The Pittsburgh Press (September 13, 1946)
General, singer head get-out-of-China drive by Communist front
Carlson, Robeson enlisted in propaganda campaign to give Reds free hand in Orient
By Frederick Woltman, Scripps-Howard staff writer
NEW YORK – Beginning September 22, the nation will be on the receiving end of a propaganda barrage to “get out of China,” spearheaded by a famous Marine hero, Brig. Gen. Evans F. Carlson (ret.) and a celebrated baritone, Paul Robeson.
For one week “get-out-of-China” speeches and publicity releases will pour forth, demanding that American troops and supplies be withdrawn at once in order to “let the Chinese solve their own problems.”
The sponsor of this nationwide drive, the National Committee to Win the Peace, is a Communist front.
Conference scheduled
The campaign is to be a prelude for a national conference on China and the Far East in San Francisco October 18, also to be headed by Gen. Carlson and Mr. Robeson.
Directives went out Monday to Win the Peace chapters in 35 cities detailing six steps for whipping up national interest. One is to approach local YMCA, YWCA, church, trade union and National Citizens PAC groups and secure credentials from them for delegates to the San Francisco conference, in the probable event they do not send delegates of their own.
Gen. Carlson and Mr. Robeson are political figures in their own right. Three weeks ago, after the two unarmed Army transports were shot down in Yugoslavia and five American airmen killed, they issued a “Win-the-Peace” blast, throwing all the blame on the United States.
Their joint statement contained no criticism for the Tito regime.
Red front revived
It’s hardly likely the “get-out-of-China” week promoters will advertise the fact that their committee is a revival of the Communist-created American Peace Mobilization, which went out of business right after Hitler invaded Russia.
The national director of Win-the-Peace, Abbot Simon, a former young Communist Leaguer, helped organize the American Peace Mobilization and participated in the White House picketing.
Many of the individuals backing the committee and its national “get-out-of-China” week are old American Peace Mobilization standbys, among them Reps. Vito Marcantonio and Hugh De Lacy, Joseph Curran, Frederick F. Field, New York Councilman Eugene Connelly, Julius Emspack and Canada Lee.
Their present China venture, one of the principal planks in the Communists’ platform, would, of course, give Russia a free hand in China.
Robeson plugged peace
One of the Win-the-Peace co-chairmen, Mr. Robeson, plugged hard for peace while Hitler was overrunning Europe. His son is being educated in the Soviet Union and Mr. Robeson has never tried to conceal the fact that he is a Communist.
Gen. Carlson since his retirement from active service has joined various left-wing groups besides the Win-the-Peace movement. He sponsored the Young Communist League, now called American Youth for Democracy. He initiated the Civil Rights Congress, a merger of the International Labor Defense, official legal arm of the Communist Party, and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, which the Department of Justice termed a “Communist transmission belt.”
In announcing the windup San Francisco conference, Gen. Carlson said Harry Bridges, West Coast CIO longshoremen’s president, was one of the sponsors.
New York Magistrate Anna M. Kross was elected permanent chairman. The sponsors included Marion (Private) Hargrove, the Rev. Guy Emery Shipler, Dr. William Jay Schieffelin, Johannes Steel, W. E. B. Dubois, Saul Mills, Dorothy Parker, Carl Van Doren and Ferdinand Smith.