QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. Why does Krupskaya find well-developed social instincts to characterize
most workers most of the time but to be exceptional among capitalists?
2. What are some of the areas in which communists should acquire extensive
knowledge?
3. What are some aspects of a communist's personal life, according
to Krupskaya?
Communists can come from all classes of society, but most of all they
are workers by birth. Why? Because the conditions of workers' lives are
such as to nurture in them social instincts: collective labor, the success
of which depends on the separate efforts of each; the same conditions of
labor; common experiences; the common struggle for humane conditions of
existence. All this brings workers closer together and unites them with
the bonds of class solidarity. Let us take the capitalist class. The conditions
of life for this class are completely different. Competition forces each
capitalist to see another capitalist primarily as an opponent, who has
to be tripped up. In the worker the capitalist sees only "worker's hands"
which must labor for the creation of his, the capitalist's, profits. Of
course, the common struggle against the working class unites capitalists,
but that internal unity, that formation into a collective which we see
among workers-they have nothing to divide among themselves-does not exist
in the capitalist class, where Solidarity is corroded by competition. That
is why in the working class the person with well-developed social instincts
is the rule, while among the capitalists such a person is the exception.
Social instinct means a great many things. Often it offers a
clue for finding a way out of a situation, for choosing the correct path.
That is why during the purge of the RKP (Russian Communist Party], attention
was paid to whether this or that member of the party had been born in a
working family or not. He who comes from a worker's background will more
easily straighten himself out. The Russian intelligentsia, seeing how easily
a Worker, thanks to this class instinct, comprehends that which an intellectual,
for example, perceives only with great difficulty, was inclined, in the
end of the nineties and in the first half of the first decade of the twentieth
century (1896-1903) to exaggerate the significance of class instinct. Rabochaya
mysl' [Workers'Thought], one of the underground Social Democratic newspapers,
even came to the conclusion that no one other than people from workingman
backgrounds could be accepted as socialists. Since Marx and Engels were
not workers, Rabochaya mysl, wrote "We don't need Marx and Engels!"
Class instinct, which among workers coincides with a social one, is a necessary condition for being a communist. Necessary, but not sufficient.
A communist must also know quite a lot. First, he must understand what is happening around him, and must gain an understanding of the existing system. When the workers' movement began to develop in Russia, Social Democrats were concerned from the very first with the widespread distribution of such pamphlets as Dikshtein's "Who Lives by What," "Worker's Day," etc. But it is not enough to understand the mechanics of the capitalist system. The communist must also study the laws of the development of human society. He must know the history of the development of economic forms, of the development of property, of division into classes, of the development of state forms. He must understand their interdependence and know how religious and moral notions will develop out of a particular social structure. Understanding the laws of the development of human society, the communist must clearly picture to himself where social development is heading. Communism must be seen by him as not only a desired system, where the happiness of some will not be based on the misfortune of others; he must further understand that communism is that very system toward which mankind is moving, and that communists must clear a path to this system, and promote its speedy coming.
In workers' circles at the dawn of the workers' movement in Russia, commonly studied courses were, on the one hand, political economy, which had the aim of explaining the structure of contemporary society, and the history of culture (the history of culture was usually opposed to the regular exposition of history, which often presented just a set of heterogeneous historical data). That is why in the circles of those days they read the first volume of Marx's Capital and F. Engels 'The Origins of the Family, Property, and State.
In 1919, in one of the villages of Nizhny Novgorod province, in the
village of Rabotki, I happened to come across this phenomenon. Teachers
told me that in the intermediate school they taught political economy and
the history of culture; that the students unanimously demanded the introduction
of these subjects into the curriculum of the intermediate school.
Where could such a desire, and such a definitely formulated one, have
come from among peasant youth in a Volga village whose population was occupied
exclusively with Volga river trades and agriculture? Obviously, interest
in political economy and the history of culture was brought into Rabotki
by some worker, who at one time had attended some circle and who explained
to the children what they needed to know.
However, at the present moment the Russian communist must know not only that. The October Revolution opened for Russia an opportunity for widespread building in the direction of communism. But in order to utilize these possibilities it is necessary to know what one can do at the moment in order to make at least one first step toward communism, and what one cannot, and it is necessary to know how to build a new life. It is necessary first and foremost to know thoroughly that sphere of work which you have undertaken, and then to master the method of a communist approach to the matter. Let us take an example. In order to organize correctly medical affairs in the country, it is first necessary to know the situation itself, secondly, how it was organized earlier in Russia and is currently organized in other states, and thirdly, how to approach the problem in a communist manner, namely, to conduct agitation among wide strata of workers, to interest them, to attract them to work, to create with their efforts a powerful organization in regard to medical affairs. It is necessary not only to know how to do all this, but to be able to do it. Thus it follows that a communist must know not only what communism is and why it is inevitable, but also know his own affairs well, and be able to approach the masses, influence them, and convince them.
