBELL
The Iron Age
"Truly this. is the key to our future. Cooperation -working together to
build and .expand a market for our goods and services. Competition -
our own individual efforts to get just as much of this expanded market
as our abilities and our energies permit." {page 35)
ROBERT J. HEGGIE, President
Steel Service Center Institute
"Higher standards of living come from higher standards of thinking. We
are proving we have the thought for daring and for action. We have
been challenged and we are responding." (Page 39)
ROBERT G. WELCH, President-elect
Steel Service Center
Institute
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5 11
 Introduc'~~~ri o~ ~~iar~e. Vett1e~08 : CIA-RDP78-05795AOO;F1~0010036-5
Lecturer and Training Officer
United States Information Agency
Mr. Veflar was introduced by Robert G. Welch,,
SSCI Prssident-slac/
It is now my privilege to introduce the speaker this
morning, DZr. Charles T. Vetter. He is with the United
States Information Ageney. He was born in Columbus,
Ohio, my current home state, and has lived in Detroit
and New York. He attended Hamilton College in
Clinton, New York, and received his A.B. Degree
after his return from the Navy in 1946. Subsequently
he attended the School of Advanced International
Studies in Washington, D. C., Georgetown University
Law School, the Academy of International Law a.t The
Hague, and received his LL.B. from National Univer-
sity Law School in 1959.
During World War II Mr. Vetter was a Naval
Aviator, and served as an American Instructor and
Liaison Officer with the French Naval Training Mis-
sion. He was awarded the French Naval Wings. He
joined the Government in ].950 working as a Research
Liaison Officer with the Department of State and
after 1953 with the U. S. Information Agency.
In 1955-56 Mr. Vetter was assigned as an Advisor
to the Director of Public Relations of the Government
of East Pakistan and later as a USIS Lecturer. He is
a lecturer in Political Science. He was a lecturer in
Nest Pakistan, where I understand he met his very
delightful wife.
Expert C;n Communications and Communism
On his return from Pakistan in 1956 he joined the
Professional Training Staff of the U. S. Information
Agency. Since that time he has been responsible for
training in the field of International Communications
and Communism. He is a regular lecturer at the State
Department Foreign Service Institute, Military
Assistance Institute, the Air War College, the School
of International Service of American University, and
other overseas orientation programs.
In 1959 he visited Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the
Soviet Union on a 3-month assignment as Supervisor
in training American guides at the American National
Exhibition in Moscow. He just returned from a six
weeks' lecture tour through the countries in Latin
America. He is one of the outstanding authorities on
this subject in the world. The title of his talk is "Com-
peting Ideologies -Today's Challenge". It is a very
great privilege to introduce Mr. Charles Vetter.
12
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approved,F,or Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-0 7~95A000200010036-5
Competing Ideologies-Today's Challenge
Thank you very much, Bob, for that "obituary". It
is very interesting that the theme for this meeting
should be Competition, and that you have somebody
from the Government talking about it. I think it is
one of the most important elements in our society.
After living in the Soviet Union, I a.m more con-
vinced than ever that the element of our real superior-
ity in human terms, in moral terms, in intellectual
terms, hinges on the kind of self-reliance, on the kind
of self-competence of individual problem-solving
capacity that comes from the competition of the
free society.
One of the things that I remember most in dealing
in this subject was a conversation that I had with
some Hungarian refugees who had been here for a
while, after having come out as Freedom Fighters.
When they first got here, they were quite discomfited,
because they had come from a society where so many
of the decisions were made for them that they didn't
have the basic capacity to compete until they under-
stood what the problem was.
Iucidentally, some of the personal histories of these
Hungarians who have come here, indicate that they
have been given the ability to think in concrete terms,
but they haven't been given the ability to think in
abstract terms. All of that thinking was done for them
by the political authorities.
We Must Compete in Communications
Watching these people shift gears into a competitive
society, and watching the success of most of these
people once they did shift gears, has been a very inter-
esting and reassuring thing. But in our conversation
of ideologies I think we are thinking about competition
in the field of communications. Working with the
U. S. Information Agency as I do, our job is communi-
cating for this country in other countries of the world.
Most Americans don't know too much about this
Agency, because all of our work is overseas. Now, it
is a little easier for me to tell people where I work
since Edward R. Murrow has become our new boss.
He has been in the job over a year now, and 1< think
he has found it quite a shift for himself to go from
CBS to a worldwide network in 99 eountrie~ with
11,000 people in a slightly different wave length than
he has been used to. I know when he first took this job
the rumor went around that he was going to discon-
tinue our tivorld-wide short wave broadcast of the
"Voice of America" and replace it instead with a
"People know there is another way
of life from what they have, and
they are demanding movement, they
are demanding change."
CHARLES T. VETTER
lecturer and Training Ofl'icer
U. S. Information Agency
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5 18
 Approved For Rel~ 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A001~0010036-5
Competing Ideologies: Vetter
world-wide system of smoke signals, but lie hasn't
done this yet!
I think we have learned something though about
communication, and before we can look at ideologies
I think we have to understand certain basic concepts
of the problem of getting ideas through. I notice the
ladies are having a session on the problems of com-
municating in effective inter-personal relationships.
Many of you have gone through seminars yourselves
on effective management, and I think one of the points
all of our experience and education in this area brings
out is that you can only communicate with. another
human being if your message falls within their area
of experience.
Communications and Areas of Experience
The example I have is this. For instance, if I am
speaking Russian and you are speaking E~tglish, if
I say in Russian "automobile", you will understand
that, because it is basically the same in English and in
Russian; the same mental image comes up, the same
message comes through, and there is communication
for both people. If I say these words in Russian what
would the English be? "Gazyeta", Jhurral", "Plahn",
"Klan", "Ooniversahlyn". I thinly you would get most
of thetse, since they are basically the same for the
Russian and the American.
If I should say in Russian "mahyazeen", I think most
of the people in this room get a mental image of a
periodical-"Time", "Life", "Reader's Digest", "Ladies
Home Journal", "Fortune", "Playboy" -whatever you
are reading right now. On the other hand, the Russian
gets a completely different mental image. When you
say "magazine", he gets a mental picture of a store.
He gets a message, but neither one of us is communi-
cating, because our experience is different, and there
is no meeting of the minds.
You know, eve have a program of cultural and infor-
mation work in other countries. tiVe have about 1,200
Americans in other countries working with us, but we
have about 7,000 national employees in France, in Swe-
den, and in 99 other countries, who are working with
this program to increase international underf;tanding.
We have a program to bring about 50 of these
people to the United States so they may visit and learn
about our American free enterprise system, American
homes, and American communities. Often, after they
have worked for the American Government :for 15 or
20 ,years, it is amazing to see how their attitudes and
their perceptions about this country change.
What Does "Homely" Mean4
But a friend of mine from Pakistan came on this
program not too long ago, and his name was Nural
Islam. He was on Cloud 9, because he had just been
married. He said, "My bride is so wonderful. Her
father is rich, she is educated, she loves me very much,
she is very homely, and very interested in my work."
