The Washington times., 1934-04-02
To
Type
Will Million Rulers
Of Red Russia
Yield Power?
By GILBERT SELDES

By GILBERT SELDES
An editoria! in The New
Masses Of last week declared
that, Of course, no ruling class
ever willingly gave up its power.
Individual rulers have, or at
least we have been told so.
There was a Charles of the
Holy Roman Empire, as I re-
member the story, who retired
from kingShip and tried to
keep several hundred clocks in
order, and found them as stub
born as human beings had
been.
But the kings, as a rule, had
to be yanked off their thrones,
and the mobiles, who did the
yanking, had to be showed back
from the seat of power; and
the middle class, which as
Sumed power, in the past cen
tury, needed to be thrown out
by force, as in Russia, or by
the threat of fvrce, as in Italy.
No one willingly gives up power.
The reason I was interested
In seeing this statement in the
spokesman of Communism in
America is that power now re-
sides in a class in Russia. I
do not know whether, accord
ing to the strict theorists, the
dictatorship of the proletariat
has approached or reached per-
fection in the Soviets, but I
seriously believe that the lead
ers-the hundred or two lead
ers-are working toward that
end.
It is usually said that Russia
Is ruled by the million or so
members Of the party, and as
that is a hundred times as
many as the rulers of any other
country, the Russians ought to
be proud Of the result.
Why Abdicate?
But the dictatorship of the
proletariat is, according to them
selves, only a stage in progress
to the society which Marx and
Lenin foresaw-the classless So
ciety. The whole moral value
Of Communism lies in that be-
lief, that Communism will lead
to a way of living in which
there will be no classes. And
it seems to me that before that
society is created, the proleta-
rian dictators will have to do
what has never been done be-
fore in history: they will have
to abdicate.
wonder if they will make
the supreme sacrifice. Won't it
occur to them that conditions
have changed and that it would
be dangerous, just at this time,
to make any great changes?
Won't they foresee a desperate
crisis, making it imperative that
they remain in power just an
other year or two? Won't the
very complexities of the struc-
ture they are building up de-
mand their help-so that it
would be desertion to abandon
their posts of power?
Trained Rulers
One of the most intelligent
things Soviet Russia is doing to-
day is this: it is creating men
and women capable of under
standing the problems of their
country, capable of becoming
commissars and supervisors and
directors.
In our pride, we leave all that
sort of thing to chance, being
sure that the Republican party
will always find just the man to
lead us. The Russians, poor
savages, think that it takes
training ana KnoWledge ana eX'
perience, to conduct the business
of a country.
But again, will this class,
firmly proletarian, honestly
Communist, be ready to give up
any part of its power when the
time comes? There won't be
any extra money in ruling, but
there will be power, always, and
a Lot of pride.
am benighted and bourgeois
enough to think that if we're
ever going to have the class
less society, we will have to fight
for it-and among our enemies
will be the proletarian dictator.
ship.