Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Comments on Russia

1946; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/002070204600100105

2052-465X

H. A. Innis,

Russia and Soviet political economy

In The Russian Peasant and Other Studies (London, 1945) Sir John Maynard has written in a preface : is inevitable that one who writes about Russia in the very crisis of the struggle now convulsing the world should have his mind focused upon the ultimate relations of the Western powers with the vast federation of peoples who form the bridge between Europe and Asia . . . Neither group must try to force its own ideas, political, economic, or social, upon the other . . . On the other hand there must be agreement upon foreign policy . . . agreement . . . upon the necessity of agreement. Two worlds which do not understand each other are suddenly faced with the necessity of working out compromises. It would be presumptuous of the present writer to attempt to throw light on the problem. The effects of a first experience in a plane, the speed of travel by air, lack of knowledge of the Russian language, and the first contact with the Asiatic continent and with a new power celebrating its coming-out party must leave any observer in a state of confusion. But an experienced student has said that one must spend ten days or ten years in Russia. To be trained in political economy, a subject which has its roots in the West and which has suffered from the characteristic disease of specialization, and to realize suddenly that a vast powerful organization built around the efforts of 180,000,000 people has arisen with Lttle interest in this specialization is to find oneself compelled to search for possible contacts in the broader approach of its history. Writings on Russia reflect the bitterness of civil war, only less bitter than religious war, whether written by those sympathetic to Trotsky or by those sympathetic to Stalin. Few individuals are interested in dispassionate discussion. Lack of knowledge about Russia is not only a result of the intensely partisan character of writings but also of the deliberate policy of defence which has largely characterized Russian history. Strategy in countries emphasizing naval power in the West has always stressed the principle of attack. Suddenly one realizes that in a vast continental area, defence is the key to ultimate success. The strategy of defence springs forward to a position which it has not occupied since the castles of the mediaeval period before the invention of gunpowder. The success of defence in secrecy, destruction, or supervision of contacts with the outside world a distinct railway gauge, a difficult language for Europeans, which with Marxian indoctrination was impenetrable to propaganda, concentration on a small single party, control over the press and radio have been evident in the under-estimation of Russian strength