RELIGION BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000200190038-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: April 3, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

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United States
of America
Vol. 110
Con rcssioonal Record
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 88th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1964
House of Representatives
No. 62
The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, April 6, 1964, at 12 o'clock noon.
Senate
The Senate met at 11 o'clock a.m., on
the expiration of the recess, and was
Called to order by the Acting President
pro tempore (Mr. METCALF).
Rev. Lester K. Welch, minister, Christ
Methodist Church, Washington, D.C., of-
fered the following prayer:
Amid the perplexities of a changing
order, our Father, our hearts instinc-
tively turn to Thee, like weary travelers
returning home at eventide. Thou art
our refuge in time of trouble; Thou art
our strength; Thou art our, only hope.
Enable us so to put our trust in Thee
that our spirits will grow calm and our
hearts be comforted.
Thy word of old hath declared,
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord"; we humbly acknowledge our need
of Thee. It is imperative for us today to
distinguish truth from error or from the
seemingly right; and to have clear in-
sight and perception, instead of listening
to the babbling of many voices. May the
recognition of this responsibility spur us
to accept the admonition of the wisest
of the wise who said, "Ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you
free."
Relying upon Thy grace, which is al-
ways sufficient, may we transcend our
differences and rise to the higher unity of
the spirit.. Enable us to face this day
with courage, and the challenge of our
tasks in the good providence that Thou
hath called us, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1964
(Legislative day o/ Monday, March 30, 1964)
MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT
Messages in writing from the President
of the United States were communicated
to the Senate by Mr. Miller, one of his
secretaries.
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES UNDER
PUBLIC LAW 480, 83D CONGRESS-
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore laid before the Senate the following
message from the President of the United
States, which, with the accompanying
report, was referred to the Committee on
Agriculture and Forestry:
To the Congress of the United States:
I am sending to the Congress the 19th
semiannual report on activities carried
on under Public Law 480, 83d Congress,
as amended, outlining operations under
the act during the period July 1 through
December 31, 1963.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON.
THE WHITE HOUSE, April 3, 1964.
EXECUTIVE MESSAGES REFERRED
As in executive session,
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore laid before the Senate messages
from the President of the United States
submitting sundry nominations, which
were referred to the Committee on For-
eign Relations.
(For nominations this day received,
see the end of Senate proceedings.)
TRANSACTION OF ROUTINE
BUSINESS
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent that there be
On request by Mr. MANSFIELD, and by
unanimous consent, the reading of the
Journal of the proceedings of Thursday,
April 2, 1964, was dispensed with.
a morning hour, with statements therein
limited to 3 minutes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Is there objection? Without ob-
jection, it is so-ordered.
APPOINTMENTS BY THE PRESI-
DENT PRO TEMPORE
. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro- tem-
pore. The Chair wishes to announce on
behalf of the President pro tempore the
designation of the Senator from Florida
[Mr. SMATHERS] to serve as an alternate
member for the Senate members of the
Commission on the Relationship with
Puerto Rico established under Public
Law 88-271.
The Chair announces the designation
of the Senator from California [Mr.
KUCHEL] to serve as an alternate member
for the Senate members of the Commis-
sion on the Relationship with Puerto
Rico, established under. Public Law 88-
271.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS,
ETC.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore .laid before the Senate the follow-
ing letters, which were referred as in-
dicated: -
REPORT ON VOLUNTARY HOME MORTGAGE
CREDIT PROGRAM
A letter from the Administrator, Housing
and Home Finance Agency,, Washington,
D.C., transmitting, pursuant to law, a re-
port on the voluntary home mortgage credit
program, for the calendar year 1963 (with an
accompanying report) ; to the Committee on
Banking and Currency.
