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ZI have just returned from a visit from January 26th to March 3lat

4 Co 10 ry srceny

to the following cities and towns: Paris, Strasbourg, Zurich, Copenhagen,
Stockholm, Uppsala, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Austerdan, Leiden, Bruesela,
Liege, Louvain, and again to Paris end London. Most of the persons I talked
with were doctors teaching in the medical schoole ~ a few univerelty profes-
sors and administrators, a few were businesa men. I talked with no profea-
elonal politicians.

To inquiries regarding the future of Europe, the replies took
always the form of the quiet but earnest question, "Vhat is America going to
do? ...-You have the lesdership.... poor Europe ¢an do little.* This was
net a retort, It was a request for the basis on which ay inquiries could be
anavered. The more discouraged said, "Europe is finished;* the nore optimis-
tie said, “Another war will finish Europe.*®

Certainly in those countries which the Germens had oceupied, but
in some meagure everywhere, tho future is being faced with « long-suffering
apprehension, a sort of self~controlled patience and seasoned suffering,
that realinded ae that old people weep quietly when tears come at all,

Some bits of econversetions I reneaber coavey the atmogphere I en-
countered. In Denmark, gomeone said of the Occupation, "We have not found
the Germans /polite and so aany of our young men have lost their lives.* In
Sweden, "We do not know what the Government has promised to the Russians but
it muet be very much.*® I wag shown there a large room in the basesent of
& mental hospital bullt in 1943, still vecant, as an air reid shelter
against the Russians." In Belgiwn, I saeked a professor's wife whether
there was any talk among her friends or relatives of emigration from Belgium.
Her reply was, “There ie no talk of anything else." In England, a profesa-
wor's wife anid, "My life falle into these divisions: prewar, 1914-18;
ae

between the wars, 1939-45; and this last postwar period. It's curious but
these last years since the war ended seem the longest streteh of all. We
thought winning the war would end our troubles but it hasn't." In England,
Sweden and Switeerland there was some interest in helping soae of the Geruana;
in the other countries there waa no evidence of interest. It seemed to me
that everywhere people were simply evoiding the long term view of the future.
To contemplate so large a series of uncertainties wes unendurable.

Have you ever had to paddle 2 canoe overlosded with children end
easential baggage? Your attention was concentrated exclusively on paddling,
Cursing was no use. Strength wie to be applied or conserved, aot wasted in
telk or speculation or outeries. Too much at hand ~ paddling, vatching the
gunwheale, and ocoasionsal swift glances at the sky. In Furope they are sini-~
larly preoccupied with the present.

in terms of food and elothing and shelter, there has been marked
iaprovesent, But everywhere taxea, repairs, delays and a monotonous struggle
with rising prices preoceupy everyone's strength and attention. No one feels
out of the woods yet, no one is breathing ecay for there is so much uncer~
tainty ahead. In this quiet preocouzation word coming of the American re~
action to the changes in Czechoslovakia seemed aimply incredible, It seened
hystericelly unreal to have a war seare in Europe of all places, And would
"they® flight it here agnin? How could we Europeans survive another war?

° *» + *# #*# &© © ©

Behind these apparently superficial impressions there are a nunaber
of factors whose interpretation is in some degree a matter of personal
judgnent.

Western Europe's present population of upwards of two hundred mil.

iion has depended as it grew during the last hundred years upon manufacture
3e

in exchange for foodstuffs Laported from abroad. Unless that trade can be re~
established I can see only eaigration as a solution, or the alternative of
glow starvation and dying out because of hardship, accompanied by varying
degrees und kinds of social breakdown,

Men and women of the requisite intelligence and integrity for leader
ship in malnteining the traditional forus of nationalistic sovereignty are
not avellable because too aany of them were killed in the first world war <
and deported to death in Geraany in the second. Besides, the concepte and
traditions of national sovereigaty are outworn and ineffective in a world
transformed by technologiesl changes in aanufaeture » trangportetion and con-
munications.

Even the traditional idee of one country making war on another is
disconcertingly inapplicable to the present Commmist technique of political
infiltration and clase warfare by means of strikes and seizure of police can
trol. We Americans would de well to be studying mass peychology ag well aa
atomic bombs, for what faith have we ever had in force when pitted against
deep conviation?

Can we never awaken to realize the illogical and uareasoning power
of jealousy and envy, and the strength of a conviction of injustice ~ whether
or not that feeling is justified? Wnhat durable wisdom is there in trying to
maintain by war, privilege and uppemclase evasion of obligation either here
ov in Europe, when war increases the very poverty that mskee privilege in-
tolerable?