And I said, "Nural, I am delighted you have finally
gotten hooked-married. But didn't you marry a
pretty girl? You are agood-looking guy. I know you
have to make compromises to marry a rich girl." He
showed me a picture, a.nd she was beautiful. I said,
"She is lovely. You told me she is homely."
He said, "Yes, she is homely; she likes to cook
and work around the house." I said, "You better
not go around the United States telling the Ameri-
cans your bride is `homely' or they will think you
married a dog." The he said, "Really?" Then, I had to
explain the American idiom "marry a dog".
But, of course, what was happening was that he was
using the British use of the word "homely" which is
home-loving, whereas, our meaning is ugly. I had an
experience stemming from telling this not too long
ago. Recently, I have been working with the Peace
Corps. I will be very frank with you. When I first
heard of this idea of the Peace Corps I was scared.
What we need like a hole in the head is a bunch of
naive do-gooders wandering around the world! But
I will be frank with you, I have been pretty much
converted. Maybe they subverted me. They have asked
me to participate in the training program, and I have
had training program sessions with 13 of the groups
that have gone out.
We Have Communications bap C~rer3eas
I think the reason I have changed my opinion is
partly from my observations on this recent 9-nation
trip to Latin America : We have a whole segment in
the pattern of American interest and activities over-
seas where we have a gap as far as communicating
with people. I think that this Peace Corps is sending
young people out to reflect a commitment and an
interest on the human level to areas where they have
real contact. with things from this country, from
our civilization, from our hearts, which is a very
important contribution.
The thing that has allayed some of my original
fears is the care in choosing the country, the criteria
for choosing the specific project, the high standards
for choosing the individual volunteers and then the
training program that they are giving them before
they send them overseas.
I was at Michigan State in East Lansing with a
group going to Nigeria. After I was finished, a young
Nigerian chap who was sitting through their training
program with them came up to me. He said, "Mr.
Vetter, you have given me such an insight into your
country." I said, "I am delighted. What do you mean?"
He said, "I have received so much hospitality, and
this has been such a wonderful thing for me to get
in and see the heart of your country. When I leave
the home where I have been staying, I would say to
the lady of the house, `Thank you, dear lady, for your
food and ,your hospitality and your kindness. I so
very happy to be in the home of such a homely Ameri-
can woman.' And she didn't like it!" He was using
"British English".
In this whole field of communicating, we have a
problem of identifying the area where we can com-
municate. Something like this Institute gives you a
14 Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approvedor Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-0~95A000200010036-5
capacity for communicating within your industry that
is invaluable. Every time you have a meeting like this
you are stretching the area where you can commu-
nicate, you are stretching your own philosophies a
little bit.
Overseas Americans Need More Training
We have found in sending Americans overseas that
they have a need for a great deal more training. I
know in my own Agency we have tripled our budget
for language training and area training, so that when
our people go to other countries they have the capacity
to get their message through. This is not only for the
purpose of delivering messages. You women in the
audience know that some of your most effective and
most important eommtinications are patient, intel-
ligent sympathetic listening to men, before you tell
them what you want them to do! Seriously though,
this in a sense is a great national problem. In our
communications in other countries, I think it is so ex-
tremely important for Americans to be good listeners.
How To Be A Good Listener
First of all, you can't be a good listener until ,you
get on the level of speech, on the level of communica-
tion with the people you are listening to. I think this
is one of our real problems in the communications of
people like this group. In December, I was with the
National Association of Manufacturers in New York
on the problem of communications with ,young people.
Many times I find that the kind of. things you are
doing and the things you represent are the real
sources of strength in this country. But, you are not
getting this message down to ,young people. I think
ane of the main reasons is that you do not tend to listen
to young people to find out what their wave length is.
Overseas, I think it is doubly important that the
Americans have the knowledge of the people so they
can answer and ask intelligent questions, let peolile
blow off steam to them, lay a foundation for 2-way
communication. B,y the same token, overseas people
aren't so keen for American propaganda.
One of the interesting things I found on the trip to
Latin America., was that many of the wives in the
business community and the American professional
community were conducting non-government English
conversation classes, participating in English language
groups, spreading this area of communication not on.l,y
for speaking the language but for inter-personal
relationships that have real meaning and had real
human significance.
American Movies of Mixed Vaiue
Right now, however, in the world there is a tremen-
dous amount of static, particularly about the North
American or the United States' effort to communicate
with the other people of the world. A lot of this is
coming from things life American commercial movies,
which in many cases give people a stereotyped picture
of America as a great wealthy country, a country of
beautiful women where nobody does any work, a
"You can only communicate with another human being if your message
falls within Their area of experience."
country where there is a great deal of violence or
perhaps immorality. These movies also are causing
economic and social revolutions, by stimulating
people to new activities, new ambition, new thought,
new horizons.
How many of you here have read "The Ugly Ameri-
can"`? It is almost a textbook. Do you think this has
helped us or hurt us`? I think for the people that have
read it, it has helped. I thinly for many of the people
who just use the term "Ugly American" without read-
ing the book it might not have been too constructive.
Bnt the message of the boob, is that overseas activities
of this nation are vital to our future, but they have
t.o be done well. As a matter of fact, it identifies
Some real problems we have in our dealings overseas.
~Ve found out from intelligence reports that the
British Embassy and the Russian Embassy in Burma
were making this book required reading for their staffs
to give them leverage over the Americans in 1:3urma
and also because some of. their staffs were maki~tg the
same kind of mistakes as were the Americans..
The Problem of Overseas Housing
But large American communities overseas tend to
become islands of privilege. This is partly because of
the fact that in many societies there is either very
good housing or very bad housing. Americans going
overseas to work have to find housing for their: fami-
lies. So, Americans and other foreign diplomats and
foreign residents tend to go to the better housing.
You come to ti'~Tashington, D. C., and tivho is it that
has much of the best housings It is foreign diplomats,
and at 7:00 o'clock you will find islands created of
Spanish-speaking people, French-speaking people,
Dutch-speaking people, and German-speaking people,
because at the end of a hard day they go back home.
One of the things we are looking at here this morn-
ing is the fact that in the field of ideas, in the f~cld of
communications, we are in competition with the
Communists, who are not only trying to distort our
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5 i6
 Approved For Relea a 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A00010036-5 j .
Competing Ideologies: Vetter nice individual, but you are a product of a decadent
message but set up their own frame of reference so
that their message goes through and our message is
filtered out.
Let us look for a moment at the gtiesti.ons I get
from so many students in this country, so many teach-
ers and parents: "What are the Communists saying to
people that is appealing to them`? What is their bill of
goods What is the thing that they are offering people
that makes Latin American students and African busi-
nessmen turn to Communism for involvement, for
hope, for participation2" It will help us see what some
of the appeals are; it will help us reaii Communist
propaganda, much of which gets into our own media
of communication through their clever use of a free
press. This will give us a. better concept of the kind
of alternatives that we have to present.
The Best Kind of Anti-Communism
I, personally, believe that. the best anti-Communism
is not just being anti-Communist. The best anti-Com-
mnnism is making the truth catch up with Communist
distortions, Communist falsehoods, and Communist
lack of pay-off on their promises. But, this must be
combined with a positive alternative from the free
world for human problems, or else we a.re not going
to capture the imagination of people.
