RETURN OF THE SCAPEGOAT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 717, 10 April 1953, Page 5

RETURN OF THE SCAPEGOAT

Sir,-I cannot deal with all the errors of "Paderewski," but there is one which in the interests of truth I really cannot let pass. Professing to quote from a book by Stalin named Principles of Leninism, "Paderewski" quotes Stalin as saying, "The dictatorship of the proletariat is the rule unrestricted by law and based on force." I can in mercy only assume that your correspondent has never actually seen the passage to which he obviously refers, for the real wording is vitally different from his account of it, which appears to be one of those distorted "quotations" that are. going the rounds in certain circles, The quotation to. which he refers, in distorted form, is on page 32 of Foundations of Leninism, by Stalin, who is, in turn, quoting from Lenin’s well-known book, The State and Revolution. The actual quotation is, "The dictatorship of the proletariat is the rule-unrestricted by law and based on force-of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie, a rule enjoying the sympathy and support of the labouring and exploited masses." This is very different from the picture drawn by "Paderewski" of an irresponsible government "that does not have to obey the law." Stalin then goes On to develop Lenin’s theme that there cannot be equality between the exploiters and the exploited, i.e., between capitalists and workers. He makes the point that the dictatorship of the proletariat is "a democracy of a new type" and also "a dictatorship of a new type" -a dictatorship of the overwhelming majority over a tiny minority. "Paderewski" could have quoted this also from the same book and even the same page and I can only assume that he has not really read the book. My point is not whether Lenin was right or wrong, but that in controversies of this sort a standard of fair ‘and accurate reporting Should be maintained.

SID

SCOTT

(Auckland). ----