THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 152 Anti-Red Referendum * * * * * * AFTER AN existence of only five months, WITHIN THE past week, tw the Civil Liberties Committee has reached ganization, the Civil Libe the critical question which so many liberal tee and the Students for Dem organiza.ions must ask themselve3 today. have faced a problem which is is it necessary for a liberal o Can an organization work effectively to pre- take a firm stand against Con serve civil liberties, while, at the same time, Fascists and if so, how? permit those who seek destruction of those Tuesday night the SDA gro liberties to remain within its r.nks? constitution which specificall the club rejects any asso At a meeting this coming Thursday, the "Communists, fascists or oth CLC will vote on an amendment to .:s con- lans." stitution, which, because c.° its clarity and Tonight the CLC will vote directness needs littje explanation. The tution amendment which stir amendment reads as follows stand on civil liberties must "While the Civil Liberties Committee does and that the group feels th not make any test of opinion on political Communists and Fascists ino or economic questions a condition of mem- the concept of civil liberties. bership, and makes no distinction in de- Many see such constitution fending the right to hold and utter any opin- liberal organizations as illiber ion; its membership, nevertheless, is proper- They argue that "In a libera ly subject to the test of consistency in the everyone should be allowed defense of civil liberties in all aspects and matter what his views are." all places. . But this does not follow." reacon why a political groupn "That consistency is inevitably compro- political instrument to those mised by persons who champion civil liberties pare diametrically opposed to in the United States, and yet who justify the group. the denial of civil liberties by dictatorships abroad. Such a dual position makes it de- However as a liberal group, sirable that the Civil Liberties Committee must be willing to protect ther makes its position unmistakably clear, political enemies to form the cal instruments. "The Civil Liberties Committee therefore Thus, a liberal group is per holds it inappropriate for any person to in denying Communists memb be a member of this organization, who is a the same time justifies its own member of any other organization which protecting the civil rights of C supports totalitarian aspects of any coun- In the CLC objection to the try, or who by his public declarations in- which would make this dis dicates his support of such a principle, or taken three forms. First, s who' belongs to any native organizations group refuse to take a stand with obvious anti-democratic objectives or Communist's inconsistency re practices. liberties. Second, many eel 'o campus or- rties Commit- aoratic Action, nationide- rganization to mmunists and oup passed a y stated that ciation with her totalitar- on a consti- pulates that a be consistent, he position of onsistent with nal policies of al themselves. i organization to speak, no There is no must open its whose ideals the ideals of the members rights of their ir own politi- fectly justified bership, but at ,n existence by Communists, amendment, tinction, has some in the d against the garding civil that such a Speaker's Ban ABNER Greene and Arthur McPhauL, the two speakers tentatively banned by the University Lecture Committee, have both r,,fused to state whether or not they were or have been Communists. McPha1 commented that he was up- holding ;he constitution by not answering and Greene refused to submit to the "in- timidation and ignoring of rights" that the question represented to him. Signifi- cantly, however, they were both willing to say :hat they did not "advocate the overthrow of the government." The public still wonders, though, about the Communist issue. They surmise that because' Greene and McPiaul will not answer this question, they are Communists. They can- not see why a person will not defend him- self of the charge of Communism. This wording is intentional, because Communism is a charge against a person. It is important to consider that today the American people feel that the act of >eing a Communist is synonomous with desiring the overthrow of the American government by whatever methods Russia and the Communist Party are able to use. One may charge that this is an illiberal attitude; a violation of civil rights-of the concept that a man is not guilty until proven so, but the public is not in a mood for any such debate. They see a Communist threat. They see it in Russia, in Communist China, in North Korea, in all the intrigue that has gone into making Eastern Europe a Red satellite. And now they see it in alb- leged Communist front organizations, in activities of Alger Hiss and William Reming- ton, and in the growing revelations of Com- munist activities throughout the country. This attitude of the American public is reflected in lecture committees and loyalty oaths. It is reflected in the University Lec- Lure Committee's action in barring these men from campus until more is known about their speaking plans. The public does not want the University to become a sound- ing board for every organization which is formed to propagandize against American institutions. With Greene a member of two organi- zations branded Communist fronts by the Attorney General and having spent six months in jail for contempt of court in a Communist case, it would be naive to as- sume without further evidence that his speech would not be subversive. The same holds true for McPhaul who is