The American Jewish Committee today drew the attention of its members to the fact that the Communist Party in the United States has embarked on a three-point program directly affecting Jews in this country. The new propaganda line laid down by the Communist Party leaders, the AJC said, is attempting to:
1. Exploit Jewish antipathy to German militarism;
2. Frighten Jews into believing that America is on the road to fascism.
3. To identify Jews and Communism in the public mind.
In alerting its members to the new Communist propaganda campaign the American Jewish Committee urges them not only against engaging in joint activities with Communists or Communist apologists but also against debate with them.
“Their specious arguments are easy to answer, but by engaging in debate with them we would provide them with respectability as representatives of a bona fide point of view,” the AJC said in a circular letter. “Since they do not represent such a point of view, we should avoid conferring upon them the status they desire. Communal organizations, furthermore, are under no obligation to provide Communists with a platform.”
The AJC emphasized especially the fact that by playing up the legitimate concern of American Jews about German militarism, the new Communist propaganda tactic seeks to exploit the issue of re-arm ### West Germany for the purpose of promoting the Soviet Union’s program for world domination.
Emphasizing that it is not arguing “either for or against German re-armament,” the AJC memorandum declares that its purpose in alerting American Jews “is solely to promote a common realization that some individuals and groups who are urging Jews to oppose it (German re-armament) have ulterior motives.”
At the same time, the AJC points out the Communist propaganda “cynically overlooks” that Soviet Russia “has been assiduously re-arming its satellite, East Germany,” and that this captive area is completely dominated politically, economically and militarily by Moscow.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
