With or Without Comment (1943)

From the October 1943 issue of the Socialist Standard

Holy Russia

As it was 20 years ago : —

“There is full religious toleration, but the communist party is fiercely anti-clerical and conducts an unremitting controversy with the orthodox church— certainly the most reactionary and grossly superstitious form of belief that survives in the civilised world.— (“The Russian Workers’ Republic.” H. N. Brailsford. Published about 1921. P. 150.)

As it is to-day : —

“A nation-wide programme of church repair and reconstruction has been started in the Soviet Union. 

Archbishop Sergei, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the chairman of the Moscow Soviet have visited the new Virgin Monastery in Moscow to inspect damage done. 

Soviet architects are preparing blue-prints of a model type of village church to be erected in place of the  hundreds burned down by the Germans. Work is also going on on plans for restoring to the smallest detail the famous Istra Monastery, which was badly damaged by the Germans in 1941.”—(Reuter, Moscow, March 11. Manchester Guardian, March 13, 1943.)

“Marshal Stalin on Saturday officially received, in his capacity as Soviet Premier, the acting Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow, Metropolitan Alexis of Leningrad, and Metropolitan Nikolai of Kiev. In the course of the conversations Metropolitan Sergei informed Stalin and Molotov . . . that the Church leaders intended shortly to call an assembly of Orthodox bishops to elect a Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and to set up a Holy Synod, or Church Council, under the Patriarch. Stalin, as head of the Government, received this information sympathetically and declared that the Government would have no objection.—(Daily Worker, September 6, 1943.)

Mr. Alexander Werth, Moscow Correspondent of the Sunday Times (August 22) suggests that one of the reasons for the favour now shown to the Church by the Russian Government is the desire to increase the birth rate.

Another obvious explanation of the change is that now the Communist International has been formally disbanded the Orthodox Church will serve as a useful means by which Russian foreign policy can exercise influence in those Balkan countries where the Orthodox Church is strong. The Times cautiously remarks that it is better that Russian interest should be expressed through the Church than through Communist channels.— (Times, September 17.)

“The Archbishop of York, 68-years-old Dr. Garbett, travelled to Russia . . . with two small suitcases—one held his ordinary clothes, the other his ceremonial robes, vestments in cloth of gold and the gold-lined mitre.”— (Daily Mail, September 16, 1943.)

Was this journey really necessary?

“We greet you, we salute you, we thank you, we remember you in our prayers, and we say God bless and God guide the people of Russia and their great leader, Joseph Stalin.— (Bishop of Chelmsford; who said also that Christians in Russia form “a far larger number and percentage of the general population than is the case in this country.” Daily Telegraph, June 28, 1943.)

* * * *

An Excellent Precedent

“Mussolini, trying to assert himself in his old blustering manner, complained of the lack of light and running water when he was imprisoned on Ponzi Island, according to neutral travellers reaching Madrid from Rome to-day.

He did not complain for long. According to one account (quoted by British United Press). Mussolini was told by the prison warden :

‘This prison was built on plans signed and approved by yourself. Thousands of your political prisoners have been lodged here—and you are the first to complain.'”—(Evening Standard, August 26, 1943.)

When shall we see Ministers of Health living in “workers'” houses, food millionaires living on the food they sell, Ministers of Labour labouring at the wages they fix?

* * * *

Morals and 1,000,000 Slum Dwellings

“You cannot expect cleanliness, truth and honesty from people brought up in houses which are damp, verminous and without sanitary decency. There must be a million such houses in this country. Sexual morality fails when there is deplorable overcrowding in filthy houses. 

For 50 years after the present war we shall be struggling to regain the moral and social level which our people reached at the end of the Victorian era. The Church can give invaluable service in this task, but we must show a wisdom bred of wide understanding and sympathy.”—(Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham (reported in Daily Telegraph, May 27, 1943.)

* * * *

A Reform Which Didn’t Reform

A Companies Act was passed in 1928 to remedy abuses of the law governing companies. In 1929 the 1928 Act and all other existing Companies legislation was consolidated in the Companies Act, 1929.

Its sponsors said it was a very good act. It was based on the report “of a very able Committee” (President of the Board of Trade, House of Commons, February 21, 1928). “The House,” he said, “owes a real debt of gratitude to the members of that Committee.” On April 29, 1929, he said that the Consolidated Act was “a perfect piece of consolidation,” and that a tribute was due to the Parliamentary draftsmen for their work.

It might have been supposed that such a well-favoured Act, running to 385 Sections and 12 Schedules, could be regarded as the last word on the subject; but now the Government has appointed a new committee to inquire into the matter all over again. The Manchester Guardian explains the new inquiry thus : —

“This new review … is dictated, first, by evasive practices (some plainly criminal) which have developed in recent years and, by changes that have taken place in the same period in the industrial and commercial practice of the country. The ‘shameful swindling’ of the inventor (as an authoritative voice called it) by ingenious rogues acting barely within the terms of the 1929 Act is perhaps the principal motive behind the new inquiry.”—(Manchester Guardian, June 30, 1943.)

