Tuesday
(0)Devoid of inspiration, I looked in my library and found Soviet Communism – A New Civilisation by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. There is no question mark in the title of my 1937 Left Book Club edition, and it was "NOT FOR SALE TO THE PUBLIC" (as it says on the front). And a good thing too, I muttered, as I scanned through it, looking for something particularly vile and wrong-headed for you people to have a good chuckle and a good sneer at.
Imagine my surprise, then, to encounter a paragraph of complete truth. Admittedly I had to go to page 1122 to find it, but even so, don't you think that this is really rather good?
We place first in far-reaching importance the complete discarding, as the incentive to production, of the very mainspring of the western social order, the motive of profit-making. Instead of admiring those who successfully purchase commodities in order to sell them again at a higher price (whether as merchant or trader, wholesale dealer or retailer). Soviet Communism punishes such persons as criminals, guilty of the crime of "speculation". Instead of rewarding or honouring those (the capitalist employers or entrepreneurs) who engage others at wages in order to make a profit out of the product of their labour, Soviet Communism punishes them as criminals, guilty, irrespective of the amount of the wages that they pay, of the crime of "exploitation". It would be difficult to exaggerate the difference that this one change in ideology (in current views of morality as well as in criminal law) has made in the manner of life within the USSR. No one can adequately realise, without a wide study of the facts of soviet life, what this fundamental transformation of economic relationships has meant, alike to the vast majority of the poor and to the relatively small minority who formerly "lived by owning", or by employing others for profit.
The paragraphs that follow revert to the evil drivel of which this book mostly consists, as the elderly dupes try to explain how none of this did any harm. But even so, something of a surprise.
Interesting.
Still to understand that point of view you really need to read up, if necessary, on 19th century Russia and it's brand of capitalism and serfdom. I always thought it was rather strange and, true to form, stupid of Tsar Nickolas for not having abolished the practice of serfdom. But a lot of nobles made substantial amounts of money from the practice. During those days it wasn't all that unusual for a very wealthy family to still have some family members as serfs. Requiring them to purchase those relatives from the owning nobles.
Posted by ed at March 10, 2004 01:41 AM
NOT FOR SALE TO THE PUBLIC -- No, but "charitably" and "educationally" distributed by the thousands to serving troops during WW2.
Posted by Guy Herbert at March 10, 2004 10:08 AM
Actually describes the beliefs and attitude of our contemporary anti-globo dweebs pretty well.
Posted by Sylvain Galineau at March 10, 2004 06:57 PM
