THE CONTOL OF INTELLECTUALS IN THE COMMUNIST STATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-02771R000500500004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 35
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 4
• Content Type: REPORT

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PROMETHEUS BOUND
THE, CONTROL OF INTELLECTUALS IN THE COO MIST STATE
During the past five years the Politburo of the Communist Party
has extended its total control over every field of creative and
intellectual endeavor within the Soviet Union. The policies it has
defined and enforced in this regard will be applied, of course,
against any intellectuals elsewhere who allow themselves to come
voluntarily under the Politburo's domination.
A series of decrees issued by the Party Central Committee in
mid-1946 defined the role of the Soviet theater, literatue, cinema,
and music in ideological education. Partisanship was the keynote;
cultural activities were described as weapons of the working class.
Workers in the creative arts were denied any interests or any tasks
other than the interests of the state. A complete isolation of Soviet
artists from the outside world has consequently been imposed, and the
doom of creative originality has been sealed in the Soviet Union by
these decrees and the acts throughvahich they have been carried out.
No creative writer,or artist, of whatever stature, can escape
the inexorable will of the men who through these decrees have strait-
jacketed the artistic and intellectual production of the Soviet
Union. Every artist, every composer, every writer, every poet, by
these decrees has become a mouthpiece of Communist political ortho-
dozy. Deviation is excoriated. The artist and the man of letters
has no defense? If he is found in error by the secret and almighty
power of the Politburo's cultural censors, he is forced to recant,
to publish a "confession" couched in humiliating terms, and to
promise abjectly that he will conform and err no more. The alterna-
tive is to starve, since the State and the Cominform? which is the
State, possess the power to seal off the artist hermetically from
every outlet for his work or expression, as well as to make his
access to food supplies difficult. He cannot leave the country.
Voluntary exile is not permitted. These methods quickly bring the
non-conformist to time and frighten his friends away from him.. The
State is saved the trouble of imprisoning him, and the artist is
denied both the advantages or the consolations of publicity and
martyrdom.
It is highly ironical, and it must inflict some pain upon the
artists and intellectuals affected among whom have been Shostako-
vich and the late Prokofieff, the satirist Zoshohenko, the novelist
Akhmatova -- to realize that among the members of the Politburo
which became the author of their cultural enslavement, there was but
one man who could boast of any academic training whatever. That was
A. Zhdanov. His formal education consisted of the lyceum course and
half-a-year at the Moscow Academy of Agriculture, but he was well
versed in Russian literature and had some pretensions as an amateur
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pianist. He once undertook to give the great composer Muradeli
per.tonal instruction in how to write music, presumably with
political content -- nothing existed for Zhdanov without political
content. Muradeli vas rebuked afterward for the "Inadequacy of his
reaction."
A. Zhdanov, the only "intellectual" of the Politburo, died in
1948 under medical treatment from one of the nine Jewish doctors
iuho recently have become famous and equally deceased. A. Zhdanov
vas succeeded in charge of the culture of the Soviet Union by
G. 1 alenkov3 vtho graduated from the "Higher Technical College of
MosoovP' in 4x925 and has a brain -whi.ch. resembles the vast party card
index, on which he depends for any ,reative inspirations he may
develop .
The process of turning the arts into "militant weapons for die-
seminxata.ng Conam#x-. ist Party dootr?ine" began.. with the deeree of the
A:..'J.rUni.on. Central committee on: August 14, 1946, discussing the liter-
ary journals Zvezda and ? enin . ad, which subsequently v.Tas elaborated
in a, speech by Z c novv. g~e_? with the several acoompanying
r?cs ,l,~ ta.or~ on ideology, the speech is regarded in the Soviet Union
today as the authoritative gu,tde in the shaping of policy and
prar;tice in al). c ultur.?a1 department-s.
Zhdanov stressed that the irk of Soviet artists must be sub-
ord ina.?ted to the p oIioies of the party by con;oentrat ag on well,-
defined subjelvt ;matter vhiob. would show the Sovist Union and its
people only in a glorified light,, "Literature must become the
Party," he said,, "The :literary cause must become part of the ?
general proletarian cause , a . Leninism proceeds from the fact
that our literature cannot be politically indif: erent, cannot be
"art for art's sake. He established the triter vn of intolerance
and nationalistic chauvinism that has penetrated virtually all realm's
of creative activity in the Soviet Union. He censured writers in
Leningrad for having strayed into "non-political channels, deprived
of ideology and principle" and for having lost the "sense of responsi-
bility to their people, state and party." He ended his speech on a
strong note of national self-glorification.,." * o o we, who represent
the new socialist order, the embodiment of all that is best in the
history of human. civilization and culture, are all the more entitled
to create the most advanced literature in the world, which will leave
far behind the best arodeis of creative genius of former times."
Consonant -4mith these proncnuram,ements, the party took stringent
measures to bring Soviet writers into line and to maintain constant
surveillance over them,, The editors of Zvezda and Leningrad were
removed and publication of Leningrad as stopped because they pub-
lished the works of two authors who were disapproved by the Central
Cor el,ttee. The Leningrad City Party Committee was censured for
having confirmed a new editoria.lstaff v aieh inoluded Zoshohenkc,
one of the writers in question,, and the newspaper Pravda vvas taken
to task for having published, one month before the ecr?ee vuas issued,
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a favorable review of Zoshchenko's work. Zvezda was placed under
control with the appointment of a new editor o was the deputy
chief of the party's propaganda and agitation administration.
Zoshchenko and Akhmatova, the second writer concerned, were
among'the most prominent literary figures in the Soviet Union.
Akh atova was denounced as a "representative of the ideologyless
reactionary svamp." Her crime was defined as follows: "She preaches
the theory of -'art for art's sake,' of 'beauty for beauty's sake.'
The subject matter of Akhmatova is. individualistic to the core."
(Literary Gazette, September 21, 1946.)
The party interdicted the work of Akhmatova. Nothing bearing
her name appeared on the pages of Soviet literary magazines until
four years later. In 1950, Ggonek published part of "Glory to
Peace", a cycle she. had written. Its title showed that at last she
had knuckled-under to the party line.
A similar fate overtook Zoshchenko, whose satirical writings
had a large and devoted popular following in the USSR and abroad as
well.
K. Simonov and A. Fadayev, two literary giants who were
products wholly of the Soviet era, became the targets of the party's
criticism in late 1947. Their experience showed that even writings
which once had met with party approval were not safe from attacks
based on subsequent unexplained and unpredictable changes in party
doctrine. Fadayev's Young Guard and Simonov's Smoke of the Father-
land, for example, both ceive great acclaim in the party press.
F'a'ac yev's Young Guard was awarded a Stalin prize in 1946. Pravda
commended F aayev for presenting a "vtole gallery of true heroes of
our times whose characters prove . . . the triumph of the Communist
system of education, the greatness and firmness of the new social
order." Then,in 1947, the author suddenly was accused of having
failed.to recognize the leading role of the Communist party in organ-
izing wartime sabotage activities against the enemy5
Simonov's novel, Smoke of the Fatherland, was praised in June
1947, while still incomp ete; aka meeting of the Administration of
the Union of Soviet Writers, the most important literary group in
the USSR. The next November, Culture and Life censored the novel
for failing to fulfil its purpose -- a description of "Soviet
patriotism." In June it had been said that the writer "showed
clearly the advantages of our Soviet order over capitalist society."
Less than six months later, the party declared the novel defective
because its hero was a "passive" observer who failed to supplement
his expression of love for the Soviet Fatherland with positive
action.
Both Simonov and Fadayev submissively took the only course of,
redemption open to writers of the Communist Party whose well-meant
interpretations of the Party line fail, by some unhappy ohm-e3, to
suit the day's mood of the Politburo. They ignominiously admitted
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their shortcomings in public statements and acknowledged the
correctness of party criticism. Both men probably had invested
at least two years of their time and their sincerest creative
effort in the work of producing these novels. They had enjoyed
for one brief moment the spiritual reward which comes to the
artist whose work is well accepted,, and then had been dashed into
the despair of failure at the v;iim of the party overlords.
Perhaps their-work was too good. Who knows hour great,a part the
jealousy or the envy of some petty bureaucrat, who nurses a secret
literary aspiration he knows he never can fulfil, plays in these
'tpol?i ti ca"." judgments of creative production?
