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diff --git a/1326-h/1326-h.htm b/1326-h/1326-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d0ba0f --- /dev/null +++ b/1326-h/1326-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3675 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Crisis in Russia, by Arthur Ransome + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1326 ***</div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA + </h1> + <h3> + 1920 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Arthur Ransome + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h4> + TO WILLIAM PETERS<br /> OF ABERDEEN + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + THE characteristic of a revolutionary country is that change is a quicker + process there than elsewhere. As the revolution recedes into the past the + process of change slackens speed. Russia is no longer the dizzying + kaleidoscope that it was in 1917. No longer does it change visibly from + week to week as it changed in 19l8. Already, to get a clear vision of the + direction in which it is changing, it is necessary to visit it at + intervals of six months, and quite useless to tap the political barometer + several times a day as once upon a time one used to do.... But it is still + changing very fast. My journal of "Russia in 1919," while giving as I + believe a fairly accurate picture of the state of affairs in February and + March of 1919, pictures a very different stage in the development of the + revolution from that which would be found by observers today. + </p> + <p> + The prolonged state of crisis in which the country has been kept by + external war, while strengthening the ruling party by rallying even their + enemies to their support, has had the other effects that a national crisis + always has on the internal politics of a country. Methods of government + which in normal times would no doubt be softened or disguised by + ceremonial usage are used nakedly and justified by necessity. We have seen + the same thing in belligerent and non-revolutionary countries, and, for + the impartial student, it has been interesting to observe that, when this + test of crisis is applied, the actual governmental machine in every + country looks very much like that in every other. They wave different + flags to stimulate enthusiasm and to justify submission. But that is all. + Under the stress of war, "constitutional safeguards" go by the board "for + the public good," in Moscow as elsewhere. Under that stress it becomes + clear that, in spite of its novel constitution, Russia is governed much as + other countries are governed, the real directive power lying in the hands + of a comparatively small body which is able by hook or crook to infect + with its conscious will a population largely indifferent and inert. A + visitor to Moscow to-day would find much of the constitutional machinery + that was in full working order in the spring of 1919 now falling into rust + and disrepair. He would not be able once a week or so to attend + All-Russian Executive and hear discussions in this parliament of the + questions of the day. No one tries to shirk the fact that the Executive + Committee has fallen into desuetude, from which, when the stress slackens + enough to permit ceremonial that has not an immediate agitational value, + it may some day be revived. The bulk of its members have been at the front + or here and there about the country wrestling with the economic problem, + and their work is more useful than their chatter. Thus brutally is the + thing stated. The continued stress has made the muscles, the actual works, + of the revolution more visible than formerly. The working of the machine + is not only seen more clearly, but is also more frankly stated (perhaps + simply because they too see it now more clearly), by the leaders + themselves. + </p> + <p> + I want in this book to describe the working of the machine as I now see + it. But it is not only the machine which is more nakedly visible than it + was. The stress to which it is being subjected has also not so much + changed its character as become easier of analysis. At least, I seem to + myself to see it differently. In the earlier days it seemed quite simply + the struggle between a revolutionary and non-revolutionary countries. I + now think that that struggle is a foolish, unnecessary, lunatic incident + which disguised from us the existence of a far more serious struggle, in + which the revolutionary and non-revolutionary governments are fighting on + the same side. They fight without cooperation, and throw insults and + bullets at each other in the middle of the struggle, but they are fighting + for the same thing. They are fighting the same enemy. Their quarrel with + each other is for both parties merely a harassing accompaniment of the + struggle to which all Europe is committed, for the salvage of what is left + of European civilization. + </p> + <p> + The threat of a complete collapse of civilization is more imminent in + Russia than elsewhere. But it is clear enough in Poland, it cannot be + disregarded in Germany, there is no doubt of its existence in Italy, + France is conscious of it; it is only in England and America that this + threat is not among the waking nightmares of everybody. Unless the + struggle, which has hitherto been going against us, takes a turn for the + better, we shall presently be quite unable to ignore it ourselves. + </p> + <p> + I have tried to state the position in Russia today: on the one hand to + describe the crisis itself, the threat which is forcing these people to an + extreme of effort, and on the other hand to describe the organization that + is facing that threat; on the one hand to set down what are the main + characteristics of the crisis, on the other hand to show how the + comparatively small body of persons actually supplying the Russian people + with its directives set about the stupendous task of moving that vast + inert mass, not along the path of least resistance, but along a path + which, while alike unpleasant and extremely difficult, does seem to them + to promise some sort of eventual escape. + </p> + <p> + No book is entirely objective, so I do not in the least mind stating my + own reason for writing this one (which has taken time that I should have + liked to spend on other and very different things). Knowledge of this + reason will permit the reader to make allowances for such bias I have been + unable to avoid, and so, by judicious reading, to make my book perhaps + nearly as objective as I should myself wish it to be. + </p> + <p> + It has been said that when two armies face each other across a battle + front and engage in mutual slaughter, they may be considered as a single + army engaged in suicide. Now it seems to me that when countries, each one + severally doing its best to arrest its private economic ruin, do their + utmost to accelerate the economic ruin of each other, we are witnessing + something very like the suicide of civilization itself. There are people + in both camps who believe that armed and economic conflict between + revolutionary and non-revolutionary Europe, or if you like between + Capitalism and Communism, is inevitable. These people, in both camps, are + doing their best to make it inevitable. Sturdy pessimists, in Moscow no + less than in London and Paris, they go so far as to say "the sooner the + better," and by all means in their power try to precipitate a conflict. + Now the main effort in Russia to-day, the struggle which absorbs the chief + attention of all but the few Communist Churchills and Communist Millerands + who, blind to all else, demand an immediate pitched battle over the + prostrate body of civilization, is directed to finding a way for Russia + herself out of the crisis, the severity of which can hardly be realized by + people who have not visited the country again and again, and to bringing + her as quickly as possible into a state in which she can export her raw + materials and import the manufactured goods of which she stands in need. I + believe that this struggle is ours as well as Russia's, though we to whom + the threat is less imminent, are less desperately engaged. Victory or + defeat in this struggle in Russia, or anywhere else on the world's + surface, is victory or defeat for every one. The purpose of my book is to + make that clear. For, bearing that in mind, I cannot but think that every + honest man, of whatever parity, who cares more for humanity than for + politics, must do his utmost to postpone the conflict which a few + extremists on each side of the barricades so fanatically desire. If that + conflict is indeed inevitable, its consequences will be less devastating + to a Europe cured of her wounds than to a Europe scarcely, even by the + most hopeful, to be described as convalescent. But the conflict may not be + inevitable after all. No man not purblind but sees that Communist Europe + is changing no less than Capitalist Europe. If we succeed in postponing + the struggle long enough, we may well succeed in postponing it until the + war-like on both sides look in vain for the reasons of their bellicosity. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE SHORTAGE OF THINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE SHORTAGE OF MEN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> A CONFERENCE AT JAROSLAVL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE TRADE UNIONS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE PROPAGANDA TRAINS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> SATURDAYINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> INDUSTRIAL CONSCRIPTION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> WHAT THE COMMUNISTS ARE TRYING TO DO IN + RUSSIA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> RYKOV ON ECONOMIC PLANS AND ON THE + TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> NON-PARTYISM </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> POSSIBILITIES </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SHORTAGE OF THINGS + </h2> + <p> + Nothing can be more futile than to describe conditions in Russia as a sort + of divine punishment for revolution, or indeed to describe them at all + without emphasizing the fact that the crisis in Russia is part of the + crisis in Europe, and has been in the main brought about like the + revolution itself, by the same forces that have caused, for example, the + crisis in Germany or the crisis in Austria. + </p> + <p> + No country in Europe is capable of complete economic independence. In + spite of her huge variety of natural resources, the Russian organism + seemed in 1914 to have been built up on the generous assumption that with + Europe at least the country was to be permanently at peace, or at the lost + to engage in military squabbles which could be reckoned in months, and + would keep up the prestige of the autocracy without seriously hampering + imports and exports. Almost every country in Europe, with the exception of + England, was better fitted to stand alone, was less completely specialized + in a single branch of production. England, fortunately for herself, was + not isolated during the war, and will not become isolated unless the + development of the crisis abroad deprives her of her markets. England + produces practically no food, but great quantities of coal, steel and + manufactured goods. Isolate her absolutely, and she will not only starve, + but will stop producing manufactured goods, steel and coal, because those + who usually produce these things will be getting nothing for their labor + except money which they will be unable to use to buy dinners, because + there will be no dinners to buy. That supposititious case is a precise + parallel to what has happened in Russia. Russia produced practically no + manufactured goods (70 per cent. of her machinery she received from + abroad), but great quantities of food. The blockade isolated her. By the + blockade I do not mean merely the childish stupidity committed by + ourselves, but the blockade, steadily increasing in strictness, which + began in August, 1914, and has been unnecessarily prolonged by our + stupidity. The war, even while for Russia it was not nominally a blockade, + was so actually. The use of tonnage was perforce restricted to the + transport of the necessaries of war, and these were narrowly defined as + shells, guns and so on, things which do not tend to improve a country + economically, but rather the reverse. The imports from Sweden through + Finland were no sort of make-weight for the loss of Poland and Germany. + </p> + <p> + The war meant that Russia's ordinary imports practically ceased. It meant + a strain on Russia, comparable to that which would have been put on + England if the German submarine campaign had succeeded in putting an end + to our imports of food from the Americas. From the moment of the + Declaration of War, Russia was in the position of one "holding out," of a + city standing a siege without a water supply, for her imports were so + necessary to her economy that they may justly be considered as essential + irrigation. There could be no question for her of improvement, of + strengthening. She was faced with the fact until the war should end she + had to do with what she had, and that the things she had formerly counted + on importing would be replaced by guns and shells, to be used, as it + turned out, in battering Russian property that happened to be in enemy + hands. She even learned that she had to develop gun-making and + shell-making at home, at the