Private Schine's Famous Pamphlet
CALDWELL, WILLIAM
Pvt. Schine's Famous Pamphlet An examination of the document which made him an 'expert' on Communism By William Caldwell Washington In the current Army-McCarthy hearings, one thing seems to have...
...From the outset, Private Schine reveals a penchant for dates whose simplicity can be matched only by their inaccuracy...
...Aside from the absurdity of affixing an exact date to the "creation" of a philosophy that represents the collective thinking of many men over many years, Schine is also mistaken with regard to Marx...
...As for the Marshall Plan, one is astonished: Had the Private forgotten General Marshall's "treason...
...Kerensky became Premier in July...
...The author's political activities, apparently, have not been altogether wasted...
...David Schine, President and General Manager," the document consists of six small pages...
...The author states that "under Lenin's system [i.e., the one 'formulated' in 1905] the Politburo, consisting of 12 men, was to rule the Communist party and, therefore, all of the Communist and Communist-dominated countries...
...Or has Schine confused Stalinist practice with the theories of Marx and Engels...
...Nor can one credit Lenin with the formulation of the statutes...
...It is divided into six "chapters," three of which are exactly one paragraph long...
...Private Schine, listing the Soviet satellites, includes Austria...
...there is no statutory provision on this point...
...the first head of the Provisional Government was Prince Lvov...
...Offered"—as the back cover announces—as a public service by the Schine Hotels—G...
...I (1867) and Critique of the Gotha Program (1875...
...Similarly, there are no errors in the list of anti-subversive laws passed in this country since 1940...
...The simple facts: The Revolution occurred in March 1917...
...We are told that "Joseph Stalin succeeded Nicolai Lenin in 1924...
...Further on...
...This assumption is based on a pamphlet, published in 1952, called Definition of Communism, which none of those involved in the current Washington mess appear to have read...
...The author says that "the Communist party, its policies and procedures, were formulated by Nicolai Lenin in 1905...
...as for the statutes of the Russian Social Democratic Labor party, the parent organization of both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, they were adopted during the Second Congress of the party, held in the summer of 1903...
...It will be remembered that the Private, as one of Senator McCarthy's "indispensable" collaborators, helped in the near-destruction of the Voice...
...Private Schine, however, is on safe ground describing the attempts made by the United States to stop Communism...
...Man would become "perfect," having no "aim in life other than the fulfilment of his material needs ; for this, man would be denied responsibility for individual acts, freedom of thought and the right to his faith in God...
...Schine says that Lenin evolved the first "series" of Five-Year Plans...
...In his discussion of Marxist theory, we learn that Marx believed that the revolution that would eventually destroy capitalism would institute a system of "State Socialism...
...The Politburo was not organized until 1917, and its number has often varied...
...History is more complicated: Stalin did succeed Lenin, but after at least three years of intense strife among top Bolshevik leaders...
...Is it likely that Marx conceived of a world in which there would be "no materialism," but in which man's only aim would be the "fulfilment of his material needs...
...Several of the latter's basic tenets were expounded in such early writings as The German Ideology (1845-46), and some in books that appeared after 1848—e.g., Das Kapital, Vol...
...Actually, the concept of Five-Year Plans did not emerge until the late Twenties, some time after Lenin's death, and was not put into execution until 1928...
...while to a considerable extent they adhered to his proposals, they nevertheless incorporated views which Lenin had violently opposed...
...There are other errors...
...Schine refers to the Russian Revolution of 1916, which resulted in the overthrow of the Tsarist regime and the formation of a Provisional Government "under the leadership of Kerensky...
...Schine's Famous Pamphlet An examination of the document which made him an 'expert' on Communism By William Caldwell Washington In the current Army-McCarthy hearings, one thing seems to have been taken for granted by all concerned: namely, that Private G. David Schine is, in the words of his friend Roy Cohn, "very well versed on the subject of Communism...
...Considering its length, Definition of Communism contains what may well be the greatest amount of nonsense per sentence ever passed off as serious scholarship...
...Had they done so, it is safe to assume that they would have found Schine's pretensions comical...
...For example: Schine states unequivocally that "the theory of Communism was created by Marx in 1848...
...The Communist party as such, of course, did not exist until 1918...
...This would create "a world in which there will be no materialism, no classes, and no unhappiness...
...He lists the Voice of America and the Marshall Plan as two such praiseworthy efforts...
...On matters pertaining to Communist doctrine and practice, the Private is similarly misinformed...
Vol. 37 • May 1954 • No. 21
