Evening star., 1933-10-04

this next step from common necessities
to meaker comforts safely or not, of
course, concerns only Russia. But the
fact that ITO, ,000, 900 people in the next
decade will come into the worlds mar
kets as customers for world comforts i
significant far outside the boundaries of
Russia.
For Russia. As it Is organized today,
cannot supply these comforts. When
Litvinoff, the Soviet foreign minister,
stood In the London economic confer
ence and asked the world to sell the
Soviet Union q billion dollars worth OF
goods, machinery. raw materials and
consumers goods, he was looking for
ward to the day when the red ber.t
wearer would require silk dress, rayon
underwear, a warm house. meat twice a
week and the boy friend in a snappy
collegiate suit OF clothes.
Litvinoffs billion dollars was the
Soviets defense fund against the girl in
the red beret, who more than the cap
italist world outside and the Japanese
to the East, threatens the success Of
the Karl Marx hypothesis Communism
can go on only as she goes up in her
standard OF living So Russian society
Will move up with her.
Drop in the Bucket.
The billion dollars worth of goods
asked was to be used in buying S40O,-
600, 900 worth Of heavy machinery,
5000 ,000, 900 worth of raw material. with
a few other items. and the rest was to
be used in buying consumers goods.
But s400,000,000 worth Of machinery
and raw material will not supply the
demands og l7o,000.O0o people when
they rise from the present low stand
ard of living into tie stage OF comfort.
Russia never can supply the cotton
for the girl in the red beret and much
more than s40o 900, 900 worth of ma
chinery will be needed to weave the
wool. fabric the lumber and transport
the household goods that she will re-
quire to go up another step in the
standard OF living
whether one likes Communism or
not. one must recognize that in one
sixth of the area of the globe Com
n1unism In one form or another is here
to stay. Moreover, We who live out
side Russia must make up our minds
that the longer and stronger Com
inunisn stays, the more the workers in
the capitalistic nations outside the
Soviet Union will find steady employ
mert making goods TO sell to the pep
rlation of this territory. rising for the
first time in human history into the
modern consuming world
Long Way to Climb.
For Russians Of old have been a back
ward people. In the East, toward the
Pacific. millions lived in nomadic tribes
at the bare terrible margin of sub
slstence. In the West. the peasants and
the exploited workers were kept down
to unbelievably low levels of living
Western Europe and America in the
last 100 years have developed gradually
the living standards of 800 900, 900 peo-
Pile. These people are supplied with the
machinery Of life as going concern at
a vastly higher standard than the Rus
sian standard has been.
Outside of Russia the white man is
housed, ted, clad and machine served
in notable contrast even to the pres
sent, bettered conditions of Russian
life. It has taken a hundred years to
equip the 800, 600 900 white men outside
Russia with the comforts of life Now
suddenly on the market appears this
Russian group containing nearly third
of the worlds white population, de-
naanding everything from brassieres and
elastic garters to air-conditioning ma
Cilifcs Ahoy dIc iidAulS tiiiS IlcHIcile
dous demand all ps,l-mell, helter-skeI-
ter. in less than a decade.
If there Is any intelligence in the
cupidity OF capitalism. it will nurse that
Russian market, and give 1t whatever 1t
demands in the way Of political atten-
tion and terms of credit. For following
closely behind the skirts of the girl in
the red beret is the goose that lays the
golden egg.
(Copy right, 1898. by North American News
paper Alliance, Incl