The Wilmington morning star., 1943-09-06
CHAPTER 30

We have seen the Russia OF tat
war. What will be the Russia O
the peace? Reporting, not prophe
sying, is my business, but it take:
no special gift of foresight to see
that Russia, victorious, will be aft
er the war what she was before
Soviet.
To Joseph Stain, his associates
the Red army, and the Russian
people, after a quarter century 0.
Soviet rule, there is no question
at least consciously, of any sthel
outcome. Stain said, November
6, 1941, There must be no inter.
ference whatever in the internal
affairs of other nationsn On No
vember 6, 1912, he proclaimed,
among the aims of the Allies, the
right of every nation to manage
its affairs in its own way To
him, there is no doubt but that
Russia, left without Interference
to live its own life, will live it
the Soviet way. What kind of Rus
STA does this mean?
Here the prophet treads on the
thinnest Of ice. Anyone who re-
calls Russia 1889 accord W h
Germany, and then her resistance
to German invasion, realizes that
she is capabx of the most abrupt
about-face, of the most amazing
miracle.
Yet, on the basis of her present
recor5, l should say victorious
postwar Soviet Russia would be
socialistic, but not internationally
revolutionary; atheistic, but n 0 t
violently anti-religious; autocratic,
but not anti-democratic.
To the Russians, in this case
also, there is no question of any
other general definition for their
regime. Take the first point, So
cialism. The 1886 constitution pro-
vides, in article l. The Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics is a
socialistic state of workers and
peasants and in article 4, The
economic foundation of the U.s.
S.R. consists in the socialist sys-
tenn of economy and socialist own
ershlp Of the implements a d
means of production. firmly es-
tabllshed as result of the liquida-
ton OF the capitalist system of
economy, the abolition of private
ownership of the implements and
means of production, and the abo-
lition of exploitation of man by
man
At no time throughout the war,
has there been any fundamental
change in that constitution or any
compromise with private property.
Stain, outlining the period after
the first World War and the Rus
sian civil war, said, February 90,
1912: During those two decades
of peaceful construction, h e
sprang up in our country socialist
industry and collective farming;
science and culture flourished and
the bonds of friendship between
the peoples of our country
strengthened Certainly, he fore
sees further development of the
same kind of socialist industry
and collective farming after the
second World War.
The old bugaboo of world revo-
luton, however, had been killed
by Stain himself, long before the
war, in his statements that COM
munlsm was not an export prod
uct. If it needed to be buried
any deeper, he did that during
the war itself by his repeated
statements Of the policy of non
interference in the domestic af-
fairs of other nations-a policy
that applied as much to Soviet
dealings with other powers as it
did to their relations with the So
Wet Union. In other words. Rus
STA, once revolutionary, took it's
hands off other countries and now
1t has abolished the Communal
Internationale.
The case for religion seems clear
on the record. The Soviet con-
stltution provides, in article 1874:
Freedom to perform religious
rites and freedom of anti-religious
propaganda is recognized for all
citizens But what is more i'm
portant in this case is: Which does
the Communist Party promote, re-
llglous or anti-religious propagan-
da? The answer is that it favors
the latter, that it still holds re-
llgion to be the opi..n of the peo-
pie, and that Russia, as long as
the Communist Party is supreme
Will be predominantly atheistic.
But those who still wish to prac-
tlce religion will not be perse-
cuted.
The case for autocracy is less
clear, being obscured by vo-
cabulary of words that do not al
ways mean the same thing To all
men. By autocracy, l mean in
dependent, absolute rule by man
responsible only to himself: and