How to Spot a Communist Using Literary Criticism: A 1955 Manual from the U.S. Military
http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/how_to_spot_a_communist.htmlHow to Spot a Communist Using Literary Criticism: A 1955 Manual from the U.S. Military
in History | July 2nd, 2013 1 Comment
In 1955, the United States was entering the final stages of McCarthyism or the Second Red Scare. During this low point in American history, the US government looked high and low for Communist spies. Entertainers, educators, government employees and union members were often viewed with suspicion, and many careers and lives were destroyed by the flimsiest of allegations. Congress, the FBI, and the US military, they all fueled the 20th century version of the Salem Witch trials, partly by encouraging Americans to look for Communists in unsuspecting places.
In the short Armed Forces Information Film above, you can see the dynamic at work. Some Communists were out in the open; however, others “worked more silently.” So how to find those hidden communists? Not to worry, the US military had that covered. In 1955, the U.S. First Army Headquarters prepared a manual called How to Spot a Communist. Later published in popular American magazines, the propaganda piece warned readers, “there is no fool-proof system in spotting a Communist.” “U.S. Communists come from all walks of life, profess all faiths, and exercise all trades and professions. In addition, the Communist Party, USA, has made concerted efforts to go underground for the purpose of infiltration.” And yet the pamphlet adds, letting readers breathe a sigh of relief, “there are, fortunately, indications that may give him away. These indications are often subtle but always present, for the Communist, by reason of his “faith” must act and talk along certain lines.” In short, you’ll know a Communist not by how he walks, but how he talks. Asking citizens to become literary critics for the sake of national security, the publication told readers to watch out for the following:
While a preference for long sentences is common to most Communist writing, a distinct vocabulary provides the more easily recognized feature of the “Communist Language.” Even a superficial reading of an article written by a Communist or a conversation with one will probably reveal the use of some of the following expressions: integrative thinking, vanguard, comrade, hootenanny, chauvinism, book-burning, syncretistic faith, bourgeois-nationalism, jingoism, colonialism, hooliganism, ruling class, progressive, demagogy, dialectical, witch-hunt, reactionary, exploitation, oppressive, materialist.
This list, selected at random, could be extended almost indefinitely. While all of the above expressions are part of the English language, their use by Communists is infinitely more frequent than by the general public…
EDIT: Forgot to include the video:
= new reply since forum marked as read
Scandalous! 
Interesting read. 
Fear mongering about communism was rife in the mid-50s. I was in elementary school during the McCarthyism era, but was an avid news follower, even then, and read the daily paper and watched what little national news was broadcast. During the latter half of that decade, I was also listening, via short-wave radio, to broadcasts from all over the world.
It was an interesting time, to be sure. In 1960, my father built a fallout shelter under our Southern California house. I mixed the concrete for it. All the work was done at night. Pretty paranoid, for sure, but those were the times. Commies everywhere, it seemed...
and Tucson crack-down on Latino literature in the schools that was deemed Marxist and seized from the classroom.
(June 29th was the anniversary of the arrest of all the National Board of CPUSA in 1948, btw.)
