“COMMUNISM CONDEMNED.”

Evening Star, Issue 22514, 5 December 1936, Page 25

“ COMMUNISM CONDEMNED.”

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—The vicious diatribe against Communism emanating from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Edinburgh is a notable example of the appeal to popular prejudice and passion which indicates the mental and moral bankruptcy of authoritarian rule. The disturbed and dangerous condition of the world to-day is entirely due to the existence and exaltation of arbitrary power and negation of democratic government. The fearful results are to be seen in the enslavement of the German and Italian people and in the ferocious attempt to impose the brutal Fascist regime upon Spain and throughout the world. The archbishop, of course, is not biased. No doubt he is quite sincere in his attack upon Communism. As an educated men he can hardly be ignorant. But there is a lower depth or mental degradation than that of simple ignorance. It is reached by those who accept as truth that which is demonstrably false. It is in this category that the archbishop belongs, for his attack upon Communism is false in every word and implication. Worse than that, it is a complete inversion of the truth. Anyone who relies upon the clear light of reason applied to objective facts will find that Communism is the only truly moral social movement in the world, and the only way out from our present national and international difficulties. Its ultimate aim is the development of the principle of co-operation to its fullest extent and universal brotherhood of man. These aims are the highest that can actuate human beings, and their achievement requires the elimination of all forms of arbitrary power. Unlike the archbishop; Communists are biased. They are biased in favour of truth, of uncompromising honesty of purpose, and absolutely opposed to the usurpation of authority by ambitious and greed.y men. They have no quarrel with religion as such, but they distinguish between religion as a. private _ matter and the church as a political institution which has long forgotten its original function and now exists as one of the chief defences of capitalist class rule.—l am, etc., A. B. Powell. December 4.