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Show AS OLD AS OPPRESSlON It is often seriously argued that some form of communism commu-nism will eventually prevail throughout the world because it is a young and dynamic doctrine, filled with vitality and promise, pro-mise, which satisfies the highest ambitions of peoples. On i the other hand, the argument continues, capitalist democra-j democra-j cy is old and exhausted, has outlived whatever value it may j once have had, and so is doomed to extinction in the long run. This has all been stated persuasively by the totalitar- ian propagandists who have made a fine art of pamphleteering. pamphleteer-ing. But it is a complete perversion of historical fact. There is nothing basically new in communism, fascism, or any other oth-er totalitarian doctrine except the name. It is as old as cruelty cruel-ty and oppression. It deals with heretics, with the weapons of torture, execution and banishment precisely as was done j in the time of the inquisition centuries ago. Its labor policy i is that of serfdom every man and woman is regarded as a j slave of the state, to be used as the official ruling class desires. de-sires. Its economic philosophy is essentially that of absolute monarchy, when everything was the property of the king, and freedom of opportunity was unknown. Its attitude toward tow-ard all civil liberties freedom of press, of speech, of assem-! assem-! bly is likewise as old as recorded history itself. Everyone i must think and parrot what they are told, or suffer grave : consequenses. , Are the masses of the Russian people any better off under un-der the Soviets than under the Romanoffs? One ruthless dictatorship succeeded another by force of arms. The people, peo-ple, in whose name the revolution was effected, are still submerged in an abyss of ignorance, want, fear, and absolute abso-lute mental and physical regimentation. Democracy is the only form of government which has proven itself capable of maintaining the freedoms of the people. It is the only form of government in which the people exert complete authority, and have the eternal safeguards that make dictatorship impossible. It was the goal toward which nations strived through bloody centuries and for which millions of men died. The dynamics of the total state are in reality the dynamics of the crudest form of feudalism. |