Defending the Truth

I have a question for you Foundit......

Was the ACLU founded by a communist or not? Read this and then tell us what you think.

"I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the State itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal."

Roger Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Quoted in the National Federation for Decency Journal, September 1988. Page 9.

Nuff said.

Source #2

The nation's most formidable legal lobby, the ACLU, was founded in 1920 by the avowedly socialist Roger Baldwin, following his imprisonment for draft evasion, along with an assortment of Communist Party officials, radicals and anarchists. Baldwin, who directed the ACLU from 1920 to 1950, wrote for his college-reunion yearbook in 1935: "I have continued directing the unpopular fight for the rights of agitation, as director of the American Civil Liberties Union.... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal." This sort of history has tended to annoy conservatives and, though a few have been able to overlook it to join, most have avoided membership in the ACLU Nonetheless, it now boasts a 50-state network including 300 local chapters.

John Elvin, "Can a Political Odd Couple Reconcile Its Differences," Insight on the News 28 July 1997, Questia, 31 Dec. 2004 .

Like I told Jefferson earlier...
It is patently hilarious how people, who cowardly dodge questions aimed at them, insist that their own questions get answered.

Regardless, does THIS sound like Baldwin founded the ACLU on communism?

"In St. Louis, Baldwin became greatly influenced by the radical social movement of the anarchist Emma Goldman; he joined the Industrial Workers of the World and developed a sympathy for the Soviet Union and for Communism that lasted until 1939 when he was disillusioned by the Nazi-Soviet pact and broke off all radical ties; in 1927, he had visited the Soviet Union and wrote a book, Liberty Under the Soviets, which contained extensive praise for the country he denounced in a later book, A New Slavery, which condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny" [1]. In the 1940s, Baldwin led the campaign to purge the ACLU of Communist Party members [2]."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Nash_Baldwin

I don't consider wikipedia a reliable source since anyone has access to change the content. Do you have another?

1) The wikipedia source gave ITS OWN CITATIONS for where that information came from.

2) I don't give a crap what you don't consider as "reliable".
You would refuse to believe the sun rose in the east if it suited your fancy.

Screw it.
He'll try to change the subject and whine endlessly about not liking wikipedia if I don't take the simple step of following Wikipedia's CLEARLY ESTABLISHED CITATIONS to prove my point...


"Baldwin became less happy with the Popular Front approach and concerned about the very existence of the ACLU after the announcement of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939. The following spring, in an effort to stave off criticisms of the organization and the cause he had devoted much of his adulthood to, Baldwin orchestrated a campaign to revise the ACLU charter. Henceforth, those affiliated with totalitarian organizations would not be allowed to serve on the ACLU board. The immediate target was the former-Wobbly and present Communist Party member, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. An organizational "trial" of Flynn ensued, resulting in her ouster and establishing a pattern for anti-communist policies and programs that flourished during the Cold War.
....
Baldwin's trips to the Far East had merely whetted a long-standing determination to become more involved in the international arena. For the next several years, Baldwin sought to work for international human rights, producing a volume, A New Slavery, which condemned "the inhuman communist police state tyranny, forced labor." He continued to travel widely, visiting South Vietnam, where he both criticized the repressive regime of Ngo Dinh Diem and termed him "a charming idealist but tough on dissenters." "
http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/...s/baldwin.html


Your crap about the ACLU and communism is unjustifiable.
The items you quoted were OUT OF CONTEXT and did not reflect Baldwin's later actions in life. Basically, LYING...
Not that surprising coming from a conservative...

I stand by my statement and it is a true statement...."The ACLU was founded by a communist".

I don't care if he became a southern pentecostal snake handler later in life. The fact and the truth is that he was a communist and he founded the ACLU while he was a communist. It is also true that there are communists in the ACLU right this minute.

Of course you will.
No matter what you are shown and what evidence is proven, you will cling to whatever belief helps you to think bad thoughts about those mean ol' liberals and good thoughts about those angelic conservatives...
There is no surprise there....


How predictably dishonest of you to also recognize that he later CLEANED HOUSE to remove any communists from the ACLU...
Again, no surprise...


As McCarthy, your hero, would demand...
NAME them...

And it should also be noted that instead of actually DISCUSSING THE LEGAL POINTS named in this thread, alias has instead chosen to attack the ACLU by accusing them of communism...

Have you looked up the meaning of "ad hominem" yet alias?

Your comprehension problem is kicking in again. The ACLU was founded by a communist. True of false? True. Like I said, not matter what he did later in life, the fact remains the ACLU was founded by a communist and you cannot deny that.

I don't have to name names. You are the one who sounds like Joe McCarthy demanding me to name names. This is a free country with free speech and if you don't like it then call up the ACLU and tell them you want them to sue Alias. I'd love to hear what happens.