Page Two

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. April I3. I962

 

 

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GRINNELL COLLEGE
Grinncli. Iowa

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The court of public oblivion

Last month, Gus Hall and Benjamin Da\ . top Ameri—
can communists were indicted and sentenced for failing to
make the iequii‘ed registration of their party under the
1950 Subversive Activities Control Act. Jailing‘ communists
is» no novelty in this era, but every time the justice de~

artment singles out part members for exemplary pun—

nient civil libertai ans use disturbing questions.

Although the Supreme court last June upheld the 1950
legislation by a majo ty of one, attorney John Abt is still
actively pressing the party’s court case. The ai 'ument rims
somthing' like this. If party members register under the
1950 Act, they subject themselves to prosecution llnder the
Smith Act (1940) as advocates of “the violent overthrow
of the government.”

In effect. the melnber is forced by law to testify a-
gainst himself (Fifth Amendment). The high court will
probably have another go at this appeal, but the broader
qlies n of free speech guaranteed b_ the first amend-
ment is involved in the whole network of anti—Red leg-
islation.

Professor David Shannon’s assessment of the party
as “the willing instrument of the Soviet Union” is quite
true. especially since a mass exodus of moderates from the
[arty after the Hung rian r iolution left only a “hard
core” of wornrout militants. Those who defend oppressive
measures against these left-overs feel no enemy “line”
should be allowed to contaminate the air of public life.

The days of a sweeping and absolute attitude toward
~"il libeiies are over, it appears There are circum-
stances in which a “fifth column" or a communist party
might constitute “a clear and present danger," but that
time is not now. John Stuart Mill's conception of liberty
' an ideal that antedates the rapid and brutal coup (l‘etat
(it the Twentieth century. The ideal must be approximated
rs closely as possible but should also correspond to political
leality.

The “New Yorker" cartoon showing a communist
addressingia party meeting with the remark. “Dear
Comrades and the FBI," correctly gauges the impotence
of the present party (membership estimated by Shannon
at 3000). Thi. is the kind of circumstance that should
lead to legal ins; the party, not destroying it.

Strategic infiltration has been security-checked out
of existence, and police laws are quite able to handle saber
tzlge. All the Communists can do is talk softly in a country
which is quite unreceptive to their message. Overt acts can
undermine America's national existence but the “Worker”
or the public rostrum of Archie Brown cannot. 11‘ these
tiny Communist “advocacies” become open acts of sedition,
which looks rather unlikely, the party should lose its liber-
ties but not until then The distance between “talk and
"act” here is more than semantic; it is the historic ground
between democracy and totalitarian supre . on of thought.

01' all the Western democracies the U. 5. alone has
seen fit to outlaw the party, evidence of a hysteria that
blinds us to the reali ies of American communism. In
some countries. Italy for example, there has been a pro
gressive evolution witllin the party itself, a relaxing of the
Moscow party line, and the development of a ”grey flail-
nel” communism capable of governing its provincial strong:
holds in the Western democratic tradition,

We allow the “Nazi" George Rockwell to organize and
deploy his station-wagon storm troopers but deny legality
to a party whose voice is small, political opportunities lime
ited and espionage potential slim. The time and circum-
stances seem right for a pragmatic revival of J. S. Mill. As
tor the recent arrests ill have to agree for perhaps the
first and last time with old rabble—rouser, Gus Hall, “I’m
agin it."

Larry Smucker
News (Io-editor

Principia conferees say U.S.
should continue arms parleys

by Dick luiilliiis

Lin wreck, April 4—7, ri-iiicipin
Cnllcgc near St. Louis hold lhclr
silh annual Fu‘blic Alicirs Cone
tereucc, Thc title of this ccnici»
cncc was “The Strategy cl Nu—
clcar Politics.” Students came
ircm lil cliiicrcnl schools rcprc
senting all parts of the Country,
including the ruin military acadr
emies

Thc major portion or the coii~
ference was spent in Commis-
sion incclings where small groups
of students debated and decided
us. toreign policy just as a
planning conlmillee in the State
Department might do in the
spemﬁc proposals that lhesc
commissions ﬁnally agreed upon,
1 could see a dcﬁiiilc political
philosophy and policy that was
indicative of most of_ the stu~
dents at the conference. and
pr ‘bably also of the great ina-
10 13’ 0f students on most of
their home campuses.