How A Communist Thinks
As a matter of curiosity, how many of you in this
roam have ever had a personal talk with an avowed
Communists Not very many. Have they been nasty
to you individually? I think that to most of us who
have had personal dealings with Communists, their
attitude as individuals is basically, "You are a nice
guy, but you just haven't gotten the word. You are a
Communist Theory
Of The
Evolution of Society
Slavery
1
Primitive ~ Lord
Man
Feudalism
I
society, and you haven't had your eyes opened to the
way life really works. We have had the revelation,
because we have the objective political science from
Mr. Marx and Mr. Lenin, that has shown us how
scientifically and inevitably life develops on an
upward pattern.
"Life goes through cycles of development, and
we understand -these cycles. Consequently, we can
understand what has happened in the past, what is
happening now, and tivhat is going to happen. We
have been shown by Mr. Marx that the first stage of
society is the primitive society, but this is very ineffi-
cient, for the primitive society introduced weapons and
tools. You begin to see society splitting between the
have's and have-not's, of power splitting into classes
which are in a state of warfare or conflict with each
other, and the first stage of society is SLAVERY, and
the first two classes are master and slave."
Marx said that as society develops it gets more
sophisticated. Many of these slaves get limited rights;
they become serfs. Many of the masters who survive
emerge with larger power, larger domains, and become
the minor kings or landowning aristocracy, the lords,
in the second stage of society, which is FEUDALISM.
According to Mr. 1Vlarx, society is introduced to a new
element, money. You begin to see at this stage of.
development the beginning of mercantilism, the begin-
ning of trade, and the growth of large cities, and the
beginning of industrialization.
More From Karl Marx
Many of these serfs get their independence, go into
the cities and become what?? Workers, laborers. In their
terminology what are workers and laborers The prole-
tariat. They become the workers or the proletarians.
The lesser lords go into the cities with artisans, and
Capitalism
.I
J/
~ Dictatorship
~ of
~ Proletariat
Proletariat ~~
~ '/ Utopia
~ According to Lenin,
Imperialism is last stage
of Capitalism
it; Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 free men. They become~l~er~eehcFo~~~~,e~~~ ~~1/11/
chants, bazaar keepers, capitalists or industrialists or
the bourgeoisie. And when the bourgeoisie or the
men of money take over the money of society you.
come into the next stage of society, which is whatS
CAPITALISM.
Who is going to win this struggle between the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat according to Marx$
They say the proletariat. And when they take over. the
power of the state, yott come into the next stage of
society according to Marx, which is what$ Not Com-
munism but SOCIALISM. In their own terminology
the dictatorship of the proletariat takes over the power
of the state to educate the masses out of their capitalist
degeneracy. It takes over the state to educate the
masses to increase productivity to the point where the
masses meet their needs and bring them up politically,
socially, spiritually, and morally, and when they are
so educated you come into the final stage of society,
which is COMMUNISDZ.
Marx Looked At 1850 Capitalism
Now, we have to do something to bring this do-it-
yourself chart up to date the way Mr. Lenin did.
Where was Marx looking at Capitalism and when~l
Where was he writing his analysis? Most of it was
written in England. You remember he was. kicked out
of Germany in 1849 after the publication of the Com-
munist Manifesto. He went to Brussels, then he went
to England, where in the 1850's and 1860's and 1870's,
and until his death in London in 1883, he was looking
at Western European and British Capitalism.
When I was in Pakistan I could elicit the Commu-
nist slogans from most of the students, many of them
in missionary school-not because they were Commis-
nist, but because this was the language of the text-
books. The British Labor Party after World War II
brought in books by Beatrice and Sidney Webb,
Harold Lasky, and the London School of Economies.
This was the material that was being studied in the
college faculties of Economics, Political Science,
and Law.
Communist Theory Used as Basis for Questions
Why is it important that we understand this termi-
nology, this sequence in projection? Because if we
don't understand it, particularly when we go overseas,
we are not able to understand many of the sincere
questions people are asking us who are using this
language as the basis for their questions.
I found also these Pakistan students were reading
Communist literature from India, and it was going
through the student body like pornography or
forbidden literature.
yPhen they read it, it made sense to them, because,
unfortunately for us, the local capitalist, the local
businessmen, the local merchants in Pakistan today,
in the majority, are much closer to the capitalist in
England in 1870 than to anybody in England, United
States or Western Europe today.
Consequently, when they read this material it cor-
"Tlte whole picture of Capitalism is an unfavorable one when com-
pored to Marxism partly because they have never experienced modern
Capitalism."
responds with many of the valid criticisms Marx was
making for that time. You know Marx was a news-
paperman and a pretty good one. Many of his analyses
had a great deal of validity for that time. He. was a
lousy predictor but much of his observation and
analysis vas helpful for people understanding their
society at that time.
Modern Capitalism Is Not Understood
Consequently, when these Pakistanis read this
propaganda it corresponds and falls in within their
area of experience. They have never experienced
Capitalism as it operates in this country or in the
developed Free World democracy. So, one of our prob-
lems in Pakistan, and this is exactly the same thing
that is happening in Latin America., and in developing
countries all over the world, is that the whole picture
of Capitalism is an tmfavorable one when compared
Frith Marxism, partly because they have never experi-
enced modern Capitalism. One of our problems was
to understand the question so we could really., bring
out the evidence from free world society that would
answer their questions.
Our Solutions More Revolutionary Than Marx
My basic contention is that ottr solutions to the
criticisms Marx made are much more revolutionary
than any Communist, Socialist, Fascist, Anarchist, or
welfare state in the world. The same things Marx said
were evil we have recognized and done much more to
correct, but the fact is that in this terminology the
people are expressing their hopes, their fears, their
complaints, and we have got to understand this,
because this is the langna.ge they are using.
Lenin Guessed Wrong On Europe
Now, to bring this up to date, as I said, we have
got to do what Lenin did. Where did Marx. predict the
it would come first in Germany and England where
revolution would come firsts In Russia? No, he thought
there was industrialization, where he predicted the
17
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 ra6/O fi~l ~ f~: CIA-RD~$cR~7~~~iQ
~fj9L ~"~~~Id ~ ~`lary, misappropriation
Vetter
capitalists would sit on the masses, exploit them, force
the standard of living down and down and down until
finally the masses would revolt. But what was happen-
ing to the standard of living in Europe at the turn
of the century Was' it going down the way Marx
predicted for the people? No, it was going up.
Lenin's Expianation of Marx's Mistakes
So, to explain this, Lenin said, "Those clever Capital-
ists have found a way of delaying the revolution."
How? They have gone out and gotten colonies, and
they are sucking the blood from other countries, bring-
ing the wealth back to Europe, artificially raising the
standard of living in Europe and delaying the inevit-
able revolution. Lenin said that the last stage of
Capitalism is like a wounded tiger about to die, that
Capitalism is most dangerous and lethal just before
its collapse. In what he called the last stage of Capital-
ism is the dirtiest word in their vocabulary-Mr.
