FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1948
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
THE MICHIGAN DAILY FILIDAY, MAY 14, 1948
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PAID ADVERTISEMENT
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here
We-11--re
You on the
Night of
March
24,
1933?
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How old were you ... six..seven...old enough to read a newspaper?
When did words like "Hitler" and "Nazi" become meaningful to you?
Did you sense any loss as 66 million Germans surrendered their freedom?
TRY TO REMEMBER ... think back to the night of March
24, 1933. On that date, the German people became irrevocably
committed to a government based upon police terror and politi-
cal intimidation. On that date Adolph Hitler became the dic-
tator of Germany. As dictator, Hitler surpassed his previous
political roles--those of rabble-rouser, head of the National
Socialist (Nazi) Party and most recently as Chancellor of the
German Cabinet.
MANY GERMANS deplored the terrorism and brutality which
marked Hitler's political ascent. They resented the hysterical
appeals to hate and violence made by their fellow citizens who
called themselves the "true" Germans. But they did not protest
actively. They succumbed to the Hitler myth that strict mea-
sures were necessary to combat the "menace" of Communism.
OTHER GERMANS had fought Hitler from the start, as com-
munists, liberals and as trade unionists. These people, Un-Ger-
man by Hitler's standards, had urged united action against the
Nazi Party but it never came.
IT NEVER CAME because too many Germans were fooled.
They hoped that once the elimination of the political left had
been accomplished, their civil liberties would be reinstated.
They let the lie take root by refusing to act, while outside Ger-
many the rest of the world watched the fatal pattern of fascism
develop.
JANUARY 17, 1933. "The German government will feel it-
self justified in proceeding to arrange her military policy
in such a manner as to conform to her need of national
security." -New York Times, Jan. 17,1933
JANUARY 21, 1933. "Despite criticismr from large sections
of the metropolitan press, the police gave permission for
a Nazi demonstration which is regarded by conmmunist
workmen as severe provocation . . . Police are charged
with jeopardizing law and order."
-New York Times, Jan. 21, 1933
MARCH 3, 1933. "HITLER SUSPENDS REICH GUAR-
ANTEES; LEFT PRESS BANNED"
"EMERGENCY DECREE TO COMBAT COMMUN-
IST TERROR' VOIDS CONSTITUTIONAL SAFE-
GUARDS" -New York "Times, Mar. 3, 19.33
MARCH 14, 1933. "Reports of the torturing (by the Nazis)
of communists, socialists, radical and Jewish deputies,
newspapermen, lawyers and writers are printed daily in
the Vienna press." -New York Times, Mar. 14, 1933
MARCH 21, 1933. "Chief of Police Himmler of Munich
today informed newspapermen that the first of several
concentration camps will be established near this city soon
for the detention of thousands of communists, Marxists
and leaders of the Reichsbanner."
-New York Times, Mar. 21, 1933
MARCH 24, 1933. "VOTE DICTATORSHIP FOR HIT.
LER REGIME . . . The extermination of communism in
Germany would be one of the government's cardinal aims."
-New York Times, Mar. 24, 1933
THE PASSAGE of this "Enabling Act" on March 24, 1933,
placed the entire nation in the grasp of the most vicious ele-
ments in Germany. By then any effective opposition had been
crushed. It was too late to reconsider. There was no-turning
back.
Its
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We Americans Face a Decision No Less Momentous than the Germans Faced in 1933!
TODAY our country is being pushed to that last big step
toward fascism. The bipartisan House Un-American Corn-
mittee has called on Congress to consider the Mundt Bill,
HR-5852. It is the signal that the most extreme forces of
reaction are stepping up the drive toward World War III by
making a desperate bid for power.
WE AMERICANS hate war and fascism. When we all realize
what this bill means, we will rise in our wrath to defeat it. But
we must grasp its meaning and act quickly.
THIS BILL strikes at the living standards and democratic
rights of all Americans - on the pretext of "saving" them from
the Communists. This is a bill so evil that no differences of
opinion on any other issue can divide those who agree that
the Bill of lights must be saved.
T [he so-called "Subversive Activities Control Act of
1948" is as arrogantly scornful of the Constitution as the Com-
mittee that spawned it. It would nullify the First Amendment's'
guarantee of freedom of speech, thought, and association. It
would flagrantly violate the Fifth and Eighth Amendments.
It is a bill of attainder, singling out special groups and in-
dividuals for punishment.
It would suspend the right of habeaus corpus, and set
up concentrat.ion camps for the foreign-born. Citizenship would
no longer be the inalienable right of the American-born. YOU
could be robbed of your citizenship at the whim of a bigoted
official who held you guilty of "crime" under this monstrous
bill.
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* It would put Hitler's Big Lie of the communist "menace"
on the statute books. It would jail Communist Party lead-
ers, and any progressive described as a Communist. It would
make it a crime to advocate socialism, or, for that matter, any
social progress. Although the Communist Party is an Ameri-
can working-class party, and Americans have been studying and
teaching the science of Marxism for a hundred years - this
bill would decree that Communism shall be held a "criminal
conspiracy" and all advocacy of its immediate or long-range
objectives forbidden.
* It would demand that the Communist Party "register"
and turn over the names of its individual members to the F.B.I.
* It would similarly outlaw the "Communist front" organ-
izations already on Tom Clark's "verboten" list - and extend
that list until even the most mildly liberal groups were out-
lawed.
* It would carry further the wrecking of the trade unions,
begun by the Taft-Hartley Act. It would give legal status to
the Big Lie long used as a §trike-breaking weapon by the open-
shop employers. Under this bill, any strike in any industry
could be punished as a "criminal conspiracy."
* It would whip up a nation-wide lynching bee against the
Negro people. It would make it a crime to support such im-
mediate objectives of the Communists and of non-Communist
progressives as a federal anti-lynch law, repeal of the poll tax,
FEPC, or the abolition of Jim Crow in army and tivilian life.
FELLOW AMERICANS! This is the zero hour. However we
may differ among ourselves - about the Marshall Plan, or
America's future - we must act together now, or tomorrow
we shall no longer be free to express our disagreements.
THIS IS THE HOUR - for the united action of all liberty
loving people, regardless of their political beliefs. We Com-
munists are going to fight the Mundt Bill with all we've got.
But only if all who cherish democracy also get into this fight
can America be saved.
AT THIS VERY MOMENT, the Mundt Bill is being consid-
ered on the floor of the House of Representatives. Wire pto-
tests to your Congressman immediately, demanding the defeat
of this measure.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE have the strength, and still have
the time, to defeat this police state bill. But we must act to-
gether-and act NOW. Let us not, like the German people, be
forced to forge our unity in the night of fascist terror, and
fight for our freedom underground.
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WRITE!
WIRE!
PHONE!
TODAY!
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