Workers of all Countries Unite!
THIRD ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
RUSSIAN
OCTOBER REVOLUTION
By E. PREOBRAZHENSKY.
Price Twopence
GLASGOW:
THE UNION PUBLISHING CO.
93 Great Western Road
1921
Third Anniversary
OF THE
October Revolution.
The October Revolution.
Three years ago, on the 7th of November (25th October), 1917, the workers and Soldiers of Petrograd, guided by the party of the Bolsheviki, overthrew the bourgeois government of Kerensky, and proclaimed the government of the Soviets. At Petrograd the victory of the proletariat was gained easily, almost without any bloodshed. Detachments of revolutionary soldiers, of the Red Labour Guard, and of the Red sailors of the Baltic Fleet, occupied the most important points of Petrograd, besieged the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government was in hiding, and with the support of the revolutionary cruiser, "Aurora," took the palace. The ministers were arrested and sent to the fortress of Peter and Paul. The second All Russian Congress of Soviets, which took place in Petrograd, the majority of which were Bolsheviki, proclaimed itself the government in place of the arrested government of Kerensky. Kerensky himself escaped from Petrograd to the front, and with the assistance of Cossacks attempted to regain his power and reconquer Petrograd. Cossack divisions under the command of the well known Tzarist, General Krassnov, approached Petrograd, attacking Gatshino. However, the armed workers of Petrograd, notwithstanding their lack of military training and bad organisation, defeated Krassnov's Cossacks and took the general himself prisoner. Victory was on the side of the Petrograd proletariat, and Kerensky had again to flee in disgrace.
At Moscow the triumph of the workers and soldiers was not so easy as in Petrograd. Here the forces of the bourgeoisie officers and of the followers of the old government were larger. Nevertheless, even here, the bourgeoisie defenders of the deposed government were finally besieged in the Kremlin and compelled to surrender. Thus in our second capital, too, the authority of the Soviets was established.
Neither was the change sudden in the rest of Russia where the ground was sufficiently prepared by the past struggles. At some places the power was actually in the hands of the workers even before the October Revolution, and the Commissaries of the Provisional Government exercised no authority there. Immediately the news of the revolution in Petrograd reached the provinces, the local Soviets of the workers and soldiers' delegates almost everywhere removed the commissaries of Kerensky's government, establishing in their stead the authority of the Soviets. The Provisional Government was so impotent and so despised by the toiling masses that their followers, practically speaking, offered no resistance.
The second All Russian Congress of Soviets proclaimed Russia a Soviet Republic, and adopted three most important decrees, viz., on peace, on the land, and on labour control of industry.
The soldiers, weary from three years of war in the interests of capitalism, greeted with enthusiasm the decree on peace and offer of an armistice on the German front. The resistance of the officers and generals was rapidly overcome, and the chief command of the army passed from the hands of the assassinated General Doukhonin to comrade Krilenko, who was appointed by the Soviet Government. The attempts on the part of the counter-revolutionists to set the uneducated part of the soldiers against the proletarian Revolution miscarried. The toiling masses at the front took their stand on the side of the Revolution.
By the decree on the land all the land belonging to the landlords was transferred to the peasants on the basis of equal rights in the use of the land. The thought cherished by the peasantry for decades, the thought on which the Social-Revolutionists, who betrayed the Revolution, only wasted so much breath, was put into effect by the party of the Bolsheviki in a single day. The land passed into the hands of the toiling peasantry.
Finally all the factories and works were placed under the control of the workers, so that the latter, after becoming familiar with them, might manage the industries themselves in the place of their old masters.
This in brief the story of how the workers, peasants, and soldiers defeated the bourgeoisie and the landlords at the end of 1917. The fight, however, was not finished then. Those were only the first important victories, and there remained still the work of strengthening the government of the workers and peasants, and of crushing all its enemies, who were gathering their forces in the outlying provinces of the country.
The Struggles of the Soviet Government.
