Evening star., 1934-07-08
Press Censorship by Dictators Covers
73 Per Cent of Population in Europe

into Switzerland, especially Geneva,
when international conferences are
held. No matter how "pro-govern-
ment" newspaper men and petty Of
flcialdom may be within national
borders, and In official capacities,
when they get together over a mug of
beer, a carafe of wine or that uni
versal contribution of America to con-
VITALITY, the cocktail, they become
human and relaxed-and the anec-
dotes flow.
Butts of Satirists.
Adolph, Goebbels and Roehm have
been the butts of German satirists,
while Dollfuss carries upon his dimin-
utive shoulders the brunt of Austrian
gibes. But in contrast with the ra-
pier-like jabs that punsters gave Be-
nito Mussolini and Primo de Rivera,
Teutonic and Austrian humor has a
sadistic touch. For example. the stock
question of IF Adolph should die,
what would become of Roehm?" was
answered by: He would become a
merry widow, of course" And again
the conversation between "Adolph
and Roehm at a luncheon table,
when the latter started to light a
cigar-went: "Aber, hebchen, Deut-
sche frauen rauchen NIGHT"
But, given time, the Nazis will de-
velop their system exactly as their
Italian mentors have done-to point
where a son does not trust his father
and where when three or more Ger
mans are gathered together all will
loudly praise Der Fuhrer, because
none has confidence in the others.
Russia, which led off with suppress
sion of the Fourth Estate when Len1n
and TrotSky took over back in 1918,
presents paradox. Instead of exter-
minating thought as the Germans
and Italians have and are doing, the
Communists concentrated upon edu-
eating the masseS-in the direction
that they should go. Where there
were less than 500 newspapers a dec
ade ago, there are now more than
1000 in the U. S. S. r. The govern
ment owns the presses and has
monopoly on newsprint. 1t controls
/ the one important news agency, Tass,
which has bureaus scattered around
the world and censors news, by Sc
lection, at the source, and by sup
preston or alteration. on delivery.
There is no freedom of the press on
Russia, but since the press Is either
governmental or Communist party. 1t
has no desire for freedom. Criticism
! is permitted-even encouraged, but
| the critics must limit themselves to
picking flaws in the execution of pol
icies rather than in the policies
themselves Being dependent neither
upon circulation nor advertising for
their revenue the Soviet editors do
not concern themselves with what
their readers think, but rather with
what the Soviet leaders want them to
think The government does not con-
Germ itself with art, culture, htera-
ture, science, etc, except in very
general way so departmental editors
have free play. But as in Italy (and
as Is rapidly developing in Germany,
every Russian newspaper man is a
governmental official, indirectly, or a
member of the Communist party, so
he never oversteps the bounds.
Shifts in Circulation.
Where German newspapers have
become drab and their circulations
have almost reached the vanishing
point, the Russian newspapers have
had to curtail their production. 1sves-
tia and Pravda have a combined cir
culation of around 100000 where
it is arbitrarily held. other papers
print in accordance with their phys
ical limitations. Anew venture, just
launched, operates on the idea of
local newspaper" 1t records simply
| general Moscow news and accepts
certain advertisements. Its circula-
ton has almost reached million.
The foreign language newspapers-in
French, English and German-are
pure and simple propaganda sheets
subsidized by the government.
The rapid growth of nteracy in the
Soviet Union is directly responsible
for the unprecedented demand for
newspapers and periodicals., a phe-
nomenon which the caricaturist of LIE
Crocodile, capitalizes upon in COM
pairing the NaI and Communist press.
Forced circulation is in vogue in Ger
many; limitation of circulation has
been found necessary in Russia.
But in the final analysis one unes-
capable fact stands out in Russian
journalism, namely, in things that
matter so far as the government is
concerned, the reading public is ruled
by the edict of Thou must read this"
rather than Thou shalt not read
that"
Down in Spain the press appears to
be backsliding. Due to fundamental
error the young republic took its
liberalism too literally. 1t began by
practicing what it had always
reached-complete freedom Of ex-
preston and conscience. The result
was that for the past two years Spain
has been deluged with such a mass
of pro and anti this-and-that printed
matter that liberty became license.
On the same newsstandS one could
| buy violent anti-church, anti-mon-
archist anti Communist, anti-repub-
lican, atheistic, porgographic-in fact,
every kind of literature imaginable.
1t was inevitable that organizations
well supplied with money should forge
ahead with their propaganda. The
result-a temporary setback in nber-
alism. Now the conservative regime
in power has decreed a limited CEN
sorship. The logical tendency would
be to swing far back to the right, but
in Spain they have the redeeming
trait of taking nothing too seriously.
A little control may be a good thing,
particularly since it is being exercised
by government which has to watch
its step lest it find itself in a hopeless
minority.
Similar in Other Nations.
OF the press in YugoSlavia, Ru-
mania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania,
Portugal and Poland little need be
said. Dictatorships are much the
same the world round. Severity in
dealing with the press Is matter of
degree and necessity.
Down in Lisbon. Oliviera Salazar
has ruled uninterruptedly for decade
and the opposition is non-exiStent in