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AMENDMENT OF CHAPTER 1, TITLE 38, UNITED
STATES CODE, RELA'rING To AUTHORITY FOR
PRESIDENTIAL Mxse.srAL CERTIFICATE PRO-
GRAM
A letter from the Administrator of Veter-
ans' Affairs, Washington, D.C., transmitting
a draft of proposed legislation to amend
chapter 1 of title 38, United States Code. and
Incorporate therein specific statutory author-
ity for the Presidential memorial certificate
program (with an accompanying paper); to
the Committee on Firance.
EXTENSION OF COVERAGE UNDER FEDERAL OLD-
AGE, SURVIVORS, ANJI DISABILITY INSURANCE
SYSTEM OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACT To CERTAIN
EMPLOYEES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A letter from the President, Board of Com-
missioners, District of Columbia, transmit-
ting a draft of proposed legislation to ex-
tend coverage under the Federal old-age,
survivors, and disability insurance system
of the Social Security Act to temporary and
intermittent service performed In the em-
ploy of the District of Columbia If such serv-
ice is not covered by a retirement system
established by a law of the United States
(with an accompanyl:ig paper); to the Com-
mittee on Finance.
REPORT ON EXCESSIVE COSTS RESULTING FROM
THE OPERATION OF SEPARATE DEPARTMENTAL
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICES
A letter from the Comptroller General of
the United States, transmitting, pursuant to
law, a report on excessive costs resulting from
the operation of separate departmental pub-
lic information offices. Department of De-
fense, dated March (964 (with an accom-
panying report) ; to the Committee on Gov-
ernment Operations.
REPORT ON EXCESSIV3 COSTS INCURRED IN
TRANSPORTING SATURN LAUNCH VEHICLES
A letter from the Comptroller General of
the United States, transmitting, pursuant to
law, a report on excessive costs Incurred in
transporting Saturn launch vehicles. National
Aeronautics and Spaco Administration, dated
March 1984 (with an accompanying report);
to the Committee on Government Operations.
REPORT ON INEFFICIENT UTILIZATION OF PER-
SONNEL To ADMINIJ+'TER THE MILITARY AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAM CN ADVANCED WESTERN
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
A letter from the Comptroller General of
the United States. transmitting, pursuant to
law, a secret report or. the inefficient utiliza-
tion of personnel to E.dminister the military
assistance program in advanced western
European countries (with an accompanying
report) ; to the Committee on Government
Operations.
REPORT ON INEFFICIENT UTILIZATION Or PER-
SONNEL To ADMINI::TER THE MILITARY AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAM (N ADVANCED WESTERN
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
A letter from the Comptroller General of
the United States, transmitting, pursuant to
law, a report on the Llefficient utilization of
personnel to administer the military as-
sistance program in advanced western Euro-
pean countries, Department of Defense, dated
March 1964 (with an accompanying report) ;
to the Committee on Government Operations.
ARMED FORCES DAY
A letter from the Assistant Secretary of
Defense, Informing the Senate of activities
in connection with the observance of Armed
Forces Day; ordered tc lie on the table.
RESOLUTION OF GENERAL AS-
SEMBLY OF RHODE ISLAND
Mr. PASTORE. Mr. President, on be-
half of my colleague, the junior Senator
from Rhode Island [Mr. PELL], and
myself, I present for appropriate refer-
ence a copy of a resolution adopted by
the General Assembly of the State of
Rhode Island, diemorializing the Con-
gress of the United States to act favor-
ably upon the land and water conserva-
tion fund bill.
There being no objection, the resolu-
tion was referred to the Committee on
Interior and Insular Affairs, and, un-
der the rule, ordered to be printed in the
RECORD. as follows:
H. RES. 1509
Resolution of the general assembly memo-
rializing the Congress of the United States
to act favorably upon the land and water
conservation fund bill (H.R. 3848) now
before It
Whereas land and water conservation are
of the utmost Importance to the whole of
the United States; and -
Whereas It Is vital that land and water
conservation be practiced so that future gen-
erations may enjoy the abundance with
which we have been blessed: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the general assembly does
hereby memorialize the Congress of the
United States to take favorable action upon
H.R. 3846, the land and water conservation
fund bill now before it; directing the sec-
retary of State to transmit duly certified
copies of this resolution to the Rhode Island
congressional delegation.
