Moral By JOHN EADIE WE STUDENTS want a better world. We want to be free of the continual threat of thermonuclear holocaust. We want to see nations emerge from the control of colonial or national despotic powers. We hope for the reforms which will allow people to live without poverty, suffering and exploitation. We desire the eradication of racial discrimination and prejudice. We want to see management and labor work together for their own mutual benefit, for that of the country and of the world. The question is what can we do to make these aspirations a reality? Moral Re-Armament is an ideology which has demonstrated that it is capable of doing this. It has a philosophy which is simple enough to be understood by everyone and applied by all. It is an ideology on which people of all races, classes, nationalities and religions can unite. Moral Re-Armament is based upon this idea: the solution to the world's problems lies in eliminating the greed, fear and hate that create them, first on personal and then on national levels. It is neces- sary to change oneself, change others, reach the millions and thus take it to nations. MRA challenges every man to play his part in this strategy by making the four moral standards - absolute honesty, ab- solute purity, absolute unselfishness and absolute love - the criteria for his living, by accepting God as the controlling force in his life and then by inspiring others to do the same. These principles are in harmony with the basic tenets of all creeds and thus MRA provides a basis upon which men of all faiths can unite. His Grace Bernardus Kaelin, Abbot Primate of the Benedic- tine Order from 1947 to 1959, explains, "It is not a religion, nor a substitute for religion. It is not a sect. It has four mighty pillars upon which human living must be based. Every man must accept these ideas if he is honest with himself." MRA also is not an organization which can be joined. It is a way of life which demands the total commitment of a man's time, energy and talents. IT WAS initiated in 1908 by the late clergyman Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman when he realized that the bitterness he harbored for the six directors of the boys' home he had headed was as wrong as their mismanagement of the hospice had been. He apologized to the six men for his bitterness. That same day he took a long walk with a Cambridge Univer- sity student and told him of his action. This student in turn decided to change the basic motives of his life. From that day until his death in 1961, Dr. Buchman devoted himself to chang- ing men's motives. As a result, thousands of men and women have accepted his challenge. They include people from every race, class, creed and nationality. Among Re-Armament: An A Personal Re-Evaluation Starts A Chain of World-Wide Reforms them are industrialists like Frits Philips, president of Philips Electric in Holland, and labor leaders like John Riffe, vice- president of the CIO before its merger with the AFL. Riffe said from his death- bed in reference to disputes settled with- out strikes, "You must tell America that whenFrank Buchman changed John Riffe, he saved the country 500 million dollars." African Nationalists and educators from many countries also have accepted the challenge. Philip Vundla, once regard- ed by the police as "the most dangerous man in South Africa," is now the elected leader of 600,000 Africans in Johannes- burg. R. Vaitheswaran, a lecturer in econ- omics at an Indian university, was for- merly a member of the Indian Communist Party who as a result of his convictions spent two years in jail for his part in an armed uprising. He is one of many Communists who have accepted MRA. These people have found that MRA provides a better solution to the world's problems than does Communism. This was demonstrated in the German coal and steel center of the Ruhr. An MRA- trained force took .a play to this area in 1949 when the Communists had 72 per cent control of the industrial works coun- eils. The MRA men won many Commun- ists to their ideology, and in four years the Communist control in the works councils had dropped to eight per cent. Max Bladeck, a coal miner who had been a Communist for twenty-five years and was head of his works council stated, "To- day I fight with Moral Re-Armament be- cause it is not against communism or against capitalism: it goes to the root of evil and changes man, who is the cause of the failure of any system." THE RUHR solution is one of many examples of the role MRA has played in resolving national and international problems. In 1958 the Island of Cyprus was in turmoil. The British were fighting against the Greek and Turkish inhabi- tants to keep control of the island, while at the same time the Greeks and Turks were fighting each other for leadership of the revolutionary struggle. In this sit- uation, men who had applied the stand- ards of MRA to their lives fought for a peaceful settlement. A Turkish editor went to Athens and said in an article which appeared throughout the Greek