expense of those other industries which to + some small extent might have helped her to keep going. And, just as in + England such a state of affairs would lead to a cessation of the output of + iron and coal in which England is rich, so in Russia, in spite of her corn + lands, it led to a shortage of food. + </p> + <p> + The Russian peasant formerly produced food, for which he was paid in + money. With that money, formerly, he was able to clothe himself, to buy + the tools of his labor, and further, though no doubt he never observed the + fact, to pay for the engines and wagons that took his food to market. A + huge percentage of the clothes and the tools and the engines and the + wagons and the rails came from abroad, and even those factories in Russia + which were capable of producing such things were, in many essentials, + themselves dependent upon imports. Russian towns began to be hungry in + 1915. In October of that year the Empress reported to the Emperor that the + shrewd Rasputin had seen in a vision that it was necessary to bring wagons + with flour, butter and sugar from Siberia, and proposed that for three + days nothing else should be done. Then there would be no strikes. "He + blesses you for the arrangement of these trains." In 1916 the peasants + were burying their bread instead of bringing it to market. In the autumn + of 1916 I remember telling certain most incredulous members of the English + Government that there would be a most serious food shortage in Russia in + the near future. In 1917 came the upheaval of the revolution, in 1918 + peace, but for Russia, civil war and the continuance of the blockade. By + July, 1919, the rarity of manufactured goods was such that it was possible + two hundred miles south of Moscow to obtain ten eggs for a box of matches, + and the rarity of goods requiring distant transport became such that in + November, 1919, in Western Russia, the peasants would sell me nothing for + money, whereas my neighbor in the train bought all he wanted in exchange + for small quantities of salt. + </p> + <p> + It was not even as if, in vital matters, Russia started the war in a + satisfactory condition. The most vital of all questions in a country of + huge distances must necessarily be that of transport. It is no + exaggeration to say that only by fantastic efforts was Russian transport + able to save its face and cover its worst deficiencies even before the war + began. The extra strain put upon it by the transport of troops and the + maintenance of the armies exposed its weakness, and with each succeeding + week of war, although in 1916 and 1917 Russia did receive 775 locomotives + from abroad, Russian transport went from bad to worse, making inevitable a + creeping paralysis of Russian economic life, during the latter already + acute stages of which the revolutionaries succeeded to the disease that + had crippled their precursors. + </p> + <p> + In 1914 Russia had in all 20,057 locomotives, of which 15,047 burnt coal, + 4,072 burnt oil and 938 wood. But that figure of twenty thousand was more + impressive for a Government official, who had his own reasons for desiring + to be impressed, than for a practical railway engineer, since of that + number over five thousand engines were more than twenty years old, over + two thousand were more than thirty years old, fifteen hundred were more + than forty years old, and 147 patriarchs had passed their fiftieth + birthday. Of the whole twenty thousand only 7,108 were under ten years of + age. That was six years ago. In the meantime Russia has been able to make + in quantities decreasing during the last five years by 40 and 50 per cent. + annually, 2,990 new locomotives. In 1914 of the locomotives then in Russia + about 17,000 were in working condition. In 1915 there were, in spite of + 800 new ones, only 16,500. In 1916 the number of healthy locomotives was + slightly higher, owing partly to the manufacture of 903 at home in the + preceding year and partly to the arrival of 400 from abroad. In 1917 in + spite of the arrival of a further small contingent the number sank to + between 15,000 and 16,000. Early in 1918 the Germans in the Ukraine and + elsewhere captured 3,000. Others were lost in the early stages of the + civil war. The number of locomotives fell from 14,519 in January to 8,457 + in April, after which the artificially instigated revolt of the + Czecho-Slovaks made possible the fostering of civil war on a large scale, + and the number fell swiftly to 4,679 in December. In 1919 the numbers + varied less markedly, but the decline continued, and in December last year + 4,141 engines were in working order. In January this year the number was + 3,969, rising slightly in February, when the number was 4,019. A + calculation was made before the war that in the best possible conditions + the maximum Russian output of engines could be not more than 1,800 + annually. At this rate in ten years the Russians could restore their + collection of engines to something like adequate numbers. Today, thirty + years would be an inadequate estimate, for some factories, like the + Votkinsky, have been purposely ruined by the Whites, in others the lathes + and other machinery for building and repairing locomotives are worn out, + many of the skilled engineers were killed in the war with Germany, many + others in defending the revolution, and it will be long before it will be + possible to restore to the workmen or to the factories the favorable + material conditions of 1912-13. Thus the main fact in the present crisis + is that Russia possesses one-fifth of the number of locomotives which in + 1914 was just sufficient to maintain her railway system in a state of + efficiency which to English observers at that time was a joke. For six + years she has been unable to import the necessary machinery for making + engines or repairing them. Further, coal and oil have been, until + recently, cut off by the civil war. The coal mines are left, after the + civil war, in such a condition that no considerable output may be expected + from them in the near future. Thus, even those engines which exist have + had their efficiency lessened by being adapted in a rough and ready manner + for burning wood fuel instead of that for which they were designed. + </p> + <p> + Let us now examine the combined effect of ruined transport and the six + years' blockade on Russian life in town and country. First of all was cut + off the import of manufactured goods from abroad. That has had a + cumulative effect completed, as it were, and rounded off by the breakdown + of transport. By making it impossible to bring food, fuel and raw material + to the factories, the wreck of transport makes it impossible for Russian + industry to produce even that modicum which it contributed to the general + supply of manufactured goods which the Russian peasant was accustomed to + receive in exchange for his production of food. On the whole the peasant + himself eats rather more than he did before the war. But he has no + matches, no salt, no clothes, no boots, no tools. The Communists are + trying to put an end to illiteracy in Russia, and in the villages the most + frequent excuse for keeping children from school is a request to come and + see them, when they will be found, as I have seen them myself, playing + naked about the stove, without boots or anything but a shirt, if that, in + which to go and learn to read and write. Clothes and such things as + matches are, however, of less vital importance than tools, the lack of + which is steadily reducing Russia's actual power of food production. + Before the war Russia needed from abroad huge quantities of agricultural + implements, not only machines, but simple things like axes, sickles, + scythes. In 1915 her own production of these things had fallen to 15.1 per + cent. of her already inadequate peacetime output. In 1917 it had fallen to + 2.1 per cent. The Soviet Government is making efforts to raise it, and is + planning new factories exclusively for the making of these things. But, + with transport in such a condition, a new factory means merely a new + demand for material and fuel which there are neither engines nor wagons to + bring. Meanwhile, all over Russia, spades are worn out, men are plowing + with burnt staves instead of with plowshares, scratching the surface of + the ground, and instead of harrowing with a steel-spiked harrow of some + weight, are brushing the ground with light constructions of wooden spikes + bound together with wattles. + </p> + <p> + The actual agricultural productive powers of Russia are consequently + sinking. But things are no better if we turn from the rye and corn lands + to the forests. Saws are worn out. Axes are worn out. Even apart from + that, the shortage of transport affects the production of wood fuel, lack + of which reacts on transport and on the factories and so on in a circle + from which nothing but a large import of engines and wagons will provide + an outlet. Timber can be floated down the rivers. Yes, but it must be + brought to the rivers. Surely horses can do that. Yes, but, horses must be + fed, and oats do not grow in the forests. For example, this spring (1920) + the best organized timber production was in Perm Government. There sixteen + thousand horses have been mobilized for the work, but further development + is impossible for lack of forage. A telegram bitterly reports, "Two trains + of oats from Ekaterinburg are expected day by day. If the oats arrive in + time a considerable success will be possible." And if the oats do not + arrive in time? Besides, not horses alone require to be fed. The men who + cut the wood cannot do it on empty stomachs. And again rises a cry for + trains, that do not arrive, for food that exists somewhere, but not in the + forest where men work. The general effect of the wreck of transport on + food is stated as follows: Less than 12 per cent. of the oats required, + less than 5 per cent. of the bread and salt required for really efficient + working, were brought to the forests. Nonetheless three times as much wood + has been prepared as the available transport has removed. + </p> + <p> + The towns suffer from lack of transport, and from the combined effect on + the country of their productive weakness and of the loss of their old + position as centres through which the country received its imports from + abroad. Townsfolk and factory workers lack food, fuel, raw materials and + much else that in a civilized State is considered a necessary of life. + Thus, ten million poods of fish were caught last year, but there were no + means of bringing them from the fisheries to the great industrial centres + where they were most needed. Townsfolk are starving, and in winter, cold. + People living in rooms in a flat, complete strangers to each other, by + general agreement bring all their beds into the kitchen. In the kitchen + soup is made once a day. There is a little warmth there beside the natural + warmth of several human beings in a small room. There it is possible to + sleep. During the whole of last winter, in the case I have in mind, there + were no means of heating the other rooms, where the temperature was almost + always far below freezing point. It is difficult to make the conditions + real except by individual examples. The lack of medicines, due directly to + the blockade, seems to have small effect on the imagination when simply + stated as such. Perhaps people will realize what it means when instead of + talking of the wounded undergoing operations without anesthetics I record + the case of an acquaintance, a Bolshevik, working in a Government office, + who suffered last summer from a slight derangement of the stomach due to + improper and inadequate feeding. His doctor prescribed a medicine, and + nearly a dozen different apothecaries were unable to make up the + prescription for lack of one or several of the simple ingredients + required. Soap has become an article so rare (in Russia as in Germany + during the blockade and the war there is a terrible absence of fats) that + for the present it is to be treated as a means of safeguarding labor, to + be given to the workmen for washing after and during their work, and in + preference to miners, chemical, medical and sanitary workers, for whose + efficiency and health it is essential. The proper washing of underclothes + is impossible. To induce the population of Moscow to go to the baths + during the typhus epidemic, it was sufficient bribe to promise to each + person beside the free bath a free scrap of soap. Houses are falling into + disrepair for want of plaster, paint and tools. Nor is it possible to + substitute one thing for another, for Russia's industries all suffer alike + from their dependence on the West, as well as from the inadequacy of the + transport to bring to factories the material they need. People remind each + other that during the war the Germans, when similarly hard put to it for + clothes, made paper dresses, table-cloths, etc. In Russia the nets used in + paper-making are worn out. At last, in April, 1920 (so Lenin told me), + there seemed to be a hope of getting new ones from abroad. But the + condition of the paper industry is typical of all, in a country which, it + should not be forgotten, could be in a position to supply wood-pulp for + other countries besides itself. The factories are able to produce only + sixty per cent. of demands that have previously, by the strictest + scrutiny, been reduced to a minimum before they are made. The reasons, + apart from the lack of nets and cloths, are summed up