A: the outset, most or the
commissions felt that the goals
cf the United States were to
promote our own national interr
esl and sciluprcscrvalion, and to
preserve the American way of
life. hopefully without war, but
at the expense nl peace is nec-
essary. This statement of basic
goals gives the basis on which
most of the students felt we
should approach our relations
\\'ltl‘i the Communist bloc These
goals Commit the United
primarily to n hardrlinc in .
policy, given the state of ten-
sion in the world today and the
obvious desire on the part oi
Russia to promote her own self-

interest
pii ations.

as-

and revolutionary

The conference felt that lhc
(is. should not take nny ac—
llcn that would jeopardize our
iinlluiml security in the power
riicc wilh Russia. \Ve iniisl
keep up with the Russians in
the arms race, although we
should iun cxciudc negoti
tions for test bans and dis-
nrinnincin (even though the
coiilei-eiice icll that there was
not a very great probability
liiiil anything meaningful could
be reached in such negotiae
tions at lhc present. stage).
The United states should use
its nuclear strength to back
up our diplcmclic strategy
nun he prepared hi use nuclear
weapons ii we nrc threatened
by Soviet aggression,

The conierence was not gen-
erally in ltz‘lvor or pi- emptive
war, although the majority of
the commission that I was on
felt that -we should covertly
support guerilla movements in
Communistrcontrolled countries.
and overtly support them if
they represent llic feeling
the people oi that counli
are about to win in open revo»
lution. This was the most mili-
larislic and aggressi c statement
made by any group at the cone
lei’cncc. however, Wlost of the
statements made by [he Commis-
sions did reflect a very power
politics-oriented approach to for
eign policy. The students felt
that there were values more im-
portant to the United States than
peace at any price, and even
more important than life itself.

It‘ is my iudgmenl that these
views represent the opinions of

students today,
ai‘C not. against
disarmament per se, but they
l'ccl that the Us should not
take any unilateral cclion with-
cui cllcclivc chcck< and satcr
guards so that our security is
not endangered, The old prob-
lems at inspection and control
winch have plagued every ale
tcmpt at negotiations in the last
ten years.do not seem much
closer to solution today.

The students at the confer
ence are willing to risk the pos-
sibility (and who can accurate
ly Judge the probability) of ntlr
clear ‘war in order to preserve
the ideals and way of life of
the United States. They feel
that only when there is some
eueclivc form at lvurld govern-
merit which can guarantee the
security of all nations \Vlll coun-
tries lbe Willing. to surrender
some at their own nationalistic
self—concern and become trus-
ing enough to signiﬁcantly di
arm. The hopes for this sort of
world government are rery dim
today.

most college
Most of them

The students at Priiicipia were
very much aware that no policy
is without risk in is an easv
course to follow The awareness
shown by the delegates in judg-
ing the alternatives in nuclear

politics impressed me greatly
The students were willing to Mr
cepl rhc consequences of lhcir
pclicics, and felt that this pow-
er politics approach in all areas
of foreign relations, economic
as well as mililary, was most
advantageous to the United
States today,

 

Hart lauds Oberlin College Choir;

cites ability of Director Fountain '

Hebrew
divided among three soloists, and
the combination of cantor phi-ls
ensemble was good. The organ

by Ken uni-l

Last Thursday, Griniiell was
privileged to hear a concert by
one oi: the finest amateur shows
in lhc United States. The Ober-
lin College Choir, directed by
Robert Founlain, combined a
high quality of musicianship and
precision in singing to provide a
most successful evening cl choral
muSlc Much oi the credit he
longs to Fountain, who is con-
Sidercd to be among the lop di-
vectors and interpreters of choral
lilcrnlurc today. The choir, loo.
‘niust be commended an as ﬂex-
ibility and excellent ensemble
throughout a lengthy and (lllli‘
cull concert