press that his country and Greece were meant to live as brothers and not as ene- mies. John McGovern, a Labor member of the British Parliament for twenty-nine years, apologized to Archbishop Makarios, leader of the Greek community on Cyprus and the country's present president, for the actions in which he felt that he and his country had been wrong. Zenon Rossides, an assistant to the Archbishop, went to see British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and apolo- gized to him for the loss of life on the island. As a result of this conference, the groundwork was laid for the Zurich settle- ment which led to the island's independ- ence in 1960. There were also many other people who helped create the atmosphere in which the settlement was made, and their efforts helped make possible the unity of the two communities. Today, the Greeks and Turks are ruling the island together. Rossides, who became the first delegate to the United Nations and first ambas- sador to Washington from the new Re- public, said, "If there is a case where the spirit of Moral Re-Armament has worked successfully, it is certainly the case of Cyprus . . . Indeed, it is that spirit that brought about settlement in a case which seemed hopeless of solution, even by force." JAPAN is another country in which Moral Re-Armament has proved effec- tive. In 1957, one hundred leaders of the four and a half million strong youth or- ganization, the Seinendan, were invited to Russia for ideological training. Dr. Buchman countered this bid by Moscow by inviting the leaders to the MRA train- ing center on Mackinac Island, Michigan. One hundred and two came to this country and only seven went to Moscow, in spite of the fact that in 1956, 70 per cent of the Seinendan's Central Commit- tee had followed the Communist line in policy decisions. After three months at Mackinac, during which they underwent drastic moral clean-up, the Japanese re- turned home and spread their new ideas to the Seinendan membership. As a result of their work, an article ap- peared in the policy magazine of the Central Committee of the Japanese Com- munist Party which stated, "In 1957 the American imperialists, through the no- torious Moral Re-Armament, invited well over a hundred executive leaders of the Seinendan to the United States, serious- ly worked on them ideologically, and suc- ceeded to a large extent in retarding the Seinendan work." During the past three years not a single Communist has been elected to the Central Committee of the Seinendan; the president, vice-president, general secretary and several other exec- utive officers are MRA-trained. Because of this leadership the four and a half million members did not partici- pate in the June, 1960, riots which pre- vented President Dwight D. Eisenhower from visiting Japan and almost toppled the Kishi government. According to the president of the organization, "If the nswer Seinendan had joined the riots last June, the history of Japan would have been dif- ferent. Because of Moral Re-Armament the Seinendan stood firm and democracy was saved." The riots were led by another youth or- ganization, the Zengakuren. Soon after the riots, several of its leaders were in- vited to attend a conference at the MRA training center in Caux, Switzerland. There they decided to apply the four moral standards to their lives and to fight for the ideology of MRA. They then wrote a play, "The Tiger," which tells of their experience in the riots, the Communist exploitation of the riots, and the new ideology they found. Upon the invitation of national leaders, they took their play through Europe and then to the United States. In California they apologized to Eisenhower for the riots. After hearing their convictions and the story of their play, he said, "I am one hundred per cent with you in this fight. I wish you would take this play to South America." FOLLOWING his request, they took "The Tiger" to Latin America. In five months over a million people in theaters and football stadiums saw the play and heard the students' challenge. More than twenty million 'others were reached through television. Among the audiences was a group of students from San Marcos University in Lima, Peru, the site of the riot in which Vice-President Richard M. Nixon was stoned. They accepted the challenge of the Japanese. As Enrique Tamashiro, a "Fidelista" leader from the Economics Faculty stated, "We faced the reality about Latin America and about ourselves. We realized that we talked about dignity and justice, but we were just as dirty as the society we criticized. The problem is neither communism nor capitalism. It is the materialism that rules men and na- tions who have forgotten God. There is a need for revolution and therefore we have decided to commit our lives to the remaking of the world, beginning with ourselves." These students wrote a-second play, "El Condor," depicting life in Latin America and the solution of the problems of their people which they had found through MRA. Early in 1962 the leaders of Recife, the