Evening star., 1939-12-10
By Marquis ". Childs.

"-TheSe opening 1DOrdS OF tne Ftnn
nish soldiers on the march.
Scandinavians waged on Russia in the
14th, 18th and 18th centuries. Finland
was often the battle-ground of these wars.
And Sweden controlled Finland for nearly
three centuries, up until 1909.
1t was at that time that the Swedes
surrendered all imperialist ambitions.
Having participated in long cycle OF
wars. the Swedes were broken and de-
feated people. At one time dominating
large areas around the Baltic, they now
withdrew to their rocky peninsula.
Through subsequent decades the Swedes
built up their nation to its present high
development. A large part of their pros
perity has been founded upon foreign
trade, their commerce and shipping ex-
tending to every part of the world.
In recent years Sweden-and the same
is true of Norway and Denmark-has
followed the modern trend toward COL
lective ownership. Through the CO.
operatives and through state control and
operation of certain forms of industry,
the Scandinavians have modified the
capitalist economy, working toward the
objective of a system that will produce
greater wealth and distribute it more
equitably. Socialist parties have largely
carried out these reforms and they have
governed in all three countries during
most of the past decade.
Skeptically Watched Russia.
1ry,o, ~. Da1.L .,,;L ,.,o1,,+;a,, aF 1o17
occurred in Russia Socialists in Scandi-
navia remained skeptical of the final
outcome. They felt it was regrettable
that the experiment OF complete So
cialism should have been attempted first
in feudal country with virtually no
industry. Realizing the extreme back
wardness of the Russian masses, only
recently emerged from serfdom, the
overwhelming task of the Bolshevik lead
ers was obvious. Was it possible, by i'm
posing new set of ideas upon society,
to convert a serf, moujik, into a re-
sponsible industrial worker in a short
span of years? That was one of many
questions that Scandinavian Socialists
asked as they watched the experiment
unfold.
Another significant factor in the his
torical background was the Oriental the
Eastern, phase Of Russian life. The Rus
slams had lived always under a cruel
despotism, knowing nothing of the in
stitutions of democracy Among Scandi-
navian Socialists there we're serious
doubts as to whether it would be possible
to achieve any degree of democracy un-
der Russian Communism. The treason
trials and the purges Of recent years
seem to have confirmed those doubts.
In this attitude, it should be stressed,
there was no hostility toward the Rus
sian experiment. 1t was recognized that
the Russian living standard was ma
terially raised over the days of the Cars,
that far-reaching changes for the better
had been brought about. But it was also
felt that this experiment had little or
no relation to changes that might or
might not come about in modern DEM
ocratic state, highly industrialized and
with broad middle class.
I recall asking a trade union leader,
one of the brilliant younger men out of
the University Of Stockholm, how exten-
sive literature there was in Swedish on
the Soviet Union, written from the left
wing point of view. He looked at me in
a rather surprised way and replied that
there was virtually no literature on the
subject from any point of view.
Political leaders in Scandinavia felt
| that the Soviet experiment was irrele-
want to the problem they faced. They
were extremely busy at their own job,
which was to create a workable demo-
| cratic society, recognizing that failure
to extend democracy to the economic as
we'll as the political sphere might well
| mean violence from the left or the right.
| They were not preoccupied, as were so
| many American intellectuals, with dispu-
| tation over the Soviet enigma.
Never an Issue.
The Communist parties in Scandinavia
have been negligible. In Sweden Rus
sian Communist party split OF from the
Swedish Communist party. They have
never had more than a few seats in
| Parliament, and their support has been
sporadic and limited to few areas.
Russia and Communism have never been
an issue in Scandinavia. There have
been too many pressing domestic issues
to absorb the time and interest of leaders
| of all factions.
In Finland, which is not part Of
Scandinavia proper, this has been some
what less true. There, because Of the
extensive Russian background, the Soviet
Union has been IN issue. It must be
remembered that for only two decades