BILLS INTRODUCED
Bills were introduced, read the first
time, and, by unanimous consent, the
second time, and referred as follows:
By Mr. CASE:
8. 2711. A bill for the relief of Frank S.
Chow: to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Mr. KEATING:
S. 2712. A bill for the relief of Slme
Dragutin Vulin; and
S. 2713. A bill for the relief of Anthony
Peranich: to the Committee on the Judi-
ciary.
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
PRINTING OF ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF CERTAIN HEARINGS OF JOINT
COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY
Mr. PASTORE submitted the follow-
ing concurrent resolution ('S. Con. Res.
73) ; which was referred to the Commit-
tee on Rules and Administration:
Resolved by the Senate (the House at
Representatives concurring), That there be
printed for the use of the Joint Committee
on Atomic Energy two thousand additional
copies each of part 2 and part 3 of Its hear-
ings on the "AEC Authorizing Legislation,
Fiscal Year 1965."
SUGAR AND MAINLAND C
SUGAR TO BE MARKETED DURING
1964, 1965, AND 1966-ADDITIONAL
COSPONSORS OF BILL
Under authority of the order of the
Senate of March 19, 1964, the names of
Mr. ALLOTT, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BOGGS,
Mr. BURDICK, Mr. CARLSON, Mr. CHURCH,
Mr. CURTIS. Mr. Dozsnflcx, Mr. HART, Mr.
HRUSNA, Mr. HUMPHREY, Mr. JACKSON,
Mr. JORDAN of Idaho, Mr. MAGNUSON, Mr.
MCCARTIrY, Mr. MCGEE, Mr. MCGOVERN,
Mr. Moss, Mr. MUNDT, Mr. PEARSON, Mr.
SIMPSON, Mr. WALTERS. and Mr. WILLIAafs
of Delaware were added as additional
cosponsors of the bill (S. 2657) to In-
April 3
crease the amount of domestic beet sugar
and mainland cane sugar which may be
marketed during 1964, 1965, and 1966,
introduced by Mr. YOUNG of North Da-
kota on March 19, 1964.
ADDRESSES, EDITORIALS, ARTI-
CLES, ETC.,. PRINTED IN THE AP-
PENDIX
On request, and by unanimous consent,
addresses, editorials, articles, etc., were
ordered to be printed in the Appendix, as
follows:
By Mr. SIMPSON:
Article entitled "The New Canal-Dig It or
Atom-Blast It?" written by William C. Daf-
fron, and published in the March 9, 1964, is-
sue of Washington World.
Essay entitled "What Can I Do for Free-
dom?" written by Wayne Kinney, of Laramie,
Wyo., recipient of the George Washington
Honor Medal of Freedom's Foundation.
By Mr. MUNDT:
Article on 8S -Hope, written by John
Beardsley, and published in a recent edition
of the Sioux Fails (S. Dak.) Argus-Leader.
Article entitled "Help for GOLDWATER,"
written by George Todt. and published re-
RELIGION BEHIND -TIr IRON
CURTAIN
Mr. KEATING. Mr. President, the
increasing concern of the people of the
United States, people of all faiths and
all national origins, over antireligious
manifestations behind the Iron Curtain
deserves constant public attention and
comment.
While Communist propagandists orate
over the glories of the Communist state,
the unfortunate people who reside be-
hind the Iron Curtain find themselves
deprived and shorn of the basic elements
of spiritual life.
'Mr. President, 2 years ago there ap-
peared in the Journal of the Central
Conference of American Rabbis an ex-
cellent article by Dr. S. Adhil Fineberg,
community relations consultant for the
American Jewish Committee. In the
article Dr. Fineberg discussed the broad
facts of communism's hostility to reli-
gion, particularly to the Jewish faith.