The first onslaught of the workers, soldiers, and peasants upon the bourgeoisie and the landlords, and upon their government, brought victory to the toiling masses of the people. The workers came out determined to seize the power of the State and get hold of the works and factories. The soldiers, weary of three years of fight, strove for peace, whilst the bourgeoisie and the Mensheviki, together with the Social-Revolutionaries, who betrayed the cause of Socialism, were forcing them to continue the war. The peasants wanted to seize the land of the nobility, but the bourgeoisie, the:landlords and their lackeys, the Mensheviki and the Social-Revolutionaries, neither could nor wished to give them this land. Thus a mighty union was formed between the workers and the peasantry that delivered a crushing blow to the wealthy classes of Russia. The landlords fled from their estates. The bourgeoisie lost its head, and at first could not even think of resistance. After the first fright had passed, however, the counter-revolutiondry elements gradually gathered strength, organised themselves, and commenced their struggle for the overthrow of the Soviet Government. They found it most convenient to commence their work in our outlying provinces, particularly in the Cossack territories where the spirit of the old regime was strong. Thus by the end of 1917 the outlines of a counter-revolutionary centre could be distinguished in the territories of the Don, Orenbourg, and Ural Cossacks; apart from this strong resistance to the establishment of Soviet authority was offered at Irkutsk by the officers and Cadets. In the Ukraine the bourgeois forces were organising themselves already under the regime of Kerensky. They demanded an independent Ukraine. After the seizure of power by the workers in Russia, the bourgeoisie and the intelligenzia of the workers and peasants, raising the cry of independence from Moscow and from the Muscovites. Independence, which they subsequently sold to German imperialism, was certainly not the underlying motive; their aim was to break thémselves loose from the Revolution in Russia, to save their power, their capital, their land, and to prevent the workers and poor peasants of the Ukraine from uniting with the victorious workers and peasants of the rest of Russia. A new centre of the counter-revolution was thus formed at Kiev with which the Soviet Government had to fight.
At first the Soviet Government was successful on all the fronts. General Alexeyev, formerly in the command of the Tzarist army on the German front, gathered round himself on the Don a good many of the old guard officers, who were largely either landlords themselves, or in close touch with the bourgeois landlord class. And whilst the bourgeoisie and the landlords, having lost their heads, went into hiding after the Revolution, the officers, on the contrary, came out in the open, being well organised by the machinery of the Tzarist army. Apart from Alexeyev, the rising was led by General Kornilov, the same who, under Kerensky, moved his Savage Division on Petrograd to suppress the Petrograd Soviet. Against Alexeyev's army, composed of officers, came out the workers' Red Guard of Petrograd, Moscow, and the Donetz Basin, led by Comrade Antonoy-Ovseienko. Although these workers had no military training, and were opposed by the cream of the Tzarist army, the officers of the line, they nevertheless defeated the Tzarist generals, and took Rostov on the Don, carried by desperate dash and daring. The same Petrograd and Moscow workers defeated the troops of the Ukrainian Rada; that is, the Ukrainian bourgeois government, and took Kiev by storm. The workers from the Urals and the Volga defeated Doutov. The workers and soldiers from Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk defeated the counter-revolutionary Cadets at Irkutsk.
Thus the first attempt of our counter-revolution to come out against the government of the workers and peasants was crushed. So long as foreign capital could not come to the assistance of our bourgeoisie and landlords, it was easy for the workers and peasants of Soviet Russia to defeat them.
All this, however, was only the beginning of a capitalist campaign against the conquests of the October Revolution. After the failure of the first campaign a number of others were started. Only for a brief space of time did the Soviet Government hold sway over the whole of Russia, from Petrograd to Vladivostock, and from Archangel to the Crimea and Baku.
The new campaign against the Soviet Government commenced in the spring of 1918. German imperialism, satisfied with the Brest Treaty, which was incredibly ruinous for us, left Great Russia in peace. It was too much occupied with the war in France against English, French, and American capital to think of taking Petrograd and Moscow from the Russian workers. It was, however, strong enough to send German divisions to the Ukraine for the purposes of loot. The weak detachments of our workers and partisans were soon compelled to leave the Ukraine, and the latter was handed over to the large landlords, and to Hetman Skoropadsky, the Tzarist general, supported by the Prussian junkers. In the East the bandits of British and French imperialism raised against us the Czecho-Slovaks. In the North the British landed troops at Archangel, and with the assistance of the White Guards opened a new front against us, menacing Vologda and Moscow from the North. On the Don, in place of Alexeyev, who died, and of Kornilov, who was killed, General Krasnov became head of the Cossack counter-revolution. This is the same general whom the Petrograd workers released on parole in November, 1917. He occupied the Don territory and was menacing Voronezh and Tzaritzin. Doutov raised again the standard of revolt at the head of the Orenbourg Cossacks. The Czecho-Slovaks and the Siberian White Guards captured Omsk, Cheliabinsk, and took Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Urals. The rebel Czecho-Slovaks in the Volga. provinces captured Samara, Simbirsk, and then Kazan, and were approaching Nijni.
