"WORDS."
Sir,-May I congratulate you on your excellent editorial "Words." I notice that a correspondent, "Anti-Humbug," objects to it. He says that democracy and communism are different systems, Now if a majority in a democracy votes for communism (in the French parliament the communists, though not in the majority, are, the biggest party), it immediately ceases to be a democracy according to "A.H." They must vote anti-communist in order to stay democratic. Is not that, among many other things, "sham and mockery"? Although "A.H." stresses that Lincoln did not mention economics in his definition of democracy, "A.H." confuses (perhaps pufposely), political
constitutions (i.e., democracy, dictatote ship, monarchy, etc.) and economic sys« tems (i.e., communist, liberal, and conservative). The two are completely independent, a communist democracy being quite ‘as possible as-a conservative dictatorship. No answer is negessary to "A.H.’s" sneering remarks about Russian freedom of discussion on farms and their approximate economic equality. I have talked to a man who worked in a Russian factory for five years and whose opinion is worth more to me than that of Messrs. White and Johnston, although he did not get thousands of dollars to write a book. "A.H.’s" remarks about Balkan elections are taken from newspaper headlines. He does not mention the subsequent reports appearing in small print, that in the Hungarian ‘elections the small-holders’ party (the conservatives) won right under the Russians’ noses, the commune ists polling less than 20 per cent. Nor does he state that in British-held Greece there are strong protests against unfait ‘election proceedings, If "A.H.". strongly advocates free elections. in the Atlantic Charter spirit for Eastern Europe, why does he not da so for India and Indonesia? Will he dare to say that Asiatics are inferior peoples?, That argument of "race superiority," which is the only one he can possibly give, sounds very much like that of a certain other A.H., and if "Anti-Hum. bug" resorts to it (his "democratic" cover only hiding his strong nationalism) he should more rightly be called Anti«
Human Bug.
H.P.
R.
(Lower Hutt).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 342, 11 January 1946, Page 5
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342"WORDS." New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 342, 11 January 1946, Page 5
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