WHITBY FREE PR~SS. WEDNESDAI ÂÛÀ1~Vf7. 1990. PÀGÉ~i PAGE SEVEN THE END 0F COMMUNISM? Late ladt year a number cf newspapers carried an essay by a senior officer of the U.S. State department entitled the "End of I-story." Its thesis was that the triumph. cf western liberal democracy over communismn was the final'chapter in human social devlopment and that the world would settie down to mundane and boring peace and prosperity. In a different context - Little Red Riding Hood killed the big bad wolf ... and they all lived happily ever after. That anything like this should have- emanated from anywhere near the power- apparatus cf the United States shows what color of spectacles they're wearing. The fallacy, as I have stated many times before, is that democracy hasn't triumphed- over anytbing - people triumpbed over repression. So-,called communism bhas in fact neyer existed except as a theory. The central element of communist tbeory was that economic power rested with the proletariat - the workers cf the stte would control the means of production and share the rewards. Seventy two years after the cemmunist revo- lution in Russia, the means cf production are controlled by the state but the state is net controlled by the people. Nikolai Ceausescu was not a cemmunist - he was a dictator wbo lived in an isolated wonld of privilege. Thie prèle- ta.riat were bis serfs who built hlm monuments and palaces, no cifferent from the feudal principalities of medieval Europe. Romania seems te have been the moot repressive of the so-called communist govenments of Europe, yet leaders in the rest apparently led equally privileged lives. It is ironic that western ceuntries have played- up te, Ceausescu because bis maverick style was seen as a crack in the iren curtain. Our preeccupation with the communist menace bas merely prolonged the ensiavement cf the Romanian people. I tbink Karl Marx weuld have heartily appreved cf events in the last year. Fer generations, one power hungry dictator after anether bas warped bis theories te justiifr their privileged position. Given the people wbo have practised it, it is net surprising that comnmunism bas a bad name. What is surprising is that the U.S. State department can't see that a Leenid Brescbnev or an Ericb Honegger is ne different from a Ferdinand Marcos or Auguste Pinochet - a dictater is a dictator is a dictator, ideclegy does net cencerui them. The only leaders in the history of "cornrunism" who could dlaim a high level of pepular support were those Wbo actually led their people from more repressive regimes. Lenin led the Russian people eut of Europe's last absolute monarchy. Mao-Tse-Tung led the Chinese against both the Japanese invaders and the western-backed dictatorship of Chiang-Kai- Shek. Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnainese against the Japanese during the Secend World War and then against the French colonial governiment and the Arnericans after that. Marshall Tito gained the support and allegiance cf the Yugoslav people as leader cf the resistance during the Second World War. Only ene sucb leader is stili alive. Fidel Castro, who freed bis people from an American-backed cictatorsbip, bas an .mmunity from being overthrown that enly a grateful populatien can provide. He may well be one of the few reniaining old-guard cemmunist leaders but the Cuban people are now educated and the wealth that once belonged te only a few la now distnibuted amongst the masses. Castro's successors will net share bis immunity. When you look at communist theory, you corne te the inescapablë conclusion that so-called western liberal demo- cracy bas adopted more cf Marxist theory than the so-called conimunlsts have. Liabor unions wbich were regarded as a cornmunist plot in the late 1800's and early 1900'91 are an accepted part of our democracy. Governinent centrel cf the economy, and, in somne cases, ownersbip of specific sectors, la accepted in varing degrees in ail western countnies. Member controlled co-cperatives, credit uniens, and mutuel insurance c ompanies coinpete witb private enterprise. The "proletariat" bas achieved far more centrol ever the means cf production in western countries than under "commumism". rmn sure Marxislacbuckling in bis grave. The people of eastern Europe did net Overtbrow their goïveruments for ideological reasons - tbey did it because they were fed up with the lies, the repression, the shortages, the excessive taxation, and the inefficient bureaucracY. They will find that many of these are just as prevalent ln demecracies. WATER PUMP HOUSE AT WHITBY HABOR, C. 1945 Tis water pump bouse, now boarded up, was built ml" 1903 for Wbltbys new waterworks system. The chimney was removed in the early 1960s. It basnet been used. since the new water plant was bufit in 1978. Whltby Ardm.Phmo 10 TEAIRS AGO from the Wednesday, January 16, 1980 edition cf the WIilTY FREB PRgSS *Port Wbltby may get relief from its overloaded sewers by October. * Reional taxes wlll increase by 10 per cent this year. *Garbage collection may ba extended te, 250 homes north of Rosland Rd. *Donald M. Fleming is Master cf Mount Zion Lodge in, Broldin for 1980. 25 YEARS AGO from the Thursda:y, January 14, 1965 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS *Gordon Richards launched the $500,000 caxnpaign to build the Wbitby General Hospital on Jan. 12 with a speech at the Rotary Club *Real Robitaille, a Wbitby Public Utilities lineman was kllled by a falling hydro pole. *Charles Stafford has retired frSm the Whitby Planning Board after many years! service. Th'fe A & P store is selling three cana of peaches for one dollar, seven cana of peas for 99 cents and 10Ograpfr-uit for 59 cents. 125 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, January-5, 1865 edi tion of the WIUTY CHRONIÇIZL " Two thousand people attended a Jan. 9 provincial ele ction nomination meeting at Whitby. " The Chronicle is supporting Conservative Thomas N. Gibbs of Oshawa ini the Jan. 16 provincial election. " Michael ODonovan is sefling curSeis (sleigbs) at bis carrnage factory on brock Street South at D>unlop St. " Carleton Lynde, a downtown dry goods merchant, has declared himself insolvent and is advertising a settiement to, bis crè4itors.