The impact on literature of the vagaries of the party line
was shown anew in January, 1950,, when "For the Power of the Soviets"
by V.. hataye,,r, another Soviet literary figure of prcminence, was
rhapsodically praised in Pravda and then within a week condemned
in the same newspaper. (Pra4 ,' January- 16, 1950) The chief com-
plaint against Kataye -c s bona , which his critics finally settled
upon, was failure to draw the character of his hero in terms
befitting "a Soviet man of the new order."' It was not proper for
a respected leader, a party worker, to be called by a nickna ei
Y,atayev, like Akbma,tova, Simonov, and Fadayev before him,
swallowed his pride end fors w re the divine gift of his indivi-
dualism. Presumably it was his only means of survival,, either as
man or artiste The .following miserable recantation appeared in
Pravda over his name on January 24, 1950-.
"I agree d ith. the just and principled criticism of
my new nov?e1 ?For the Power of the So7iets? given in the
article of Md Buben nov, I promise my readers that I
shal . make a fundamental revision of the novel,, I con-
sider this a matter of honor as a writer."
VJa.s he under the spell of the drugs vrhi,oh induce false con-
fession, when he signed :..t? ?.." no one can, know.
The So r:iet - riter today, bound by Party controls,, is free
neither in the choice of his themes nor in the development of his
characters. A11 is prescribed for him by the Politburo,, which,
as har; been :seen., also reserves the right to change its signals
without telling him, both before and after he gets the vork done.
It is the same.in the party s control over the theater.
T+vriters have been pi' ioried and bullied and threatened into Con-
formity; drama critics have been fired from their jobs and
expelled from the party because they criticized, on esthetic
grounds, plays which were ideologically acceptable.
It is the same with motion picture production. Before World
Naar II, the Soviet Union produced 40 to 45 full-length feature
films each year. During the va;r, production was held at 20 to 25
per year; the Soviet Union claims a capacity at present for the
production of 300-400 films yearly, yet the number released in
1950 was eleven, the number set for 1951 was 26. The intellect-
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The official Politburo attitude toward music is the same,
too.. It is explained in the Large Soviet Encyyclopeediiaa, published
in 1948. In its pages one ma es the remarkable discoveries that
(1) music is subject to the general laws of art, and hence to
Marxist-Leninist esthetic principle and to party control; (2)
music always reflects class ideology; and, (3) the music policy
of the Soviet Union is determined by the party and Stalin, and is
"music for the masses."
The campaign to assert party power over the Soviet composers
and make them produce political music whether they would or no,
opened with the well-known attack on Dmitri Shostakovich in
October, 1946, when it was found that-the Ninth Symphony showed a
"lack of warm, ideological conviction." After that, both
$hostakovioh and Prokofieff found it advisable to refuse invita-
tions to visit the United States, where they long since had won
the affection and admiration of hosts of music lovers who appreciate
the greatness of their talent and their art.
In another month another party decree was issued, containing a
sweeping denunciation of contemporary Soviet composers, musical
criticism, musical training, the governmental Committee on Art
Affairs, and the Organizational Committee of the Soviet Composers
Union. Shostakovich, Prokofieff, Khachaturian, V. M. Shebalin,
G. Popov, V. Muradeli, and N.. y*askovski were censured, and the
Central Committee's Propaganda and Agitation Administration and the
Council of Minister's Committee on Art Affairs were called upon to
"liquidate" the shortcomings in the Soviet musical world. According
to the decree, the music of these composers "reeked of contemporary
modernistic bourgeois music of Europe and America, which reflects
the miasmas of bourgeois culture."
Within a few weeks, the persons named in the decree were
removed from their positions. Their music disappeared from stores
and was "out" at libraries. By 1948, Shostakovich gave in and
recanted his alleged errors. His "confession" read: "I know that
the party is right, that the party -wishes me well, and that I must
search for and find creative paths which lead me to Soviet realist-
ic popular art. It is impossible for me not to search for such new
paths, because I an a Soviet artist brought up under the Soviet
regime; I must and I want to find paths to the heart of the Soviet
people." It is hard to believe that these puerile, copy-book
phrases can be Shostakovich's own words. Although he may regard
himself as a voice of the proletarian masses, he is a, mature man
and an educated one. It seems quite unnatural, quite unconvincing,
to have him write a "confession" in the language of the second grade
of common school. It is hard to dodge the conclusion that he signed
a statement dictated or written by some hack employed for the
purpose on the Politburo's staff. One can only imagine the pressures
brought upon him to force him to do so.
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As for Prokofieff, he became the favorite whipping boy of the
Politburo music critics. He was the only one of the criticized
composers who was not a product of the Soviet regime. He left the
USSR during the Revolution and returned in 1933 to become a "Soviet
composer." In February, 1948, he -wrote:
"It is hard for me to realize that I was among those
-who express a formalistic trend. I understand that this
decision will provide a resolute turning point in Soviet
musical art. I am now -working on a new opera, The Tale of
a Real Man. It is dedicated to a heroic Soviet pilot. In
EaZSopera . . I shall draw upon our folk melodies."
The new opera was also attacked. The Soviet critics said it
showed that Prokofieff had "not learned anything." On December 30,
1948, Prokofieff, ill at home, issued another confession saying he
vas sorry that "bourgeois formalism" had not been eliminated from
his art.
The meeting of the Union of Soviet Composers, which took place
December. 21-27, 1948, showed the effect of the purge which followed
the decree. New composers appeared, most of them little known even
to the Soviet people. Many new compositions bore such titles as
The Flag Above the Vi11a a Soviet, Cantata About the Fatherland, a
Ek u 'n. - e . the newspaper Sow et oomp 1a ne on
February 5, 1 9, that "compositions are sMlrTacking in our reper-
toire which reveal a full-scale image of the great Lenin and Stalin."
The persecution of the music critics and the composers was still to
go on.
Prokofieff died March 8, 1953, at his country home near Moscow.
He was sixty:-one. He had come to some nominal adjustment between the
terms of his art and the Politburo's ideas of how music should be
composed, but his last years had been full of tragedy and unpleasant-
ness, if not of terror. Some idea of how difficult he must have
found it to endure the interference of the carping commissars whom
Zhdanov and Malenkov set to watch over the production of his art,
can be imagined by anyone who reads his life story: "He was one of
the born musio-makers whose problem it was to prune the luxuriance
of his invention and imagination rather than stimulate it." Above
all things, moreover, he sought to produce music that was intimately
and solely his own. When he was eleven, he brought the score of a
symphony to Taneiev, who said, "Pretty good, my boy. You are master-
ing the form rapidly. Of course, you have to develop more interesting
harmony. Most of this is tonic, dominant and sub-dominant, but that
will come." Prokofieff has told how this distressed him. "I could
not endure the thought", he said, "of producing only that others had
produced. And so I started out, very earnestly, not to imitate but
to find a way of my om.. It was very hard, and rrr courage was
severely put to the test in the following years. I destroyed reams
of music, such of which sounded well, vEhenever I realized that it was
only an echo of someone else."
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If he objected so much in his youth to imitation, vubat must the
cost to his spirit have been, in his mature years, to be ordered to
make music which was only the echo of A; Zhdanov.
Now Prokofieff has died, at sixty-one, when "had life and
freedom been further vouchsafed him, he would have multiplied his
great production, without doubt in ways that would further have opened
new vistas of music and music-drama of the future, How far did he
succeed in his restless explorations;, his endless experiments (some-
times quite mad ones), the indubitable masterpieces that resulted
from his magnificent research?" How much,, likewise, of this great
gift has been denied the morld_beoau:se of the galling and senseless
restraints imposed upon him by the fearfu:l, frustrated, and envious
men of the Communist Party's Politburo? Would death have overtaken
him so soon if his life had been less troubled by them? And what
will become of the genius of Shostakovich?
These are questions which must give pause, and a long one, to
every artist and to every intellectual who still enjoys the right to
work in his ova. 'vay and his own idiom in the world that is still free.