Unfortunately, the points made in his
fine exposition of 2 years ago are, if any-
thing, more relevant today.
Mr. President, I strongly urge the peo-
ple of the United States, their repre-
sentatives, their government, and all the
many private associations concerned
with individual rights and community
welfare to make their voices heard in
protest against anti-Semitism as is now
being practiced in Communist-bloc
countries. ,
I ask unanimous consent to have
printed in the RECORD, following my re-
marks, the text of the article by Dr.
Fineberg.
There being no objection, the article
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
(Reprinted from CCAR Journal, Central
Conference American Rabbis]
RELIGION BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
(By S. Andbil Fineberg)
In 1930, 1 told a Communist spokesman
who had addressed a favorably impressed
audience that, even if his glowing promises
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hind the Iron Curtain should not surprise
those who know how Jews accepted martyr-
dom 'throughout 25 centuries to maintain
their faith. The Maccabees and the Mar-
ranos are two examples of many Jewish
groups for whom kiddush hashem was worth
any price despots might exact. Christianity
and other religions can likewise attest to the
unyielding loyalty of the faithful under tor-
ment and oppression. Because the religious
fervor of Poland's Roman Catholics would
lead to open rebellion were the church
driven to use excommunication, the Commu-
nist rulers of Poland have granted to the
priests of Poland privileges far greater than
Communists permit where the worshipers
are fewer and less well organized. Commu-
nists are essentially opportunists and have
from time to time cooperated even with
capitalists and imperialists while scheming
for ultimate triumph.
In the area of religion, they deal most
harshly with religious denominations that
have few members within their boundaries.
Jehova's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists,
and Jews are among those who have suffered
the harshest restrictions. The Russian
Orthodox Church, on the other hand, has a
central organization, publishes periodicals,
maintains theological seminaries and, under
strict governmental supervision, maintains
relations with churches abroad. The Ortho-
dox Church in Russia is a pliable instru-
ment of Communist government policies, as
subservient to the Communist regime as it
ever was to the czars. Having denounced
religion for being a serf of the state in pre-
Communist Russia, and in Catholic-domi-
nated countries today, the Communists de-
mand nothing less than a state-controlled
church with themselves in the saddle. For
the exercise of even the minimal. activities in
which they are permitted to engage, religious
bodies must have the consent of the Minis-
try of Cults, composed of atheists. Freedom
of religion under communism is impossible.
The 21/2 million Jews of the Soviet Union
have been termed a nationality without be-
ing given any of the means accorded other
nationalities to preserve their culture.
Their culture needs schools, theaters, jour-
nals, and since it is a religious culture, theo-
logical seminaries. The rabbinical semi-
naries that existed at the time of the Com-
munist revolution were forcibly closed and for
nearly 40 years - none have reopened. Sixty
aged rabbis now serve all of Russian Jewry,
where several thousand rabbis should be
functioning. The importation of rabbis was,
of course, impossible. This is one reason
why I have questioned the possibility of
Judaism's survival in the U.S.S.R. where at-
trition and lack of opportunity for religious
education are accomplishing what other
tyrants, such as Antiochus Epiphanes and
the Spanish monarchs sought to achieve.
Even the most cruel czars permitted the
Jews to practice their religion freely, to have
plenty of prayerbooks, matzoth, yeshivoth,
schochtim, and the like. Moreover, the czars
permitted Jews to leave Russia. Now the
persecutors will not let them leave, nor main-
tain their culture, nor transmit their heritage
to their children.
In 1956 a delegation of rabbis returned
from the U.S.S.R. quite jubilant. They
knew, since the Communists had at last ad-
mitted it, that there had been dire perse-
cution of Jews under Stalin. Now all would
be well. A rabbinical seminary was being
planned in Moscow. What more did we need
but to send talethim,.tefillin, and sidurim?
