Khrushchev is one of the most infamous of traitors in world history and my contempt for him knows no bounds.  But even the most despicable of characters occasionally makes some true comments.  One of his accurate assessments pertains to the Berlin Wall and the reasons for its existence.  A good deal of discussion has appeared on this list lately with reference to why the socialist countries appear to have collapsed and, unfortunately, much of the commentary has been decidedly abstruse and esoteric.  I would like to approach the problem from the opposite direction by highlighting an absolutely critical practical problem with which the socialist countries were confronted from the very beginning.  Several weeks ago in answer to a question, I said that the most critical problem for the maintenance of socialism is that of selecting the most intelligent, dedicated, determined, informed, motivated, and accurate leaders, for without the best people in leadership positions all else is for naught.  In the following two essays Khrushchev focuses on what is definitely a very close second as far as all socialist leaders are concerned when it comes to deciding what is crucial; a dilemma that plagued not only Khrushchev but Stalin as well--witness the Berlin Blockade in 1948.

        The first essay with the appropriate page numbers is from his book entitled KHRUSHCHEV REMEMBERS
The second is on the same topic and can be found in KRUSCHCHEV REMEMBERS--THE GLASNOST TAPES.
         The question that every Marxist-Leninist must ask himself, for this would have confronted Lenin, too, had he lived, is: How would you solve the following problem which became refractory.  What would you have done in the same situation.  It is a real mind-binder and the capitalists place a tremendous amount of reliance on it giving them victory in the long run.  I must confess that I, like Stalin and Khrushchev, find it to be a tremendous challenge.

KHRUSHCHEV STATES THE FOLLOWING:

 Page 454

         Meanwhile, Walter Ulbricht and our other comrades in the GDR were facing serious troubles directly stemming from the ambiguous status of West Berlin.  Berlin was an open city, which posed two problems: First, there was the problem of people crossing from East Berlin into West Berlin.  The GDR had to cope with an enemy who was economically very powerful and therefore very appealing to the GDR's own citizens.  West Germany was all the more enticing to East Germans because they all spoke the same language.  An East German with adequate professional qualifications had no difficulty finding a job if he moved to West Germany.  The resulting drain of workers was creating a simply disastrous situation in the GDR, which was already suffering from a shortage of manual labor, not to mention specialized labor.  If things had continued like this much longer, I don't know what would have happened.  I spent a great deal of time trying to think of a way out.  How could we introduce incentives in the GDR to counteract the force behind the exodus of East German youths to West Germany?  Here was an important question--the question of incentives.  How could we create conditions in the GDR which would enable the state to regulate the steady attrition of its working force?

Page 455

         The second problem was the problem of the West Berliners' easy access to East Berlin.  Residents of West Berlin could cross freely into East Berlin, where they took advantage of all sorts of communal services like barbershops and so on.  Because prices were much lower in East Berlin, West Berliners were also buying up all sorts of products which were in wide demand--products like meat, animal oil, and other food items, and the GDR was losing millions of marks.
         Of course, even if we had a peace treaty, it wouldn't have solved these problems because Berlin's status as a free city would have been stipulated in the treaty and the gates would have remained open....
 The GDR's economic problems were considerably relieved by the establishment of border control between East and West Berlin.  Comrade Ulbricht himself told me that the economy of the GDR immediately began to improve after the establishment of border control.  The demand for food products in East Berlin went down because West Berliners were no longer able to shop there.  This meant that the limited supply of consumer products was available exclusively to the citizens of East Berlin....
         Of course there were some difficulties.  The East Berliners who had jobs in West Berlin were suddenly out of work.  But there was never any problem of unemployment.  On the contrary, most of the people affected were construction workers, who were very much needed in East Germany.  They were all given jobs suitable to their qualifications....

Page 456

         If the GDR had fully tapped the moral and material potential which will someday be harnessed by the dictatorship of the working-class, there could be unrestricted passage back and forth between East and West Berlin.  Unfortunately, the GDR--and not only the GDR--has yet to reach a level of moral and material development where competition with the West is possible.  The reason is simply that West Germany possesses more material potential and therefore has more material goods than the GDR....  If we had at our disposal more material potential and had more ability to supply our material needs, there's no question but that our people would be content with what they would have and they would no longer try to cross over to the West in such numbers that the drain has become a major threat to a state like the GDR.
 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

KRUSCHCHEV REMEMBERS--THE GLASNOST TAPES.

Page 163

         When the two German republics were being formed, West Berlin became a stumbling block and destroyed relations among former allies as well as between the East and the West.  The West began to step up subversive efforts inside the GDR, using West Berlin as a base.  This was fairly easy for the West to do because Germans were used against Germans.  The usual problems of language, of a strange culture, and of outward appearance of agents did not exist as the West looked for agents to send into the East.  Besides, there used to be unrestricted travel and communication between the two sides.  The borders were open borders.  Of course, this meant that the German Democratic Republic also had the opportunity to send agents against the Federal Republic of Germany, but the Western countries took the most advantage of the situation.
         Therefore, the issue of how to combat Western influence arose.  The best and most logical way to fight it was to try to win the minds of the people by using culture and politics to create better living conditions.  That way people would really have the opportunity to exercise free choice.
         However, given the conditions that developed in the two German states, there was no real freedom of choice to speak of.  That is because West Germany was richer, with more industrial potential, more natural resources, and more production capacity.  It was hard for East Germany to compete.

