Fred Schwarz

This article is about the anti-Communist activist. For the architect, see Frederic Schwartz.

Doctor Frederick Charles Schwarz (15 January 1913 – 24 January 2009) was an Australian physician and political activist who founded the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC). He made a number of speaking tours in the USA in the 1950s, and in 1960 moved his base of operations to California.[1] He was the author of the international bestseller, You Can Trust The Communists (to be Communists), Prentice Hall, 1960. Dr Schwarz worked with his wife, Lillian Schwarz, from abroad and, in his later years, at their home in Camden, near Sydney, in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Early life

Frederick Schwarz was born in Brisbane, Australia, as the fourth of twelve children. His father was a Viennese Jew who emigrated to Australia after his conversion to Christianity. Fred Schwarz first obtained dual degrees in Arts and Science at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, and subsequently went on to complete a degree in Medicine. He specialized as both a general practitioner and psychiatrist, and kept a private practice at home in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield from 1953.

Anti-Communism

In 1940, Dr Schwarz, in the aftermath of a debate with an Australian Communist, became compelled to study Communist ideology, and was subsequently recognised as an expert on Marxist-Leninist philosophy.[2] He founded and was the chairman of the not-for-profit Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC), based originally in Sydney, and subsequently in Long Beach, California, and remained in this position until the late 1990s. During his time with the CACC, Schwarz gave many lectures and seminars across America on the subject of Communism, placing an emphasis on the role of education in understanding Marxism-Leninism from the source documents of that movement, by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong and others. Under Schwarz's leadership, for some decades the CACC also paid for an orphanage in India, for underprivileged children.

His Southern California School of Anti-Communism filled the 16,000-capacity Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena from 28 August – 1 September 1961. According to Morrie Ryskind, writing at the time in The Los Angeles Times, "The evening sessions, featuring nationally known speakers, were televised, and those who should know tell me that some three million people listened in nightly. At any rate, I can honestly say that in my 25 years in Los Angeles I have never known a local event that so completely captured the enthusiasm of the city."

Dr Schwarz wrote a fortnightly newsletter for nearly 40 years, and three books. The first, You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists) was first published in 1960 and sold well over one million copies worldwide when its copyright was with Prentice Hall, and hundreds of thousands of copies later, when Dr Schwarz regained the copyright.

The second was The Three Faces of Revolution published in 1972.

His autobiography, Beating the Unbeatable Foe: One Man's Victory over Communism, Leviathan, and the Last Enemy was published in 1996. In it (Foreword, xix), is published a photo of a letter in which US President Ronald Reagan, with whom Schwarz had been friendly for many years, wrote (on 4 January 1990), inter alia, "Fred, you're to be commended for your tireless dedication in trying to ensure the protection of freedom and human rights...". The book also published accolades by William F. Buckley, Jr., Reed Irvine, John Stormer, et al..

Dr Schwarz was the father-in-law of leading Australian clinical cardiologist and medical scientist, Professor Murray Esler.

References

  1. ↑ North, Gary (12 December 2002). "It All Began With Fred Schwarz". Lew Rockwell.
  2. ↑ Vimeo.

External links