Russia and Mr. Gollancz
Russia and Ourselves. By Victor Gollancz. (Gollancz. 2s. 6d.) THIS little book is a rare example of balanced, objective criticism by a writer who, in spite of strong Left sympathies, has come to think that merely to be Left is not necessarily to be in the right. His interest in international Socialism does not make him see red whenever Russian methods are called in question. His book is prompted by the desire that this country should seize the opportunity of the new comradeship in arms and come to a solid understanding with the Soviet Union, and he appeals to his Socialist friends to play their part. He analyses with skill the causes of Stalin's pact with the Nazis in 1939. He puts most of the blame on Mr. Chamberlain for that Russian resort to appeasement ; he thinks Stalin feared that the Soviet might be left to fight a war single-handed ; but none the less, he does not seek to justify him ; the agreement was not " statesmanlike." He does not defend the aggression against Finland and the Baltic States, though it has proved in the sequel to have contributed much to Hitler's discomfiture. Again, in turning to examine the Socialism of the Soviet Union, he frankly admits that it is " in much of its daily practice far less socialist than such a capitalist democracy as our own "; he condemns its totalitarianism as being patently at variance with individual liberty, and rebukes those Communist propagandists who pretend that Russia today is " really " a democracy, or that it enjoys freedom of opinion. Reasoned moderation is finding in Mr. Gollancz an unexpected ally.
And then he goes on, in the twofold interest of winning the war and of coming to better terms with Russia, to urge British Socialists to put their own socialism in order ; to dwell less on anti-capitalist doctrines, and more on the crusade for freedom, on the war against evil, on " the embodiment of goodness in organised social life." He does not allow that this is an " Imperialist " war, and even says that the issue is not Socialism, but Freedom. This statement, which is his last word, appears to contradict what he wrote in an earlier page, that the choice for the world lay between Fascism and Socialism. The fact is, that old ideological contrast is getting out of date. It is interesting that in the course of writing this book he should come to appreciate the falsity of the antithesis, and to recognise that the real opposites are not Fascism and Socialism, but tyranny and freedom. It is for freedom, a real freedom, that he asks his brother Socialists to wage their crusade—as, we might add, many Liberals want to wage it, and many Conservatives. When we read such words as these we begin to wonder what is happening to the differentia of Socialism. What decent person would not be a Socialist if Mr. Gollancz has
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