Robert Welch's Timeless Warning Against Anti-Semitism by G. Vance Smith ---===--- When Robert Welch founded the John Birch Society nearly 35 years ago, he established it on a solid foundation of principles. He made clear to us that our mission included two basic objectives: 1) to honor, teach, and preserve the basic tenets of freedom protected by our constitutional system; and 2) to oppose, with every ounce of energy we possess, a very real Conspiracy which had been carefully designed to enslave all mankind. The timeless principles Mr. Welch taught faithful members of this great organization during the 25 years he served as its leader are just aS important today. And it is vital that all of us present-day members and freedom fighters know, understand, and live by those same principles today. In the spring of 1969, Robert Welch delivered a speech entitled "If You Want It Straight." It was a powerful message in which he warned: "We are in the last stage of the struggle, my friends, and make no mistake about it, an international Conspiracy which has been continuous, patient, cold-blooded, and single-minded ... is now confident that its final victory is close at hand. These conspirators intend to leave nothing to chance. There is almost no limit, therefore, to the variety, the extensiveness, or the ruthless cunning of the plans, measures, and means by which they have been proceeding on their ruthless course." He went on to instruct his listeners that "the Insiders who control this Conspiracy have always counted on three basic means for carrying out their program. These are: 1) war, 2) money, and 3) hatred." While we have demonstrated over and over in the pages of our Bulletins and magazines how the Insiders have manipulated and controlled events pertaining to both war and money, it is our intention here to focus on the third "basic means for carrying out their program ... hatred." During the portion of his speech given in the following pages, he articulated principles which apply to us today every bit as much as they did to his 1969 audience. While we may choose to use different terminology such as the word "Conspirators" rather than "Communists," the wise counsel of our Founder is of equal significance and relevance to our present membership. Just before the section excerpted below, Mr. Welch had described great detail Insider efforts to foment civil turmoil by fanning the flames of racial hatred and bigotry. He then went on to explain how the Insiders have used anti-Semitism to neutralize their opposition. Please read this timeless message. We will return to make further comment. Excerpt From "If You Want It Straight" by Robert Welch The second major development and use of hatred as a tool of the revolution had begun far earlier as a worldwide program and, perhaps in the long run, is even more important. This has been the building up and exploitation of the always potential bitterness and distrust between Christians and Jews. For more than a hundred years, the Communists have done everything possible to revive and increase this source of hatred which was actually dying out during the increasingly humane tendencies of the l9th century, and especially in the great spirit of hope and good will of all races towards each other which permeated the opportunities and open spaces and growing prosperity of the United States. There have been many ramifications to the program through which the Insiders of the Conspiracy have created such a powerful two-edged sword out of what is now known as anti-Semitism. The Communists themselves, and especially those of Jewish extraction, have put great effort into nourishing and multiplying hatred of the Jews by Christians, Mohammedans, and all other peoples. One of the most vicious diatribes ever written against the Jews was by Karl Marx. An English translation has been available for years under the title "A World Without Jews." To a Communist, there is no loyalty to anything except the Communist cause, and betrayal of one's own race is highly praiseworthy if it helps that cause. A more important part of the same campaign, however, has been the attempt to evaluate the whole Conspiracy in the public mind with a Jewish conspiracy. For this purpose, great use has been made of the fact that from about 1848 to about 1937, so many of the activists on the subversive and revolutionary firing lines were of Jewish origin. All of the emotional exploitation of this bit of history has completely ignored these further and parallel facts: 1. These activists were the riot brigades for whom the real conspirators at the top, whose purposes were being served by such criminal dupes, had only loathing and contempt. 2. At the very same time that these direct-action fanatics were learning to use dynamite, there were very few Jews in the Fabian Society and in other top-level instrumentalities of the Conspiracy which were accomplishing a great deal more for it. 3. Lenin himself did what he could to have himself and his fellow Communists of the Jewish race hated more as Jews than as Communists. Apparently, he even played a leading part in having much of the actual Communist program laid out plainly in writing for the guidance of his followers in a spurious document called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" so that the Jews as a whole would be blamed for the program itself. 4. After Lenin and his rabble of storm troopers (most of whom were Jewish) had served their purpose by seizing power in Russia for the Communists, not for the Jews, the inner circle of the Conspiracy began gradually to reveal its own anti-Semitic slant -- despite the fact that there undoubtedly were, and are, some Jews within that inner circle -- by ridding themselves of Jewish associates and high-level subordinates with all deliberate speed. So that by 1937 or 1938, Stalin had purged practically all Jews out of the top echelons of the Conspiracy, even in Russia itself. Today, to the best of our knowledge, there is not a single Jew in the Soviet presidium or in any other position of high power in the Soviet government. And the degrading treatment of the Jews who live in Russia has now become a disgrace to all mankind. 