Sawdust Caesar Published Online

I was finally able to convert my Sawdust Caesar book scans into an entire PDF book file. The entire book is now available at the Internet Archive.

You can download it or read it here:

http://www.archive.org/details/SawdustCaesarTheUntoldStoryOfMussoliniAndFascism

The PDF file is complete but the text files are incomplete.

Enjoy!

In Fact Archives

I found the complete collections of In Fact and am currently in the process of archiving them at Archive.org. So far the first eight issues are available.

George Seldes on Archive.org

Archive.org was a natural place to send these articles because I learned quite a bit about George from videos and books that were available at the archive.

In Fact was Seldes' independent newsletter which he edited. The paper ran from 1940 until 1950 when the Red Scare and McCarthyism swept the country and many of his subscribers were forced to drop. In Fact covered press censorship, corruption, Fascism and all the news that the rest of the press refused to cover. His newsletter became a popular outlet for other journalists who could not get articles published. He was one of the few people to report on the link between cancer and cigarettes, and also the fact that most newspapers refused to print such articles out of fear of offending tobacco advertisers. The paper also printed articles by George Polk, who was murdered by the Fascist regime in Greece. In Fact stated shortly after that Polk believed someone would be killed by the Fascists, but this would not be widely acknowledged until the 1970's.

"Liberal Fascism" and Fascist Financing

I was reading Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Change. On page 44 (of the paperback 1st Edition) Jonah Goldberg states:

From the moment Mussolini declared himself in favor of the war (World War 1), Italian Socialists smeared him for his heresy. 'Chi paga?' became the central question of the anti-Mussolini whisper campaign. 'Who's paying him?' He was accused of taking money from arms makers, and it was hinted darkly that he was on France's payroll. There's no evidence for any of this. From the beginning, fascism was dubbed as right-wing not because it necessarily was right-wing but because the communist left thought this was the best way to punish apostasy (and, even if it was right-wing in some long forgotten doctrinal sense, fascism was still right-wing socialism).

Although Goldberg states that there is no evidence that Mussolini was paid to advocate interventionism on France's (and later America's) side, that is completely wrong. There is plenty of evidence, one of which is a direct statement by Mussolini where he describes his actions as his sins (which he proudly stated he would never beg for anyone's forgiveness to atone for those sins).

George Seldes documents several other instances where close advisors and even French propagandists (and several members of the French goverment) acknowledge they paid Mussolini at least 100,000 francs which would be used to start Mussolini's own newspaper (il Popolo d'Italia).

One of the problems I find with Liberal Fascism is that there is no clear context as to many of the events in Mussolini or even Italy's history. For example, after the general strike of 1919 and 1920 Mussolini was very disappointed in the Socialists inability to take action in a time when Italy was paralyzed by the stikers. During the same period, Mussolini was actively supporting the strikes and approved of many of the Socialist's actions. Years later, he would state:

...[the general strikes of 1919 and 1920] were the low acts of the Socialists, against which the Fascist patriots had to fight.

When it became clear to Mussolini that the Socialists (which Mussolini approved of and was a former member until he was kicked out) were not going to attempt to seize power in Italy, he abandoned all hope and declared Socialism a failure (the Socialists were largely being torn apart by internal dissent). Shortly afterwords, Mussolini sold the services of his Black Shirts to special interests who wanted to crush the striking workers. Mussolini was given financial support through the Confederazione Generale dell' Industria and others provided him with weapons. This is the moment Mussolini begins using his Fascisti to target strikers, Socialists, Communists and even carried through a vendetta against all of his enemies on the Left. None of this is mentioned in Liberal Fascism. Jonah Goldberg carefully tiptoes around these inconvenient facts and as a result, he can easily downplay the large role industrialists and corporations played in not only Mussolini's fascism but also in Hitler's fascism.

In 425 pages, Henry Ford is mentioned only 3 times and in only one of those instances is it mentioned that he was an anti-Semite whom Hitler strongly admired. Instead of mentioning that Ford was a significant financeer of Hitler up until Hitler was arrested for instigating the Beer Hall Putsch, Goldberg only mentions that Hitler admired Ford's ability to mass produce the automobile. The chemical industry in Germany known as I.G. Farben is never mentioned although they made billions by financing Hitler. Fritz Thyssen, Junkers, J.P. Morgan, Standard Oil, DuPont, and many other international cartels made millions to billions in profits by financing Hitler and yet none of this is mentioned in Liberal Fascism and Goldberg works to downplay these facts.

