WOMEN'S FORUM ON NATIONAL SECURITY REMARKS BY ALLEN W. DULLES, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1954

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000100250072-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2000
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: January 29, 1954
• Content Type: SPEECH

WOMEN'S FORUM ON NATIONAL SECURITY
REMARKS BY ALLEN W. DULLES, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1954
Mrs. Schill, Mrs. Burdett, and members of the Women's Forum on National
Security-
I appreciate very much the opportunity to meet with you today. In coming
here I am breaking a self-imposed rule. As the Director of Central Intelli-
gence I seek anonymity -- not publicity -- for myself and for the Central
Intelligence Agency.
Every rule has its exception. The work of your Forum on National
Security bears so intimately on many phases of my own work that I am very
glad to have this chance to discuss with you some of the dangers to our
national security -- dangers which some of us may not sense because they are
cleverly disguised.
It is the job of the Central Intelligence Agency to garner together
the facts affecting our national security as best we can find them and then
to lay them before the policymakers; the President of the United States,
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, who addressed you last
night, and the other members of the National Security Council as they may be
directly concerned. They in turn decide what to do about these facts.
Among the "facts" which CIA has been uncovering is information on the
techniques which subversive Communism employs to weaken the free world,
I want to talk to you about this this afternoon. These techniques fall
geographically into two main categories -- the domestic and the foreign --
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those subversive communistic actions which we have to meet right here
at home and those that chiefly affect our Allies and friends in the Free
World. And as they affect them, they in turn have an impact on our own
security position.
The work of the Central Intelligence Agency in this general field
relates exclusively to what is being done abroad. Within the United States
the chief agency that deals with this problem is, of course, the FBI.
Here at home we are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of
subversive Communism. It is no longer coddled and tolerated. We are
fortunate to have in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Mr. J. Edgar Hoover
with his great experience and high technical skill. He has been able to
make a real contribution, particularly by exposing to the light of day the
various organizations and fronts under which Communists are masquerading.
You will recall that the Attorney General has published a list of
some 200 organizations here in the United States with high sounding names
and titles which are nothing more than subversive Communist fronts, in
most cases. You will also recall that the President in his recent speech
at the opening of the Congress suggested certain additional measures for
dealing with the problem of subversion.
Now while we still have no right to be complacent about the domestic
situation here at home, a far graver situation faces many of the countries
of the Free World. Some have yet to appreciate the real meaning of Comxmi-
nism or to take adequate measures against it in their own countries. As
a result, this problem of Communist subversion is an even more dangerous
threat to freedom in many of the free countries of the world outside of
the United States than it is here at home.
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There are cogent reasons for this. Many of the countries of the Free
World and some of those which slipped behind the Iron Curtain, suffered
more grievously than we from the two world wars which we have faced in the
last 30 years. Many were devastated by bombing attacks. Some suffered
enemy occupations. Others in turn had their social structure and their
economic life weakened and imperiled, Take China, for example. In World
War II China did not have merely five years of war. It was at war for
almost 10 years before the Armistice of 1915. That is one reason why so
much of China is now behind the Iron or the Bamboo Curtain.
Then also, particularly in Asia, many countries are trying to exercise
their newly won independence under conditions which would tax the strength
of the most mature democracies. And in the process they have to resist the
luring appeals of the Communists with their seemingly easy and utopian
solutions for all the social and governmental problems.
There is another reason why many of these countries abroad are more
deeply affected than we. They are nearer to the heart of the Communist
subversive machine with its headquarters in Moscow and with its branch
offices throughout the Communist world in such places as Warsaw, Prague,
Bucharest, Peiping, in the Soviet zones of Berlin and Vienna, and on the
frontiers of Indo-China and Burma, Land frontiers are somewhat more easily
crossed and infiltrated with Communist agents and propaganda than great
stretches of ocean, that still give us some protection.
Finally in many of the free countries of the world, particularly in
Europe and in parts of Asia, there are well-organized Communist Parties,
These parties take a very active part in the political life of the country.
They are recognized and privileged and yet are dedicated to installing a
system in which political parties cease to exist. A hard core of well-
trained f Uti Co sts d ect the activities of these Communist parties.
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I recognize that in these Communist Parties, particularly in Italy
and France, there are many people who would be shocked if they were told
that the party to which they belonged was run from Moscow and in the
interest of a foreign creed. Nevertheless this is the fact,
These Communist Parties oppose every constructive measure that is
introduced, particularly laws which would build up the economic and political
life of the country. They are working for chaos out of which revolution
may come. In the French Parliament, over the past seven or eight years
since the liberation, there have been an average of well over 100 Communists
out of about 600 deputies. In Italy the proportionate number of Communists
in their legislative body is even larger.
