Green letters

May 4 1960

I came to Berlin with certain misconceptions (as I can see now in retrospecT) which I think raise from my reading of American newspapers and listening to American TV and from my conversations with kids who had been there. Thus several of my own wrong inaccurate ideas are perhaps shared by most Americans. I expected above all to see in Berlin Communist economies. I also expected to observe clear examples of suppression of freedom of action and the "big lie" used to mislead people in the communist system. My misconception lay in the simple world- the contrasts that do exists are more subtle and not so readily visible to the eye.

One did see in Berlin the difference if physical appearance at the border in east and west Berlin. In west B. there is tremendous building activity both downtown and in the suburbs and the skyline is dotted with numerous beautiful modern structures. There are endless new stores of all kings displaying a variety of consumer goods (fine ones) and the streets are crowded with shoppers. In East B there are acres of war ruins where only the loose rubble has been cleared away leaving shells of bldgs. and here and there a lonely survivor head above the flat bush covered ground around it. There is Stalin Allee as an example of the new construction style but its tastely design (after the Russian model) is all the more depressing and its stores are obviously fewer and contain less in both variety and quality than in the west.

But we must be cautious in the conclusions drawn from these observations. West B. doesn't prove the success of Capitalism per see - it is economically a completely unnatural situation in two ways. It is entirely cut off from its natural source of food supplies; it must there fore be subsidized by the west German govt to the extent of $370 million dollars a year and its ind stries are also given tax discounts etc. Neither do the conditions in east B. simply prove the failure of the Communist system; rather it probably illustrates deliberate choices on the part of the east govt to develop favorites ahead of consumer goods or housing projects.

When I turned to the subject of apparent freedom of action. I was again surprised. For in walking around east B. the people we saw didn't look any sadder or fearful than those walking around West B; they seemed to go on about their own business etc. As to propaganda again the black-white version was unsatisfactory. To begin with one senses everywhere the presence of two propaganda lines one from the Communists and one from the west. They are quite alike in their exaggeration too:

The West says:

1. East Germany is a country of 17000000 enslaved people held unwillingly under the heel of Communism by Rusian takes and soldiers.

2. West B. is a beacon of freedom to suppressed peoples in the midst of a Red sea

3. West B. must remain exactly as is and even to discuss changing the status-quo in any way is dangerous and unwise

The East says

1. West G. is a hotbed of Naziism and militarism.

2. West B. is the center of imperialist espionage and agitation.

3. West B. mus become a demilitarized free city.

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Each side is starting a partial truth and treating harmful misunderstanding in tense cold-war atmosphere.

Where then do we observe the dangers of Communism if not in their abuse of international propaganda issues or their "reign of terror" over the people? It seems to me that their threat is even greater because it is subtler. The danger as I see it lies in the integration o fall activities under a central government authority. We saw this in the refugee interviews as the State passed little ordinary laws which gradually bring the economy to full socialization and central control so that decision on production on the price are made according to national policy goals rather than the demand of the consumers. In the sphere of personal action the restrictions are just as subtle and unspectacularthe right of the police to take people off subways and demand to see their identification cards (to catch refugees or smuggled) the little signs in the stores and cafe which require showing your identity card before purchasing the development of "sport clubs" etc so that more and more of the individuals time is spent in activity guided by the state. In the sphere of information and propaganda it is the same story. On the main streets of East B. are permanent loud speakers (about every 100 yards at least on top of lamp posts) through which the people may be contracted and influenced at will without their own consent (they cannot even "turn off the radio"). In book stores we saw more; there were obvious propaganda books on the virtues of Socialism the progress of Soviet culture and science militarism in West Germany etc. Shelf after shelf of such stuff. But more ominous is the presence of distortion and lie in seemingly innocent books on world geography history children stories etc. There is no way for people to suspect this sort of distortion and they can only grow up believe it. Furthermore I doubt that any central figure guides the publishing of all such lies rather they are sort of passed on from author to author from newspapers to books in a vicious circle of ignorance breeding more ignorance.

As I realized the subtle gradual manner in which the Communist system extends its authority over its citizens passing minor laws raising taxes etc. - I began to draw association to our situation in the USA. For the Communists (in east Germany at least) hold secret ballot elections have a national legislature as we do. And we too have recently (over the last 60-70 years really) experienced increasing power and authority in our central govt iver more and more areas in our activities as human beings. There are really similarities in the two situationseast and west - and they may cause us to ask "Can this happen to us in the United States too?". WE see that freedom is just as effectively diminished through undramatic steady whittling as through great sweeping wars and revolution. But it is just as important to observe the differences between US and East Germany for it is on some of these differences that we can build the defenses of freedom for the individual. Ideologically we out the welfare of the individual on top over that of the state and we dont overlook the individual to proect the "class" i.e. worked or farmer. We still count people one at a time not by groups alone. Our legislature continues (at least to some degree) to represent the will of the people or of the majority at least in most cases. Because it doesn't try to represent all of them at once- rather each representative jealously defends the particular interests of his constituents. Out of the competition of such factions we form laws which generally do justice to more people than could a panel of planners trying to cinsider everything at once. It is then exactly when we disagree and fight for our own interests that

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we preserve a mechanism by which people may make their wishes known in government. By having only one party the Communists eliminate such competition and discussion and ultimately an article interest that of the Central State is the only one served.