Lipinsky’s socialism

Press, 14 May 1981, Page 16

Lipinsky’s socialism

Sir,—M. Creel's blind defence of the Soviet Union allows him to omit the obvious. The fact is that there is a small ruling class in Russia, wielding greater power than the Tsars could ever have hoped for. A ruling class will arise anywhere that individual rights of ownership, free association, free expression and free trade are denied, and Russia is a classic example of this. The. Communist Party elite enjoy every privilege at the expense of the average person, who has lost every right he might have had. M. Creel and K. Fea should read the article by David Willis (“The Press,” February 11), written after four years and a half as the Moscow correspondent for the “Christian Science Monitor.” The luxury of high-class living and imported food and’ technology enjoyed by the top rank, are in sharp contrast to the suppression and scarcity suffered by the vast majority of the bottom ranks. The “equality” of socialism is a myth—Yours, etc., STEVE MALLORY. May 13, 1981. Fresh air or lead? Sir,—Sheep fed uncontaminated grass alongside the Auckland motorway and sheep fed lead-contaminated grass somewhere else both exhibited raised blood lead levels; one serving of their livers contained the maximum permissible lead levels for an adult human for 10 days. One can no longer say that aerosol lead does not matter. It is very

effectively breathed in or lands somewhere later on hands, vegetables or swimming pools; there is no evidence to suggest that lead is particular. What Professor Beaven does say is that prime targets are those in our community who are not adequately fed, either from ignorance or poverty, or both. So that our underprivileged urban dwellers, with their diets of doughnuts, soft drinks and other commercial rubbish, liberally laced with lead, make them prime starters for violent offending.—Yours, etc., JANET R. HOLM. May 12, 1981.