Dear Sir,

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 7, 5 August 1946, Page 4

Dear Sir,

Letters to the Editor must be clearly written on one side of the paper only and where a nom-de-plume is used the name of the writer must be included for reference purposes. The Editor reserves the right to abridge, amend or withhold any letter or letters.

TRUTH REINSTATED

Sir, —“Onlooker” should certainly be congratulated on the heading of his letter “Truth Stampeded” in the Beacon of July 29th and his statement “The truth has become a lie and a lie has become the truth - ’ is

most appropriate comment on what follows. It also applies to the numerous letters by the team of antiRussian and anti-Socialist propagandists who have been making free use of the Beacon and other papers to stir up mistrust' between the nations since the war ended. They don’t hesitate to misquote the Webbs and Julian Huxley and of •■ourse they don’t need to misquote such writers as Eastman and Lyons, those deciples of Judas Iscariot who have receiV&dk many times “thirty pieces of silver” for their dirty work. How carefully these mischief makers dodge reliable British authorities such as Professor Haldane. The Dean of Canterbury, the Bishop of Bradford, D. N. Pritt K.C. and Maurice Dobb to mention a few of them. These men have nothing to gain by teling the truth. They certainly won’t-get a title like Sir Walter Citrine.

“Onlooker evidently believes in the principle adopted by the advertisers of patient medicines, 8.0. cures etc. viz., make statements often enough and some one will believe them irrespective of their relation to fact. For instance Maloney, Citrine, Hubbard, Eastman and Lyons “all of whom believed in Socialism and cannot be accused of writing Capitalist propaganda.” Please prove that it does not pay them handsomely Mr Onlooker. Certainly “it is the truth that must be told” for instance: Every person who grabs more than he gives in our society is a potential enemy of the U.S.S.R. and Socialism. Millions have been spent on anti-Russian propaganda, and many clever writers have sold themselves to this business.

To talk about our press being free is just nonsense, with the possible exception of papers like our Beacon. Nearly everything that draws attention* to the injustices of Capitalism is shut out of the big dalies which are the only papers the great majority of people ever read. Many farmers will remember how Captain Hushworth’s answer to an attack made upon him was refused publication and even turned down as a paid advertisement. After all the man who pays the piper calls the tune and who owns the big capitalist papers? Probably most people now know that the tale that the Russian worker is worse off now than under the Czar is all baloney, although many millions of their soldiers and civilians were killed during the war and much of their best land, mines, factories etc. devastated. Their victory over, the tremendous German army and their wonderful recovery make Onlooker’s slanders look ridiculous. Yours etc., C. J. HALLETT.