THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1931. THE RUSSIAN MENU.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21307, 11 April 1931, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1931. THE RUSSIAN MENU.

The readers of the series of articles on Russia, contributed to our columns by Professor Fisher, of the Otago University, will probably have gathered two main impressions—first, that Communism in that country is in no danger of dying out immediately and, secondly, that life under Russian conditions would be intolerable to a Briton. Professor Fisher, who is at present in Europe, declares that milk and butter are almost unobtainable in Moscow, that good meat is always rare, that black bread is the usual fare for those without ration cards, and that it is difficult to get tea. A New Zealander accustomed to the generous dietary of his own country would hesitate before choosing this Communistic paradise as a place of residence, and might well pause before accepting a scheme of government that renders it necessary for tourists to take their own food supplies with them. This is the Canaan which that inspired leader, the heaven-sent Mr Lang, has viewed afar off from the Pisgah heights of a Labour Government. When Mr Lang achieves his ideal in New South Wales, there will then be a second Eden inviting tourists, with the addendum “ Bring your own eatables.” Of course the Russian experiment is not to be judged by the provender offered to tourists after thirteen years of brotherhood, assassination, idealism, and seizure of private property, spiced with the abolition of God. The Russian is patient —unfortunately, too patient; he is also indolent and naturally more superstitious than the western European. Europeans of the West would never have submitted to the tyrannous oppression of a handful of men like Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin and their immediate supporters. The extraordinary thing is that only a small percentage of the population constitutes, so to speak, the fully qualified Communists—according to Brigadier-General W. H. H. Waters, about 2 per cent, is the

figure. Indeed it is not easy to be admitted into the sacred guild of Communists; every person of “ respectable ” parentage is suspect and may be debarred from admission. Yet the State as a whole, while denouncing the iniquities of Capitalism, is capitalistic on a scale never equalled anywhere else. In the W est there are many big “ trusts ” —in Russia there is one, the Soviet Government. Verily capitalism in excelsis! As it does not pay to have had respectable or well-to-do parents in the land of the new era, so it does not pay to be a kulak, or successful farmer on a big scale. It does apparently pay to be a small farmer, for then the farm on which one eked out a miserable living may be incorporated in a collectivist scheme of 150,000 acres or more, whereby famine is eliminated by the introduction of scientific methods. Despite the dreadful mode of its establishment and continuation, the Communistic State has shown the West what can be done to organise even a backward society to exert its full economic strength. Last year about half the peasants were “ collectivised,” and under the Five Year Plan the process is still going on. The output of petroleum has been enormously increased. Stalin’s problem has been to overcome the natural indolence of the Russian and to indoctrinate him with the gospel of work. In 1928 Russia had 5000, million kilowatt hours of electric power. By the end of 1933, at the climax of the famous plan, it is expected that the figure will be 22,000 million —some of it to be sold at oneeighth of a penny per unit. The construction of railroads and roads for ordinary vehicular traffic is being pushed on rapidly. But,- in a country covering one-sixth of' the land surface of the globe, it takes time to get a good railway service, even with a population of 150 millions. Russian exports are increasing, and wood-pulp, for example, is being received in America in large quantities, despite the fact that.it is produced by forced labour and that America has never openly resumed relations with Russia; But if Russia exports she will also import;—no country can prosper long without overseas commerce. Communism or no Communism, Russia will have to trade with other countries. The military writer whom we have quoted above, writing about England, says in an article in the Quarterly Review: “ Some big importers in this country buy cheaply in the Russian market. They label the goods ‘foreign produce ’ instead of stating their origin. The consumer, of course, has no say in the matter. Big Business has much to answer for.” This may be correct; but obviously, if Russian goods can be bought cheaply, the consumer must ultimately get the benefit; “ Big Business” is on a world market. Russian products will alter markets; that is no new phenomenon in commercial history. There is no poison in that process, however drastic it may be. The poison is in the pestilential theory that the State can. take everything from everybody, deprive of all power all those suspected of being of “respectable” parentage, and then hand back to the producers ration cards entitling the bearer to a badly cooked meal at Is 2d. An inspiring ideal!