The Tactics of Communism

BY

Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, D.D.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BY

THE PAULIST PRESS New York

Reprinted by permission

of "The Sign"

THE TACTICS OF COMMUNISM

By

Rt. Rev. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, D.D.

1. Q. What is the ultimate goal of Communism?

A. The ultimate goal of Communism is the establishment "of world dictatorship of the proletariat." (Page 34, Program of the Communist International Workers' Library Publication, 1936.)

2. Q. How does Communism propose to establish itself?

A. By Revolution. "The Revolution does not simply happen, it must be made." (Earl Browder, What Is Communism?, p. 163.)

3. Q. Who makes the Revolution, the worker or the Communist Party?

A. The Communist Party. "The Revolution is carried out by the great masses of the toilers. The Communist Party as the vanguard of the most conscious toilers acts as their organizer and guide." (Ibid., p. 163.)

4. Q. Does this Revolution take place simultaneously in all the countries of the world?

A. No. "The Revolution cannot be conceived as a single event occurring simultaneously all over the world." (Program, p. 35.)

5. Q. How does the Revolution take place?

A. It begins with a civil war which is the condition of overthrowing the established order. "Revolution signifies the forcible invasion of the proletariat into the domain of property. . . . The conquest of power by the proletariat is the violent overthrow of . . . armies, police, bureaucratic hierarchy, judiciary, parliaments, etc. (Program, p. 36.)

6. Q. Will violence continue even after the civil war?

A. Yes, until everyone who is opposed to Communism is crushed. "After the civil war has been brought to an end, the stubborn class struggle continues in the form of a struggle between the survivors of previous economic systems." (Ibid., p. 48.)

  1. Q. Since Communism means the abolition of all private property what will happen to the small landowners, peasants, farmers and the like?
  • A. They must be crushed with violence. The "Proletariat... must mercilessly suppress the slightest opposition on the part of the village bourgeoisie who ally themselves with the landowners." (Program, p. 49.)
    1. Q. What will happen to the city people who own their own homes, e. g., the grocer, the butcher or the saleman?
  • A. They are to be left their property for a while "to win them over" (Program, p. 49), but in the end all private property must be abolished. (Program, p. 30.)
    1. Q. During this period of civil war when private property is confiscated in the name of the proletarian Revolution, who plays the leading rôle—the Communist Party or the workers whom it claims to aid?
  • A. "The Communist Party plays the leading rôle." (Program, p. 51, italics in original.)
    1. Q. Does that mean there will be any other party permitted in a country after the establishment of Communism?
  • A. No, Communism tolerates no rival parties. "The essential difference between the existence of parties in the Western world and with us Communists, is that the sole possibility with Communism is

the following: One party is in power and all the others are in jail." (Troud, November 13, 1927.) Troud is the official organ of the Central Committee of the Syndicate of Soviet Workers.

11. Q. Will the Communist Party ever really renounce its control over the workers?

A. No. "The Communist Party will never renounce the rôle of its direction and its revolutionary initiative. (International Correspondence, August 5, 1935.)

12. Q. Against which groups will Communism fight during the civil war in order to establish the dictatorship of the Communist Party?

A. Against (a) all forms of private property, (b) against all religions, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, (c) and against all education except materialistic. "The confiscation of all property." (Program, p. 40.) "Systematically and unswervingly combating religion." (Program, p. 53.) "Reconstruct the whole of education on the basis of scientific materialism." (Program, p. 54.)

13. Q. Whom do the Communists regard as the greatest forces standing in the way of world revolution?

A. The main obstacles on the road toward the establishment of the proletarian social revolution

  • are . . . Catholic trade unions, Y. M. C. A., Jewish Zionist organizations. . . . The American Federation of Labor, etc. (Program, pp. 68 and 69.)
    1. Q. Does the American Communist Party have any relation with the International Communist Party whose center is in Russia and whose head is Stalin?

