Books: Serpents and Vipers

UNDER COVER—John Roy Carlson-Dutton ($3.50).

For four years pseudonymous Author John Roy Carlson, a youthful Armenian-born journalist, has sat in on the conclaves of some 30 U.S. fascist and near-fascist groups. What he saw and heard, and what he thinks about it, makes a bulky (544 pages), jumbled, fact-crammed book. * It is good reading and worth reading; it is a believable account of real viciousness, relieved by fragments of pure absurdity. Smart readers will make allowances for Investigator Carlson's enthusiasms, distinguish for themselves between stooges and stars.

The Line. Before Pearl Harbor U.S. fascism was blatant and aggressive. Federal agents and public hostility have driven it to cover. So today's techniques are largely confined to whispering campaigns in industrial centers, promotion of racial violence, draft dodging, food hoarding, agitation for "democratic" opposition to the Administration. The objective, says Carlson, is to sabotage "with every means at their command, a quick Allied victory ... to ,prolong the conflict in order to intensify . . . work of dissension. . . ."

"The America First spirit," said Senator Gerald Nye to Carlson, "is much stronger now. But . . . you can ruin a good thing by coming out with it at the wrong time." When the time comes, explained the " 'dean' of American intellectual fascism," suave Lawrence Dennis, "such slogans as 'America for the Americans,' 'White Supremacy,' . . . 'Europe for the Europeans' . . . will become popular. Reactionary feeling will become rampant, followed closely by antiSemitism. . . . Declare yourself for the war now [and] after you say this begin to explain that we're fighting for Communism."

This line, in more practical form, was explained, to Carlson by a self-styled Detroit labor organizer. "You begins your work," said he, "by talking against the Jews and the nigger. The Jew got us into the war. You tell 'em that. The Jew is keeping labor down by controlling the money. It's the Jew who hires niggers and gives them low wages. . . . You ties in the niggers with the Jew, den you call the Jews Communists. That gets 'em."

Crazy Shambles. Slowly, surely, Author Carlson learned every trick and subterfuge of American fascism. He adopted the name "George Pagnanelli," modeled his speech, clothes and gestures on those of a youthful Italian, became a trusted lieutenant of Yorkville's Joe McWilliams, and a salesman for Nazi agent George Sylvester Viereck's Flanders' Hall Publishing Company. He was made a captain (Grand Central District) in the underground Army of Christ, alias the Iron Guard, alias the Midtown Sporting Club ("interested in shooting rabbits, see?"), alias the American Phalanx (PAX for short "In Latin it means peace").

"Our first goal," said Phalanx Chief James Banahan, "is to blow up the Communist headquarters right around the corner. We'll be making bombs soon. . . ."