also a mem- ber of one of the groups on the Attorney General's list and who refused to answer questions or produce requested records in Un-American Activities Committee hear- ings in Detroit. As long as people see the threat of Com- munism around them, as long as they realize that their civil liberties are imperiled by those who hide under the civil liberties issue, as long as they understand that inter- nal vigilance as well as strong armies are necessary for the defense of America, they will reject the Red fronts and people who back them as being unfit to exist in America. They will not be hoodwinked by subversives who hide behind "liberalism" to poison America. -Harry Lunn *. Z tteP3 tO th~ 6it[or "We regard any regime whatever its form as totalitarian if it denies such basic freedoms as: freedom of speech, of press, of religion, of voluntary association, and the other liberties guaranteed under the consti- tution of the United States, or which permits arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, or punish- ment without a fair ahd open trial. "We recognize that these liberties have been endangered in all countries including our own (in fact that is the very reason for our existence as an organization) but in non- totalitarian countries these rights can be op- enly championed against attack. Experience has shown that under any form of dictator- ship, no matter how disguised and no matter what its variety, these rights cannot be in- dicated or maintained." By disregarding the need for such a posi- tive statement as this the CLC will in- evitably take the path of other liberal or- ganizations who have sought to distin- guish between the tyranny of communism and fascism; a path that has but two des- tinations-inconsistency in purpose and infiltration by Communists. It is urgent that all members of the Civil Liberties Committee come to its next meeting to insure that the group take a stand that will make its position as clear and forthright as the above amendment permits. clause would only add to the hysteria and "witch hunting" and third, that such a provision would mean little since it can- not be enforced. The first group can easily be disputed if we define civil liberties as freedom of speech, press, assembly, choice in politics-freedoms which must exist for all in all places. There is little doubt that a dictatorship, whether it be in Spain or Russia, denies these very basic human rights. One who fights for civil liberties in this country, but justifies the existence of a dictatorship elsewhere can hardly be called a consisten liberal. The charges of "witch hunting" and "un- enforceable" are more reasonable. If a policy of rejecting totalitarians were to be enforced by "purging" the membership it would in- deed be falling into the hands of the "witch hunters." Thus, the policy can not be en- forced by the technique of explusion. Therefore the only "teeth" in such state- ments is that they become a firm declara- tion of belief and impose on prospective members the resolution that the group takes as axiomatic its members disbelief. in any form of totalitarianism. If the CLC is to be an effective liberal organization it must take a calm but firm stand against Fascists and Communists, and pass the amendment tonight. -Alice Bogdonoff Both Sides . . To the Editor: ARE WE insecure of our demo- cratic principles? Insecure people try to suppress that which doesn't fit in their nice and simple pattern of living. It is insecurity which motivates people in respon- sible positions to "hear no evil, see no evil, and think no evil." Trying to maintain an open viewpoint in these times is diffi- cult, for many, like the recruit on his first guard-duty detail, see Communists lurking behind every tree, while others martyr any cause which is backed by the "reaction- aries," no matter how justifiable the case. I am anxious to avoid both extremes of the. political pen- dulum thus preventing the totali- tarianism of both communism and fascism. Our greatest danger today was Germany's danger in the Twenties and early Thirties. The Sparti- cists, Marxists with violent de- signs toward government, threat- ened the security of the nation al- ready shaken by economic distress. The backdoor was left open for a small group of terrorists who claimed they were for an economi- cally secure Germany free from the Red Menace as well as the Cartel Interests, both characteriz- ed through vile propaganda as the Jewish element. Thus by centering public hostility toward one ficti- tious group, Communist-Capital- ists Jews, Hitler was able to turn the public's attention away from his design of capturingthe reins of government, which he did by using the constitutional emergency powers granted to the executive by the Weimar Constitution, actually a most democratic document. Hence we must watch both our front and back doors. Treason and espionage must be conclusively proved and action should then be taken. Hysterical accusations take our attention away from those throwing the accusations. In con- clusion, let us hear all arguments without fearing a breakdown in our democratic system. Our prin- ciples are valid, flexible and worthy enough to stand up against any idealistic jargon as long as open thinking minds can weigh both sides. -Paul Reznolph Explanations .. . To the Editor: THE FACTS about Abner Green disagree with a number of statements made in the editorial: "The Speakers and the Commit- tee." First, the article states Green's "contribution to the campus scene would be dubious." Actually, Green could make a definite contribution to the campus. The fact that the State