    





    fmagine the computers used at Moscow
    University. Can any system of locks, passwords and
    audit trails really stop a student underground from
    using the computer as a bulletin board? Of course
    not' The computer is always at the beck and call of
    every user. It will follow a program to unlock a lock
    as surely as it will follow a program to re-lock an
    unlocked lock.
    
    These problems for ehe State will persist and grow
    exponentially as the size and cost of computers
    decrease It is with good reason that the USSR only
    builds copies of the computers which we used 10
    years ago. The IBM 370, the DEC VAX, the other
    physically large, costly machines are the only
    defense against tota} dissolution of the Soviet State.
    Can you imagine what would happen if, as in
    America, students could checkout a desktop
    computer? "Please, comrade librarian, I need to
    work some differential equations and distribute 100
    copies of Orwell's 1984."
    
    When the USSR acqu~res an American
    computer, they try to get the powerful, "small"
    systems, especially the DEC VAX, which can be
    used to guide, control and coordinate military
    equipment. lIowever, the Soviet military is merely
    the highest priority; it is not the only priority.
    A wide-open trade in computers would be disaster
    for the Soviet system. They cannot afford to let
    every Ivan have a home computer.
    
    The Soviet leadership is between a rock and a
    hard place. They must have computers to remain
    competitive with the West. Yet, the spread of
    computers will make it harder for them to control
    their own populace.
    
    Dictatorships fear the spread of ideas and
    doctrines which do not originate with the State.
    Alexander Solzhenitsynwas hounded, not because
    he is a capitalist, but because he is an Orthodox
    
    Christian. A student of Objectivism might point out
    that both Communism and Christianity are
    altru~stic and collectivistic. That is immaterial to the
    Kremlin. They demand obedience, not discussion.
    
    The Soviet Union, like any other dictatorship,
    cannot tolerate the spread of ideas. Personal
    computers are a powerful tool for exchanging
    information. The United States could weaken the
    Soviet ruling class by aggressively exporting
    computers to the USSR.
    
    True, the Kremlin would resist. On the other
    hand, they also import wheat and sell platinum to
    the USA. Personal computers could become a
    bargaining chip in East-West trade agreements.
    
    Currently, the American government (imitating
    its friends in the Kremlin) is attempting to prevent
    the export of computers to the USSR. The most
    highly pnzed machine is the VAX made by Digital
    Equipment Corporation. The DEC VAX is a true
    general purpose machine which can be used in
    finance, industry and military applications. The
    
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    American rulers argue that letting the USSR have
    these computers would make our enemy stronger.
    
    It is true that tbere would be an apparent short-

    





    term gain for the Russians in getting enough DEC
    VAXs to run their anti-aircraft missiles, establish
    viable battlef~eld tactics and make and break codes
    and ciphers. On the other hand, remember that the
    military is not the only lobbyist group in the
    Politburo. A Marxist state is centralized
    democracy, not a mil~tary junta.
    
    Even if it were trne that the first 50 VAXs would
    go to the military, the next 50 would go to Gosbank,
    the Soviet Federal Reserve. Once installed in
    Gosbank (or Uralmetal or wherever), these
    machines could be properly abused by more or less
    pnvate c~t~zens. Bank managers and industrial
    supervisors could deal more effectively in the black
    market. Editors and typesetters who now produce
    propaganda could produce satires on the side.
    Urban planners could play video games. People in
    all walks of life could write essays or manage their
    meager budgets.
    
    While the Kremlin may desire VAXs today, it will
    be only a matter of time before the computers they
    import will get ~ smaller and cheaper. A strong
    negotiator could force them to accept 5,000 IBM-
    PCs for every 50 mainframes. (Actually, the best
    thing would be to let our capitalists deal with the
    Kremlin l~ke any other customer.)
    
    Now the mass import of computers itself wil] not
    end Communism. The Soviets succeed over the
    West because they live by a wel!-defined philosphy.
    America has been losing the Cold War because we
    have no idea who we are or what we are. Reagan
    never uses the word "capitalism" in public. Any
    reference to "free enterprise" is usually followed
    with a reference to the need for`'some" goverument
    regulation. In point of fact, the differences between
    the people in the Capitol and the people in the
    Kremlin are differences in degree, not kind. The
    trade embargo against the export of computers is an
    example of this.
    
    Like all such measures, this regulation not ouly
    faiis to solve the perceived problem, it actually
    makes matters worse.
    
    The American computer industry has been
    plagued by imports of '&pirate clones" from Hong
    Kong. (The Apple computer company has cried the
    loudest.) Given that the USSR wants computers
    and given that they cannot buy them from American
    companies, they will 1ust buy them from someone
    else.
    
    Reagan saw the error in the Carter Wheat
    Embargo Perhaps he w~ll see the error in the
    computer embargo.
    
    Computers, CB radios and video tape players are
    exactly what the Soviet ruling class fears. They can
    match the USA missile for missile. They have no
    defense against ideas in the minds of their own
    people. The greatest weakness that the Kremlin has
    is that given the importation of items like these, they
    will not be bought first by Siberian farmers, but by
    aMuent Party members.
    
    In our own country, the Statists are likewise
    dismayed at the Frankenstein's monster which they
    must face. Without computers, there~is no way the
    bureaucracy can function in modern terms. At the
    same time, they cannot be more effective than the
    
    