In his personal life, a communist must always conduct himself in the interests of communism. What does this mean? It means, for example, that however nice it might be to stay in a familiar, comfortable home environment, that if for the sake of the cause, for the success of the communist cause, it is necessary to abandon everything and expose oneself to danger, the communist will do this. It means that however difficult and responsible the task the communist is called upon to perform, he will take it upon himself and try to carry it out to the best of his strength and skill, whether it is at the front, during the confiscation of valuables, etc. It means that the communist puts his personal interests aside, subordinates them to the common interest. It means that the communist is not indifferent to what is happening around him and that he actively struggles with that which is harmful to the interests of the toiling masses, and that he on the other hand actively defends these interests and makes them his own....
Who was discarded during the purging of the party? (a) the self-seekers
and their adherents, that is, those who put their personal interests above
the communist cause; (b) those who were indifferent to communism, who did
nothing to help it make headway, who stood far from the masses and made
no efforts to draw closer to them; (c) those who did not enjoy the respect
and love of the masses; (d) those who were distinguished by a coarse manner,
conceit, insincerity and other such characteristics.
Thus, in order to be a communist: (1) it is necessary to know what
is bad about the capitalist system, where social development is heading
and how to promote the speediest coming of the communist system; (2) it
is necessary to know how to apply one's knowledge to the cause; and (3)
it is necessary to be spiritually and physically devoted to the interests
of the working masses and to communism....
From Bolshevik visions.- First Phase of the Cultural Revolution in Soviet
Russia, ed. and trans. William G. Rosenberg. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1992. Kru skaya, Lenin's wife and closest friend, played an active
role in educational and cultural matters at the time of the revolution,
and for a brief period was Deputy Commissar of Education.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. Why would Kita Ikki urge that the study of English be abolished?
2. Are there any parallels between Kita Ikki's and Mussolini's views
of war and violence?
Suspension of the Constitution: In order to establish a firm base for national reorganization, the Emperor, with the aid of the entire Japanese nation and by invoking his imperial prerogatives, shall suspend the Constitution for a period of three years, dissolve the two houses of the Diet, and place the entire country under martial law.
The true significance of the Emperor: We must make clear the fundamental principle that the Emperor is the sole representative of the people and the pillar of the state....
Abolition of the peerage system: By abolishing the peerage system, we shall be able to remove the feudal aristocracy which constitutes a barrier between the Emperor and the people. In this way the spirit of the Meiji Restoration shall be proclaimed.
The House of Peers shall be replaced by the Deliberative Council which shall review decisions made by the House of Representatives. The Deliberative Council may reject for a single time only any decisions of the House of Representatives.
The members of the Deliberative Council shall consist of men distinguished in various fields of activities, elected by each other or appointed by the Emperor.
Popular election: All men twenty-five years of age and above shall have the right to elect and be elected to the House of Representatives, exercising their rights with full equality as citizens of Great Japan. Similar provisions shall apply to all local self-governing bodies. No women shall be permitted to participate in politics.
Restoration of people’s freedom.- Existing laws which restrict people's freedom and circumvent the spirit of the constitution shall be abolished. These laws include the civil service appointment ordinance, peace preservation law, press act, and publication law.
National reorganization Cabinet: A national reorganization Cabinet shall be formed during the time martial law is in effect. In addition to the existing ministries, the Cabinet shall establish such ministries of industries as described below and add a number of ministers without portfolio. Members of the reorganization Cabinet shall be selected from outstanding individuals throughout the country, avoiding those who are presently connected with military, bureaucratic, financial, or party cliques....
Granting of imperial estate: The Emperor shall set a personal example
by granting to the state, the lands, forests, shares and similar properties
held by the Imperial Household. The expenses of the Imperial Household
shall be limited to thirty million yen per annum appropriated from the
national treasury. However, the Diet may authorize additional expenditure
if the need arises.
Limitation on privat eproper :No Japanese family shall possess property in excess of one million yen. A similar limitation shall apply to Japanese citizens holding property over-seas. No one shall be permitted to make a gift of property to those related by blood or to others, or to transfer his property by other means with the intent of circumventing this limitation.
