The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-29
MAKING NEW MEN
How the Soviet Union Handles
Problems of the .Maladj,4sted
By Maxim GOrky

A'AN~~~A -
:. The following article by the great
literary shock brigader of the U.
S. S. r. first appeared in ''Pravda,"
central organ of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union.
THE falseness Of bourgeois human
ism. supposedly a culture based
on the love Of man, has never come
to the surface in all its stark Gym
iclsm SO much as in our day. All
social phenomena are but the crea-
ton of human activity, even as are
the inhuman phenomena which the
'humanists" contrive to soften by
means of honeyed phrases. In our
days only idiots and pen-swindlers
will dare insist that love of man is in
any way compatible with that greed
which is the tombstone of bourgeois
society and its very soul.
In practice the hunanism Of the
bourgeoisie expressed itself almost
exclusively in tine building of hospi-
tails, as 1t we're renovating stations
for the human organism. Now, we
know that the more careful one is
with the material, the longer will it
be preserved, and the greater will be
its usefulness. Yet, though the bour-
gecis regards the human being as only
an object of exploitation, working
force, it assumed a pitileSs attitude
towards him( and, contrary to its
own principles, even decidedly I'M
economic one.
These hospitals do not signify, and
we're never intended to signify, the
concern Of the ruling class for the
health of the toiling masses, and
their desire to create for them the
kind of living conditions which would
prevent sickness, premature exhaus-
ton and an early death. All that
the bourgeoisie spent in the construc-
ton of hospitals was returned to
them a hundredfold through the sale
and production Of numbarless patent
medicines, preparations With which
they flooded the market. Thus, even
sickness became means of profit.
Why Not Robot M.P.'s
As for the fight with illitsracy, with
the ignorance of the masses, the
bourgeoisie was concerned only in so
far as it needed literate slaves to up
hold its rule. 1t certainly would
have been glad to cut its meager
contributions towards the enlighten-
ment of the toiling masses, If it had
known how to make lsckeys cut of
steel, and police and other petty
eervants of iron
1t would, if 1t could, have ordered
its technicians to manufacture clergy
and philosophers of tin. A gramo-
phone record on which q banker or
munition maker may record their
speeches would certainly be more
convenient than a living clergyman,
in that it would be more effective
and more accurate.
Continuing the useful work In that
direction, it might even be possible
to I'LL the parliaments with deputies
made of oak, or even altogether
of bast; they could be made to say
what YVES wanted, yet they would
require no food.
Then, such a troublesome living
triviality as is the mass of workers
and peasants could be reduced to a
minimum and, If needs be, alto
sether done away with by some hui
manitarian device.
All this would sound like a gloomy
fantasy, if we didn't know that ex-
perinents to fabricate iron slaves,
robots, as they are called, have been
in progress for some time and that
some have even turned out to be
successful.
Recently the European press re-
ported that in New York they dem
cnstrated an iron policeman and
that somewhere else they had in
vented mechanical servant who
operates by electricity.
Insanity Increasing
Everything is possible. The capt.
talist world, by dint of swindling it
self, has grown psychically sick. It's
press Is fountain of falsehood,
libel, dirty gossip and sadist fancies.
Thus for example, one of the papers
states
"At no time we're there so many
insane in America as at present.
Their number is still growing, and
the authorities are seriously con-
cerned to find way Of coping with
this growing national menace.
"A well-known psychiatrist pre-
diets that, if the ratio Of lunacy
grows at the same rate as hitherto,
half of the population of the United
States at the end Of rs years will be
In asyluins, while the other half will
be obliged to work for their mainte-
nance. Even if this dark picture is
somewhat overdrawn, 1t cannot be
gainsaid that the figures illustrating
the growth of the mentally deranged
for the past ten years are indicative
Of an alarming condition.
I'm one decade between 1921-31
the number of psychically stricken
has doubled in the United States.
New York alone spent 100000 in
1881 for the upkeep of $4,000 insane;
In comparison with the expendi-
lures for 1929, this represented an
increase of $50 per cent.
"In Massachusetts, one-fifth of all
the taxes collected Is expended on
asylums for the insane"
Reports Of suicides appear with in
creasing frequency. particularly in
Germany, where the qualified intel
ligentsia finds itself In truly impos-