The summer of 1918 was the most difficult period in the life of the young and rather weak Soviet Government. Of the huge territory of Soviet Russia there remained not more than 25 provinces of famished central Russia, shorn of its corn granaries, of the Donetz coal, of the Baku oil, of the Ural and South Russian iron, and of the Turkestan cotton. And the country itself was torn by White Guard risings and risings of the rich peasantry. At one time the White Guard officers took Yaroslav, intending to join the English, who were operating from the North, their object being to capture Moscow. It was the only time when the Soviet Government might have fallen under the blows of its numerous enemies. Fate, however, decided otherwise. The deadly danger forced the workers to take up arms with renewed energy.
The Red Army.
Until the summer of 1918 the Soviet Government had carried out no compulsory mobilisation. The masses of the people were sick and tired of the war with Germany and needed peace and rest. The Soviet Government carried on its struggle against the counter-revolution almost exclusively with the help of volunteers draw from the ranks of labour. The first regiments of the Red. Army were largely composed of volunteers, previously organised hastily in Red Guard detachments. But the number of volunteers was not enough to meet the needs of the fight on all the fronts. The workers themselves demanded that the proletariat should be mobilised and called up in classes. The first tentative mobilisations in Moscow and Petrograd were successful, and they were followed by the mobilisation of the proletariat in the other parts of Soviet Russia. The Red Army was a child of the Red Guard; the first mobilisations supplied mainly workers to the Red regiments. Officers of the old army who voluntarily offered their services were mobilised. Thus Soviet Russia augmented its military forces. Apart from this the Communist Party mobilised thousands of its members. "Communists to the Fronts!" was the cry raised after the fall of Kazan, and the best forces of our Party went to the Volga, to the Urals, to the South, to take their place in the first ranks of the young Red Army; the results were not long in coming. The workers held up the offensive of the Czecho-Slovaks and the White Guards in the Urals, and for the space of six months kept them in check, half way between Ekaterinburg and Perm. In the North the Red sailors from the Baltic Fleet and the Red Army divisions beat off the offensive of the British and the Northern White Guards aiming at Vologda. Finally fresh forces concentrated at Kazan, and, led by Comrade Trotsky, took the offensive and captured Kazan. This was the first large victory won by the heroic efforts of the Petrograd and Moscow workers, and proved to be the first of a number of further successes. After the capture of Kazan, the victorious Red Army took Simbirsk and then Samara, where the counter-revolutionary Social-Revolutionists had made their capital, and where they had convened the Constituent Assembly, dissolved by the Bolsheviki in January, 1919.
The Volga was cleared of the Whites, and our Red troops marched upon Ufa and Orenburg. Our success was favoured by the quarrel which at that time had sprung up between the Siberian White Guards and the Social-Revolutionaries, who had hitherto been firmly established on the Volga. The former offered no assistance to the latter, and the White Guards stuck in the Ural mountains, where the workers were stubbornly defending every- inch of ground. The heroic resistance of the Ural workers kept at one time in check all the forces of Kolchak.
However, by the end of autumn, towards the beginning of the winter, the Soviet Government had to succeeded in organising a strong Cossack army, and turn its attention to the South. General Krasnov had moved in two directions—to the North and to the Volga. For a time we were obliged to leave Kolchak and concentrate our main forces on the Southern front.
By that time the Soviet Government had passed from the mobilisation of the workers to the mobilisation of the peasants, which proved quite successful. Although the peasantry had not sufficiently rested after the war with Germany, it nevertheless answered the call, being afraid that the generals and landlords would take back from them the land of the nobility, given to them by the Soviet Government. The first regiments, composed largely of mobilised peasants and commanded by officers of the old army, were not stable, gave way easily, and fled in time of danger. The officers were treacherous, frequently going over to the enemy. Only conscious and revolutionary workers could strengthen and cement the peasant regiments and lead them to victory. Again, the Communist Party raised the cry, "To the Southern Front!" and again thousands of Communists took their stand in the first ranks and filled the posts of command in the army. Communist workers fresh from the factory or works were appointed commissars of regiments and divisions, got a grip over the machinery of supply, carried on political work, and_also took up the rifle in the lines of the Red Army. This new Communist infusion on the Southern front soon yielded its results. Krasnov was smashed, his Cossack divisions demoralised, whole regiments of them surrendering to the Red Army.