5. The money of Jewish international bankers has certainly contributed mightily to the revolutionary movement for at least 150 years. When members or representatives of Kuhn, Loeb and Company financed the Kerensky revolution in Russia, it was almost certainly with the expectation that the Bolsheviks would presently take it over. But Lenin himself appears to have been financed for the October revolution largely from inside imperial Germany. And certainly, Jewish money was only part of the vast sums that were already being used by the Insiders to carry out their plans. While today, the total money that is being provided, or can be provided, by Jewish bankers for that purpose is a very small fraction indeed of the total money made available for the same purpose by the Rockefellers, Fords, the Morgan interests, and literally scores of other big-money Insiders whom it is not our business to try to name. There is one key to this whole situation which the misguided bigots who want to blame everything on the Jews should try to grasp. It is that the Jews, because of their experience with persecution in the past, have acquired, over the centuries, a feeling of closely knit clannishness in the face of possible further persecution which has made them very susceptible to the wiles of the demagogues who want to capitalize on that fear. And as a result, no people in history have ever been so betrayed, or so easily betrayed, by power-seeking scoundrels within their own ranks as have the Jews. In our opinion, for instance, -- and we might add, in the opinion of many of the best informed and most courageous Jews themselves -- the so-called Anti-Defamation League, which ostensibly was founded to prevent or diminish anti-Semitism, has actually done more over the past few decades to promote anti-Semitism than all of the Gerald L.K. Smiths and Richard Cottons put together. For the A.D.L.'s power and prosperity as an organization has depended on an increase rather than a decrease of anti-Jewish feelings. And in subtly provoking this increase, they have, of course, mightily helped the Communists which has certainly been the purpose of some of those involved. But there are two points which concern us most in this whole discussion. One is that the Communists, by all these plans and machinations, have thus been successful in bringing so many otherwise good anti-Communists to see the whole Conspiracy as a Jewish plot. These people, falling exactly into the trap designed for them by the Communists, fail to realize that the Conspiracy is using Jewish Communists exactly as it is using Arab Communists and Negro Communists and Methodist Communists and youth Communists and union labor Communists and similar agents whom it can insinuate into positions of influence and leadership among every group, organization, or division of mankind to forward Communist purposes. The historical, geographical, and statistical absurdities of this concept that the whole Conspiracy is simply a Jewish plot, or is run by Jews, can be demonstrated by overwhelming evidence. But once the Communist planned falsehoods and distortions superimposed on basic emotions and prejudices have convinced these victims that the Jews are behind it all, the poor gullible dupes become absolutely useless, or worse, in the struggle to expose and oppose the real Conspiracy. For most of them spend all of their time and energy for the rest of their lives, not in fighting the Communists, nor even, thank goodness, in any effective assault on Jews in general whom they have learned to hate, but simply in trying to convince everybody else that they are right in their sophomoric interpretation of the problem and in reviling those who disagree with them. Here is a neutralizer which wipes out entirely the opposition of many thousands of alarmed and energetic patriots who should be in the very forefront of those who are trying to create an understanding of the Conspiracy. What's more, these people actually wind up materially helping the Communists as we shall see. The second point in this situation of great concern to ourselves is the way the whole theme of anti-Semitism has been developed by the Communists into so powerful and effective a two-edged sword. For many years, the Communists, using the A.D.L. as a front, tried by extremely intensive and expensive propaganda to have the American people simply take for granted that The John Birch Society was a racist and anti-Semitic organization. And there is no doubt that the attitude thus created was seriously damaging to our recruitment efforts. Today this pretense has proved to be so visibly absurd in view of the actual facts becoming increasingly known, that the charge of anti-Semitism does little harm anymore. But the Communists and their A.D.L. friends still keep at it. The other edge of the sword, however, has now become, against us, the more dangerous weapon. Not only the vociferous dupes described above who spend their days in shouting that it is all a Jewish plot, but tens of thousands of otherwise good Americans who, whether because of Communist propaganda or for other reasons, bear at least a veiled animosity towards all Jews, stay clear of The John Birch Society because they have heard us accused of refusing to name the enemy, or at least of being Jew-lovers, or guilty of some crime in the same category. And the far more significant point is that both edges ot this weapon have been used similarly with tremendous effectiveness against a great many other anti-Communist groups and organizations. In The John Birch Society, it is our purpose to expose and oppose the Communist Conspiracy with the truth. Let the chips fall where they