Evening star., 1949-07-17
Cosmos and Kremlin


The Kremlin is nothing If it is not
thorough. Having laid down party line,
it is Systematically going about the Job OF
making every field of Russian thought and
endeavor conform to that line. Since the
end of the war, with kind of frenzy, 1t
has trained its theological guns on art, on
music, on literature, on history, on archi-
lecture, on biology, and even on sports
And now it has turned its attention to
astronomy.
Too many Soviet astronomers, it seems,
have been bringing before the reacNonary
science of the bourgeois West" Too many
Of them have been guilty Of imagining "all
sorts of miracles" in connection with the
origin of the stars. Too many Of them
have tended to taint themselves with
metaphysical positions" and with "astro-
nomical idealism" of type suggesting the
possibility that the universe, the cosmos
is not a mechanistic accident but the
creation of some supreme, supernatural
omnipotent intelligence. To put it briefly,
too many Of them have not been irreligious
or goddess enough.
So now-like art, music, literature, his
tory, architecture, biology and sports
astronomy in the Soviet Union must forth
with clean house and act in keeping with
the gospel according to Marx. To that end,
the Russian star-gazers and cosmologists
have already pledged themselves to fight
relentlessly' against bourgeois Western
ideas about the heavens and beyond. The
cosmos itself must be hitched to the ideol-
ogy of the Kremlin Regardless OF the
theories hypothesis and objective calcula-
tions of other of the worlds past and
present astronomers all the planets, every
thing spinning and whirling about in the
farthest reaches Of space must be ex-
planned in terms Of what the Politburo
wants. And what the Politburo wants is
simply system Of astronomical thinking
and education that will tirelessly preach
the doctrine that the universe is purely
materialistic in origin-a mere mechanistic
happenstance, purposeless thing without
the slightest spiritual or metaphysical
significance.
In other words, as set forth by their
party-line directors the task of the Soviet
astronomers Is to explain away the pos
sibility that space and everything in 1t had
their beginning in First Cause Uncaused
otherwise known as God. Out Of darkness
and emptiness came light and substance.
Out of light and substance came wondrous
manifestations of intricately contrived
matter-animate and inanimate-like the
sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, and
two-legged people with brains made up of
an enormously complex pattern Of billions
Of pulsating thought cells. But all this
must be explained the way the Kremlin
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the notion that an infinitely supreme
intelligence conceivably may have had
something to do with It, That idea must
be rooted out entirely The astronomy of
Red totalitarianism must sweep 1t away.
Chance, accident, blind explosive energy
mechanistic mindlessness, sheer materi-
alistic force on an aimless creative spree
that is what the good Marxist must accept
as the start Of us all.
Absolute materialism, after all, Is the
heart, bone and sinew of the Soviet
philosophy and system of government.
Everything including man-comes from
nothing and goes back to nothing. Life is
without spiritual meaning Matter Is mat
ter, and that is all there is. The living
have no higher purpose than to live and
die. Dust. and dust alone Is their ultimate
destiny. In sum, in the gospel according
Marx, Lenin and Stain, there Is no world
beyond this, religion is an opiate, God is
a crude fiction, and the universe must
therefore be explained in strictly mechan-
istic terms lest a Russian get the idea
that he Is child of some all-wise, all
powerful, all-just Supreme Being and hence
not a creature born to submit passively to
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So it Is thus altogether logical Of the
Kremlin to see to it that the star-gazers
OF the Soviet Union tie up the cosmos with
the party line. Indeed, in fundamental
sense, theological regimentation here is
even more important than in such fields
as art, music, literature, history and
biology. For as long as men look to the
mysterious heavens and ask themselves
about the First Cause Uncaused, the Red
totalitarians will have to reckon with the
power Of God. That is why they are moving
in now on astronomy just as they are on
the church in Czechoslovakia and every
where else behind the Iron Curtain. They
are out for total dominance, and they are
seeking 1t in q total way.
-
The Office of Defense Transportation,
supervisor of all wartime travel, has been
abolished, now that any one can have
seat, and in some cases a car, to himself
in train.
In saying he'll make no move to stay
in the United States Senate, John Foster
Dulles speaks as one who has never known
the helplessness of being in the hands of
friends.