The Unchanging Russian

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 913, 8 February 1957, Page 4

The Unchanging Russian

T was in Russia under Stalin that the prophetic nightmare of Orwell’s 1984 seemed most likely to be fulfilled. "Never before in the history of Europe," writes Edward Crankshaw, "had a whole nation been so completely at the mercy of a single tyrant; never ‘before in the history of the world had a tyrant disposed of so elaborate and all-embracing an apparatus of mass persuasion. In 1934 all the pre-conditions existed for 1984," But somehow the Russian people, in spite of vast economic and social changes, remained stubbornly themselves. The story of the "thaw," as told by Mr. Crankshaw in a fascinating book,* supplies no excuse for credulity in our dealings with the Communist regime. Soviet foreign policy can change quickly in superficial ways, and is heavily masked by "double talk"; it would be foolish, or at least premature, to look for any abandonment of basic ideas and aims. But there is evidence that the Russian people are a long way from being the disciplined horde which alone could sustain any Communist dream of world domination. All Soviet citizens under 40, says Mr. Crankshaw, were born into Bolshevism, and have been exposed since infancy to a ceaseless propaganda which should have undermined family life and replaced it with an anthill solidarity. Yet today the Russian is what he has always been-a unique mixture of intelligence and fecklessness, and living "vividly and intensely in the present, seeing the future only as a dream." Family life is as strong as ever, in spite of the fact that for most people the home is a single room; and indoctrination has created a mood of profound disbelief towards official statements. The masses have to. be. driven, coerced and persuaded, as in the past. Private enterprise has never entirely disappeared, though it takes forms *Russia Without Stalin, by Edward Crankshaw; Michael Joseph, English price 18/-, ’;

that are known to the West mainly through black markets. Official, managerial and cultural groups. are becoming a middle class, undreamed of by Lenin. There are even Teddy Boys and hooligans. (Stilyagi, they are called), who apparently sprang u without any influence or exampl from the West. Juvenile delinquency, apart from economic and social causes, is "an inarticulate revolt against the tedium and emptiness of the Soviet way of life." Human nature, it seems, is durable stuff, and will not be mocked. Significant, too, was the eagerness with which writers seized a new freedom after the death of Stalin. It was a false spring. "... When at last the writers began to stretch their limbs and to give expression to their real thoughts the new masters were appalled at the depth of pent-up feeling they had unleashed — and convulsively clamped down again." But the arts are alive, miraculously, after decades of dreariness at the party line, and in a milder social climate should return to full vitality. It has become plain that progress in all fields must depend on more flexible controls. The first stage of Russia’s industrial revolution was completed at an enormous cost in human suffering. Tyrants can be ruthless, but they cannot make peasants work as hard for the State as they will for themselves; and Russian agriculture has still not recovered from the liquidation of the kulaks. Similarly, the Soviet rulers are discovering today that industrial progress must have some connection with standards of living. The wasteful and repressive use of labour has left a shortage of skilled artisans. It is true that the Soviet Union now has a high annual output of scientists and technicians; but science graduates will not solve Russia’s industrial problems unless an army of skilled tradesmen is in the workshops, Skill must have incentive and reward. The "thaw" may have been partly a sham abroad; but at home it was a necessity, and the whole world will gain if some of its benefits can be saved and extended.

M. H.

H.