Letters

"Where to Cut Them Off"

To THE EDITOR:

Quoted below is part of the testimony given here in San Francisco, December 3, by Charles David Blodgett, who was explaining to the House Committee on Un-American Affairs (Velde Committee) why he had left the Communist Party. It is very timely and of special interest to men and women of college age.

You can't defeat them [the Communists] before a Congressional committee. You can't defeat them in courts of law. You can't defeat them in jails. The hard core of Communists who feed on a diet of underground activity and jails and courts become hardened persons. You will find, reading Marxist theory and reading Lenin, that he says that you cannot have a successful pro-revolutionary leader unless they have gone through this sort of thing, been steeled by struggle.

Being anti-Communist is not enough. We have to be for something, and we cannot fall into the trap of secularism because this, to me, is the basis of the whole problem, and it starts in childhood. The point of greatest importance in the development of a person is the high school and college level. I don't have statistics. But I am sure that most recruiting is done at the college level, and who is recruited? That young person who has developed a social conscience; the Communists are looking for people like that. That young person who is serious-minded, who is interested in the problems of the world and doing something about them — they are the material that the Communists take and develop. The skillful Communist recruiter can make such a picture for this person of this glittering future, he can show them exactly how to go about creating; he can prove to them, after he has gotten them perspective, that the people of the Soviet Union and China are marching toward this glorious future. He can do all these things with those receptive young minds, and if those young people do not have a firm foundation of belief in God and in their church, the Communists will succeed with those people.

There are none of my acquaintances at Carleton College - and the story of Carleton College is a very interesting one - there are none of my acquaintances who evidenced the same type of social conscience and perplexity about life and the meaning of life and a wish to do something about it to create this better world — but there were none of those people who had a sure belief in God and tied themselves to the church who were recruited by us. We could not recruit them.

We have to make that first step, and the committee can't do this. They can provide the material, case studies; they can synthesize it and analyze it and summarize it in such a form that could be really useful to college presidents, administrators and high school principals. Give them the kind of material that will make them realize that this natural radicalism of youth, these natural yearnings and urges, must be channeled properly or the Communists will take those young people, and we will never defeat them by being anti-Communist because young people, as you know, are rejecting an adult world, are not affected by prohibitions. Prohibition did not stop alcoholism; prohibitions will not stop young people from entertaining these ideas that are the opposite of the adult world. The committee can do this; they can do it with other organizations. I know they have been; I know they have been doing it with labor. They can tell them how to spot those people, to stop them from their recruiting activities. The Communists will have to renew their membership; they have got to get new recruits. This is a necessity, and that is where to cut them off; that is where to cut them off.

As you can tell, I think, from my testimony I feel very strongly on this, and I want to enlist myself when and wherever I can in this fight.

San Francisco, Calif.

(Mr. Dreschel is West Coast correspondent for U.S. News and World Report.)

Grateful Hockey Team

TO THE EDITOR:

On behalf of the Dartmouth Hockey Team we would like to take this opportunity to thank the alumni of Duluth, Minneapolis, Denver, and Colorado Springs for their hospitality during our recent Christmas trip. The time we spent with the alumni, their families, and friends was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and we are very grateful for all that was done for the team.

Captain

Manager

Coach

Hanover, N. H.