Title | What has become of the Russian Revolution |
Creator (LCNAF) |
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Contributor (Local) |
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Publisher | International Review |
Place of Creation (TGN) |
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Date | 1937 |
Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
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Subject.Topical (Local) |
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Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
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Genre (AAT) |
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Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
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Original Item Extent | 63 pages; 22 cm |
Original Item Location | HN523.Y8613 1937 |
Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8304536~S11 |
Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | In Copyright: This item is protected by copyright. Copyright to this resource is held by the creator or current rights holder, and the resource is provided here for educational purposes. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the copyright owner. Users assume full responsibility for any infringement of copyright or related rights. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Image 60 |
Format (IMT) |
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File Name | uhlib_2209396_059.jpg |
Transcript | I newspapers spoke of rabbits; teachers of natural history studied the noble animal rabbit; art students were made to paint rabbits; writers composed stories about rabbits; posters glorifying rabbits were exhibited in the shops, stores and streets. As a result of the inertia of the population and the general ignorance of the technique of raising rabbits, the imported animals died. Only thanks to this, the Russians, who feel for the rabbit the same repugnance that we have for rats, saved themselves from having to eat what they started to call "Stalinist beef". Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler. Here is a comparison that naturally rises in one's mind. Of the three despots, the most absolute is, without doubt, Stalin. Ill The New Classes It takes some time for a revolution to bring forth the social form that it bears, and it is hard for its contemporaries to discern what is the product of its convulsions. A regime as absolute as Stalin's ;s not a new fact. We have had a number of similar dictatorships. The unusual thing is that this dictatorship is slowly but profoundly installing something new in social economy and human mentality. On one hand, competition gives way to a Plan in the USSR. On the other hand, the capitalist, the big bourgeois has disappeared and the small bourgeois is disappearing. Who has taken their place? The Communist Party has not troubled itself about suppressing the privileges it has taken away from the old ruling class. It not only has preserved these privileges but has surrounded them with a halo: the halo of the Revolution. Let us examine the social composition of the contemporary Russian society. We can distinguish in Russia the following classes: (a) The "manual" laborer (industrial and agricultural). (b) The small and middle "employee" (clerk). (c) The specialist, the responsible and the high functionary. The So-Called "Manual" Laborer Socialism is supposed to place the means of production in the hands of the workers. It is supposed to give them the initiative and control of production and distribution. What we have seen of the material conditions and the level of liberty of the Russian workers shows us that not only has this aim not been attained but there is nothing permitting us to believe that the country is moving in that direction. The Soviet factory is still the galley where the worker slaves at his labor. It is a place of suffering that is made hateful by obsessing propaganda, by the belt system, by piece-work. The worker has nothing to say about the running of the factories and the disposal of his labor. He has nothing to say about the regulation of his work. He is sweated for a miserable wage and a starvation pension. The field laborer is also a wage worker, or is fast becoming one. 58 |