SOVIET INTELLECTUAL'S COMMENTS ON COMMUNISM AND CAPITALISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80S01540R004500140002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 26, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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ouA1-HUM
IN~TELLOFAX 36
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18. Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to.or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
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SUBJECT Soviet Intellectual's Comments on
Communism and Capitalism
FBR ERIHM.-SECtfRRY REASONS
DATE OF INFO. S.R d i'.IS.NOT TO, BE fORTHER
ST b
PLACE : B 'Y?HD THE BORDERS
ACQUIRED
F.. UN TM STATES,;. WITHOUT 1E
EXPRESS:P IYdf~SSIQN CF THE? REtEAS-
IRR:bFFIER; :..::.
DATE DISTR. 50X1-HUM' January 195+
NO. OF PAGES 4
REQUIREMENT NO.
REFERENCES
to The Communist system is trying,to:establish something new. I. call that a theory
of balance. Under capitalism there is no balance whatsoever. There is no will.
to guide the stream of life and as a result there occur crises, unemployment,
and disorder. True, Roosevelt made some attempts-at guidance, but that is not
a system., merely individual measures. 'The Communists.are trying to establish
balance,, to guide the whole process of human.life.on a fixed course. This
requires centralization and the suppression of human individuality because the
masses,,on their own initiative, could not follow a system which, to a,known
degree, harms their interesto The masses,,too, are conservative and frequently
do not recognize the superiority of the new. But,in?the final. analysis, the
Communist experiment has turned.out badly because human individuality, for which
all is planned, succumbs and is submerged.
2. In the West there are.rights.and law, but freedom leads to anarchy in.relation-
ships. And in the West people, particularly the middle class people, live for
the present day and do not think of the future. In America it seems.there is,no
literature which.deals with the problems of creating.a new system. That means
that America.is.not interested in them. No Americans--not Eisenhower, not
Acheson, not Truman--speak of these problems. That means they also do not think
of theme They think only.of the narrow egotistical interests of American. capital
or of America.
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3. Probably humanity and. we inhabitants of the USSR can create a. new system, which
is.necessary and which the Communists sought to create. Of their experiment it
is too early to speak. What do thirty years mean in the life of humanity, in
the life.of a people? The Communist.experiment has been an attempt to.develop
the will to create anew social life., How can that be done without- compulsion?
It is good if ten percent of the people are capable of thinking critically.
This does.not depend : on. education; thinkers may be kolkhozniki or-workers.
Now the majority-of educated Soviets are technicians and engineers. Biut
that is not culture. Of course, we have obtained-a higher 'level Of literacy,
but at the cost', of actually lowering the cultural level. Among the present
intelligentsia, theze.am very few thinking people; the non~thinkerscan only
be compelled, because they are interested.only in material welfare. All
propaganda. works on them. It is probably. possible to create a good society,
but is is necessary to educate the people, to make citizens of them,
system.of complete lack of .freedom raises.slave.s. Shulgin's "1920" said that
Russia could not exist without a.tsar, be he white or red. Of course-,.Stalin
was a .red .tsar. 50X1-HUM
4. Earlier the intelligentsia maintained moral standards and principles based
on an understanding,of'duty, and. the standards of'the masses were maintained
.by the prohibitions of God. Things are now worse. The youth are without
principles. They make up bandit gangs, and spit on.everything and everyone.
Haw. could it be.otherwIse.when they have been told-one thing and have seen
the-opposite done? The government recognizes this. The rejection.by Marx
of absolute truth-and absolute morality was a bending of a.stick.to.One'side.
Now the government is.bending,it to-the I other. An instructor. in dialectical
materialsim used to say. :"In;Order to 'straighten a bent stick, you must bend
it the other wayBOQ
5. The new generation-are cynics-and have no ideals. From childhood. on they see
only tricks. The Soviets.are taught to inform although informants have always
been held in contempt. A ~"new person" is being raised. The family-plays a
role, but the crippling of awhole generation and:of the next goes on.' That
is most terrifying. I do not want to evaluate the new generation pessimistically,
but the percentage of thinking people is lower-in the new generation. than in ours.
But, on the other -side, the new generation will. supply a smaller percentage of
sincere defenders of the regime. than ours.
6. In the West it is no better. There the people outwardly believe in God, but
in fact that is hypocritical. They,are interested only in the same material
questions, That means that the masses are the same everywhere. In the West
they are not guided and there is no balance, but there is agitation. We, on
the other hand, are guided,.but we are so.centralized that.there is also no balance.,
only suppression. Literature- and-the humanities.in general are completely
perverted. They cannot develop freely and,without that,there is no authentic
culture. The exact sciences produce good technicians. who .can be led..or .directed.,
but who do not think. critically.
cnvII ui inn
7. in the West going to church .is . a sort of formality. , A good
aea.L or it is habit. With us, even though the risk Is not great, it means that
a person really grants. to go. In M?scrw"many go to church but still only a
'small percentage of the population. In the provinces the percentage is
probably higher.
50X1-HUM
8. A . revolution.is theoretically possible. The s -.was created'by human hands
and can be destroyed by human hands. 7t-7the reasonablenesh of life;
i.e., if an idea is not. reasonable, it will be modified 'by. nature and the result
will be favorable. This .is especially true and part i.cu.1arly.evid.ent in
sociological, matters. Reformers think of something ideal, but life doesn't
permit it and life begins.to.mod.ify it. When reformers remain obstinate in
.their beliefs .and struggle with-life., humanity.loses amass of blood and strength.
