FRENCH SOCIALISTS ON BOLSHEVISM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 178, 23 April 1919, Page 7

FRENCH SOCIALISTS ON BOLSHEVISM

■ _; r-0 "A BLOODY CARICATURE" SOME CANDID VIEWS (By John Hutchesun.) ' As not a few of our local quasi-Social-Hst. leaders seem infatuated with the heroic glamour that distance—and ignorance—lend to the tragic figures of Lenin and Trotsky, it may interest the public to learn the opinions of a few of the best-known Frenoh Socialists on the subject of Bolshevism. The following extracts are to be found—with many others (in the text)—in the issue of lebruary IJ. 1919,. of "L?s Annales," ' and have been 'taken from the. columns of the French Socialist', organ "La France Libre":- v " BOLSHEVISM-IMPROVISED SOCIALISM (Contributed to "Lea Annales" by . Alex- ■ andre Varenne; Socialist Deputy for ' Put de Dome, after a visit to Russia.)' ■ '. i -'■ .: . 1 To impose upon a people—just emerging from serfdom, and still unemerged !from black ignorance—a regime whioh I presupposes the highest degree of educar jtiou and the most acute sense of liberty; Ito experiment upon a people more suited .'to the middlo ages, with a social system ;that may perhaps suit some of the more 'advanced nations of civilisation toward Ithe latter days Of the twentieth century ■—suoh is the Bolshevist enterprise. The schoolmaster who would insist on teaching his. pupils trigonometry before ha'vjing taught them the. definition of a straight line, or metaphysics before the 'alphabet. Would not be more fcolish than/these Cabinet doctrinaires who have studied the world in : books; and having been projected by a stroke of luck to the summit of a nation of 150 million souls, set it into'.their'heads to upset all. the nation's laws and customs,- and install instead thereof by a stroke of the pen an order of things that would require "several centuries of preparation to live, under. But .what is Socialism in the ' most Marxian :sense of the word? It jiiearis—after Hie assumption of power by the prop'ertyle'ss—the "thorough organisation of production and''exchange, and'the creation and distribution of ;i wealth in its collective form. It is the "nationalisation of all property and the consequent disappearance of private' property. It 'means the suppression 'of profit, of interest, of dividends, of rent. It means the machinery of production, will be common to all, the only private property recognised being the product of one's own work. From which follows the disappearance of patronage, as well ps; private - ownership, and' consequently wages and hired labour. Such, in. the rough, is the Marxian doctrine. But it goes without saying that in practice a society so conceived would require generations of preparatory education; the slow and gradual evolution of minds and institutions; the antecedent growth of strong organisations of workers and peasantry, which would provide/ the school from which the salaried employee might graduate to full partnership. It also assumes that the masses 6hall he, little by little, educated to a full 6ense of the powers and responsibilities attaching to the new role they will be called upon to play.' Finally, it presupposes that industrial capitalism shall have reached such a degree of development that the change to tho new form of ownership will cause little or no'disturbance in the rate of production, and that the proletariat having become the new heir of capitalism will prove itself not only a worthy heir, but one well capable of administering, the estate. In Russia not a single one ot these conditions has. been, or is even in sight of being, realised. A' people, in the great majority, densely ignorant; industry developed in a few isolated spots only of tins vast Empire, a few co-operative societies, successful enough, .but- woefully sparse in the midst of. an .enormous mass of primitive peasants, and finally, rudimentary means of ■.transport, utterly inadequate, to the necessary distribution of products." Who are they,' tjien, who are attempting tho experiment if complete communism, on (inch unpromising soil? Uprooted weeds! Political exiles for the most part, who have, lived in many parts of Western Europe the artificial Jives of revolutionary Alchemists, knowing nothing of things or men, great inventors of a priori systems, complete strangers to the meaning of work or experience or life. Yet truly, they succeeded oasily! Iu the disorder that followed flio erumbline of Tsarism they grasped power by riot and violence, and maintained it by bitter oppression. Depending .on a mercenary army for, the most part of foreigners, to whom (hey have given special privileges, they have installed what they improperly name the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. They havo suppressed universal suffrage and dissolved tho Constituent Assembly which they havo replaced by. the votes of the workers, peasants and soldiers, and they are governing by the same means of violence, aided !