"Taranaki Central Press” THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1937. RUSSIA’S NEW TERRORISM.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 459, 17 June 1937, Page 4

"Taranaki Central Press” THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1937. RUSSIA’S NEW TERRORISM.

‘‘The terror goes on. Before, men were shot for deviations to the right, now they are shot for digressions to the left; but always they have been shot: the methods of government remain terroristic. - ’ Im these words Professor Nicolas Berdyaev recently described what he called a “fascisation” of Communism a compulsory conception of life enforced from above in a swing away from the ideal of world revolution, to which Trotsky adheres, to a new phase of Russian nationalism under State capitalism.

Earlier comments on the Trotskyist trials have necessarily concentrated on this counter-revolution of the new Soviet erder, and. have found in it an explanation of the willing martyrdom of the accused in their loyalty to the old order. Stalin s new policy has been attributed to the fact that the average man insists that revolution should come to an end, and that the Government, even though it should prove a dictatorship, should lead Russia along a path that would give the masses greater satisfaction in their manner of living.

Stalin is presented as a man who has Capitulated before the facts, and is introducing Fascism after the Russian style, budding not upon the frenzy of revolution, which must always be shortlived, but on a healthy patriotic feeling that is easily transformed into national arrogance, and a contempt for other nationals. This is quite consistent with the new purge, not this time of Trotskyists, but of army leaders who are charged with conspiring to undermine the might of the Red army in the interests of foreign Fascist Powers.

M. Voroshilov links these militarists with that “bestial Fascist traitor, Trotsky,” but it is much more likely that they merely resent the attempt to coerce them into happiness by depriving them of the freedom of the spirit. This is the great weakness of Russia, especially in relation to the army, some of whose leaders would prefer an agreement with Germany rather than France.

Stalin leans strongly towards a French agreement, and it is possible that he has found opposition within the army on that phase of foreign policy that must be crushed if his dictatorship is to be preserved. 9