THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM
31
through native quislings who cleverly exploit national sentiment to
cover up the betrayal of the national interest.
If
Anglo-American
economic policy could be co-ordinated to embrace the democratic
countries still outside the Russian orbit so that they were convinced
they were genuine partners and not vassals, it would do more to
bolster their struggles than a whole flock of diplomatic notes. By pre–
serving the democratic processes in these countries and at the same
time making effective use of Western economic weight to increase
living standards for the masses, the issue would be clearly drawn
around the question of freedom.
The political strategy of
this
union of democratic powers either
inside or outside the United Nations should be motivated by a desire
to avoid war and prevent the one world of planned enslavement which
is the Russian program.
If
war can be avoided under existing con–
ditions, there is only one way to do it. That is by a concentration of
destructive power, under an international authority, which would
make any act of aggression by any power suicidal. Every scheme of
disarmament must therefore be complemented by a system of collective
security which would safeguard the international community against
those who violate the disarmament convention.
Without the checks and controls of international inspection no
program of disarmament is worth the paper it is printed on.
But
even with provision for inspection there is no security unless a free
public opinion exists in all the signatory nations.
For only where public
opinion is free can the secret violations of disarmament agreements be
disclosed. Such a free public opinion exists in democratic countries–
because they recognize the right of an opposition to be heard, .and
because they provide opportunities through the press, radio, and
public assembly to make charges of noncompliance known. For exam–
ple, the attempt of the Reichswehr in the German Republic to conceal
its military preparations was defeated because the political system
made it possible for the Lessings, von Ossietskys, and Tucholskys,
despite the persecution to which they were subjected, to proclaim their
findings to the world. In the United States, the inspectors could count
upon the co-operation of many citizens, inside and outside the govern–
ment, to report any evidence of violations. But in a totalitarian society
the inspectors are without allies, and they could not take any effective
steps to discover what the government was concealing from them. The
tighter the dictatorial controls are in any society, the more fantastic
it is to assume that there will be a widespread disposition on the part
of its citizens to reveal the treachery of the government to its signed
