tion of this treaty the German Government could find no
grounds for a single complaint against the U.S.S.R. as re-
gards the observance of this treaty.23

Yet Stalin kept a perfectly straight face when he ignored his pact with Hitler and announced in 1946 that

*** the Second World War against the Axis states, from
the very outset, assumed the character of antifascist war, a
war of liberation, the aim of which was also the restoration
of democratic liberties** *24

History will show that Soviet Marxist-Leninists have committed many more mistakes. We will rest, however, with just one more, from the columns of the Moscow Pravda of February 21, 1956-and Pravda means "truth" in Russian:

Left to right: Aide, Joseph Stalin, V. M. Molotov, Joachim von Ribbentrop.

In 1938 the Executive Committee of the Communist International adopted a resolution on dissolving the Communist Party of Poland in view of an accusation made at that time concerning wide-scale penetration by enemy agents into the ranks of its leading Party aktiv.

"Statement of Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs, on June 22, 1941, quoted from David J. Dallin's "Soviet Russia's Foreign Policy' (Yale University Press, 1942), p. 377.

J. Stalin, "Speech at a Meeting of Voters of the Stalin Electoral Area of Moscow" (Feb. 9, 1946), Pravda, Feb. 10, 1946.

It has now been established that this accusation was based on materials which were falsified by subsequently exposed provocateurs.

After examining all the materials on this matter, the Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union, Italy, Bulgaria, and Finland, together with the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party, have come to the conclusion that the dissolution of the Polish Communist Party was groundless.

As a member of the Political Bureau of the CPSU for years, Khrushchev bore witness to the overbearing cocksureness of Stalin, the foremost Marxist-Leninist of his time, despite his well-known "boners". Describing one such Politburo meeting, Khrushchev declared:

You should have seen Stalin's fury! How could it be admitted that he, Stalin, had not been right! He is after all a "genius," and a genius cannot help but be right! Everyone can err, but Stalin considered that he never erred, that he was always right. He never acknowledged to anyone that he made any mistake, large or small, despite the fact that he made not a few mistakes in the matter of theory and in his practical activity ***.

Such a man supposedly knows everything, sees everything, thinks for everyone, can do anything, is infallible in his behavior. Such a belief about a man, and specifically about Stalin, was cultivated among us for many years.25

Naturally one is moved to ask: Are we dealing here with some special perversion peculiar to Stalin or is the obsession of infallibility something inherently characteristic of the oracles of MarxismLeninism? In this connection it might be well to recall what Carl Schurz, a German refugee who later became a U.S. Senator, general and Secretary of the Interior, had to say about Karl Marx, whom he encountered at meetings of the Congress of Democratic Associations held in Cologne in the 1840's:

I have never seen a man whose bearing was so provoking and intolerable. To no opinion which differed from his, he accorded the honor of even a condescending consideration. Everyone who contradicted him he treated with abject contempt; every argument that he did not like he answered with biting scorn at the unfathomable ignorance that had prompted it, or with appropriate aspersion upon the motives of him who had advanced it.26

In comparatively recent times, the leader of the American Communist Party, Earl Browder, was denounced by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of its national board, in almost identical terms, as follows:

Comrade Earl Browder has apparently locked his mind against either our persuasion or the logic of events. We have tried to find the key but to no avail ***. It is a sad state

25 Nikita S. Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Feb. 25, 1956. 28 "The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz," vol. I. pp. 139 and 140 (McClure Co., New York, 1907).

of mental isolation and arrogance *** We have all contributed to making Earl Browder believe himself infallible.27 Despite his intolerance toward all who differed with him, Karl Marx arrogated to himself the freedom to declare:

All I know is that I am not a Marxist.28

While Khrushchev, at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, charged Stalin with violating Lenin's precepts and example, the latter himself described his ruthless intolerance of opposition in the following works:

My words were calculated to evoke hatred, aversion and contempt *** not to convince but to break up the ranks of the opponent, not correct an opponent's mistake, but to destroy him, to wipe his organization off the face of the earth. This formulation is indeed of such a nature as to evoke the worst thoughts, the worst suspicions about the opponent ***29

