THE BOSWELL REPORT

Putaruru Press, Volume XX, Issue 1193, 1 August 1946, Page 7

THE BOSWELL REPORT

(To the Editor) Sir, —We do not expect the Government to disclose diplomatic reports relating to foreign policy, but it is of the utmost importance that Mr. Boswell's report on the economic conditions which have followed from the socialist experiment in Russia should be made known to the whole world. If the material condition of the people has been improved or if it has deteriorated below that ex-isting under the Czar then the truth should be told, particularly when we are proposing to adopt the socialist idea. It is obvious that Mr. Boswell’s report is adverse and confirms the Maloney Report, which again confirms the Citrine Report of 1938, which proved that by 1937 there had been a progressive' deterioration of the standard of living to approximately one half of what it was under the last Czar. Numerous other reports by leading Communists, who cannot be called capitalist propagandists, have substantiated this indisputable fact. Is not the evidence of the truth of this all around us ? Wherever the State attempts to regulate and control we are faced with shortages. It cannot be disputed that over 20 million Russians died of starvation between 1922 and 1939. Many millions will slowly die of starvation in Europe and Britain because Governments are tx-ying to regulate production and distribution. The socialist idea that production should be regulated by legislation is the very oldest and operated everywhere prior to 1800- Periodical famines were characteristic of such a system. We do not seem to be able to grasp the simple truth of liberalism, which was that the common good could be best achieved not by direct means but by indirect means—that is by freeing the individual from coercion and restraints he could, thus freed, discover better and more efficiently than any planning authority how the needs of the people could be provided. This truth stands for all time. What, has happened in Russia had to happen. We should learn from the experiment that we must scrap our crazy socialist ideas, for unless we do so quickly untold millions will be condemned to die of starvation. DEMOCRAT.