a

Anna Louise Strofig. assesses )
Joseph. Stalin's role in

NNA LOUISE STRONG’S

| The Stalin Era, is a cred-
itable job by a friend of the
Soviet Union. Unjustly arrest-
ed, branded as a spy and ex-
pelled from the Soviet Union,
Miss Strong bears no animos-
ity against the country where
She lived and worked as an
editor of the English lang-
uage Moscow News for many
years. Her book should help
Many people to see the recent
events in the Soviet Union in
their historical setting. It
Should also help them to rea-
lize that time and history alone
will bring a full, rounded-out
evaluation of Joseph Stalin’s
contribution to human _ pro-
gress,

The Stalin Era is a stimu-
lating and helpful book about
One of the most controversial
topics of our time: the role of
Joseph Stalin.

It paints a positive picture
of Stalin during the battle for
industrialization. Miss Strong
depicts him as the best com-
mittee man she ever met. He
Was a “man who could bring
diverse views into harmony
With a speed amounting to
genius and awaken and en-
courage the will to act by in-
dicating, out of many views,
a correct path.”

When you read this book,
you cannot question Stalin’s
outstanding leadership quali-
ties in the desperate fight to
construct a modern industry
in the Soviet Union, to assure
the success of collective farm-
ing and to prepare the count-
ry for the war he feared would
Come from the West.

Gos it xt

The period of 1936-38, in
which, according to Krushchev,
Many grave injustices and
crimes were committed, is re-

. ferred to as the Great Mad-

ness. Miss Strong describes
this period as “a complex pic-
ture combining the acts of
many groups.”

She is confident that the
Soviet investigators who are
reviewing the various cases
will find the answers. In this
Connection, she ventures an
Opinion that is startling, to
Say the least:

“They will find the key,
Most probably, in the actual,
extensive penetration of the
GPU by a Nazi fifth column,
In many actual plots, and in
the impact of these on a high-
ly suspicious man who saw his
Own assassination plotted and
believed he was saving the
revolution by a drastic purge.”

Even while Stalin was being
hailed as the architect of the
Stalin constitution he was, ac-
cording to Strong, a party to
gross violations of the basic
rights it purported to guaran-
tee to the Soviet people.

No man, she says, “Should

' be deified as Stalin was.”

Obviously criticising those
of Stalin’s colleagues who still

hold leading positions in the

Soviet Union, she points out
that they approved all of Stal-
in’s acts and thus must share
the blame.

“Eternal vigilance 1s the
price of liberty and justice,

“not only under capitalism, but

even under socialism.”

The efforts of the Soviet Un-
ion to forge collective secur-
ity and the events leading up
to the German ‘invasion of the
Soviet Union are vividly des-
cribed. In dealing with these
world shaking events, Miss
Strong takes issue with the
allegations that Stalin did not

ANNA LOUISE STRONG

properly foresee the direction
and force of the German at-
tack and failed his people as
a war-time leader, Between the
18th congress of the Soviet
Communist party in 1939 and
the 19th congress in 1952, the
Soviet Union was all but de-
stroyed and then _ rebuilt.
Whatever Stalin’s mistakes
were during this period, and
it is obvious that he made
some major errors, there is no
doubt in the author’s mind that
his will power, drive and great
prestige played a major role
in the Second Rebuilding.

The best conclusions we can
draw about Stalin at this time
are in the opening words of
her tenth chapter:

“Leaders come and go but
the people remain. Only the
peoplé are immortal.”

These were Stalin’s own
words in a speech to Soviet
metal workers, in October,
1937. In late February 1953,
Stalin was gdéne and the So-
viet people remained. His
place in history was left in
their hands.

ces xt xt

Where the author conscien-
tiously tries to place Stalin
in his true perspective, it is
obvious that while she is a
friend of the Soviet Union

and a skilled journalist, she

is not a profound Marxist. For
example, she writes: ‘Thus
in all lands, whether for or
against him, Stalin created
history.”

history

While none of us will deny
Stalin’s tremendous achieve-
ments in the building and pre-
servation of socialism, and in
world affairs, we must agree
with the central committee of
the Communist party of the
Soviet Union when it declares
that the people are the cre-
ators of history, and not the
leader or leaders they have
chosen to speak for them and:
co-ordinate their efforts.

The tragedy of Stalin’s life
is that while he, above all
Marxist writers of this cen-
tury, wrote very well on this
subject, he unfortunately
strayed from his own pre-
cepts in the last years of his
life.