After hearing an optimistic report, I demur-
red and insisted that what was needed was
to expose the dire truth of what was hap-
pening to Jews and Judaism under Commu-
nist rule. I was censured by the chairman,
who said he disagreed thoroughly. It was,
he believed, better to cooperate with the
Communists, send supplies, and have faith
that all would be well with our brethren.
of affluence for everyone could be fulfilled,
I. would still oppose communism vigorously.
My chief reason for hostility was Commu-
nist contempt for all religions that recog-
nize God's existence. Atheists steeped in
dialectrical materialism were not likely to
tolerate religious organizations indefinitely.
in Communist dominated lands there could
be only temporary respite, perhaps for a
few generations, for beliefs and practices
regarded by Karl Marx and all other Com-
munists as opiates used by exploiters to keep
the masses in subjection.
Communists born as Jews have been as
antireligious as any other Communists.
Those who desire Jewish identity in order
to retain old friends and influence people
of their own background view the Jews
merely as a nationality whose culture should.
be totally irreligious.
Since Jewish culture is essentially a reli-
gious culture, it cannot be throttled without
strangling some Jews and oppressing many
others. The Communist promise to "outlaw
anti-Semitism" was a hoax in the 1920's, as
it is now. It really meant that, relieved of
his religion, the Jew would be treated exactly
as all others would be treated. This was
equivalent to granting civil rights to any
Jew who forsook his parents and abandoned
his children. Few Jews could become com-
pletely de-Judaized.
In the Soviet Union one born of Jewish
parents acquires Jewish nationality at birth.
Marriage to a non-Jew does not terminate
Jewish identity, nor does conversion to an-
other religion. Only non-Jewish grandpar-
ents can alter a Jewish identity. As it was
in Hitler's Germany, so it is now in Russia.
A Soviet Jew seeking an education, or want-
ing to change his residence or his job or
desiring to travel, must show papers bear-
ing this identification. Can anyone believe
for a moment that "outlawing anti-Semit-
ism" is compatible with this practice? Yet,
a colleague of mine published a Jewish his-
tory book many years ago which contained
lavish praise for Stalin's country where anti-
Semitism was presumably abolished. He
could not _understand why I rejected this
otherwise admirable volume, Regrettably,
actual persecution and immeasurable suffer-
ing have uncovered that anti-Semitism is
inherent in Communist doctrine.
Treatment of Jews and of religion in the
13 countries under Communist domina-
tion is by no means identical, although
mistreatment starting in 1 Communist
country is likely to be echoed in 1 or sev-
eral others. After about 6 years of relief
from persecution, Jewish religious leaders
were arrested in the Soviet Union, Rumania
and Bulgaria, charged with crimes that in-
cluded communicating information treason-
ably to representatives of Israel and em-
bezzlement of funds. The leaders of the
Leningrad synagogue were arrested in secret,
tried in secret, condemned in secret and
secretly imprisoned-again reminiscent of
the Nazis. This news leaked out fully a
month after the elderly men were sentenced
to long prison terms. How many other Jews
have been arrested and sentenced similarly
we cannot know, since secret arrests are no
novelty in Communist countries, and habeas
Only official publications of that government,
written not for foreign consumption but for
that government's own minions and stu-
dents, are fully reliable.
Here is what one reads about Judaism
in the Short Philosophical Dictionary, pub-
lished by the government and considered a
standard guide for Soviet thought:
"Like any other religion, Judaism is un-
compromisingly hostile to science, and
preaches anti-scientific views on nature and
society. The rabbis were always enemies of
enlightenment and secular education, and
persecutors of progressive thought. Judaism
sanctifies social inequality and private own-
ership; it deifies the rule of kings and ex-
ploiters. In Judaism the role of spiritual
opium is played by the conceptions of life
in the hereafter, which have been carefully
developed by the rabbis: paradise for those
who obediently follow the reactionary in-
structions of the Jewish religion, and hell
for those who reject these instructions and
participate in the class struggle"
If this typical 'Communist description of
Judaism appeared in a lunatic fringe paper
in the United,States we would be outraged.
