Dear Sir

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 86, 3 July 1945, Page 4

Dear Sir

Letters to the Editor must be clearly written on one the pape'r only and • de-plume is used the name of the writer must be included for reference purposes. The Editor reserves the right to abridge^ amend or withhold any letter or letters. SOCIALISM Sir-—lf, as Mr Mcßeth states, the picture "Mission' to Moscow" is not correct why does Mr Davies endorses it as he does? However, Mr Mcßeth's letter is concerned not with the picture, but with Socialism, \vhicli j because he does not understand it, he fears and hates. "Socialism is feudalism" he says. This is patently simply nonsense. Feudalism is a certain stage in the development of society. It is based on a system of land tenure and the relations between lords and vassals. The feudal State is the State of the lords who hold the land from the king, and it. works in the interests of these lords. Gradually, within this framework capitalism grows up. When the. capitalist class feel they have sufficient power they endeavour to change the state so that it will be run in their interests instead of in the interests of the land lords. In England this clash of interests led to the English Civil War, and eventually to the Constitutional Monarchy. The state which emerged from this struggle was the capitalist state, run in the interests of the capitalist class. Capitalism develops a country and indusfcrialise's it.. But it like all things, grows up, reaches maturity and 'then declines. Within the framework of the capitalist state the great mass of workers produce socially, yet their product is appropriated individually. The capitalist world is now in decline. It can now only keep going by armed clashes, increasing in viol-' enee, by smothering inventions so that production will not increase too fast; by destroying food while thousands starve. -It can only work to full capacity in time of war. Britain was the first country to overthrow the Feudal State. Russia is the first to overthrow the capitalist State and set up its- own workers' State •which runs things in j the interests of the workers. When [history takes sudden leaps there Is I always suffering and misery for many. The history of the Industrial Revolution in England is a. sordid enough one but we. cannot hold back the march of history without disaster. Socialism is not something "invented" by a few scheming people. It is the next step in the evolu-^ tion of society. Hitler was a man who, li'ke Air Mcßeth, feared and hated Socialism and tried to hold back the march of events. He knew what he was doing when he named the German brand of fascism "National Socialism" which did not mean any thing. He did it to appeal to the German people who wanted Socialism.

Conservatives, the people who try to preserve the status quo are inevitably \vrong j because the pne thing that is certain in this world is that everything changes. If Mr Mcßeth hart lived in feudal times he would not have had fio worry about but he would haye been just as upset at the. prospect of change as he is now. Yours etc. ALPHA. (The above concludes the correspondence under the heading "Misrsion to Miscow." Ed,)