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PAGE 6—THE BULLETIN, September 19, 1959 PHONE AD. 3-1695 119 BROUGHTON ST., EAST C]fendci(e Shop Distinctive Millinery SAVANNAH. GA. Neal - Blun Company Established 1897 * Builders Supplies * Montgomery Street at 50th Savannah, Georgia COLONIAL IRON WORKS, Inc. S. H. NEWTON ORNAMENTAL IRON AND METAL WORKS 535 EAST CONGRESS ST. SAVANNAH, GEORGIA Phone ABams 2-6762 309 W. Bay Street Savannah, Georgia Sanitary laintenanee Supplies It Pays to Buy Quality Products STOP! FOR SCHOOL SAFETY SIGNALS This advertisement sponsored by J. A. PETERS SAVANNAH, GA. erscan (By Vincent J. Giese) (This is the third and final article in a series of inside re ports from Vienna on the seventh World Youth Festival held July 26 to August 4. They are written by Vincent J. Giese, editorial director of Fides Pub lishers of Chicago, who was in Vienna as an American partici pant at the Festival. Vienna — What kind of Amer icans are taking part in the seventh World Youth Festival in Vienna? Can the American people be proud of the kind of representation the United States received here in this Commu nist-controlled propaganda ex travaganza? While it is extremely difficult to generalize, I prefer to speak about the two factions of Amer ican participants separately. As a member of the so-called Chi cago anti-Communist group, I naturally have a clearer under standing of the delegates who have been working closely with the Independent Service Com mittee than I do of the so-called New York group. Of the estimated 325 accredit ed delegates at the Festival, some 200 make up the majority who revolted against the Com munist-picked leadership of the American delegation. These 200 are to a man serious-minded, intelligent, well-educated Amer ican youth whom America can be proud of in every way. The seriousness of the group and its over-riding sense of responsibil ity to the mission it had accept ed to represent America truth fully and intelligently was al ready evident in New York City before the plane trip was over. The 89 youths I came over with in a chartered flight spent the trip reading and discussing in preparation for the Festival. I was impressed by the great range of skills and special fields of interest of these young men and women in their mid twenties. Most of them were stu dents of international relations, had previous travel experience abroad, were active in student affairs in school, had a working knowledge o f parliamentary procedure, spoke more than one language, and were experienced and mature student leaders. The competence of this group of 200 was demonstrated over and over during the Festival as they took part in seminars on higher education, atomic energy, freedom of the press, philosophy. Whenever they were heard in these seminars, they drew ap plause, primarily because they were thoughtful, sincere, cour teous, and well grounded in their fields. The same was held true in contacts with various other delegations and in the many street-corner bull sessions that took place in Vienna. A great deal of credit is due to the Independent Committee for selecting these young Amer icans and in the preparation of them for the Festival. This, I feel, has been the great achieve ment of the seventh World Youth Festival. In being as objective as I know how, I can say that these 200 Americans are not Fascists, employees of the State Depart ment or the FBI, McCarthyites, or any other kind of label we have heard ascribed to them this week. They are apologists for democratic institutions and the democratic way of life. There is no hard party line among them, but a great diversity of political positions. Their sym pathies, however, are with the West and they are united only in their opposition to inter national Communism. On the other hand — and the temptation has been strong this week — I refuse to pin a Com munist label on the minority group of some 120 Americans who make up the so-called New York faction. Who is able to say who is a Communist or not? This is not the point, to ex change villifying labels, al though the Festival Organizers wanted. exactly to create this kind of dissenion among the Americans. I think we can say that the leadership of the New York group is Communist. Who they are and how many is not relevant at this time. I personal ly do not know the answers. But for what they are worth, here is how I would describe the minority faction of Ameri can participants. I believe they are on the whole naive, mis guided youth — not at all typi cal of American youth. They bought the Festival propaganda bill of goods that the Festival was non-political, that Frienden Fraunschafi (Peace and Friend ship) was the only purpose of the Festival. There was a beat nik element among them, evi dent by the way they talked, dressed and acted in a Bohemian style. They were desperately eagev to make personal contact with youth of other countries, an objective which we all shared, but which clouded out for them all other reasons for participa tion. Their reaction was almost emotional against the 200 major ity. They viewed us suspiciously as a well-trained army of propa gandists for the United States, right or wrong, who came to Vienna with the sole purpose of upsetting the Festival. In this, I think their assessment of the 200 was wrong and un fortunate, and perhaps by the end of the week they began to revise this judgement. The most sobering aspect of the American participation, to me, is the thought of how un representative of America the delegation would have been had not the Independent Service munist controlled — are as un representative of the youth ot their nations as the New York faction was of the United States. The one impression I gathered from meeting delegates from dif ferent parts of the world is that there is great variety among Communists. Whereas the Amer ican Communist sympathizers were naive idealists, the mem bers of other delegations at least were authentic Communists. They had reasons for being Communists, rightly or wrongly. I spoke to a young minor from Kent, England, who was Com munist because his union was presently Communist controlled and it was doing a good job working for the interests of lads in the mines. His reasons were purely economic, not ideological or international. Young Poles I spoke to were Communists be cause they were tired of war and have more or less decided to go along with Socialism than revolt and risk more suffering and war. While some of the Poles were convinced of Marx ism, they seemed to take an in dependent stand as regards Soviet domination. Africans were Communist because they were sick of the Colonialism of the West and because they were disturbed about the race relations in the United States. By and large one could find some kind of reason to explain the attraction of Communism to many of these youth from other parts of the world, but we could find no reason for its attraction among Americans unless it be a kind of juvenile reaction mani- VVHAT ABOUT YOU? 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Survivors are her husband, three daughters, Sister Marion, S. S. J., of Tampa, Fla.; Mar garet Wilkerson, of Augusta; and Theresa Wilkerson, of Au gusta; seven sons, R. C. Wilker son, Jr., of Orlando, Fla.; and Richard Wilkerson, Bobby Wil kerson, all of Augusta; her mother, and six brothers, Wil liam H. Doke, Paul Doke, and Carl Doke, of Baxley; Earl Doke, of Macon; Russell Doke, of Des Moines, La.; and Ray Doke, of Brunswick, and several nieces and nephews. ORNAMENTAL IRON & METAL WORKS ALBERT CLARK, Owner Fire Escapes, Steel Slairs, Window Guards, Porch and Balcony Railings, Iron Fence and Gales, Iron Railings, Wrought Iron Tables, Builders' Iron Work, Specialty Metal Fabricators, Acetylene and Electric Welding, Building and Repairing Truck Bodies. 517 Bull Street Savannah, Georgia festing itself in revolt against Committee recruited a group of its own. I begin to wonder if the other delegations — Com- the U. S. much in the same way other juveniles revolt against different symbols of authority, such as families, police, and school. This was the beatnik aspect of the American sym pathizers, and probably for most of them it is a passing phase of their lives and will lose its grip as they mature. It was to the authentic Com munists that I think the major- , ity of 200 made its pitch. Wheth er or not they were effective, no one can estimate, except these Communists have at least had the experience of discussing both sides of the question with American youth the nation as a whole can be grateful we were in Vienna during the 7th World Youth Festival. Best Wishes From 17 EAST BROUGHTON SAVANNAH, GEORGIA Serving South Georgia Since 1880 ROOFING AND SHEET METAL WORK CECIL G. PACETTI PHONE AD. 2-6762 LIBERTY AND PRICE STS. SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 'SHOP WHERE PARKING IS EASY" Sales . . . Service 03(1$ enter TELEVISION . . 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