What must it be like to live in a land where
this is the customary government-sanctioned
view of the Jews' historic faith? What must
it be like to want to worship on a high holy
day, but not be able to do so because attend-
ance at religious services is not an acceptable
excuse for absence from work? What must
it be like to desire to participate in congre-
gational worship and to know that your chil-
dren are being taught in school that all re-
ligion is superstition and humbug, a hoax
perpetrated by hypocrites for their personal
benefit? How much incentive can there be
to serve as a rabbi, cantor, or shochet?
Among the myths that softened the atti-
tude toward the Soviet Union of free men,
and especially religionists, was the frequently
cited claim that religious freedom is guar-
anteed in the Soviet Union. One can hard-
ly expect honest semantics from the Com-
munists, who call autocratic bureaucracy
"democracy," -political brigandage "peace"
and bondage "freedom." But for internal
operations, when writing for their own infor-
mation, Communists' must in some situa-
tions state realities in correct terms, The
constitution of the U.S.S.R. reads: "Free-
dom of religious worship and of antireli-
gious propaganda is recognized for all citi-
zens." (That clause should be memorized
by everyone who wishe to discuss religion
behind the Iron Curtan.) "Worship" is
only one aspect of organized religion. Anti-
religious education is guaranteed; religious
education is not. Crippling limitations were
placed upon religious institutions by the So-
viet decree of religious associations, issued
on April 8, 1920, and still in effect.
Forbidden are: "(a) Use of any property in
their control for any other purpose except
the satisfaction of their religious needs; (b)
to assist their fellow members by giving
them material support; (c) the organization
of special meetings for children, youths, and
women for prayer purposes and Biblical,
needlework, and other meetings for the
teaching of religion; (d) groups, circles, and
departments, also the arranging of excur-
sions, to found libraries and reading rooms,
doubt, a resumption of official anti-Jewish to `organize san.itoriums and medical assist-
activities began in the fall of 1961 and in ance. In buildings used for prayer pur-
some, if not all, of the Iron Curtain countries poses, only such books may be kept which
Jews are in jeopardy. If they are religious are required in connection with the particu-
Jews, their situation is doubly precarious. lar cult,"
Occasionally we get a report from someone Thus, libraries, philanthropic work, ladies'
who visited an Iron 'Curtain country and auxiliaries, and religious schools and classes
spoke to lackeys of the Communist bureauc- are forbidden. Those who wish to worship
racy and to a few authentic Jews who were together must secure rental of a building
too frightened and intimidatefl to tell the from the government and pay for it. I do
truth. The traveler's report may prove noth- not know whether the government pays for
ing but his own gullibility, I doubt that the antireligious museums, but it has given
anyone oan obtain truth by consulting peo- utmost encouragement to societies of the
ple who dare not tell a stranger that which godless.
might displease their despotic government. That religion has survived among Jews be-
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A yeshivah called P:ol Jacob was opened
In Moscow on January 6, 1957, with 85 stu-
dents. It is a lamentable affair, shunted Into
small quarters, with a dwindling student
body, all incidentally from the Georgian Re-
public. There are now only 12 students. On
November 17, 1961, reports circulated that
the administrative council of the Yeshivah
was dissolved. This was denied. But whom
should we believe? The denial came from
two Communist jourr.altats who wrote re-
assuring reports. One said that he Inter-
viewed people at the synagogue where, near
the women's gallery, the yeshivah sessions
are held. He was assured that there was no
difticulr,y of any kind and nobody Interferes
with the affairs of the worshipers and the
students except foreigners. Is this a cor-
rect report or is the following true?
According to reliable informants, a Rus-
sian speaking Orthodos Jew, visiting Moscow,
asked one of the students in class about his
hometown. The young: man responded with
a panegyric of praise about the condition of
the Jews there. Later, as the visitor was
leaving, the student overtook him in a dark
corner of the courtyard and apologized for
his reply. None of it was true, he whispered.
but even among the students there might be
a stoolpigeon and he could not therefore say
how unbearable condit.ons really were.
