The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 18, 1925, Page 14

er] World Capitalism and the Soviet Union (Continued from page 1) why should one expose oneself to blows over that which one does not possess? Asa result of the difference in the situation of England and Am- erica in the Far East, and as a result of our strong attack in the question of privileges, the American ambassador This is an objective fact, which is due to the circumstance that Germany is paying as much as it can, quite apart from any good will to pay. ~The pay- ing machine is functioning mechan- ically. Germany is now raising money without seriously shaking its mone- tary system? This will only be seen delivered a speech in which he ad-|in three years time when the carry- vocated the gradualeabolition of priv-| ing out of the expert’s report passes ileges. The united front here possess- es just as little stability as it does in regard to the German question. HE interests of England and Amer- ica are equally divergent in regard to Russia. So far as American inter- ests are concerned, America would not suffer if we were’ suddenly to disappear from the face of the earth, as one of the main questions of American economy is the question of the market for agricultural products. America does not want any agricul- tural competition at present, The Americans, while endeavoring to hold up the restoration of the economic power of the Soviet Republic, hope at the same time to go over mainly to cattle breeding, as then Russia would not only be an unpleasant competitor for them, but would be required by them as being a huge market for. sup- plying corn and grain, Professor Tuleikov was right when he pointed out the hope prevailing in American circles that in 15 years Am- erica would begin to import corn, and that Siberia would then have to feed the west coast of America. war and in economics, more than in anything else, everything depends up- on time. At present it is to the ad- vantage of America to postpone the economic reconstruction of Russia. England, on the other hand, which at present has to purchase from Amer- ica, cotton, corn and many other ar- ticles of food, and in this respect is dependent upon the United States, would be able to free itself from this dependence to the extent to which the Russian grain market developed. HESE two great capitalist powers » havecunited for the time-being in oiler to-wring concessions from the Soivet Union. If their efforts how- ever are shattered by our resistance, then each of them will proceed sep- arately and there will be no talk of united action. : If, however, the Soviet Union agrees to grant concessions, then the ques- tion arises: what concessions shall be made and to whom shall they be grant- ed? For Russia it is more advantag- eous to grant concessions to Ameri- can oil trusts than to English oil trusts, as America is not in close con- tact with the Far East, which cannot be said of England. In the Far East there meet Japan, the Soviet Union and China. If Japan abandons the idea of territorial conquests in China, then a certain unity can be establish- ed between the Soviet Union, China and Japan against England and Am- erica, The above, even if somewhat rough sketch of the world situation shows that capitalism will hardly succeed in creating a united front. ESIDES America and England, there are a whole number of cap- italist _countries—Germany, France, Italy, etc.—and also many smaller cap- italist countries. Should the united front be organized, and should this united front be victorious, then those countries would reap the benefit of it who command this united front. They only need the smaller countries so long as the united front is maintained. When the united front has achieved its object, then these little countries will no longer be necessary. The lit- tle countries perceive this quite clear- ly, and this explains their inclination to unite with us, which fact does not conduce to strengthen the bourgeois united front. These -are the general prospects. Inf from the phase of raising the money in Germany to the phase of paying over the same. . This will be a period of fresh debates and, perhaps, of the collapse of the whole policy of the experts’ report. America is endeavoring to work out on paper the peace between France and Germany, in order to be able to say to France: “My dear sirs, nobody threatens you any longer, reduce your army and pay us back your debts,” But France is not keen on doing this, Now we come to’ the Anglo-French front. During the: last few. years the struggle between France and England for hegemony played. a‘very great role, nevertheless there is to be recorded here a dimunition of th antagonisms, due to the fact that France, as a re- sult of the collapse of the franc, is no longer in a position to supply its vassals with money, and is naturally losing influence. If Poland receives 35 million dollars from America, then it follows that Poland must to this extept dance according to the tune played by Washington and New York and to the same etxent must turn away from France. The same also applies to Czecho- Slovakia. As soon as France and England be- come more dependent upon America, the small European states become less