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-RDP84-00161R000100150011-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 31, 2002
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 14, 1953
• Content Type: SPEECH

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ADDRESS AT THE ONE HUNPRETH ANNUAL MEETI]fltho
OF THE GREA . GVIDET ._ A
MAY 11 , 1953
This document has ba
Quad for release through
?( L REVIEW PROGIim c
Central Intelligence Agency
Date
When Governor S erman Moms, oa 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 very
persiiasive 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 th, cai:ic. lnd of inquiry from many others of
his generation. The question is this Why is it that the?Communists seem
to be so successful in getting.the fanatical support of their youth behind
a cause. w4 all know to be false'? And ,rhy is it that in many of the coun-
so- 1,
mac"
tries. of the fr?e West that 'same: dynramicfoi c seems to ;be lacking in the
young,)r generation? u
A~l
Note that Isaid, "seem to bc~,. succ.xssful." I do, not accept the impli-
cation of the question. I z?ccognize that appearances justify it and I
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only' for the use of DCl/HS.
The record copy has been
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released to National Archives
under the HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM.
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`'l~_Are.ascn why th,: W'erl: T.~) rorn: off second best in this
comparison vnrio_s from country to r.e..,ntry rs we look at the Free World.
Take certain countries of Western Fu.urcpe, for example.
It is hard for us to appreciate the extent to which two world wars,
1914 and 1939, sapped the strength of Europe by decimating its youth.
If at times we feel that there is a lack of vigorous leadership in some
European countries, we must realize that the very beet of European youth
perished in World War I, which for countries like France, England, and
Italy was more costly in-terms of casualties, than even World War II. It
is the men lost in Flanders Field and at Verdun who would be the political
leaders of Western Europe today-if they had survived. Th;ir 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 for
both the older and the younger generation. Many want to have nothing to
do with anything warlike, even pr(p ration for defense.
In other countries njorc rc:not from the immediate danger, although
they too are tl:r oatencd by it, it i s hard, particularly for the younger
generation, to appreciate the grcat peril of the moment. This is true to
some extent in the United Statys, d.spitee the war in Korea.
Russia, and China too, suffered grievously in recent. wars and yet
the young men there seem all tco ready to sacrifice themselves for the
State and even for new military adventuaros. How has this come about?
The Soviet leaders have somehow managed to capitalize on the die-
illusionment of youth in the period betw,:seen the World Wars and particu-
larly after World War II. They well. understood the instinctive desire
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of youth to devote thciase1vQs, and ew:u to sacrifice themselves, for a
Sion era of the 30'a and to an extent that is not yet fully known.
::Wts,~, particularly a cause that involvos mass youth movements. Such
movements seem to have far more appeal in the Slav countries and the
countries of Eastern Europa than, say, in Anglo Saxon countries where
thy: 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-depres
to accept discipline and direction. The Communist leaders have cleverly
traded on the desire of youth to be led.
Where youth is insecure there is a tendency to join mass movements,
The Communist youth organizations arc mass organizations. Membership
In the Communist world there is,a carefully worked out system of
youth indoctrination which molds many of them into being slaves of the
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 pattern
of youth organizations which has been established not only in the Soviet
Union but also in every country which has come under Communist rule. I
the Soviet Union there is a succession of youth organizations. Non-Com-
munist youth organizations. have long since been disbanded and most of
their members forced into the common sfo3.d.
for most Is automatic at the outset with successive steps of weeding out-,
as the young people grow up. Children -- both boys and girls -- are taken
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h;to the Octobrists before they ar3 eight. At 10 or 11 they "graduate"
into the Young Pioneers (of whom there are some 13,000,000) which keeps
trier: until they are 14 - 16. The next step is into the Komsomol, the
litc~ youth organization of some 9,000,000 from whom eventual party
mxtibersaip is drawn.
At ovary. stage the emphasis is on discipline and Communist principle,
even for the youngest for. whom a favorite puppet show is "Big Ivan."
