Evening star., 1935-04-21
Russia Seeking the New Man.

What does this striking change
mean? And who Is this daring new
conner?
The fact is that the second new
man was not that which he officially
pretended to be. Doubtless. among the
Communists, Soviet administrators OF
engineers of 1929 or 1880 there were
sincere Enthusiastically youths
just graduated from schools. But
how few were they! AS rule, the
second new man like the workman
whom he was bossing) cursed in his
mind the labor enthusiasm" and the
'proletarian asceticism' which he
daily had to feign. He did have his
private life; he did crave Joy. In q
word, he was human.
Yet, underpaid and poorly fed, this
"hero of labor" worked so badly, stole
governmental money and property Sc
often lin 1929-1932 trials of Soviet
officials for such crimes occurred al
most daily and, generally speaking
"saboHged" so obviously that Stain,
and his lieutenants understood that
the whole idea of Stalinist Socialism
in its pure form was doomed to failure
Hence. series of legislative reforms
and party resolutions were passed be-
tween 1881 and 1884. These instituted
high salaries and labor wages for re-
sponsible technical experts, officials
and qualified or efficient workmen,
instead of the former "socialistically
equalitarian" pay. They opened
closed" stores in which these privi-
legged men alone had been permitted
to buy good food. clothing, etc, at
ridiculously low prices. They lifted
the ban from various amusements,
encouraged the reading Of the Rus
sian classics which, as non -proletarian,
hitherto had been held in disrepute.
Thus Stain deliberately put An end
to the epoch of asceticism and al
lowed certain degree of joy, culture
and spiritual freedom to return to
the Russian soil.
Advent Is Victory Of Life.
Thus the advent of the third new
man has been victory of life over
a pedantic, life-killing doctrine.
But it has been something else, too
1t marks the highly significant process
which for long time has been in
visibly going on In Russia. This
process Is the gradual capitalization
of the upper layer of Soviet popula-
tion into a distinct new upper class.
The third new man lives, feels and
behaves In q way exactly charac.
teristic of new bourgeois or a new
aristocrat. If he is an important en-
gineer. technical expert or official,
he-thanks to Stains reforms-re.
ceives an enormous salary, some
20 or 80 thousand rubles a year, or
even more. He has an excellent
apartment with all modern improve.
ments in one Of the newly built houses
in Moscow.
Who is the third new man at heart?
A thorough opportunist. OF course,
he continues to pay lip service to
the proletariat. But what a deep
gulf separates him from the real pro-
letariat-the collectivized peasants
who now may be suffering almost
as heavily as they were suffering IN
1882, or the workmen whose lot Is
still hard!
He is perfectly loyal to the Soviet
regime and is ready to fight for it
tooth and nail, because 1t Is thanks
to that regime that he has arrived"
For the same reason he resents the
idea of foreign adventures-they
might deprive him of his comforts.
The world revolution, which still
theoretically, at least-remains on the
program of the Communist party, does
not tempt him at all.
Thus, within that very steamroller
which had annihilated Russia's old
upper classes, old individualism and
old culture, a new upper class, a new
individualism and-who knows?-
perhaps the germs Of new culture
are being born.
OF course, this process of the crys.
as yet far from completed. It may
miscarry. But 1t is going on. Let
us hope that If 1t continues the third
new man actually will transform HIM
self into q cultured man. Meanwhile
he Graves amusement. With his lady
friend, who again has learned the
use of the formerly banished lipstick
and powder-pufi, melting away in his
arms, he dances to the tune Of fox
trot. "All Moscow is dancing"
Pravda writes. I'm hotels and clubs,
in houses of rest, and even In city
squares, al, the young and old. dance. /"