The broad basic frets of cohlmunlsm's
hostility to religion ere clear and readily
discernible. The details vary. Religion and
the Jews fare better in the satellite coun-
tries than in the Sovie': Union but the satel-
lite countries have been Communist only 15
years or less. What on the International
scene could be of more Importance to clergy-
men than the antireligious activities of Com-
munists and their ideological war against
religion.? FQr Jews the, subject is of doubly
grave importance, since antireligious motiva-
tions enter into anti-Semitic manifestations.
Shall we protest or shall we be passive and
hope that the Communists will somehow
cease to be dialectical materialists, recognize
the values of religion End proclaim religious
liberty throughout their lands?
I submit that our first obligation is to
learn all we can on tale subject. What is
the relationship between Communist Ideol-
ogy and Communist conduct? What is the
ethic of communism and how does it differ
from that of Judaism', If courses on com-
parative religion are appropriate at theologi-
cal sentnarles, surely we should have com-
parative courses on J.idaism and commu-
nism in Jewish seminaries, and on Chris-
tianity and communis n in Christian theo-
logical schools. Clergymen should be Invited
to attend these courses
During the past seveial decades there have
been many sessions lasting 3, 4, or even 5
days under religious auspices where all man-
ner of current subjec-s were discussed by
clergymen and laymen but where commu-
nism was not given an hour of discussion.
I am well aware of the thesis that our task
is to build a perfect society in our own
locales and that we mue t pursue only affirma-
tive- programs. I challenge that theory. On
that basis neither religion nor Jews will
survive behind the Iron Curtain. Commu-
nists are not impressed by our virtues nor
moved to emulate our beliefs and practices.
The challenge they present to us has its
own theories, its own d?rnamism, and its own
unrelenting zeal. It asys to mankind, "Or-
ganized religion is a fraudulent scheme un-
hampered by theologici.l notions. You were
born to enjoy the me terial things of the
earth. Abandon religion and follow us and
you will have more and more of earthly sat-
isfactions"
Our religious institutions with their pul-
pits and classrooms, sisterhood, and men's
club programs, adult study courses, and
other facilities have not been adequately
used to acquaint our congregations with
the most important phase of the Communist
menace-what It does to man's desire and
opportunity to worship, to his spirit as a
child of God, to his aspiration to be some-
thing more than another animal. Thereare
aspects and phases of communism and the
cold war which need not concern the clergy.
Let others deal with them. But there are
areas of responsibility in reference to this
atheistic creed Which religious leaders should
not neglect because they are intertwined
with the survival of religion and with the
preservation of religious freedom. For the
rabbis. knowledge about communismp is man-
datory for the preservation of Judaism and
for the survival of Jews.
EDMUND WILSON AND UNCLE SAM
Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, a great
many events which normally would be
of interest to the American public are
necessarily bypassed by the press as it at-
tempts to pack the world into the "A
Section" or the 5-minute split. I should
like to call to the attention of my col-
leagues one such omission.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom
found its way last December into the
outstretched hand of sometimes literary
critic, Edmund Wilson, author of an ef-
fusion called "The Cold War and the
Income Tax : A Protest."
While it Is not unusual for authors
and critics to receive recognition from
the Chief Executive, I do feel there is
something questionable in a system
which extends such recognition to per-
sons with the predilections of Mr.
Wilson.
The first sentence of Mr. Wilson's tax
protest reads:
Between the years 1946 and 1955, I did not
tile any income tax returns.
It would not have taken extensive re-
search for the administration to have
been made privy to that surprising reve-
lation, and it is a fact, which in my mind
should bear rather strongly on Mr. Wil-
son's eligibility for the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
However, Mr. Wilson does not limit his
activities to the negative-to not paying
his income tax. He has some rather
caustic and "positive" words for the
country in which he lives. Not only that,
he expresses a desire, because of the pres-
sures of taxation, to leave the United
States for a nation which is less "oppres-
sive."