Big Ivan is a huge blind peasant who stands for the Russian people oppressed
by little men labeled Czar, General, Priest, and. Kulak. An owl finally
cures Ivan's blindness. In the end Ivan kills his tormentors and destroys
their palaces,and churches.
As the final result of this indoctrination of youth the Communist
Party attempts to draw upon a thoroughly disciplined and fanatically
dadicatud Komsor: of for its own mer.ibe, -.-ship
The over-all youth prof-;rcuu is closely coordinated with the educa-
tional system, the sports progro m and the military demands upon the youth.
Even the careers of Soviet ;;ou tlis are r gid_ly controlled and entry into
the restricted categories of technician or specialist is limited to those
with a good youth record. Membership in the Komsomol genera],ly deter-
mines admission of students to universities, and vithout the approval of
the youth organization, it-is not possible to enter into a profession.
Often even a young man's calling is Chosen for him.
In rcality.the-Young people in the-1Soviet Union have little freedom
of choice. Taken at an impressionable
Is it. strange that so many of th? i coinev to believe only in the Soviet
They are taught the infallibility of their leadership and their press-
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Particularly s Lno~ they are larrr,,.ly deprived of the religious
infltiunce which might serve as an antidote for Communist materialism?
Not all of the Soviet youth, by any means, are conscious that they
are the victims of coercion in their regimented organizations. On the
contrary, knowing no other sorts of youth activities mast of them have.
come to consider it a privilege to be included in those that are available,
the more so because of the tangible rewards for the future held out to the
Komsomol youth and the party member. It is this apparent enthusiasm, in
the absence of conscious choice, that makes Communist fanaticism the more
dangerous.
The systems that prevail in the European satellites-do not differ
substantially.from those in the Soviet Union itself. The Communist
program seems to achieve a high degree of success among the cUldren in
the six to fourteen age group, but in the older group, say between 14 and
25, there is a large degree of apathy to Cormunist indoctrination'. In
countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia the older age group still
remembers the days of freedom, and indoctrination of the children there
is not easy.
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 pilots Lt. Franciszek
Jarecki, who recently defected to Denmark isan example of .this. In a
statement that he made a few days ado he said this:
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"I had determined to get out of Poland long before I was able to
fly a MIG, because life under Communism sickened me. Nobody paid me to
escape. For years, even after I ,joine3 the air force, I didn't have a
single real friend. I didn't want the kind of friend who would be spying
on me, as I myself had been asked to spy on others. "Yes, sir," he goes on to say, "we are all-fed up with the never
ending lies and idolizing of the Soviets and I can assure you if there
was only a little more chance a huge majority of the Polish flyers would
escape to the West."
The anti-religious theme, of coarse, is particularly stressed in
youth training. For example in Estonia the Central Committee of the
Komsomol recently circulated a pamphlet entitled "The Ten Commandments
of Communism" to combat religious resistance to regimentation:
1. Never forget that the clergy are the greatest
enemies of the Communist state.
2. Try to convert your friends to Communism.
0
Advise your friends to avoid clergymen and Christians.
4. Beware of epics! Denounce saboteurs!
5?
Distribute .theistic literature among the population.
A good Komsomol youth is a fighter for the cause of
7. Fight the religious
its influence on your comrade.
9. . The godless movement grows also by means of monetary
elopient wherever you can prevent
6. A good godless youth must also be a good policeman.
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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 A&pf@M@d iFt eke t2Q02tMd8crcVkr i.P8# t1rLjRQoft&OQiJ58ad1 Zvnunist
press shows how seriously youth indoctrination is taken. Yet in-some of
the satellites it is interesting to note that the Communists have had to
admit partial failure as a result of over-zealousness. They have had to
cut back the doses of Marxism that are administered and substitute more emphasis on mass sport programs, generally with a militaristic background)
including flying and gliding exercieses, parachute training, and the like.
Just the other day, on April 24th, the Communist Czech Government
ordered a sharp reduction in certain of the political education activities.