Department is attempting to denaturalize 1200 citizens, and at- tempting to deport 3400 foreign- born residents, is of concern to ev- eryone. Secondly, the article states that the invitation to Green "was rail- roaded through the CLC." Actu- ally, there was quite a bit of dis- cussion, and the general sentiment was that the CLC should not hesi- tate to ask Green to speak on the rights of the foreign-born, inas- much as this subject came under the sphere of interest of the CLC. The invitation was approved by a large majority. Thirdly, the article states Green "is a member of two organizations branded subversive by the Attor- ney General." The Attorney Gen- eral's list of so-called subversive organizations, however, has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court in The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee versus Mc- Grath, 341 US 123. The Court in- dicated that the list was made in violation of democratic procedure. Fourthly, the article states that there is doubt whether Green is an author, lecturer, and lawyer. Green is not a lawyer, but secures lawyers for the foreign-born. The person who prepared the CLC pe- tition to the Lecture Committee was misinformed on this fact. Green is an author, having pub- lish" ed "The Deportation Terror" in 1950, and "The Deportation Drive" in 1951. He publishes a weekly column called "This Week" in many national language papers, such as the Armenian Tribune, the Greek Tribune, Vilnis (Lithuani- an), Glosludowy (Polish), etc. Green is also a lecturer, and has spoken in Cleveland, Detroit, Chi- cago, St. Louis, Duluth, New York, etc. He is now on a nation-wide speaking tour. -Ethel Schechtman Un-AAC must go... To the Editor: "EMOTIONAL, emotional," mut- ters Barnes Connable on the editorial page of Sunday's Daily. rrl~i, ;. Af rn s-- o- c- vto n// -.- - - .-. 'S __§ -. Cc-; ,w e±. -Bernard Backhaut CIINIEMA At The Orpheui .. . THE BROWNING VERSION starring Michael Redgrave. IT MUST be said about this film that no play could ask for a better screen trans- lation. "The Browning Version," however, while top-notch in technical achievement (and by this I mean acting, directing and general production, as well as strictly "tech- nical" aspects) suffers basically from faults inherent in the story itself. Describing the spiritual regeneration of Mr. Crocker-Harris (Michael Redgrave), a hardened, semi-human classics instruc- tor in an English boarding school, the picture just barely misses a stark impres- siveness. Through 15 years of teaching Crocker-Harris had been withdrawing more and more inside himself, driven by the flippant unresponsiveness of his stu- dents and the malicious hatred of his wife, until, as he put it, "my soul is dead." I must admit, though the picture left me somewhat unsatisfied, it was overall of such a high caliber that the faults must be con- sidered on the same plane. For about the first half, I was not yet sure who the pro- tagonist was to be; by the time this was made clear, and the character of Mrs. Crocker-Harris disclosed, there were several auxiliary conflicts holding prominent posi- tions in the plot. These conflicts, and the persons involved in them, never received the attention which they seemed to demand. While Crocker-'Harris was more interest- ing, pcrhaps because of his enigmatic per- sonality. I feii some resentment at having everything work out so painlessly between his wife and. her lover and, as a matter of fact, for the old fellow himself. His reas- sertion came too easily, too promptly and happily after the rigid ingrowth posited at the t-'ginning. The final moments of the * Net Much Change In Temperature.. ." A ~O Dj A . - ASSAAA LAST NIGHT at Lydia Mendelssohn Mozart's effervescent "Don Giovanni" completely captured a capacity house with its tragi-comic richness and fullness. After a ragged performance of the over- ture, which threatened a shaky produc- tion, the soloists and orchestra picked up the spirit of fun and maintained it throughout the rest of the evening. The orchestra seemed to lack precision, failing to convey the foreboding quality of the opening strains. The capable cast relaxed after the initial first-scene stiffness, acting and singing out Mozart's exciting music. The Department of Speech and School of Music managed ex- bellently to stage this rather complex and difficult opera, producing an overall impres- sion of dramatic integration. To meet the problem of ten rapid scene changes the stage crew expertly employed effective cut- out drops and low levels. John Wiles, with a gusty smile and Don Juan leer, was every bit the romantic deceiver he should have been in the lead- ing role of Don Giovanni. His false tender- ness in the second scene duet (La ci darem in the original Italian) seduced both the innocent peasant Zerlina and the recep- tive audience. He was equally convincing switching to a mood of terror as he de-{ scended to the fiery depths of hell in the final scene. His firm reliable baritone voice remained * Strategy of *A ttrtion WAR IS A grm business. Its object is al- ways to destroy the enemies will and ability to fight. In today's "cold war" terms: to destroy an aggressor's will and ability to commit aggression., In conventional war the grimness is some- times toned down for the home front. For its ebb and flow are reported largely in terms strong throughout and kept up the swift pace of the fabulous lover's adventures. Wiles' generally faultless intonation and poise rescued Mozart's occasional over- drawn passages. Although the acting of Grace Ravesloot and Frank Porretta, as Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, was