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a I = ao ene ot Ta ae rane THE TECHNIQUES OF SOVIET PROPAGANDA 41 Basically, all this is very similar to Communist tactics in the de- veloped countries, and can be summed up in a word: demagogy. However, there is a new element in Communist demagogy: its exten- sion beyond all historical boundaries of hoax. It puffs itself up inte the dimensions of history and enrolls philosophy in ite service. The Western governments, involuntarily imbued with that Marxism which the Soviets peddle only to foreigners and carefully avoid in their domestic life, have decreed that the sole means of preventing Com- munist expansion in the underdeveloped countries is by extension of economic aid. From the inception of their economic aid program in 1954 until the end of 1962, the Soviet bloc loaned $5 billion to the “third world.” The Western powers have extended 75 billion in aid since the end of World War II, 15 times as much as the Soviets. Logically, Western influence in these countries should have been 15 times stronger than the Kremlin’s. Instead, it has been Moscow which has grown 15 times more influential. Prior to its recent reverses, the Communist grip on Brazil bad ightened enormously with no significant Soviet contribution, but with hundreds of millions of dollars received from Uncle Sam. In- donesia and Ghana became ‘fellow travelers” while enjoying a regular flow of dollars, prior to receipt of one ruble. Iraq similarly rejected its protectors of the Baghdad Pact before receiving anything from the Kremlin, and Cuba’s communization was in no way retarded by substantial American aid received during the first 2 years of Castro's reign. Ray objective observer must conclude, simply on the basis of available facts and results that as a means of stopping Communist expansion, Western aid such as that extended to the “third world” is a miserable failure. This is because the main premise of this policy is false. Economic aid is by itself powerless to counteract the work of the huge apparatus of political agitation. The West is losing because its economic aid is solely economic; the Kremlin is winning because its economic aid is primarily political. The peculiarities of Soviet economic aid sharply emphasizes its aim at acquisition of ke Positions in the politica] life of the “third world.” Thus, the preferred fields for Soviet aid are those requiring the maxi- mum number of technicians, either imported from the U.S.S.R., or Native personnel sent to Moscow for training and indoctrination. In either case, these technicians will spend far less time on their assigned calculations than in spreading the Kremlin’s slogans. Jupiter, said the Greeks, makes ambitious those he wishes to destroy. Those whom the Kremlin wishes to destroy it makes Marxist. This point must be stressed: The whole Western system of aid to the third world is based on a pure Marxist postulate: that beliefs are never more than reflections of needs, and that in particular Communist belief is produced only by economic injustice and discontent. From this it follows that to suppress communism it suffices to suppress misery. Elimination of the misery of developing people is, of course, neces- sary for reasons of human solidarity. ‘These people should legitimately benefit from technological progress, sense its power, acquire its spirit and thereby enter the modern world by rejecting their ancestral inertia. For the honor and the progress of mankind, it is salutary for i z 4 ie AEE Rete PE Se Te RA IY A 2 SE ” rd r ETL ET La