in absence of food, + forage and finally labor. Even when wood is brought by river the trouble + is not yet overcome. The horses are dead and eaten or starved and weak. + Factories have to cease working so that the workmen, themselves underfed, + can drag the wood from the barges to the mills. It may well be imagined + what the effect of hunger, cold, and the disheartenment consequent on such + conditions of work and the seeming hopelessness of the position have on + the productivity of labor, the fall in which reacts on all the industries, + on transport, on the general situation and so again on itself. + </p> + <p> + Mr. J. M. Keynes, writing with Central Europe in his mind (he is, I think, + as ignorant of Russia as I am of Germany), says: "What then is our picture + of Europe? A country population able to support life on the fruits of its + own agricultural production, but without the accustomed surplus for the + towns, and also (as a result of the lack of imported materials, and so of + variety and amount in the salable manufactures of the towns) without the + usual incentives to market food in exchange for other wares; an industrial + population unable to keep its strength for lack of food, unable to earn a + livelihood for lack of materials, and so unable to make good by imports + from abroad the failure of productivity at home." + </p> + <p> + Russia is an emphasized engraving, in which every line of that picture is + bitten in with repeated washes of acid. Several new lines, however, are + added to the drawing, for in Russia the processes at work elsewhere have + gone further than in the rest of Europe, and it is possible to see dimly, + in faint outline, the new stage of decay which is threatened. The struggle + to arrest decay is the real crisis of the revolution, of Russia, and, not + impossibly, of Europe. For each country that develops to the end in this + direction is a country lost to the economic comity of Europe. And, as one + country follows another over the brink, so will the remaining countries be + faced by conditions of increasingly narrow self-dependence, in fact by the + very conditions which in Russia, so far, have received their clearest, + most forcible illustration. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SHORTAGE OF MEN + </h2> + <p> + In the preceding chapter I wrote of Russia's many wants, and of the + processes visibly at work, tending to make her condition worse and not + better. But I wrote of things, not of people. I wrote of the shortage of + this and of that, but not of the most serious of all shortages, which, + while itself largely due to those already discussed, daily intensifies + them, and points the way to that further stage of decay which is + threatened in the near future in Russia, and, in the more distant future + in Europe. I did not write of the shortage deterioration of labor. + </p> + <p> + Shortage of labor is not peculiar to Russia. It is among the postwar + phenomena common to all countries. The war and its accompanying eases have + cost Europe, including Russia, an enormous number of able-bodied men. Many + millions of others have lost the habit of regular work. German + industrialists complain that they cannot get labor, and that when they get + it, it is not productive. I heard complaints on the same subject in + England. But just as the economic crisis, due in the first instance to the + war and the isolation it imposed, has gone further in Russia than + elsewhere, so the shortage of labor, at present a handicap, an annoyance + in more fortunate countries, is in Russia perhaps the greatest of the + national dangers. Shortage of labor cannot be measured simply by the + decreasing numbers of the workmen. If it takes two workmen as long to do a + particular job in 1920 as it took one man to do it in 1914, then, even if + the number of workman has remained the same, the actual supply of labor + has been halved. And in Russia the situation is worse than that. For + example, in the group of State metal-working factories, those, in fact + which may be considered as the weapon with which Russia is trying to cut + her way out of her transport difficulties, apart from the fact that there + were in 1916 81,600 workmen, whereas in 1920 there are only 42,500, labor + has deteriorated in the most appalling manner. In 1916 in these factories + 92 per cent. of the nominal working hours were actually kept; in 1920 work + goes on during only 60 per cent. of the nominal hours. It is estimated + that the labor of a single workman produces now only one quarter of what + it produced in 1916. To take another example, also from workmen engaged in + transport, that is to say, in the most important of all work at the + present time: in the Moscow junction of the Moscow Kazan Railway, between + November 1st and February 29th (1920), 292 workmen and clerks missed + 12,048 working days, being absent, on in average, forty days per man in + the four months. In Moscow passenger-station on this line, 22 workmen + missed in November 106 days, in December 273, in January 338, and in + February 380; in an appalling crescendo further illustrated by the wagon + department, where 28 workmen missed in November 104 days and in February + 500. In November workmen absented themselves for single days. In February + the same workmen were absent for the greater part of the month. The + invariable excuse was illness. Many cases of illness there undoubtedly + were, since this period was the worst of the typhus epidemic, but besides + illness, and besides mere obvious idleness which no doubt accounts for a + certain proportion of illegitimate holidays, there is another explanation + which goes nearer the root of the matter. Much of the time filched from + the State was in all probability spent in expeditions in search of food. + In Petrograd, the Council of Public Economy complain that there is a + tendency to turn the eight-hour day into a four-hour day. Attempts are + being made to arrest this tendency by making an additional food allowance + conditional on the actual fulfilment of working days. In the Donetz coal + basin, the monthly output per man was in 1914 750 poods, in 1916 615 + poods, in 1919 240 poods (figures taken from Ekaterinoslav Government), + and in 1920 the output per man is estimated at being something near 220 + poods. In the shale mines on the Volga, where food conditions are + comparatively good, productivity is comparatively high. Thus in a small + mine near Simbirsk there are 230 workmen, of' whom 50 to 60 are skilled. + The output for the unskilled is 28.9 poods in a shift, for the skilled + 68.3. But even there 25 per cent. of the workmen are regular absentees, + and actually the mine works only 17 or 18 days in a month, that is, 70 per + cent. of the normal number of working days. The remaining 30 per cent. of + normal working time is spent by the workmen in getting food. Another small + mine in the same district is worked entirely by unskilled labor, the + workers being peasants from the neighboring villages. In this mine the + productivity per man is less, but all the men work full time. They do not + have to waste time in securing food, because, being local peasants, they + are supplied by their own villages and families. In Moscow and Petrograd + food is far more difficult to secure, more time is wasted on that hopeless + task; even with that waste of time, the workman is not properly fed, and + it cannot be wondered at that his productivity is low. + </p> + <p> + Something, no doubt, is due to the natural character of the Russians, + which led Trotsky to define man as an animal distinguished by laziness. + Russians are certainly lazy, and probably owe to their climate their + remarkable incapacity for prolonged effort. The Russian climate is such + that over large areas of Russia the Russian peasant is accustomed, and has + been accustomed for hundreds of years, to perform prodigies of labor + during two short periods of sowing and harvest, and to spend the immensely + long and monotonous winter in a hibernation like that of the snake or the + dormouse. There is a much greater difference between a Russian workman's + normal output and that of which he is capable for a short time if he sets + himself to it, than there is between the normal and exceptional output of + an Englishman, whose temperate climate has not taught him to regard a + great part of the year as a period of mere waiting for and resting from + the extraordinary effort of a few weeks. [*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Given any particular motive, any particular enthusiasm, or + visible, desirable object, even the hungry Russian workmen + of to-day are capable of sudden and temporary increase of + output. The "Saturdayings" (see p. 119) provide endless + illustrations of this. They had something in the character + of a picnic, they were novel, they were out of the routine, + and the productivity of labor during a "Saturdaying" was + invariably higher than on a weekday. For example, there is + a shortage of paper for cigarettes. People roll cigarettes + in old newspapers. It occurred to the Central Committee of + the Papermakers' Union to organize a "Sundaying" with the + object of sending cigarette paper to the soldiers in the Red + Army. Six factories took part. Here is a table showing the + output of these factories during the "Sundaying" and the + average weekday output. The figures are in poods. + + Made on Average week + Factory the Sunday Day Output + + Krasnogorodskaya.........615...............450 + Griaznovskaya.............65................45 + Medianskaya..............105................90 + Dobruzhskaya.............186...............250 + Belgiiskaya..............127................85 + Ropshinskaya..............85................55] +</pre> + <p> + But this uneven working temperament was characteristic of the Russian + before the war as well as now. It has been said that the revolution + removed the stimulus to labor, and left the Russian laziness to have its + way. In the first period of the revolution that may have been true. It is + becoming day by day less true. The fundamental reasons of low productivity + will not be found in any sudden or unusual efflorescence of idleness, but + in economic conditions which cannot but reduce the productivity of idle + and industrious alike. Insufficient feeding is one such reason. The + proportion of working time consumed in foraging is another. But the whole + of my first chapter may be taken as a compact mass of reasons why the + Russians at the present time should not work with anything like a normal + productivity. It is said that bad workmen complain of their tools, but + even good ones become disheartened if compelled to work with makeshifts, + mended tools, on a stock of materials that runs out from one day to the + next, in factories where the machinery may come at any moment to a + standstill from lack of fuel. There would thus be a shortage of labor in + Russia, even if the numbers of workmen were the same today as they were + before the war. Unfortunately that is not so. Turning from the question of + low productivity per man to that of absolute shortage of men: the example + given at the beginning of this chapter, showing that in the most important + group of factories the number of workmen has fallen 50 per cent. is by no + means exceptional. Walking through the passages of what used to be the + Club of the Nobles, and is now the house of the Trades Unions during the + recent Trades Union Congress in Moscow, I observed among a number of + pictorial diagrams on the walls, one in particular illustrating the rise + and fall of the working population of Moscow during a number of years. + Each year was represented by the picture of a factory with a chimney which + rose and fell with the population. From that diagram I took the figures + for 1913, 1918 and 1919. These figures should be constantly borne in mind + by any one who wishes to realize how catastrophic the shortage of labor in + Russia actually is, and to judge how sweeping may be the changes in the + social configuration of the country if that shortage continues to + increase. Here are the figures: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Workmen in Moscow in 1913............159,344 + Workmen in Moscow in 1918...........157,282 + Workmen in Moscow in 1919............105,210 +</pre> + <p> + That is to say, that one-third of the workmen of Moscow ceased to live + there, or ceased to be workmen, in the course of a single year. A similar + phenomenon is observable in each one of the big industrial districts. + </p> + <p> + What has become of those workmen? + </p> + <p> + A partial explanation is obvious. The main impulse of the revolution came + from the town workers. Of these, the metal workers were the most decided, + and those who most freely joined the Red Guard in the early and the Red + Army in the later days of the revolution. Many, in those early days, when + there was more enthusiasm than discipline, when there were hardly any + experienced officers, and those without much authority, were slaughtered + during the German advance of 1918. The first mobilizations, when + conscription was introduced, were among the workers in the great + industrial districts. The troops from Petrograd and Moscow, exclusively + workmen's regiments, have suffered more than any other during the civil + war, being the most dependable and being thrown, like the guards of old + time, into the worst place at any serious crisis. Many thousands of them + have died for the sake of the revolution