Castro uses this all the time-"IMPERIALISM" the
last stage of capitalism, and what goes .with imperi-
alism? Colonialism. Who is the biggest and the best
imperialist according to the Communists today? The
United States. And what kind are wet Dirty? Speak
for yourself. We are "economic imperialists."
Communist Propaganda and
Underdeveloped Nations
They say we give complicated machinery to develop-
ing nations -jet airplanes - so they will have to come
to us for parts, technicians, gasoline. RTe give aid with
strings attached so we can pull in the strings and
exploit society, and this is our modern economic im-
perialism. They include in here the assistance pro-
grams, Alliance for Progress, Peace Corps, military
assistance and mutual security. That is haw the Com-
munist propaganda treats that.
The One-Word Communist Slogan
When you look at something like this you see the
importance of language. What is the one-word slogan
the Communists use all over the world2 Just one word.
What do they have people striving ford Peace. Peace.
Everywhere ,you go they are yelling for peace. Every-
where you go the Communists want peace so much
they are willing to fight for it.
What is our definition of peaces In general terms
it is absence of warfare, between nations. The laws
of peace and the laws of war are two different things.
We remember from V6'orld War II that a G.I. in
Germany might be "liberating", "De-Nazifying",
< ?< ?< ?<
requ~sitroning , protecting , defending , scroung-
ing". That same action in time of peace would be
of property, embezzlement, a whole serres of crimes
that are justified by the laws of war. Are we governed
internationally by the laws of peace or ward We are
held very strictly to the laws of peace.
The Communist Definition of Peace
tiVhat is the Communist definition of peaces Is it
the same as ours How do they define peace2 By impli-
cation this is world-wide Communism, but their more
objective definition is that peace comes only when
there is an absence of contradiction on a world=wide
basis, when there is an absence of conflict and warfare.
What kind of warfare An absence of class warfare.
Is today a peace or war situation for the Communists
Right now they consider themselves in a conflict, and
I think this is one of their tactical. advantages.
How Do The Communists Use This PhilosophyY
They use it as a yardstick to answer the question
everyone has in their hearts: Ho~v am I doings They
use it to help people place themselves in history. Who
do they say is going farthest along the path of
building Communism They say they, the Russians,
have passed Socialism and are now building Commu-
nism. China is on the road of Socialist destruction
because they don't have enough industrialization, and
they still have more than one political party on
the books in China. This is a hangover of class war-
fare, and, so, China, economically and politically, is
building Socialism.
`Vhere would they put Hungary, Rumania, Poland
on this They say they have economic development,
industrialization, but they are still peoples' democra-
cies with more than one party but they are snuggling
up on Communism. I have never found a translation
in Spanish for "snuggling". In July of 1960, Czecho-
slovakia became a second Socialism link, the Czecho-
slovakian Socialist Republic. More important for us,
where do they put Ghana, New Guinea, Vietnam,
Korea, Malaya, the Philippines, Syria, Egypt, Mor-
roco?? In Feudalism Just emerging from Feudalism.
These are all former colonies that they say have just
had their revolution of national liberation, and they
are just emerging.
Can you basically change this pattern of develop-
ment according to the Communists No. They say it
is scientifically inevitable. If you listen to the guys
that have the word in political science, they say, you
can skip over the worst aspects of Capitalism and
into the higher social and economic stage of Socialism,
if you follow the right leadership, and this is one of
their world-wide appeals, "We can help you catch
up with history."
How Americans React to Propaganda
Now, when you look at something like this when you
are Americans, especially right after a breakfast, like
this, I think the reaction is, "Words, words, words, We
are doing, and they are talking." And I think the
average reaction in the United States is: "We have
18
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 ~p
pr~ve~or Relea
set 001/11/0
d f
d
e
t
or our peop w at are bus a mg
pro
uce
about and dreaming about." After living in the Soviet
Union in 1959, I am more convinced than ever that not
only have we achieved the reforms that Marx was call-
ing for way beyond the expectation of Nlarx, but we
have a more classless society, more economic and social
justice for the masses of our people, more opportunity
than they promised or have achieved in any Communist
or Socialist country,
I used to tell this to my Pakistani friends: "What
are you paying so much attention to all this material
for? We have today what they are striving for." They
had seen American movies. They knew we had a high
standard of living. They would say to me in effect,
"How can I get to the United States I don't want to
stay in this country." I am being a little facetious,
and I have a great admiration for Pakistan, and
some of the things that are happening there are
really magnificent.
A World-Wide Communications Revolution
But the fact is there has been a revolution in cam-
munications all over the world. People know there is
another way of life from what they have, and they
are demanding movement, they are demanding change.
They are demanding how they can get from where
they think they are to where they think we are in
terms they or their children can realize. If they can't
get hope and help from us, if they don't turn to us
with some kind of confidence that we understand their
problems and can assist, there is a tremendous tempta-
tion to turn this do-it-yourself chart for assistance and
for guidance and for explanation, if it is presented.
And it is being presented to them.
How Communism Appeals to Foreign Youth
Now, look at this for just a second. You have heard
very frequently that the Communist approach is much
like a religion. When you lay it out like this you see
how much like a salvation religion this really is. For
instance, it says to an Indian student, "Look, here is
where you are in life today. Today you are just emerg-
ing into independence. You have gone through primi-
tive slavery, and you are emerging from Feudalism."
It says to the Indian student, "Here is where you
were in the immediate past when ,your British colonial
masters were in control, but don't have a guilt complex.
It is not your fault that you are underdeveloped, it is
not your fault that ,you have been sitting on your
assets for centuries and centuries. You have been
manipulated and exploited and kept down. Now you
have your independence, you are emerging, and here
is the heaven of Communism and here is the devil
of Imperialism."
This is a very complicated world. Young people love
to talk; we all love to talk, and this is a pretty'handy
gimmick for helping people talk about the past with
out doing too much homework. `'Vithout having any
guilt complex, analyze the present, predict the future,
inveigh against evil, idealize. Yau know this is a gim-
mick. This is a lousy description of the American
"bo we hart an American doctrine fhaf wa can take ouf and ma-kef
in the marks} place of ideals in fhe world? Th? miracle and spphistico-
tion of our society is that we don'} have one doctrine or one ideology."
experience, no provision for the middle class, no pro-
vision for the tremendous variety of forces that are
constant]y interacting, competing.
But you know this brings us to another very
important problem. Many people say to me, "What
is wrong with you people in the United States
Information Agency Why haven't you sold American
democracy overseas" Now, this is their proposition,
their ideology, their doctrine, their package, as it were.
It can be put very simply to teenagers or it can be
put in volumes of analysis, and this is the key idea of
dialectical materialism.
Do We Have an American Ideology?
Do we have an American ideology, an American
doctrine that we can take out and market in the market
place of ideals in the worlds Does anybody think we
do have one that everyone here in this room would
agree to? My experience is this: If we ever have a
simplified statement of our multiple, pluralistic, com-
plicated free society and have any authority who says
this is the tivord, we either will not have the society
we have today, or we will be at war, where we are
forced to coalesce under a discipline situation for
certain given purposes.
