RUSSIAN COMMUNISM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 140, 16 June 1931, Page 5

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM

STATUS OF INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANITY CHALLENGED ADDRESS TO ROTARIANS “At the present time there are three definite tendencies towards the suppres sion of the individual,” said Mr W. B Sutch, when addressing the Wanganui Rotary Club yesterday. “Firstly, there is the American culture —the culture of mass production which is evident not only in factories but also in Universities; not only of cards but of ideas. This tends towards the creation of the mass man with a mass-mind, is one of the worst enslavements of the soul. “Secondly,” the speaker proceeded, “we have the Asiatic culture, especially that rooted in the Hindu and Budd hist faiths. These aim at the extinction of any personality in man —they deny absolutely that, personality has any value. Lastly, we have the Rus sian culture, or Bolshevism, which rests on the denial of the rights of tho indi vidual. The mass and the machine arc supreme —the State is everything, the individual nothing. “If Ford, Gandhi and Stalin were to meet together what would they discuss? The root question would inevitably be. ‘ What are the final values on which civilisation is to base its destinies?’ Lt. is my purpose to-day to give you one aspect of this question—the social effects of Russian Communism. Bolshevism. “It is difficult to keep an open mind on the subject of Russia. The word ‘Bolshevik’ means to the man in the street a bushy-whiskered bomb-thrower, whereas its real meaning is ‘one who believes that the majority should rule. I would, therefore, appeal to you not to abuse this term, as <uch a practice makes clear thinking difficult. Another warning I would like to issue is ‘Disregard all communications from Press correspondents in such places as Helsing fors, Riga and Stockholm.’ It is well known that the Baltic States, together with Rumania and Poland are definitely biassed against the Soviet and thev will do all in their power to discredit the Russians I do not suggest that all news coming from such sources ™ untrue; but I do say that you cannot tell the true from the false. Every week we get some new scare from Rus sia. It is amusing to see how quickly it gives place to more rumours of Russian terrors. The ridiculous statements about the nationalisation of women in Russia have long been buried. Only a Westerner could concoct a story like that. To a Russian, who has an Orion tai strain, the thought would have lit tie appeal. Yet our reading public eagerly swallowed the yarn. And they will happily go on swallowing so long as Riga correspondents exist tc dish up their tasty tit-bits.

“Let us then approach the problem with an open mind. Russia. “The eyes of the world are on Russia—the scene of the greatest change in the world’s history since the Reformation—a revolution which involved 150 millions of people and one-sixth of the planet. All the world knows what the revolution has cost Russia in of human blood, sacrifice find suffering. This still continues. Do the experiments with the economic and social institutions give promise of any results whip? may compensate the Russian people for what they have suffered? “The Soviet Union has definitely proved that a Socialist economic sy? tern can survive and carry on at least the functions necessary for survival Whether such a system is superior in productive efficiency to the capitalist economic system is quite another mat for. Whether it is superior to the ca pitalistic system in terms of human well-being is still a different matter. Unemployment. “Take the question of unemployment. This has presented a serious problem to the Soviet Union. The causes of unemployment, however, are somewhat different from those operative in capitalist countries. It is not duo to ‘overproduction.’ It is not due to the displacement of industrial workers by machinery. There are more employed in dustrially each year in Russia than are displayed by the use of industrial machinery. Contrast this with the United States where the number of people employed in industry has actually fallen during the last decade. The main cause of Russian unemployment has been the drift to the city of the rural, workers owing to the collective farming and the unfavourable status of the agricultural population. Then again there are milliens of the ‘deprived’ classes who would never be offered a job by the Soviet. Their unemployment is punitive in character. It is difficult to foretell therefore the future course of unemployment in Russia. For the next few years at any rate it will still be a problem. r Standard of Living.

“Probably the most frequent ques tion that will be asked is ‘How has Communism affected the standard of living? At present the standard of living of the peasant and intelligentsia classes is lower than in pre-war days. The industrial workers—the ‘pampered* class—have a standard of living a little higher than in 1914. The reasons for thus low standard are:— “1. The law quality of the products turned out in Russian factories. “2. The concentration of that part, of the national income that is saved into the heavy Industries which produce the means of production rather than into the light industries that produce eon summable goods. “3. The export of food products to pay for Russian imports. This is the Socialist method of capital saving. Capitalistic savings are largely costless; Soviet savings are without freedom of choice and costly in terms of human well-being. “4. The low standard of agricultural production. The peasant does not like Communism. Hence he often has to be dragooned into producing more than his actual needs. If Communism fails, :t will fail on the agricultural point. The land-hunger of the peasant was the force that brought Czarism crashing down and it is this land-hunger that is Bolshevism’s greatest foe to-daj. “It is probable that the standard of living in Russia will never reach a level of luxury such as that attained by most New Zealanders. Such a high standard would l e repugnant to the spirit of Communism. Under the regime of Ru? sian Communism there will never b?

any artificial stimulation of desir- 3 through advertisement, nor will the dosire to emulate the ‘leisure class* operate to create a standard of living which would include non-essentials. The Com monistic standard will be provided much more quickly thau might b* thought. Simple food, eomiuercia. housing, proletarian club-houses, plait clothing, motor transport, short hourr of labour, vacations at State recreation houses, may be taken to represent the final goal of Communist effort in terms of standard of living. Note that this would appeal to the most poorly paid and the most unintelligent fifty per

cent, of the population of the world. I.” it any wonder then that Karl Marx’s ‘Das Kapital’ is a best seller in Japan and that Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, and China look to the Soviet for guid ance and backing against the ‘exploit ing imperialistic’ powers, especially the British Empire, which is regarded as the greatest obstacle to world revolution ? “Karl Marx has an appeal that is hard to resist —‘The proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains. You have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!’ It is precisely these words that are setting the working millions of Europe and Asia against the capitalist and his system. Labour Conditions. “But what of the labour conditions in Russia,

