GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

6a6 ETHICS AND POLITICS: THE MODERNS
in the Spanish Civil War, General Temizzi, seat the
Duoe a telegram, after .the capture of Santander, informing
him that "the Blackshirts wore, as always, the same
warlike expression which was shaped lor them by your
will", while the first of the Ten rjomfnanriyy^fity which
the Nazi Minister for Labour has drawn up for the use of
Nazi workers reads: "We greet the Leader each morning
and we thank him each night that he has provided us
officially with the will to live."
Nor are these phenomena confined to fascist countries.
As Soviet Russia moves in the direction of Totalitarianism,
the tendency to regard every (creditable) activity on the
part of its inhabitants as springing from and sustained by
the will of the head of the State becomes increasingly
marked. For example, valuable meteorological researches
were carried out in 1937 by a number of Soviet scientists
who encamped on a drifting polar ice floe. The radio
operator attached to the party, Krenkel, sent a message
to his electors in the Ural Mountains at the time of the
first Soviet elections (December 1937) conveying the
following assurance: "We do not feel lonely in the white
wastes. The warm and mighty breath of our flourishing
Fatherland warms us. The care of our most beloved leader
Comrade Stalin increases our strength tenfold and enables
us to carry out our work/' 1
Justice as the Interest of the Stronger. The question
next arises, in pursuit of What is the will of the
with the
1 Adulation of the Leader, identification of the ruling party
State, would alio teem to be increasingly totalitarian, dimipiihingty
specifically fascist characteristics. It is intercstina, fax example, to
compare with the sentiment* of gratitude to Hitler quoted on this
page the following Hf^it** which in
appeared
an official Soviet
paper, 77* Moscow Work*, at the time of the December 1937 elections:
"Great words of Truth We have one and the same thought as the
Party a United Family The Party
of the Bolsheviks deserves the
confidence of the People We wfll close our ranks still tighter round
the Party We shall do our duty with Honour What to
happiness
live in Stalin's Epoch Under the sun of Stalin's constitution Our
votes to the fiuthhil sons of the People and our love to the Bolshevik
Party are endless."
*