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1. The intellectuals of Latin America are fed up with the false-
ness of the Communist peace appeal. Most of them know beyond the
shadow of a doubt that the so-called congresses of culture are
nothing other than fronts which Pablo Neruda and Jorge Amado are
trying to promote in order to shore up the tottering structure of
the so-called Peace Movement and thereby keep their own jobs with
the Cominform. Besides that, the discriminating intelligentsia
are getting bored with the kind of art that Communism inspires.
It is a tragedy to see the talent of Pablo Neruda turned to the
doggerel verse of Communist ideology, the noble prose of Jorge
Amado invested in the copy-book themes which the Cominform allows
to its captive writers.
In La Paz last November (1952) the sponsors of the so-called
First National Bolivian Pro-Peace Congress tried using the name of
Pablo Neruda as honorary president, for a come-on to attract support.
Two hundred people went to the first meeting; when they saw what was
going on in the name of poetry and culture, all the interested public
stayed away -- the attendance at the second session dropped to
seventy-three, consisting of official delegates only. The delegates
themselves began fading out after that, and at the third session
only forty-five showed up. Then everybody went home.
2. It is ridiculous for anyone to believe that the Communist
chiefs are interested in international cultural exchange. They
want to get intellectuals-together an`d make em listen to Communist
ideas, but they don't want any Communists to hear anybody else's
ideas. They are, in fact, in deadly terror of having any ideas
whatever, except their own, get into the USSR. They hate inter-
nationalism. This was shown in the campaign to subjugate the
Soviet musicians to the Politburo. The two composers most bitterly
attacked were the two who were most popular abroad and who knew
more.than any others about people and ideas in the outside world,
i.e., Shostakovich and Prokofieffa
3. Is Gabriela MISTRAL a Communist? We do not believe so. She
is an intelligent woman as well as a great poet and an admirable
diplomatic representative of her country. Her success has been
achieved under a system of freedom where the liberal, the progress-
ive and the creative thinker has a chance. We believe that Gabriela
Mistral understands and values these things. We do not believe that
she would vd llingly exchange them for thought control under the
Communist Politburo. We think that she has been misled and betrayed
by her trusted friend Pablo Neruda,, like so many other sincere and
well-meaning intellectuals who have trusted him throughout Latin
America. Her name has been used as an honorary official of the
Chilean Pro-Peace Movement. We believe that the purpose of the
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movement either was presented to her falsely and deceptively, or that
her name was used without her permission. It would not be the first
time. This inexcusable liberty has been taken with the names of many
other intellectuals in Latin America by the sponsors of the Peace
Movement.
4. Martin Luis Guzman, publisher of the influential news weekly
Tiempo of Meiico, Mexican Ambassador to the United Nations, drew out
of the Peace Movement as soon as he found out the truth about its
ulterior subversive purposes. His letter of resignation was a blow
to the Communist sponsors of the Peace Movement in his country. He
explained that his original doubts concerning the committee had
become certainties, that he was convinced that the peace campaign
was not dedicated to conciliation or rapprochement but was concerned
with unilateral proposals practically identical with those which
would be advanced by the USSR. SDD 435 Mexico 13 August 1951 Confi-
dential.
5. Lie. Alfonso Reyes, perhaps the most respected writer and
humanist of Mexico, former diplomat and in 1950 President of the
Coleglo de Mexico, likewise has seen the truth of the spurious
Communist peace and cultural movement. He declined to attend a
Peace Committee meeting in Mexico, in 19.50 -- in any case, those who
were present know that he was not there -- but the Communists used
his good name anyway, and announced in the press that he would attend
and introduce Pablo Neruda.
6. The case of dose Revueltas, the Mexican novelist, illustrates
in our own hemisphere, very. close to home indeed, how an honest and
talented writer can become the captive of Communism and then be
devoured by its, intransigent demand for the surrender of every
vestige of intellectual independence of their own partisans.
Revueltas was excoriated and ignominiously expelled from the Party
because he wrote a novel vaich was not blind to the defects of
Communism.
7. The late Dr. Gonzalez Martinez, who was perhaps Mexico's best
poet as well as a physician of distinction, also realized how the
Communists had abused his good wills He vas growing old, getting
into his eighties, and he did not care. to raise strife by protesting
the misuse that had been made of his name, but he told his friends,
and the word went around in the community of intellectuals.
8. Very few intellectuals ever will belong to the ages if they
Belong to the Kremlin first. Communism is a servitude, not a libez
tion, of the artistic spirit.
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9. at has happened to the art of Jorge Amado since he became a
Communist? A writer of great talent and established prestige, he
vacs a. good catch for the Communist propaganda masters to use in
their world plans. Now that they have him, of course, they have
suppressed his creative freedom and made him into a courier and
errand boy. Nhen they allow him time to write these days, he
turns out confused, involved, and ill-constructed stories. If
once he wrote poetry, he now composes political doggerel. His
"Song of the Soviet Land", in which he attempts to give inspired
utterance to a pledge of support from Latin America, turns out to
be a series of propaganda statements couched in blank verse of a
very low order too low, indeed, to be worthy of the lofty promise
of Jorge Amadoss early creative career:
"Hope of the world, certitude of mankind,
Not with our hands
Shall your bountiful borders be violated.
Nor from our bases shall assassins
Take off to bomb your cities.
Not with our riches shall this war
Be waged against you.
We shall fight for the. right to live as
we choose.
To you we extend our hand,. and together,
With you as our guide, we shall march into
the future." (The Crossroads, Communist
daiy, Bombay , 4 April
19 52 )
Apart from the obviously ludicrous idea that anyone who fights
for the Russian Cominform will have the right to live as he chooses,
especially a creative writer, the only other thing to be said about
this ode is that any political hack could do as well by writing a
prose declaration in keeping with party policy, and then chopping it
up into short and long lines so as to make it look like verse.
10. 'thy is Pablo Neruda a Communist? People join a cause like they
do a church, for the benefit they think it will bring them. We think
that Pablo Neruda, like Diego Rivera, the Mexican artist, is a Com-
munist mainly because it is a means of attracting attention and
publicity to himself. Certainly, that is what he seems to want more
than anything else in life.
11. Voluntary exile is not permitted in the USSR. If artists and
writers do not like the dictation the Politburo imposes on their art,
they have only two alternatives-. submit or starve. They cannot leave
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the country. Escape is impossible. Families pay the penalty if
one goes and leaves without them,, If_Neruda had indulged in vio-
lent criticism of the government of.the USSR in such a way as he
attacked the government of his own countryb he could not have gone
away and avoided the reckoning. Like all Communist dupes, he makes
use of his country's freedom to his own convenience at the very
time he works to destroy it by implanting Communist dictatorship.
22. That has happened to the art of Pablo Neruda? The friends of
Pablo Netuda, the public, who have loved his poetry and venerated
him as an honor to the nation because of his great talent9 these
people desire and they have a right to know what has happened to
Pablo Neruda's arty
Little seems to have come from his pen in recent years. There
is the monumental "Stalingrad"0 which has some sonorous measures,
but gives joy to very few people. There have been some pamphlets
and some bits of doggerel verse on Party propaganda lines. What
will there be in the future? Has Neruda's power been eclipsed?
Has Pablo Neruda exchanged the.integrity_of his art for a dish of
Zhdanov borscht?
13. Diario de Banana of Guatemala9 on November 240 1949,, published
an edits allavishing praise on the Chilean poet. "No one would
dare" it said, "to dispute the preeminent position of the great
Chilean poet Neruda in relation to the intellectual movements of
America and the political repercussions of his activities as a writer
and leader at the service of the masses of his suffering country to
the south?" On:thib.same page was a fullsome little poem by someone
named Luis Aragon calling Neruda "The Linnet of Chile."
A good many people, since 19499 nevertheless have dared to
challenge Neruda's preeminence both in the field of writing and of
politics. The most deadly criticism can be seen in the lack of
response he is encountering in his feverish travel from country to
country as he vainly tries to whip up a large following for the Comte
monist "peace" and "cultural" movements. Pablo Nerudags real value
to the Communist movement itself lies in his reputation as a poet.
The decline of that reputation must worry him. Apparently it does,
and as a consequence he tries to obtain publicity for other reasons.
The build-up for his return to Chile was obviously quite calculated.
He hoped, it would seem, or at least expected, to be arrested the
moment he set foot inside the countrya after his four years' absence
under charges of calumniating the former President, Gonzalez Videla.