Commmiga ie at home in adversity. Its appeal is to the disposssased,
to the envious, the covetous and unserupulous, but alao to the young, to those
whe want to hope and to those who are cynical and disgusted at lethargy or
corruption or irresponsibility in high places - or even not so high.
4e

Twenty separate parties ef the Fight passionately divided between
themselves are no match for a single disciplined group of professional poli~
ticlaens.

Great Britain, France, and the United States have made mistakee in
the past that now are costing us dearly - Archangel in 1918, Manchuria,
Ethiopia, Czechoslovakia.

The unexpected price tag of victory over a totelitarian country 1s
thet you have to govern it afterward ~ and with what enthusiasm or effective-
ness? And, in addition, do not forget the destruction in Europe, the present
indebtedness and taxation, the mounting poverty,

More war would not settle ail these problemas. It would only aul-
tiply and aggravete thea and make even more difficult the most important task
of all. This most important task is for us to forego the false security of
privilege and the anesthetic comfort of power. We have got to crente the
security that comes from justice, and the comfort that comes from hope aad
peace. I do not deny that the covetous and deceitful whe put their truat in
violence would be stopped by violence. If they were to choose violence as a
weapon they would betray what would control their conduct most. But if Com
munisn spreads, it is not because it employs physical violence. It spreads
because it is patient, devious, flexible and realistic ~ the very guelities
we don't poseess. It spreads because it appeals to persons who have not
before been dispossessed, disillusioned, discouraged and, especially, envious
and indignant.

I say especially the envious and indignant because humen beings have
borne and can bear an unbelievable amount of suffering and hardship as long as
there is universal sharing of misery and even-handed justice in sharing

relief or respite from hardship. Jealousy and envy are the uranium and
5.

plutorium of human societies; whet they can liberate in destructive energy is
not funny. If during the blits in London e completely effective and luxurious
air raid shelter had been built and reserved for any group of five hundred
persons, even for the key personnel of the Government, British morsle would
have been smashed to angry pleces. Privilege end power may override the
eabliterment and sense of injustice they produce, but they cannot survive for
ever the resultant weakness in the society they corrode. The embittered dis-
trust and stubborn sense of injustice among British coal miners have teken
years to aceumalate. With what glib promises may trey now be removed? The
patient no longer truste the surgeon and least of all the anesthetist who
tries to calm hia for another operation, TDontt underrate envy and distrust,

Commmiem appeals to the dlepossessed. On evidence at hand they
have nothing to lose. They have lost not merely their savings but far more
disturbing the chance to earn. To the meretricious hope of sharing the wealth
they add the vindictive hone of seeing others suffer sa they have already
suffered. Migery loves company ~- with a vengeance. Inflation as a way of
increasing the mumbers of the dispossessed is ae infuriating as it ia slick.
Why so many of the blg manufacturers in the United States heave chosen big
dividends rether than lowering their prices, entirely eludes my comprehension,
I say big companies because the larger the targeta the more people can shoot
at thea. The suall companies can make the seme mistake and eo take thelr
own mean share in ewelling the numbers of those who will listen hopefully to
a change in our form of government.

Comaunism appeals to the diaillusioned, to those who may aot have
logt most or all thelr proserty but who have lost their confidence in the
ability but above 21] the honesty of their governuental authorities. They
have come to believe that justice i# open to all ~ like the Rites. They have
6.

concluded that having a smart lawyer is more important then coming before a
good judge; and our rewards financial and otherwise for the judiciary in Aner~
dea cana hardly serve conclusively to disprove their cynicion. A friend of
mine who is an expert in Anerlean municipal government belittles the loss of
respect for the law during the Prohibition era. He seys that the logs of
respegt thet comes froa Amerieans' use of their political friends to tear up
parking tickets and summons for breaking traffic rules is far more serious,
Hendrik van Loon once fished a fifty cent plece out of his pocket, regarded
it pensively, and said to ue, ""In God we Trust! ~ this is the polite equiv.
alent of your real national motto, 'I should worry'." Of course if we get
away with it we don't give law breaking a second thought, but, I warn you,
iosers have long memories. Penalties evaded are goon forgotten, penalties
inflicted rankle for years if they are imposed on some people and evaded by
others. We are admittedly not a law abiding nation. But getting away with
it leaves even smart people with a sense of guilt. This shows long after as
& succes and passionate interest in lew and order against those who dian't
get avay with it, whoa we so airily call “disgruntled.” The Europeans who
dida't know how the other half lived are finding out how the other half hates,

