Qn Sunday in the Catholic-Hour Series past few months have witnessed a drastic about-face of whole nations with regard to Communism. In this welter of contradiction and opportunism the bewildered modern may ask whether the attitude of the Catholic Church, admittedly Communism's Public Enemy Number One, has also suffered modification. "The answer is an emphatic, No. Whatever short-sighted politicians may do, the Church can never compromise with Communism, be-"cause Communism bristles with false principles.
We reject it flatly, not because Stalin is helping the Nazis instead of the allies, but I. Because of its false Messianic concept IL. Because of its fundamentally-wrong theories of society; IIT, Because of its ghastly As preliminary remarks let it be clear first, that the Catholic Church Communism, not against 1 il save, a hoax of a saviour if ever there was one. The notorious Reign of Terror during the French Revolution is said to have accounted for some 4,000 victims; But it is estimated. that at least 6,000 persons were shot in the concluding months of 1918 during Moscow's Red Terror and thousands more were executed in the succeeding years. It is judged that approximately five million human beings who failed to apply for membership in the collectives were liquidated in 1929. In 1933 the authorities, to conceal the disaster that faced their five-year plan, would neither import food nor permit the world's charity to help them in their famine. Estimates of the number of victims of Sialin's iron veto range from three to seven millions, while God only knows how many people have died in the revolting blood purges of recent years.
Doctrine of Violence godless it the "blackout" of civilization.
A False Idea says Pius XI, "conin itself a false Messianic idea.
Communist influence invariably brings violent disaster. Bela Kun and his Reds practically made Hungary a shambles before the stern reaction set in, Poland, Austria, Italy and Germany, turned into dictatorships largely because of disorders fomented by Communism. Add to this the blood-stained insurrections engineered in other countries and we have an awful litany of clenched fist crime. And China... and Spain! Some parlour pinks may have at last begun to shudder. "Pravda" said bluntly on September 9, 1928: "The world-wide nature of our programme is not mere talk, but an all-embracing and blood-soaked reality. Our ultimate aim is world Communism." Yet a few simple folk still believe the Soviet nonsense about peace, democracy, and the hand extended in friendship Soviet Fallacy recognizes by nature in the individual, conception of justice is curious. penalty for zn offense is mea-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.