Karpovich Attacks Policies of Russian Soviet Political Bosses

"The Bolshevist movement in Russia will not succeed, it will crumble sooner or later unless we are prepared to throw overboard all that we know of, history, of economic law and of human nature," declared Mr. Michael Karpovich, lecturer in the Harvard History Department, in a recent interview.

Mr. Karpovich, who is opposed to the entire policy of the Soviet government, does not want the present Russian regime to be successful, because he does not believe in social justice and common ownership of property bought at so dear a price.

"It is impossible to understand what is going on in Russia today unless one takes into consideration the philosophy that lies behind it," continued Mr. Karpovich. "The whole thing is entirely misleading, for it is wrong to think of the famous five year plan of the Soviet as if it were a business proposition, just a scheme of economic reconstruction, and the economic plan itself is only one part of the general scheme sometimes referred to as the 'Russian Experiment.' This expression is again misleading. The Russian people are not experimenting--they are being experimented upon by a political organization. The Soviet has never received a mandate from the Russians to carry out this experiment which is being imposed on the country. For the Communists themselves it is not an experiment; it is a crusade for socialism carried on with a religious type of zeal that couldn't be excelled. What they are trying to do is to create in Russia a communistic society, and to do it almost overnight by decree, irrespective of the previous historical development of the country, of its present economical needs and resources, and of the wishes of the people.

"The carrying out of the plan involves merciless suppression of all and every opposition, no matter how mild or peaceful it may be, as well as the establishment of a thorough governmental control over not only the economic, but also the spiritual life of the nation. The individual is completely subjected to a communistic state of mind--either 100 percent communist or not at all, is the criterion.

"The forced revolutionization of Russia on a state-industry basis, the communization of agriculture, the policy of terrorism, the war against religion, the rigid censorship in education, press and everything else--all these are but inseparable parts of the same general system which bear all the characteristics of a fanatical and intolerant doctrine of religion: 'No god but Karl Marx and Lenin his only prophet.'

"It is a formidable assault upon personal liberty, this Soviet program, and a bold assertion of the absolute supremacy of the State. Strange it is that many of the so-called 'liberals' both in Europe and in this country remain blind to the real meaning of the 'Russian Experiment'!"

Asked what he though of Stalin and the other men running Russian political affairs Mr. Karpovich replied. "Magnify a United States political boss to national importance, and make him a Communist and you have Stalin, the successor to Lenin, who started the present policy of government. The Central Committee in charge is a party of professional politicians, bent on socialistic ideas, and who have been in Russia all the time as members of an official class--they have just lately had the opportunity to get into political importance."

In regard to the setting up of factories in Russia by American capitalists Mr. Karpovich said that the contracts were awarded on non-concessional basis, buildings being constructed under local direction. Russia expelled all of her own capitalists and invites foreign ones in, because they are not dangerous.