Collaboration in Korea

MARCH TO CALUMNY (326 pp.)--Albert D. Biderman--Macmillan($5.95).

Americans indulged in some profound breast beating when they heard that G.I. prisoners in Korea had been brainwashed into collaborating on a massive scale with the enemy. Once again Jeremiahs were able to wail that Americans had gone soft from too much good living. But all this emotion was uselessly expended, according to Albert Biderman, a sociologist with long experience in military affairs. Impressively marshaling facts and figures, Biderman argues that U.S. prisoners in Korea behaved as well as prisoners generally have any time, anywhere.

Grossly exaggerated estimates of collaboration, writes Biderman, were released by certain military officials eager to prove that the Army needed more discipline. They reported that one out of every three prisoners had collaborated, and this figure was quickly seized upon by the press. Actually, writes Biderman, most of the so-called collaboration was either inconsequential or token cooperation of the sort no prisoner can avoid; for instance, prisoners were forced to write home only on stationery printed with doves of peace, or to insert Communist propaganda in their letters. The more serious collaboration was often committed by the very prisoners who most stoutly resisted the Communists. They exposed themselves to more punishment than they could take and finally broke down.

According to Biderman, only twelve of the 4,000-odd prisoners succumbed to brainwashing--a small percentage by any standards. The overwhelming number of prisoners not only resisted indoctrination but became ardent antiCommunists.

When called upon to confess their "reactionary" sins, prisoners usually responded with a humor that escaped their captors. One G.I. confessed: "I promise never again to call Wong that no-good dirty son-of-a-bitch." Another: "I am sincerely sorry my hostile attitude had to be pointed out to me." Humor, writes Biderman, is a man's best weapon in prison, and too rigid standards cannot be applied to a situation where individual initiative and resourceful leadership count most.

Admittedly, the Communists got some propaganda mileage from the prisoners who "confessed" to germ warfare. But ironically, the Communists scored their biggest propaganda success with the folks back home who were so quickly led to believe the worst of their G.I.s.

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