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.cb WILL WEST EUROPEAN COMMUNISM BECOME STALINIST


	Now that there is some prospect of the Communist parties
in France and Italy entering the government, everyone is wondering
whether their newly announced dedication to democracy is sincere.
For some people, it comes down to whether Messrs. Marchais and
Berlinguer have honest faces.
Unfortunately, even if Marchais and Berlinguer are entirely
sincere about their preference for democracy, there are forces that
will drive them towards dictatorship if they ever get power.

	It is a question of the beliefs that induce a person to become
a Communist or vote Communist in an election and the effect on those
beliefs of the actuality of Communist power.

The beliefs of Communist supporters usually include the following:
.item←1;

	#. If the consumption of the rich were diverted to the poor,
the poor would be much better off.

	#. Labor discipline is a mechanism of exploitation.

	#. Laying off surplus workers does not serve a useful
economic function.

	#. The managers of commerce and industry owe their jobs to
influence not ability and can be replaced by anyone.

	Unfortunately for the Communists these beliefs are not true
in the main.  The result of acting on them by a government has always
led to economic hard times and the alienation of of the middle class
including parts of the middle class essential for the efficient operation
of the economy.  One result is an immediate and increasing emigration
of people who can do better elsewhere.  Another result is a swing to
the right of political sentiment that promptly faces the Communists
with a choice between loss of power and dictatorship.

	What are the characteristics of this dictatorship:

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	#. Abolishing the right of other parties to contest elections.

	#. Abolition of freedom of speech and press.  In principle, one
could have a monopoly of power and a maintenance of a free press, but
no Communist government has dared try it.

	#. Abolition of the right to emigrate.  This one often goes against
the grain for Communists, both because it requires a reversal of
principles they thought they had, and because they see some advantages
in getting their opponents out of the country.  However, since they
don't offer an engineer or scientist or literary intellectual the
conditions of personal resect and personal freedom they can get elsewhere, they
simply lose too many people, and every Communist country has come to
emigration control sooner or later.  The lack of freedom seems to be
more important than income for this group, because a number of Communist
countries treat intellectuals very well economically, and many
intellectuals flee to much worse economic circumstances than they
had in the Socialist country.

	However, this is not the worst that has happened.  There is
a way out of the unpopularity that comes from the reduced economic
circumstances following the revolution.  This is to find an enemy
who can be blamed for the difficulties.  A local party leader good
at finding such enemies will keep Communist support strong in his
locality, and his superiors will love him.  They soon learn that it
doesn't pay to look to closely into the genuineness of the enemies
he has found.  This is the source of the tendency to cannibalistic
politics in Communist countries.  Once finding enemies becomes a way
to advance, it rapidly develops that the best enemy to find is a rival
in the party.

	Well, these are some of the reasons why the development of
Stalinism has substantial probability in any Communist country.  Now
that Stalinism under Stalin has been exposed to the world and to
Communist leaders the world over, one can expect strong inhibitions
against its development.  Whether these inhibitions will be sufficient
to prevent more Stalins remains to be seen.

	Recently there have developed among some Western Communists
inhibitions against dictatorship per se.  It seems very unlikely
that these inhibitions are strong enough to permit control of the
government to be given up with no attempt to establish "dictatorship
of the proletariat".  If I lived in a country, and Communists took
power, I'd emigrate while it was still possible.

	By the way, has anyone ever gotten Messrs. Berlinguer and Marchais
to say that they would give up power rather than give up democracy?
An explicit assurance might be better than nothing.