And Never the Twain Shall Meet

Democracy means basically the same thing all over the world. It means the fullest possible participation by the people in their own government. The difference between Democracy in Eastern Europe and Democracy in the Great West is chiefly that in the latter it remains a matter of theory. This was the core of a most provocative talk delivered by Bonk Scotney (M.A., Dip. Ed.) to over thirty members of the Socialist Club on Tuesday evening, 27th July.

There could be no effective democracy where money and power are concentrated in a few hands, where the news of the world is constantly distorted to suit private interests, and a reign of more or less open terror suppresses minorities and those who would challenge this setup. Yet this is the general picture in the United States today. Mr. Scotney quoted from Loomberg's book, "One Thousand Americans," and Seldes "America's Sixty Families," dwelling especially on the close tie-up between financial, industrial and newspaper concerns—the former dominating all. Such widely distributed periodicals as the "Readers' Digest" and "Life" were, he claimed, notoriously unreliable and patently subservient to the interests by which they were indirectly run. He quoted a remark that Colonel McCormack of the tractors, and the "Chicago Tribune" which has control of a vast section of opinion was "the greatest mind of the 14th century."

With this, Mr. Scotney contrasted the vital democracy that is being built up in Bulgaria. Here were secret elections, universal suffrage (not a catholic feature in the U.S.) and all the other concomitants of "democracy." But they lacked the private cartels and banks which were such an essential part of the Western way of life. This absence at once made possible a far more vitally democratic government and a far freer community life. He illustrated his picture of Bulgaria by constant references to articles written by a British Labour M.P. who had recently been investigating conditions there.