In times of peace we have 180,000,000 people expro-
priating freedom to develop their own lives, their own
families, their own communities, and everybody has a
little different slice of the cake. Everybody has a little
different version of what .truth and democracy and
freedom are, and when you ask them they will say
it dit`ferently.
What Is The Image of The United States3
You know in Government, policy seems to be
pretty important. We tried to send otit a. policy gui-
dance to our cultural officers to give them- some idea of
what the image of the United States is that we are
projecting. You know; that thing went through five
and a half months of debate, draft and redraft, and it
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5 is
 pppr v d For Release' 2001/11/08 :CIA-R~P7.8-Q579~5A000010~36-5
~or~npetmg ~c~eologies? Vetter' eguuimg, ecanse ,~e ha dismantled our 1958 ex-
? ,
was just like trying to get. By-laws together, and you
;now what that is in an organization like ~,~our otvn.
[t went throu~~h 13 different drafts. The thing that
finally came out was lousy. I thiiil: many of you have
heard the definition of a ceunel: a camel is a horse put
together by a committee. This was a. "cannel" of a
3ocument, because tivhen you get Americans to talk
about themsch?es they don't agree, and, so, what comes
out is a compromise that is just sort of a mishmash.
Our Advantage Is Many Ideologies
Instead of losing confidence, instead of feeling that
we should have some simplified statement life this, ire
have to see that the miracle and the sophistication of
our society is that the don't have one doctrine or one
ideology. We have plenty of ideology in our society.
You find it in the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, our fabulous system of laws, charters
of organizations like this, the great religion;; that are
practiced in our society. This is a tremendous ideolog-
ical. inheritance, but we don't have one version of it,
thank goodness.
~Ve have many ideologies, many religions, many
political thoughts, conflicting ideas, different groups,
interacting individuals fighting, competing, interact-
ing, and the miracle of our society is because of the
system of laws, the ground rules, the society is
basically peaceful with all of this conflict and fantas-
tically productive beyond the experience of any dicta-
torship whether it is a Communist dictatorship or a
dictatorship in the other political direction.
We Must Be Self-Confident
Thus, the element of self-confidence is so very }ntpor-
tant. Onr society is producing while they are talking.
Many Americans are losing self-confidence, because
they are being outtallzed and don't ]znow enough about
their own societ}~ to be articulate about tt?hat our
alternatives are.
I would like to share with you for just a couple of
minutes a little experience that we had in the Soviet
Union in 1959. In 1959, the Russians and the Ameri-
cans exchanged national exhibitions. Did any of you
see the exhibition that. they had in New Yorlt in 1959
It was a pretty good show. 1Ve wondered why the
Russians agreed to this, because they gave t~s access,
and the eventually contacted in our exhibition two
and a half million Soviet citizens from every walk of
life, every part of the Soviet Union.
American Moscow Exhibit Built from Scratch
We felt that one of the reason they did it was that
they doubted whether or not we could even. get an
exhibition open in five and a half months. They had an
exhibition in Brussels in the World Fair in 1!)58. They
painted it up anal made a few additions, shipped it
across the ocean to the Coliseum in New York City,
and it was there that they had their exhibition for
six weeps.
We, on the other hand, had to start from the very
habit. ~~ e had to start from the begmnmg to get four
government agencies to talk to each other, to say noth-
ing of working together, and 700 private organizations
-corporations, artists, individuals-who contributed
the great bulk of our exhibits. host of our exhibits
came from contributions from private industry and
from private sources.
Well, taken `ve got to Moscow we found another
reason tvhy the Russians agreed to this exhibit. Ilow
many of you in this room have ever been to Russia?
Only three or four of ,you. Do ,you remember this huge,
huge Soviet Exhibition of National Achievements?
It has over 535 acres with over 200 permanent build-
ings with everything in it they think they have, they
hope they have, the~T want to have, they do have.
Because of this, the had a little joke among the
guides, Russians would come up to things in our ex-
hibit and say in Russian with great self confidence,
"~Ve have got it." Also, "Ours is better," then .. .
"What is it`:"' They figured they had it somewhere -
tvhatcver it was.
The 1959 Exhibit in Russia
As a. matter of. fact, the had quite a debate about
this: What do you put into an exhibition? What do
y0u put into an exhibition to get Russians to think,
to perceive? So, the had quite a debate. And I think
very franla,v the Russian reaction to our exhibition
was one of disappointment. ~Ve had two buildings on
ten acres to compare with that 500-acre exhibit. As a
matter of fact., this was the funny part of the negoti-
ations: l~'e wanted to install some of the latest public
rest facilities, and the Russians absoltitcly refused.
i.vidently they didn't want a confrontation on
that level.
I thinlz after they got into the exhibit and saw that
it was not a great technological display or scientific
display, but the product of our industry's technology,
our culture, our education, then we implanted man~T,
many images. I am personally convinced from what
the found out. that we forced the Soviet Government
to introduce credit btiving, installment buying. Some
people wonder if we did the Russian people a favor.
I am convinced we did, but basically, they have been
forced to and they are using installment buying in
the Soviet Union today for consumer durables.
Why Do We Make Toast?
In addition to this, I remember one exhibition sec-
tion. You know that Soviet women do very, very hard
work. As a part of our exhibit we had a large display
of American home appliances, and these home appli-
ances really made the women loolz. They were looking
for this ]find of help in their own lives. One section of
this exhibit had these beautiful chrome boxes, and the
Russians would come up and ask, "What is that?"
And the guide would say, "That's a toaster." "So,
what is a toaster" "A machine for making toast."
"So, what is toast2" "Well, this is bread that is cut
in slices and browned on both sides and you put it
20
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 ? Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05A000200010036 j
in the machine and take it out anc~cat it." "Don't you ~~;
bake your bread in America?" "Yes, and we slice it
and put it in this machine." "1~'hv?" The guide didn't
know why. I don't lznoty why, ti5'hy do tvc cat toast?
So, instead of thinlzing in great jealous terms, they
thought we were darn fools for putting our productive,
energy into toast. The French, I think, feel the
same way.
Guides Our Best Exhibit
But you know I am prejudiced. I think the best
exhibit the had in Moscow were the 80 young American
guides. They came from all over the United States,
and we had quite a shock in the selection of these
guides, because when the selected them in panels in
San Francisco, in Chicago, and in ti~Tashington, on the
basis of their knowledge of the Russian language, the
Soviet Union, and the United States, their own coun-
try, we found out in selecting 75 out of 600 applicants
that almost all of them knew more about the Soviet
Union than they did about their own country, the
United States!
You see, most of them, of course, were students of
Soviet affairs, and they had boned up in order to take
the tests.- But the as North Americans don't have t.o
explain ourselves . to each other generally, and this
is a skill like any other skill, and we are very sloppy
as a nation. I see this day after day in participating in
training programs for Americans going overseas. `Ve
aren't in the habit of explaining each other in other
people's terms, and these guides were no exception.
Training Program Dif!Ficult
So, our problem was to train these guides and to give
them the ability to understand the questions they tt-ere
going to het and to anticipate some of the specific
questions and do homework to get oral ammunition.
