The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1936. PROPAGANDA BY TRIALS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 201, 26 August 1936, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1936. PROPAGANDA BY TRIALS

IN Absolutist Governmental technique a new propaganda method has been established; it is the utilisation of the Courts as a means of effecting some end which the Government has in mind. The Reichstag trials were propaganda trials promoted for the purpose of fanning an “anti” atmosphere in which a mass movement such as Nazism must continuously breathe. It is a permanent feature of mass emotional movements that they must have something to hate, and the German mind is peculiarly susceptible to antipathies. “Have no friends outside the party,” was a common slogan of the German political movements before all parties were merged into Nazism. Nazism is not a philosophy, it is first a protest and second an antipathy. The antipathy was first directed against the Russians, known as Communists for the sake of convenience, and when the Russians became too distant to maintain the antipathetic wave the Jews were the next victims on which to exercise this volition against the outsider in interests of cohesion within the mass. Tiie Reichstag fire seems by all accounts to have been a put-up job, and the Communists who were tried were purely incidental to the propaganda effort. This worked well for Herr Hitler, and so on low grounds he is to be congratulated. * Russia has staged more than one set of propaganda trials. When the Five-year Plan was running awkwardly it was found desirable to provide some explanation for the difficulties of a planned economy, and consequently the sabotage trials provided a way of escape. The trials of the Vickers engineers, in particular, was an excellent piece of work from a propaganda point of view, although the strong stand taken by the British Government added some inconveniences which were not previously reckoned on. But these sabotage trials “explained” the delay in bringing forth plenty to flic Russian people. In recent years there has been a great advance in tiie economic development of Russia; but there has been growing up a state of affairs which was never contemplated by the revolutionary leaders who established the Union of the Soviets. Wages are not being paid in accordance with the Socialistic doctrine of “each according to his need,’’ but according to the capitalistic doctrine of “each according to his merit,” and as a result the hated bourgeoise arc reappearing, creations of the regime, which set out to destroy them. It is to be expected that in such changing conditions there will be some developments of a political nature. It is possible also to assume that Germany will exploit the situation which is favourable to the stirring up of strife, and it can be accepted that German influence already has been exercised in this way with a view to weakening the Russian menace. There would be nothing' surprising in such tactics for it has always been the favourite device of Germany in dealing with Russia. Further, the natural corruptness of the Russian has almost invited the use of such means. Under the Tsar corruption was the general means of getting anything at all done, and the higher the Government officials the greater the corruption. The whole system was corrupt, for corruption provided the foundation of whatever system there was. It is not to be expected that that Russian character would change radically witli the new regime. Self-seeking is ever present in all communities. it, may operate in different guises, but it remains fundamentally the same everywhere. In more educated communities it does change in its technique, but not in its ethical character. It requires a greater appreciation of ethical demands for corruption to be placed within bounds, and this is a slow development under any circumstances. Russia, then, is faced with a changing economic order, with the consequent divergence of views arising out of such economic changes, witli a neighbouring country which has for a long period in the past carried on subterranean intrigue, using Russian tools to further her ends. This is the background of the present trials which have just concluded in Russia, but it by no means explains the trials themselves. The charge is that the accused persons, who apparently arc highly-placed officials under the Soviet regime, have been conspiring with emissaries of German-paid agents to remove M. Stalin by having him assassinated. It is possible that personal ambition has prompted various individuals to bring a faction into being which seeks to overthrow M. Stalin. But if that were so it would not explain the prisoners’ abject asking for the death sentence to be carried out on themselves before they were found guilty. The whole thing is too stagey. It lacks sincerity. There are several probabilities which could be advanced, among them the following: That by throwing themselves entirely on the mercy of their enemies they might be pardoned to some extent; that they have been so severely ill-treated that they have completely lost their nerve and are prepared to seek any way out of their torment, even by the way of death. On the other hand it may be that the regime seeks to impress others not before the Courts with the strength of the Government. This belief in the omnipotence of the Government is strong within the Russian in any circumstances, and a staging of such trials may be the means adopted to head-off something of greater significance which has not been revealed as yet to the outside world. This hidden reason, for obviously the trials are not genuine trials in the interests of justice, will doubtless emerge a little later on. In the meantime it is only to be regretted that such means arc being resorted to again in the interests of statecraft.