To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

In the past few days there have been indications that the powers that be are heading toward the same mistakes of propaganda made in the last war. Then, it was painting the Germans, one and all, as neolithic creatures punching the eyes of Belgian babies. Now, it is painting the present, Russian regime as peace-loving and religiously tolerant.

Anybody who has made even the most cursory study of the state and creed knows that the whole system is a denial of the power of the church and of Christianity itself. They know that in the past few months Stalin has repeatedly bemoaned the fact that they hadn't done a complete job on the church. But now along comes President Roosevelt and points to an obscure article in the still more obscure Russian constitution saying that religion is to be permitted. Gone from the picture are the volumes written against the church and Christianity, gone are the memories of the deaths of those staunch souls who resisted, gone are the tirades of Stalin against the Christian creed. In suppose Russians are being told that the people of the United States love communism because communists had a chance to talk over here. And now comes the best one of all. The other day in a shortwave broadcast from London, Lord Beaver-brook informed the world, that everybody was wrong about Stalin--that the old boy is one of the best dressed men he ever saw and, to top it all off, has a marvelous sense of humor. The propaganda given the American public in the last war is finding its equal in this.

The logic of helping Russia is inescapable. The United States has committed itself to the defeat of Hitler; Russia is fighting Hitler and helping in this defeat; therefore the United States should help, Russia. This line of reasoning is sound, convincing, and simple. But no, now we are to help Russia because Stalin has a sense of humor; because the Russians are devotees of religion. This line of reasoning is dangerous and will have a tremendous effect in canceling out the good ends for which we have taken sides in the conflict. It is not a question, of the end justifying the means, it is a question of the means ruining the ends.

I would rather see 55 percent of the people for helping Russia, knowing the truth, than 99.9 percent of them for it befuddled by mental opiates. Thomas Matters '43.