At the same time came the re-establishment of Soviet Government in the Ukraine. A wave of risings spread all over the country. Volunteers formed into Red regiments took one town after another. The demoralised parts of the Austrian and German armies were either neutral or helped to fight Skoropadsky. Petlura took the place of Skoropadsky, but close on the heels of the latter came the Red regiments, inflicting upon him defeat after defeat.
Equally successful was the fight for the re-establishment of the Soviet Government in Esthonia and Latvia. By the beginning of 1919 the territory of the Soviet Government had increased considerably in all directions. Meanwhile Kolchak, taking advantage of our difficulties on the Krasnov front, where we had to concentrate our chief forces, commenced in the spring of 1919 his new offensive on the Volga. In March we had to meet a new White Guard wave. We lost Ufa, retreated to half way between Viatka and Perm, retreating very close to Kazan, and Samara was again in danger.
At the same time Petrograd was menaced by the White Esthonians, the bands of Balakhovitch, and the operations of the Finnish White Guards in the North. Our main forces had to be thrown again on the East. All the available reserves were moved against Kolchak, and the Communist Party made a fresh mobilisation to beat off the enemies.
This time Kolchak was dealt a smashing blow. His army, largely recruited from the Siberian peasants, was continually surrendering, and behind his lines there broke out a number of peasant revolts.
In the South the position by that time had again become menacing for the Soviet Government. We had beaten Krasnov, but had not crushed him to the ground. Our armies were already within 40 versts of Novo-Tcherkask, but here a new enemy with fresh forces awaited us. Krasnov's place was taken by Denikin, who succeeded in recruiting and organising thoroughly his volunteer officer army. Having defeated in Northern Caucasus our North Caucasian army, he moved to the Don, rapidly developing his successes in the Don territory and in the Ukraine. Again the Cossacks rose against the Soviet Government. The Ukrainian profiteering peasant rubbed his hands at the defeat of the Bolsheviki and lent assistance to Denikin. During the summer and autumn months Denikin captured almost the whole of the Ukraine, Tzaritzin, and, taking Orel, in October marched upon Tula and Moscow. Simultaneously Yudenitech was approaching the outskirts of Petrograd, and Kolchak showed signs of life, taking the offensive upon Kurgan. The danger was as great as in the summer of 1918, with this difference however, that we had now a strong Red Army, and the chief enemy in the East, in spite of a temporary respite, had received a mortal blow.
A new mobilisation on an enormous scale was decreed by the Communist Party; deadly danger again closed the ranks of the workers and peasants, and new forces gathered from all the ends of Russia were thrown against the arrogant Tzarist generals. Already in the summer, when General Mamontov's cavalry had broken through in our rear, capturing Koslov and Tambov, hoping to cause a peasant rising, it became evident that the peasantry would remain true to the government that had given them the land of the nobility. Denikin had entered upon territory where the peasants remembered still the yoke of the nobility, and this proved Denikin's undoing. The Red Army, taking the offensive along the whole front, dealt a number of crushing blows to Denikin. This time the Red banner pursued him right to the Caucasus, and to the harbour where this luckless candidate for the throne of the Tzar embarked on a foreign vessel, proceeding to London to be pensioned off by British capitalism. The remains of Denikin's army gathered in the Crimea, and Wrangel took over the command. The army of Yudenitch was defeated and peace was concluded with Esthonia. It seemed that we had finished with the chief enemies of the Soviet Government. In the spring of 1920 the workers and peasants were preparing to pass over to peaceful labour. The government of the workers and peasants of Russia decided to conclude peace with the Polish White Guards, and offered them most advantageous terms. However, the Polish landlords and capitalists did not wish to have peace, and at the command of the English and French capitalists, attacked the workers and peasants of Russia at the moment when they were passing over to peaceful labour and the Red Army was being demobilised. The Polish White Guards took Kiev and threatened Smolensk. The toiling masses of the people entered this war, which was forced upon Russia, with a strong belief in final victory.