A. Earl Browder, the Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States says no. "The Communist Party does not take orders from Moscow." (What Is Communism?, p. 205.) This statement, however, must be judged in relation to the facts mentioned in the answers to questions 16-24.

  1. Q. Must one be a member of the International Communist Party to attend its annual congresses in Moscow?

A. Yes. The Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U. S. S. R., December 25, 1935, verified Party documents of members. Only members may attend the sessions.

  1. Q. Did Earl Browder ever attend a Congress of the International Communist Party in Moscow?

A. Yes. On July 28, 1935, Earl Browder acted as Chairman at the Seventh Session of the Seventh Annual Congress of the International Communist Party.

    1. Q. Does Earl Browder have any other relation with the International Communist Party than that of being present at one of its sessions?
  • A. Yes. He is Vice-President of the International Communist Party. During the Seventh Congress of the International Communist Party Browder was criticized for not doing more to communize the millions of American unemployed. So impressed was he that he agreed to participate in a special conference of Communist leaders whose aim was to propagandize the unemployed of all countries.
    1. Q. Did Earl Browder, while attending the Congress of the International Communist Party in Moscow, ever speak of the American Communist Party and the International Communist Party as a unit?
  • A. Yes. On July 18, 1935, he questioned himself and gave answer: "How was our party able to penetrate the masses and emerge from isolation? A great rôle was played by leaders in the strike movement and in the work of the party among the unemployed. In some of the most important strikes, the San Francisco general strike for one, the Com-

munist Party had a decisive, determining influence."

  1. Q. Was any other member of the American Communist Party admitted as a member of the International Communist Party during its Seventh Annual Congress?

A. Yes. Comrade Darcy. (International Correspondence, October 7, 1935.)

  1. Q. Has the International Communist Party of Moscow ever recommended that the American Communists form a Farmer-Labor Party, and establish a League against War and Fascism?

A. Yes. The following is from the Third International of Moscow. "Under American conditions the creation of a mass party of toilers a 'Labor and Farmer Party' might serve as a suitable form for winning over the broad discontented masses of the toilers. Such a party would be a specific form of the mass people's front in America. . . . Such a party, of course, will be neither Socialist nor Communist. But it must be an anti-Fascist party, and must not be an anti-Communist party." (G. Dimitrov, The Working Class Against Fascism, p. 45. Italics are in the original.) "In no case must the initiative or organizing the party be allowed to pass into . . . an anti-Communist party, a party directed against the revolutionary movement." (Ibid., p.

  • 46.) "The Communist International attaches no conditions to unity of action except one, and that an elementary condition acceptable for all workers, namely that unity of action can be directed against Fascism, against the offensive of capital, against the threat of war, against the class enemy. This is our condition." (Ibid., p. 34. In italics in the original.)
    1. Q. Has the American Communist Party ever recommended the formulation of a Farmer-Labor Party or the establishment of Leagues against Fascism and War?
  • A. Yes. "We propose the coming together of trade unions, unemployed organizations, the Townsend Clubs, minority parties, such as Socialist and Communist, into a broad, all-inclusive Farmer-Labor Party." (Earl Browder, Lincoln and the Communist, p. 13.) "We must give much more support to the American League against War and Fascism, which already represents the largest united front ever built in America." (Ibid., p. 179.) [Remember the words "United Front."]
    1. Q. What does the official organ of the Executive Committee of the Communist International say of those who say they take no orders from Moscow?

A. "Those who say we do not take orders from Moscow are against the proletarian state. It proves they are allied to the bourgeoisie . . . and are the enemy of the proletariat class... To receive orders from Moscow, as Dimitrov said, is to follow the example of Lenin and Stalin." (International Communist, French edition, August 5, 1935.)

  1. Q. How can Earl Browder be a bona fide member of the International Communist Party and act as Chairman at its International Congress and still say he takes no orders from Moscow?