His wife had a suit for bigamy against him, too. But nothing has
happened. From the point of view of the Government, his return has
scarcely seemed important enough to notice,, His wife appears satisw
fied to let well enough alone. No martyrdoms What a disappointment
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for Pablo Nerudat For the Cominform masters, too, If he doesn't
manage to do something to resuscitate his declining popularity,
the Communists won't find him interesting, either, any more.
148 The repudiations of the misnamed "peace" movement are very
numerous among intellectuals in all the Latin American countries.
David Vela,, the editor of El Impartial of Guatemala City, had the
courage and self-respect to come out very plainly about it when his
name was used by the promoters of the movement without his authori-
zation. In an open letter published in El Im arp vial on February 3,
19M. he disavowed his listing on the "welcome Neruda" committee
that ems organized there as a trap to get writers and artists and
patrons of letters into the "peace" movement without their knowing
it. David Vela declared that he had received no advance notice of
the meeting and no subsequent notice that he had been named a member
of the welcoming committee, The same thing has happened to many
other pro34inent intellectuals, in various countries, many of whom
would like to follow Vela's example and denounce the presumption,
but hold back because they do not want to make themselves conspicuous
or engage in controversy.
15. Eleazar de Carvalho, the Director of the Brazilian Symphony
Orchestra, wrote the following letter regarding the Continental
Cultural Congress scheduled to be held in Santiago, and sent it
to the Chief of Police and to others, so that the public would
know his plain position regarding this fraudulent imposition on
American intellectuals:
Rio de Janeiro
July l4p 1942
Gen. Cyro Riopardense de Rezende,
Chief of Police of the Federal District
Dear General:
I an writing you this letter to inform you of the
following:
I have been sought by an artist who asked me to sign
my name in an adhering list to the Continental Congress of
Culture, and after hearing from him the strict artistic
and cultural designs of the Congress,, I could not prevent
my putting my signature in the referred list,, in view of
the artistic plans exposed to me. Afterwards, though, it
cane to my knowledge the political purposes of that Congress
of which I was completely ignorant.
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That is the reason why I wish to let you know that I
am an artist? a fact of which the public is well aware, not
earning any outside income but that of my profession and
completely apart from political questions, with which I am
not associated, neither at the present nor in the pasta
Therefore, I wish to declare annuled the referred signature,
intending not only to be absent, but also to deny my con-
currence to the Congress in view of its political designs
as mentioned..
I hope you take into consideration what I stated and
use it for whatever it stands, to prevent the.possible
exploitation of that signature by members connected with
a certain political organization for the goal they have in
mind.
I thank you very much for your attention, and remain,
Yours very truly,
(signed) Maestro Eleazar de Carvalho
Diretor Artistico da Orquestra Sin-
fonica Brasiieira
16,E How the Communist sponsors of the so-called "Peace" Movement
took advantage of honest intellectuals in Brazil:
They selected their list of distinguished persons and asked
them the following set of simple questions, Almost any unsuspecting
man or an would give an affirmative reply, Vdhen they had that, the
Communists then claimed that those who said yes were adherents of the
Communist Peace Movements and used their names without further authoria
zation. Here are the questions:
1. Do you consider it possible to solve international problems
by negotiation and without recourse to the use of force?
2. Do you think that the people should directly express their
opinion on the problems of the maintenance of peace?
3. What would you think of a congress of all peoples of all
nations in which parliamentarians, public personalities, and repre-
sentatives of the various social and professional classes could debate
the problems of peace,, with a view toward common understanding?
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l7, The same kind of deceptive double-talk appears in the alleged
objectives of the proposed Continental Cultural Congress. As outlined
by the sponsors, who know very. much better but don't mind lying to
their friends, the objectives area "l) to stimulate the cultural
development of the American peoples.by adopting practical measures
tending to preserve the national characteristics of its cultures, as
well, as to foster scientific investigation; 2) to activate cultural
interchange between the countries of the Continent by eliminating the
obstacles which hinder the free circulation and exchange of publica-
tions and books* . . as well as closer contact between thinking men;
3) to defend professional ethics, the freedom of creation and opinion
and the interests of literary men in genera:,"
This flimsy facade for the peace front will delude no one but
the Communists and fellow travelers themselves,
18. Flash2 Pablo Picasso, whose Peace Doves have been flying in
and out of the cultural movement from its beginning, is the latest
victim of the Party purge because he has created an "'Unorthodox"
portrait of Stalin. The judgment-of art creation is the exclusive
right of the Politburo.
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GENESIS OF THE CONTINENTAL.CULTUR,AL CONGRESS
Plans for the Continental Cultural Congress have been slow in taking form
and slow in being implemented. The general framework of the Congress was prob-
ably inspired by the 1949 Vienna World Peace Congress, where great emphasis
was placed on cultural exchange; more specifically the Congress is an outgrowth
of the rump meeting of the 1952 Montevideo Continental Conference of Peace,
where a resolution was adopted in favor of holding "an American conference of
writers, artists and scientists. . . to discuss the possible development of
national cultures and inter American cultural collaboration in relation to the
preservation of world peace." 1/
In the period between 1949 and 1952 Pablo Neruda appeared to be the chief
Latin American exponent of the cultural theme. At the Third World Festival of
Youth and Students for Peace he suggested a solidarity campaign in favor of
writers and intellectuals; in the World Peace Council publication Neruda ad-
vanced the idea that it was necessary to envisage a World Congress. of Writers;2/
and at the Berlin World Peace Council meeting, July, 1952, he announced that
a Writers' Conference would take place later in the year, probably referring
to the-prospective Santiago Conference. 3/ .
Following the return of Neruda and other Latin American literary figures--
particularly Nicolas Guillen (Cuba), and Jorge Amado (Brazil)- from Soviet Bloc
.conferences Communist cultural leaders staged demonstrations, receptions and.
parties to which they invited prominent non-Communist intellectuals and tried
commit them, though without much success, to support a forthcoming inter-
American Cultural Conference.
The first public mention of the Congress was made in El Mercurio, conser-
vative Santiago daily, on 13 July 1952, which reported the circulation in
various Latin American countries of a notice stating that a group of writers
and artists would convoke a "Cultural Congress" in Santiago, Chile, in October,
1952. The sponsors claimed that their purpose was to "unite in fraternal
debate writers, scientists, educators, moving picture figures, musicians, pro-
fessionals, and technical men with the object of studying the problems which
arise from the lamentable lack of cultural interchange in Latin America".
According to El Mercurio, the manifesto was signed by sixteen well-known per-
sons, among whom were: Erico Verissimo, Jorge de Lima, Jorge Amado, Luis Carlos
Prestes, Leonidas Barletta, Gergorio Bermann, all of whom the newspaper
classed as known militant Communists. Other signers, according to El Mercurio,
could not be called actual Communists but may be dupes or fellow travelers.
These. men were: Baldomiro Sanin Cano, Benjamin Carrion, Martinez Estrada,
Jorge Zalamea, and Jorge Luis Borges. 4/
About the same time a letter from Maria Roma Oliver, an Argentine Com-
munist writer and one of the organizers of the Congress, to a Cuban coworker,
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;told of the preparations. She said that "a Brazilian man of letters, who
will inform you-of the work and the spirit of our preliminary efforts for
this Conference, will arrive in Habana during the next few days. As you
will be able to see from the Call. . .9 it is not a question of just
'another pro-peace Conference' in disguise, as sometimid people feared when
they saw that some of us who worked for the American Pro-Peace Conference
(Montevideo, March 1952)9 are now organizing this Conference. The timid ones
do not realize how difficult it is in Latin America to separate the anguish
we have, because of the separation in which Latin American peoples live, from
the problems which are created for us by the 'cold war'." Rio de Janeiro
was mentioned as the site for the Secretariat, 5/ but apparently the cultural
facade for the peace front was too transparent to delude any but committed
fellow travelers and the conference was denounced as Communist-inspired
by leading Brazilian intellectuals who had been listed as sponsors. 6/ Among
these was Eleazar de Carvalho9 director of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra,
who notified the Rio police that he had at first favored the conference, but
had withdrawn his support when he realized that it was merely a Communist
device for luring unsuspecting cultural leaders into the Communist trap. 7/
At least three dates have been set for the Congress-. October 1952, late
January or early February 19539 and currently, 26 April to 2 May 1953. The
postponements are reportedly attributable to financial difficulties of the
organizing group,- difficulties in securing passage for delegates at reason-
able rates98/ and fear of suppression by the Chilean Government during
the election period, plus belief that the political climate would be more
favorable after Ibanez' inauguration. 9/
An important reason for setting back the date was to allow time for
the numerous likely delegates and organizers to return from the Vienna Congress.