Many of us in this room have a great deal of academic
ammunition but in this field of ideology our school
system doesn't teach us to generalize. We avoid ideol-
ogies except in specialties, and, so, generally our
people don't like to talk in theoretical terms, and they
are very uncomfortable in this kind of discussion.
They don't have the capacity to bring np evidence
that makes sense to other people.
Can You Explain Unemployment?
Now, let me give you an example. We were going to
have a lot of questions on unemployment. You znow
the Russians see life through a micronite filter. They
have a selective version of what truth and facts is.
Certain facts, according to them, are pounded through
at the people. For instance, just before we arrived in
Moscow orie of their magazines, "Krokodil", came out
showing where some of the millions of questions came
from on unemployment. This is a satirical Russian
magazine somewhere between "Mad" and the "New
Yorker". On the front of. this magazine is a composite
picture of American advertising for Cadillac, Coca
Cola, Chesterfield cigarettes, chewing gum, Campbell
Cream of Mushroom Soup, Tomato Catsup. In front
of the advertising is a great hullz of a man in rags and
"In talking about this competition between freedom and Communism
wa often are rtot explicit about what freedom is."
on his back a sign in Russian that says, "Five Million
iJnemployed". And there is a little capitalist in the
corner saying, "Will you please move on, Mr, iJnem-
ployed. You are spoiling the effect of my advertising."
The Statistics of Unemployment
This is what they were telling the Russian. people.
By American statistics over 5,000,000 people are
unemployed, acid with four in each family that is
20,000,000 starving. That is not the tvay we Beep our
statistics, but that is how they explained it. Then, by
American statistics over 15,000,000 people work less
than 15 hours a tveck. That is 35,000,000 plus their
i'amilies. These millions and millions of Americans arc
living in a great cesspool without, jobs, without dignity,
without help, without hope.
"We in the Soviet Union," they say, "do not ,yet
have all of these luxuries, but the Soviet Unlon
doesn't have any unemployment. Therefore, our system
is more humane, more advanced by Socialism." This is
not only what they are telling the Russians; this is
what they are saying all. over the world.
Well note, our problems with these guides teas that
most of them had never been unemployed. There were
27 girls, and the rest of them were men, and they came
from every source and every age. The age braclzet was
from 20 to 35. These guides had practically no capacity
to talk about the subject of unemployment.
Statistics Stacked Against Us
The fact that our government has social security-
the fact that the have unemployment compensation
and that many of our people on compensation are
making more than the average worizer in the Soviet
Union when he is working, the fact that our statistics
are stacked against us in this field of ideas - if a man
retires in this country and tries to get a job he is
included in unemployment statistics -these things
were not brought out.
In Europe when a man retires and tries. to get a
job, he is not unemployed. He is a pensioner or an
21
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approved For Relea"~s 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000~Q010036-5
Competing Ideologies: Vetter
annuitant and isn't even included in unemployment
statistics. We have nine million people changing jobs
every year in this country. When we have two and a
half million people on our unemployed rolls this is
fall employment in our society, because in a free
society you have that many people who refuse to work
and are milking the system, or are new to the labor
market, or are in legitimate transition.
We were trying to give these guides conversational
ammunition. ~Ve didn't want them to argue; once you
start arguing very little information passes from head
to head; you know that as husbands and wives, We
were trying to get them to carry on discussions, to
get ideas and questions into people's minds.
Conversation Ammunition Needed
So, our second job was to help them do thr.ir hoxnc-
~vor?k to develop conversation ammunition to answer
the Russians' questions and to get them thinking in a
wider frame of reference. But in addition to under-
standing the guestions, and preparing themselves, like
you, most of them had never talked to a Communist.
Most of them didn't know how the Communists t ere
answering questions, how the Communists tvere re-
sponding to criticism, commenting on world affairs,
and, if you will cooperate for just a couple of minutes,
I would lilze to give ,you this opportunity, too, but also
to demonstrate how we were teaching these people to
he articulate in another society by showing them what
they were up against. So, for the next couple of
minutes let me be a Russian
What A Russian Sounds Like
(At this point 111r. Vetter assumed the role
of Alexander Petrovich Surov, a Russian visitor.
Ile used a heavy Russian accent.)
I am worizing with the Soviet Ministry of Culture,
and i have been in your wonderful country for the
last 18 months working on exchange of exhibitions
between our two great peoples. Now, I will tell you
very strongly I have been very much warmed in my
heart by- the love by the American people for Soviet
people that I have seen in your country over the last
three visits I have been here. As representative of the
Soviet people I bring to you all the love of the Soviet
people for the American people. Please accept it,
because ,you know this is a period when we must find
ways to relax tension.
Peaceful Coexistence Is the Answer
Everyone in this room knows what the consequences
might be of nuclear warfare which would mutually
destroy the progress our countries have made these
last years. `Ve must find ways of building peaceful
coexistence, and to do this we must stimulate peaceful
competition. I am glad to see the whole purpose of
this meeting is competition, because we mast have
peaceful competition in the field of science, in the field
of technology, in the field of ideas, in the field of cul-
ture, in the field of sports.
I tell ,you very sincerely I have been very encour-
aged to see the love of the people, but I have been very
much disturbed by the fact that your Government, and
forgive me, your Press, is constantly agitating your
people into war psychosis, war psychology, and this
is very, very dangerous at the very time that we must
have understanding between our people.
You know this exhibition I have been warking on
is very interesting and it is very important to get our
people to lznow each other. You have had an excellent
exhibition an plastics in the United States, and that
was in Moscow and other Russian cities. We have had
an exchange exhibition of Soviet children's boolzs in
Denver, Colorado, Cleveland, Ohio, and also in New
Yoriz City; in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chicago an
exhibition on Soviet medicine. Yon have excellent
exhibition on transportation in ,your country, in
Kharkov Siberia and also in Stalingrad, I mean Volvo-
grad, and these are very important activities.
So, I tell you very frankly I am very grateful to
be here with you to submit myself. to you for any
questions in ,your hearts, in your minds, about my
country, the Soviet Union, or about Communism,
because eve most understand each other better. We
must have the human understanding to melt the snows
of the cold war. So, I submit myself to you, and I will
do my very best to answer you directly and personally.
QUESTION : Why do you suppress religion in
Russia?
ANSWER: "I am aslzed this so often. Please come
to Soviet Union and see Socialism in practice. We
would like to have ,you come and visit the Russian
churches. I would also be so happy. We have very
inexpensive tours. We have expensive tours if you
want expensive tours. But if ,you would like to visit
some of the working churches or synagogues, feel free.
to do so. You will be protected by the law.
Where Russian Youth Finds the Truth
"I don't want to offend believers here, but this is a
ridiculous idea of the West of our suppression of
religion. If you come to these religious institutions,
I will guarantee you will find very few young people.
Because where are Soviet young people, loolzing for
answers to Space, answers to Nature2 They are
not looking to religious legends and mythology. They
are loolzing to science, astroscience, cosmic science,
chemical science, physical science, political science,
and this is where we are finding the truth.
"Now, you know in the Soviet Union we are crazy
about pictures. You call them visual aids or posters.