The enemy had to be defeated so thoroughly that the Polish landlords' sword might never again hang as a menace over the heads of the peasants and workers of Russia engaged in peaceful labour. The Polish White Guards were unable to stand the shock of the Red Army and they retreated upon Warsaw. But their army remained intact. It was necessary to crush this army commanded from Paris and London by foreign capitalists, and end the war. The Polish barons, however, having gathered strength, took the offensive, compelling us once more to retreat, and a new winter campaign was in contemplation. The Soviet Government, wishing to spare the people, proposed once more peace to the Polish capitalists and landlords on terms very favourable for them and difficult for us.
The war with Poland compelled us to send against Wrangel inconsiderable forces, which offered him a chance to gather strength, until he was in a position to menace the Donetz basin and the whole of the Ukraine. It then became necessary to settle Wrangel at all costs. By the winter of 1920, he will undoubtedly have met with the fate of Denikin.
Celebrating the third anniversary of Soviet government, the workers and peasants of Russia may look back with pride upon the road trodden by them, and be full of hope for the future. They have maintained Labour Russia against the onslaughts of native and foreign capital at the cost of terrible sacrifices; they have created a powerful Red Army, and the time is not far distant when, after they have defeated all their enemies on the military front; they will turn the energies of the many millions of peasants and workers to the peaceful front of labour.
The Successes of Soviet Constructive Work.
No bourgeois government in the world could maintain itself in power even for the space of three weeks under the impossible difficulties which the Soviet Government had to overcome in the three years of its power. A bitter heritage was left us by the Tsar and Kerensky. There was not a single branch of industry, a single railway, or a single factory which was not disorganised or on the point of collapse. The stock of raw materials was running out, and new supplies were not forthcoming. Machinery was wearing out and new material could not be obtained, and there was nobody to pay attention to it.
The workers who had seized power had to hold in one hand the rifle, and in the other the hammer. It is really marvellous that the Soviet Government has not only defeated in the course of these three years, Alexeyev, Kornilov, Kolchak, Denikin, Doutov, and Yudenitch, and the capitalists supporting these Generals, but managed at the same time to keep some life in our industries. However, in spite of the ruinous war on all these fronts, the working class has succeeded not only in arresting the collapse of industry, but has recently effected considerable improvement in a number of industries.
As everybody knows, fuel is for industry what bread is for man. Under Kerensky the fuel position was growing worse from day to day. For example, by the time of the October Revolution, the stocks of coal on the railways of the Republic did not exceed a supply of ten days. Now most of the railways keep supplies for one and a half to two months ahead.
The general position of the fuel problem at present is as follows:
Before the war when our industries were in full swing, we procured and consumed an enormous amount of fuel. Reducing all the fuel consumed, whether coal, wood, peat, or oil, to the unit of wood fuel, we get a figure of 40,000,000 cubic sagens of wood. Coal acccounts of two-thirds of this, oil one-fifth, and wood proper one-eighth. From the 1st of July, 1918, up to 1st July, 1919, 4,000,000 cubes were prepared; we were living all this time on the old stocks. We used up the wood piled previously, the oil stored under the Tsar and Kerensky, and some remnants of coal. This was the most difficult time for us, but with the year 1919 there came an improvement. During the summer season of 1919, and up to the summer of 1920, we laid in a stock of 9,000,000 cubes, viz., twice as much as in the previous year. Besides this we recaptured the Donetz coal basin and the Ural and Siberian mines. We hope to obtain from all these mines before the end of the current year about 5,000,000,000 poods of coal. As to oil, over 130,000,000 poods have been sent by boat from Baku along the Volga and by rail from Grozny. By the end of the navigation period this figure will reach 150,000,000 poods of oil. Thus we have a supply of oil and kerosine to last a whole year. The supply of peat has also increased; in 1918 we obtained 58,000,000, poods of peat exclusive of the Ural and the Ukraine. In 1919 the figure was 70,000,000, and in 1920 it was 96,000,000, including the Urals and the Ukraine. Thus it may be seen that the most difficult time is now passed. The output of fuel is increasing and our industry is slowly but surely reviving.
