On the Right

New York, June 2—Mr. Wilfred Burchett, who is usually identified as “an Australian journalist,” has sent out a dispatch from Paris, explaining some of the early developments that precipitated the great Cultural Revolution in China. According to Mr. Burchett, what happened is that a faction of Chinese attempted to purge Lin Piao, and to take over effective control of China, leaving Mao Tse-tung as a figurehead. In this unsuccessful enterprise an American is said to have been involved, or rather an ex-American: one Sidney Rittenberg, who was overwhelmed by Chinese Culture in 1968, and has not been heard from since.

Now for all we know, this is true. If so, it is only because it happens that there is a conjunction between the truth and the Communist line in that part of the world. Granted, in handling the story, the New York Times described Mr. Burchett as “left-wing.” That is hardly enough, since nowadays leftwingers abound, but paid agents, past and present, of the Communists do not abound; at least, not paid agents whose words are quoted by the press as useful to the revision of history.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

New York, June 2—Mr. Wilfred Burchett, who is usually identified as “an Australian journalist,” has sent out a dispatch from Paris, explaining some of the early developments that precipitated the great Cultural Revolution in China. According to Mr. Burchett, what happened is that a faction of Chinese attempted to purge Lin Piao, and to take over effective control of China, leaving Mao Tse-tung as a figurehead. In this unsuccessful enterprise an American is said to have been involved, or rather an ex-American: one Sidney Rittenberg, who was overwhelmed by Chinese Culture in 1968, and has not been heard from since.

Now for all we know, this is true. If so, it is only because it happens that there is a conjunction between the truth and the Communist line in that part of the world. Granted, in handling the story, the New York Times described Mr. Burchett as “left-wing.” That is hardly enough, since nowadays leftwingers abound, but paid agents, past and present, of the Communists do not abound; at least, not paid agents whose words are quoted by the press as useful to the revision of history.