"Orders from Moscow"

"By orders from Moscow the Communists are all out for a Fourth Term."

These words, which appeared in an article in the Reader's Digest fortnight ago, spelled trouble for Author Alexander Barmine, a onetime Red Army brigadier general, onetime boss of Soviet exports of autos, aviation equipment and armaments. Barmine, disillusioned with the U.S.S.R., broke with the Soviet Union in 1937, came to the U.S., where he has worked as a translator with the hush-hush Office of Strategic Services. Barmine's article said, in part:

"The 'dissolution' of the Communist party, which set so many naive minds at rest, marked the beginning of a Communist conspiracy in the U.S. which is far more dangerous than the original party ever was to our institutions ... an astute and unscrupulous conspiracy to lay the groundwork for eventually seizing political power in the U.S. and transforming this country into a Communist dictatorship."

As steps toward this, Barmine wrote: "With the help of Sidney Hillman, a small, thinly camouflaged Communist minority took over the American Labor party, representing half a million votes in New York. . . . The next step in the Communist conspiracy was the attempt through the Political Action Committee of the C.I.O. to gain a dominating power in the Democratic party. .. ."

As a third step, Barmine argued that the Communists must create disunity in the U.S., "provoke racial and social conflicts" until the situation "borders on civil war. . . . This is the service that American Communists with help from liberal and New Deal groups and some members of the Administration are now performing. . . . The present administration . . . consciously or unconsciously . . . protects the success of the conspiracy. . . . That is why. by orders from Moscow, the Communists are all out for the Fourth Term."

Day after the Reader's Digest reached the newsstands, Barmine received a registered letter at home informing him that he had been discharged by OSS. The reason: "continued absences." Last week, Barmine termed this "completely false and preposterous." Less than a month ago, he said, he had been commended for his work. And last April, when he had tried to resign because of ill health, his resignation was turned down. He was given a pay raise along with permission for brief absences for treatment. Since then, OSS admitted, Barmine has not been absent oftener than any other employe. But OSS insisted that the decision to fire Barmine was made Sept. 21, "before anyone concerned . . . had any knowledge of the article which was published Sept. 27." In any case, it added, employes are not permitted to write controversial articles.

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