AP,
Consult
"Taste
Elliott & Elliott
Tells"
Opticians FOR
Johnston's
Your
Eyes !
SAUSAGES
and
Piccadilly Arcade, Perth
FRANKFURTS NO. 3,076.
Tel. B7988 SEVENTIETH TILL
PRIOR THRZIPINOL
PERTH, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1943.
tragedy of 'War Revives
"Had Hitler foreseen that he would turn against himself the Russian people's spiritual dynamism, he would no doubt never have dared to invade Russia."
Russia's Traditional Spirit ''NO LONGER COMMUNISM BUT THE FATHERLAND AT STAKE communist Party and other standard slogans, current in Soviet literature before the war. This is probably due to the fact that the Soviet reader has lost all interest in official ideology. What it wants in a national patriotic liters. ture and the direct experience of the men at the front.
Soviet Writers Have Dropped Obsolete ShibbolethsWhat the Fuehrer did not foresee
Here for instance are a few lines one of the most popular poems writttn during the war. This poem, entitled ''A Letter of a Red Army Soldier to His Friend," was composed by Constantine Somonov, quite a prominent Soviet playwright and poet: Do you remember, friend, the road to Smolensk, Under the endless, cruel rains, And the women who brought up jugs of milk, Pressed to their faded breasts?
Russian resistance to Hitler has been and still is often interpreted as a proof of Communist achievements (says Helen Iswolsky, in the It is thanks. the public at large is told, New York "Commonweal"). to the efficiency of Stalin's system, "unanimously recognised by the Soviet people'. that the Russian army and the Russian people have rallied around Stalin in order to defend their ideals, which are Com-
munist ideals. No As the following will show, that is a sheer misrepresentation. mention of Communism as an incentive to winning the war is made It is the Fatherland, and not Communism, which in Russia to-day. It is the national ideal which is defended against the is at stake. invader. It is the love of Russian soil, of Russian cultural and historical traditions, which is being continually exalted. to Ambassador Russian The writer is the daughter of a former France. and is therefore competent to speak with first-hand knowledge of the subject. Communist propaganda
abroad has
of course, taken advantage of Russian
resistance and Russian success; it lauds with renewed energy the Bolshevik regime for having performed the miracle of stemming Hitler's legions. And men who are not Communists are easily impressed by this glamorous picture; they believe that it is the Communist spirit which stimulates the Russian people and leads them on to victory. This conviction provokes various reactions: the public is inclined either to iustify Communism in Russia in so far as it is proving efficient in the struggle against Hitler; or to regard Russian victories with suspicion and fear, because they mark the triumph of "Red Imperialism." It is useless to point out that both reactions are as unfortunate as they are detrimental, for they breed distrust and misunderstanding.
For Value and Service
Ilitler's agents make use of both tendencies: they suggest on one hand that the democratic countries are allied to Communism. On the other hand they encourage a whispering campaign hinting that "capitalist" England and America are secretly hostile to the Soviet Union's victory. In order to dispel these misunderstandings, it is useful to turn to direct Soviet sources. Not to Bolshevik propaganda, exported abroad, but to the manifestations of cultural life, of art, :iterature, music, which reflect the Soviet Union's present mood. A Notable Change. If we study these sources it will become obvious that a change has come over the U.S.S.R. No mention of communism as a system, doctrine or faith, is made in Russia to-day, It is
the Fatherland, and not Communism,
brushed away their tears, And whispered: "God help you
Do you remember how they
just as did the soldiers' wives "Of Stalin's achievements. of the prestige and authority of the Party, we hear little or nothing."
In the old days of great Russia'
I: 1- the national ideal which is defended against the invader. The love of Russian soil, of
You know, friend, I understood that the fatherland Is not the house in the city I lived in, But these roads where our fathers marched before us, And the humble crosses of Russian
Russian cultural and historical traditions, is being continually exalted. Of Stalin's achievements. of the prestige and authority of the Party, we hear little or nothing. Most Russian artists, painters. musicians, writers and poets have been mobilised; many of them are in active service in the firing lines or in besieged A number of prominent aucities. thors, like the novelist Tikhonov and the poet Surkov, are war correspondents, working out at the front or in The Soviet heavily raided towns. press daily publishes their accounts, as well as war poems, short stories and sketches. Some of them are excellent pieces of literary production, and all present great interest as vivid human documents. None of these works sc much as mention Marxism, the "struggle of the proletariat against capitalism," the
Simonov tells us in his poem that war has for the first time brought him face This, no. to face with village life. doubt, is very typical of the new Soviet intelligentsia. Just as with the former Russian writers, who "went to the people," this direct contact with the masses has been a refreshing experience. The Soviet writer and war correspondent has acquired a new faith in peasant Russia, the feeling that the great mystery and strength of his country is hidden away in these villages among these "humble crosses." The more we study present-day Soviet writings, the more we feel that this war has not only provoked admirable feats of heroism and stirred the fighting spirit of the Russian people: it I -is ai.,o taught this people to cherish .leir country, its history, its tradi'Conttnued on Back Cover.)
ihich is at stake
graves.
Guilfoyle's Hotel Australia Registered at the G.P 0.. Perth. for transmission by post as a newspaper
Murray St., Perth Est. 45 years