Twilight of Dictators

One by one they are passing away in the smaller countries; the stronger ones begin to tremble on their thrones. The hundredth anniversary of the beginnings of a libertarian movement which spread throughout the world, sees again the struggle for human rights progressing.

The world seems to be recovering its sanity.

George Seldes, 1931.
Can These Things Be?

Sawdust Caesar

I was able to acquire a copy of Sawdust Caesar a few months ago on Amazon.com. It was in pretty good condition for a book that was printed in 1935. I guess it was sitting in a small book store somewhere for years and probably had rarely been touched until someone decided to sell it. The bind shows some sun bleaching while the remainder of the cover is its natural red. The book jacket was missing. The pages within the book are in great shape. But after reading the book (all 459 pages) the binding began coming undone because it was made with some kind of fabric which was frail after many years. The hardcover is on the verge of falling off.

So as it is, it will definitely fall apart sooner or later. My basic idea is to destroy it for a good reason. I want to digitize the entire book but to get a great quality scans, I will need to remove and scan each page one by one.

The problem with this idea is that I also want to distribute the digitized book so others can read it, however I can't seem to find any concrete information on the copyright status of the book. Although it was published by Harpers and Brothers, the company has since merged to form HarpersCollins. HarpersCollins has no information on Sawdust Caesar at all on their website so I'm assuming they no longer hold any copyright or publishers rights on the book.

If you have any information on the copyright status of Sawdust Caesar, please e-mail me at adimwit@hotmail.com.

Thanks.

Seldes' Testimony to McCarthy

This is an incredible find. I was actually looking for information on Ambassador Jessup's testimony to the Tydings Commitee and I stumbled on the 1953 transcript of George Seldes' testimony to McCarthy's Senate hearing. This was actually released to the public in 2003. Seldes was told he was "cleared" (although he wasn't really charged) and if you watch Part Three of "George Seldes and the American Press", he mentions an amusing story of his encounter with McCarthy after he was "cleared."

EXECUTIVE SESSIONS OF THE SENATE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

