Fifth column

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Fifth Column (disambiguation).

World War II poster from the United States denouncing fifth columnists
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A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are "domestic actors who work to undermine the national interest, in cooperation with external rivals of the state".[1] The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize openly to assist an external attack. This term is also extended to organized actions by military personnel. Clandestine fifth column activities can involve acts of sabotage, disinformation, espionage, and/or terrorism executed within defense lines by secret sympathizers with an external force.

Origin

The term "fifth column" originated in Spain (originally quinta columna) during the early phase of the Spanish Civil War. It gained popularity in the Loyalist faction media in early October 1936 and immediately started to spread abroad.[2]

The exact origins of the term are not clear. Its first known appearance is in a secret telegram dated 30 September 1936, that was sent to Berlin by the German chargé d'affaires in Alicante, Hans Hermann Völckers. In the telegram, he referred to an unidentified "supposed statement by Franco" that "is being circulated" (apparently in the Republican zone or in the Republican-held Levantine zone). This "supposed statement" held that Franco had claimed that there were four Nationalist columns approaching Madrid, and a fifth column waiting to attack from the inside.[3] The telegram was part of the secret German diplomatic correspondence and was discovered long after the civil war.

The first identified public use of the term is in the 3 October 1936, issue of the Madrid

Communist daily Mundo Obrero. In a front-page article, the party propagandist Dolores Ibárruri referred to a statement very similar (or identical) to the one that Völckers had referred to in his telegram, but attributed it to General Emilio Mola rather than to Franco.[4] On the same day, the PCE activist Domingo Girón made a similar claim during a public rally.[5] During the next few days, various Republican papers repeated the story, but with differing detail; some attributed the phrase to General Queipo de Llano,[6] while later some Soviet propagandists would claim it was coined by general Varela.[7] By mid-October, the media was already warning of the "famous fifth column".[8]

Historians have never identified the original statement referred to by Völckers, Ibárruri, Girón, de Jong, and others.[9] The transcripts of Francisco Franco's, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano's, and Emilio Mola's radio addresses have been published, but they do not contain the term,[10] and no other original statement containing this phrase has ever surfaced. A British journalist who took part in Mola's press conference on 28 October 1936, claimed that Mola referred to quinta columna on that day,[11] but by that time the term had already been in use in the Republican press for more than three weeks.[12]

Historiographic works offer differing perspectives on authorship of the term. Many scholars have no doubt about Mola's role and refer to "fifth column" as "a term coined in 1936 by General Emilio Mola",[13] though they acknowledge that his exact statement cannot be verified.[14] In some sources, Mola is named as a person who had used the term during an impromptu press interview, and different—though detailed—versions of the exchange are offered.[15] Probably the most popular version describes the theory of Mola's authorship with a grade of doubt, either noting that it is presumed but has never been proven,[16] or that the phrase "is attributed" to Mola,[17] who "apparently claimed" so,[18] or else noting that "la famosa quinta columna a la que parece que se había referido el general Mola" (the famous fifth column that General Mola seems to have referred to)[19] Some authors consider it possible if not likely that the term has been invented by the Communist propaganda with the purpose of either raising morale or providing justification for terror and repression; initially it might have been part of the whispering campaign, but was later openly floated by Communist propagandists.[20] There are also other theories afloat.[21]

Some writers, mindful of the origin of the phrase, use it only in reference to military operations rather than the broader and less well-defined range of activities that sympathizers might engage in to support an anticipated attack.[a]

Second World War

By the late 1930s, as American involvement in the war in Europe became more likely, the term "fifth column" was commonly used to warn of potential

Life magazine warned of "signs of Nazi Fifth Column Everywhere". In a speech to the House of Commons that same month, Winston Churchill reassured MPs that "Parliament has given us the powers to put down Fifth Column activities with a strong hand."[23] In July 1940, Time magazine referred to talk of a fifth column as a "national phenomenon".[24]

In August 1940,

Nazi invasion of Norway, the head of the Norwegian fascist party, Vidkun Quisling, proclaimed the formation of a new fascist government in control of Norway, with himself as Prime Minister, by the end of the first day of fighting. The word "quisling" soon became a byword for "collaborator" or "traitor".[27]

The New York Times on 11 August 1940, featured three editorial cartoons using the term.[28] John Langdon-Davies, a British journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War, wrote an account called The Fifth Column which was published the same year. In November 1940, Ralph Thomson, reviewing Harold Lavine's Fifth Column in America, a study of Communist and fascist groups in the US, in The New York Times, questioned his choice of that title: "the phrase has been worked so hard that it no longer means much of anything".[29]

Dr. Seuss cartoon in PM dated 13 February 1942, with the caption "Waiting for the Signal from Home"

Immediately following the Japanese

Japanese Americans. Titled "The Fifth Column on the Coast", he wrote of possible attacks that could be made along the West Coast of the United States that would amplify damage inflicted by a potential attack by Japanese naval and air forces.[31] Suspicion about an active fifth column on the coast led eventually to the internment of Japanese Americans
.