A. There is nothing to prevent him from saying it.

  1. Q. Is the goal of American Communism different from the goal of International Communism?

A. No, in both the goal is the establishment of the proletarian dictatorship by revolution. "In the revolutionary situation the Communist Party . . . wins some of the armed forces to its side, and leads the effective majority of the population to the seizure of State power. . . . Above all they need the armed forces." (Earl Browder, What Is Communism?, pp. 164 and 165.)

  1. Q. What does the word "Fascism" mean to a Communist?

A. It means anything that is anti-Communist. Browder identifies it with the DuPonts and a "system of murder and concentration camps for everyone who raises his voice against exploitation and oppression." (What Is Communism?, p. 106.) Dimitrov says it is "rabid reaction and counter-revolution." (Working Class Against Fascism, p. 14.) Note: In order to think clearly about Communism it is well always to translate the word Fascism whenever they use it as anti-Communist. When the Communist orator pleads for the union of the employed, or the unemployed, or the Negro, or students to fight against Fascism, remember Fascism to a Communist is anti-Communism.

  1. Q. Is there a Fascist Party in the United States?

A. No.

  1. Q. Is there a Communist Party in the United States?

A. Yes.

28. Q. Which then is the greater danger for America?

A. Communism. It must be borne in mind that the political problem of the world is not a choice between Communism and Fascism. There are other kinds of government besides the Fascist, for example, our own American form. Rather the struggle is between Communism and anti-Communism whatever forms the latter may assume.

29. Q. Do the Communists say they are opposed to War?

A. Yes. Hence the formation of Leagues against War.

30. Q. Are they really opposed to War?

A. They are certainly not opposed to civil war for in the words of Lenin, Stalin and Browder: "We must turn every imperialist war into a civil war." They are not opposed to civil wars and revolutions which lead to Communism. Wars against Communism to them are always wrong.

31. What do the Communists mean when they use the word "Peace"?

A. Peace means the establishment of the Communist régime. Peace under any other régime is inconceivable to Communism. "The fight to maintain peace is a fight against Fascism, a fight that is essentially revolutionary." (G. Dimitrov, The United Struggle for Peace, p. 18, Workers' Library edition.) "The anti-war struggle of the masses must be very closely combined with the struggle against Fascism [anti-Communism] and the Fascist movement." (Resolutions of the Seventh Annual Congress, International Correspondence, September 19, 1935, p. 1184. Brackets mine.)

  1. Q. What are we to understand by Communism presenting itself as the Enemy of War

and Fascism and the friend of the Farmer and Laborer?

Now this is what Communism is doing today. It has found that its revolutionary approach has been unsuccessful. Some countries have resisted and organized, and so, it decides to change its tactics and to use non-revolutionary approaches to attain revolutionary ends.

33. Q. Did the change in tactics originate in America or in Russia?

A. In Russia. It became a definite policy at the Seventh Annual Congress of the Third International held in Moscow, July and August, 1935. "The tactical line of the Seventh Congress corresponds to the present level of the movement and strength of the Communist parties." (D. Z. Manuilsky, The Work of the Seventh Congress, p. 65.)

34. Q. What is the name given to the new tactics of Communism?

A. The "United Front" or "Common Front" or "People's Front" or "Popular Front."

35. Q. How do the Communists propose to overthrow the established order?

A. To this the Communist International replies: "The first thing that must be done, the thing with which we commence is to form a United Front." (G. Dimitrov, report delivered to International Congress, August 2, 1935.)

36. Q. How does Communism form the United Front?

A. "By securing predominant influences in the broad mass proletarian organizations: Trade unions, factory committees, coöperative societies, sport organizations, cultural organizations, etc. . . . the

masses of the urban and rural poor, over the lower strata of the intelligensia, and over the so-called 'little man'." (Program of the Communist International, p. 77.) "Communists must establish the closest coöperation with those Left social-democratic workers, functionaries and organizations that fight against the reformist policy and advocate a United Front with the Communist Party." (Report of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, August 1, 1935. Original in italics.)