TESTIMONY OF GEORGE SELDES

[Senator Stuart Symington, Acting Chairman]
Senator Symington. Will you raise your right hand, please?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give shall
be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so
help you God?
Mr. Seldes. I do.
Mr. Cohn. Give us your full name?
Mr. Seldes. George H. Seldes. S-e-l-d-e-s.
Mr. Cohn. Mr. Seldes, are you the author of various books?
Fourteen or fifteen. Let me read you the names of some of them
that the State Department is using in Overseas Information
Centers. Facts and Fascism, Freedom of the Press, Lords of the
Press, People Don't Know.\37\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\37\ George Seldes, Facts and Fascism (New York: In Fact, Inc.,
1943); Freedom of the Press (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1935); Lords
of the Press (New York: J. Messner, 1938); People Don't Know (New York:
Gaer Associates, 1949).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Seldes. Yes.
Mr. Cohn. Are you a member of the Communist party?
Mr. Seldes. No.
Mr. Cohn. Have you ever been a member of the Communist
party?
Mr. Seldes. No.
Mr. Cohn. That is very interesting.
Mr. Seldes. Who said I was?
Mr. Cohn. Who said you were? Has it ever been brought to
your attention that anybody said you were?
Mr. Seldes. Yes, [space blank] wrote a piece saying I was a
``Stalinite'' and smearing me in other ways. I got very angry
and went to a lawyer. He said it would cost me $5,000 to clear
this up, so I didn't do anything about it.
Mr. Cohn. Has Professor Budenz ever said anything about it?
Mr. Seldes. I don't know anything about him except an
article written in some magazine, probably by Wechsler or
Eugene Lyons, either Plain Talk or American Mercury magazine.
My files are locked up. He is quoted in one of these articles
against me.
Mr. Cohn. What did he say?
Mr. Seldes. I can only trust my memory. I think he said
once at a meeting of some Communists at their headquarters they
said they would like to have me editor of the Daily Worker or
some paper--as editor of something.
Mr. Cohn. Professor Budenz said you were under Communist
discipline, did he not?
Mr. Seldes. I never read that line, and I deny it.
Mr. Cohn. Do you know any Communist party members?
Mr. Seldes. Well, look, do I know them or--Well, look for
instance--I want to tell you this frankly.
Senator Symington. When you talk, talk a little slower and
remember it is being taken down and she will have to read it.
Mr. Seldes. I have ulcers and am sort of the nervous type.
I started a weekly newsletter with another man. His name on
the letterhead was Bruce Minton. I swear I had no idea he was a
Communist. He was expelled from the Communist party, I think,
1945. Before that I want to say, after I started this
newsletter, I said, ``We will run news in this which is not in
the newspapers.'' That was my only purpose in running it.
I forgot--if I know any Communists? I know Bruce Minton.
Mr. Cohn. One you can name is Bruce Minton?
Mr. Seldes. Yes, I want to say how I happened to know that.
I didn't know it until he had left my publication and was
thrown out of the party.
Mr. Cohn. Your answer is that you know now that Bruce
Minton was a Communist, but you didn't know it at the time he
worked for your publication?
Mr. Seldes. No, I didn't know it.
Dr. Matthews. He was your associate editor, was he not?
Mr. Seldes. I think he was listed as associate. We were
actually partners.
Dr. Matthews. What is his real name?
Mr. Seldes. Richard Bransten.
Mr. Cohn. Mr. Chairman, I would like to insert in the
record from the report of the House Committee on Un-American
Activities, 78th Congress, 2nd Session, the following quoted
finding of the committee:

George Seldes has a record of subservience to the Communist
party, which is unsurpassed by any other subversive agent in
this Country.

Is that the first you have heard of that?
Mr. Seldes. I got the Congressional Record. Senator Murray
sent it to me for ten years.
Mr. Cohn. Mr. Seldes, I think we will get along better if
you answer the questions. We are not interested in whether you
got the Congressional Record.
Mr. Seldes. I don't want to be antagonistic, but I have to
defend myself.
Mr. Cohn. I want to know whether this quotation was ever
brought to your attention or was my reading it the first you
ever knew about it? It is the finding of the House Un-American
Activities Committee, published in the Congressional Record and
elsewhere.
Mr. Seldes. I can't say positively because there was a
congressman who made a statement which I did read in the
Congressional Record. That I have seen. Congressman Hoffman. It
is either this or a similar statement.
Mr. Cohn. Do you agree with that statement?
Mr. Seldes. It is not true.
Mr. Cohn. Did you ever belong to the Communist cell in
Connecticut?
Mr. Seldes. Positively not.
Mr. Cohn. Have you ever attended Communist meetings in
Connecticut?
Mr. Seldes. No, sir. I have not.
Mr. Cohn. If someone said you were there, that person is
lying?
Mr. Seldes. Yes.
Mr. Cohn. Have you ever had any connection with the
following organization: American Committee for Democratic and
Intellectual Freedom?
Mr. Seldes. I don't know the names of them. My name was put
down twenty, thirty, or forty times. Some of them I have had
nothing to do with.
Senator Symington. Did you know you were a member of this
committee?
Mr. Seldes. Once in a while I would get a letterhead with
my name on something. Sometimes I would see a list. I never
gave them permission to use my name. I found that my name was
used by different committees.
Mr. Cohn. Were you editor of In Fact?
Mr. Seldes. I was.
Mr. Cohn. Did you know that was found to be a Communist
publication?
Mr. Seldes. Not according to my statement from the
Department of Justice.
[The witness handed Mr. Cohn a letter.]
Mr. Cohn. This is the Department of Justice's statement. It
was found by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. I
am asking you, Mr. Seldes, whether or not the House Committee
made an official finding that In Fact was a Communist
publication?
Mr. Seldes. That I am not aware of.
Mr. Cohn. Now, Mr. Seldes, I want to go to some of your
writings. Did you write this? I quote. This is from People
Don't Know, published in 1949, New York.