Comauniom eppeals to the discournged. You begin to think of alter-
natives when you can't even hope, It is no good to point out that even if
the present is bad, Comaunism would be worce. If the present gets bad enough
people will take « chance on a change being worse. I've seen plenty of
people change doctors - for the worae, And they don't feel guilty if the
loved one dies when the change has been meade. Hopeless people get hard-
hearted,

Does all this confuse you? Bo you want me to go in for nice clear

cut unaabiguous statements about what impressed ue most in Europe or on ay
Ve

return? Well, wheat has impressed me the moet hag been the American passion
for over~simplified statexents, for Yes or No, for Idesl or Atrocious, for
Black om White, for Now or Never, We even prefer to have our thinking simple.
I would not be surprised if my stating the varied appeals which Communiaa
peesesses scemuc like a suspicious sort of procedure, But I cannot believe
that the situation in Furope ie simple, nor that 1+ would be useful or even
honest to suumarize it in simple terms. And to resolve the difficulties there
by war or by the telk of war eceme to me an over~simplification.

Two more points. Don't be surprised if the Buropesns are slow to
recover. There is something in their situation we do not comprehend. We
have not had it here within the uomory of the living. I refer to the loss
of their leaders, first in 1914-14 and again (in the occupied countries) in
1959-45. Let me give you some exemples from ay own imovledge. In an Oxford
University Club of the year 1914 numbering twenty young men, three survived
the First World War. Of seven honors graduates in 1906 at the University of
Grenchle, one survived the Firat World War. That gives an iden of the losses
of 1914-16. In 1943, the Germans prepared a list of French men and women
whoae characters and abilities made them leaders in their villages, towne
and elties; 280,000 persons on that list were deported and only 28,000 ever
returned to Fronce ~ snd they im all too many instences broken by prison
terture and fear. A similar tell laid on « city asy the size of Cleveland
and ite suburbs would mean tvelve thousend persons reuoved from the leader
ship of that clty. That is a bewildering kind of logr, and repeated tvice
in thirty years it verges on extinction of strength and even the plans to
recover, What kind of lesdership do you expect under auch a handicap? Let
us mot be critical if they ask quietly, "Whet will the Americans do?"
8.

They look to us. In England during the war, the children, I was told,
would look hurriedly to their parents when a bomb exploded. They dida!t look
at the bomb, but to their parentat feces, to learn how to interpret the explo-
gion. If their parents showed no fear, the children stayed calm. But if the
parent's face showed fear, the children were terrified, for they knew they
were not strong, I think I need not say more. The major task withia our
reach is the example we set to the envious, the dispossesed, the disillusioned,
and the discouraged.

And so inevitably comes your question, "Well, whet do you see as the
solution, if it is not war, or waiting for war to be waged upen us"?

In terms of defense I think the construction of airplanes end the
training of their crews deserves attention, So does the education of expert
technologists. Universal military training without the psychological stimulus
of war will produce either a fascist state or disaffection where il. is least wanted.

I do not believe that with 10,000,000 dezd and hundreds of cities and
towns destroyed the Kussians want to wage war. They wont the extension of idees
but I am convinced that if any western European governments or our own govern-
ment tallies the welfare of the createst number of its citizens as its greatest
concern, Communism cannot extend. The Russians heave never known prosperity for
the mass of its people. Until a government has leerned now to survive prosperity
it has not met the severest test of cll. I believs that if the Russians were to
secure general prosperity it would break intarneally the strength of Communism.
Russia invaded has triumphed; Russia the invader has resulted in revolution.

It is when pieces of gold are within resch that bands of thieves fall
upon each other. There's honor among thieves until they get the booty. Then
envy, jealousy and embitterment begin. The odd thing about my view is that I
reelly believe in self-control and whet is known as the Christian ethic - not
at all beceuse it enjoined upon us an ideal but because it is the only thing that

worke in the long run. I don't believe the Russians have begun to meet the real
sO

difficulties, so if prosperity should come to them it will corrupt them and
destroy them.

You can't crush ideas with force alone. If this talk seems to
have dealt with ideas it is because ideas, especially self-control and good

will, are the only corrective I can see to the spread of Communism.

ALAN GREGG

APRIL 7, 1948