12017-12-06T11:04:03-08:00How to Spot a Communist7LOOK magazine article, March 4, 1947, http://alphahistory.com/coldwar/how-to-spot-a-communist-1947/gallery2017-12-06T11:45:32-08:00 Soon after World War II, about a year after Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, LOOK Magazine published an article with several pointers on identifying an American communist. The article starts off by describing a communist as someone cares about Russia first and wants a Soviet America, and is willing to use “a dictator’s tactics of lies and violence to realize his ambitions.” The article states that the communist scheme uses secrecy, and as a result it can be hard to identify a communist. Regardless, a communist is not like other Americans and cares more about advancing communism than helping his country or even his own family and sex life. Some tips for spotting communists include: charging critics as being fascists even if those critics are liberals, conservatives, reactionaries or actual fascists; never criticizing Russia but criticizing the U.S., Britain, and China; being a part of certain “Communist-Front groups” such as the National Negro Congress, and the Civil Rights Congress.