It was hoped that Neruda would receive funds for the Congress while he was in
Europe, but there has been no indication that such financial assistance was
=proffered. 9/
Plans and the agenda for the Congress have not been clearly set forth. As
in the case of former Latin American Communist conferences, preparations for
this one have been rather hit-or-miss. The objectives, which have been outlined
in general terms, and which do not provide any solid working basis, are-.
):-to stimulate the cultural development of the American peoples by adopting
practical measures tending to preserve the national characteristics of its
cultures, as well as to foster scientific investigation,- 2) to activate cul-
tural interchange between the countries of the Continent by eliminating the
obstacles which hinder the free circulation and exchange of publications and
books. . . as well as closer contact between thinking men 3) to defend pro-
fessional ethics, the freedom of creation and opinion and the interests of
literary 'ien in general." 1Q/ This last aim, of course, is pure Communist
dialectics,- designed to attract credulous non-Communists.
Not even the leadership of the Congress seems clearly defined. Neruda
has been both acclaimed and discredited as -the organization director. According
to a recent report he has been relieved of all organizational tasks because
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of his lack of responsibility and initiative. His named however, will be
played up for prestige purposes. Cesar Godoy Urrutia, well-known Chilean
ommunist leader, is believed to be the behind-the-scenes organizer.
Enrique Bello Cruz, writer and director of the Communist line magazine Pro-
rtes will act as nominal director and will be GodoyBs chief aide. 11/
Margarita Aguirre, Nerudaas private secretary, appears to be acting as sec-
retary of the Congress. Jorge Amado and Volodia Teitelboim, both experienced
Communist leaders recently returned from Europe, seem to be acting in a
counseling capacity. Amado reportedly carried directives from Vienna to Santiago.
Invitations have been issued to individuals in twenty-two countries. Each
delegation is requested to bring a folklore exhibit, all of which wi ..be
consolidated into one large exhibit which will be displayed in Santiago during
the Congress and then will tour Latin America on a fund-raising campaign. No
mention has been made, however, of where in Santiago the exhibit will be
shown, but'pre-sumably the University of Santiago, the proposed site of the
Congress,, will house the exposition. 12/
A serious setback to Neruda and other prominent leaders has been the
refusal of Eduardo Barrios, outstanding Chilean novelist, and his influential
Sociedad de Escritores to participate in the Congress. 12/ Neruda has exerted
every effort to assure the presence of German Arciniegas, well-known Colombian
'niter, whose attendance is considered indispensable. 13/ It seems doubtful,
however, that Arcieniegas will respond to Neruda?s persuasion.
In view of the numerous obstacles so far encountered and the lack of pre-
paration and cohesion among the organizing group it is doubtful that the Congress,
if the Chilean Government permits it to meet, will be any more than a gathering
of already avowed Communists and fellow-travelers.
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LATIN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION IN THE WORLD PEACE MOVEMENT
In the early postwar period,. many sincere, thoughtful Latin-
Americans, especially among the intellectuals, began seeking ways and
means by which the people of the world could live together more ami-
cably. Many of them viewed the early Communist-inspired peace meet-
ings and the Partisans of Peace movement with considerable hope, and
expected that the declared aims would be seriously and objectively
considered. A gradual awareness on the part of these thinking people
that the movement had been used primarily for the promotion of Com-
munist ideology and dissemination of Communist propaganda, subse-
quently caused many to withdraw their support.
The progress of the movement in Latin America has been impeded
also by adverse political developments in various countries, by the
hostile attitude of certain governments because of the obvious
Communist domination of the movement; by lack of funds, and lack of
support from prominent non-Communist liberals. Attempts to hold
hemispheric peace conferences have been numerous but have met with
little success. After many postponements, the First American Conti-
nental Congress for Peace was held in Mexico City, 5-10 September
1949. This Congress had its origin in the Breslau Congress of
Intellectuals held in August 1948. The aims of the Congress were
twofold: (1) to maintain the fiction. that it was a non-Communist
movement motivated by humanitarian ideals and supported by out-
standing liberal, pacifist intellectuals of all nations; and (2)
to present the USSR as champion of world peace in contrast to the
aggressive, imperialistic nations of the West.
With few, exceptions, the most consistent Latin-American
participants in the peace offensive have been avowed Communists
or fellow-travelers. The planning and direction on a continental
basis for the first meeting appeared to be the responsibility of
Juan Marinello, President of the Cuban Communist Party, and
VicenTe-TENrdo Toledano, head of the CTRL and Partido Popular
of Mexico. PFomiien in assistance to these leaders was Roberto
Morena, member of the Central Committee of the Brazilian Communist
a3' rty and the Central Committee of the CTAL. This group issued
directives to the Communist parties and the Communist dominated CTRL
affiliates. Instructions were to form national committees composed
of representatives of labor, cultural, moments, and youth groups.
To advise and encourage organizational preparations, Roberto Morena
was sent on tour of ten Latin-American countries. A wide publicity
campaign was initiated simultaneously in the Communist and leftist
press, to emphasize the non-political, humanitarian, idealistic
aspects of the Congress.
The initially enthusiastic response resulted in formation of
national committees, some of which were provisional; participation
of Communist front organizations; and pledge of support from non-
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S INFORMA.TION
Communist individuals. But this trend was soon reversed, when the
Communist direction and purpose of the movement became evident to
the public and the governments. Although the Mexican Government
did nothing to prevent the conference from meeting in Mexico City,
ex-President Lazaro Cardenas, who at first gave provisional accept-
ance to the invitation to preside at the meetings, subsequently
declined. With the exception of the Argentine and Uruguayan nation-
al peace committees, comparable organizations of other countries
throughout Latin-America became largely inactive. Because of these
reverses and lack of organizational preparation, it became necessary
in December 1948 to announce the first of at least six postponements
of the proposed congress.
21
Withdrawal of Lazaro Cardenas, and general failure to attract
prominent liberals to the movement, caused increasing disappointment
and concern among Latin-American Communists. Some felt that an all
Communist congress would defeat its purpose and might better be
canceled altogether.
The long period of inactivity ended in mid-summer 1949. By
July, most Latin-American delegates to the European and New York
congresses were home again. Their return accounted, in part, for
reactivation of national peace committees in Panama, Venezuela,
Argentina, and Brazil, even though the last two governments took
strong repressive. measures against all "peace" organizational
activity. 51
Great difficulties were encountered by the congress in obtain-
ing prominent non-Communist intellectuals to act as officers or
patrons. The Mexican physicist Sandoval Vallerta, for example, was
offered the presidency, but declined it and all other forms of
participation. He stated to a U.S. Embassy officer, that his refusal
was based on knowledge of the true nature and sponsorship of the
conference. He added that it was his belief that Dr. Alfonso Casa
had accepted the vice-presidency largely out of loyalty to his
brother-in-law, Lombardo Toledano, and that Dr. Caso did not
realize the movement's political implications. Other prominent
Mexicans who refused to serve in organizational posts were Alfonso
`Reyes and Lic. Gilberto Loyo. 1 Some liberal, though not
Communist intellectuals, less quick to perceive that the Communists
were exploiting them for propaganda purposes, played an active role
in. the movement in its initial stages. For example, Enrique Gonzalez
Martinez, a physician by profession and one of Mexico's greatest
contemporary poets who died in 1952, accepted the presidency of the
Continental Conference and of the Mexican affiliate of the Partisans
of Peace. Within a year, however, he expressed disillusionment to
his friend, Alfonso Reyes, and annoyance with the way the Communists
were using him to their ova advantage. 1
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The Congress opened on 5 September 1949 with an estimated attendance of
3,000 delegates and sympathizers, but without the presence of any important
political figures. The Czechoslovak and Polish Legations in Mexico accepted
an official invitation to send semi-official representatives to the Congress.
