SOCIALISM IN PRACTICE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 22 September 1938, Page 7

SOCIALISM IN PRACTICE

TO m EDITOR 01 THE PRESS. Sir,—Few persons, not even many members of the Labour Party, give attention to what may be called the practical side of the Socialist State. : Most people have a hazy idea that life %■. will continue very much as it is at £ resent. As we are heading for the ocialist State, as some of ,the Labour _ Party candidates adiniit frankly, it is well to consider this aspect of the .matter. in the Socialist State the popu- • lation will be divided into (a)-the ad- : ministrative. (b) the workers or pror ducers. At the head of the first group will be the polito bureau or cabinet. all-powerful as the instrument of government. Under it will be the coun- , cil or parliament consisting of elected or selected members. The administrative side will be infinitely larger than it is to-day. Every increase ■ of regulation brings additional .office staff ana - additional inspectorial force. It is freely admitted that there will be more fegu- . lations and these will. go deeper into the life of the individual than do the Present laws. Every totalitarian. state -demonstrates this. For all practical purposes the State « the party in charge of the cabinet, and under Socialism the position will be no different. But in the Socialist State the hand of the State or domin<!ant party will hover more-closely over .j’fach individual, worker in every sjfPhere of activity through its inspecand politicians. There will be no The power to rule and to command patronage will be so much

greater "that cabinet and parliament will be a strong magnet to those who can induce voters to elect them. And will the voter be free? The tragicomedy of the 99 per, cent, votes for the controlling party in Germany. Austria, and Russia shows what can be done even with a “secret” ballot. The dominant party will see that its own people are returned. In the civil service itself, the power of headquarters will be much greater than it is to-day. Every civil servant to-day who thinks for a little while over the practical side of things will realise what this means.

. If contests arise in politics, they will be fought in the industrial field, in the workshop. Where the State is everything, to drive a nail crooked is treason or sabotage. This is no exaggeration as the totalitarian States prove. Each of the totalitarian States gives proof of the tremendous burden of paper on industry—returns, reports, licences. Each shows coercion, bribery, and servility in the intimate matters of administrative control. i And the worker or producer? He work? for the State as those who control the administrative machinery direct he shall work. He may he a doctor only if the administrative control agrees. He may wear a suit of brown , flannel oply if the administrative control agrees that brown flannel shall be manufactured. Is this an extravagant idea? Let any public servant ask himself how easy it is to secure a change in a Government department, even where the element of profit has been eliminated. In Russia it has been shown that departments or industrial units have not eliminated the element of profit. Units faced with the demand for lower production costs or better returns have resorted to adulteration. Government departments are not pure. The Courts, ’ which are the individual’s safeguard, become the instruments of the dominant party. We have seen in New Zealand that politicians will short-circuit the Courts by preventing an appeal to them. It is clear that when the control by a party is carried beyond a certain point, when the State (the dominant party) becomes all-powerful, the individual loses all power to change the administrative personnel- or method —the 99 per cent, votes in “secret” ballots demonstrates this fact. Are we heading for the Socialist State? This is the declared aim of the Labour Party. So far there has been socialistic legislation in a democratic system: but this is vastly - different from the Socialist State. Let every elector think of the practical s!de as it will affect him as an individual, setting aside all theories, and then if he votes for the Socialist State he does it with his eyes open.—Yours, etc., LIfIERTAD. September 21, 1938.