The entire world has moved to the Left-part Socialist, part
Communist, part just Left. The Right, all the way from
conservative to fascist, has been defeated almost everywhere.
The status quo and reactionary countries, such as Italy and
France, Portugal and Greece, are merely held to the Right by
American money and pressure, will go Leftward when these forces
diminish or cease.

Mr. Seldes. I wrote that probably. I don't have the book
before me.
Senator Symington. You felt that way?
Mr. Seldes. I felt that way after my trip to Europe in
1948.
Senator Symington. You felt if we didn't continue supplying
money, they would continue to go farther to the left?
Mr. Seldes. My feeling was that we should supply them.
Senator Symington. I think you may be right.
Mr. Cohn. Did you write in a book entitled Facts and
Fascism:

There is probably no greater example of mass misguidance in
American history since World War I and the present Global war
than the history of the million men of the American Legion and
its handful of misleaders.

Mr. Seldes. Yes, I probably wrote that.
Senator Symington. Why did you say that?
Mr. Seldes. Because for many years the American Civil
Liberties Union has listed the American Legion as the leading
force against liberalism and civil rights in America.
Mr. Cohn. Have you expressed any similar views about the
Catholic Church?
Mr. Seldes. I have never attacked the Catholic Church.
Mr. Cohn. Who in the Legion were you referring to? Give us
a couple of names?
Mr. Seldes. I can't remember them. I knew General Smedley
Butler very well. He discovered a group that was going to throw
out President Roosevelt and establish a Fascism dictatorship.
General Butler gave this evidence before a congressional
committee. I forget the name of the committee. There was some
big people from the Legion in this. I have a chapter on this in
one of my books.
Mr. Cohn. Did you state on Page 12:

The real Fascists of America are never named in the
commercial press. It will not even hint at the fact that there
are many powerful elements working against a greater democracy,
against an America without discrimination, etc. and many more
millions working for semi-starvation wages while the Du Pont,
Ford, Hearst, Mellon and Rockefeller Empires move into the
billions of dollars. I call all these elements Fascist.

Mr. Seldes. If it is in that book, I wrote it.
Mr. Cohn. Do you consider these appropriate works, giving a
true picture of the American-way-of-life fighting communism?
Mr. Seldes. I will answer that this way. I represented a
certain view of life and think this ought to begin with other
views. I am anti-Communist.
Senator Symington. When was this particular book written?
Mr. Seldes. 1943.
Senator Symington. In 1943 the Soviets were our allies. Do
you feel differently now?
Mr. Seldes. Positively.
Senator Symington. Are you writing any more of this kind of
stuff?
Mr. Seldes. I have written stuff of a completely opposite
nature. May I explain that more fully? May I volunteer some
information?
Mr. Cohn. Go ahead.
Mr. Seldes. I was thrown out of Russia in 1923. When I
worked for the Chicago Tribune--I worked for them for ten
years--I accused the Russians of force and violence, of the end
justifies the means, of terrorism, denial of civil liberties,
and I smuggled out some news they didn't like, which was true,
and was thrown out of Russia. I conducted a campaign against
Moscow--against Russia for many years.
In 1936 I was sent by the New York Post to cover the war in
Spain, and the war in Spain, I found only two countries
helping--the Republic of Mexico and Russia, and because of
that--and I thought the war of Spain was justified, the war
against Mussolini and Hitler. The only troops were Italian and
German. I felt sympathetic in their helping to save the Spanish
Republic, although they didn't succeed in doing it. Well, I was
sympathetic for that reason, although I objected to their
methods, which never changed. Later on we were in the war.
Well, then Russia was our ally. After the war was over I found
that the Moscow methods were even worse than ever before and I
began writing a series of articles against Moscow. The result
was that many of my readers, whom I realize must have been
Communists, canceled subscriptions. My magazine was thrown out
of the Prague bookshops, I suppose you have heard of them, and
actually it was to some part due to this Communist attack on
the publication that we, had to suspend--that we went under.
Mr. Cohn. We have this 1949 writing of yours which I read
to you before, ``The entire world has moved to the Left-part
Socialist, part Communist, . . .'' Let me go on.