may. In carrying out that purpose, we have not hesitated to criticize the American Jewish Committee, or any other Jewish organization for what seemed to us to be pro-communist statements or activities, exactly as we have criticized the Protestant National Council of Churches or the National Catholic Welfare Conference for the same reasons. So far as we know, we are the only sizable organization in America that ever went out openly and aggressively to tell the public the truth about that decidedly un-American and procommunist outfit called the Anti-Defamation League. And yet, right now, the good conservatives of our country are being bombarded by a constant barrage of dirty little sheets of all sizes and from many sources viciously attacking The John Birch Society, usually with deliberate falsehoods and distortions, because we do not regard all Jews as our enemies. And especially because we are very glad and very proud to have outstandingly patriotic and honorable Jews among our ablest and most dedicated writers, speakers, coordinators, chapter leaders, and members in general. The blind and frequently opportunistic bigots carrying on this raucous smear of the Society do not even want to keep their facts straight even about the Communist Conspiracy. They only seek, instead, to give vent to the hatred that has poisoned their souls and to capitalize on that emotion among others if they can. We belabor this whole theme because it is so important. Our interest is not in defending the Jews in general against all kinds of charges of undesirable characteristics. In America it is, or at least should be, permissible for any of you to have your choice of personal prejudices if you feel that way against the Jews, or against Swedes, or against white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, or against any other group so long as this prejudice stops short of any attempt at persecution or unfair treatment. But to carry that prejudice in the case of the Jews or any other group to the point of blaming on them the Conspiracy -- that is seeking to destroy our civilization, and which is certainly seeking to destroy the Jews -- is to fall exactly into the trap which has been so skillfully, patiently, and laboriously prepared for you by the Communists to neutralize the anti-Communists and otherwise to serve Communist purposes. Our job, let us repeat, and what the Communists most fear, is to have the whole Conspiracy accurately exposed and fully understood. Whatever the Communists can do to confuse that issue is of tremendous value to them. And we are dealing here with the most important single source of such stultifying confusion. G. Vance Smith Returns ... Unfortunately, contemporary Americans are not immune to the very same tactics of the left with which Robert Welch had to deal. Today as then, there are peddlers of hatred who are doing so consciously to further the Insiders' plans; there are some doing so to promote themselves as "leaders" of the fringe; and there are others doing so simply out of disgusting bigotry toward their fellow man. In all of these cases, however, the one common thread is their penchant for lies and deceit. We will not take the space here to name individuals or periodicals. We have no desire to give the offending individuals the benefit of that attention. We simply wish to reemphasize the importance of discerning the real enemy from the ones invented by corrupt minds. As Mr. Welch pointed out, the enemy's purpose in all of this vicious nonsense is to neutralize and remove freedom fighters from the battle. Perhaps the saddest commentary on this whole subject is that once someone is committed to the narrow view that the solution to the problem consists of hatred of Jews, Zionists, Khazars, or whatever nomenclature works for them, he or she rarely, if ever, contributes in a positive way to the real freedom effort. During our 35 years, the John Birch Society has distributed countless TRIM Bulletins, reprints, books, magazines, videos, films and filmstrips, petitions, etc. These tools in the hands of thousands of members and chapters, directed by a full-time field staff, have been used to influence millions of Americans. Our efforts have been spent to educate and warn our neighbors, and to enlist them as activists in the cause of freedom. Yet, while all of this productive activity has been going on, the dozens of purveyors of racist and anti-Semitic diatribes have offered little except hate and simplistic revenge to their small followings. What have these purveyors of hate accomplished? What are they doing? What are the fruits of their labors? Most of them spend whatever time they have left from hating Jews to criticize the John Birch Society Years ago, one great patriot stated that there are those who would rather fight the firemen than the fire. Unfortunately that appears to be a favorite activity of this anti-Semitic crowd. Well, the firemen in the John Birch Society are going to continue to fight the fire in order to save our freedom and national morality. We are fighting a Satanic Conspiracy, not a Jewish Conspiracy or a Zionist Conspiracy. There is no ethnic group, religion, race, or profession (law and banking included) that has a corner on evil. The Conspiracy wants to control all mankind, and it is certainly no respecter of persons. Individual Jews, Gentiles, Protestants, Mormons, Catholics, et al. are all welcomed into its ranks. Those who commit to its diabolic purposes cease to be any of the above as they become participants and conspirators. It is our intention to focus all of our time, effort, and energies on the mission, principles, and purposes laid out by Robert Welch, so that our goal of "Less government, more responsibility, and -- with God's help -- a better world" can be realized. ---- Original copies of this material may be ordered from: The John Birch Society Post Office Box 8040 Appleton, Wisconsin 54913 (414) 749-3780