frequently stilted, their flexible voices more than made up for this. Miss Ravesloot's vocal performance was the most impressive of any of the soloists'. Her sheer purity of tone and pitch enabled her to handle easily even the most trying arias. Porretta, who shows amazing promise, had these same qualities, and capably por- trayed Anna's sincere lover. His lyric tenor voice was aptly suited to Ottavio's melo- dious arias. Leporello, Giovanni's mischievous servant, was sung by Dale Thompson. In contrast to Miss Ravesloot and Porretta, his acting was unsurpasesd; but unfortunately his voice lacked the comic richness which the role demands. This was perhaps most evi- dent in the catalogue aria, in which he ad- mirably caught the humor of the scene but failed to add the necessary musical fullness. However, the total effect of his efforts pro- duced one of the most enjoyable characters in the opera. In perhaps one of the most difficult roles, Suzanne Hendrian effectively assumed the role of the rejected love Donna Elvira. Betty Ohlheiser and James Fudge as Zerlina and Masetto, the peasant bridal couple, were charming and delightful. By clever lighting .nd unusual staging the last scene assumed the proper climactic pro- portions, heightening the impact of the hor- ror of Giovanni's fall. This grand and im- pressive finale was weakened considerably by the anticlimax of the last episode when the soloists returned to the front of the stage and proclaimed the story's moral. In spite of these few weaknesses, in total the production did justice to Mozart's elo- quence and genius. AARss -. jobs; it has done all it could to outlaw, bynon-judicial means, a. political party. What actions of Mr. McPhaul's disturbed Mr. Con- nable? Mr. McPhaul objected strenuously to the Committee. Come now, Mr. Connable. You, like Mr. McPhaul, have under- stood the great danger of the Committee. If you want to sug- gest better ways than his to op- pose it, go ahead! Let's have them! I'm on your side; Mr. Mc- Phaul is on your side; a good-sized portion of the population of Mich- igan is on your side. When we see the Committee doing its best to destroy freedom of conscience and political action in the state-that's the time for united protest. It's no time to be afraid to be forceful. It's no time to sit around grumbling feebly that one's allies are saying the right thing with ungentlemanly vehemence. Say what has to be said: The Committee is a menace. The Com- mittee must go.i -H.L. Durant * * * Fight Fire With .. . To the Editor: FACETIOUSLY I cannot help but wonder if recruitment of- ficers of the local Communist "cells" have not paid visits to the authors of recent articles appear- ing in The Daily condemning the House Un - American Activities Committee, and their recent visit to Detroit. There is no doubt ,mn my mind that any such offers of membership would have been readily repelled by the respective writers, but in all seriousness I do not consider the current remarks made by the opposition to the Committee's investigations as be- ing in the best sense of loyalty or logic The opposition to this commit- tee's work is a prototype of the attempted debunking of Senator Joe McCarthy. In all reality, this gentleman has probably stepped on a few innocent toes, but in all fairness we must conclude that he has brought to the limelight the seriousness of the domestic Com- munist threat, and has done so in such a way that few of us can deny our concern for the Com- munist problem. For those who condemn the House Un - American Activities Committee, for their possible in- fringement on the rights of privacy and testimony guaranteed under the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, only let me say that . . . the judicial process is not perfect; we all agree to that; but would it be better to abolish it for its few mistakes and let all criminals go free, for fear that prosecution would occasionally harm a few who were innocent? ... I doubt very seriously that any completely innocent man or wom- an has yet been accused as a Com- munist Party member by the Com- mittee. I am confident that Rep. Potter of Michigan would not knowingly accuse a person of such dealings, with forged documents or puppet testimony. As more and more testimony comes through the Committee hearings, I too fear that some in- nocent person is eventually liable to injury. It is my firm conviction however, that the same Statesmen who framed the Constitution in 1787, would be the first today to step forward and bypass it slight- ly in these emergency conditions; to fight fire with fire; to expose the very people who would abolish the righlts which today protect them. V7 lence." Quite so. But the question is a rather academic one, as no speaker is likely to do that to a university audience and, if he did, he might need the protection of the police! It is a very different thing to say that no one shall speak on other topics who belongs to an organization which has ever advocated such action. Shelley, Godwin, Tolstoy and Nietzsche were all anarchists; some anarch- ists have been assassins; would we not like to have heard one of those four discuss some literary or philosophic topic? Why should not a Communist talk on race re- lations or Marxian economics or peace with Russia? , Second, students will be led away into communism. That is to imply either that the communist doctrine is so strong that no one must be allowed to hear it, or that, students are so weak that they have no power of resistance even to the most fallacious arguments. Frankly, I believe that the com- munist arguments are weak and that the