SIR,—In his letter on "Russia and Ourselves," Mr. David G.
Pumfrett seems to have fallen into the error of identifying Fascist and Socialist States on the grounds of the one common factor of State control. While opinions may legitimately dater as to what measure of control is desirable, the main objects of the State by which it is exercised are surely not a matter of such secondary importance as he appears to imply. The principle of "If a race gets in our way, we'll abolish it " permanently deprived its members of all hope ; nor, in fact, did they even have to " get in the way " of the Nazis before being exterminated, their very existence being considered an offence in a world which should have been reserved for those born of a superior race. While neither denying nor condoning Russian excesses, I do emphatically deny that the principle of " If a class gets in our way, we'll destroy it" need involve anything approaching the injustice inevitable in the case of that first mentioned, either in degree or in amount. Which would Mr. Pumfrett rather be, a Reich subject of (unalterably) Jewish or Slav blood, or a Soviet citizen of middle- or upper-class family origin, but with a chance of devoting his abilities to the Socialist State, as many such Russians have done without hindrance?
If State control gives opportunities for tyranny, it is also a safeguard against other tyrannies—the domination of those who are born into privileged classes or have obtained control of the means of production over the lives of those who have not. Powers laid down in black and white on the Statute Book, if the most obvious, are not the only ones, or necessarily the worst. The " destruction of a class," if this means a reorganisation whereby greater material prosperity is obtained by superior ability and energy, rather than through birth or tradition, is not necessarily a step backwards from the Victorian laissez faire which must be the logical goal of many violent objectors to certain kinds of State control.—Yours faithfully, S. A. COOPER. 38 Homefield Road, Chiswick, W. 4.
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