dependent upon France. For this reason France does not for the mo- ment constitute a great danger for England. England, however, wishes to consolidate this truce. But then the difficulties in the east-come to the forefront. England is endeavoring, by making concessions to Frahce, to’ se- ¢iire its rear in its actions in the east. In- this respect its calculations are very simple and extremely “innocent.” It believes that Germany, in the event of the success of the stabiliaztion of capitalism, would in five years consti- tute a strong power. Who else has such a huge chemical industry as the Germans? And even if they at pres- ent have no cannons, they will never- theless remain a great capitalist pow- er. And when the moment. arrives, that is to say, when Germany be- comes strong—so thinks England— then it will be possible to: withdraw the concessions granted to France. For the time being we see here a certain truce. The Situation in the East. | OW is it now with that stretch where the struggle for the mar- ket is taking place, the front of the east? In the first place there is to. be noted here a gradual but steady growth in the national revolutionary movement in all countries of the east. There exists a-whole literature in Eng- land which calls attention to these facts ten times as often as we do in our literature. The most important symptoms of the growth of the nattonat revolution- ary movement in the east consists in the following: first, in the economic | growth of the eastern bourgeoisie, which is based on the fact that during the war European capital was not cary able of supplying the oriental coun- tries with a sufficient quantity of goods, so that they began to develop their own industries, In the meantime there arises among this oriental bouregoisie the natural Will the creation of the united front} fear of the competition of foreign cap- be achieyed? “Even should it suc- ceed, this front could not be regarded as a strong one; it would be incapable of solving the tasks imposed upon it. HE strengthening of capitalism is unavoidably.accompanied by capi- talist antagonisms. In 1924 we ex- perienced an improvement in the re- lations between Germany and France. ital. This not only applies to China but to all other eastern countries, as for example Turkey, where the policy of the government consists in restrict- ing the importation of foreign goods in order to render possible the growth of Turkish industry and Turk- ish commerce. The expulsion of the purpose—protection of native capital from foreign competition. HE second cause of the intensifi- eation of the revolutionary crisis in the east consists in the growth of national consciousness among the na- tive intelligenzia.. In all young bour- geois countries the intelligenzia, at the commencement of the liberation] movement, plays the first fiddle. This was the case with us in Russia before 1905, and is the case.today in the east. Before the war the eastern in- telligenzia looked up to tne European and American democracy. The strong- est of those capitalist powers which were in close contact with the east was America. And America defended the policy. of the so-called “open door” it posed as the defender of the inde- pendence of China against England, Russia and Japan. Leading American politicians took India under their pro- tection. The emigration, workers, merchants, and.in fact all oriental peo- ple living in, America, were. enthusias- tic ‘over American democracy, where every foreigner settling there is grant- ed full rights of citizenship. But in the course of time the mass of the oriental intelligenzia perceived the true features of this democracy, and in what.consists the nature of American “self-determination of the peoples.” When, after the Versailles peace conference, the province of Shantung with its population of 40 millions was cut off from China and was made a “present” of to Japan, this fact served to enlighten the east- ern intelligenzia better than any prop- aganda as to what is the real,attitude of bouregois democracy towards the national movement. It is not surpris- ing that we see at present in the east an ideological revulsion of the intelli- genzia from Europe and America, a revulsion which at times assumes the form of reaction against European civ- ilization in general. HE third factor is the growth of the workers’ and peasants’ move- ment. The movement of the laboring masses in’ such countries as China and India is on the same level as was the Russian..labor movement in the year 1896. It is the first mass move- ment of the proletariat. Along with the mass struggles there is proceeding the creation of Com- munist Parties. The Russi:n proleta- riat, from the year 1896 had to carry on its fight for another ten years be- fore it arrived at its first revolution. We hope—and this hope is based up- on objective facts—that the east will traverse this road at a more rapid rate and: with better results than the Russian revolution of 1905. The revolutionary movement of the east is a factor the importance of which we underestimated. When we consider the situation in Egypt, which was clearly illuminated by the bomb thrown at the English Sirdar—this.also can hardly be con- sidered as a sign of the