In short, the ingenious rogues soon found new legal ways of “driving a coach and four” through the 1929 Act; and the Times is sceptical whether the new inquiry will do anything better : —

“Unless the present Committee are extraordinarily successful in interpreting the current of public opinion (as well as in remedying past and present abuses) and in picturing the future form of organisation of industry, the Companies Act of their amending, like the Act of 1929, will itself be wanting amending long before the 1950’s or 1960’s.”—(Times, July 5, 1943.)

It is interesting to record an observation made by the President of the Board of Trade at the time of the 1928 Act. He scouted the idea “that frauds and lesser malpractices can be stopped by the simple expedient of a prohibition by Act of Parliament” (House of Commons, February 21, 1928) and went on to make the illuminating remark that “the imposition of statutory regulations and prohibitions might not merely put a stop to the activities of a wrong-doer but place quite intolerable fetters upon honest business.” It was better in some cases, he said, to refrain from action “because it might be of doubtful advantage and might gravely interfere with the necessary elasticity of business.”

How long will it be before the new Act is shot through like the old one?

* * * *

News About the Next War

A short while ago a Royal Air Force officer said that whether bombing won this war or not, it would certainly win the next war. I doubt if Sir Arthur Harris would agree.

“It appears to me that bombing should be regarded in the framework of military history. No two major wars are dominated by the same weapon. The war of 1914-18 was a submarine war It was very nearly won by submarines. The Germans thought that the following war would be a submarine war; but it has turned out to be a bomber war. That, in itself, implies that the next war will not be a bomber war, but a war dominated by some new weapon, perhaps some form of radio weapon.”—(Major Oliver Stewart, Evening Standard, September 1, 1943.)

“. . . Having had two wars in one lifetime, we are naturally running the second war rather better, very much better, than we did the first. If we have a third war in our lifetime—and I hope we shall not—we shall run that war with almost complete perfection, in the light of this second experience.”—(Mr. Herbert Morrison, Home Secretary, House of Commons, May 26, 1943.)

* * * *

Russia Abandons Educational Experiments

Admirers of Soviet Russia used to make much of their educational methods, co-education, self-government, free secondary education, and so on. One by one these have been abandoned. The following summary is from the Economist (August 28, 1943) :—

“The new school year in Russia starts with a sensational reform. The co-education of boys and girls in secondary schools has been prohibited. . . . The reform is to be enforced with the utmost determination. . . . No reasons have been, given officially to explain this step, which marks a significant departure from Soviet pedagogical principles. Co-education was until recently regarded as one of the progressive features in which Soviet schools took a particular pride. The reform is, no doubt, in keeping with the reforms carried out a few years before the war, which brought the Russian school back to its more or less traditional path. The so-called self-government of school children was then abolished; the authority of the teacher was re-established; uniforms for school children, as well as formal examinations, were re-introduced; and last, but not least, fees were introduced for secondary schools attendance.”

Alexander Werth, Moscow correspondent of the Sunday Times, reports (August 22, 1943) that a Russian paper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, in a recent article, emphasised that “boys must train to be soldiers and technicians. . . . The essential function of girls—who among other things will in the schools receive special training in sewing, hygiene, and cooking—’is to become future mothers.’ ”

Mr. Werth goes on :—.

“In youth organisations today the idea of authority of parents and teachers is being strongly inculcated. The enormous losses suffered in the war . . . coming on top of the various errors in the past, such as the abortion laws, which were not repealed until 1936, have unquestionably prompted the Government to adopt a long-term population and birth-rate policy with a return to strong family principles. In this connection it is interesting to observe the encouragement given to the Churches, especially in rural areas.”— (Sunday Times, August 22, 1943.)

* * * *

Comrades in Arms?

” Nowadays privates and N.C.O.s travelling in a bus, tube or train, must give up their seats to men of senior rank should they be standing.”—(From an article on New Regulations in the Russian Army, Daily Worker, July 9, 1943.)

“There is a very great division indeed between rates of pay for officers and men of the Red Army. The men get 10 roubles a month. That is about 6d. of my money. An officer of field rank on active service in the line earns up to three or four thousand roubles a month.”—(Paul Holt, Moscow Correspondent of Daily Express, May 24, 1943.)

* * * *

The Vatican and its Money

The Daily Express (September 4, 1943) reported the arrival in London of a Signor Fummi who is “an important banker in Italy, and advises the Pope on financial matters. The Vatican State is probably by far the richest for its size in the world and its finances are spread in almost every country. The Pope takes a personal interest in the various investments and sees that the resources of the Papacy are carefully nursed. Recently he sent a representative to America to look into investments there, and Signor Fummi will spend some time with Bank of England and other financial experts going into the considerable Vatican finances invested here.”

Forward (September 11, 1943) quotes the following from The Week : —

“What may prove a new factor of international importance is disclosed in news reaching us from an unimpeachable New York source to the effect that the Vatican account has now been effectively concentrated in the hands of the Morgan Bank. And it is stated the account is … probably among the three largest single accounts now handled by the House of Morgan. The account, it appears, by no means represents merely the gigantic Vatican funds raised in the United States, but on the contrary is to a considerable extent composed of moneys raised in Europe and transferred to New York.”

Edgar Hardcastle