Just for a moment think what would happen in our own Congress if we
had a hundred members whose task was obstruction, the endless prolonging of
debate, proposing of amendments at every turn, and insisting on days of
discussion for all of these amendments. How much constructive work would
we then accomplish? Those who criticize the parliaments of other countries
like France and Italy should realize that as long as they have this large
Communist representation it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for
these bodies to meet the needs of representative government and to carry on
the processes of governing, as we understand it.
The practical situation is this: The Communists take advantage of
all of the privileges and rights which are a part of the system of free
government in the Free World, and they abuse these privileges in order to
destroy freedom itself.
These are some of the reasons why the Communists abroad have weapons
at their command which are more effective than those that they try to use in
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this country where there is no effectively organized Communist party. Here
in the United States measures have been taken to deprive them of their
respectability and here, also, they are numerically too weak to invade our
legislative bodies.
In addition to their political parties the Communists have other and
even more subtle weapons. In some cases they have built up a series of
blinds -- camouflaged organizations; -- in others they have penetrated and
captured from within a whole series of existing organizations many of which
originally had a reputation for respectability. Through these front organi-
zations they carry out their well-known policy: subvert the weak -- divide
the strong. They hide their affiliation with Moscow while carrying on
the Communist theme.
Right at the beginning of the Soviet Revolution back in 1917, Lenin
gave the key to approved Communist procedure. He said that "the Party must
take every advantage of even the smallest opportunity of gaining a mass
ally even though this ally be only temporary, vascillating, unstable, and
unreliable." And he added, "Those who do not understand this do not under-
stand Marxism."
Over the years since Lenin said this Soviet technique has shown vast
improvement, and they have developed mass media for propagating their ideas
which far exceed the modest beginnings that Lenin advocated.
Here are some of the other Communist front organizations:
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the World Federation of Democratic
Youth, the International Union of Students, the International Organization
of Journalists, the International Federation of Resistance Fighters, the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the World Peace Council,
and the Women's International Democratic Federation. These are only a few.
These are some of the most important.
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Let us take first of all the World Federation of Trade Unions.
Its headquarters are in the Soviet sector of Vienna. It has offices
in Peiping, in Latin America, and in Africa as well as in Western Europe.
It still controls the CGT, most powerful in France, and the CGIL, most
powerful in Italy, as well as many other unions in countries as far distant
as Indonesia, for example.
The two unions I mentioned in France and Italy are the largest trade
unions in these respective countries, and they tend to dominate the life
of the workers in many plants in these countries. They are a formidable
threat to the freedom and the development of the free trade union movements
in both France and Italy.
The Communist World Federation of Trade Unions claims a total member-
ship of some 70 million. These figures are always exaggerated by them.
One-half of the membership, they claim, lies outside the Iron Curtain dis-
persed through some 57 countries of the non-Communist world. In many
countries they control the most important of the trade unions. Of course
behind the "Curtain" there are no free trade unions whatever.
Now here is another of these Communist-fronts, the World Peace Council.
You will recall the so-called Stockholm peace appeal which was signed by
more than 2 million Americans. This appeal was organized and fronted by
the Communist World Peace Council of Moscow.
Here are some of the seemingly innocent objectives of the World Peace
Council as stated at its last meeting in Vienna in December of 1952. It
voted to acquaint the churches throughout the world with its stand on dis-
armament and to seek their approval. It proposed to develop contact with
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movements in favor of neutrality in different countries and to find ways of
cooperating with pacifist movements; and fina13,y it agreed on the importance
of enlisting the support of national independence movements and patriotic
sentiments in countries such as Egypt,
Now this all sounds innocent enough, It deceives a large number of
good citizens even in this country, Yet this Council is nothing but a
Communist plot, spearheaded from Moscow, a part of a system dedicated to aims
which are diametrically opposed to the purposes they advertise. In fact the
World Peace Council is an instrument to pave the way for aggressive war-in
Korea, Indo-China, and elsewhere.
Now all of these activities cost money. It is estimated that the last
meeting of the World Peace Council in Vienna, alone, cost about a half a
million dollars. It is rather interesting that the funds for the support of
this =Congress were drawn from the "Soviet Military Bank" in Vienna. In fact,
all of these front organizations are financed with funds from Moscow or funds
that are obtained from affiliated Communist organizations in other parts of
the Soviet World.
We estimate, and this shows the weight they put on these organizations,
that the average annual expenditure of International Communism on all of
their front organizations and their various affiliated activities runs in
the neighborhood of 2 billion dollars.
They appreciate the value of these
propagandist movements and organizations, and they are willing to pay dearly
for them,
International Commuri.sm particularly appreciates the importance of
working with the youth, and for this purpose they have two important organiza..
tions-the International Union of Students and the World Federation of
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Democratic Youth* These include millions of members from 71 countries--
they claim some 80 millions. They have frequent rallies, the most important
of which took place in Berlin in August of 1951. It was a colossal affair,
labeled r"A Youth Festival for Peace," Over a million German youths were
transported to Berlin at the expense of their Communist patrons. In addition
25,000 foreign youths were brought to Berlin from all corners of the world.
