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Show April 21, 1972 John Birch Because the Birch Society was practically unknown to the general American public I wondered how the Communist Party would launch its campaign. had no idea that the legitimate American press would fall for the line which the 1 Communists were about to broadcast. On February 25, 1961, the official Communist newspaper on the West Coast called the Daily People's World, fired the opening broadside. The article ENTER (from was entitled, Stage Right) THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY. The article depicted the John Birchers as a secret, Fascist society and said that it was setting up cells all across the Cleon Skousen claims the John Birch Society has been viciously smeared by the Communists. W. publicity and their names are held by the society in strictest secrecy. Its cells, of 20 to 30 members apiece, take orders from society headquarters, promote Communist-styl- e organizations that do use the John Birch name. not Carefully avoiding normal channels of political action, front the society accepts the hard-boile- dictatorial d, direction of one man who sees democracy as a perennial fraud" and estimates that the U.S. is 40-6- 0 Communist controlled. In other times, other places, the John Birch Americanists as they call themselves might seem a comic tiresome, opera joke. But already the society admits to cells in 35 states, and its partisans have made their anonymous and unsettling presence felt in scores of U.S. communities. against Edward Hunter analyzed this new directive for Congresss and testified as follows: For the first time , the world Communist network, in a basic policy and operational anti-Communis- document, specifically to the referred movement in anti-Communi- st the United States, recognizing that it had reached proportions large enough to constitute a main if not the main danger to Communist progress in our country . ." (The New Drive Against the Program, Senate Judiciary Committee Report, July 11, 1961, p. 10) The Mosco manifesto against . Anti-Communi- st came out in December, 1960, and one month anti-Communis- m (Time Page 5 published their addresses in a Los Angeles newspaper. And finally, why should the activities of the John Birch societies be described as unsettling when their only objective was to resist Communism and educate the in preserving public constitutional principles? is above No organization criticism on some scores, but why would one of the foremost American news magazines resort to fictions and distortions within a week after similar fictions and distortions appeared in an official Communist periodical? Feeding the Flame The Time magazine article was further diginified on March 8, 1961, when Senator Milton Young of North Dakota had it appear in the Congressional Record. As other periodicals aimed their printer's ink at the John Birchers, Senator Young included their contributions in the Congressional Record also. This soon added up to a total of country. magazine, postdated March Of course, the Peoples World 10, 1961, pp. later Nikita Krushchev gave an has a very limited distribution It was immediately apparent which would 1 7 full pages. do little damage, even to an outsider that this important policy speech I noticed that a whole roster officially ordering all but the thing which astonished article was no ordinary piece of Communists to resolutely me was the rapidity with which reporting. Why did it call the of favorite Communist smear unmask this and the transmission belt began to chapters of the John Birch terms began to find expression purely false ideology of function so that this story was Society cells just like the in the legitimate American press. He said: planted in one major news article in the Peoples World? These included: . Fascists, Bourgeois propaganda is medium after another until Why did it charge that the Extremists, Super-patriotnormal Rightists, assuming an increasingly finally even some of the more Birchers avoided action of had conservative taken channels political papers up cunning nature. Its main in Guardians of their and when the hue the weapon cry. struggle against greatest success had the Socialist camp and the In fact, the very next week been achieved by working with Freedom, Lunatic Fringe, Patriot Fanatics, Communist Parties is Time magazine came out with a Congressmen in both parties? charge that etc. (Analysis long article similar in many ways Why the of the Krushchev Speech of to the one in the Peoples World. the Birchers promote In spite of these colorful e 1 as read the first Communist-stylfront epithets, however, some January 6, 1961, Senate As soon I Birch front Americans began demanding What the knew Committee John Judiciary Report, paragraph organizations? June 16, 1961, p. 74) Society was in for a real organizations? I had heard of concrete facts to back up these A short time later the opening professional treatment: none. Why jerk a statement of charges. They began asking what blast against all Among the U . S . Robert Welch completely out of it was specifically that was so in the United States was brothershoods dedicated to context to make it look like he terrible about the John Birchers. was aginst democracy when Were they advocating force and the fight against Communism, initiated by a concentrated attack on the John Birch nothing is quite like the John he was simply explaining that violence like the Communists? Birch Society. Except for an mass action with direction was Were they training a secret Society. elite corps of leaders, its never effective? Any why the militia? Did they resort to Attack on the John Birch or other kinds of members shun personal charge of secrecy? I knew that bomb-plot- s Society Begins chapter meetings were neither terrorism? It was always a little secret nor closed. In fact, to disconcerting to the 21-2- from the conference of the 81 Communist parties of the world ordering a resolute struggle The UTAH INDEPENDENT 2) anti-scientif- ic m. s, s, Super-nationalist- Extreme Rightists, Self-appoint- Ultra-rightist- anti-communis- ed s, non-specif- ic tar-bru- sh anti-Communi- disprove this charge 197 We make it easier to learn. Continued On Page 6 chapters in southern California A NEW CONCEPT IN LEARNING All Grade Levels IS' TUTORIAL GUARANTEE We guaiantee to improve Reading, Math or English skills by at least one full grade level upon completion of 35 hours study per subject. Additional instruction as may be necessary to achieve that level will be provided entirely free of charge by Learning Foundations. 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