Montana labor news., 1933-11-16
THE WASHINGTON
SCENE = By Laurence Todd

Foreign Affairs Of the Union of Sow
let Socialist Republics, greeted at the
railway station in Washington by Sec
rotary of State Hull and his staff, and
by members of the Presidents staff,
rides to his temporary residence in
Washington in President Ro~osevelt's
car. He calls at the White House and
is welcomed by the President and Mrs.
Roosevelt. He calls on Secretary
Hull, has a two-hour conference with
him and his staff, and comes out to a
press conference which is given a joint
statement by Hull and himself. This
statement announces that their pri-
vate talk has been very friendly; that
it has dealt with some outstanding
questions involved in Soviet-American
relations; that it was preliminary and
did not deal with detailed problems"
and that conversations would be re-
sumed later in the day. Hull then es-
corts Litvinov to luncheon at the
White House, where the visitor meets
other high officials of the Administra-
ton. Roosevelt has a long talk with
Litvinov, and tells the press he ex-
poets to again talk with the Soviet
foreign minister next day, Nov. 8.
This is the outline of the first "a
hours of the visit of Litvinov to the
American capital. That formal rec
ognition of the Soviet Union by the
government Of the United States
would be announced within a day or
two was assumed by all observers.
*%#
What very few Americans have SER
iously considered is the probable his
torical and immediate influence upon
American life of the coming of this
spokesman of a new civilization. Rec
ognition means the re-opening of the
former Russian embassy and consul
ates as Soviet institutions, each one
a symbol of the existence of a vast
socialized state in which the old sys-
ten of capitalist profit does not exist,
and in which the rule of production
for use by all the people is fundamen-
tai. The Soviet ambassador will come
here as representative of the worlds
greatest business partnership part
nership with 165, 600, 900 members. He
need not fly a red flag with gold let
tiers upon it, nor make a speech nor
enter into print as an advocate of Com
munist philosophy. The capitalist
press of this country, seeking to prof
it by the curiosity of its readers as to
what is being achieved in the Soviet
Union, will publish abundant informa-
ton as to how living standards over
there are being improved, and how
modern industry is getting its first
real chance, in the U. S. S. R. rather
than in any capitalist country, to full
ly serve the needs of men and women
and children for an abundant produc-
ton of goods. Elsewhere, there must
be scarcity in order that there may be
profit.
And that is the more significant of
the worlds time of day, because
America, which has sent to Russia
the pick of its engineers and archi-
tects and chemists to create this new
mechanical equipment for production
for the peoples use, is suffering in
tensely from the humiliating conse-
quences Of its outworn economic civil
lization. This outworn set of rules
rests on the assumption that people
have no right to live except as they
get hold of money or natural resources
and personally possess them. 1t de-
MES the principle of universal human
partnership in the nations resources,
even to the extent of a livelihood. On
the day Of his first discussion with
Litvinov the President a
plan for giving to 100000 jobless
workers the privilege of earning
their bread to the extent of three
days wages per week. This plan is
to extend until spring. But it is an
act of compromise, of charity rather
than of creation of partnership in any
degree.
This idea of partnership by all the
people is biting deep into the Ameri-
al mind, as week by week scores of
millions of people read, or listen to
radio broadcasts giving information,
OF progress of the Soviet civilization.
Americans think more seriously in
hard times than in easy times. Just
now their anxiety as to how they as
heads of families shall assure the
security of their dependents in the
weeks and months ahead is sharper
than it has ever been. News of a
great country where anxiety as to the
security of the individual no longer
is a factor, is important to them. Es-
tablishment of the Soviet embassy in
Washington, and Soviet consulates in
u chief industrial cities, makes the
whole thing more real to the average
mar and woman. Soviet recognition
is going to make American workers
more hopeful, more confident, more
insistent on the application to Ameri-
oo, l;fo - H. Torfo.oo:u x.-x:I1