Luis Enrique Delano was Secretary General of the Congress and Enrique
Gonzalez Martinez was President. Vice Presidents weres Linus Pauling (USA),
W.E.B. Dubois (USA), Alfonso Caso (Mexico), Fernando Ortiz (Cuba), Arthur
Ramos (Brazil),Joaquin Garcia Monge (Costa Rica), Dr. H. R. Endicott (Canada).
Though Communist spokesmen and press made great claims of sweeping
success for the pro-peace movement in Latin America, the accomplishments in
fact have fallen far short of the desired results. Pro-peace leaders have on
occasion privately confessed their discouragement with the movement. Pablo
Neruda, for example, stated confidentially in 1950 that the campaign in Latin
America had been a complete failure. In his opinion, nothing concrete had
been accomplished by the movement except in Cuba,,where the Communist Party
was numerically strong, and in Guatemala, where government support was afforded.7/
Attempts to convene the second American Continental Peace Conference in
1951 were more persistent and optimistic than successful, and it was not until
15 March, 1952, that a small, frustrated group met in Montevideo. Various sites
and dates had been set for the Conference, the first of which u?as Santiago
in November., 1951. 8/ Probably as the result of various factors- the usual
lack of funds, lack of preparation and fear of repression because of national
elections that were scheduled for the same month-- the site was changed to Rio
de Janeiro and the date to 28 January 1952. But permission to meet in Brazil
was denied and the sponsors then considered Montevideo,9/ Guatemala City,
and Quito. 9/ Guatemala was not satisfactory, however, as it would bring
the congress under the patronage of a Communist-dominated government, thus
destroying the effectiveness of its attempted appeal to non-Communists. 10/
Montevideo was selected as the most suitable site and plans were made to hold
sessions 11-16 March, 1952. On 10 March, however, the Uruguayan Government
invoked an obscure, almost forgotten law of the 19300s by which it was
possible to prevent the conference from holding formal meetings in Uruguay.
Pro-peace leaders tried to salvage the situation by arranging for small
private meetings to be held simultaneously throughout the city. Not until
15 March were they able to hold a public meeting. 11/
Resolutions, which congress leaders claimed were adopted by unanimous
consent, but which were in reality dictated by the organizing committee, cen-
tered around the usual "peace" themes, and recommended convocation in 1952
of "an American conference of writers, artists, and scientists. . . to discuss
the possible development of national cultures and inter-American cultural
collaboration in relation to the preservation of world peace." 13/
This last resolution was apparently a follow-up of the cultural exchange
recommendation of the November 1941 meeting of the World Peace Council, and
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doubtless originated the currently scheduled Santiago Cultural Congress.
Leaders of the Montevideo meeting were reportedly pessimistic about their
ability to hold such a conference, because of the unfavorable attitude of
Latin American governments. They felt that it would be more harmful to
have a conference misfire, as had the dismal Montevideo meeting, than not
to hold a meeting at all. 14/
Confusion prevailed during the entire period scheduled for the Confe-
rence. Several delegations who had arranged travel plans, did not know that
the Conference had been outlawed until after they arrived in Montevideo.
Other delegations, notably the Mexican and Cuban, had been refused visas
by the Uruguayan Consular authorities. Hotel accommodations were in confusion.
The large Brazilian delegation was unable to find rooms and was forced to
stay with Uruguayan Communists.
Many delegates, angry that the Conference had been banned, spent most
of their time enjoying themselves at the beaches during the torrid days
for which the Conference had been planned. Attempts to hold private meetings
were handicapped by Montevideo police, who continuously requested known
delegates to report for checking of travel documents. During this turmoil,
the local pro-peace leaders never were able to ascertain exactly how many
delegates had finally arrived. The Communists claimed 279 delegates were
present, but a check of travel documents indicated that about one hundred
persons had arrived. 15/
Visa control, denounced by the Communists, was not a serious barrier,
because the delegates could travel to Brazil or Chile and proceed from those
countries without visas. Delegates from Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba,
and Panama were reported by the Communist press as unable to attend because
they were refused visas.But these people may have been lukewarm anyway, or
unable to afford the trip.
Measured by geographical distribution of delegates, the "continental
congress" was actually a rump meeting. Not only were the bulk of delegates
claimed fromm southern South America, but three-fifths of the claimed Bra-
zilian delegation apparently represented the border state of Rio Grande do
lftl, A partial list of delegates, published after the conference, included
none of the prominent names that the Communists have managed at one time or
another to associate with the peace front. About one-third of the delegates
listed represented the cultural world-- `Vriters, artists, musicians, educators--
and, in addition, there was minor representation of workers, lawyers, judges,
politicians, and journalists. 16/
Because the government had denied the peace front the prestige value of
public sessions, its breach of traditional Uruguayan civil liberties was
criticized by influential non.-Communist newspapers., and a congressional in-
terpellation was voted. Radio Moscow exploited the ban as "evidence" that
"American rulers and their henchmen are afraid of the peace movement." 17/
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In addition to national and hemispheric peace activities, Latin Americans,
in increasing numbers, are traveling to each of the international peace
conferences. About sixty delegates from Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, and all South
America, with the exception of Bolivia, played their various appointed roles,
together with 1700 other delegates, at the Warsaw Congress 16-22 November,
1950. They were rewarded with the allotment of twenty-four of the 224 seats
on the World Peace Council, which was established at that congress. Brazil's
"four million" signatures were recognized by election of the Brazilian women's
front leader, Branca Fialho, to the Bureau of the World Peace Council; and
the Brazilian Pa]ameme Borsari, reportedly in charge of peace activities in
Latin America, was confirmed as one of the Bureau's seven secretaries. Even
more telling recognition from the Latin American point of view was the award
of two out of a total of twelve international "peace" prizes and medals to
their area: one to the Brazilian artist, Candido Portinari, and another to
Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet who had been serving Communism in Middle
America, Europe, and India. 18/
Latin American attendance in international peace conferences reached
numerical "highs" at the Peiping and Vienna conferences, but a survey of
lists of delegates does not indicate the acquisition of any prominent new
names.
Concurrent with the increased activities of Latin Americans in the world
peace movement has been a proportionate increase in attention paid to Latin
Americans in international meetings and in statements made by noted world
peace figures. The success or failure of the Santiago Cultural Congress
probably will have an important affect upon the prestige of Latin American
peace organizations and the leaders connected with the World Peace Movement.
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The Continental Cultural Congress is clearly linked to the
Communist World Peace Movement. Analysis of the record shows
that the appeal of this movement to Latin-American intellectuals
has steadily declined since 1949, as this target group has become
better informed on the Communist effort to draw in non-political
and non-Communist intellectuals,, and to use their names for propa-
ganda advantage.
Preparatory work for the Chilean Congress has been slow and
discouraging for Pablo Neruda and the other organizers. The date
of the Congress has been postponed several times, and prospects
are not good for a large or brilliantly successful meeting.
The Communist Peace Movement and Communist propaganda appeals
have, however, attracted a limited number of intellectuals to,
their cause. Propaganda themes and vulnerabilities, rich may be
exploited for the purpose of counteracting these appeals, have been
analyzed in the light of the history of the Peace Movement effort
in Latin America. Supporting material, appearing as supplements
to this study, include a biographical index and an analysis of
Communist tactics employed at a typical international congress of
intellectuals.
SL
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(a) To provide information on the genesis and background of
the Continental Cultural Congress, a phase of the Communist Peace
Movement, scheduled to meet inSantiago, Chile, 26 April - 2 May
1953; and (b) to present supporting material on the purpose sought,
and the tactics followed in meetings of this type in Latin America,
together with themes and information which may be used as material
for counter propaganda.
Scope and Limitations
This study is limited to the development of the Communist Peace
Movement, with specific reference to Latin America, and to the
propaganda appeal and the tactics likely to be used in the scheduled
Congress at Santiago. This is not a definitive study, but a collect-
ion of summarized background data and working material for the
support of field operations and analyses.
