TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 22076, 25 July 1933, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

State Capitalism. “When we understand what Communism really means, the name is a misnomer when applied to the Russian system; for the Russian system to-day is not Communist, but State Capitalist on a basis of class warfare,” writes Mr Arthur J. Penty on “Communism and the Alternatives.” “It is State Capitalist because it is oligarchical and bureaucratic, and it goes without saying that no system can be Communist, oligarchical and bureaucratic at the same time. In Russia people to-day do not hold things in common, but individually. Money is used, and if the worker has no money he can no more get goods in Russia than he can in any other country. Taxes are levied and the wage system obtains. What is

more, different rates of pay are paid corresponding to different degrees of responsibility, for skilled and unskilled, light and heavy work, and capacity for output. Piecework rates obtain, while the system of promotions carrying with it increase in earnings is in full blast in every enterprise. . . Leisure and Education. “The 20th century civilization is going to turn on leisure as surely as 19th century civilizaticn turned on production,” said Mr J. L. Hammond, in a lecture at Oxford on “The Growth of Common Enjoyment.” “This revolution demands a revolution in outlook. Obviously, if we approach the problem with the 19th century set of values we shall come to grief. Our society is largely a society that has ceased to find education in its work. Mass production and the division of labour have brought about this state of things. The man whose leisure is wasted learns nothing, for science boasts that it has reduced his occupation to a routine. It follows then that the education of this new society depends on what happens to its leisure. If the organization of man’s leisure is left to commerce, the emotions and demands of the people who have not been taught by leisure offer more oportunities of profit than those of people with the traditions of leisure. There are two urgent tasks if we are to produce an educated society instead of an excitable society rushing from one distraction to another. The first is to restore the Fisher scheme and see that everybody has some kind of education up to 18. The second task is to arrest the destruction of the beauty of England. Ought we not to tremble when we remember that civilization starts with man’s response to the beauty of nature, and we, on the eve of this immense development, are watching the destruction of beauty and history in our landscapes and our cities? The Greeks regarded beauty as the great civilizing force. We are wilfully destroying beauty; our forefathers destroyed it because they did not understand its relation to social life. This is our great danger.”

Japanese Competition. A report on “the menace of Japanese competition,” issued by the Federation of British Industries, contains the following:—“lt seems impossible to doubt- that the difference in wages, labour conditions and standard of living makes it impossible for the East and West to compete on equal terms in articles in whose costs wages form a substantial part. . . It should be fully appreciated by all concerned that while the balance of trade with any Eastern country may rest with the British Empire, in fact the balance of employment is against the British Empire. It is almost impossible to translate currency figures into hours of employment, but it must be obvious that where export and import values of goods balance, a country with the lowest conditions of employment has the greatest share in employment hours. The problems of equivalating by tariffs or other means the lower standard of employment in the East with the higher standards of the West, in respect both to foreign and Empire territories, is one of grave import to United Kingdom manufacturers. In plain words, unless rice is made equivalent to beef, the beef standard will cease to exist so far as many industries are concerned. At the moment, while it is true that the Eastern countries taken as a whole have not advanced very far along the road to industrialisation, many of them, including even some under the British flag, are contemplating plans for manufacturing for export. The leader in this movement is Japan, and, unless something can be done to control her activities, her example is likely to be followed by others, with disastrous consequences to the sale of British manufactured goods all over the world.”