Page 164

         Moreover, West Germany was supported by the United States' industrial and financial might.  The GDR was fighting not only against the opportunities that existed within West Germany, but also against the added material incentives of the United States.
         The West's goal was to turn West Berlin into what is called a mirror of Western life, a showcase for the capitalist world, in order to attract the people of East Berlin into resisting the steps toward socialism being taken in the GDR.  These tactics might have seemed perfectly acceptable: let each person make up his or her own mind.  There was no contradiction in this.  It was a war for people's minds, not an armed conflict.
 In fact, we Communists also wage a war for people's minds all over the world would we demonstrate the advantages of the socialist system of production and when we talk about how socialism is a more democratic system that gives more opportunity to the people.  Socialism makes better use of the resources accumulated by the people and provides better distribution of riches among the people.
         Yet if you looked at the situation that way, the picture was not quite right.  The GDR's natural resources and its production capabilities were significantly less than those o and of f West Germany.  West Germany had the support of the United States, a rich country that you could say had robbed the entire world and grown fat off the first and second world wars.  Thanks to more than one war, the United States had expanded its production capabilities.  The Soviet Union, by contrast, had suffered more than any other country in the war and had a greater need than any other for the basic necessities: food, clothing, and housing.  The Soviet Union's cities and towns, its technology, its machine- building factories and steel mills, and its housing had all been destroyed.
         The Soviet Union never had a chance to compete fairly, to pit its material resources against those of the West.  While the Soviet Union bled during World War II, the United States prospered and developed its power.

Page 165

         For this reason, after the war the Americans had accumulated enormous military resources, including clothing and rations.  When they reduced the size of their own armed forces they threw their surpluses to West Berlin and West Germany.  In this way the competition was uneven from the very start.
         The historical role of Marxist-Leninist teachings and the opportunities these teachings afford the working people of all countries are understood only by the most forward-looking segment of society, the most advanced portion of the working-class and intelligentsia.  Unfortunately, at a certain stage, ideological issues are decided by the stomach, that is, by seeing who can provide the most for the people's daily needs.  Therefore, the attraction of one or the other system is literally decided by the shop windows, by the price of goods, and by wages.  In these areas, of course, we had no chance of competing with the West, especially in West Berlin, where capitalism gave handouts to sharply contrast the material wealth of West Berlin with the living conditions in East Berlin.
         Also, dividing a single people, making them live under different sociopolitical conditions, created enormous difficulties.  West Germany had the chance to make itself more appealing, especially to professionals such as engineers, doctors, teachers, and highly skilled workers.  This category of people was particularly attracted to move to the West.  Naturally, workers tended to follow their employers.

Page 168

         By 1961 an unstable situation had been created in the GDR.  At the time, there was an economic boom in West Germany.  West Germany needed workers badly and lured them from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and other countries.  Numbers of the intelligentsia, students, and people with higher education, left the GDR because West Germany paid office workers more than they were paid in the GDR and other socialist countries.  The question of whether this or that system is progressive ought to be decided in political terms.  However, many people decide it in the pit of their stomach.  They don't consider tomorrow's gains but only today's income-- and today West Germany industry pays you more.

Page 169

         Walter Ulbricht even asked us to help by providing a labor force.  This was a difficult issue to face.  We didn't want to give them unskilled workers.  Why?  Because we didn't want our workers to clean their toilets.  I had to tell Comrade Ulbricht: "Imagine how a Soviet worker would feel.  He won the war and now he has to clean your toilets.  It will not only be humiliating--it will produce an explosive reaction in our people.  We cannot do this.  Find a way out yourself."
 What could he do?  He had to appeal for stronger discipline; but they still kept on running away because qualified workers could find better conditions in West Germany.
         I spoke to Pervukhin, our ambassador in Germany, about the establishment of border control.  He gave me a map of West Berlin....  I asked Pervukhin to share the idea with Ulbricht....  Ulbricht beamed with pleasure.  "This is the solution!  This will help.  I am for this."
 

For the cause,

Klo

PS.  It is also extremely important to notice that although worldwide capitalist propaganda portrayed the entire situation as a conflict between freedom and dictatorship, it was actually a conflict over money.  If East Berlin had actually been the prison it was described as being, the population would have left years earlier.  After all, people could have left any time they chose from 1945 to 1961.  How many people would have remained in a prison without doors, fences, or walls for 16 years.  If any prison in the United States were opened up for all to exit, it would be empty within hours.
         No!  Freedom versus dictatorship was not the issue.  Paychecks were, and as the living standards of West Berlin grew faster than those of the East the population flow began to accelerate.  Had East Germany in general and East Berlin in particular been able to move further and further ahead in the race for higher living standards, the population flow would have been in the other direction.  The bottom line is that people go where they can get the most for the least and the sociopolitical structure is secondary.