We inherited the railways from Kerensky in a state of decline which continually grew worse. But even here we succeeded in checking the collapse, and in the course of the last month have effected notable improvements. In the spring of 1920, the worst period we ever had, there were over 60 engines damaged out of every 100. By the beginning of the autumn this number was reduced to 58 out of every 100. The state of the railways may appear more clearly from the following figures. By 1st January, 1918, there were 273 engines in a fit and proper condition to every 1000 versts of railroad; by the 1st November, 1918, the number was 281; by 1st December, 1918, the number was 88; by 1st July, 1920, the number rose to 130. The work of the engine repairs is also improving. According to the plan drawn up by the Commissariat of Ways and Communications, 4,000 damaged engines were to be repaired by January, 1921. According to returns from 27 railways, 745 repairs were done during August; whereas, according to the programme, they were not supposed to do more than 640. Thus the work of repairs is progressing more favourably than expected. Apart from this there are more trains running in every direction than half a year ago. The trains run faster and there is certainly more order on the railways than before. True, we are very far yet from the time when every worker and peasant will be in a position to go without any hindrance by train where-ever he pleases, but we are nevertheless on the right road, and the first most difficult steps have already been taken in this direction.
The water transport, which is of great importance to Russia, is equally improving in spite of the terrible deterioration of our fleet on the Volga and the Kama. Since the beginning of the war and the Revolution about a third of our river fleet passed out of service, partly because there were no proper repairs, and partly because the deteriorated boats were not replaced by the new ones. About a third was burnt or sunk by the Czecho-Slovaks, the Cossacks, and Kolchak. The Soviet Government had to be satisfied with a third of the number of boats which Russia had before the war. In spite of all this, our river fleet yielded considerably greater results in 1920 than in 1919.
In 1919, 256,000,000 poods of goods were carried during the period of navigation on the Volga–Baltic route; whereas in 1920 up to 28th September, that is before the end of the navigation, 365,000,000 poods were sent out, and 331,000,000 arrived. By the end of the navigation period this will have considerably increased. This shows a very important success. The number of passengers carried in 1919 was 3,189,000; and in 1920 up to 2nd September the number reached already 3,751,000; by the end of the period of navigation this number will probably exceed 4,000,000. It should be noted that, in consequence of the drought, the water level was low and the navigation of 1920 was at a great disadvantage. The boat repairs improved, and deterioration of the fleet is now stopped.
Before the war our textile industry was well organised and produced an enormous quantity of stuff. Under Kerensky the industry rapidly declined; this process of decline continued in the first years of the Soviet Government. The chief cause was the lack of fuel and cotton, which we could not obtain because Turkestan was cut off from us by the Cossack General Doutov and the Czecho-Slovaks. The other cause was that the textile workers, on account of the lack of food in town, fled to the villages. Now, even in this most important branch of industry, the position is beginning to improve. We are getting more fuel now; cotton is coming from Turkestan, and there are already over 2,000,000 poods of cotton, partly stored and partly under way. The labour problem, however, in the textile industry is more difficult, because the Soviet Government is not in a position as yet to assure the workers full rations in the current year. Still, there is the hope that at least by the autumn of next year considerable improvement will be achieved. The Supreme Council of Public Economy is re-starting one after another the textile works, at first, of course, the largest and those which have a sufficient supply of fuel. When the greater number of our textile works are re-opened we shall be in a position to clothe not only our army but also the workers and peasants.
Much more difficult is the position in the iron industry. The chief centres of our cast iron and steel industry passed several times from hand to hand. Petrograd with its first class metallurgical works had to be evacuated several times. The Urals were for a time in the hands of Kolchak, who before his retreat demolished the works. The South Russian works passed several times from hand to hand, and cannot be re-started even now. The works in Central Russia have been suffering from lack of metal, fuel and food for the workers. Nevertheless, the productivity of labour, in a number of works, rose to one and a half and twice the previous production; a few works which were closed were re-started, and in general the metallurgical industry is gradually reviving.
The Peasants and the Soviet Government.