During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in December 1941 said the indigenous Moro Muslims were "capable of dealing with Japanese fifth columnists and invaders alike".[32] Another in the Vancouver Sun the following month alleged that the large population of Japanese immigrants in Davao in the Philippines welcomed the invasion: "the first assault on Davao was aided by numbers of Fifth Columnists–residents of the town".[33] However, postwar analysis of both Japanese and American military records, including the interrogation of surviving Japanese officers, fail to support the claims of a Japanese fifth column existing in the Philippines prior to the outbreak of hostilities. [34]

Later usage

Australian Prime Minister Menzies proposed a federal referendum on 22 September 1951 asking voters to give the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws regarding communists and communism.
  • German minority organizations in Czechoslovakia formed the Sudeten German Free Corps, which aided Nazi Germany. Some claimed they were "self-defense formations" created in the aftermath of World War I and unrelated to the German invasion two decades later.[35] More often their origins were discounted and they were defined by the role they played in 1938–39: "The same pattern was repeated in Czechoslovakia. Henlein's Free Corps played in that country the part of fifth column".[36]
  • In 1945, a document produced by the
    US Department of State compared the earlier efforts of Nazi Germany to mobilize the support of sympathizers in foreign nations to the superior efforts of the international communist movement at the end of World War II: "a communist party was in fact a fifth column as much as any [German] Bund group, except that the latter were crude and ineffective in comparison with the Communists".[37] Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., wrote in 1949: "the special Soviet advantage—the warhead—lies in the fifth column; and the fifth column is based on the local Communist parties".[38]
  • In 1979, Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, orchestrated a purge of political dissidents within the Ba'ath Party. Hussein claimed that he had uncovered a fifth column within the organization and ordered Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi to confess his alleged involvement and that of 68 other politicians, who were promptly arrested.[39] Twenty-two of the arrested, including Mashhadi, were executed.[40][41]
  • abducted Japanese citizens from Japan and tested ballistic missiles near the waters of and over mainland Japan.[42]
  • A significant number of Israeli Arabs, who compose approximately 20% of Israel's population, identify more with the Palestinian cause than with the State of Israel or Zionism. As a result, many Israeli Jews, including politicians, rabbis, journalists, and historians, view them (and/or the main Israeli Arab political group, the Joint List) as a fifth column.[43][44][45][46]
  • Liveable Netherlands.[49]
Putin says (on 18'23"): "Yes, of course, they will back the so-called fifth column, national traitors – those who make money here in our country but live over there, and 'live' not in the geographical sense of the word but in their minds, in their servile mentality", and mentions the fifth column two more times, on 19'57" and 20'33"
(Closed captions available)

In popular culture

The title of Ernest Hemingway's only play "The Fifth Column" (1938) is a translation of General Mola's phrase, la quinta columna. In early 1937 Hemingway had been in Madrid, reporting the war from the loyalist side, and helping make the film The Spanish Earth. He returned to the US to publicise the film and wrote the play, in the Hotel Florida in Madrid, on his next visit to Spain later that year.[59]

In the US, an Australian radio play, The Enemy Within, proved to be very popular, though this popularity was due to the belief that the stories of fifth column activities were based on real events. In December 1940, the Australian censors had the series banned.[60]

British reviewers of Agatha Christie's novel N or M? in 1941 used the term to describe the struggle of two British partisans of the Nazi regime working on its behalf in Britain during World War II.[61]

In Frank Capra's film Meet John Doe (1941), newspaper editor Henry Connell warns the politically-naïve protagonist, John Doe, about a businessman's plans to promote his own political ambitions using the apolitical John Doe Clubs. Connell says to John: "Listen, pal, this fifth-column stuff is pretty rotten, isn't it?", identifying the businessman with anti-democratic interests in the United States. When Doe agrees, he adds: "And you'd feel like an awful sucker if you found yourself marching right in the middle of it, wouldn't you?"[62]

Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942) features Robert Cummings asking for help against "fifth columnists" conspiring to sabotage the American war effort.[citation needed] Soon the term was being used in popular entertainment.