The status quo and reactionary countries, such as Italy and
France, Portugal and Greece, are merely held to the Right by
American money and pressure, will go Leftward when these forces
diminish or cease. Nothing is more important in history than
this Leftward trend of the world. Etc.

Right above this you say people in this country don't
understand Russia. It is misrepresented, lots of bad things
said which are inaccurate, and so on.
Mr. Seldes. I say that about Russia? I'd like to see that.
I was very anti-Russian when I wrote that.
Mr. Cohn. How about this:
This volume and this author agree with Dr. George T.
Robinson who said that ``Never did so many know so little about
so much.''
Then you quote Dr. Robinson in making that remark as
referring to all American's misunderstanding of Russia. You go
on to say:

Curiously enough, two years later when the ``preventive
war'' crowd was riding high and William Christian (sic) Bullitt
was screaming madly for the use of the atom bomb to destroy
Russian civilians--``atomize the Russians'' was the battlecry--
and the Churchill policy of ``containment'' of ideas (as well
as nations) had become the paramount policy of the Truman
administration, a survey made by Princeton University showed
that 38,000,000 Americans of voting age ``don't know at all
what kind of government Russia has.''
The Robinson structures can be applied not only to Russia
and the Eastern nations--against which the West, and most
notably the United States has hung not an iron but a newspaper
curtain of suppression and silence--but also to China and all
of Asia; in fact to most of the world.

Do you think that is anti-Russian?
Mr. Seldes. Well, in a way, ``yes.''
Mr. Cohn. I would love to know how.
Mr. Seldes. I will tell you why. May I explain myself?
Mr. Cohn. Yes.
Mr. Seldes. I think in fighting Russia we have to be very
careful and tell exactly what the situation is there. We must
not make mistakes, say things that aren't true. If they catch a
great writer saying something about Russia which isn't true,
you lose your point.
Mr. Cohn. How do you feel about the Korean war?
Mr. Seldes. Now, I wish you could get my copies of In Fact.
It was the Korean war which was largely responsible for the
Communist sabotaging or destroying my publication. A lot of
people wrote and said, ``How do you feel about the Korean
War?'' I replied that I was running a newspaper--news that
isn't printed elsewhere--the truth. I don't express opinions
except in books. The Korean war is obviously the Communist
attack. The Communists are the aggressors and we are right.
After that I got a lot of cancellations. I was 100 percent for
the Koreans, our side of the Korean War.
Mr. Cohn. When was the last issue of In Fact published?
Mr. Seldes. October 1950.
Dr. Matthews. Have you written or published anti-Catholic
books?
Mr. Seldes. I have never written what I called anti-
Catholic books. One of my books was the choice of the Catholic
Book of the Month Club. \38\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\38\ George Seldes, The Vatican: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (New
York: Harper & Brothers, 1934).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Matthews. Was it on the Catholic Church?
Mr. Seldes. Yes, sir.

The Rigor and Terror of Man

The cold stops. Rains fall. The sun shines. The rigors and terrors of nature come to an end. But the rigor and terror of man against man never cease. I've seen it. I know. In textile mills, railroad yards, on docks, in the streets. Machine guns mowing down men in Wisconsin. Men and women hounded and flogged and tortured in San Francisco. Riot squads, strikebreakers, nausea gas — bayonets! And starvation! And voices crying out! For what? A little bread, a little sun, a little peace and delight. I've heard them, I tell you. I've seen. And I know. This is reality, this is the stuff our senses are gorged with.

-Lynn Riggs-

Fascism: "Reactionary," "Anti-Liberal"

This article was written by Mussolini in 1923, and published in the magazine Gerarchia, in March. Mussolini denounces Liberalism (Democracy) as an experiment which was only necessary for the development of Capitalism. He believed that Liberalism would fail eventually, as all governments do, and the only other form that would be successful was (and he felt was proven successful by Communism and Fascism) a nationalist, authoritarian state.

Mussolini felt Socialism and Democracy were unrealistic and too idealistic to succeed in the real realms of politics. The Russian Revolution was a sign to him that Liberalism had failed and was on the verge of collapse. The success of his Fascist state was also a sign of that.