The peasants of Soviet Russia are suffering immensely from the disorganisation of our industry. In the course of the recent years they received only one-tenth of the agricultural machinery they require, and hardly any nails or iron parts for their vehicles, etc. Their clothing is worn out, and they have to replace it by improvisations. The peasants are therefore asking daily when will there be cotton material, nails, ploughs, scythes, axes, etc. It is therefore necessary that every peasant should understand the economic plan of the Soviet Government. As everyone knows, a house cannot be built without the foundation. Similarly, the regeneration of our industries must commence from the foundation, which means fuel and transport. The works cannot be re-started without fuel; without food for the workers, without raw material. All this must be brought from various parts of Russia; corn from one part, coal from another, cotton and iron from the third, and so on. The railways are the first foundation stones, and our main forces must be directed to them. Our first object is to improve the railways and to re-open the works supplying the needs of such railways; that is, such works as turn out engines, carriages, spare parts, rails, etc., and finally fuel for the railways and these works. This is our starting point. Next comes the re-starting of the textile industry and all that supplies the needs of same. This includes the manufacture of nails, axes, scythes, ploughs and all implements necessary for agriculture. Without engines, rails and carriages we cannot have nails and ploughs. Every intelligent peasant must understand that.
Therefore if the Soviet Government forces the peasants to fell wood and cart it, clear the snow from the railways, and deliver the corn levy to feed the workers, he must do it with the consciousness that in the long run he is doing it in his interests and in the interests of the industry of the whole country.
This does not mean that we are going to stop turning out ploughs, scythes, nails, until the railways are put in proper order. We shall continue turning out these obejects as before, only their further development and increase will be held up until all available forces and means have been directed to the foundation of our industries, viz., the railways and water transport.
The supply of food is also increasing every day. The Soviet Government considers it reasonable to take from the peasants their surplus of corn, and supply it to the workers at a fixed rate instead of entrusting this task to speculators. The first year of the Soviet Government, namely from October, 1917, up to August, 1918, 30,000,000 poods of corn was supplied by the Food Commissariat. From the autumn, 1918, to the, autumn, 1919, the supply was 110,000,000 poods.
The following year (autumn 1919 to autumn 1920) the supply was 255,000,000. The levy for the year 1920–1921 is fixed at 454,000,000. The chief centres of supply will be the Kuban and Siberia. In view of the bad harvest in the Central provinces, the levy from these provinces was reduced as compared with the previous year. In spite of the bad harvest, there is every reason to believe that by the autumn of 1921 the levy will yield not less corn than that of the previous year.
The provision of other foodstuffs and forage is also increasing. In 1919 there was provided about 6,000,000 poods of meat, whilst the levy for 1920 was fixed at 24,000,000 and one can see already that the supply will exceed that of the previous year. The provision of potatoes during the season of 1919–1919 was 28,000,000 poods, and during the season 1919–20 43,000,000 were obtained. In 1919 the Government obtained 100,000 poods of fats,—that is, butter and bacon fat,—whilst in the course of the first eight months of 1920 the figure reached 820,000 poods. In 1918 27,000,000 poods of hay was stored; in 1919 the figure was 78,000,000. In spite of the drought and the bad crop this year, the quantity of hay to be stored this year will not be less than of last year.
The peasant might ask us: what is the use of this increase? It only means that you are taking from the peasants ever more and more, giving them nothing in return except debased paper currency?
The point is worth while considering.
The Soviet Government gave the peasants the land of the nobility. They have received in all 35,000,000 dessiatins of private land. In comparison with the imposts and taxes collected from them by the Government of the Tsar, the rent they paid to the landlords, the profits derived from them by the intermediaries, dealers, and usurers, the levies imposed by the Soviet Government are insignificant. Before the war the receipts of the Government of the Tsar amounted to 3,000,000,000 of gold roubles per annum. Half of this was taken by the Tsar from the peasants. Add to this the rent paid to the landlord for the land, the Zemstvo taxes, the profits of the rich peasants and usurers, and we find that the triple alliance of the Tsar, landlords, and the bourgeoisie was skinning the peasanty to the tune of 2,000,000,000 gold roubles per annum. Before the war a pood of corn cost one gold rouble or even less; 2,000,000,000 roubles therefore represented 2,000,000,000 of poods of corn which the peasantry thus paid to the parasites of all ranks. Of course it was not in corn alone that they paid this tribute—they sold their cattle, eggs, butter, etc. In the villages the peasants partook of meat only once a month and on some great holiday: they denied their children milk and eggs, taking all to the market. But in terms of corn, the peasantry paid to their oppressors about 2,000,000,000 poods. Now the Government took last year from the peasants 260,000,000 poods of corn. Adding to the corn, meat, butter, eggs, and all that is taken now from the peasants, we arrive at a figure which by no means exceeds 350,000,000 or 400,000,000 gold roubles. Deducting from this all that the peasantry gets from the government, such as textiles, salt, oil, agricultural implements, free education of the children, we find that the peasants paid to the State in 1920 less than 300,000,000 roubles. Thus, the levy paid, by the peasants to the State is only one-seventh of what they paid to the Tsar, landlords and the bourgeoisie.