stabilization of capitalist conditions, when we re- member that the bomb was thrown by a railway worker—we must again and again emphasize that the national movement” in the east has not only seized the intelligenzia, but alsq the broad masses of the people, and that the chief task of world imperialism— the etxension of the markets by in- tensified exploitation of the colonies and suppression of the eastern coun- tries, will meet with other. resistance than was formerly the case. The Foreign Political Prospects of the Soviet Union. HEN we speak of the prospects of the Soviet Union we must take into consideration two aspects: the relation between the proletariat and the peasantry, and the extent and the force of the pressure of the foreign capitalists upon the Soviet Union. The question is, whether we shalt be able to come to an agreement with the caiptalists regarding the conditions on the basis of which we shall be able to live until the next rise of the Europ- ean revolution, not only as a Soviet state, but for that aim for which we were established: for the develop- ment of socialism. We are _ pro- Greeks and Armenians has the samefoundly convinced that the next few cept me against us. ee years will bring with them a real agreement with world capital. This conviction is based upon the simple fact that the capitalist great powers have divergent interests regarding us. The attempt to exercise a joint and permanent pressure: will end in fail- ure, The question now is whether they will be able to reconcile themselves to the existence of a workers’ and peasants’ republic. If they are not able to do so, then they can do what they please. The main question is, whether they can destroy this. repub- lic. They have already attempted it by military means—but they did not succeed. They will. not succeed in the next few years in mobilizing the masses of the peoples in their states Can they strangle ‘us eco- Can they carry out an It is nomically? economic boycott against us? easy for America to speak of an eco- . nomic boycott, as she does not need us; England can also play with this policy for a certain time, but the smaller countries such as Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, ete., | which have no oil and are interested in our benzine, cannot carry out a consistent boycott. They will attempt to intim- idate us, but our situation is more favorable than theirs and we will find the necessary means in order to shat- ter their united front.: The question of the Russian debts is bound up with the question of the inter-allied debts. We are interested in postponing the solutton of this question. Should it prove that the allies can only extract from France 10 per cent of its old debts, why should we be better payers of debts than France? In practical politics what will decide this question is, whether we conclude an agreement at the mo- ment when we have a good harvest and whether the allies will recognize that we are not afraid of their pres- sure, or whether this agreement is concluded at a time when our country is in a difficult situation: = HE chief peculiarity of the spikes -of the Soviet Union consists in the fact that Russia, in spite of all its poverty, can thanks to its vast ex- tent, afford to wait its own time. We are confronted with a period of pressure, a period whic& will be ac- companied by a whole number of var- ious threats, but which we shall sur- vive, and which, in all probability, will smooth the way to agreements which will permit us not only to maintain, but also to develop our socialist state. In regard to the Russian revolution, world capital exhibited the following phases: In the year 1919 it attempted ~ to strangle Soviet Russia, it attempted © to buy a part of the working class and to crush the steadfast revolution- ary part. We had at that time, on the one hand, the intervention in Russia and the crushing of the spartacists in » Germany, and on the other hand, the promises of the socializing of inrustry in Germany, France and England, the extension of the suffrage to the work- ers etc. In spite of this world capital did not succeed in strangling us. The second phase consisted in the attempt to negotiate with us and to strangle the revolution in the east.. In 1921, the imperialists negotiated with us in Genoa and shot down the Turks, They reckoned that if they succeeded in strangling our revolutionary rear- guard we would have to capitulate. 3 Ig third phase began when they — perceived that we were not throt- tled by the famine catastrophe and that the NEP did not mean a return to old capitalist politics. Then, in the year 1923, there set in the Curzon Do- licy. It consisted in the attempt to come to an understanding with the east, with the Turks, and to exert pressure upon us. To this period be- longs the peace of Lausanne and the | ultimatum which was submitted to us. This attempt to divide the main forces of the world revolution from each other ended in defeat. Today we are witnessing the preparation for a si- multaneous attack against the east, against us, and also against the Eu- ropean proletariat. \ This shows that the enemy Is com- pelled to deliver blows simultaneously on all fronts. 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