Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward

The Fabians were an elite group of intellectuals who formed a semi-secret society for the purpose of bringing socialism to the world. Whereas Communists wanted to establish socialism quickly through violence and revolution, the Fabians preferred to do it slowly through propaganda and legislation. The word socialism was not to be used. Instead, they would speak of benefits for the people such as welfare, medical care, higher wages, and better working conditions. In this way, they planned to accomplish their objective without bloodshed and even without serious opposition.

They scorned the Communists, not because they disliked their goals, but because they disagreed with their methods. To emphasize the importance of gradualism, they adopted the turtle as the symbol of their movement. The three most prominent leaders in the early days were Sidney and Beatrice Webb and George Bernard Shaw. A stained-glass window in the Beatrice Webb House in Surrey, England is especially enlightening. Across the top appears the last line from Omar Khayyam:

Dear love, couldst thou and I with fate conspire

To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire,

Would we not shatter it to bits, and then

Remould it nearer to the heart's desire!

1. Keynes often is portrayed as having been merely a liberal. But, for his lifelong volvement with Fabians and their work, see Rose Martin, Fabian Freeway; High

°ad 10 Socialism in the U.S.A. (Boston: Western Islands, 1966).

88 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND

Beneath the line Remould it nearer to the heart's desire,

the mural depicts Shaw and Webb striking the earth with hammers. Across the bottom, the masses kneel in worship of a stack of books advocating the theories of socialism. Thumbing his nose at the docile masses is H.G. Wells who, after quitting the Fabians, denounced them as "the new machiavellians." The most revealing component, however, is the Fabian crest which appears Between Shaw and Webb. It is a wolf in sheep's clothing!1

COMMUNIST MOLES

Harry Dexter White was America's chief technical expert and the dominant force at the conference. He eventually became the first Executive Director for the United States at the IMF. An interesting footnote to this story is that White was simultaneously a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a memljer of a Communist espionage ring in Washington while he served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. And even more interesting is that the White House was informed of that fact when President Truman appointed him to his post. The FBI had transmitted to the White House detailed proof of White's activities on at least two separate occasions.2 Serving as the technical secretary at the Bretton Woods conference was Virginius Frank Coe, a member of the same espionage ring to which White belonged. Coe later became the first Secretary of the IMF.

Thus, completely hidden from public view, there was a complex drama taking place in which the intellectual guiding lights at the Bretton Woods conference were Fabian Socialists and Communists. Although they were in disagreement over method, they were in perfect harmony on goal: international socialism.

There were undoubtedly other reasons for Communists to be enthusiastic about the IMF and the World Bank, despite the fact 1. See Zygmund Dobbs, The Great Deceit: Social Pseudo-Sciences (West Sayville, New York: Veritas Foundation, 1964), opposite p. 1. Also Rose L. Martin, Fabian

Freeway: High Road to Socialism in the U.S.A. (Boston: Western Islands, 1966), pp. 30, 31.

2. See: David Rees, Harry Dexter White: A Study in Paradox (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1973); Whittaker Chambers, Witness (New York: Random House, 1952); Allen Weinstein, Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case (New York: Vintage Books, 1978); James Burnham, The Web of Subversion: Underground Networks in the U.S. Government

(New York: The John Day Co., 1954); Elizabeth Bentley, Out of Bondage (New York: Devin-Adair, 1951)

NEARER TO THE HEART'S DESIRE

89

that the Soviet Union elected at the time not to become a member.

The goal the organizations was to create a world currency, a world central bank, and a mechanism to control the economies of all nations. In order for these things to happen, the United States would of necessity have to surrender its dominant position. In fact, it would have to be reduced to just one part of the collective whole.