The following article was re-published in George Seldes book, Sawdust Caesar. I'm not sure, but I think Seldes translated the original article from Italian to English. This is a complete reproduction of the article as it appears in Seldes' book.

Fascism: “Reactionary,” “Anti-Liberal”
By Benito Mussolini

(The famous pronunciamento against liberty by the Duce in the March, 1923, issue of his magazine Hierarchy [Gerarchia])

Force and Consent

Certain Italian Liberalism, which holds itself to be the one and only depository of true and immortal principles, is uncommonly like that moribund Socialism, because it, too, as the latter, thinks it has “scientifically,” an undisputable truth, good for all times, places and situations. Here is absurdity. Liberalism is not the last word, nor does it represent the definite formula in the theme of the art of Government. In this difficult and delicate art, which has to work with the most refractory materials and in a state of movement, since it works on living and not on dead things; in this art, there is not the Aristotelian unity of time, of place and of action. Mankind has been more or less well governed in a thousand different ways.

Liberalism is the sun and the method of the nineteenth century, which is not stupid, as Daudet thinks, because there are not stupid centuries nor clever centuries, but there are alternate times of cleverness and stupidity in larger or smaller proportions, in every century. It is not said that the liberal method of government, good for the nineteenth century, for a century that is dominated by two essential phenomena like the development of capitalism, and the affirmation of the sentiment of nationality, must necessarily be fitted for the twentieth century, which already promises to have very different characteristics from those which marked the preceding century. Facts are worth more than books; experience more than doctrines.

Now, the greatest experience which has come to us after the World war in a state of motion under our very eyes – is the defeat of liberalism. In Russia, and in Italy it has been shown that it is possible to govern outside, above and against the whole of liberalism’s ideology. Both Communism and Fascism are outside the bounds of liberalism.

But after all is said and done, what does this liberalism, for which all the foes of Fascism today more or less obliquely get excited consist? Does liberalism mean universal suffrage and such like things? Does it mean to have the Chamber always open, in order that it may present that indecent spectacle which made everybody feel sick? Does it mean to give a free hand to those who proclaim their hostility against the State and work actively for its destruction? Is this liberalism? Well, if this is liberalism it is a theory and a practice of aberration and of ruin. Liberty is not an end; it is a means. As a means it ought to be controlled and dominated. Here fails this talk of “force.”

The liberal gentlemen are asked to tell me if there ever was in history a Government based exclusively on the consent of the people and renouncing the employment of any kind of force. Such a Government has never existed and it never will exist. Consent is as changeable as the sands of the seashore. It cannot always exist. Nor can it ever be entire. No Government has ever existed which has managed to make everybody it governed happy. Whatever solution you happen to give to any problem, whatever, you – even were you participants of divine wisdom – must inevitably create a class of malcontents. If so far geometry has not succeeded in squaring the circle, still less have politics managed to do it. Allowing as an axiom that any governmental decision creates discontented people, how are you to prevent this discontent from growing and becoming a danger for the safety of the State? You prevent it by means of force; by surrounding the mass with force; by employing this force without pity when it is necessary to do so. Take away force from any Government whatever – and physical armed force is meant here – and leave only its immortal principles – and that Government will be at the mercy of the first organized group which has made up its mind to beat it.

Now Fascism throws all these anti-vital theories to the scrap heap. When a group or a party is in power it is obliged to fortify itself and to defend itself against all corners. The truth, plain to the eyes of all who are not blinded by dogmatism, is that men are tired, perhaps, of liberty. They have had an orgy of it. Today, liberty is no longer of the severe and chaste virgin for which generations of the first part of the last century fought and died. For the intrepid youth who, uneasy and alert, face the dawn of new history there are other words which have greater fascination; these are, order, hierarchy, discipline.

This poor Italian liberalism, which goes in search of a greater liberty, groaning and struggling, is very much behind. It is quite outside all understanding and possibility. They talk of seeds which spring will find. Nonsense! Some seeds die under the coat of winter. Fascism, which did not fear to call itself reactionary when many liberals of today were prone before the triumphant beast, has not today any impediment against declaring itself illiberal and anti-liberal. Fascism does not fall a victim to certain commonplace tricks.

