Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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M A S M I D nation be entrusted with control over prod ucts which are designed for universal con- sumption. There must be an all embracing, international framework within which each nation will be assigned its specific role. This implies a world confederation along lines which have recently been extensively outlined. Elsewhere in this magazine is to be found a somewhat detailed article dealing with this aspect of the problem. The political structure of the United States of America may well serve as a model for the executive, legislative, and judicial organization of the government of the world. Needless to say, the proposal for the abrogation of national sovereignty does not imply the destruction of the individual na- tional cultures and the prevention of their natural development. On the contrary, un- der a universally coUectivistic order, each nation will be afforded a greater oppor- tunity of pursuing its own cultural path, unhindered by economic considerations and political pressures. The Russian experience in these matters bears out all of these con- tentions. One more word before the subject of v oild confederation i.-j dropped. No one will dispute the fact that it alone will effec- tively abolish war forever. In bare outline a plan for post-v ar re- construction has been submitted. If it seems entirely too Utopian and visionary, the fault lies with lack of imagination and reaction in the past. The present writer entertains absolute conviction and faith that ultimately the entire scheme or one similar to it in principle will come to be adopted. He sees in constant postponement an unnecessary sacrifice of human dignity, human rights, and human blood. He hopes that the pres- ent golden opportunity is not a gain muffed. He is a despairing witness of reaction in the saddle working zealously and thus for successfully against the tide of progress. He sees at the some time the apparent com- placency and indolent inaction of liberal and progressive forces throughout the world. His heart is filled with a great fear for the future. Being convinced that prog- ress cannot in the long run be checked, he sees in a successful reactionary stand the seeds of even more horrible conflict in the future. Towards the prevention of this con- flict has he dedicated this writing.

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M A S M I D injustice. It has been untrue to its social philosophy by aligning itself with specicl interests detrimental to the common good. It has on many occasions, paradoxically and illogi cally, been used as a tool for tha justification of unethical practices and for the suppression of human aspirations. Yet its remarkable zeal for the maintenance of the status quo is totally out of keeping with the concepts of high ethical values em- bodied in its teaching. All of this is by no means the fault of religion per se; it is rather the fault of religious leaders and of the society which has bred them. Again the sceptre of money, gold, profit has left its mark. Pecuniary motivation is and al- ways has been the villain of the piece. Far from being incompatible with col- lectivism, the potential spiritual treasure of religious thought can fully blossom only under such a form of society. For, essen- tially, the brotherhood of man which is the basic tenet of all religion can be encom- passed only under conditions of social and economic equality. It is not for naught that fraternite is incorporated with liber- te and egalite ; they are conditions thereof. All too sadly must it therefore be remarked that where support for ideals both progressive and humanitarian should chiefly be expected, it is miserably lacking. In discussing the vast economic changes which the new society must effect in order to survive, one thing has been assumed right along. This assumption forms an in- tegral part of the entire scheme. It is thai all of these changes must be universal. They cannot attain a full measure of suc- cess in one nation alone if not adopted by all other nations. Just as it has been dem- onstrated earlier in this discussion that the present society is one in which the indi- viduals are interdependent, thus is the some equally true of nations. Modern technology has tremendously reduced distances and physical isolation has ceased to exist. In much the same way as the particular indi- vidual is best capable of performing defi- nite tasks, is the particular nation best suited for explicit sphere of economic en- deavor. Only a fanatic like Hitler can talk of notional self-sufficiency. There is no such thing. He himself has been the first to ex- pose the falsity of his contention by his career of military conquest and territorial acquisition. Only the world is self-suffi- cient. Its constituent segments are not, and must, therefore, rely upon one another. If silk growing is productive in Japan, rubber growing in the jungles of the Pacific islands, and coffee growing in Brazil, those seg- ments of the earth should specialize in those productive occupations. Ersatz is a capitalist product. It can have no place in a collec- tivist world. It is uneconomical for the United States, for example, to manufacture synthetic rubber when another country can supply the natural product at much lower cost in human effort and material. Free and unrestricted exchange of commodities is clearly indicated. Lincoln made the observation about the House divided against itself. The world has become such a house, and all of its two billion mortals are the inhabitants thereof. The abolition of the class system at home must be accompanied by the aboli- tion of the class system of the world. There must be no freemen and slaves, no masters and mastered, no privileged and unprivi- leged. The Hottentot must be socially and economically on a par with the Connecticut Yankee. Colonial possessions are out of the question, and, in fact, will become un- necessary, as is above indicated, in a col- lectivist universal society. Carrying our premises to their logical conclusion we must face the abolition of national sovereignty. Just as the individual human being cannot be entrust ed with con- trol over the means of producing commonly consumed goods so cannot the individual Sixteen

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ragnienteci vUof ' ld by ALLEN MANDELBAUM QEMENTING fragments of a world, we shall piece together the shattered with the love of man we bear, that love once there now hidden away with the G-d they chose to forget in their moonless night and their sunless day; it is for us to bask in the future ' s first warm ray of a G-d given sun on a G-d given day. Let us build on the fear; let us build on the hate , they said; and some listened to the drunken bowlings in the stagnant night; there were the hungry and the thirsty and the mystics who slept on the magic mountains and drank 10-pfennig lager in the Munich beer-halls. And Wagner composed far into the misty night, stirring the heady brew. Let us build on the atom; let us build on whirling nuclei , they scdd; and some listened to the hazy lullaby in the stagnant night; there were the hopeful and the starry-eyed gazers and the quanta-curious waiting for the savior who never came; all may be well but if this be heaven — what and where is hell? Eighteen