students are mentally much stronger. The proper answer to false propaganda is simply the statement of the truth. Third, that the university might be disgraced by charlatans, dema- gogues, mountebanks, who would be advertised as having spoken on the Michigan campus. That could happen. But it gives such persons fifty times the advertisement to be barred from the Michigan cam- pus, and the resulting publicity has never been of advantage to the university. The university may well 6e careful as to whom it in- vites under its official auspices: but merely talking to a student group on the campus is a very dif- ferent matter. One is like an edi- torial in a newspaper or magazine, an official declaration; the other is like a letter to the editor to which the paper merely allows space. No sane person holds the Detroit Free Press or News respon- sible for every crackpot letter that appears in its columns. On the whole, the "prestige risk" of bar- ring speakers is much greater than that of letting them appear. -Preston 'Slosson * * * SL Solution... To the Editor: LET ,US examine Crawford Young's major thesis, that in the future we are likely to have a mediocre SL, lacking in dynamic leadership. Crawford might be right. Yet his view apes that of the oldster who since civilization got under- way looked around him and con- cluded that "the younger genera- tion has gone to the dogs." I confess that during some semesters during my five years on SL I viewed with some appre- hension the election of new offi- cers and SL's prospects for the future. On each occasion it was rewarding to watch our members rise admirably to their responsi- bilities in SL and carry forward its development and expansion. It is true, as the editorial points out, that the veterans and their influence on the campus have largely departed and SL members are younger and less experienced than those of a few years ago. The solution, I submit, is not only to encourage the best quali- fied people to run for SL but to also give those members the tools to work with. To correct the weaknesses he foresees for the future, Crawford Young might encourage SL to do the following: 1. Codify its present functions Group Dynamics on the campus, as a regular part of the Univer- sity structure marks, in my opin- ion, probably the greatest failure of those of us on SL in prior years. The stimulus of the training in effective group membership which such a program could provide would be of inestimable value to SL and the campus; perhaps our best safeguard against Crawford's anticipated mediocrity. -Tom Walsh * * * To the Editor: THAT periodical room in the Library could be ever so much more effective if 'twere easily ac- cessible. There ought to be a "glass tent" or one story building for periodicals. It could straddle several walks which would pass through it in arcades. Such a place where you could drop in or leave with little formality. As to cost-it is merely a mat- ter of comparing the storing of relatively unread material or of having to replace our periodicals because they get worn out through perusal. -Thure Rosene UMT... To the Editor: LITLE campus mention has been given to Universal Mili- tary Training legislation now be- fore Congress. A vote is expected this week and if students are to effectively protest, it must.be done now. Some of the facts of the bill as reported in The Christian Cen- tury are: 1) All 18 year-olds are to re- ceive 6 months of military train- ing. 2) Seven and one-half more years in the active reserve. 3) Refresher course for two weeks each year. 4) Eight hundred thousand youths turning 18 to be included. 5) Cost of UMT for the first year is in excess of 4 billion dol- lars; thereafter 2 billions annu- ally. (Four billion dollars is almost as much as is being spent for all primary and secondary education for everyone between the ages of 5 .and 17 in the entire United States.)' UMT is pregnant with danger. It will give our generals their most cherished goal. It will give rise to a powerful peacetime military class. Heretofore our military leaders have been insignificant during peacetime because their power was limited. UMT is not geared to the present "emergency", but is a long range p'rogram. Give our youth to the military and the hand of the military is strength- ened. Look at those countries which have UMT! I suggest that interested stu- dents immediately communicate with their senators and congress- men. -Gordon MacDougall * * * No List .. . To the Editor: I N ANSWER TO Mr. Hodge's letter on "Stockwell's List", we feel it necessary to bring his attention the fact that no list of offenders will be posted. However, if that idea had been followed, he may rest assured that the names would not have been post- ed for his benefit. We are quite sure that most Michigan men can find their dates in some other manner. -Jacqueline Altman -Ann Bandler, -Elinor Dunn -Karen Epstein t~t~ t~t tt Sixty-Second Year Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board of Control of Student Publications. Editorial Staff Chuck Elliott ........Managing Editor Bob Keith ..................City Editor Leonard Greenbaum, Editorial Director Vern Emerson ..........Feature Editor Ron Watts........... .Associate Editor Bob Vaughn ..........Associate Editor Ted Papes ...............Sports Editor George Flint ....Associate Sports Editor Jim Parker .....Associate Sports Editor Jan James............Women's Editor Jo Keteihut, Associate Women's Editor Business Staiff Bob Miller.........Business Manager Gene Kuthy, Assoc. Business Manager Charles Cuson ....Advertising Manager Milt Goetz......Circulation Manager I