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2029 Questionl COIIlIllunism professes te offer better livinr; standards tor the masses, attained through more equitable allocation of the fruits of produotion. Based upon your observations in Russia, do you consider this claim valid? Answer I It might be oonsidered that partioipation in the truits ot produotion is more equitable in Russia, beoause there is less spread between the riohest and the poorest than there is in the U,S,A. However, this is a levelling-down process. Their poor are in worse straits than ours; their most affluent do not approach the standards to which you and I are accustomed. Communist R1.\ssia has never attained a living standard at all comparable with our own, She has learned that deficiencies, no matter how equitably they may be apportioned, 40 not afford abundance, Production is the primary need. Efficient:. production can tolerate a little maldistribution. The communist ideology places its emphasis on distribution, the minor factor, at the eXJXlnse of prodUC- tion, the major factor. The attainmmt of prosperity and abundance is predominantly a problem in produotion. It is a problem in addition and multiplication, not a problem in subtraction and division. Question: Is Russia out to communize the world? Answer: In my opinion, this 'is undoubtedly the case. Lenin stated the thesis that Russia could not long exist as a lone cOlllllunist state in a capitalist w:>rld. When Lenin died, the leftist or Trotsky element in the Communist Party favored the immediate promotion of world revolution to avert the demise of Russia as a single communist state, Stalin, on the other hand, held that the principles of COIlllllUn- ism should first be applied in Russia, She should demonstrate to the world the merits of the communist sY'-ltem, To this end, Russia needed equipment and technical help from the industrialized capitalist world. She should, therefore, forego the promotion of world revolution until some more opportune time, Stalin's views pre- vailed, In 1939, Hitler sent Ribbentrop to Moscow with a proposal which afforded to the Communists opportunity to enlarge their sphere of influence in Finland, in the Baltic States, and in the Balkans. This was too tempting an offer to pass up. The policy of moderation was scrapped. Holotov replaced Litvinov and Russia em- barked upon an adventure in imperialist absorption of satellite countries. She will, no doubt, hold to that policy so long as it continues expedie~t to do so. In view of the fact that Russia's demonstration to the world of commu- nism in action, has not been impressive, further, in view of the severe economic set-back suffered as a result of the world war, Russia has apparently abandoned hope of converting the world in the near future through the power of example. She has drawn the iron curtain to hide her failures and her internal woes, She turns to other, cruder measures. The communists know that communism has little appeal to people who 8ol"e enjoying prosperity, abundance, education and cu:j.ture. They know that the -9-