THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM
35
whose importance will be apparent to all liberals, democrats, and
socialists except those who have never engaged in political or social
action. These may be summed up in the observation that there can
be no truce in the war against Stalinism in America and that this
war must be conducted primarily by
them,
not by the government.
There can be no truce because so long as the Russian dictatorship
exists, there will be a Russian fifth column in this country which will
seek to capture or destroy every independent movement in labor,
politics, or culture. The incurable muddleheads who every time Stalin–
ism is criticized cry out that American reaction is equally bad-that
a situation in which evils are remediable by courageous democratic
action is just as bad as one in which there is not the slightest possi–
bility of such action-must in effect be regarded as unconscious allies
of the Stalinists. They give currency to the Stalinists' slander that
their critics are not struggling against evils in the American scene.
They claim to fight on both fronts simultaneously and with equal
fervor-against American capitalist democracy and Russian totali–
tarianism. Since this would be silly if the evils were not of the same
order, they must
always
affirm that they are. But their practice shows
a strange inconsistency. For although they are always willing to join
with the Stalinists in attacking the evils of Western democracy, they
refuse to associate themselves with liberal or democratic criticism of
dictatorial political practices in Russia. In effect, they believe that
capitalist democracy at its best is less desirable than Russian totali–
tarianism at its worst. They are comparable to those who refused to be–
come aroused about the organized excesses and butcheries of the Nazis
on the ground that our own hands were not altogether clean, and who
were therefore prepared to let Hitlerism sweep the world.
The task of purification must be undertaken by genuine democrats
since the reactionaries--especially those who admire Russia because la–
bor knows its place there !-cannot be trusted to distinguish between
Stalinists and those who are not. Their categories are too broad. They
usually have other political fish to fry. One never knows when they are
going to make a deal either with the Russian regime or with the Com–
munist Party. I cannot see effective aids in the struggle against totali–
tarianism in the Tammany chieftains who endorsed a Communist
candidate and who have no compunction in swallowing Bilbo.
The Popular Front Against Hitlerism failed because the Com–
munists were loyal only to the Kremlin and the capitalists feared
social reforms more than they feared fascism. The policy I am ad–
vocating is not a Popular Front of political parties but a kind of