PREDICTIONS OF INCREASING POVERTY UNDER CAPITALISM

From Marx to Khrushchev, the Communists have maintained that capitalism breeds increasing misery and poverty for the workers. In his "Communist Manifesto," Marx, in 1848, insisted that:

The modern laborer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the progress of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. The worker is becoming a pauper, and pauperism is increasing even more rapidly than population and wealth.30

As late as 1954, Khrushchev echoed the same refrain which is inherent in Communist dogma

*** the invincible law of capitalism is the law of the impoverishment of the proletariat and the ruin of the peasants.31

Marx went on to emphasize that the lot of the workers was so miserable under capitalism that they possessed no property and therefore had everything to gain by revolution. Here are the words of Marx:

The proletarian has no property *** Proletarians have nothing of their own to safeguard *** Proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.32

To test the scientific validity of these assumptions we have compiled the most recent available data concerning annual earnings, automobile and property ownership in the United States, the foremost capitalist country and the chief current target of Communist criticism. These figures show that the index of full-time annual earnings of nonfarmworkers in the United States have increased from 89.2 (using 1926 figures as 100) in 1890 to 150.7 in 1947. Automobile ownership

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, speaking before the plenary meeting of the National Committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., June 18-20, 1945 (Political Affairs, a Marxist magazine, July 1945, p. 617).

"Mars-Engels Selected Correspondence," International Publishers, New York, 1936, p. 472, quoted in a letter from Friedrich Engels to Conrad Schmidt, dated Aug. 5, 1890.

V. I. Lenin, "Collected Works," Moscow, vol. XII, pp. 378-379.

The Communist Manifesto," by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Written in 1847 (International Publishers, New York, 1930), p. 41.

Nikita S. Khrushchev, speech Feb. 23, 1954; Tass, Mar. 20, 1954.

The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Written in 1847 (International Publishers, New York, 1930), pp. 39, 40, 68.

has increased 33.3 percent from 1948 to 1956, while population has increased 18 percent in the same period. Homeownership has increased from 47.8 percent of the total of occupied dwellings in 1890 to 55 percent in 1950.

INDEX OF FULL-TIME ANNUAL EARNINGS OF NONFARM WORKERS, 1890-1947 Full-time equivalent average annual earnings of nonfarm hired workers1

1 "Employment and Wages in the United States," by W. S. Woytinsky & Associates published by the Twentieth Century Fund, New York, 1953, p. 51.

1 Data are based upon reports from cooperating establishments covering both full- and part-time production and related workers who worked during, or received pay for, any part of the pay period ending nearest the 15th of the month.

1 Annual average data, which relate to all employees only, for years prior to 1939 are shown below.

59.33

Gross average weekly earnings of production workers in manufacturing industries:

"Statistical Abstract of the United States," 1958, U.S. Department of Commerce, p. 227.

1 Data are based upon reports from cooperating establishments covering both full- and part-time employees who worked during, or received pay for, any part of the pay period ending nearest the 15th of the month. These employment series have been adjusted to 1st quarter 1955 benchmark levels indicated by data from Government social insurance programs, and are comparable with those series for years prior to 1951 which have been adjusted to 1st quarter 1951 benchmarks. Hours and earnings data pertain only to production and related workers.

'Data are based upon reports from cooperating establishments covering both full- and part-time employees who worked during, or received pay for, any part of the pay period ending nearest the 15th of the month. These employment series have been adjusted to 1st quarter 1957 benchmark levels indicated by data from Government social insurance programs and are comparable with series for prior years adjusted to earlier benchmarks, except when specifically footnoted. Hours and earnings data pertain only to production and related workers. Data for 1957 and later years are subject to revision when new benchmarks become available.

Weekly earnings (including overtime) in constant and current prices for selected industries: 1939 to 1957 1

1 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1958," U.S. Department of Commerce, p. 227.

* Earnings in current prices divided by Consumer Price Index on base 1957=100.

Source: Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisers; "Economic Indicators." Based on Department of Labor data.

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