He Jests at Scars

There is yet hope that there will be no more major stampeding of the ignorant at Victoria College, but in international affairs there is very little hope.

Will the ignorant once more be stampeded into war? Will the daily press continue to blame all our troubles on the red menace to such an extent that once more we are persuaded to take up arms in "defence of democracy" (i.e., to secure yet another division of the world and another expansion of markets?) Many of the students who acted undemocratically at the meeting before Easter thought they were defending their democratic rights. Many of the people who condone, even support, American violation of Italian sovereignty and extension of the Truman Doctrine, even to assisting Franco Spain, believe they are defending their "democratic" way of life.

I hope that some of the articles in this issue will expose the aggressive "dollar imperialism" of the West and the no less aggressive reaction which it is causing in the East. "Unamericanism" is used to stifle local opposition in an undemocratic manner. This is rather forcibly put by a "Christian Anachist" in the article reprinted from the "Catholic Worker," The indirect result of "dollar imperialism" is reflected in the so-called "coup d'etat" in Czechoslovakia. The very direct use of imperialist method to sway an election is illustrated by activities in Italy. If the communist bloc wins the elections on April 18, there will be great outcries that the elections have been "rigged," and hundreds of reports of Western statesmen weeping crocodile tears for the new victims of the communist menace. If by means of promises of Marshall Aid and Trieste plus the uncompromising support of the Church, the Italians "freely" choose de Gasperi's bloc, then trouble may be averted, and "democracy" will triumph—until the next time that opposition to Martial Aid needs to be squashed.

There is only one way for avoiding war—defeat of the Truman Doctrine and the economic bludgeon called the Marshall Plan. America, the country least touched by the devastation of the last war, must not lead us into another. "He jests at scars who never felt a wound."