WHAT IS BOLSHEVISM?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27572, 14 December 1950, Page 8

WHAT IS BOLSHEVISM?

Sir, —Surely L. J. Hansen is not suggesting that Mr Boswell and other British and foreign diplomats were paid handsomely to write slanderous and lying articles about the horrors and shocking conditions they encountered in Russia. I would also ask him if he honestly believes that by changing the name “ Bolshevism " to Communism the nature of the big bad wolf has been changed to that of an innocent lamb. I am amazed to find that despite all the evidence to the contrary we still have people in New Zealand who hold that nobody must criticise Russia;- that Stalin is infallible, and his Politburo never do anything wrong, and other countries never do anything right. Of course, this form of reasoning is so obviously absurd and fantastic that one marvels at the simplicity of those trying to exploit it. Correspondents who reported the Communist Peace Congress in Warsaw say that throughout the week-end of hysteria an orgy of speech-making devoted mainly to unbridled attacks on American and British “ war mongering ” had been cheered ecstatically, and not the least by British delegates. Moscow’s new orders to their agents were along these lines: Create and aggravate by all possible means a rift between Britain and America; intensification of the peace campaign, with the idea of creating an atmosphere of resistance to war and a general impression that it ts Russia who wants peace; the creation of highly-trained shock squads to carry out scientific acts of sabotage, and to incite and engineer large-scale strikes on matters that really interest the workers—as, for example, armaments programmes, which cause inflation and high prices. The Australian Government has evidence of a Communist revolutionary plan involving 2000 men in Australia who have pledged themselves to act as a fifth column in the event of war against Russia. Top-ranking Communists have been allocated interlocking jobs to sabotage vital industries and services and seize the power. Today New Zealand is rocked from end to end with industrial unrest Vital Industries and services are being sabotaged. What Communists are doing in Australia they are doing in New Zealand. —I am. etc., Matilda.

Sir, —To give a definition of Bolshevism would bring forward as many opinions as have been given when defining our faith. We do not approve of Bolshevism or Communism, but millions in the East do approve of it, and are willing to endure hardship and give their lives for it. We are disgusted with the Communists for not reading the Bible, but what are we going to tell them when they do read it. and find, “ The profit of the earth is for all, the king himself is served by the field ’’? When we can show the East that we are healthier, more industrious, have less delinquency than they have, and no hatred of anyone, we may be able to convince them that we are superior. The words of Edith Cavell are worth remembering: "Patriotism is not enough. There must be no hatred of anyone.’— I am. etc.. Debate.