    1. Q. Do the United Front tactics mean that during an election the Communists should unite with any major party to prevent the election of anti-Communistic candidates, even though the Communists have a ticket or a candidate themselves?
  • A. Yes. "The Communists must seek to establish a United Front with the social-democratic parties and trade unions (also with the organizations of the toiling workers, handicraftsmen, etc.), and exert every effort to prevent the election of reactionary and Fascist [anti-Communist] candidates. In face of the Fascist [anti-Communist] danger, the Communists, while reserving for themselves freedom of political agitation and criticism, participate in election campaigns on a common platform and with a common ticket of the anti-Fascist front, depending on the growth and success of the United

Front movement, also depending on the electoral system in operation." (Resolutions of the Seventh Annual Congress of the International Communist Party, International Correspondence, September 19, 1935, p. 1179. Italics and parenthesis in the original; brackets mine.)

  1. Q. Would the United Front tactics mean that Communism would seek to enter Catholic organizations in order to secure "predominant influence"?

A. Yes. "It would exert a powerful influence on the ranks of the Catholics, anarchists and unorganized workers, even on those who had temporarily become the victims of Fascist [anti-Communist] demagogy." (G. Dimitrov, The Working Class vs. Fascism, p. 32. Italics in original; brackets mine.)

39. Q. Do the United Front tactics apply even to the Youth?

A. Yes. "The central task of the Youth Communist International is to establish unity of the youth movement against Fascism and war." (O. Kuusinen in his address to the Seventh World Congress, "The Youth Movement and the Fight Against Fascism and the War Danger," Russian edition. Printshop No. 7, Moscow, p. 24. Italics in original.) "If the representatives of the Young Communists League of the United States had not known

how to approach the student youth in a comradely fashion it would have been impossible for them to have developed their great united front action among the students, the most important of which was the big student's strike against war and Fascism on April 12, 1935, in which 184,000 students took part." (Ibid., p. 18.)

40. Q. Do the United Front tactics mean that the masses are to be gradually led to revolution?

A. Yes. "The Communist Parties must advance partial slogans and demands that correspond to the everyday needs of the toilers, linking them up with the fundamental tasks of the Communist International." (Program, p. 81, italics in original.) "Throughout the entire pre-revolutionary period a most important basic part of the tactics of the Communist Parties is the tactics of the united front." (Program, p. 82, italics in original.)

41. Q. The United Front is then only a starting point for Revolution?

A. Yes. "The Party utilizes their minor everyday needs as a starting point from which to lead the working class to the revolutionary struggle for power. (Program, p. 80, italics in original.)

42. Q. The change in tactics then does not mean that Communism has changed?

A. No. "Tactics, generally may change, but the general line of the Communist International, the proletarian revolution, remains unchanged." (D. Z. Manuilsky, The Work of the Seventh Congress, p. 65.) "We must fight for the unification of all revolutionary forces on the basis of our program of strategy, and then pass to the offensive on all fronts." (La Correspondence Internationale, August 3, 1935.)

43. Q. When do the Communists propose to reveal their revolutionary principles?

A. "When Marx's writings have had some years of influence, the next International will be directly Communist and will openly proclaim its principles." (The Correspondence of Marx and Engels, p. 330.)

44. Q. What pledge did Maxim Litvinoff give on behalf of the U. S. S. R. when the United States recognized Soviet Russia on November 16, 1933?

A. "To refrain, and to restrain all persons in government service and all organizations of the government... from any act, overt or covert, liable in any way whatsoever to injure the tranquillity and prosperity, order or security, of the whole or any part of the United States."

45. Q. What is Litvinoff reported to have said to fellow Communists after the signing of the pledge?

A. "Notice that the pledge did not exclude the activities of the Third International."

46. Q. Does Earl Browder love America?

A. He says he does. "We Communists love our country." (Ibid., p. 13.) See answer to question 49.

47. Q. Do the Communists advocate violence?

A. If you will forget the above quotation concerning revolution the answer of Earl Browder is in the negative, "Communists do not advocate violence." (Ibid., p. 166.) See answer to questions 24 and 49.