Nationalization of excess amount over limitation on private proper :
Any amount which exceeds the limitation on private property shall revert
to the state without compensation. No one shall be permitted to resort
to the protection of present laws in order to avoid remitting such excess
amount. Anyone who violates these provisions shall be deemed a person
thinking lightly of the example set by the Emperor and endangering the
basis of national reorganization. As such, during the time martial
law is in effect, he shall be charged with the crimes of endangering the
person of the Emperor and engaging in internal revolt and shall be punished
by death.
Limitation on private landholding: No Japanese family shall hold land
in excess of 100,000 yen in current market value....
Lands held in excess of the limitation on private landholding shall
revert to the state....
Popular ownership of lands reverted to state: The state shall divide the lands granted by the Imperial Household and the lands reverted to it from those whose holdings exceed the limitation and distribute such lands to farmers who do not possess their own lands. These farmers shall gain title to their respective lands by making annual installment payments to the state....
Lands to be owned by the state: Large forests, virgin lands which require
large capital investment, and lands which can best be cultivated in large
lots shall be owned and operated by the state.
Limitationonprivateproper :NoprivateindustryshallexceedthelimitoflO,000,000yen in assets. A similar limitation shall apply to private industries owned by Japanese citizens overseas.
Nationalization of industries exceeding the limitation: Any industry
whose assets exceed the limitation imposed on private industry shall be
collectivized and operated under state control....
No. 1. Ministry of Banking.- The assets of this ministry shall come from the money expropriated from large banks whose assets exceed the limitation on private industry and from individuals whose net worth exceeds the limitation on private property....
No. 2. Ministry of Navigation: Ships and other assets expropriated from private lines in excess of the limitation on private property shall be utilized mainly for transoceanic voyages in order to attain supremacy of the seas. [The ministry shall also] engage in shipbuilding (naval and commercial) and other activities....
No. 3. Ministry of Mines: Large mines whose assets or market values exceed the limitation on private industry shall be expropriated and operated by this ministry....
No. 4. Ministry of Agriculture: Management of nationally owned lands; management of Taiwan sugar industry and forestry; development of Taiwan, Hokkaido, Karafuto (Southem Sakhalin), and Ch6sen (Korea); development of South and North Manchuria and colonies to be acquired in the future; and management of large farms when acquired by the state.
No. 5. Ministry of Industries: Various large industries expropriated by the state shall be reorganized, unified, and expanded to form a truly large industrial combine through which all types of industries may acquire competitive advantages now possessed by comparable foreign industries. The ministry shall also operate industries urgently needed by the nation but not undertaken by private parties. Naval Steel Works and Military Ordnance Factories shall be placed under this ministry's jurisdiction and be operated by it....
Railways whose assets do not exceed the limitation on private industry
shall be open to private operation.
Vast income of the national treasury: The vast income realized by the
industrial ministries shall be sufficient for the expenditures of various
service ministries and guarantee adequate living conditions for the people
as described below. Therefore, with the exception of basic income
taxes, all other inequitable taxes shall be abolished. Without exception,
all industrial ministries shall be taxed in a manner similar to all private
industries....
Functions of the Ministry of Labor: A Ministry of Labor shall be established within the Cabinet to protect the rights of all workers employed by state-owned and privately owned industries. Industrial disputes shall be submitted to the Ministry of Labor for arbitration in accordance with a law to be enacted independently....
Working hours: Working hours shall be uniformly set at eight hours a day. Wages shall be paid for Sundays and holidays when no work is performed. Farm workers shall receive additional wages for the overtime work performed during the busy farming seasons.
Distribution of profits to workers: One half of the net profits of private industries shall be distributed to workers employed in such industries. All workers, mental and physical, shall participate in the profit distribution proportionate to their salaries or wages. Workers shall elect their own representatives to participate in the industry's management planning and bookkeeping. Similar provisions shall apply to farm workers and landlords.
Workers employed in state-owned industries shall receive semi-annual bonuses in lieu of the profit distribution....
Establishment of employee-shareholder system: Every private corporation
shall set up a provision under which physical and mental workers in their
employment shall have the right to become stockholders of the corporation.
Protection of tenant farmers: The state shall enact a separate law,
based on the basic human rights, to protect tenant farmers tilling the
lands owned by small landlords whose holdings do not exceed the limitation
on private lands.
Women's labor: Women's labor shall be free and equal to that of men.
However, after the reorganization, the state shall make it a matter of
national policy that the burden of labor shall not rest on the shoulders
of women. In order to prepare women to replace men in providing needed
labor in a national emergency, women shall receive education equal to that
of men.