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Probably in.the end something can be achieved, but not the ideal. But, then,
wh seek .to attain.it if the price is high and the goal costly? 50X1-HUM
Dostoyevskiy wrote somewhere that a kingdom built at the cost of a baby's
blood will probably produce no good. On the other hand, blood has always been
spilled. 50X1-HUM
9. Some Communists are opportunists, but there are those who believe. Stalin, a
fanatic, to the extent of madness, probably believed. Life does ,not permit
unnatural distortions. That does.not mean that.in. a.movement for-chatge there
should.-not be an accompanying human will to the contrary. It is false that
personalities do not play a,role in history. Even Engels refuted that thesis.
Will must be demonstrated, and it is from the union.of the shown will.and the
.opposition.of life that results are born. That conflict will always .exist,.but
it is necessary to pay attention to both life and conscience. In any event,
conscience normally points the way to good. One must follow that goodness
.or'the results will be bad. What is important is willful decisions. These
depend..on the individual,- yet, for Communists, laws are substituted for
individuality. If the Bdl.shev.i.ks had not had Lenin,. pouldthe handful of
Bolsheviks .who played almost no role in .the life.of the country have been able
to make a revolution? He was. able to give the necessary slogans a,nc -,exploit
the lack of authority in the situation because the intelligentsia showed itself
to be incapable of authority and the "rule of 'the street" became ,ope' ative.
Kerensky couldn't do anything. The Decembrists couldn't do. anything for-the
same reason. They thought.- :"Should we shoot or not shoot?" and in the meantime
were shot themselAreso The personalities -of Lenin and:Kere'nsky -decided ito
How can one say that personalities count for nothings 50X1-HUM
loo I. didn't read Stalin's work on philology. I had an opportunity to-do so, but
he who.can..get away with.i.t doesn't read such things,. Those who study only
in order 'to complete requirements, and they are the majority, do not see the
contradictions,,the first or-the second thoughts, in all. these things. They
learn mechanically by heart. and .take their examinations. Those taho?understand
and are interested, see all the contradictions.
110 It is correct to say that one must reject attempts to create an.idea.l society
through force. The new social. system which must come in place of capitalism
will be the result of human thought and the demonstrated human.will,.limited
by conscience and the reasonableness of life.
12 o Revolution is possible o At the moment of the -collapse of authority there will
be almost no one to defend it. The fanatics are few, and the opportunists will
change sides. They are already running--Krairchenko, for example. - If the
West shows its strength,.the cowards,.not the thinking--respectable people,will
begin to act against the authorities, but they will always try .td be on both
sides. It is true that the individual can begin to-do something, but only limited
numbers are capable of a great sacrifice. Individuals are the moving forc?,
but it is difficult'to bring them together. The heaviest denial of the regime
i.s.that one cannot read, speak,. or write about problems. There ia hardly a year
that goes by that university students are not arrested for reading forbidden
books or holding forbidden.eonversations. That was sacrifice without results'.
If people want to make sacrifices, they should have some purpose in-mind s.o that
the sacrifices will be useful.
130 In. the agricultural field, 'the situation is. very complicated'.' Communism is -trying
to make over human na.tu ?e, not only the organization of work0 Perhaps, at the
cost of the destruction.of a generation9.it will be possible to destroy the
property instinct, which is.-the-basis for the work.of every peasant and which
.to this day justifies that 'orko Here exists the cruelest struggle..
1.4. Communism as a social structure was not badly thought out,,but like other ideas
it is"subject to failure; and the reason for-the failure is that the Communists,
contrary to nature, , contrary to li:fe,,try to make everything conform to the idea
and do not alter the goal to fit circumstancesQ If freedom is granted to nature,
rather than to the directing and regulating design,.nature gives.results.
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But the Communists want the ideal to be superior to life. There is the failure,
15. Probably there is something false in the Idea itself, but where the-idea is
an hypothesis, as it is in my-opinion, this is not so important. What is
important it-the method of implementing the idea. In the technical field, it
is possible to take a completely absurd idea and then by a process of elimination
to arrive. at the true result dictated by life.
16. capitalism givesgreat fr.eedom.to life, but little will and no ideas, The
British experiments axe 'si ply nationalization.and'not evolution. Of course,
present capitalism is not the capitalism of the 19th century, as. Soviet
propaganda. would have it.. But how can One overcome the problem Of the absence
of the creative element in Ork' In the material sense, people live in-.the
capitalist countries as, -we -will:not live for.along time,. but there is no
happiness in -work. In the future we must find..forms for the participation of
the workers in the , Creative. aspects of the industrial process,,. which will
make possible the eliminat.ion,of the continuing conflict'rhich is the basis
for many?-social problems. For -ecainp1e .the standard of living of workers
in the US is at an unusual height,, -a standard about which.it is difficult
for us even to dream.9 but at the-same time there is no social peacemmthe workers
strike. It follows that they do not consider the interests of those enterprises
where they work as their .OTn .interests.. At the same time, the enterprises,
regardless of to .whin they formally belong, are. a part of the national economy
and this-'is against the workers own interests.. To some degree,this conflict
has been eliminated by Connnunism,'but the national, economy has not bee.ri put
to the servicing of the requirements of the people.
to Commerita This thought was. originally expressed by Lenin,.
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