northeastern port of Brazil which President John F. Kennedy described at that time as the most critical spot in all of South America, invited them to pre- sent their play there. Several months previously the Japanese had presented "The Tiger" - in Recife. As a result of the work of the Japanese and the Latin Americans, the director of the port co-operative was able to report that "Looting and pilfering are going out of fashion. Honesty has come in, so that prices of staple foods have been able to be cut by 35 per cent." Fathers have stopped their drinking and gambling and are now bringing home more money for their families. They have all found hope and purpose, and alcoholism has been cut in half. The change brought to the docks of Recife is an example of Moral Re-Arma- ment's capacity to solve the problems of the iodern world. Its simple philosophy has made it a basis upon which people of all races, classes, nationalities and re- ligions can unite to work together for a new world. Its effectiveness has been proven many times. MRA helped break the Communists' control of the works councils of the Ruhr. It helped bring peace to Cyprus. In Japan it was instru- mental in preventing the Communists from gaining control of the four and a half million member Seinendan organiza- tion. This meant that the organization re- fused to be part of the riots aimed at overthrowing the government. MRA has also won over revolutionary students of Japan and South America. These stu- dents have inspired the lives of millions. Now we American students have the challenge before us: to'make the better world we want. We must take it up. John Eadie is a sophomore major- ing in history and mathematics who spent last summer working in the Moral Re-Armament f i I m studio on Mackinac Island, Mich. Whether Looking to the Past or Future, There Is a Si Rdcalsm TeSach o t~ By DAVID MARCUS RADICALISM is the search for utopia. As opposed to moderate, liberal or conservative politics, radicalism demands scrapping or thoroughly redefining the basic values of a society. It may look backwards to the days of monarchy or laissez-faire or forward to the promise of a egalitarian or regulated society; but radicalism, by definition, is always deeply opposed to the status quo. As one would expect, radicalism flour- ishes in times of stress, in periods when overwhelming problems face a society and confidence in older methods and values has been destroyed. The depression saw a tremendous wave of Communist and Fascist activities in both the United States and Europe. The turmoil of post- war conditions saw powerful Communist parties emerging in many parts of 'the world including France and Italy. But radicalism is not confined to Com- munism and Fascism. The John Birch Society, although definitely not Fascistic in the same sense as the German Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler, is in fact asking a major upheaval in American society. Left- ist groups advocating disarmament and equal rights for Negroes, if successful, would certainly cause major shifts in American life. Obviously, this does not reflect on the logical validity of any of these causes. It only points to the conse- quences of their programs and their place in the political spectrum. The participants in radical movements are the displaced and the alienated. These are the individuals who feel that the so- ciety has given them a raw deal, that they are not occupying a position in the economic or social structure equal to their importance. These are the individuals who will seek the new society. THE FAR EXTREMES - Communism and Fascism--have not made a great deal of progress in the United States. Part of the reason is that the displacement of individuals and classes from positions of power has come more slowly in the 1950's and '60's than in periods and countries where these movements have been pop- ular or successful. German Nazism suc- ceeded largely because of the support of middle-class white collar and professional people who found their lives suddenly wrecked by the depression. Nazism pro- vided, in its anti-labor, anti-big business appeal, a Utopian alternative for the creation of a society in which these ele- ments would be dominant. Similarly. Communism with its exaltation of the working man, has met success in coun- tries where the aspirations of the work- ing man or peasant have not been ade- quately recognized or have been overtly suppressed. In each of these cases, Com- munism and Fascism have provided an alternative value system to those who feel the status quo is inherently stacked against them. In America, it is interesting to note that Communism does not seem to be a work- ing class movement. The political and so- cial aspirations of workers has been rec- ognized as legitimate and through unions Lincoin Rockwell: leader of many causes. they have managed to achieve some de- gree of power. The state of overt Fascism is probably as bad. While there are cer- tainly displaced middle class people in the United States, their situation