The 5,000 young people a month that-have joined the flight from East
Germany to. Berlin is evidence of the continuing distaste with which young
Germans are reacting to the Co mnunist indoctrination they are receiving.
In March.of this year 10% of those fleeing to Western Berlin were in the
age group-14 -25; in April this figure had risen to 15%
movement which materially helped them to national power. This movement,
In China the Communists had penetrated the student movement long
before they came into power. Skilled agitators, on the basis of experi-
ence gained in the 20's, laid the groJndwork during the long war with
Japan. Upon this foundation the Canununistb vu-re able to erect a student
known as the All-China Student. Federation, .was fully organized by March,
1949, six months before, the Communist regime formally proclaimed its
.The strength of the Federation hss
ad mid-spark the penetration of Southeast
student movements, playing upon the deep-seated connection which links
overseas Chinese with the land of their fathers.
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Alongside the student movement the Chinese Communists have created
uthcr youth groups, very similar to those in the Soviet Union, with the
Young Pioneers gathering in the children of 8 to 15 years and the all-.
crsbracing New Democratic Youth Corps taking the older ones. Here, as in
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 Union
and other Communist countries, there have been developed, "for external
use only," international front organizations for,youth-and students.
Their purpose is to influence the youth of the free world and to impress
them witAia picture of strength and solidarity among Communist youth.
Two of the most important of these front organizations are The World
Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students.
These two organizations are tLe vehicles of Soviet youth policy out-
side of the areas controlled by the Communist governments. Those who are
responsible for Communist youth policy on both sides of the Iror1 Curtain
are not troubled by tho"A~:mands of consistency. This is shown in the
stark contrast in attitudes toward military service. Behind the Iron.
Curtain the youth organizations work constantly to integrate their members
into the military system of the Communist countries. For example, the
Hungarian youth organization issued'a statement to its members on the
7th of May 1952 telling there that thc;4r primary tank was mental and phy-
sical preparation for defense. On almost the same d.c,y The World Federa-
tion of Democratic Youth, whose headquarters are in Budapest, issued a
call to all youth in the Western World to join in a conference which it
labeled "For the Defense of the Rights of Youth."
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S
This Congress, according to its Budapest headquarters, promoted the
idea that youth should be allowed to exercise its inalienable rights to
continue education unhatnpeVed by any demand for armed service. and that
youth should demand. that armament expenditures be reduced and that the
For youth in areas like the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the
the youth of Western countries.
film and exhortation to refuse military service was, of course, limited to.'
'money saved should be given towards srholarshipe. This appeal to paci-
free par East, the Cocssunists advocate still another"course. In?those
areas Communist international front organisations have called on youth
to "fight" for peace ,with weapons in their band-..". The Ccmauniet youth
organisations have been training their madbers in Sou'tb sit Asia in guer-
rills, tactics: sod in the use of arms to participate in t risings"" egsl.ast
constituted governments of the area.
At large Couanunist youti festivals, such as the 15151 rally in Berlin,
finest example of youth activity.
active rebellion against non-Communist governments was held up as the
Korea and Viet Nan are always given the most honored place and their
the delegates from the Commninist" guerrilla forces of Greece, )fslays, Worth
On the day that the new Japanese treaty vent into.effect, the Commu-
nists started a bloody riot against foreign military forces in Japan..
herd core of Comc-unists wbo incited the. riot wore students from Japane
universities: They shouted slogans against American military forces
that country. At the very same-tire the Communist youth organisations in
.stationed-in Japan and demanded an end to U. S. military installations
East Germany were glorifying the soviet military forces stationed in their
country.
