The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-22
Democracy Versus
Is
Pamphlets Theme
DICTATORSHIP AND DEMOC-
RACY IN THE SOVIET UNION,
by Anna Louise Strong. Inter
national Pamphlets, No. 40. sc.
Reviewed by
LISTON NJ. OAK

DICTATORSHIP versus Democ-
u racy" is question which agitates
Americans throughout the coun-
try. Anna Louise Strong reports
that on her lecture tour a large
percentage of the questions asked
her were concerned with this issue.
Wide misunderstanding exists be-
cause the favorite way Of SANDER
ing the Soviet Union is to link
the names of Stain, Hitler and
Mussolini, to identify proletarian
with fascist dictatorship. Both are
castigated as un-American, I'M
suited to conditions here. Those
loudest in praise of American lib
erty and democracy" are often most
enthusiastic about the New Deal
and the "s5rong-man" policy of the
MIRA. with its fascist tendencies,
and are also most violent in con-
domination of "Bolshevik tyranny"
Anna Louise Strong cites the
wider participation by the Soviet
masses in all political and economic
activities, as the primary criterion
of the spread of real democracy.
The Soviet government represents
the flexible inclusion of millions Of
individual wills" in collective eff
fort toward building a better world,
an economy of abundance, a So
ciety in which there will be no need
for dictatorship or state power of
any sort. On the road toward that
kind of society, Soviet toilers take
an active part in deciding every
step; not only in carrying out plans
but in making them.
If the Soviet government were
dominated by the individualistic
tyranny of Stain as portrayed by
the enemies of the Soviets, it could
never have survived these seven
teen years, could not mobilize the
determination and the enthusiasm
of ITO millions in accomplishing the
spectacular success Of socialist
construction which are now indubit-
able historic records.
IN recent years, Anna Louise Strong
1 writes, perhaps million kulaks,
rich peasants who exploited hired
labor, were exiled to other parts of
the U. S. S. R. from European Rus
STA and the Ugraine. Who exiled
them? The ordinary picture given
is of the ruthless and omnipotent
OGPU invading their homes at
night, shooting some, spiriting
others away secretly. Nothing of
the sort happened. The poor peas
ants and farmhands, constituting
the vast majority of the rural popu-
lation, gathered publicly in village
Soviets, discussed their problems,
decided which kulaks were impeding
by force the program for the solu-
ton of these problems by COLLECTIVE
cation, and asked their government
to deport them.
Thus proletarian dictatorship is
basically workers democracy, direct
ed against their enemies. This
instance is given by Anna Louise
Strong as typical; she gives many
others equally interesting.
There is no gulf between Soviet
citizen and Soviet leader as exists
between worker and politician,
citizen and official ruling class and
working class, in capitalist countries.
Leaders alien from the masses lose
their leadership in the U. S. S. R;
they must have and keep the ap-
proval and confidence of those
among whom they live and work.
The guiding principle is the most
intimate relationship between Off
Gals and-rank-and-file, the diffu-
sion of power, of governmental &C
tivity, among the masses. 1t
works.
low it works is explained in detail
IA in this extraordinarily fine
pamphlet. 1t deals convincingly
and with clarity with the character
and function of the Communist
Party in guarding the interests of
the workers, in fighting their class
enemies, in creating a collective
will, in organizing socialist COM
petition, in fighting graft and
sabotage, in organizing collective
leadership.
No honest person who reads this
pamphlet can ever again believe
there is any similarity, either in
aim or method, between fascist and
nrOletarieO 6icta torrt1ip