Can any of you here see this? Can you read the
Russian languages Does anybody in the room read
the Russian language? Out of all of your education
eliteists not one person reads Russian! Too bad. This
is educational deficiency. tiVe have 700,000 Soviets
studying the English language. We want to know. I
am very surprised.
"All right, this says in Russian, `All Praise to
Soviet Science', and this is a picture of Gagaran, our
22 gpproved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approved :or Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
"
first
Cosmonaut, and it says down re, `All Praise to
the Soviet Man who is first Cosmonaut', and, of
course, Titov, who is in your country right now, he is
going around 17 times to show it wasn't a big mistake.
I tell you very frankly that we are very proud of this
man who is demonstrating what socialist science, what
socialist man can do in leading the way, not only to
space, but in uplifting every field of human endeavor.
"Of course, we want to congratulate yon for 1tTr.
Grissom, Mr. Shepherd and Itlr. Glenn. Yon know a
Soviet woman, she had triplets a couple of months
ago. She named first Yuri, and then second one
CTherman, and the third child she named for man John
Glenn. This baby was born a little late,but she named
him John. Of course, we are vet;y happy now because
you do have an astronaut, and this is achievement,
and we are happy ,you do have astronaut and not ;just
t~vo half astronauts."
QUESTION: If the Communist system is so suc-
cessful, why is it that each Communist country can-
not feed its people?
ANSV~~ER : "This is slight inaccuracy. The Soviet
Union is feeding its people and has surpluses in feed-
ing. Sometimes we have some problems in distribution.
Sometimes we have this in different sections. You
knotiv Mr. Khrushchev has been a little bit disap-
pointed. Very high goals have been set for agriculture
under seven ,year plan. Unfortunately, after the war
we had to make tip for this fantastic destruction we
had ; we had to set priorities on what we call. initial
investment. We invested most. heavily in heavy indus-
try, as ,you know. So, we were not able to put
quality of investment into field of agriculture, and
consumer goods.
"So, productivity has been disappointing, but you
knotiv we have done fantastic things in the field of
agriculture ; agriculture science is opening up of the
virgin. territories-nothing to do with young ladies-
this is all netiv land in Siberia, and we have made very
real progress. So, this statement is not accurate. We
have surplus, other countries have surplus, but this,
again, is part of this mis-information which I read in
your periodicals."
QUESTIOI~1' : If you are so peace-loving, why do
you continue testing nuclear bombs?
ANSWER: "We. are not continuing. You know the
two questions I get most from American audience in
recent weeks is this question, and the question, Why
did you build. the Wall? First of all, we didn't build
the wall; the Germans built the wall. The answer to
this question is something you must understand in
understanding Soviet people.
Russian People Hate War
"You know, we actually hate war; this is not just
a big slogan. Why do we hate tvar? We have had 15
million people killed in The Great Patriotic tivar you
call World V4Tar II. Vi'e have had 47 per cent of all our
housing, industries, homes destroyed and devastated.
~Ve have had everamily touched with death, and
we know what war is, it leas made us very sensitive
to aggression.
"In our history we have been invaded by the
Tartars, by Napoleon, by Hitler, and we have had very
mtteh destruction, and forgive me, by the tl-2 airplane.
A couple of months ago ive made a peaceful proposal.
What was the proposal? To sign peace treaty with
(Termany. The people in Czechoslovakia, Poland, a.nd
(lermany are looking for ways to settle their lives and
plan for the future. They want a peace treaty. So, we
proposed one. What is reaction of ~~?estern ,powers?
IIostility! Building up mobilizations, building up
arms ! Yon have frightened the world. Yott ntav be
fooling your own people, but we ].now that j~ou have
been testing in Sahara. Desert jvith French. NATO
allies nuclear devices. So, when you frightened us like
this we sa~v the fact that we must. develop ourselves
the tools of. defense of peace. We resumed with great
heartaches with testing, and we resumed with great
heartaches also to show any would-be aggressor that
Socialism could put. down aggression in any part
o f the world.
"You have scared us again ; when are you Ameri-
cans going to learn about the Germans? When are
you Americans going to wake up politically? You
know tvhat you have done? You are rearming the
German militarists, and ,you have scared ~s very
much. We ask ,you very seriously, why are you making
Berlin the center of espionage, center of dirty tricks,
center of cold war activity?
Why the Wall Was Built
"Our proposal was this: You were making Berlin
point of agitation. People are so excited. You never
read in yaur papers how people go from West Germany
to East (;ermany. But your propaganda has;.. gotten
people agitated, confused and moving in both:, direc-
tions in Germany. We said to build a little wall to have
peaceful time for negotiation, to stop all of this move-
ment and tivar psychology. Then free Berlin with
"Americans ore waking up to a vital fact that we personally ,have an
international dimension for modern American citizenship."
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5 23
 Approved For Ruse 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A0~00010036-5
Competing Ideologies:
Vetter
peace treaty and put down the wall and begin i,o build
again for peaceful coexistence. Here is a woman back
here with question."
QUESTION : Remember, Napoleon
awaken the sleeping dragon."
said, "Don't
ANSWER: "This woman using very colorful qua
ta.tion of. Napoleon, `Don't awaken the sl.eeptng
dragon.' There is a great deal of wishful thinking in
your country about this. If yott wish wishful thinking,
this is your privilege. I will tell you very frankly this
so-called animosity of competition between China and
Soviet Union is not what you think. Our basic faith is
this :Every nation has its own road to Socialism. The
Chinese go do~rn one road, they have one tradition,
one culture; the Soviet Union goes down one, Great
Britain goes down one road, the United States goes
down one road. We have confidence ,you will reach
Socialism one day. Don't be afraid. You will live better
than you do today. We acknowledge you are number
one technological nation in the world. You have the
highest standard of living no~v, but we have slogan in
Soviet Union, `Catch up and surpass United States
technologically.
"Unfortunately, you a.re politically underdeveloped,
but you are catching up a little bit. tiVe have faith that
if the state monopolists do not precipitate a war, you,
too, will. choose Socialism as a means for the future.
There are different roads, so, there naturally will be
some substitutions, but we are very proud of what our
Socialist brothers in China are doing, and we are help-
ing them in every way, so we don't feel that we have
bitten off more than we can chew. This is the begin-
ning of a great Commonwealth of Socialist Com-
munist Countries."
QUESTION : If the Soviet is such a democratic
nation as to classes of society, why do certain mem-
bers of the Soviet scientific hierarchy, members of
the National Academy, seem to enjoy a higher Stand-
ard of living, and why do these scientists explain
that they are not policitians, that they cannot; explain
about politics and answer political questions.
Why Wage Differences In Russia
ANSWER: "Well, you know this is a question I
often get. If we are such democratic society, such a
classless society, how come people have higher stand-
ard of living in scientific academy. Many people say
to me, `Surov,. ,you look liKe Capitalist.' I have coat
on here I bought in Washington in high-class store.
When I first came to your country I wore Soviet
clothes; people laughed at me. So, okay, I wear your
clothes, and the material is not bad. It is all right.