Several World War II era animated shorts include the term. Cartoons of Porky Pig asked any "fifth columnists" in the audience to leave the theater immediately.[63] In Looney Tunes' Foney Fables, the narrator of a comic fairy tale described a wolf in sheep's clothing as a "fifth columnist". There was a Merrie Melodies cartoon released in 1943 titled The Fifth-Column Mouse.[non-primary source needed] Comic books also contained references to the fifth column.[64]

Graham Greene, in The Quiet American (1955) uses the phrase "Fifth Column, Third Force, Seventh Day" in the second chapter.[non-primary source needed]

In the 1959 British action film Operation Amsterdam, the term "fifth columnists" is used repeatedly to refer to Nazi sympathizing members of the Dutch Army.

The V franchise is a set of TV shows, novels and comics about an alien invasion of Earth. A group of aliens opposed to the invasion and assist the human Resistance Movement is called The Fifth Column.[65]

In the episode "Flight Into the Future" from the 1960s TV show

Lost In Space, Dr. Smith was referred to as the fifth columnist of the Jupiter 2 expedition. In the first episode, he was a secret agent sent to sabotage the mission who got caught on board at liftoff.[non-primary source needed
]

There is an American weekly news podcast called "The Fifth Column",[66] hosted by Kmele Foster, Matt Welch, Michael C. Moynihan, and Anthony Fisher.[non-primary source needed]

Robert A. Heinlein's 1941 story "The Day After Tomorrow", originally titled "Sixth Column", refers to a fictional fifth column that

destroyed the European democracies from within in the tragic days that led up to the final blackout of European civilization. But this would not be a fifth column of traitors, but a sixth column of patriots whose privilege it would be to destroy the morale of invaders, make them afraid, unsure of themselves.

— Robert A. Heinlein, "The Day after Tomorrow (original title: Sixth Column)", Signet Paperback #T4227, Chapter 3, page 37

