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p Anti-communist policy is the weapon of the extreme reactionary circles of the imperialist bourgeoisie. This is shown by the experience of fascism and by the experience of the years since the Second World War.

p In internal policy anti-communism was practised in its purest form during these years in the USA (the McCarthy era), when the Communist Party and progressive organisations and trade unions were all but outlawed, when the witch-hunt was part and parcel of official policy, and methods of persecution and repression frequently reminiscent of fascism flourished. Legislation, the courts and the executive power were all subordinated to anti-communist aims.

p A similar picture is to be seen in the post-war history of West Germany.

p In other imperialist countries, too, there are patently anti-communist trends in internal policy and these spread not only to official state policy but also to the activities of the Right-wing leadership of the trade unions and of the reformist Social-Democratic parties.  [131•*  The anti-communist campaign has been blown up to unparalleled dimensions in countries like Greece, where fascist or semi-fascist elements have come to power with the support of US and British imperialism. There anti-communism has, from the very beginning, taken the form of open fascist terror. The same 132 concerns the puppet regimes that have been set up by the imperialists in some Asian, African and Latin American countries.

p Besides, from time to time anti-communism becomes the official policy of the ruling circles of some of the new national states that have won liberation from colonial oppression. This policy has been and continues to be forced on them by imperialism. A concession on this point threatens the gains achieved by the people in the national liberation struggle.

p Ever since the establishment of the first socialist state and particularly after socialism appeared on the international scene, anti-communism has been a feature distinguishing not only the internal but also the foreign policy of imperialist reaction. It underlies the activities aimed at undermining the new system in socialist countries, forming aggressive blocs against these countries, and establishing co-operation between the reactionary classes of different countries with the object of suppressing the revolutionary movement and exporting counter-revolution.

p There is not a shadow of a doubt that both the external and internal policies of imperialism are spearheaded against communism. It is similarly obvious that the Communists are far from being the only targets of this policy. Moreover, anti-communism is used as a cover for the basic aims of the monopolists’ class policy.

This is clearly seen in the sphere of foreign policy. The world remembers that on the eve of the Second World War the alliance of the German, Italian and Japanese fascists took the form of an "anti-Comintern pact”. But this was only a cover for the preparations for a piratical war, for a struggle for world supremacy, for the enslavement "*not only of the Soviet Union but also of the bourgeois countries of Europe and other continents, and for a redivisionof the colonial empires. Similarly, the present howls about a "communist threat" that screen the formation of aggressive blocs, the arms race and interference in the affairs of other countries are a cover for the expansionist aspirations of the leading imperialist powers, principally the United States of America, that are seeking to strengthen their position in the world, enlarge their spheres of influence and subjugate other peoples.

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p The picture is the same in internal policy. The bugbear of anti-communism is used by the reactionaries to attack not only the Communist parties but also all other progressive organisations, the trade unions, all democrats and even liberals, curtail democracy and strengthen the dictatorship of the monopolies. That was how the fascists acted in Germany and Italy. And that was how the reactionary elements acted in the USA after the Second World War. In that country the tactical role of anti-communism was even more pronounced. The relatively small Communist Party in that country gave no cause for the virulent anticommunist campaign that reached nation-wide proportions in the USA. But soon public opinion found that that campaign was directed not only against the Communists.

p Describing the situation in the US scientific world in the early 1950s, Professor Zecharian Chaffee Jr., an American lawyer, noted: "What began years ago as an onslaught on a few Communist scholars has long since transformed into an onslaught on a great many scholars who are not Communists, but who are suspected of holding views which happen to be unpopular with an influential number of citizens."  [133•*  The same situation obtained in other spheres—in the working-class movement, in the world of art and education, among white collar workers and so on. Developments showed how naive was the belief of some bourgeois liberal intellectuals that by sacrificing the Communists they would satisfy the bloodthirsty obscurantists and purchase tranquillity for themselves. Actually, these concessions only whetted the appetites of the witch-hunters and undermined the unity of the forces fighting for freedom and democracy.

p The most sinister forces of reaction always appear in the forefront of political life under the banner of anti- communism. Particularly dangerous in this respect are the militarists, who are the most reactionary and aggressive clique of myrmidons of the monopoly bourgeoisie. They actively take part in fanning anti-communist campaigns and then utilise the aftermaths to make further claims to power. Captain Souyris, a French “ultra” who is regarded as an expert on anti-communism, bluntly declared that the army "is about the only institution of the nation which realises 134 that the third world war has already begun.... Its traditions and. determination make it particularly suitable for undertaking psychological action against communism.... The army has every ground for asserting that it has a correct notion about the ‘higher interests of the nation’~”.  [134•*  In view of claims of this kind even the West German publishers of the volume containing Souyris’ paper had to dissociate themselves from its author and declare that in the light of Germany’s experience the army’s conversion into a "school for the nation" was dubious and dangerous.  [134•** 

p Another way in which anti-communism is used for tactical or, to be more exact, provocative purposes is to blame the Communists for the difficulties or calamities encountered by the people. This method has long been part of the bourgeois arsenal. In 1872 Marx wrote: "When the great conflagration took place at Chicago, the telegraph round the world announced it as the infernal deed of the International; and it is really wonderful that to its demoniacal agency has not been attributed the hurricane ravaging West Indies."  [134•*** 

p In putting the blame for various misfortunes on the Communists the reactionaries aim much farther than to ignite hatred and distrust. They want the people to believe that the Communists are at the root of all the difficulties and suffering caused by capitalism. Precisely this is the purpose of the tale about communism’s “aggressiveness”, which imperialist propaganda is using in an effort to account for the tension in international relations and the threat of a thermonuclear war hanging over the world, and justify imperialism’s aggressive policy and the arms race. The "Communist intrigue" story has been used time and again 135 to justify the curtailment of democratic rights and liberties.

p Like the use of anti-communism for tactical purposes, anti-communist policy has to be given an ideological foundation. The repressions against Communists and other progressive and democratic elements and the aggressive foreign policy acts aimed at the socialist countries obviously require ideological justification and substantiation. Anti- communism can be used as a tactic only when the public is intimidated and fears communism, when distrust for the Communists and anti-communist prejudices have been sown. This alone explains the scale reached by anti-communist propaganda in our day.

Besides, the imperialists accord this propaganda an independent role as a vital component of the worldwide struggle for people’s minds, as a means of discrediting communism ideologically, politically, theoretically and practically.