Children's right to live: Children under fifteen years of age without both parents or father, having rights as children of the state, shall be uniformly supported and educated by the state....
Support of the aged and disabled: The state shall assume the responsibility of supporting those men and women sixty years of age or over who are poor and not having their natural born or adopted sons. Similar support shall be given to those disabled and crippled persons who are poor, unable to work, and without fathers and sons.
Rights to education: National (compulsory) education shall last for a period of ten years from ages six to sixteen. Similar education shall be given to both male and female. There shall be instituted a fundamental reform in the educational system....
English shall be abolished and Esperanto shall become the second language....
Continuation of the conscript system: The state, having rights to existence and development among the nations of the world, shall maintain the present conscript system in perpetuity....
Positive right to start war: In addition to the right to self-defense,
the state shall have the right to start a war on behalf of other nations
and races unjustly oppressed by a third power. (As a matter of real concern
today, the state shall have the right to start a war to aid the independence
of India and preservation of China's integrity.)
As a result of its own development, the state shall also have
the right to start a war against those nations who occupy large colonies
illegally and ignore the heavenly way of the co-existence of all humanity.
(As a matter of real concern today, the state shall have the right to start
a war against those nations which occupy Australia and Far Eastern Siberia
for the purpose of acquiring them.)
From David John Lu, Sources ofjapanese History, Vol. 2 (New York: McGraw-Hi]
I, 1974), pp. 131-36. Reprinted
by permission.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. How did Mussolini view democracy, socialism, and pacifism?
2. Why would Mussolini's passionate embrace of heroism and violence
appeal to so many Italians (and others) in the 1920s?
Fascism is now a completely individual thing, not only as a regime, but as a doctrine. And this means that today Fascism, exercising its critical sense upon itself and upon others, has formed its own distinct and peculiar point of view, to which it can refer and upon which, therefore, it can act in the face of all problems, practical or intellectual, which confront the world.
And above all, Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism-born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision-the alternative of life or death. Thus a doctrine which is founded upon this harmful postulate of peace is hostile to Fascism. And thus hostile to the spirit of Fascism, though accepted for what use they can be in dealing with particular political situations, are all the international leagues and societies which, as history will show, can be scattered to the winds when once strong national feeling is aroused by any motive-sentimental, ideal, or practical. This anti-pacifist spirit is carried by Fascism even into the life of the individual; the proud motto of the Squadrista, "Me nefrego" (I do not fear), written on the bandage of the wound, is an act of philosophy not only stoic, the summary of a doctrine not only political-it is the education to combat, the acceptance of the risks which combat implies, and a new way of life for Italy. Thus the Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide: he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, life which should be high and full, lived for oneself, but above all for others-those who are at hand and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after.
This "demographic" policy of the regime is the result of the above premise. Thus the Fascist loves in actual fact his neighbor, but this "neighbor" is not merely a vague and undefined concept, this love for one's neighbor puts no obstacle in the way of necessary educational severity, and still less to differentiation of status and to physical distance. Fascism repudiates any universal embrace, and in order to live worthily in the community of civilized peoples watches its contemporaries with vigilant eyes, takes good note of their state of mind and, in the changing trend of their interests, does not allow itself to be deceived by temporary and fallacious appearances
Such a conception of life makes Fascism the complete opposite of that doctrine, the base of the so-called scientific and Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history; according to which the history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production. That the changes in the economic field new discoveries of raw materials, new methods of working them, and the inventions of science-have their importance no one can deny; but that these factors are sufficient to explain the history of humanity excluding all others is an absurd delusion. Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conceptions of history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class war is also denied-the natural progeny of the economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society. These two fundamental concepts of Socialism being thus refuted, nothing is left of it but the sentimental aspiration-as old as humanity itself-towards a social convention in which the sorrows and sufferings of the humblest shall be alleviated. But here again Fascism repudiates the conception of "economic" happiness, to be realized by Socialism and, as it were, at a given moment in economic evolution to assure to everyone the maximum of well-being. Fascism denies the materialist conception of happiness as a possibility, and abandons it to its inventors, the economists of the first half of the nineteenth century: that is to say, Fascism denies the validity of the equation, well-being = happiness, which would reduce men to the level of animals, caring for one thing only-to be fat and well-fed-and would thus degrade humanity to a purely physical existence.