SEC
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THE CONTINENTAL CULTURAL CONGRESS
AS AN INSTRUPVTENT OF COTa'IU TIST PEACE PROPAGANDA
The Continental Cultural Congress, to be held at Santiago, Chile,
26 April - 2 May 1953, though ostensibly independent from the intri
Cate international network of the Communist World Peace Movement, is
clearly linked with the so-called peace campaign, the pivot of Commun-
ist propaganda activity. Behind a facade of culture, the Congress is
designed so as to attract as many non-Communists as possible - the
more prominent the better - and to promote current Soviet propaganda
themes.
If the Congress meets as scheduled on 26 April in Santiago, a
large part of the proceedings will probably center about proposals
for cultural exchange and for educational conferences, under the guise
of peace. The proceedings, and the number and names of persons parti-
cipating, will later be used to magnify the power of national Communist
parties and their associated peace committees. Also, the attempt will
be to impress the peoples of each country with the strength of the
Communist movement everywhere, and of its appeal to non-Communists.
A survey of the aims and operations of the World Peace Movement
clearly indicates that it is the major Soviet instrument for dissemi-
nating propaganda and for exerting political and other pressure.
Thus, for background information, a summary of the salient facts of
the history and activities of the movement follows, from its origin
in 1948 to the present time.
Background of the World Peace Movement
At the World Congress of Intellectuals, which was held in Breslau,
Poland, 25-28 August 1948, a permanent International Committee in
Defense of Peace was set up. This Committee, composed of twenty-one
members,(among whom were the Brazilian novelist, Jorge Amado, and the
Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda) was the parent organization of the World
Peace Movement. Paris was selected as headquarters, and it was subse-
quently also chosen as headquarters of the International Committee of
the Partisans of Peace.
The purpose of the permanent committee was to coordinate propa-
ganda and all activities described as being aimed at the preservation
and promotion of world peace, and against "a handful of self-interest-
ed men in America and Europe" seeking war.
In the movement's first historical phase, attention was concen-
trated on building bases for organization and propaganda by means of
a series of meetings, conventions and congresses in many countries.
The second phase, from early 1949 to the present, is a response
to heavy pressure from Moscow upon leaders of the movement for "con-
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The governing bodies of the movement consist of a World Congress,
a World Peace Council and its Executive Board. The supreme body is
the World Peace Congress which apparently convenes as circumstances
permit. The Third World Peace Congress convened in Vienna, 5 December
19 52 .
The evidence published by the Soviet Government and by agencies
under its control, including the World Peace Council itself, indicates
that:
1. Work for the "peace campaign" is the first priority of all
Communist agencies throughout the world:
"The struggle for a stable and lasting peace, for the
organisation and consolidation of the forces of peace against
the forces of war should now become the pivot of the entire
activity of the Communist Parties and democratic organisations."
(Cominform resolution of 29th November, 1949, still in force)
2. Its purpose is to strengthen the position of the Soviet Govern-
ment. For instance, in a lecture on the World Peace Council given at
the Communist Party Centre in Budapest, it was stated that:
"the peace movement of invincible power has set itself the
aim to frustrate the aggressive plans of the American and
English Imperialists . . . Comrade Stalin is a military com-
mander of genius . . . The heroic Soviet Army is the most
powerful sentinel of peace."
?3. Its policy is directed by a small Executive Bureau of 46
members., issuing resolutions which are always adopted unanimously by
the World Peace Council, some 300 strong.
4. The key members of the Executive Bureau are also key members .
of the other Communist international organizations. Thus Joliot-
Curie, its Chairman, is also President of the World Federation of
Scientific Workers; one of its Vice-Chairmen is Eugenie Cotton,
President of the Women's International Democratic Federation; while
the Bureau includes such figures as Louis Saillant, Secretary-General
of the World Federation of Trade Unions, Eirenburg, the Soviet propa-
gandist, and Kuo loo-Jo, Vice-Premier of the Chinese Republic.
5. Below the World Peace Council come a series of national peace
committees, composed largely of members of the Communist Party and
faithful supporters of Soviet policy.
These committees have three main functions:
(a) To further the aims of Soviet policy under the guise of
"peace."
On every international issue the national committees
start from the basic assumption that Soviet policy is right,
and the national government is wrong.
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(b) To organise "peace committees" in towns, streets and
factories. In this_connection Louis Saillant said at the
Stockholm Conference (1950).
"One may to root the movement deep in the hearts
of the people is to organise committees for the defence
of peace at the place where men and women carry out
their daily work. . . . ,r
(c) To organise, in conjunction with Communist Party
members, peace organisations among scientists, artists,
musicians, teachers, and so on, ostensibly independent of
the World Peace Movement and designed to attract as many
non-Communists as possible. This had been issued as a
directive in the Cominform Journal as early as November 1949:
"Particular attention should be devoted to bringing
together into the movement of the supporters of peace the
trade unions,, women's, youth, co-operative, cultural and
educational, religious and other organisations, as well as
scientists, writers, journalists, workers in the cultural
field, parliamentary leaders who are in favour of peace
and against war."
The theme was further elaborated at the 1951 Berlin
session of the World Peace Council.,
6. Such are the national networks, or "transmission-belts" to
use the Communists' own terminology. But there are also functional
networks, working through the main Communist-dominated in eerrnational
bodies, e.g. --
The World Federation of Trade Unions;
The World Federation of Democratic Youth;
The International Union of Students;
The Women's International Democratic Federation;
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers;
The International Organisation of Journalists;
The World Federation of Scientific Workers.
These bodies have to give full support to the peace movement, and
represent a useful alternative to the national networks for the
oha.nnelling of the movement's directives down to the various pro-
fessional and other groups in modern society,
7. The political aims of this closely-knit movement cover the
Communist States as well, as the free world, and are consistent
throughout. In Russia and the Satellites it is an official propa-
ganda agency designed to strengthen popular support for nationalist
or militant aims.
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In the free world, the World . Peace Movement is designed to
support the day-to-day needs of Soviet policy and propaganda; to
carry out a consistent policy of dividing and weakening the resist-
ance of the free world to Soviet aggression.
In the long term, it is designed to serve as a means of
inducing general support of Soviet policy as a whole, and as a
source of recruitment to Communism.
The theory and the practice of the World Peace Movement both
show that the basic manoeuvres namely, the exploitation of the love
of peace to serve political ends, depends for its success on the
ignorance and credulity of the non-Communists that it seeks to
exploit. It is this fact which has weakened the peace campaign to 41 the point of ineffectiveness.
The World Peace Council met in Berlin in February 1951. Apart
from a number of political resolutions, its principal achievement was
to adopt (unanimously) a series of resolutions about future strategy
and tactics handed down by its Executive Bureau. Since these are the
key to subsequent developments,, they are here quoted rather fully:
(1) "The World Peace Council recommends all national com
mittees to spread with greater energy and to popularise on a
broad scale the Address to the United Nations, which should
penetrate everywhere and should reach the conscience of every
man and mman, The World Peace Council appeals to all to
display initiative in this question on a national and inter-
national scale.
(2) "The World Peace Council notes with satisfaction the
adoption of laws against war propaganda in a number of count-
ries. It urges the national committees to take measures for
drafting Bills for defence of peace and against war propaganda
which should be submitted to the Parliaments of the different
countries.
"National committees should inform public opinion
about this in order to obtain popular support for these
measures,
(3) "It urges the national committees to mobilise public
opinion for exposing and boycotting all sorts of publications,
written statements, speeches, filmsp radio broadcasts, etc.
containing appeals for war.
"It recommends the national committees to carry on an
extensive educational campaign with the participation of
thousands of people of goodwill who, in each country, will
tirelessly expose lies serving the preparation of war.
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"It instructs the Bureau to take measures for setting
up an information bureau at the Secretariat, to issue object-
ive information and exact data exposing mendacious and dis-
torted reports aimed at keeping up war psychosis.
(4) "The World Peace Council notes with satisfaction that
the contact established in pursuance of the decisions of the
Second World Peace Congress with numerous associations end
collectives has made it possible to develop and expand still
more the movement for peace.
"The Council adopts the following decision.-.
""l. To continue negotiations with the movement of
mondialists in different countries in order to ascertain
on what questions agreement could be reached and joint
actions carried out encouraging mutual participation in
conferences and congresses.
"2. It is desirable to organise on parity lines the
meeting proposed to the Quakers on the basis of documents
and resolutions with the object of finding terms for joint
actions.