which, were they living, they + would be hard put to it to save. (The special shortage of skilled workers + is also partially to be explained by the indiscriminate mobilizations of + 1914-15, when great numbers of the most valuable engineers and other + skilled workers were thrown into the front line, and it was not until + their loss was already felt that the Tsar's Government in this matter came + belatedly to its senses.) + </p> + <p> + But these explanations are only partial. The more general answer to the + question, What has become of the workmen? lies in the very economic crisis + which their absence accentuates. Russia is unlike England, where + starvation of the towns would be practically starvation of the whole + island. In Russia, if a man is hungry, he has only to walk far enough and + he will come to a place where there is plenty to eat. Almost every Russian + worker retains in some form or other connection with a village, where, if + he returns, he will not be an entire stranger, but at worst a poor + relation, and quite possibly an honored guest. It is not surprising that + many thousands have "returned to the land" in this way. + </p> + <p> + Further, if a workman retains his connection, both with a distant village + and with a town, he can keep himself and his family fat and prosperous by + ceasing to be a workman, and, instead, traveling on the buffers or the + roof of a railway wagon, and bringing back with him sacks of flour and + potatoes for sale in the town at fantastic prices. Thereby he is lost to + productive labor, and his uncomfortable but adventurous life becomes + directly harmful, tending to increase the strain on transport, since it is + obviously more economical to transport a thousand sacks than to transport + a thousand sacks with an idle workman attached to each sack. Further, his + activities actually make it more difficult for the town population to get + food. By keeping open for the village the possibility of selling at + fantastic prices, he lessens the readiness of the peasants to part with + their flour at the lower prices of the Government. Nor is it as if his + activities benefited the working population. The food he brings in goes + for the most part to those who have plenty of money or have things to + exchange for it. And honest men in Russia to-day have not much money, and + those who have things to exchange are not as a rule workmen. The theory of + this man's harmfulness is, I know, open to argument, but the practice at + least is exactly as I have stated it, and is obviously attractive to the + individual who prefers adventure on a full stomach to useful work on an + empty. Setting aside the theory with its latent quarrel between Free Trade + and State control, we can still recognize that each workman engaged in + these pursuits has become an unproductive middleman, one of that very + parasitic species which the revolutionaries had hoped to make unnecessary. + It is bad from the revolutionary point of view if a workman is so + employed, but it is no less bad from the point of view of people who do + not care twopence about the revolution one way or the other, but do care + about getting Russia on her feet again and out of her economic crisis. It + is bad enough if an unskilled workman is so employed. It is far worse if a + skilled workman finds he can do better for himself as a "food speculator" + than by the exercise of his legitimate craft. From mines, from every kind + of factory come complaints of the decreasing proportion of skilled to + unskilled workmen. The superior intelligence of the skilled worker offers + him definite advantages should he engage in these pursuits, and his actual + skill gives him other advantages in the villages. He can leave his factory + and go to the village, there on the spot to ply his trade or variations of + it, when as a handy man, repairing tools, etc., he will make an easy + living and by lessening the dependence of the village on the town do as + much as the "food speculator" in worsening the conditions of the workman + he has left behind. + </p> + <p> + And with that we come to the general changes in the social geography of + Russia which are threatened if the processes now at work continue + unchecked. The relations between town and village are the fundamental + problem of the revolution. Town and countryside are in sharp contradiction + daily intensified by the inability of the towns to supply the country's + needs. The town may be considered as a single productive organism, with + feelers stretching into the country, and actual outposts there in the form + of agricultural enterprises taking their directives from the centre and + working as definite parts of the State organism. All round this town + organism, in all its interstices, it too, with its feelers in the form of + "food speculators," is the anarchic chaos of the country, consisting of a + myriad independent units, regulated by no plan, without a brain centre of + any kind. Either the organized town will hold its own against and + gradually dominate and systematize the country chaos, or that chaos little + by little will engulf the town organism. Every workman who leaves the town + automatically places himself on the side of the country in that struggle. + And when a town like Moscow loses a third of its working population in a + year, it is impossible not to see that, so far, the struggle is going in + favor of that huge chaotic, unconscious but immensely powerful + countryside. There is even a danger that the town may become divided + against itself. Just as scarcity of food leads to food speculation, so the + shortage of labor is making possible a sort of speculation in labor. The + urgent need of labor has led to a resurrection of the methods of the + direct recruiting of workmen in the villages by the agents of particular + factories, who by exceptional terms succeed in getting workmen where the + Government organs fail. And, of course, this recruiting is not confined to + the villages. Those enterprises which are situated in the corn districts + are naturally able to offer better conditions, for the sake of which + workmen are ready to leave their jobs and skilled workmen to do unskilled + work, and the result can only be a drainage of good workmen away from the + hungry central industrial districts where they are most of all needed. + </p> + <p> + Summing up the facts collected in this chapter and in the first on the + lack of things and the lack of men, I think the economic crisis in Russia + may be fairly stated as follows: Owing to the appalling condition of + Russian transport, and owing to the fact that since 1914 Russia has been + practically in a state of blockade, the towns have lost their power of + supplying, either as middlemen or as producers, the simplest needs of the + villages. Partly owing to this, partly again because of the condition of + transport, the towns are not receiving the necessaries of life in + sufficient quantities. The result of this is a serious fall in the + productivity of labor, and a steady flow of skilled and unskilled workmen + from the towns towards the villages, and from employments the exercise of + which tends to assist the towns in recovering their old position as + essential sources of supply to employments that tend to have the opposite + effect. If this continues unchecked, it will make impossible the + regeneration of Russian industry, and will result in the increasing + independence of the villages, which will tend to become entirely + self-supporting communities, tilling the ground in a less and less + efficient manner, with ruder tools, with less and less incentive to + produce more than is wanted for the needs of the village itself. Russia, + in these circumstances, may sink into something very like barbarism, for + with the decay of the economic importance of the towns would decay also + their authority, and free-booting on a small and large scale would become + profitable and not very dangerous. It would be possible, no doubt, for + foreigners to trade with the Russians as with the natives of the cannibal + islands, bartering looking-glasses and cheap tools, but, should such a + state of things come to be, it would mean long years of colonization, with + all the new possibilities and risks involved in the subjugation of a free + people, before Western Europe could count once more on getting a + considerable portion of its food from Russian corn lands. + </p> + <p> + That is the position, those the natural tendencies at work. But opposed to + these tendencies are the united efforts of the Communists and of those + who, leaving the question of Communism discreetly aside, work with them + for the sake of preventing such collapse of Russian civilization. They + recognize the existence of every one of the tendencies I have described, + but they are convinced that every one of these tendencies will be + arrested. They believe that the country will not conquer the town but the + reverse. So far from expecting the unproductive stagnation described in + the last paragraph, they think of Russia as of the natural food supply of + Europe, which the Communists among them believe will, in course of time, + be made up for "Working Men's Republics" (though, for the sake of their + own Republic, they are not inclined to postpone trade with Europe until + that epoch arrives). At the very time when spades and sickles are wearing + out or worn out, these men are determined that the food output of Russia + shall sooner or later be increased by the introduction of better methods + of agriculture and farming on a larger scale. We are witnessing in Russia + the first stages of a titanic struggle, with on one side all the forces of + nature leading apparently to an inevitable collapse of civilization, and + on the other side nothing but the incalculable force of human will. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP + </h2> + <p> + How is that will expressed? What is the organization welded by adversity + which, in this crisis, supersedes even the Soviet Constitution, and stands + between this people and chaos? + </p> + <p> + It is a commonplace to say that Russia is ruled, driven if you like, cold, + starving as she is, to effort after effort by the dictatorship of a party. + It is a commonplace alike in the mouths of those who wish to make the + continued existence of that organization impossible and in the mouths of + the Communists themselves. At the second congress of the Third + International, Trotsky remarked. "A party as such, in the course of the + development of a revolution, becomes identical with the revolution." + Lenin, on the same occasion, replying to a critic who said that he + differed from, the Communists in his understanding of what was meant by + the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, said, "He says that we understand by + the words 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' what is actually the + dictatorship of its determined and conscious minority. And that is the + fact." Later he asked, "What is this minority? It may be called a party. + If this minority is actually conscious, if it is able to draw the masses + after it, if it shows itself capable of replying to every question on the + agenda list of the political day, it actually constitutes a party." And + Trotsky again, on the same occasion, illustrated the relative positions of + the Soviet Constitution and the Communist Party when he said, "And today, + now that we have received an offer of peace from the Polish Government, + who decides the question? Whither are the workers to turn? We have our + Council of People's Commissaries, of course, but that, too, must be under + a certain control. Whose control? The control of the working class as a + formless chaotic mass? No. The Central Committee of the party is called + together to discuss and decide the question. And when we have to wage war, + to form new divisions, to find the best elements for them-to whom do we + turn? To the party, to the Central Committee. And it gives directives to + the local committees, 'Send Communists to the front.' The case is + precisely the same with the Agrarian question, with that of supply, and + with all other questions whatsoever." + </p> + <p> + No one denies these facts, but their mere statement is quite inadequate to + explain what is being done in Russia and how it is being done. I do not + think it would be a waste of time to set down as briefly as possible, + without the comments of praise or blame that would be inevitable from one + primarily interested in the problem from the Capitalist or Communist point + of view what, from observation and inquiry, I believe to be the main + framework of the organization whereby that dictatorship of the party + works. + </p> + <p> + The Soviet Constitution is not so much moribund as in abeyance. The + Executive Committee, for example, which used to meet once a week or even + oftener, now meets on the rarest occasions. Criticism on this account was + met with the reply that the members of the Executive Committee, for + example, which used to meet once a week or even oftener, now meets on the + rarest occasions. Criticism on this account was met with the reply that + the members of the Executive Committee were busy on the front and in + various parts of Russia. As a matter of fact, the work which that + Committee used to do is now done by Central Committee of the Bolshevik + Party, so that the bulk of the 150 members of the Central Executive are + actually free for other work, a saving of something like 130 