The greatest tribute Miss
Strong pays to Stalin is in a
one sentence quotation, dating
back to the sharp controver-
sies over  industrialization.
Stalin said: “Build, or be

'. crushed in ten years by for-

eign intervention.”
$e xt xt

In concluding her book, the
writer indulges in some spec-
ulation about -the effects of
the revelations. She also
proves that she is still a pris-
oner of the great man theory
when she expresses her hope
that another great man, this
time a non-Russian, will em-
erge as the dominant leader
of world communism in the
second half of the 20th cen-
tury.

Conditions being what they
are today, with a world sys-
tem of socialist states and
scores of Marxist parties the
world over, it is unlikely that
any one leader will stand in
relation to the world commu-
nist movement as Stalin did
for so many years.

Today we are witnessing an
unholy ideological war against
the Soviet Union and the very
fundamentals of socialism.

It is a sad comentary on the
situation when some people
who have spent a score of years
fighting for socialism in our
country begin to question
whether or not they have been
wasting their time.

The Stalin Era should help
such people, and every left
winger and progressive, to
weigh up both the positive
and the negative and to re-
plenish the fire of their con-

victions.

Reading this book, you can
have no doubt of the eventual
triumph of socialism on a
world scale, and no doubt that
the achievements of socialism

far outweigh its failures.

The Stalin Era is published
by Mainstream Publishers,
New York and is available in
Vancouver at People’s Co-op
Book Store, 337 Pender Street.
The hard cover edition sells
for $2.50; the paper edition
for $1.25.

‘JACK PHILLIPS

\

* CBC producer Allan King spent part of last summer
making a film on Vancouver skidrow.
cameraman Jack Long and scriptwriter Ben Maartman.

With him were
The

film will be shown on Channel 2 in the series “Explorations”

on Tuesday, January 22 at 10 p.m.

“The extent to which the

viewers of ‘Skidrow’ examine the values of our community will
be the measure of success of the film,” says Maartman.

RADIO-TV

€

Is television curse —
or blessing in home?

HE argument still rages. Is
television a corrupting in-
fluence that should be kept
out of the homes, or is it a
good, healthy recreation that
holds the family together?

After a few years’ desultory
viewing, I think there is
enough supporting evidence
for a good debater to take
either side of the question and
build up a strong case.

Even the most loyal TV fan
would probably admit that
there is an over-balance of
violence and sensationalism in
television dramas; hardly any-
one would defend the commer-
cials that insult the intelli-
gence.

On the other hand, it is ob-
viously far better for a fam-
ily to laugh together watch-
ing a favorite program than
to seek diversions separately
away from home.

The saddest aspect of tele-
vision today is that it has not
developed a content to match
the impressive advances in
filming and sound reproduc-
tion. :

A TV set, though not a ne-
cessity in any home, can be
the source of much individu-
al and family edification, if
you have a clear understand-

. ing of what it is and what it

is not.

Making allowances for dif-
ferences of taste, television
seems to be best in the field
of comedy and audience par-
ticipation.

The quiz shows and stunt
programs are entertaining be-
cause people are so interest-
ing, no two faces or reactions
quite alike. ;

Every afternoon before sup

per, of course, is cowboy time
and though the naive dialogue
and monotonous plot pattern
may amuse you, the total ef-
fect of the old time Westerns
on youngsters is a good one.
Television is not a good me-
dium for ballet or for musical
programs. The screen is far
too small, the set too confined,
for any dance patterns to be
effectively projected.

Good music must be listened
to, not looked at, but televis-
ion frantically sets up phony
props and moves singers about
in hammy pantomimes, there
by completely about in hammy
pantomimes, thereby com-
pletely ruining the effect of or-
chestra and voice.

No, if you want only music
stick to your radio and record
player.

I think eventually the level
of the programs will rise. In
the meantime, there is some-
thing of value for those tired
moments when you need to
laugh, to relax, to have your
thinking done for you.

Television is no substitute
for talk; conversation should
never be sacrificed for any
program. TV can never take
the place: of an interesting
book; and I doubt if it can

ever be very effective as a

school.

If we use television in mod-
eration (like alcohol!), choos-
ing the best programs and not
too many, of those, refusing
to look at stupidities and
guiding our. children’s tastes,
I would say TV is worth almost
as much as you have to pay.
for the purchase, installation
and upkeep of it.

AMY CLARKE

JANUARY 18, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 13