In Foyle's War, Series 2 Episode 3, "War Games", one line reads, "It's the Second salvage collection I've missed, they've got me down as a fifth columnist."[citation needed]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Madeleine Albright, for example, in a lengthy account of German sympathizers in Czechoslovakia in the first years of World War II, does not use the phrase to describe their actions until she considers their possible response to a German invasion: "Many, perhaps most, of the Sudetens would have provided the enemy with a fifth column".[22]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1107661998
    .
  2. ^ In French newspapers the term first appeared on October 4, 1936, one day after its first usage in the Madrid press, La Passionaria preche la terreur, [in:] Le Journal 04.10.1936. In more distant countries like Poland the term started to appear since mid-October, see e.g. Oviedo ostatecznie uwolnione, [in:] Dziennik Wileński 18.10.1936.
  3. ISBN 9781107054547
    , p. 187.
  4. ISBN 9788499891507
    . However, other scholars quoting Ibarruri do not refer to the broadcast detail, see e.g. Ruiz 2014, pp. 185–186.
  5. ^ Domingo Girón was a Madrid mid-level Communist activist. In his speech he referred to "cierta declaración hecha por el general Mola a un periodista extranjero", Un gran mitin del Socorro Rojo internacional, [in:] Hoja Oficial del lunes 04.10.1936
  6. ^ Ruiz 2014, pp. 186–187
  7. ^ Mijail Koltsov, Diario de la guerra de España, Barcelona 2009, ISBN 9788408088707, p. 208
  8. ^ Informacion radiotelegrafica, [in:] El bien publico 13.10.1936.
  9. OCLC 2023177
    . Retrieved October 3, 2021. translated from the Dutch by C. M. Geyl
  10. ISBN 9780393239669
    .
  11. ISBN 9788499891507
    .
  12. ^ Prensa Historica service, Hemeroteca Digital service.
  13. ISBN 9780810880092
    , p. 199.
  14. ISBN 9788499920498
    .
  15. ISBN 9789682317699
    , p. 22.
  16. ISBN 9781108429658
    , p. 49.
  17. ISBN 9781137506672
    .
  18. ISBN 9781101201206
    .
  19. ISBN 9788488787125
    .
  20. ISBN 9788491645894
    .
  21. ISBN 9788466344821
    .
  22. ISBN 9780062128423
    .
  23. ^ Churchill, Winston (June 4, 1940). "We Shall Fight on the Beaches". winstonchurchill.org. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  24. ^ Richard W. Steele, Free Speech in the Good War (St. Martin's Press, 1999, 75–76).
  25. ^ The New York Times: Delbert Clark, "Aliens to Begin Registering Tuesday," August 25, 1940. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  26. ISBN 9781941656099
    .
  27. ^ Tolischus, Otto D. (June 16, 1940). "How Hitler Made Ready: I – The Fifth Column" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  28. ^ Barkley, Frederick R. (August 11, 1940). "Nation Shapes Defense against Foes at Home" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  29. ^ Thomson, Ralph (November 27, 1940). "Books of the Times" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  30. ^ Niiya, Brian. "Frank Knox". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  31. ^ Niiya, Brian. "The Fifth Column on the Coast". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
  32. ^ "80 Japanese Troop Ships Are Sighted Off Luzon (Continued From Page1)". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 22, 1941. p. 7. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  33. ^ Curtis, Herbert (January 13, 1942). "Japanese Infiltration Into Mindanao". Vancouver Sun. p. 4. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  34. ^ "The Fall of the Philippines-Chapter 7". history.army.mil. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  35. ^ Robert G.L. Waite, Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Post-War Germany, 1918-1923 (1952), 88
  36. ^ Yale Law School: Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 4, 215, December 20, 1945. Retrieved July 19, 2012
  37. ^ Thomas G. Paterson, Meeting the Communist Threat: Truman to Reagan (Oxford University Press, 1988), 10
  38. ^ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Politics of Freedom (Heinemann, 1950), 92-3
  39. ISBN 0-691-00254-1
    .
  40. ^ Bay Fang. "When Saddam ruled the day." US News & World Report. 11 July 2004. Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ Edward Mortimer. "The Thief of Baghdad." New York Review of Books. 27 September 1990, citing Fuad Matar. Saddam Hussein: A Biography. Highlight. 1990. Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Greimel, Hans (October 24, 2006). "Test sparks N. Korea backlash in Japan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 5, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2024. North Koreans in Japan have long been vilified as a communist fifth column
  43. Ynetnews
    August 2, 2006)
  44. Jerusalem Post
     September 14, 2006)
  45. ^ "Lieberman goes after Arab Joint List: They are a fifth column". Haaretz.com. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  46. ^ Krauss, Joseph (September 18, 2019). "Israel's Arabs poised to gain new voice after tight election". AP NEWS. Retrieved November 1, 2020. Arab citizens have close family, cultural and historical ties to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and largely identify with the Palestinian cause. That has led many Israelis to view them as a fifth column and a security threat.
  47. S2CID 145595802
    .
  48. ^ Bordelon, Brendan (January 7, 2015). "UKIP's Farage: Multiculturalism Creating 'Fifth Column' in West". National Review. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  49. ^ "Fortuyn: ramp voor politiek en vaderland" (in Dutch). November 18, 2013.
  50. ^ Radnitz, Scott; Mylonas, Harris. "Putin's warning about Russian 'fifth columns' has a long, sordid lineage". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  51. ^ "Russia's 5th Column". March 15, 2017.
  52. doi:10.1177/0263395718776215
    .
  53. ^ Mylonas, Harris; Radnitz, Scott (August 26, 2022). "The Disturbing Return of the Fifth Column". Foreign Affairs.
  54. ^ "The Brief — Putin's fifth column in the EU – Euractiv".
  55. ^ "This is What a Fifth Column Looks Like - Above the Law". February 24, 2022.
  56. ^ "Hillary Clinton drags "useful idiot" Tucker Carlson for Putin interview". February 8, 2024.
  57. ^ Turner, Camila (March 8, 2024). "Humza Yousaf gave £250k to Gaza after overruling his officials". The Telegraph.
  58. ^ "Humza Yousaf: Scottish first minister denies conflict of interest over £250K Gaza donation". Sky News. March 9, 2024.
  59. ISBN 0-586-08631-5
    .
  60. ^ Loeffel, Robert (2015). The Fifth Column in World War II: Suspected Subversives in the Pacific War and Australia. Palgrave. p. 85.
  61. ^ The Times Literary Supplement, November 29, 1941 (p. 589); The Observer, December 7, 1941 (p. 3)
  62. ^ Riskin, Robert (1997). McGilligan, Patrick (ed.). Six Screenplays. University of California Press. pp. 664, 696.
  63. IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  64. ISBN 9781496810311
    .
  65. ^ "The enduring legacy, and ongoing relevance of Kenneth Johnson's "V"..." August 29, 2019.
  66. ^ "The Fifth Column / Podcast". The Fifth Column / Podcast. Retrieved June 27, 2019.

Further reading

Look up fifth column in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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Fifth column
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