is not as bad as that of their German counter- parts during the depression. More powerful and certainly more ac- tive are groups like the John Birch So- ciety. The Birch Society is radical. What separates it from the ultra-ideologies is its traditionalism. It seeks to return to an earlier state of society. It asks a laissez- faire approach in economics. It asks a re- turn to traditional use of military force in settling international disputes. It asks total victory in the cold war in the same sense that the Allies achieved total victory against Fascism in World War II. It does not advocate a utopia that might be; it asks a return to the idealized values of the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen- turies. There is no indication within the Birch Society of an anti-big business or an anti-semitic attitude so characteristic of Fascism. HOWEVER BIRCHISM does seem to ap- peal to the same groups as Fascism. Very likely, most of the members of the Birch Society are middle class small busi- nessmen and rural gentry. These are the individuals whose power as a group has been slipping steadily. In a society dom- inated by large bureaucratic organiza- tions, both those of big business and big labor, it is this group that has been slighted most. For the most part, Republi- cans have accepted the welfare state. For the most part, Democrats have no great quarrel with big business. Where then are largely disorganized individuals who are losing ground in both parties to find a means of political expression? The Birch Society is a reaction to bureaucratization. What the Birchers seek to do is to change the tone of American politics. They see a dichotomy: there are conserva- tives and then there are Socialists who are leading the United States down the primrose path to Communism. America is losing ground in the fight against Com- munism, they say. Their resentment against the so-called "establishment" is expressed by calling it a gigantic con- spiracy of left-wingers who are sympa- thetic to the aims of the Soviet Union. Although this is only a sketchy picture of the beliefs of the Society, it clearly demonstrates the utopian aims of the group. Regardless of whether one would like to live in this utopia, it is a society in which heroes like Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller are restored and stand as symbols of opportunity. It is a state where political dissent is minimized and econom- ic freedom maximized. It is a state where older ideals of no compromise diplomacy and the interests of the United States over everything, even in the face of nu- clear war, predominate. Any attempt to criticize the Birchers is a "smear" against "an effective anti-Communist" and pro- American group. THERE ARE, of course, many other far rightist groups dedicated to causes ranging from the abolition of the gradu- ated income tax to promoting a revision of American diplomatic and military pol- icy. The Birch Society is the most vocal and probably the largest of these groups. In general, they have worked within the structure of the two existing political par- ties, trying to promote conservative and rightist candidates wherever they may ap- pear. Their inability to move outside of the already existing political structures is indicative of their inability to capture large segments of American public opin- ion. The broad spectrum of political opin- ion present within each party has also prevented rightists from gaining direct political power of any significance. The Birchers are certainly vocal: but their position as a minority both within the so- ciety and within the political structure of the two parties has definitely minimized their influences. Radical leftism is a more difficult sub- ject to explore thing, there is r the left which mind to the deg: has on the rig groups of any fine their aims segregation and few that present ical leftist actic the economic pr left has been ful ly radical in thi or slightly left Another majc ism is not really munism in the ment of almost r which through American histol downs, is almos erals are on tli additional welfa for Negroes and gram of radical most radical lef1 in the political s same measures 4 radical leftist er of the present state, academic f sible interpretat equality of oppc which the radic involved. TO THE DEGI carried to tli left is radical. tives would nec society. Some ap way, and integr in its economic to the South, 1 Others, like disa erate. Certainly an effective disa be drastic if it ei Certainly this tially utopian ir ciples be carried ing rather than steps towards th Radicalism, th left, is not in There are vocal neither has man of power in gov But the domi politics is still tI The radical rig] The radical left specific inequitie international aff Vocal as they : seem to be liste David Marcs ing in English The Daily. 1 and city pol number of functions am with its found Crowds gather in Peru to view "The Tiger." Two views of integration; HUAC supporters. THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1962-