“The Soviet aim at good conditions for the worker. They instituted a seven hour day which recently has been altered to eight. No children under 14 are allowed to work, and those under 16 must work no more than four hours a day, There is free State insurance for workers, but the insurance fund has not functioned as well as the unemployment funds of, say Germany or England. There is no doubt that labour conditions are superior to those of pre-wat Russia, but are definitely inferior to those in Western Europe. It is the food shortage that is thy most serious thing from the worker’s point of view. Foodstuffs are all largely rationed. Ono bitter Russian comment ifl, ‘The only thing for which we do not have to wait in queues is divorce.’ “And even so, the workers fare better than any other class in the Soviet Union. The office-workers, the clerks, the ‘ wffiite-collar’ brigade are only one degree better off than the ‘deprived' classes, who are openly branded as enemies of the Soviet. The same thing is true of the old intelligentsia who took service under the Bolsheviki. They are ordered about by the old proletarians who have been placed in executive positions. The ‘white-collar’ workers are discriminated against in many ways They are the new ‘proletariat’ of the proletarian State. In adition to this the, Kulak class—merchants, traders, priests, ministers of religion, private employers of labour—arc disfranchised. “Nor can one say that the word “comrade” is evidence of increased brotherliness among the industrial workers. The general air of imitation and ill-feeling so prevalent in Russian cities is not entirely due to the food shortage. One seldom sees a smile or hears a laugh. This is probably because class war is constantly being preached. The former privileged classes are still the objects of relentless persecution 14 years after the Revolution. Militant hatred has become perhaps the most outstanding spiritual characteristic ot' Russian communism. Lack of Freedom Never, perhaps, in history has the mind and spirit of man bee” so robbed of freedom and dignity as we conceive it. It is not merely that academic) freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, and freedom of thought are forbidden. Men must publicly deny their real thoughts and feelings. “The Communists keep their ideal ever before them—the State first, the individual last! It must not be forgotten, however, that the workers probably feel that they are deprived of very little freedom. They are not interested in “free speech.” As long as a worker does not try to get ahead of his fellows, his freedom is not very much curtailed. “Utopia?” “The philosophers who first created social systems created them as Utopias, not where men would produce more goods, but where men would lead the ideal life. In Utopia, meanness, pettiness, greed, envy and bitterness were to disappear. In Utopia man would at last be free. There arc many Communists who think Utopia will be realised in Soviet Russia. “One must admit that Soviet, Russia is further removed from Utopia than is even our Capitalist system. In Soviet Russia there is not less bitterness, but more. The energy which men of ability in the Capitalistic world expend in amassing wealth is in Soviet Russia canalised in the struggle for power. Within the State Trust and Commissariats within the Party, the struggle for power is sharper than within the institutions of Capitalism.

Money Standard Displaced “Nevertheless the great mass of the people do not feel the bitter necessity of safeguarding or improving their economic status, either by saving or by increasing their earning capacity. Communism is extremely scornful of the man who practices the petty bourjeois virtues and attempts to build up a comfortable living for himself and his family. The worker is expected to seek improvement in his economic position only as the class to which he belongs improves its No one is permitted to build up a homo that could be considered permanent and on which the individual might be tempted to spend much time and money. As a result there is a very noticeable lack of social competition. Not. only is it impossible to amass wealth in the Soviet Union, but, the whole manner of life under the New Order tends to neutralise the craving for wealth. “The creation of a system of life which has displaced the money standard of measurement must be registered us a distinct contribution to human welfare. The servility which is induced by a desire to obtain monetary rewards — I am quoting the Economic Journal — has almost disappeared. The State employee in a retail shop is not particularly interested whether the customer buys or not. He does not, therefore, fawn on the customer nor subject him to high-powered salesmanship. He does not address the customer as ‘Sir’ and pretend that the customer is a superior being. This may have its disadvantages from the point of view of the customer, but the spiritual advance that is registered cannot be gainsaid. “Onother point, to remember is this. Power, influence and authority are not accorded to fools, incompetents and mediocrities in the Soviet Union simply because a man possesses wealth. Fanatics and bullies do attain power in the Soviet, system and, in the case of the

fanatics, more, frequently than under private Capitalism. We must therefore welcome the destruction of wealth as a universal standard of values while recognising that the scramble for power as exemplified in the Russian Communist Party is not a change for the better. Bolshevism and Christianity “Bolshevism is a strong, fighting faith, with a world programme, and it has achieved colossal victories. It is, in the last resort, a threat directed against those things upon which we set the highest value; the rights and duties, the growth and expression of individual personality. “The aim of Bolshevism is a collcc tivised man, a collective man, living collectively a collectivised existence, and collectively thinking, feeling and aspiring. And Bolshevism has already made considerable progress in fashion ing this collective man.” “Can our civilisation, with its socalled Christianity, stand up to this greatest, of contemporary challenges’ Lenin against inconceivable odds achieved the impossible for the dominion of Bolshevism. It remains for us to vin dicate the civilisation we have built up allegedly on the life and teachings of Christ. * The only thing to do, of course, is to get back to the teachings of Christ,—a very difficult task, mainly because it has never been tried.’* Vote of Thanks Upon the conclusion of his remarks the speaker was thanked by Mr L. Cohen who hoped that when Mr Sutch went, abroad he would not be lost to the Dominion, but. that he would return to give them the. benefit of his experiI once.