men. This + does not involve any very great change, but merely an economy in the use + of men. In the old days, as I well remember, the opening of a session of + the Executive Committee was invariably late, the reason being that the + various parties composing it had not yet finished their preliminary and + private discussions. There is now an overwhelming Communist majority in + the Executive Committee, as elsewhere. I think it may be regarded as + proved that these majorities are not always legitimately obtained. + Non-Communist delegates do undoubtedly find every kind of difficulty put + in their way by the rather Jesuitical adherents of the faith. But, no + matter how these majorities are obtained, the result is that when the + Communist Party has made up its mind on any subject, it is so certain of + being able to carry its point that the calling together of the All-Russian + Executive Committee is merely a theatrical demonstration of the fact that + it can do what it likes. When it does meet, the Communists allow the + microscopical opposition great liberty of speech, listen quietly, cheer + ironically, and vote like one man, proving on every occasion that the + meeting of the Executive Committee was the idlest of forms, intended + rather to satisfy purists than for purposes of discussion, since the real + discussion has all taken place beforehand among the Communists themselves. + Something like this must happen with every representative assembly at + which a single party has a great preponderance and a rigid internal + discipline. The real interest is in the discussion inside the Party + Committees. + </p> + <p> + This state of affairs would probably be more actively resented if the + people were capable of resenting anything but their own hunger, or of + fearing anything but a general collapse which would turn that hunger into + starvation. It must be remembered that the urgency of the economic crisis + has driven political questions into the background. The Communists + (compare Rykov's remarks on this subject, p. 175) believe that this is the + natural result of social revolution. They think that political parties + will disappear altogether and that people will band together, not for the + victory of one of several contending political parties, but solely for + economic cooperation or joint enterprise in art or science. In support of + this they point to the number of their opponents who have become + Communists, and to the still greater number of non-Communists who are + loyally working with them for the economic reconstruction of the country. + I do not agree with the Communists in this, nor yet with their opponents, + who attribute the death of political discussion to fear of the + Extraordinary Commission. I think that both the Communists and their + opponents underestimate the influence of the economic ruin that affects + everybody. The latter particularly, feeling that in some way they must + justify themselves to politically minded foreign visitors, seek an excuse + for their apathy in the one institution that is almost universally + unpopular. I have many non-Communist friends in Russia, but have never + detected the least restraint that could be attributed to fear of anybody + in their criticisms of the Communist regime. The fear existed alike among + Communists and non-Communists, but it was like the fear of people walking + about in a particularly bad thunderstorm. The activities and arrests of + the Extraordinary Commission are so haphazard, often so utterly illogical, + that it is quite idle for any one to say to himself that by following any + given line of conduct he will avoid molestation. Also, there is something + in the Russian character which makes any prohibition of discussion almost + an invitation to discuss. I have never met a Russian who could be + prevented from saying whatever he liked whenever he liked, by any threats + or dangers whatsoever. The only way to prevent a Russian from talking is + to cut out his tongue. The real reason for the apathy is that, for the + moment, for almost everybody political questions are of infinitesimal + importance in comparison with questions of food and warmth. The ferment of + political discussion that filled the first years of the revolution has + died away, and people talk about little but what they are able to get for + dinner, or what somebody else his been able to get. I, like other foreign + visitors coming to Russia after feeding up in other countries, am all agog + to make people talk. But the sort of questions which interest me, with my + full-fed stomach, are brushed aside almost fretfully by men who have been + more or less hungry for two or three years on end. + </p> + <p> + I find, instead of an urgent desire to alter this or that at once, + to-morrow, in the political complexion of the country, a general desire to + do the best that can be done with things as they are, a general fear of + further upheaval of any kind, in fact a general acquiescence in the + present state of affairs politically, in the hope of altering the present + state of affairs economically. And this is entirely natural. Everybody, + Communists included, rails bitterly at the inefficiencies of the present + system, but everybody, Anti-Communists included, admits that there is + nothing whatever capable of taking its place. Its failure is highly + undesirable, not because it itself is good, but because such failure would + be preceded or followed by a breakdown of all existing organizations. Food + distribution, inadequate as it now is, would come to an end. The + innumerable non-political committees, which are rather like Boards of + Directors controlling the Timber, Fur, Fishery, Steel, Matches or other + Trusts (since the nationalized industries can be so considered) would + collapse, and with them would collapse not only yet one more hope of + keeping a breath of life in Russian industry, but also the actual + livelihoods of a great number of people, both Communists and + non-Communists. I do not think it is realized out-side Russia how large a + proportion of the educated classes have become civil servants of one kind + or another. It is a rare thing when a whole family has left Russia, and + many of the most embittered partisans of war on Russia have relations + inside Russia who have long ago found places under the new system, and + consequently fear its collapse as much as any one. One case occurs to me + in which a father was an important minister in one of the various White + Governments which have received Allied support, while his son inside + Russia was doing pretty well as a responsible official under the + Communists. Now in the event of a violent change, the Communists would be + outlaws with a price on every head, and those who have worked with them, + being Russians, know their fellow countrymen well enough to be pretty well + convinced that the mere fact that they are without cards of the membership + of the Communist Party, would not save them in the orgy of slaughter that + would follow any such collapse. + </p> + <p> + People may think that I underestimate the importance of, the Extraordinary + Commission. I am perfectly aware that without this police force with its + spies, its prisons and its troops, the difficulties of the Dictatorship + would be increased by every kind of disorder, and the chaos, which I fear + may come, would have begun long ago. I believe, too, that the overgrown + power of the Extraordinary Commission, and the cure that must sooner or + later be applied to it, may, as in the French Revolution, bring about the + collapse of the whole system. The Commission depends for its strength on + the fear of something else. I have seen it weaken when there was a hope of + general peace. I have seen it tighten its grip in the presence of attacks + from without and attempted assassination within. It is dreaded by + everybody; not even Communists are safe from it; but it does not suffice + to explain the Dictatorship, and is actually entirely irrelevant to the + most important process of that Dictatorship, namely, the adoption of a + single idea, a single argument, by the whole of a very large body of men. + The whole power of the Extraordinary Commission does not affect in the + slightest degree discussions inside the Communist Party, and those + discussions are the simple fact distinguishing the Communist Dictatorship + from any of the other dictatorships by which it may be supplanted. + </p> + <p> + There are 600,000 members of the Communist Party (611,978 on April 2, + 1920). There are nineteen members of the Central Committee of that party. + There are, I believe, five who, when they agree, can usually sway the + remaining fourteen. There is no need to wonder how these fourteen can be + argued into acceptance of the views of the still smaller inner ring, but + the process of persuading the six hundred thousand of the desirability of, + for example, such measures as those involved in industrial conscription + which, at first sight, was certainly repugnant to most of them, is the + main secret of the Dictatorship, and is not in any way affected by the + existence of the Extraordinary Commission. + </p> + <p> + Thus the actual government of Russia at the present time may be not + unfairly considered as a small group inside the Central Committee of the + Communist Party. This small group is able to persuade the majority of the + remaining members of that Committee. The Committee then sets about + persuading the majority of the party. In the case of important measures + the process is elaborate. The Committee issues a statement of its case, + and the party newspapers the Pravda and its affiliated organs are deluged + with its discussion. When this discussion has had time to spread through + the country, congresses of Communists meet in the provincial centres, and + members of the Central Committee go down to these conferences to defend + the "theses" which the Committee has issued. These provincial congresses, + exclusively Communist, send their delegates of an All-Russian Congress. + There the "theses" of the Central Committee get altered, confirmed, or, in + the case of an obviously unpersuaded and large opposition in the party, + are referred back or in other ways shelved. Then the delegates, even those + who have been in opposition at the congress, go back to the country + pledged to defend the position of the majority. This sometimes has curious + results. For example, I heard Communist Trades Unionists fiercely arguing + against certain clauses in the theses on industrial conscription at a + Communist Congress at the Kremlin; less than a week afterwards I heard + these same men defending precisely these clauses at a Trades Union + Congress over the way, they loyally abiding by the collective opinion of + their fellow Communists and subject to particularly uncomfortable heckling + from people who vociferously reminded them (since the Communist debates + had been published) that they were now defending what, a few days before, + they had vehemently attacked. + </p> + <p> + The great strength of the Communist Party is comparable to the strength of + the Jesuits, who, similarly, put themselves and their opinions at the + disposal of the body politic of their fellow members. Until a decision had + been made, a Communist is perfectly free to do his best to prevent it + being made, to urge alterations in it, or to supply a rival decision, but + once it has been made he will support it without changing his private + opinion. In all mixed congresses, rather than break the party discipline, + he will give his vote for it, speak in favor of it, and use against its + adversaries the very arguments that have been used against himself. He has + his share in electing the local Communist Committee, and, indirectly, in + electing the all-powerful Central Committee of the party, and he binds + himself to do at any moment in his life exactly what these Committees + decide for him. These Committees decide the use that is to be made of the + lives, not only of the rank and file of the party, but also of their own + members. Even a member of the Central Committee does not escape. He may be + voted by his fellow members into leaving a job he likes and taking up + another he detests in which they think his particular talents will better + serve the party aims. To become a member of the Communist Party involves a + kind of intellectual abdication, or, to put it differently, a readiness at + any moment to place the collective wisdom of the party's Committee above + one's individual instincts or ideas. You may influence its decisions, you + may even get it to endorse your own, but Lenin himself, if he were to fail + on any occasion to obtain the agreement of a majority in the Central + Committee, would have to do precisely what the Committee should tell him. + Lenin's opinion carries great weight because he is Lenin, but it carries + less weight than that of the Central Committee, of which he forms a + nineteenth part. On the other hand, the opinion of Lenin and a very small + group of outstanding figures is supported by great prestige inside the + Committee, and that of the Committee is supported by overwhelming prestige + among the rank and file. The result is that this small group is nearly + always sure of being able to use the whole vote of 600,000 Communists, in + the realization of its decisions. + </p> + <p> + Now 600,000 men and women acting on the instructions of a highly + centralized directive, all the important decisions of which have been + thrashed out and re-thrashed until they have general support within the + party; 600,000 men and women prepared, not only to vote in support of + these decisions, but with a carefully fostered readiness to sacrifice + their lives for them if necessary; 600,000 men and women who are persuaded + that by their way alone is humanity to be saved; who are persuaded (to put + it as cynically and unsympathetically as possible) that the noblest death + one can die is in carrying out a decision of the Central Committee; such a + body, even in a country such as Russia, is an enormously strong embodiment + of human will, an instrument of struggle capable of working something very + like miracles. It can be and is controlled like an army in battle. It can + mobilize its members, 10 per cent. of them, 50 per cent., the local + Committees choosing them, and send them to the front when the front is in + danger, or to the railways and repair shops when it is decided that the + weakest point is that of transport. If its only task were to fight those + organizations of loosely knit and only momentarily united interests which + are opposed to it, those jerry-built alliances of Reactionaries with + Liberals, United-Indivisible-Russians with Ukrainians, Agrarians with + Sugar-Refiners, Monarchists with Republicans, that task would long ago + have been finished. But it has to fight something infinitely stronger than + these in fighting the economic ruin of Russia, which, if it is too strong, + too powerful to be arrested by the Communists, would make short work of + those who are without any such fanatic single-minded and perfectly + disciplined organization. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A CONFERENCE AT JAROSLAVL + </h2> + <p> + I have already suggested that although the small Central Committee of the + Communist Party does invariably get its own way, there are essential + differences between this Dictatorship and the dictatorship of, for + example, a General. The main difference is that whereas the General merely + writes an order about which most people hear for the first time only when + it is promulgated, the Central Committee prepares the way for its + dictation by a most elaborate series of discussions and counter + discussions throughout the country, whereby it wins the bulk of the + Communist Party to its opinion, after which it proceeds through local and + general congresses to do the same with the Trades Unions. This done, a + further series of propaganda meetings among the people actually to be + affected smooths the way for the introduction of whatever new measure is + being carried through at the moment. All this talk, besides lessening the + amount of physical force necessary in carrying out a decision, must also + avoid, at least in part, the deadening effect that would be caused by mere + compulsory obedience to the unexplained orders of a military dictator. Of + the reality of the Communist Dictatorship I have no sort of doubt. But its + methods are such as tend towards the awakening of a political + consciousness which, if and when normal conditions-of feeding and peace, + for example-are attained, will make dictatorship of any kind almost + impossible. + </p> + <p> + To illustrate these methods of the Dictatorship, I cannot do better than + copy into this book some pages of my diary written in March of this year + when I was present at one of the provincial conferences which were held in + preparation of the All-Russian Communist Conference at the end of the + month. + </p> + <p> + At seven in the evening Radek called for me and took me to the Jaroslavl + station, where we met Larin, whom I had known in 1918. An old Menshevik, + he was the originator and most urgent supporter of the decree annulling + the foreign debts. He is a very ill man, partially paralyzed, having to + use both hands even to get food to his mouth or to turn over the leaves of + a book. In spite of this he is one of the hardest workers in Russia, and + although his obstinacy, his hatred of compromise, and a sort of mixed + originality and perverseness keep him almost permanently at loggerheads + with the Central Committee, he retains everybody's respect because of the + real heroism with which he conquers physical disabilities which long ago + would have overwhelmed a less unbreakable spirit. Both Radek and Larin + were going to the Communist Conference at Jaroslavl which was to consider + the new theses of the Central Committee of the party with regard to + Industrial Conscription. Radek was going to defend the position of the + Central Committee, Larin to defend his own. Both are old friends. As Radek + said to me, he intended to destroy Larin's position, but not, if he could + help it, prevent Larin being nominated among the Jaroslavl delegates to + All-Russian Conference which was in preparation. Larin, whose work keeps + him continually traveling, has his own car, specially arranged so that his + uninterrupted labor shall have as little effect as possible on his + dangerously frail body. Radek and I traveled in one of the special cars of + the Central Executive Committee, of which he is a member. + </p> + <p> + The car seemed very clean, but, as an additional precaution, we began by + rubbing turpentine on our necks and wrists and angles for the + discouragement of lice, now generally known as "Semashki" from the name of + Semashko, the Commissar of Public Health, who wages unceasing war for + their destruction as the carriers of typhus germs. I rubbed the turpentine + so energetically into my neck that it burnt like a collar of fire, and for + a long time I was unable to get to sleep. + </p> + <p> + In the morning Radek, the two conductors who had charge of the wagons and + I sat down together to breakfast and had a very merry meal, they providing + cheese and bread and I a tin of corned beef providently sent out from home + by the Manchester Guardian. We cooked up some coffee on a little spirit + stove, which, in a neat basket together with plates, knives, forks, etc. + (now almost unobtainable in Russia) had been a parting present from the + German Spartacists to Radek when he was released from prison in Berlin and + allowed to leave Germany. + </p> + <p> + The morning was bright and clear, and we had an excellent view of + Jaroslavl when we drove from the station to the town, which is a mile or + so off the line of the railway. The sun poured down on the white snow, on + the barges still frozen into the Volga River, and on the gilt and painted + domes and cupolas of the town. Many of the buildings had been destroyed + during the rising artificially provoked in July, 1918, and its subsequent + suppression. More damage was done then than was necessary, because the + town was recaptured by troops which had been deserted by most of their + officers, and therefore hammered away with artillery without any very + definite plan of attack. The more important of the damaged buildings, such + as the waterworks and the power station, have been repaired, the tramway + was working, and, after Moscow, the town seemed clean, but plenty of ruins + remained as memorials of that wanton and unjustifiable piece of folly + which, it was supposed, would be the signal for a general rising. + </p> + <p> + We drove to the Hotel Bristol, now the headquarters of the Jaroslavl + Executive Committee, where Rostopchin, the president, discussed with Larin + and Radek the programme arranged for the conference. It was then proposed + that we should have something to eat, when a very curious state of affairs + (and one extremely Russian) was revealed. Rostopchin admitted that the + commissariat arrangements of the Soviet and its Executive Committee were + very bad. But in the center of the town there is a nunnery which was very + badly damaged during the bombardment and is now used as a sort of prison + or concentration camp for a Labor Regiment. Peasants from the surrounding + country who have refused to give up their proper contribution of corn, or + leave otherwise disobeyed the laws, are, for punishment, lodged here, and + made to expiate their sins by work. It so happens, Rostopchin explained, + that the officer in charge of the prison feeding arrangements is a very + energetic fellow, who had served in the old army in a similar capacity, + and the meals served out to the prisoners are so much better than those + produced in the Soviet headquarters, that the members of the Executive + Committee make a practice of walking over to the prison to dine. They + invited us to do the same. Larin did not feel up to the walk, so he + remained in the Soviet House to eat an inferior meal, while Radek and I, + with Rostopchin and three other members of the local committee walked + round to the prison. The bell tower of the old nunnery had been half shot + away by artillery, and is in such a precarious condition that it is + proposed to pull it down. But on passing under it we came into a wide + courtyard surrounded by two-story whitewashed buildings that seemed + scarcely to have suffered at all. We found the refectory in one of these + buildings. It was astonishingly clean. There were wooden tables, of course + without cloths, and each man had a wooden spoon and a hunk of bread. A + great bowl of really excellent soup was put down in the middle of table, + and we fell to hungrily enough. I made more mess on the table than any one + else, because it requires considerable practice to convey almost boiling + soup from a distant bowl to one's mouth without spilling it in a shallow + wooden spoon four inches in diameter, and, having got it to one's mouth, + to get any of it in without slopping over on either side. The regular + diners there seemed to find no difficulty in it at all. One of the + prisoners who mopped up after my disasters said I had better join them for + a week, when I should find it quite easy. The soup bowl was followed by a + fry of potatoes, quantities of which are grown in the district. For + dealing with these I found the wooden spoon quite efficient. After that we + had glasses of some sort of substitute for tea. + </p> + <p> + The Conference was held in the town theatre. There was a hint of comedy in + the fact that the orchestra was playing the prelude to some very cheerful + opera before the curtain rang up. Radek characteristically remarked that + such music should be followed by something more sensational than a + conference, proposed to me that we should form a tableau to illustrate the + new peaceful policy of England with regard to Russia. As it was a party + conference, I had really no right to be there, but Radek had arranged with + Rostopchin that I should come in with himself, and be allowed to sit in + the wings at the side of the stage. On the stage were Rostopchin, Radek, + Larin and various members of the Communist Party Committee in the + district. Everything was ready, but the orchestra went on with its jig + music on the other side of the curtain. A message was sent to them. The + music stopped with a jerk. The curtain rose, disclosing a crowded + auditorium. Everybody stood up, both on the stage and in the theater, and + sang, accompanied by the orchestra, first the "Internationale" and then + the song for those who had died for the revolution. Then except for two or + three politically minded musicians, the orchestra vanished away and the + Conference began. + </p> + <p> + Unlike many of the meetings and conferences at which I have been present + in Russia, this Jaroslavl Conference seemed to me to include practically + none but men and women who either were or had been actual manual workers. + I looked over row after row of faces in the theatre, and could only find + two faces which I thought might be Jewish, and none that obviously + belonged to the "intelligentsia." I found on inquiry that only three of + the Communists present, excluding Radek and Larin, were old exiled and + imprisoned revolutionaries of the educated class. Of these, two were on + the platform. All the rest were from the working class. The great majority + of them, of course, had joined the Communists in 1917, but a dozen or so + had been in the party as long as the first Russian revolution of 1905. + </p> + <p> + Radek, who was tremendously cheered (his long imprisonment in Germany, + during which time few in Russia thought that they would see him alive + again, has made him something of a popular hero) made a long, interesting + and pugnacious speech setting out the grounds on which the Central + Committee base their ideas about Industrial Conscription. These ideas are + embodied in the series of theses issued by the Central Committee in + January (see p. 134). Larin, who was very tired after the journey and + patently conscious that Radek was a formidable opponent, made a speech + setting out his reasons for differing with the Central Committee, and + proposed an ingenious resolution, which, while expressing approval of the + general position of the Committee, included four supplementary + modifications which, as a matter of fact, nullified that position + altogether. It was then about ten at night, and the Conference adjourned. + We drove round to the prison in sledges, and by way of supper had some + more soup and potatoes, and so back to the railway station to sleep in the + cars. + </p> + <p> + Next day the Conference opened about noon, when there was a long + discussion of the points at issue. Workman after workman came to the + platform and gave his view. Some of the speeches were a little naive, as + when one soldier said that Comrades Lenin and Trotsky had often before + pointed