The program began with three
examples of late Renaissance
polyphony by three oi the best
masters of tile period: Heinrich
Schultz. William B d. and Or.
lando di Lasso. The Ave Vcrum
Corpus (Byrd) was sung with
remarkable control in tone and
dynamic The dynamic changes.
while very ct'iecthe, wcre 317
ways subllc and in keeping with
the nature of lhis motel.

J. S. Bach's ‘Cantata No 10'
("Mclnc Seel' erhcbl den Her—
ren") was pcriornicd as a sec-
ond group. This cantata. one oi
Bach's early- Compositions. shows
somewhat less discipline than his
later works bill cciilziins an
abundance oi musical ideas and
moves over iorwnrd by the lie—
qtlcnt inlrodllcllon of additional
nlatei'i This technique pro-
vides an ever fresh and master-
ful, it slightly disorganized, unit,

The olici-lin Chair's perform-
ance was equally fresh and in
good taste. Although a few

ensemble problems nrosc.
especially in the vital and etc
citing Aria ior Basses (”God
thrusts the mighty down”),
these were insignificant when
compared to the many lhrill—
ing and heautitul nioiueirls
such as the superbly snug Duet
for Alto and Tenor (“In Re-
nicmbrance ol his mercy").

The instrumental ensemble
added to the performance of lhc
cantata as well as giving variety
to the evening's program. The
tull and glorious choral sound of
the final chorale section was an
appropriate conclusion to the
work

The third group, again well
sung, included lhe greatest va—
riety in composers and . >5
Georg Schumann’s ornrn
heii’ger Geist” appears to bc a
talc, late, German Romantic
number and, in this \vritei"
opinion. not worth the dcmun
it makes of the Singers. Ralph
Vaughn Williams’ “Vallanteforr
Truth however, is a masterful
comiinnlicn of styles and ,cam.
positional techniques. Thc text
painting (c. —all the num—
pcls soundedi) is vcry cffec»
llvc Variety in slylc. dynamics
and textures are a 'imiiated iii
an extremely inlcrcsling \rork.

William Schuman's “The Last
Invocation" is fascinating alsc
and a happy marriage oi Ainci
can music With Ailierican pccl
(Wall Whitman), Part Two
ircm “Sacred sci-vice" by Erncsl
Bloch, provided sllll lurlhci
i-nricly in this group oi scicc.
tions. Although the one per-
iormance seemed rather drama-

tic for Service music

accompaniment was especially
important and well done.

Among the pieces in the
secular repertoire, the Ravel
was unusually pleasing. n was
sung with the comic loucli
necessary to ninke this charm~
ing talk tale ii success, siich
small additions ns lhe use of
a bass in falsetto (a tenor us-
“ally sings the part) lor the
voice oi the gentle, comely
page. are further examples oi
the ingenuity nnd‘ musical un.
derstanding on lhc part oi
Fountain and his chair.

The three spirituals, though
not as musically exciting. did
furnish a lighter ending lo an
impressive and heavy program.
This group quite iusliiinbly met
with a great deal oi audiencc
approval. Especially enjoyable
was thc soprano solo by Hazel
Bryant in “Sometimes 1 Feel
Like a Motherless Child"

Throughout the concert the
choir demonstrated Excellent
diction whether singing in Ger»
man. Latin, Hebrew, French or
laugh i. in this, as in all othel
way . the ensemble Showed ex.
ccllenl t alning, care and aroma
acy in presenting a wide variety
of music _li-cm lhc best choral
rcpcrlnirc of the last live Cen-
tuiies. When asked l‘or a general
Comment on the Oberlin Choit
one can only rcly wilh the
question: “How soon can Ihey

return?”

 