"3. It is important to acquaint churches with the
resolutions adopted at the present session of the Council
and to ask them to support these resolutions. On behalf
of the Bureau, the chairman, Joliot-Curie, has sent a
letter to the highest Church bodies informing them about
the resolutions of the Second World Peace Congress on dis-
armament. Several of the replies received to the letter
are evidence of the interest aroused by this information.
"4. It is necessary to develop contact with the move-
ments in favour of neutrality existing in different
countries in order that they should actually serve for the
preservation of peace.
"S. To find ways for co-operation with the pacifist
movements and all other groupings in so far as this contact
and co-operation will serve the cause of peace.
(5) "The World Peace Council notes with satisfaction the
initiative and proposals concerning the organisation of inter-
national conferences which will enable authoritative represen-
tatives of the public an different countries to exchange views
and to settle jointly some problems in the interests of world
peace. Such conferences will make it possible to attain new
contact and a further expansion of the movements of peace
supporters.
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"In this respect the Peace Council:
"Instructs the Bureau to support the organisation of
regional conferences: (a) of countries of the Near Nast
and Northern Africa; (b)-of the Scandinavian countries.
"Recommends the Secretariat to examine the question of
organising such conferences: '. for countries of Black
Africa, 'or countries of forth America and Latin
America (t.L,..Ls conference can be held in Mexico in August).
"ThelVdorld Peace Council urges national committees of
the countries concerned to apply the utmost efforts for the
greatest success of these conferences.
"The World Peace Council decides to convene in the
Soviet Union in the summer of 1951 an international economic
conference - of economists, technicians, industrialists,
business men. and trade union leaders of all countries - for
restoring economic relations and raising the living standard
of the peoples. The conference agenda will consist of: (a)
possibilities for improving the living conditions of the
peoples in the middle of the 20th century provided peace is
preserved; (b) possibilities for improving economic relations
among countries.
"In pursuance of the decisions of the Second World
Peace Congress concerning cultural relations, the World Peace
Council instructs the Bureau to instruct the Secretariat to
study and assist in holding international conferences to
discuss problems of the development of national culture and
international cultural co-operation provided peace is pre-
served; writers and artists, scientists, workers of the
cinema.
"To hold in 1951 a conference of writers and workers
in art.
(6) "The World Peace Council decides to set up at the Council
an international cultural relations commission which will
meet periodically. It recommends the setting up without delay
at each national committee of a cultural relations cormaission,
which should promote trips, if possible mutual, with the
object of strengthening the cause of peace, as well as
exchanges of periodical publications and cultural exhibitions.
"It instructs the Bureau to study the question of establish-
ing a.cinema centre with the task of stimulating and co-ordinat-
ing the production and distribution of films in defence of
peace, exposing in every way possible the use of the cinema
for war propaganda.
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(7) "The Council recommends the Secretariat to do every-
thing necessary in order that all peace-loving scientists
should propose the inclusion in the charters of the inter-
national and national scientific organisations of tii.ich they
are members of a demand that their scientific discoveries be
used solely for peaceful purposes.
(8) "The Council appeals to all national committees to pay
most serious attention to the collection of funds for a world
peace fund. The success of this campaign will be a new proof
of the devotion of the peoples to the cause of peace. This
will enable our movement to carry out its mission still more
effectively."
After meetings of the Executive Bureau of the World Peace
Council in Copenhagen (May 1951) and Helsinki (July 1951) from which
nothing new or notable emerged, the Council met on lst November 1951
(on the eve of the General Assembly of the United Nations), in
Vienna, under its Communist Chairman, Professor Joliot-Curie. The
salient points of the resolutions on organisation and tactics dealing
with "cultural relations" read as follows:
"In point 9 of its Address to the United Nations, the Second
World Peeace Congress indicated that promotion of cultural inter-
course between the nations creates favourable conditions for
mutual understanding... . .
"The World Peace Council does not intend to replace the
organisations,, movements and associations active in this field,
but it is always prepared to give them every possible help and
assistance.
The World Peace Council's International Commission for
Cultural Relations, the organisation of which was announced in
the Council's resolution of 25th February 1951, is fulfilling
its functions of orientation and co-ordination.
The World Peace Council has decided to launch immediately
two main schemes for 1952: a holidays-for-peace movement, and
the celebration of important cultural anniversaries.
"By utilising the academic recess in the interests of peace,
all national committees can develop cultural exchanges on a
larger scale.
"The World Peace Council, in its resolution of 25th February
1951, emphasised the interest shown in international conferences
and meetings of cultural leaders of various countries on their
specific problems.
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"The World Peace Council records with satisfaction that this
idea has already made progress, and that interesting meetings
of physicians, scientists, writers, artists, architects and
to= planners, teachers, and cinema workers are being held.
"The World Peace Council holds that these meetings are of
cardinal importance for the promotion of cultural relations and
must be encouraged by everyone wh.o wishes to see closer under-
standing among the peoples.
"In order to promote cultural exchange, the World Peace Council
has decided to organise in several capitals in 1952 international
exhibitions of popular art, documentary exhibitions on rehabilita-
tion and reconstruction,:,exhibitions of books for children and
children's drawings.
"Lastly the Council invites the national committees to promote
the exchange of bibliographical, literary and scientific publi-
cations."
An important new technique has developed in the peace movement,
the "initiating committee." This was employed in organising the Moscow
Economic Conference, to conceal its origins in the peace movement;
although once the conference vas over, the peace movement again claimed
credit for it. Just as the peace movement was organised by the Soviet
Government to serve as a transmission belt, in the classic style pre-
scribed by Lenin, between Communist policy and non-Communist morld
opinion, so the World Peace Movement, having itself become progressive-
ly discredited and exposed as an instrument of Soviet policy, began to
feel the need to create its own cover, so that new instruments had to
be fashioned to carry out its basic policy in another guise. Hence
also was the interest in cultural and educational affairs prescribed
by the directive issued through the Cominform to the peace campaign
in November 1949.
It is to be expected, therefore, that movements? organisations
and agitations will spring up on a local basis, apparently unrelated
to each other, ostensibly dedicated to the cause of peace as an and in
itself but, in fact, playing a positive role in the development of the
Soviet peace campaign. To conform to standard Communist tactics such
movements should be composed of a Communist or peace movement nucleus
surrounded by a number of persons, the more prominent the better,
disinterested in politics and unaware of the role they are playing in
Soviet political warfare.
Chronology of Peace Meetings
August 1948 - World Congress of Intellectuals - Breslau, Poland -
elected a Committee to Defend the Peace, adopted a program to set up
national branches and organize international "peace" meetings.
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March 1949 - Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace -
New York. ,
20-25 Aril 1949 - World Congress of Partisans of Peace (1st World
eaPeace Congress - Paris - concurrent meeting in Prague.
15-19 March 1950 - World Peace Committee of Peace Partisans Confer-
ence - (also cabled Bureau) Stockholm - from which emanated the
Stockholm Appeal against atomic weapons.
June 1950 - Wr ld Peace Committee meeting in London.,
16-18 August,- World Peace Committee meeting in Prague.
3-5 and 15-18 October 1950 - "Preparatory Committee for 2nd World
Peace Congress including most of World Peace Committee) met again
in Prague.
16-22 November 1950 2nd World Congress of the Defenders of Peace.
176,rsaw (scheduled for Sheffield, England, but changed due to entry
refusals). This 2nd World Peace Congress replaced the World Peace
Committee by a greatly augmented World Peace Council.
10-11 January 1951 World Peace Council Executive Committee -
Geneva, witzer.and, also called Bureau of WPC.
21-26 February 1951 - Full Conference of.the World Peace Council -
Berlin, initiated signature campaign for 5 power peace pact.
5-7 May 1951 - Executive Committee of World Peace Council -
e , anti gen, Dei ark.
20--23 Jul 1951 Executive Committee of the World Peace Council -
B snki,Finland.
1-5 November 1951 - Plenary meeting of the World Peace Council
? Vienna, Austria.
29 March - 11 April 1952 -d Executive Committee of World Peace
Council 6s14, Norway.
1-6 July 1952 - Special session of World Peace Council in Soviet
Sector of Berlin.
2-13 October 1952 - Asiatic Pacific Area Peace Conference, Peiping.
5 December 1952 - Third World Peace Congress, Vienna.
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