Of course, the entire bill was footed by the Communist governments of Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union. The cost ran into the millions of dollars.
Fortunately for us this Berlin Rally had some unpleasant kickbacks for the
Communist side. Almost a million of the Communist youths visited the Free
Western Sector of Berlin. Probably they went there to jeer but they stayed
to wonder. Many of them wanted to stay permanently. They there saw the
sights of the free city of Western Berlin.
One of the most impressive sights they saw was the American High
Commissioner himself, John J. NCloy. He invited representatives of these
youths to visit his office, sought and freely answered their questions candidly
and fully. Words of this extraordinary scene spread through the entire Youth
Festival and was an impressive contrast to Communist techniques of preventing
a free discussion among the youths at their own rally.
Another front organization that I mentioned before is the International
Association of Democratic Lawyers. This is one of the few organizations which
has its headquarters outside the Iron Curtain and has found fellow travelers in
England and France respectively to act as the President and Vice-President
of the organization. This lawyers association, I regret to say, being a lawyer,
has been used by the Communists to front for their false charges of bacterio-
logical warfare in the Korean War and helped stage the phoney investigation
which was made of these now wholly discredited charges.
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Naturally the Soviet have not overlooked the vast importance of
women's organizations in the field of propaganda. Here they have organized
the Women's International Democratic Federation. Its charter is a broad one.
It pretends to stand for the eradication of Fascism; collaboration for
peace; defense of the political, economic, legal, and social rights of women;
the safeguarding of public health with particular reference to children; and
the preservation of social conditions suitable to the physical, moral, and
intellectual development of the young.
In all its history, however, this particular "front" has never deviated in
arty respect from the 'Communist line. At its meeting in Vienna in April of
1952 it came out strongly against "American warmongers." Its monthly bulletin,
"Women of the World," is largely devoted to the Communist peace campaign.
It is estimated that it must cost the Communists some 6 million dollars
a year to run the Women's International Federation and to send its representa-
tion from 40 different countries to these various international meetings.
It is interesting to contrast this expenditure with the fact that the Soviet
has not to this date contributed a penny to the United Nations International
Children's Emergency Fund.
I have described only a few of the score of organizations, which are
subtly working to spread the Communist doctrines. This will give you some
idea of the methods which International ?Commu ism is employing, the broad
coverage they are giving to their propaganda, and the tremendous financial
and organizational effort they are expending to undermine the basis of
our free society.
What I have given you is by no means an exhaustive review of the tools
the Communists use to delude and deceive the non-Communist world. However,
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this may give you an idea of their methods. Each situation, often each
country, means for them the employment of a new technique or of a specially
adapted form of deception.
In my opinion the facts I have given you should not be kept secret. They
should be spread abroad. Naturally the Communists do all they can to conceal their
connections with these front organizations. They should not be allowed to get
away with this hoax and deception any longer. Since they get little local or
popular financial support, it is obvious that someone with an ample pocketbook
of governmental proportions must serve as the "angel" to keep them going.
Why do they do all this? It is not just propaganda for propaganda's
sake; it is the Communist method of reaching out to condition and then con-
trol the minds of those who will not bvy Communism in the raw. It serves as
a measure to neutralize those they cannot quickly make into direct allies.
We all want peace and the reduction of armaments, the extension of
benefits to the underprivileged, and an end to old-fashioned colonialism and
the like. The Communists are playing the rather unique game of denying
these principles everywhere in the sphere of their control and at the same
time deluding people elsewhere into believing that they, the Communists, are
the real defenders of these principles in the free countries of the world,
These techniques I have described are used as the softening process
to prepare for the day when the ,Communists hope to be ready for the "take-over."
Not so long ago we saw it happen in Czechoslovakia. Not a shot was fired
but liberty was destroyed overnight. The softening process had prepared
the ground. Each Communist then was in his appointed place, each person who
had been neutralized by propaganda and deception kept quiet. There was no
fight for freedom.
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Today it is not the open Zommmuniat,, the admitted follower of Marx
and Lenin, who is likely to trip us up. It is the neutralist, the soft
thinkers about agrarian reformers; those who merely decry the methods.. but
are blind to the aims, of international 'Communism.
To prepare to meet this danger we are putting our house in order here
in the United States. We cannot decide the policy for those in other
countries of the world. We can help to unmask the 'Communist danger,
Furthermore we can give one example of a free people who are frustrating
the Communist programs while keeping our own freedoms here.
To carry out our task in the CIA as fact finders and to keep our government
po4cy-fakers advised of that the'Cemmunists are doing outside of the United
States, we have gathered together in the Central Intelligence Agency an able
staff. On this staff representative women from all parts of the United States
are serving. I wish to pay my tribute to their effective role in,the work
of the Central Intelligence Agency in this country and abroad.
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