48. Q. What is the condition of joining the Communist International of which Earl Browder is Secretary?

A. "To create everywhere an illegal organization machine which at the decisive moment will be helpful to the Communist Party in fulfilling its duty to the revolution." (O. Piantnisky, Twenty-one Conditions of Admission to the Communist International.)

  1. Q. Did Earl Browder, despite his love of America, advocate the United Front tactics to win over the sailors and soldiers to foment revolution in America?

A. Yes. "Soldiers and sailors can be and must be won for the revolution. All revolutions have been made with weapons which the overthrown rulers have relied on for their protection." (What Is Communism?, p. 165, italics in original.)

50. Q. Has the International Communist Party ever recommended such a method?

A. Yes. "In seeking to prepare the transformation of a future imperialist war into civil war, Communists must in every country concentrate their efforts on the essential portions of the imperialist military machine." (Thirteenth Plenary Session of the Executive Committee of the Comitern, December, 1933, cfr., International Correspondence, 1934, Nos. 1 and 2. The Communist, February, 1934, p. 140.)

  1. Q. In obedience to the instructions of the Communist International what periodicals are circulated to incite revolution in the Army and Navy?

A. The Soldier's Voice, the Shipmate's Voice and the Navy Yard Worker.

  1. Q. If the Communists in virtue of the United Front tactics succeed in "boring from within" such groups as the Y. M. C. A., church groups, athletic organizations, trade unions, etc., etc., to whom will the control of the organization belong?

A. "In the United Front the Communists must always preserve the rôle of director.... The Communist Party will never renounce its rôle of director and its revolutionary initiative." (La Correspondence Internationale, August 5, 1935.)

  1. Q. Do the new tactics mean that Communism has forgotten its revolutionary goal and that it has given way to peaceful reform or the continuation of American institutions?

A. No. "Only downright scoundrels . . . hopeless idiots can think that by means of the United Front tactics Communism is capitulating to Social Democracy." (D. Z. Manuilsky, The Work of the Seventh Congress, p. 59.)

  1. Q. What does that make us Americans if we believe the United Front tactics?

A. See answer to question 53.

  1. Q. Has Earl Browder's book, What Is Communism?, any relation to the Third Inter-

national, despite his word that he "does not take orders from Moscow"?

A. The official organ of the Executive Committee of the Communist International states: "Comrade Browder's book is an excellent contribution to the ideological propaganda and agitational work of the Communist Party in the United States of America. The book may be considered a direct result of the work performed by the Communist International under the leadership of Comrade Dimitrov." (Page 816, June, 1936.)

  1. Q. Which do the American people fear more: the man who makes a frontal attack with a sword, or the man who runs a knife in your back?

A. The American people dislike deceit even under the name of tactics. It would therefore be well to be on our guard against Communism, which officially states: "We want to attack our class enemies in the rear." (O. Kuusinen, "Youth Movement." Speech delivered at Seventh World Congress, August 17, 1935, Russian edition, p. 31.)

57. Q. How did Our Blessed Lord warn the world against such tactics?

A. "Beware of false prophets who come to you

in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matt. vii. 15.)

58 Q. Who was the first one in the history of Christianity to use the tactics of the United Front?

A. Judas, by betraying Our Lord with a kiss.

59. Q. Why did Judas betray by a kiss?

A. Because Judas knew that Divinity was sacred, that it could be overthrown only by some external mark of affection.

60. Q. Why do Communists use the United Frontactics?

A. Because they know certain things in our American life are so sacred, namely, our government, our right to property, our right to liberty and our right to freedom of conscience, that they can be overthrown only by a mark of affection—by pretending they are our friends.

61. Q. How long will Communism be successful with its new tactics in the United States!

A. As long as Americans are gullible enough to be decived.

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