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From The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 52, 27 December 1948, p. 2.
ranscribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
Like the confidence man who finds it profitable to be known as Honest John, the capitalist politicians devoted a great deal of time and attention in 1948 to Speeches and promises about civil rights while at the same time carrying through the biggest witchhunt in modern American history.
This witch-hunt extended into all fields, was executed at all levels in the government and threatened the democratic rights of all the working people. The White House and Congress differed over the method, but not the objective, of intimidating the masses.
The administration’s “loyalty” purge got under way in real earnest. The case of James Kutcher, Newark legless veteran fired for membership in the Socialist Workers Party, was the most dramatic and one of the few that aroused organized resistance. Hundreds were dismissed or forced to resign because they had read anti-capitalist literature or favored the abolition of racial discrimination; thousands more are still being investigated.
The department of Justice strengthened the implementation of its arbitrary “subversive” blacklist, denying tax exemptions to all groups on the list, even those that obviously were nonpolitical, like the American Committee for European Workers Relief. It categorically rejected the demand of the SWP for a public hearing at which it could defend itsdlf against the “subversive” charges. It took the initiative in securing the indictment under the Smith Act of 12 Communist Party leaders whose trial is scheduled to begin next month.
The House Un-American Committee continued its persecution of individuals and organizations and obtained a long list of “contempt” convictions. Congress itself held up enactment of the Mundt-Nixon "Police-State” Bill to outlaw the Stalinist and other parties, but it is sure to be reintroduced in the next Congress. Congress refused to pass a single civil rights bill.
The Supreme Court cooperated by refusing to hear any of the “contempt” case appeals. It also put its blessing on the legality of restrictive covenants while barring their enforcement by the courts.
The Immigration Department speeded up its moves to deport scores of Stalinists and active unionists. The State Department barred visas to opponents of the bipartisan foreign policy both at home and abroad.
Since it was an election year, both the harsh election laws and corrupt election boards were utilized freely to bar from the ballot candidates of minority parties, and in some cases even major party candidates.
Administrators of the peacetime draft sought and secured convictions of conscientious objectors.
“Liberal” government officials like Lilienthal of the Atomic Energy Commission, who had recently been subjected to reactionary inquisition himself, joined in the hunt this year by prohibiting strikes in atomic plants and taking steps to bar from such plants all unions that refused to sign Taft-Hartley yellow-dog affidavits.
The same practices were extended into private industry at the connivance of the brass hats when Herbert Lewin and Frank Carner were fired from the Westinghouse plant in Philadelphia because of their political views. Although a militant strike by UE Local 107 won their reinstatement, they are still barred from so-called sensitive departments.
And what was done in the government was widely imitated outside of the government as local officials and the press whipped up reactionary hysteria. Wallace and his supporters were attacked, meeting halls were denied for political or educational rallies, professors were fired for daring to express unorthodox political sympathies and in one case a man was even prevented from reading his poems at a public meeting.
Assaults on civil liberties have always gone hand-in-hand with preparations for imperialist war. The events of 1948 prove that World War III will be no exception. Behind the lie that it will be a war against “totalitarianism” abroad, the capitalist rulers are already laying the foundations of a military-police dictatorship at home.
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Last updated: 25 March 2023