July-August - Air Defense Artillery

and undermines faith in the usefulness
of any action against the communist
regIme.
The s\'stem of terror and intimidation,
as it is practiced in the Soviet Union and
her satellites', is not purely an invention
of the bolshe\'iks. This is one of the
few things which, I am sure, they will
refrain from claiming to have been the
first to invent! The use of terror to rule
the masses is as old as history. As practiced
in the communist world, however,
it is dilferent only by its high degree of
development, the multitudinous ways in
which it is used, and the universality of
its application. Today, no one within
that stricken area is without fear and
suspicion. The tragic part of it all consists
in the fact that everyone there can
become unwittingly an "enemy of the
State," and quickly be liquidated. Everyone-from
high ranking Party ollicial or
a simple worker-must be reconciled to
the idea that he may be arrested, defamed,
tried, tortured, exiled, or executed,
whether he has committed a crime or not.
This system of planned guilt weighs
heavily upon all men and women under
Soviet control. It hypnotizes the population
and weakens its will to resist-it is
the principal reason for the success of
the Soviet regime. ~ lost of these measures
have by now been introduced in
one form or another into the areas recently
occupied by the Red forces.
THE SO\'iet regime is, of course,
forced to rely upon these measures in
JULY-AUGUST, 1951
Military might in Red Square.
order to maintain itself in power. 1\ lost
emphatically its remaining in power is
not due to the free volition of the masses
or to legal elections. Because they themselves
have usurped power, the Soviet
leaders are obsessed with the fear lest
someone else should wrest their power
from them. Thus fear is felt throughout
the Soviet Union and her subject natiom
-in suppressed and suppressors alike.
The primary techniques and agencies
used b\' the communists are outlined
below.
Propagmlda, which in the areas under
Soviet control pervades every aspect of
the lives of the people, and which is responsible
for the projection of an unreal
world of myths, fictions, and illusions.
Communist ideas are camoullaged and
identified with the hopes and aspirations
of the people, and one of the greatest
fictions is that of mass participation in
government. Propaganda may be directed
against an individual, or at the
population as a whole. \Vhen directed
against an individual, it takes the form
generally of public criticism for his
"transgressions," in which he is branded
with such titles as "saboteur," "wrecker,"
"deviationist," "bourgeois nationalist," or
even "s02ial butterlly"! ~ lass propaganda
is often camoullaged as education.
Mock Trials, which pin the responsibility
for the chronic failure of the Soviet
economy to reach its goals upon a few,
who almost always "confess," and are
quickly and effectively punished or liquidated.
Selectillg a Corps of tIle Faithful,
which has as its primary purpose the
elimination of potential opposition. is
used also to integrate the ablest young
people into the Party. The most enterprising
and promising of the masses are
selected for special treatment. and these
and the members of the Part\' are both
carefully cultivated to be different from
the masses. They are encouraged to take
pride in their social. political. and economic
status. Thus the rulers hope to
create a "reliable" class of technical
workers, military and state officials, and
shock workers upon whom the Party
may rely in times of crisis.
A wards azul DecomtiollS mId 1IIliforms,
which are awarded in great profusion,
are used to inculcate gratitude
toward the rulers. Since 1943, millions
of these ha\'e been freely dispensed for
this purpose. i'\ew uniforms ha\'e been
designed further to differentiate between
the hard core and the junior partners of
the system. There is scarcely an individual
today in the Soviet Union who does
not have some kind of uniform, or badge
of distinction.
Power over Olle's Fellow Citi::CIlS,
which is either afforded to large numbers
of people or promised to them, has
created a very unhealthy lust for power
among the communist subjects. Thus,
e\'en though each indi\'idual must be
subject to someone else's authority, he is
given additional authority O\'er others to
compensate him. This is one of the
fundamental methods of the bolshevik
art of coercion.
Collective Hespollsibility m/(l Ulliversal
ClIilt. ln a free society, each citizen
is responsible for his own individual
actions before the law, but in the Soviet
Union and areas dominated by the Reds,
e\'ery man, woman, and child is held
responsible not only for his own actions
but also for the actions of all others
around him. He is held liable for the
deeds-and even the possible deeds-of
his relatives, friends, members of the
group with whom he works, his military
unit, and even his casual acquaintances.
This feeling of collective responsibility
has the result of making practically
everyone guilty-or at least to feel guilty
of a myriad of crimes, to intensify the
feeling of fear and insecurity, for there
is the ever-present likelihood of sudden
arrest or disappearance for any act that
one might have done in the past, or e\'en
for ones that one might possibly do in
the future.
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