Parade Bodies in League with Soviet, Says Hurley
Speaking on "The Armistice Day Peace Parade," at the Common Cause Forum in Franklin Union Hall last evening, Lt. Joseph J. Hurley revealed his reasons for refusing to act as marshal of the Boston parade and branded several of the organizations which participated as unpatriotic, a menace to good government and "pregnant with evil portent" to the moral and physical progress of civilization.
Four of the organizations he named specifically as antagonistic to established government and secretly allied with the soviet cause under the camouflaged slogan of "Peace at Any Price," were the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Fellowship of Youth for Peace and the Socialist Party.
"TRIFLE TOO AESTHETIC"
All of these, he said, were represented in the Boston peace parade and were the cause of his resigning as chief marshal and the refusal of the veterans of the world war to have any part in it. When he was shown the proposed roster of the parade, Lt. Hurley said he saw that several societies slated to take part were "a trifle too aesthetic" and permeated the ranks with disloyalty. For that reason, he had requested the Rev. George Lyman Paine to select another to act as marshal.
Of the four organizations whose activities he challenged, Lt. Hurley declared the Fellowship of Youth for Peace was the most insidious in its propaganda and dangerous to the civilization we now enjoy. The Fellowship of Reconciliation was also so radical, said the speaker, that it had to camouflage its activities in various ways and was influenced by such leaders as Roger Baldwin; Paul Jones, former Episcopal bishop of Utah; and Norman Thomas, one of the leading socialists in America.
"Its leaders are also prominent to other organizations," he said, "and they have interlocking interests that show the master minds behind. Take for example the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. What right has such a league in America, the land of the free? The freedom of this organization would give us the freedom of soviet Russia. It is international in its activities and its leading motto is 'Peace at Any Price.'"
MENACE TO UNITED STATES
"As an organization it is a menace to the United States. One of its leading officers is Jane [Addams], who has been openly condemned in this country as a dangerous radical. This is the organization which, at its international congress in Washington in 1924, adopted the so-called 'Slacker's Oath,' under which its members swore not to take up arms or assist in any way, even in defense of their own country. It has gone on record on many occasions as in favor of the soviet government and has attacked the national defense program of America."
"But it is with a feeling of unmitigated joy that I refer to the Fellowship of Youth For Peace and Freedom," said the speaker. "Its avowed purpose is pacifism -- but it is the pacifism that wants to make you fight, not for your country, but among yourselves. Such an organization needs to be exposed. Its members want peace, but only that peace which sovietism would bring to the world. It is a fellowship movement that is pregnant with evil portent."
Tracing the history of the organization from its inception, in Germany, years before the war, Lt. Hurley said that its first ideals had degenerated into a movement which was designed to [mold] the minds of children to communistic principles, and had been prostituted by other organizations for evil purposes. Then the speaker referred to the participation of the socialists in the Armistice day parade and said they had showed their patriotism by refraining from carrying the red flag.
SINCERE BUT MISGUIDED
Of other persons who took part in the parade, Lt Hurley believed they were well-meaning and sincere, but misguided. He said that there was an international desire for peace, but if pacifism meant that one must bow the knee to soviet Russia -- if it meant that America wasn't worth fighting for -- then he was against it, and he believed every right-minded citizen of Boston would take the same attitude.
"So long as the societies I have mentioned stand for that sort of thing, I will refuse to march with them," he said, "and so will every veteran in Boston refuse to march. We believe in peace, but we also believe in preparedness. These organizations, behind those guileless citizens, behind their pacifist front, do vile work, spewed forth from the mouth of the beast that was Russia.
"They stalk through the land preaching sovietism, socialism and slackerism. These are the people who were behind Boston's peace parade, but I say now that they will never march in Boston again. Next Year we will have a real Armistice parade. It will not be conducted by any of these organizations or by the Rev. George L. Paine, but by the veterans, themselves. The marshal will not be an opera bouffe clown dressed up in false uniform, and at the end we will all stand and sing the Star Spangled Banner," concluded Lt. Hurley.
During the period for open discussion, Thomas Q. Harrison, field secretary for the Fellowship of Youth For Peace and Freedom, defended the organization and denied any communistic affiliation. As a disabled veteran himself and a member of the American Legion, he challenged anyone to prove that he was unpatriotic or a party to any ulterior motive. He promised that if Lt. Hurley could prove the charges he had made, he would at once resign as secretary of the Fellowship.
"The society I represent has always attacked communism," he said, "and if Lt. Hurley has never heard a member condemn sovietism, it is because he has never attended any of our meetings." The speaker then named prominent persons who approved of the movement, among them being Bishop William Anderson, Lawrence G Brooks, and the Rev. George Lyman Paine and Rabbi Levi of Temple Israel.
REFUSED SLACKER'S OATH
He also defended the International Women's League for Peace and Freedom, and declared that the society had refused to adopt at Washington the "Slacker’s Oath." He denied also that there was immorality in the Youth movement and termed such charges slanderous and insulting to persons of high purpose who had identified themselves with it.
"The movement I represent is not communism, is not sovietism, but is liberalism. Our aim is to make such bodies as the League of Nations a league of humanity. We cannot end war by war, but we can outlaw it through public opinion," he said.
Charles E Fay, Boston attorney, ridiculed the "idealistic utterances" of Secretary Harrison and declared that the only way to attain universal peace was by accepting and [practicing] the teachings of Jesus Christ.
"There can be no abolition of war, the World Court or the League of Nations notwithstanding," he said, "save by the way taught by Christ. If the world will but listen to His teachings there will be a real reign of real peace."
Abraham [Wirin] of the Fellowship of Youth and [Martha] Moore Avery also took part in the discussion. Edward M. Sullivan of the Boston School Committee presided.
Comments