>y the same svstem of secret police used by the old regime of the Tsar. But the revolution is not'consummated! Capitalism lias been destroyed, but not replaced! Better still, to satisfy the clamour of the peasantry they Have achieved quite the contrary of a Socialist, Revolution; they have established private.ownership of the land! , ~ ~, .„' ' As tq industrial production, it has fallen greatly below normal; wealth is no longer created, an<l in any case there is jio raeails. of distributing it. tt is a Btate of complete bankruptcy, bankruptcy of a system, "' bankruptcy of the State. Billions of paper roubles are thrown into circulation as quickly as the press can turn them out. The billions abound, but the goods ara lacking, a suit of clothes, costs a fortune, and the most frugal meal costs the price of a banquet. Having thus fully proved their error they have now formed the project of imposing it on the whole civilised world, so that when all civilisaHop is a prey to the samp madness, they may perhaps seem wise men. But the masses are gaining experience. They at least know that while Bolshevism niay be able to destroy a social system, it 'is impotent to reconstruct one. They know that freedom. and democracy must be the' ransom of this sad experience. The Bolsheviki comniited an error in social revolution is not yet ripe. They.have also committed an error in place. Of all countries Russia is least prepared for social revolution. From their abortivo , effort we may at least learn this lesson that economic transformations, mora so even than political upheavals, ought tp be the final objective and ;roal rather than the channel of human effort, and that to raise himself above the level where historical evolution has left him, man must prepare himself by long study, and chiefly in the book of life. SOCIALISTS ALWAYS, BOLSHEVISTS NEVER! (Extracts from articles by representative Socialists, appearing in the pages of "La France Libre".") Bolshevism, has nothing in common with Socialism, of which it is only a hideous and bloody'caricature. It ought .to.be unceasingly denounced as the worst of perils. ' . The tyranny of the masses is as igno.rninious'as the tyranny of individuals. The Maximalist Lenin, backed by his .Red Guards, is equally the enemy of liberty as was the defunct' Nicholas 11, backed by his Black Hundred. To try to make (he public hclicvs that a Soviet Republic is a Social Republic is to deceive and betray the public. What doe;; Socialism mean? ft is a doctrine of social justice, seeking to brim,' order into society by assuring to the worker the full enjoyment of the frail of his labour, and in so organising production that each individual may enjoy in freedom the maximum of well-being and happiness. ''What is Bolshevism? It is a doctrine of violence and brutality that by the foulest play has overcome and captured the Constitutional Party, and now finds that it cannot develop, nor even exist, without appealing to the most brutal instincts, and tho vilest appetites of humanity. The spirit of indiscipline and laziness with which it is animated_ can only produce . suffering and misery through disorder and abject Compere-Moral, Deputy for Gard electorate.

J Tomorrow, Bolshevist tyranny, more ■ f'erooious and blood-thirsty than that of the Tsar, has made up its mind to smother, with the aid of hireling bayonets, every democratic voice (hat dares denounce it as the most redoubtable enemv of the democracy. 1 Why give it tlie chance?—Henri Navarre, Deputy for Paris. Nations and political parties, like men, have a code of honour, the abrogation of which is fatal to them. Failure to understand this fact caused the death of Old Germany. The Russia of Lenin— which wc insist must not be confounded with the Russian democracy—cannot escape the inexorable fate that dogs the steps of the traitor and the felon.—Ar--8 thur Rozier, Deputy for Paris. " Tho dissolution of the Constituent As--1 senility by the violence and organisation 0 of the most implacable terrorism lias reB vnlted every free conscience and broken " the last ties between Bolshevicm and us. ', We are certain the Russian revolution ' will triumph! Bolshevism is only an f accident in its life—growing-pains! Rus--3 sia. will soon return to the pure source 9 of revolutionary doctrine, and in harB nionv with other free democracies will organise the rights of citizens within the rights of nations!— Paul Aubriot, Deputy for Paris.