Let it be known then, once and for all, that Fascism knows no idol, worships no faith; it has once passed, and, if needful, will turn to pass again, over the more or less decomposed body of the Goddess of Liberty.

Benito Mussolini

George Seldes and the American Press

Part 1 through 3


This series featuring George Seldes was added to the Internet Archive. It was created in 1983 and produced by Frank Morrows. It is currently under a Creative Commons license.

Seldes speaks about much of his adventures as a Journalist to Italy, the Soviet Union, Mexico, Spain and his encounters with notorious historical figures like Vladimir Lenin, Benito Mussolini, General "Black Jack" Pershing, and Joseph McCarthy.

The video should play all parts in succession but if it doesn't, click here to view it at the main page:

Lies Agreed Upon: George Seldes and the American Press.


Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States

You Can't Print That

I don't know about the copyright restrictions of this video but there is an option to download it here.

A short documentary of some of George Seldes' adventures as a journalist in WWI, Soviet Russia, Italy before and during the rise of Fascism, the war in Mexico, the Spanish Civil War, and Seldes' own newsletter called "in Fact".

Seldes' reporting on Spain showed that rather than a Civil War, Spain was fighting a Fascist Rebellion. In the American Press at the time, Spanish Loyalists were Red-baited in support of the Fascists forces which were also backed by Hitler and Mussolini. The Spanish Civil War proved to be a testing ground for German military tactics later in WWII. American newspapers that reported the truth about the Spanish Civil War were attacked and red-baited by just about everyone, including the Catholic Church.

Includes interviews with; Studs Terkel, I. F. Stone, Howard Zinn and George Seldes.

The Facts Are...

A Guide to Falsehood and Propaganda in the Press and Radio.

by George Seldes.

Published in 1942.

The complete digitized publication is available here, and is available for non-commercial, personal, research, or educational purposes, or any fair use.

Public opinion is the most powerful force in the world but as George Seldes put it, what makes public opinion is the press. Seldes reveals, in his 1942 publication, that the press is dominated by Big Business and corporate entities. He documents abuses of the American Press and Radio by special interests, big business, politicians and propagandists.

Why can't you trust the press?

Answer: because it has become Big Business.The big city press and the big magazines have become commercialized, or big business organizations, run with no other motive than profit for owner or stockholder (although hypocritically still maintaining the old American tradition of guiding and enlightening the people). The big press cannot exist a day without advertising. Advertising means money from Big Business. The truth about Big Business is told in the three or four hundred volumes of government reports (the 73 volume record of the investigation of the public utilities by the Federal Trade Commission; the 50 volumes of the two LaFollette report on the violations of the rights of labor; the threescore reports of the O'Mahoncy monopoly investigation and many more).

The facts are:

1. America is in the hands of 200 industrial and 50 financial families.

2. These families run this country.

3. They supply the funds which elect the officials of the United States, from state legislatures to the presidency.

4. They control billions in stocks and bonds, they control the economic life of the nation.

5. They control legislation; they control Congress; they maintain the most powerful lobby in Washington, and usually get what they want.

6. They use the American Newspaper Publishers Association (the big newspaper owners) as an instrument to maintain their control of America.

7. They use advertising (in newspapers and magazines) to make this stranglehold on public opinion possible.

Who's interest does the corporate media look out for?

There is only one viewpoint which the entire press of the nation expresses, respects, represents and works for: the viewpoint of business, money, wealth, and power represented by what is generally known as the God of Things As They Are, or the Status Quo.

The revelations of the corrupt American press by George Seldes are just as relevant in 2009 as they were in 1942.

While the major American news networks are owned by corporations like General Electric, News Corp, and Time Warner, our politicians are being lobbied by the advertisers who pay these corporations for airtime. In elections, corporate lobbyists pay thousands of dollars to both major political parties. At the same time, public debates which are supposed to serve the interest of the public shut out people who speak truth to power. People who don't support the corporate interests, rather, they support the public's interests.

In today's media, advertising and corporate interests make public opinion. In other words, falsehoods make facts, and facts are just falsehoods.