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 F~gaopreobr]ectFbs R~ie~sec2f 106Ya :1E~I -B f1 (t1 ft1 1r2~rgani-
that youth be pacifists, and in the East that youth participate in active.
participate in military training, in Western Europe the policy dem.ads
zations be used not for the development of its individual members but for
the furtherance of Soviet foreign policy, whatever that policy may be in a
particular area. In the Communist areas, that policy calls for youth to
West by parading ssapples of the iillions . of yew g people whoa they raa
get to dance to their tuna. The World Federation' of DemlocraticYouth,
which claims 78,000,000 members throughout the m rid, aid'The Inter-
stage special events to show their power and to atteMpt to frighten the
At given times the men who control the Communist youth apparatus
rebellion and sabotage.
demonstrations were labeled by their sponsors "S Youth Festival for Peace."
They could more,"accurately be described-as a thrett*. to the free govern-
1952 which were truly frightening, by their size alone. These Berlin
gather sponsored a series of mass demonstrations in Berjii,in August. at
national Union of Students, which claims 5,000,000 student members,-to-
ment in Western Germany.
..This political. demonstration in East Germany was probably the most
transported to Berlin in scores of railway trains aid every other means
expensive youth :rally of our time. Over a'million German
youth. were
of conveyance to demonstrate "loyalty" 'to Coemunism,aad the Soviet Union.
They were joined'io military type-'parades., shouting slogans, by over
`25,000 foreign youths who were brought 'to Berlin from all corners of the
world, without charge to themselves. The entire bill was footed by the
Communist governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.. The cost
must have been tens of millions of dollars. During the two weeks that
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the rally lasted there was not a single business meeting or public dis-
cussion in which any of the youth delegates could participate. There were
many speeches, but always by the leaders of the Communist youth organiza-
tions, not by the youth delegates.
But even this Berlin spectacle had its kickback for the Soviet Union,
thanks to our able High Commissioner, Mr. John $. )Cloy,' Almost a million
of the Coimnunist youth visited the Free Western Sector of Berlin in direct
violation of orders. Probably they vent there but they starved
to wonder. Many of them wanted tp stay permenent3.y. They ware shown the
sights of the free city of i1estern Berlin. The most t reesive eight
they saw was the American High Com nissioner himself !Oo sat down with
large groups of these students, heard their prableaau aqd ins*red their
questions candidly and fully. Word of this' spread throughout .the 'ent'ire
youth festival and was an impressive contrast to Cewmuiist techniques of
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, successful, and
the Communists have became alerted to the danger of exposing their in-
'
doctrinated.youth to an alternative way of lift. Recently they
staged..
a so-called world-wide youth conference in the. Russiah sector of Vienna
under the high sounding. title of Conference on the Defense of the Rights
of Youth. To hide the Communist character of the sponsorship of this
conference, many non-Cs;mmun.ist organizations were invited, even the inter'.
national YMCA. The meeting was largely a failure.
This summer behind the Iron-Curtain these Cowni,st front groups
are staging four more mammoth conferences, one of which is called the
Fourth World Youth Festival for Peace. A letter written by an East German
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to a friend in the Unite States while he was tempore~r 'a'
throws a somewhat sinister light on what the Soviet mean by stressing
peace in their youth organizations. "The teen-agers," this German boy
are given preliminary, training by the association fox.spdrt and
0
:techniques. including glider, f ying, shooting, apK other ~ .ervioe, prepara-'
.< _,...
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The moral of this, as I oee it, is that we Americana are apt to
underrate the importance in youth training of organizational principles.
For this reason we tend to attribute Soviet successes too much to ideolo-
gical training and too little to the fact the, they have studied carefully
and applied consibtently the basic principles of human organization and
discipline.
It is great organizations like the Y.M...A. which can help to instill
the proper princiiiea of discipline and at the same time protect the freedom
of the individual.
Fit ly it is important that we should appreciate that the youth of
the non-Communist world are looking more and more to American youth for
inspiration and gui~ance. The Y.M.C.A., with its ties with youth groups
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 particu.
larly true in the Middle East and Asia, which have only recently gained
their independence, and where the youth are looking for some guiding
inspiration.
If we do not take this opportunity, many of the world's youth may,
by default, slip under the influence of those sinister Ccmu'mist front
groups, whose mission, under the guise of peace, is preparation for further
conquest.
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