During the first two years of the Revolution the peasants obtained even more than what they gave to the workers. In the season of 1918–19 the peasants received goods to the value of 4,000,000,000 roubles at controlled prices; whereas, they gave in return produce falling below that sum. In the course of the first two years of the Revolution, the peasants put the town at a disadvantage. True, in the season 1919–20 the peasants themselves were put at a disadvantage as compared with the town. Only 400,000,000 arshins of textiles, 3,000,000 poods of salt, and 1,000,000 poods of kerosine were given to the peasants.
In the season of 1920–21 the town will again be in debt to the village, which will receive not more than 130,000,000 arshins of textiles, 5,000,000 poods of salt and 7,000,000 poods of kerosine.
However, the levies imposed upon the peasants by the Soviet Government should not be regarded as confiscations, but as credit advanced by the peasants to the Government The peasant will receive textiles and agricultural machinery in exchange for his corn immediately the industries are re-established upon the end of the war. It must be borne in mind that without food the industries cannot be re-established. First food, and then textiles; but not the other way about. Before the hammer can begin to work, the sickle must be first in the field.
Poor as it is, the Soviet Government is endeavouring to give all it can to the peasants. In 1920 a "Peasants' Week" was organised right throughout Russia. Tens of thousands of Communist workers were sent to the villages. They helped the peasants' harvesting and repaired their agricultural implements. In many places the "Peasants' Week" lasted from three to four weeks. This free unpaid work of the workers rendered great help to the families of the Red Army men, and to the needy peasants.
Thousands of smithies were put to work, tens of thousands of ploughs, harrows, thrashing machines, bridges, schools, hospitals, etc., were repaired. This was only a beginning which, however, is very important, because it indicates the means by which the workers will settle their debt to the peasants. In the future the peasant will not only receive goods from the town, which will not be less in value than the produce supplied by him, but will also receive assistance by way of free labour in the pressing time of harvest when local labour is not in a position to cope with the work and the agricultural machinery cannot be rapidly repaired without the help of industrial workers.
The success of the constructive work of the Soviet Government is revealing itself in many directions. We are gradually re-starting our industries and transport, establishing new undertakings and works, and directing our attention to electrification which will supply the villages with electric light and power for agricultural work. Apart from this, the Soviet Government has achieved considerable success in public education. War has been declared upon illiteracy amongst adults, and the campaign is carried out with such energy that in many towns there will not be a single illiterate in the course of next year. The compulsory education for children is being carried into effect.
In towns the free maintenance of children is being carried through; the number of kindergartens, creches, homes and colonies for children continuously increases. Communal feeding is being introduced, protection of labour is being improved. In spite of the lack of medicine, our fight with disease and epidemics is improving every year. And all these successes were achieved by the workers and peasants amidst a sanguinary war. We can therefore imagine how tremendous will be our achievements when we have done with war at last, and all our energies are directed to peaceful labour.
The celebration of the Third Anniversary of the October Revolution will not be festive this year. Our enemies are not defeated yet. The harvest this year was bad, many hard trials are awaiting us; we shall have to stand a good deal of cold, hunger, misery, and hard work. But the workers and peasants of Russia know one thing. They are on the right road; there is no return to the old, and the victory will be theirs. Toiling Russia, poor, ruined, bleeding from many wounds, will yet have her reward for her great suffering: if not this year, it will nevertheless, in the near future, celebrate its final triumph: she will then bow before the heroes of the October Revolution, who created the first government of the toilers in the world.
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TWELVE DAYS
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By G. ZINOVIEV.
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In this Pamphlet G. Zinoviev, who represented the Third International at the Halle Congress, gives a very lucid account of the Conference, and describes the attitude taken up by the various leaders.
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This work was published in 1921 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 102 years or less since publication.
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