Richard Kluger, editor of Book Week,
published by the New York Herald
Tribune and associated papers, summed
up the purpose of Wilson's book this
way:
Passion--dominated a bitter broadside by
Edmund Wilson. In a thin book called "The
Cold War and the Income Tax: A Protest,"
he portrayed America as a bastille bristling
with unneeded weaponry, a witless capacity
for overkill, and an arsenal that costs the
taxpayer unconscionable sums. Why all the
billions for arms and a lunge at the moon
when the Nation is culturally so under-
nourished and so many of its citizens are
socially deprived?
What undermined the Wilson fusillade, be-
sides Its banal, offhand style, was its origin.
His corrosive remarks were prompted by a
nasty brush with the Internal Revenue Serv-
ice which reacted with some indignation
upon learning Wilson had neglected to pay
his income tax for a stretch. Annoyed at the
relentlessness of the tax people, Wilson tells
us in -effect that be decided the money he
owed the United States would have been
spent imprudently had he paid it and so his
oversight was hardly such a crime-that the
crime in fact was the Government's for its
power hunger and pandering to the people's
unwarranted fears of a benign Soviet Un-
ion-the words of Book Week magazine.
Although I cannot recommend the
Wilson book for its literary content, I
should like to read a few passages from
It. On page 41, we find this pithy state-
ment:
It may perhaps be wondered why a former
leftist. who in 1932, at the time of the great
depression, when the Communist Party was
legal, voted for the Communist candidates
in the presidential election and who voted
for Norman Thomas thereafter up to the
time when he ceased to run, should be mak-
ing so much fuss about State control,
On page 45, Wilson is critical of:
The FBI officials, who, on evidence equally
dubious, constructed the case against Alger
Hiss.
After some tortured reasoning and 118
Pages, Wilson finally arrived at some
conclusions:
The truth is that the people of the United
States are at the present time - dominated
and driven by two kinds of officially propa-
gated fear: fear of the Soviet Union and fear
of the income tax. These two terrors have
been adjusted so as to complement one an-
other and thus to keep the citizen of our
free society under the strain of a double
pressure from which he finds himself unable
to escape. If we fail to accept the tax, the
Russian buffalo will butt and trample us,
and if we try to defy the tax the Federal
bear will crush us (p. 91).
Later:
Tougher members of the population-
among upper and lower brackets-have pri-
vately taken the stand that they are damned
if they are going to lie down and take it
when they are persecuted and spied upon and
rooked by that son of a bitch Uncle Sam,
who pretends that he Is saving them from
those Russians that live half the world's
breadth away (pp. 94,95).
Still later:
But I am not going to let myself be sent
to Leavenworth * * * I have thought of es-
tablishing myself in a foreign country as my
lawyer friend suggested and as I thought
him rather absurd for suggesting. I do feel
that I must not violate the agreement I have
signed with the Government to surrender for
3 years longer all the income that I take in
above a certain taxable amount. My orig-
inal delinquency was due not to principle
but to negligence: but I now grudge every
penny of the imposition, and I intend to out-
maneuver this agreement, as well as the
basic taxes themselves by making as little
money as possible and so keeping below tax-
able levels. I have always thought myself
patriotic and have been In the habit In the
past of favorably contrasting the United
States with Europe and the Soviet Union;
but our country has become today a huge
blundering power unit controlled more and
more by bureaucracies whose rule is making
it more and more difficult to carry on the
tradition of American Individualism; and
since I can accept neither this power unit's
aims not the methods it employs to finance
them. I have finally come to feel that this
country, whether or not I continue to live
in it, is no longer any place for me.
So much for the sentiments of author
Wilson, who, with 33 other individuals,
was given the Presidential Medal of Free-
dom. The award went posthumously to
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