"But the question is this: I get higher pay than
man working in factory in Moscow. Today Soviet
Union is in the Socialist stage of society. In 'the
Socialist stage man contributes according to his talents
and his abilities and is rewarded according to his con-
tribution to uplift of. society. They feel my work to
promote peace between our two great nations is mare
important than man on factory bench. So, I get higher
pay and more facilities, mare allowances. I a.m not
exploiting anybody.
"At the Communist stage when we do have society
of abundance, then we will have people having all
their needs. But, of course, our great plea to you is,
let's have universal world disarmament so we can lift
the fantastic burden off the shoulders of people. Don't
worry, you can get business from other sources, and
we can move ahead on the uplift of the people on the
standard of living.
Why 14 Pairs of Shoes?
"Your Vice President Nixon, who is political
refugee from Washington, visited your exhibition in
Moscow in 1959, and he was quoted as saying to the
Russian people - "An average American family
buys 14 pairs of shoes, each family every year." Our
first reaction is, Whys Is the quality so bads But
basically we don't need so many pairs of shoes. In
building Socialism for collective uplift we are doing
without luxuries, because this is part of our whole
Socialist pattern, to deny ourselves these luxuries in
building for uplift of the whale world, and eve don't
very often have all of these things.
"We .give higher pay to our teachers, higher pay to
our scientists, higher pay to many of our technicians,
If you would read a little bit more, I would like to
urge you to read USSR on your newsstands.
(At this point Mr. Vetter dropped his role as
Surov and continued.)
How Communists Answer Questions
MR. VETTER: I think you see the purpose here. I
think one of our great vulnerabilities in this country
is that we get an oversimplified idea of what Com-
munism is, and millions of people think, if they could
ask them these questions on persecution of religion, on
the questions you brought up, that you could just
clobber a. Communist, brit these people do their home-
work. Now, ,you noticed the devices I used. I took your
question and I either answered it or slipped off of it
and used the question as a platform for my Commu-
nist pitch, for a propaganda platform. They do this
time and time again.
Also, anot}ter thing that I was doing and why it is
very hard to pin me down is that, I exploit audience
couxtesy. They will do this time and time again. And
most of the people here would not come back and hit
me again and again. You were starting to do it, but,
they would not come back again and again with the
questions. Frankly, you haven't done your homework.
The facts on why Soviet agriculture has failed are
some of the most dramatic facts in the world. The
facts of American agriculture, one of the greatest
human miracles in our history of the world, was the
fact that once free men understood the problems of
24 Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 agriculture in ~'~orld'~~~I4v~ For~~ra/11/O~C~}~7 SA~QQA36SA10036-5
tion of this nation was doubled in~our years. This is Letting sophisticated in these terms is a very mpor-
a real miracle and a real tribute to the ingenuity of
free men once they see the problem.
Homework Must Be Done
I know my best advice in talking to the Communist
is to do their gobbledygook better than they know how,
and having the direct experience and indirect experi-
ence in Communist countries to show how their theory
and their actions don't match and their promises and
their actions don't match, but. to do this you have got
to do homework.
Just What Is Freedom?
I think we have another problem, and this is one
of our problems even in our own education system.
In talking about this competition between freedom
and Communism we often are not explicit about what
freedom is. Very frequently in many countries free-
dom is not a good word, because to many freedom and
liberty means insecurity, and they are looking for
security first. So, when we talk about freedom often
we project it like the teenager concept' of freedom:
`Let mama off my back, get papa off my back get my
teacher off my back, and life will be a ball !" The
Indians said, "Drive the British out of here, and the
standard of living will take off like a bird." The.
British, left and the standard of living went dawn,
because just as when children leave home theix stand-
ard of living goes down, until they develop the experi-
ence and skills of self-government and self-preserva-
tion, a.nd then it begins to come up.
I would like to use something that might be useful
to you, the comparison to get a positive concept of
freedom which is a concept that we can compete from.
There is the example of the tennis court. You can be
free t.o go out on the tennis court and make a fool of.
yourself. That is freedom from restriction. You can go
out and hurt ,your body and waste time, but you are
only free on the tennis court when you have invested
time, when you have invested energy, when you have
invested money and have good equipment, when ,you
have developed discipline, made mistakes and de-
veloped judgment, when you develop the skill and
lrnow the rules. In short, only when you know how to
play tennis are you really free on the courts.
We Must Get Down to Human Problems
It is the same in business, it is the same in education,
it is the same in modern marriage, it is the same in
democracy, and in our projection of democracy we
have gat to get over these barriers of semantics, bar-
riers of language, and get down to human problems.
Like "homely", words in this country often have a
different ring and meaning in other countries. Z'Vords
like freedom, democracy, Socialism, and mother love
often bring up quite different images and reactions
than they do here. This is all the more reason why we
must defiine our terms specifically in terms of people,
institutions, solutions, attitudes-and it is here that
free society gives the keys to productivity.
tant groundwork to getting our alternative across.
Now, my personal conviction is this : That the alterna-
tive to dictatorship, to central government, to central
planning, is teamwork and voluntary cooperation.
'
t have
There is something about teamwork, ,you don
to like a person to play on the team with him, but you
have got to talk to him. You have got to have at basic
respect for him. If I were a Communist agent, I
would put my most skillful agents in the most con-
servative American organizations and in the most
radical American organizations and start thpsc or-
ganizations fighting each other from within the;organ-
izations to break down trust, to create hate, to create
disorganization, chaos, these. kind of things which cut
down the productivity of a free world society.
American Citizenship Has International Dimension
This is'why these meetings are so important-to you
as an industry, and this is why there has got to be
much greater circulation between management and
labor, between the majority and minority groups, and
bettveen public and government, because this is the
fabric of productivity of a free society.
The thing that makes me extremely optimistic
is that as I go around the United States, and I have
done a lot of traveling, I begin to see that Americans
are waking up to a vital fact that we personally have
an international dimension for modern American
citizenship. It has challenges and opportunities; it has
also got problems, but it is only when free men
understand the problems that they can concentrate
on the tremendous resources of their individual expe-
rience, their problem-solving ability and kno~~ledge.
It is good that we are beginning to see in organizations
like this the kind of things you are doing to increase
international communication individually and... within
pour organization.
Self-Confidence Vital to Success
As a free society begins to wake up, it is fantastic
the hinds of things it can produce. We have got to
have confidence that we have made human pxogress
and have something to offer the world. Without self-
confidence and self-knowledge how are we going to get
people to have confidence in us2 It points to two
crucial areas, knowing the opposition. realistically so
our people are alert, are not scared and alarmed, of
knowing ourselves realistically and then working an
the communication techniques in our education and
organizational lives that will help us transmit our
alternatives in other people's terms.
To win the battle for competition for people's minds
and hopes we have to use our heads, and that is good.
I am beginning to see as I travel around this ..society
and the Free World that people are beginning to use
not only their heads but their hearts, their religions,
their morality, their experience and their love. They
are beginning to develop really meaningful alterna-
tives in this level of our competition. Thank you
very much.
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5
 Approved For Rel~as~'e 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795AOOd'~D010036-5
(Reprinted by the Office of :Public Information, U. S. Information Agency,
with permission of the Steel Service Center Institute.
Approved For Release 2001/11/08 :CIA-RDP78-05795A000200010036-5