FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1948 THE MICHIGAN DAILY THE MICHIGAN DAILY FILIDAY, MAY 14, 1948 !I 1 'I PAID ADVERTISEMENT 4 4 * here We-11--re You on the Night of March 24, 1933? 1 i 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 1 S 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. s * 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. 41 i WRITE! WIRE! PHONE! TODAY! I i