DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 726, 12 June 1953, Page 5

DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT

Sir,-In his last letter Mr. Scott no longer contends that the definition of the dictatotship of the proletariat has been distorted but tries to discredit his opposition in another way. Having mastered the intricaciés of Communist theory, after many years of study, he concludes that Lenin’s quotations refer to "a period prior to the establishment of Socialism in the U.S.S.R." He omits to point out that the Marxist-Leninist theory, strategy and tactics, advocate and direct revolutionary struggle in all countriés. I have piles of Communist papers from various satellite countries. Communist leaders of these enslaved territories parrot at every opportunity quotations from Lenin and Stalin, and they feiterate exactly what Mr. Scott has stated on this point, ie., that the dicta. torship of the proletariat is only a temporary form of rule "during a transitional period." Buf what can this signify? Nothing more or less than that Lenin’s perverse’ words refer to'a period prior to the-establishment of Socialism, not aloné .in the USSR, but in all" countries. Let us now study what changes fesulted from the establishment of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. In 1936 Stalin ia a " os

proclaimed: "All exploiting classes have been eliminated. Soviet society has already succeeded in achieving the first (lower) phase of Communism-Socialism." (Leninism, p. 569.) Commenting on the new. Constitution, Stalin said: "I must admit thai the draft of the new Constitution does preserve the regime of the dictatorship of the working class, just as it also preserves unchanged the present leading position of the Communist Party." He goes on to say: "In the U.S.S.R. there are only two classes, the working class and the peasant class, whose interests are friendly (sic). Hence theré is no ground in the U.S.S.R. for the. existence of several parties, and, ‘consequently, for freedom for these parties. In the U.S.S.R. there is ground only for one party, the Communist Party". (pages 578, 579 ibid). We of today, after almost two decades of additiona] experience, must agree with those contemporary critics who alleged (in 1936) that the Draft Constitution did not chafige anything in the existing position in the U.S.S.R. The only change is in one word; the proletariat, having liquidated all other classes, becomes the working class. The dictatorship, after the establishment of Socialism, still removes all possibility of opposition by arresting, condemning and executing its opponents. Purges are conducted even in the tanks of the Communist Party and "any who do not conform are like grit in the wheels of the machine and have to be cleaned out." The methods of fraud, terror and violence are still used. Finally, the conclusion of Mr. Boswell that the Soviet people are to be led against the bourgeoisie of the non-Com-munist countries must be correct. If Mr. Scott sincerely doubts this he should study Communist’ theory even more. closely. Lenin himself makes the point clear: " . The existence of Soviet Republic side by side with imperialist states for a long time is unthinkable. One or the other must triumph in the end. And before that end supervenes a series of frightful collisions between the Soviet Repubiic and the bourgeois states will be inevitable." (Selected "Works, Vol VIII, p. 33.) roy

PADEREWSKI

(Hamilton).

(Abridged.-Ed. )