PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 195
Thought for the Day
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. —Kahlil Gibran.
Why A Communist?
Dr. David Hawkins, professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, admitted in testimony before a sub-committee of the un-American Activities committee that he was, at one time, connected with the Communist party. Professor Hawkins was employed from 1943 until 1946 as an administrative aide at the Los Alamos, N., M., atomic project.
In his lengthy testimony, which was released this month, Dr. Hawkins said that he quit the Communist party shortly before he became employed at Los Alamos. Although his testimony contains much that is of interest to college students, we believe that the following excerpt is of particular significance:
Question—Would you mind telling me why you joined the Communist party?
Dr. Hawkins—Yes Sir; I would be very glad to tell you. In this period—this is somewhere near the time of Munich—I was very much alarmed, and I think I could say in this period I had become more interested in political matters. I had been pretty much absorbed in my activities as an undergraduate and pretty unworldly in my attitude. I became concerned about what appeared to be the imminent drive toward war in Nazi Germany, and I felt this was something—well, I think the first recollection I have of a strong interest in political matters was the civil war in Spain. I was very much afraid that this aggressive drive toward war of Nazi Germany would not be stopped by the policies of Chamberlain and Daladier, and this view to which I came was at that time held very strongly by the Communist party.
I think more than any other factor was the feeling that this drive toward war could be stopped by collective security policy and when I looked around to find people who strongly supported that policy, at least in California, the Communist party seemed to be the principal group that was taking that position. I think this was the thing that got me interested and is the thing I kept falling back on if I had doubts about the Communist party. This was the one thing definite on which I felt one could work with these people for a good end. I think I was at a stage of development—well, not all college professors are as remote from practical considerations of politics as I was, but I was pretty remote from that sort of thing.
Question—I can't help but be impressed by how strong the appeal of Communism was to so many of what we might call the intelligentia.
Dr. Hawkins—It may be true that at this particular time, at least in California, there was a kind of feeling of crisis in the air. This was a time of terrific strife, in the valleys of California, labor strife, and on the water front. There was a general feeling that society was not all in one piece, that people were not participating together in the Democratic process, but were separated into warring camps; and that many have influenced persons like myself who had sympathies for people coming out of the depression. My wife was a kindergarten teacher and saw real suffering. Children would come to school with nothing to eat or bloated stomachs because they were eating only starch. I think I never had any particular romantic allusions about the Soviet Union. I understood that they had decided to follow a path that was going to be very hard on any internal democratic process, but it was true that in this period the Soviet Union, in international affairs, seemed to stand for the things that would seem to lead to peace.
Question—What effect did the German-Russian pact have on your feelings?
Dr. Hawkins—The first thing that had any pronounced negative effect on my feeling was not the German-Russian pact, but the attitude of the Communist parties in England and France and the United States at the time of the invasion of Norway and the low countries. The German-Russian pact seemed to me to be a sure act of national self-protection. Later on there was a war against Finland, and I could not accept that with any happy feeling, but again you could say, "here is a desperate situation. It may be true that there are secret arrangements that Finland is to be used as a spring-board."
Question—Did you inform yourself on the Communist party before you joined?
Dr. Hawkins-I am afraid I did not make the kind of investigation one would normally make before joining any organization. I might say it was very difficult to do because you had two stories to judge from. You had the position of people very strongly against the Communist party, who said it was an agent of Moscow. This was laughed at in many circles, and there was nothing I could see that would indicate that.
Question—You didn't know the Communist party was a part of the Comintern?
Dr. Hawkins—If I remember correctly, they left the Comintern about the time I joined, maybe a little-before or a little after. That is my recollection. The thing which I would have thought about that was, "well, of course, if there is an international political movement in the world, then they should have some international forum through which to discuss their common problems and divergencies," and an international program of that kind would not have seemed to me bad, nor does an international program now seem bad to me. I don't mean an international Communist program, but any international program.
