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Show h AHEAD GEORGES. BENSON 'ilk fmUiti-.Hi'J!t (flttfi f J Sum. A''" v ( ili.cn's AwaUt-niiii;' ,.,il Iims boon unusually ill!!' is ti result of the series 'fvluiims on Herbert rhilbrick, ''! ".orvoil nine years as an KIU P wilhm the U. S. Communist imderg round. Wo condensed con-densed tho series and used It In our June National Program Letter. Let-ter. Urent volumes of mail came m liom the estimated 100 000 readers of the Letter. The recurring recur-ring question in these letters has been: "What can I do?" A young mother and homemaker oil the PaciUe Coast asks the question, then answers it. She writes: "I most certainly have been guilty of the apathy of which you speak. And I'm sure this is also true of the majority of all my tru-nds. The Velde Un-American Activities Committee recently had a short hearing- on Communism here in the Northwest, which was televised, and this was a 1olUn eye-opener. If the Committee accomplished ac-complished nothing else, the public enlightenment obtained, would justify their time and effort. Vague Understanding n "My circle of friends are in the M to 40 age group, busy establishing- themselves in their jobs buying- homes, rearing- their children, chil-dren, and trying- to keep halfway informed. Communism' is not a new word to us. I have some sort of vague idea of what Communism Commun-ism is, but could not possibly put ! that idea in words. Heretofore we have all felt that as long- as we were not Communists and didn't associate with any, that was all that was necessary. "We are g-uilty of more than apathy we have a down-right reluctance to believe that the Communists are a serious threat, and that they could ever gain any substantial foothold in our country. coun-try. In the light of our lack of information, and our willingness to believe, we have felt that the situation situ-ation was being taken care of by the Veldes, the Jenners and the McCarthys. And even when thinking think-ing that all might, not be well, comes the inevitable question: 'Well, after all, what can I do?" Her Answer "I've been pondering that question ques-tion for a few weeks now, in direct relation to myself. . What CAN I do? Your Letter gave the first answer of any kind that I have run across. Here is the answer ans-wer I came up with: "1. Make my way to the public library and get one of the only two books that I know of, either "I Led Three Lives" (Herbert Philbrick) or "Witness" (Whit-taker (Whit-taker Chambers) and start reading. read-ing. "2. Order more copies of your Letter, which I am doing now, and give them to my friends to read, in an attempt to get them interested in doing what they can do. "3. Ask you for a list of books on Communism mentioned in Herbert Her-bert Philbrick's comment; and, after af-ter getting the list, give copies of it to my friends. "4. Not believe everything I see in print, with no thought as to the author, or as to my own common sense. "5. Try to get my friends to prevail pre-vail upon their friends to embark on a self-education program." We Can Win " It seems that each city could have some sort of organized effort ef-fort or program to acquaint its citizens with 'What You Can Do.' Most cities have many media through which most of its residents resi-dents can be reached but particularly par-ticularly the newspapers, the radio ra-dio and television. It seems to me that a series of articles in the local paper informing the public as to what they as citizens can do might have some effect. "At any rate I'm going to see what I can do. This is my first step (please send 10 copies of your June Letter). I'm going to give these to ten friends and prevail pre-vail upon them to read one book. If the Communists have traveled so far with their unholy lie, who knows how far ten people might go with the truth?" Ten people can go a long way with the truth. One person, inspired in-spired with a love.of freedom and moved into action by an understanding under-standing of Communism's terrible threat against it, can go far. Herbert Her-bert Philbrick says the forces of freedom still are losing to the forces of slavery. Will enough of us awaken out of apathy in time? Letters like the above strengthen my belief that we will. |