Evening star., 1960-08-21
Partial TEXT
Nixon Outlines Gaps in Communist Philosophy

OF a statement by Vice PreSi-
communism to Americans:
market economy Of capitalism.
What will its own economy be
like? That we cannot know
until we are there and have a
chance to see what the world
looks like without any institu-
tion resembling an economic
market. =.
Catastrophe Failure"
Operating then, in this vac
uum Of guidance left behind
by their prophets. how did the
founders of the Soviet Union
proceed to organize their new
economy? They started
by attempting to root out from
the Russian scene every vestige
of the market principle. even
diScouraging the use of money,
which they hoped soon to abol-
ish altogether. The production
and distribution of goods were
put under central direction, the
theory being that the flow of
goods would be directed by So
cial need without reference to
principles Of profit and loss.
This experiment begain in 1919
and came to an abrupt end in
March of 1921. 1t was a catas-
trophic failure. 1t brought with
it administrative chaos and an
almost inconceivable disorder
in economic affairs, culminat-
ing in appalling shortages of
the most elementary necessities
Competent scholars estimate
its cost in Russian lives at
100000.
The official Russian version
OF this experiment does not
deny that it was an enormous
failure. 1t attributes that fail
ure to ineXperience and to a
mythical continuation of mill
tary operations, which had IN
fact almost wholly ceased.
Meanwhile the Russian econ
omy has been moving steadily
toward the market principle.
The flow Of labor is controlled
by wages. so that the price of
labor is itself largely set by
market forces. The spread
from top to bottom of indus
trial wages is in many cases
wider than it is in this coun-
try. Managerial efficiency is
promoted by substantial eco
nomic incentives in the form
Of bonuses and even more SUBJ
stantial perquisites of various
kinds. Enterprises are run on
a profit and loss basis. Indeed,
there are all the paraphernalia
of an advanced commercial So
ciety, with lawyers. account
ants, balance sheets, taxes Of
many kinds, direct and indi-
rect, and finally even the pres
sures of a creeping imitation.
Cites Contradictions
The ALLEGATION Of resources
in Russia probably now comes
about as close to being con-
trolled by the market principle
as is possible where the gov
owns all the instru-
ments Of production.
One Of the most familiar re-
frainS Of Communist propa-
ganda is that capitalism Is
dying Of its internal contradic-
tions." In fact, it would be hard |
to imagine a system more tor
tured by internal contradic-
tions than present-day Russia.
1t constantly has to preach one
way and act another.
These inner tensions and |
perplexities help to explain the
startling shifts in the party |
line" that characterize all of |
the Communist countries. 1t is
true that these shifts some
times reflect the outcome Of a
subterranean personal power
struggle within the party. But |
we must remember that they |
also at times result from the
of conscientious men
trying to fit an inconvenient |
text to the facts of reality i
According to Marx and En-
gels the whole life of any So
ciety is fundamentally deter