After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage. The democratic regime may be defined as from time to time giving the people the illusion of sovereignty, while the real effective sovereignty lies in the hands of other concealed and irresponsible forces. Democracy isa regime nominally without a king, but it is ruled by many kings-more absolute, tyrannical, and ruinous than one sole king, even though a tyrant. This explains why Fascism, having first in 1922 (for reasons of expediency) assumed an attitude tending towards republicanism, renounced this point of view before the March to Rome; being convinced that the question of political form is not today of prime importance, and after having studied the examples of monarchies and republics past and present reached the conclusion that monarchy or republicanism are not to be judged, as it were, by an absolute standard; but that they represent forms in which the evolution-political, historical, traditional, or psychological-of a particular country has expressed itself.
From Benito Mussolini, "The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism," Intemational Conciliation, 306 (January 1935), pp. 5-17, passim. Reprinted by permission of the Clarnegie Endowment for International Peace.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. What were Hitler's views on the racial characteristics of Germans?
2. According to Hitler, what was the function of propaganda?
The basic racial elements are differently situated, not only territorially but also in individual cases within the same territory. Nordic men exist side by side with Eastern types; Easterners, with Dinarics; both of these types, with Westerners; and everywhere among them are mixed types. On the one hand this is a great disadvantage: The German folk lacks that sure instinct of the herd which has its roots in the unity of blood and, especially in moments when great danger threatens, preserves the nation from collapse, in as much as with such a folk all small internal distinctions will then immediately disappear and the common enemy will be faced with the closed front of the uniform herd. In the existence side by side of our most varied component racial elements, which have remained unmixed, lies the foundation of that which we designate with the word superindividualism. In peaceful times it may sometimes perform good services for us, but, considered all in all, it has deprived us of world supremacy. If the German folk, in its historical development, had possessed that herdlike unity which other peoples have enjoyed, the German Reich would today be mistress of the globe. World history would have taken another course, and no one can tell whether in this way that might not have been attained which so many deluded pacifists are hoping today to wheedle by moaning and whining: A peace supported not by the palm branches of tearful pacifistic female mourners but founded by the victorious sword of a master race (Herrenvolk) which places the world in the service of a higher culture....
To whom must propaganda appeal? To the scientific mind or to the less educated masses?
The task of propaganda does not lie in a scientific education of the individual but in pointing out to the masses definite facts, processes, necessities, etc., the significance of which in this way is first to be brought within the masses' range of vision.
The art lies exclusively therein, to do this in such an excellent way that a universal conviction arises of the reality of a fact, of the necessity of a process, of the correctness of something necessary, etc. Since it is not and cannot be necessary in itself, since its task, just as in the case of a placard, consists of bringing something before the attention of the crowd and not in the instruction of those who are scientifically trained or are seeking education and insight, its efficacy must always be oriented more to the emotions and only in a very restricted way to the so-called "intellect."
All propaganda has to appeal to the people and its intellectual level has to be set in accordance with the receptive capacities of the most-limited persons among those to whom it intends to address itself. The larger the mass of men to be reached, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be set....
The art of propaganda lies precisely therein, that, comprehending the great masses' world of emotions and imagination, it finds the way, in a psychologically correct form, to the attention and, further, to the hearts of the great masses.
The receptive capacity of the great masses is very restricted, its understanding small. On the other hand, however, its forgetfulness is great. On account of these facts all effective propaganda must restrict itself to very few points and impress these by slogans, until even the last person is able to bring to mind what is meant by such a word....
In general the art of all truly great popular leaders at all times consists primarily in not scattering the attention of a people but rather in concentrating it always on one single opponent. The more unified this use of the fighting will of a people, the greater will be the magnetic attractive force of a movement and the more powerful the force of its push. It is a part of the genius of a great leader to make even quite different opponents appear as if they belonged only to one category, because the recognition of different enemies leads weak and unsure persons only too readily to begin doubting their own cause.
When the vacillating masses see themselves fighting against too many enemies, objectivity at once sets in and raises the question whether really all the others are wrong and only one's own people or one's own movement is right.
Therewith, however, appears already the first weakening of one's own force. Consequently, a number of intrinsically different opponents must always be comprehended together, so that in the view of the masses of one's own adherents the fight is only being carried on against one enemy alone. This strengthens the faith in one's own cause and increases the bitterness toward the aggressor against this cause.
In all cases in which there is a question of the fulfillment of apparently impossible demands or tasks, the entire attention of a people must be concentrated only on this one question, in such a way as if being or non-being actually depends on its solution. Only in this way will one make a people willing and capable of really great accomplishments and exertions.
From Raymond Murphy, National Socialism: Basic Principles, Their Application
by the Nazi Party’s Foreign Organization, and the Use of Germans Abroad
for Nazi Aims (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1943), pp. 845-49,
passim.