Another Definition Of Freedom
Dear Editor:
Maybe this definition of freedom will help you in your present controversy on the editorial page.
The word "freedom" has several different meanings. The word can mean unrestricted use, as, "You have the freedom of the grounds." It can mean boldness of conception or performance, as, "The freedom of his ideas astounded me." It can mean ease, as, "He performed with great freedom." It can mean improper familiarity, as, "He took too great a freedom with her." It can mean frankness, as, "Please speak with freedom." I want to consider another definition of freedom, a more abstract definition. I want to define freedom as we think of it today when we say that America's freedom is threatened or that the freedom of the world is threatened by Communism.
This freedom is a state of being in which the individual is master of his own fate, insofar as it is possible for man to be his own master. Jonathan Edwards, the great Calvinist theologian of the eighteenth century, would say that man cannot be master of his own fate, that he has no freedom of the will, but Ido not intend to discuss metaphysics in this definition. We shall suppose that the individual is able within himself to guide and direct his own fate. If he is living in a state of freedom, the individual has various rights which are not to be encroached upon by his government or by another individual. The individual, by order of laws which have been made by his government with his participation, cannot be suddenly seized and arrested without a warrant. His house cannot be searched without a warrant; he cannot be thrown into prison and kept there indefinitely and tortured, nor put to death without first being convicted of a crime which requires the death penalty.
Freedom is a state of being in which the individual is not coerced into doing something against his beliefs nor coerced into actions which would be detrimental to himself and others. He is not forced to work at a certain job in a certain place; he is not forced to give so much of his income and produce to the government that he must live in poverty.
Yesteryears
There is no freedom in Russia. The state, not the individual himself, is the master of the individual's fate. At any time of the day or night, a man may be taken away by the government, never to return. A man votes for whom the state tells him to vote. The Russian worker is placed in the job where the state feels he would be able to produce the most. There is no freedom from fear, no freedom of speech or of worship.
(From the UDK of Sept. 17, 1913)
Lunch In Fraser?
In case the student gets permission, he will serve lunches down there at noon only. To accomodate women he will have a little rubber-tired lunch wagon to use in distributing lunch to women, probably in the old downstairs cafeteria room.
A request to run a bath stand at noon in the basement of Fraser Hall has been presented to the Board of Administration by a University student, and although action has not yet been taken on the proposition, it is understood the Board favors granting the request.
Freedom is not the absence of the individual's right to speak as he wishes, vote as he wishes, worship as he pleases; freedom is the presence of these things. Freedom is a way of life in which the individual is given certain rights and responsibilities which should be given to all men in order that they may live happily and well.
Freedom means not only that certain things cannot be practiced upon the individual, it also means that the individual has certain rights and duties which he should practice in order to maintain this freedom. The freedom of speech, which is the right of each man to say what he thinks and believes, is included in this large definition of freedom. Freedom of worship, which is the right of every man to believe in any god or gods he wishes and attend any church, and the right to vote for th ecandidate he thinks best—these are part of the state of freedom. Freedom means that the individual is immune from various evils. Freedom from fear means that the individual does not need to be afraid that he will be spirited away in the middle of the night by the government and eventually murdered.
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Kansan Comments
Here's the story we heard on the origin of the K-State—K.U. peace pact: In the early 30's two prize $15,000 bulls were being groomed in the Manhattan stables for a Kansas City stock sale. The caretaker was flattered by two men—strongly resembling Worth-al who said they were Kansas City Star photographers, come to publicize said bulls. They were admitted. Later said bulls were found with a K on one side and a U on the other, expertly lettered with an electric razor. Result: Peace pact.
Winston Churchill, replete with cigar, stormed into the House of Commons recently with a good mad-on. Rodney Nipnap says Winny fired up his stogie and proceeded to smoke out the labor party.
If all the ice in Potter lake were cut in one-square inch cubes and these cubes were placed in rows fifty feet long, side by side, measuring ten tiers deep, it would be cold as heck.
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