out difficult roads, and that whenever they had been followed they + had shown the way to victory, and that therefore, though there was much in + the Central Committee's theses that was hard to digest, he was for giving + them complete support, confident that, as Comrades Lenin and Trotsky were + in favor of them, they were likely to be right this time, as so often + heretofore. But for the most part the speeches were directly concerned + with the problem under discussion, and showed a political consciousness + which would have been almost incredible three years ago. The Red Army + served as a text for many, who said that the methods which had produced + that army and its victories over the Whites had been proved successful and + should be used to produce a Red Army of Labor and similar victories on the + bloodless front against economic disaster. Nobody seemed to question the + main idea of compulsory labor. The contest that aroused real bitterness + was between the methods of individual and collegiate command. The new + proposals lead eventually towards individual command, and fears were + expressed lest this should mean putting summary powers into the hands of + bourgeois specialists, thus nullifying "workers' control". In reply, it + was pointed out that individual command had proved necessary in the army + and had resulted in victory for the revolution. The question was not + between specialists and no specialists. Everybody knew that specialists + were necessary. The question was how to get the most out of them. + Effective political control had secured that bourgeois specialists, old + officers, led to victory the army of the Red Republic. The same result + could be secured in the factories in the same way. It was pointed out that + in one year they had succeeded in training 32,000 Red Commanders, that is + to say, officers from the working class itself, and that it was not + Utopian to hope and work for a similar output of workmen specialists, + technically trained, and therefore themselves qualified for individual + command in the factories. Meanwhile there was nothing against the + employment of Political Commissars in the factories as formerly in the + regiments, to control in other than technical matters the doings of the + specialists. On the other hand, it was said that the appointment of + Commissars would tend to make Communists unpopular, since inevitably in + many cases they would have to support the specialists against the workmen, + and that the collegiate system made the workmen feel that they were + actually the masters, and so gave possibilities of enthusiastic work not + otherwise obtainable. This last point was hotly challenged. It was said + that collegiate control meant little in effect, except waste of time and + efficiency, because at worst work was delayed by disputes and at best the + workmen members of the college merely countersigned the orders decided + upon by the specialists. The enthusiastic work was said to be a fairy + story. If it were really to be found then there would be no need for a + conference to discover how to get it. + </p> + <p> + The most serious opposition, or at least the most serious argument put + forward, for there was less opposition than actual discussion, came from + some of the representatives of the Trade Unionists. A good deal was said + about the position of the Trades Unions in a Socialist State. There was + general recognition that since the Trade Unions themselves controlled the + conditions of labor and wages, the whole of their old work of organizing + strikes against capitalists had ceased to have any meaning, since to + strike now would be to strike against their own decisions. At the same + time, certain tendencies to Syndicalism were still in existence, + tendencies which might well lead to conflict between different unions, so + that, for example, the match makers or the metal worker, might wish to + strike a bargain with the State, as of one country with another, and this + might easily lead to a complete collapse of the socialist system. + </p> + <p> + The one thing on which the speakers were in complete agreement was the + absolute need of an effort in industry equal to, if not greater than, the + effort made in the army. I thought it significant that in many of the + speeches the importance of this effort was urged as the only possible + means of retaining the support of the peasants. There was a tacit + recognition that the Conference represented town workers only. Larin, who + had belonged to the old school which had grown up with its eyes on the + industrial countries of the West and believed that revolution could be + brought about by the town workers alone, that it was exclusively their + affair, and that all else was of minor importance, unguardedly spoke of + the peasant as "our neighbor." In Javoslavl, country and town are too near + to allow the main problem of the revolution to be thus easily dismissed. + It was instantly pointed out that the relation was much more intimate, and + that, even if it were only "neighborly," peace could not long be preserved + if it were continually necessary for one neighbor to steal the chickens of + the other. These town workers of a district for the most part agricultural + were very sure that the most urgent of all tasks was to raise industry to + the point at which the town would really be able to supply the village + with its needs. + </p> + <p> + Larin and Radek severally summed up and made final attacks on each other's + positions, after which Radek's resolution approving the theses of the + Central Committee was passed almost unanimously. Larin's four amendments + received 1, 3, 7 and 1 vote apiece. This result was received with cheering + throughout the theater, and showed the importance of such Conferences in + smoothing the way of the Dictatorship, since it had been quite obvious + when the discussion began that a very much larger proportion of the + delegates than finally voted for his resolution had been more or less in + sympathy with Larin in his opposition to the Central Committee. + </p> + <p> + There followed elections to the Party Conference in Moscow. Rostopchin, + the president, read a list which had been submitted by the various ouyezds + in the Jaroslavl Government. They were to send to Moscow fifteen delegates + with the right to vote, together with another fifteen with the right to + speak but not to vote. Larin, who had done much work in the district, was + mentioned as one of the fifteen voting delegates, but he stood up and said + that as the Conference had so clearly expressed its disagreement with his + views, he thought it better to withdraw his candidature. Rostopchin put it + to the Conference that although they disagreed with Larin, yet it would be + as well that he should have the opportunity of stating his views at the + All-Russian Conference, so that discussion there should be as final and as + many-sided as possible. The Conference expressed its agreement with this. + Larin withdrew his withdrawal, and was presently elected. The main object + of these conferences in unifying opinion and in arming Communists with + argument for the defence of this unified opinion a mong the masses was + again illustrated when the Conference, in leaving it to the ouyezds to + choose for themselves the non-voting delegates urged them to select + wherever possible people who would have the widest opportunities of + explaining on their return to the district whatever results might be + reached in Moscow. + </p> + <p> + It was now pretty late in the evening, and after another very satisfactory + visit to the prison we drove back to the station. Larin, who was very + disheartened, realizing that he had lost much support in the course of the + discussion, settled down to work, and buried himself in a mass of + statistics. I prepared to go to bed, but we had hardly got into the car + when there was a tap at the door and a couple of railwaymen came in. They + explained that a few hundred yards away along the line a concert and + entertainment arranged by the Jaroslavl railwaymen was going on, and that + their committee, hearing that Radek was at the station, had sent them to + ask him to come over and say a few words to them if he were not too tired. + </p> + <p> + "Come along," said Radek, and we walked in the dark along the railway + lines to a big one-story wooden shanty, where an electric lamp lit a great + placard, "Railwaymen's Reading Room." We went into a packed hall. Every + seat was occupied by railway workers and their wives and children. The + gangways on either side were full of those who had not found room on the + benches. We wriggled and pushed our way through this crowd, who were + watching a play staged and acted by the railwaymen themselves, to a side + door, through which we climbed up into the wings, and slid across the + stage behind the scenery into a tiny dressing-room. Here Radek was laid + hold of by the Master of the Ceremonies, who, it seemed, was also part + editor of a railwaymen's newspaper, and made to give a long account of the + present situation of Soviet Russia's Foreign Affairs. The little box of a + room filled to a solid mass as policemen, generals and ladies of the old + regime threw off their costumes, and, in their working clothes, plain + signalmen and engine-drivers, pressed round to listen. When the act ended, + one of the railwaymen went to the front of the stage and announced that + Radek, who had lately come back after imprisonment in Germany for the + cause of revolution, was going to talk to them about the general state of + affairs. I saw Radek grin at this forecast of his speech. I understood + why, when he began to speak. He led off by a direct and furious onslaught + on the railway workers in general, demanding work, work and more work, + telling them that as the Red Army had been the vanguard of the revolution + hitherto, and had starved and fought and given lives to save those at home + from Denikin and Kolchak, so now it was the turn of the railway workers on + whose efforts not only the Red Army but also the whole future of Russia + depended. He addressed himself to the women, telling them in very bad + Russian that unless their men worked superhumanly they would see their + babies die from starvation next winter. I saw women nudge their husbands + as they listened. Instead of giving them a pleasant, interesting sketch of + the international position, which, no doubt, was what they had expected, + he took the opportunity to tell them exactly how things stood at home. And + the amazing thing was that they seemed to be pleased. They listened with + extreme attention, wanted to turn out some one who had a sneezing fit at + the far end of the hall, and nearly lifted the roof off with cheering when + Radek had done. I wondered what sort of reception a man would have who in + another country interrupted a play to hammer home truths about the need of + work into an audience of working men who had gathered solely for the + purpose of legitimate recreation. It was not as if he sugared the medicine + he gave them. His speech was nothing but demands for discipline and work, + coupled with prophecy of disaster in case work and discipline failed. It + was delivered like all his speeches, with a strong Polish accent and a + steady succession of mistakes in grammar. + </p> + <p> + As we walked home along the railway lines, half a dozen of the railwaymen + pressed around Radek, and almost fought with each other as to who should + walk next to him. And Radek entirely happy, delighted at his success in + giving them a bombshell instead of a bouquet, with one stout fellow on one + arm, another on the other, two or three more listening in front and + behind, continued rubbing it into them until we reached our wagon, when, + after a general handshaking, they disappeared into the night. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE TRADE UNIONS + </h2> + <p> + Trade Unions in Russia are in a different position from that which is + common to all other Trades Unions in the world. In other countries the + Trades Unions are a force with whose opposition the Government must + reckon. In Russia the Government reckons not on the possible opposition of + the Trades Unions, but on their help for realizing its most difficult + measures, and for undermining and overwhelming any opposition which those + measures may encounter. The Trades Unions in Russia, instead of being an + organization outside the State protecting the interests of a class against + the governing class, have become a part of the State organization. Since, + during the present period of the revolution the backbone of the State + organization is the Communist Party, the Trade Unions have come to be + practically an extension of the party organization. This, of course, would + be indignantly denied both by Trade Unionists and Communists. Still, in + the preface to the All-Russian Trades Union Reports for 1919, Glebov, one + of the best-known Trade Union leaders whom I remember in the spring of + last year objecting to the use of bourgeois specialists in their proper + places, admits as much in the following muddleheaded statement:— + </p> + <p> + "The base of the proletarian dictatorship is the Communist Party, which in + general directs all the political and economic work of the State, leaning, + first of all, on the Soviets as on the more revolutionary form of + dictatorship of the proletariat, and secondly on the Trades Unions, as + organizations which economically unite the proletariat of factory and + workshop as the vanguard of the revolution, and as organizations of the + new socialistic construction of the State. Thus the Trade Unions must be + considered as a base of the Soviet State, as an organic form complementary + to the other forms of the Proletariat Dictatorship." These two elaborate + sentences constitute an admission of what I have just said. + </p> + <p> + Trades Unionists of other countries must regard the fate of their Russian + colleagues with horror or with satisfaction, according to their views of + events in Russia taken as a whole. If they do not believe that there has + been a social revolution in Russia, they must regard the present position + of the Russian Trades Unions as the reward of a complete defeat of Trade + Unionism, in which a Capitalist government has been able to lay violent + hands on the organization which was protecting the workers against it. If, + on the other hand, they believe that there has been a social revolution, + so that the class organized in Trades Unions is now, identical with the + governing, class (of employers, etc.) against which the unions once + struggled, then they must regard the present position as a natural and + satisfactory result of victory. + </p> + <p> + When I was in Moscow in the spring of this year the Russian Trades Unions + received a telegram from the Trades Union Congress at Amsterdam, a + telegram which admirably illustrated the impossibility of separating + judgment of the present position of the Unions from judgments of the + Russian revolution as a whole. It encouraged the Unions "in their + struggle" and promised support in that struggle. The Communists + immediately asked "What struggle? Against the capitalist system in Russia + which does not exist? Or against capitalist systems outside Russia?" They + said that either the telegram meant this latter only, or it meant that its + writers did not believe that there had been a social revolution in Russia. + The point is arguable. If one believes that revolution is an + impossibility, one can reason from that belief and say that in spite of + certain upheavals in Russia the fundamental arrangement of society is the + same there as in other countries, so that the position of the Trade Unions + there must be the same, and, as in other countries they must be still + engaged in augmenting the dinners of their members at the expense of the + dinners of the capitalists which, in the long run (if that were possible) + they would abolish. If, on the other hand, one believes that social + revolution has actually occurred, to speak of Trades Unions continuing the + struggle in which they conquered something like three years ago, is to + urge them to a sterile fanaticism which has been neatly described by + Professor Santayana as a redoubling of your effort when you have forgotten + your aim. + </p> + <p> + It 's probably true that the "aim" of the Trades Unions was more clearly + defined in Russia than elsewhere. In England during the greater part of + their history the Trades Unions have not been in conscious opposition to + the State. In Russia this position was forced on the Trades Unions almost + before they had time to get to work. They were born, so to speak, with red + flags in their hands. They grew up under circumstances of extreme + difficulty and persecution. From 1905 on they were in decided opposition + to the existing system, and were revolutionary rather than merely + mitigatory organizations. + </p> + <p> + Before 1905 they were little more than associations for mutual help, very + weak, spending most of their energies in self-preservation from the + police, and hiding their character as class organizations by electing more + or less Liberal managers and employers as "honorary members." 1905, + however, settled their revolutionary character. In September of that year + there was a Conference at Moscow, where it was decided to call an + All-Russian Trades Union Congress. Reaction in Russia made this + impossible, and the most they could do was to have another small + Conference in February, 1906, which, however, defined their object as that + of creating a general Trade Union Movement organized on All-Russian lines. + The temper of the Trades Unions then, and the condition of the country at + that time, may be judged from the fact that although they were merely + working for the right to form Unions, the right to strike, etc., they + passed the following significant resolution: "Neither from the present + Government nor from the future State Duma can be expected realization of + freedom of coalition. This Conference considers the legalization of the + Trades Unions under present conditions absolutely impossible." The + Conference was right. For twelve years after that there were no Trades + Unions Conferences in Russia. Not until June, 1917, three months after the + March Revolution, was the third Trade Union Conference able to meet. This + Conference reaffirmed the revolutionary character of the Russian Trades + Unions. + </p> + <p> + At that time the dominant party in the Soviets was that of the Mensheviks, + who were opposed to the formation of a Soviet Government, and were + supporting the provisional Cabinet of Kerensky. The Trades Unions were + actually at that time more revolutionary than the Soviets. This third + Conference passed several resolutions, which show clearly enough that the + present position of the Unions has not been brought about by any violence + of the Communists from without, but was definitely promised by tendencies + inside the Unions at a time when the Communists were probably the least + authoritative party in Russia. This Conference of June, 1917, resolved + that the Trades Unions should not only "remain militant class + organizations... but... should support the activities of the Soviets of + soldiers and deputies." They thus clearly showed on which side they stood + in the struggle then proceeding. Nor was this all. They also, though the + Mensheviks were still the dominant party, resolved on that system of + internal organizations and grouping, which has been actually realized + under the Communists. I quote again from the resolution of this + Conference: + </p> + <p> + "The evolution of the economic struggle demands from the workers such + forms of professional organization as, basing themselves on the connection + between various groups of workers in the process of production, should + unite within a general organization, and under general leadership, as + large masses of workers as possible occupied in enterprises of the same + kind, or in similar professions. With this object the workers should + organize themselves professionally, not by shops or trades, but by + productions, so that all the workers of a given enterprise should belong + to one Union, even if they belong to different professions and even + different productions." That which was then no more than a design is now + an accurate description of Trades Union organization in Russia. Further, + much that at present surprises the foreign inquirer was planned and + considered desirable then, before the Communists had won a majority either + in the Unions or in the Soviet. Thus this same third Conference resolved + that "in the interests of greater efficiency and success in the economic + struggle, a professional organization should be built on the principle of + democratic centralism, assuring to every member a share in the affairs of + the organization and, at the same time, obtaining unity in the leadership + of the struggle." Finally "Unity in the direction (leadership) of the + economic struggle demands unity in the exchequer of the Trades Unions." + </p> + <p> + The point that I wish to make in thus illustrating the pre-Communist + tendencies of the Russian Trades Unions is not simply that if their + present position is undesirable they have only themselves to thank for it, + but that in Russia the Trades Union movement before the October Revolution + was working in the direction of such a revolution, that the events of + October represented something like a Trade Union victory, so that the + present position of the Unions as part of the organization defending that + victory, as part of the system of government set up by that revolution, is + logical and was to be expected. I have illustrated this from resolutions, + because these give statements in words easily comparable with what has + come to pass. It would be equally easy to point to deeds instead of words + if we need more forcible though less accurate illustrations. + </p> + <p> + Thus, at the time of the Moscow Congress the Soviets, then Mensheviks, who + were represented at the Congress (the object of the Congress was to whip + up support for the Coalition Government) were against strikes of protest. + The Trades Unions took a point of view nearer that of the Bolsheviks, and + the strikes in Moscow took place in spite of the Soviets. After the + Kornilov affair, when the Mensheviks were still struggling for coalition + with the bourgeois parties, the Trades Unions quite definitely took the + Bolshevik standpoint. At the so-called Democratic Conference, intended as + a sort of life belt for the sinking Provisional Government, only eight of + the Trades Union delegates voted for a continuance of the coalition, + whereas seventy three voted against. + </p> + <p> + This consciously revolutionary character throughout their much shorter + existence has distinguished Russian from, for example, English Trades + Unions. It has set their course for them. + </p> + <p> + In October, 1917, they got the revolution for which they had been asking + since March. Since then, one Congress after another has illustrated the + natural and inevitable development of Trades Unions inside a revolutionary + State which, like most if not all revolutionary States, is attacked + simultaneously by hostile armies from without and by economic paralysis + from within. The excited and lighthearted Trades Unionists of three years + ago, who believed that the mere decreeing of "workers' control" would + bring all difficulties automatically to an end, are now unrecognizable. We + have seen illusion after illusion scraped from them by the pumice-stone of + experience, while the appalling state of the industries which they now + largely control, and the ruin of the country in which they attained that + control, have forced them to alter their immediate aims to meet immediate + dangers, and have accelerated the process of adaptation made inevitable by + their victory. + </p> + <p> + The process of adaptation has had the natural result of producing new + internal cleavages. Change after change in their programme and theory of + the Russian Trades Unionists has been due to the pressure of life itself, + to the urgency of struggling against the worsening of conditions already + almost unbearable. It is perfectly natural that those Unions which hold + back from adaptation and resent the changes are precisely those which, + like that of the printers, are not intimately concerned in any productive + process, are consequently outside the central struggle, and, while feeling + the discomforts of change, do not feel its need. + </p> + <p> + The opposition inside the productive Trades Unions is of two kinds. There + is the opposition, which is of merely psychological interest, of old + Trades Union leaders who have always thought of themselves as in + opposition to the Government, and feel themselves like watches without + mainsprings in their new role of Government supporters. These are men in + whom a natural intellectual stiffness makes difficult the complete change + of front which was the logical result of the revolution for which they had + been working. But beside that there is a much more interesting opposition + based on political considerations. The Menshevik standpoint is one of + disbelief in the permanence of the revolution, or rather in the permanence + of the victory of the town workers. They point to the divergence in + interests between the town and country populations, and are convinced that + sooner or later the peasants will alter the government to suit themselves, + when, once more, it will be a government against which the town workers + will have to defend their interests. The Mensheviks object to the + identification of the Trades Unions with the Government apparatus on the + ground that when this change, which they expect comes about, the Trade + Union movement will be so far emasculated as to be incapable of defending + the town workers against the peasants who will then be the ruling class. + Thus they attack the present Trades Union leaders for being directly + influenced by the Government in fixing the rate of wages, on the ground + that this establishes a precedent from which, when the change comes, it + will be difficult to break away. The Communists answer them by insisting + that it is to everybody's interest to pull Russia through the crisis, and + that if the Trades Unions were for such academic reasons to insist on + their complete independence instead of in every possible way collaborating + with the Government, they would be not only increasing the difficulties of + the revolution in its economic crisis, but actually hastening that change + which the Mensheviks, though they regard it as inevitable, cannot be + supposed to desire. This Menshevik opposition is strongest in the Ukraine. + Its strength may be judged from the figures of the Congress in Moscow this + spring when, of 1,300 delegates, over 1,000 were Communists or + sympathizers with them; 63 were Mensheviks and 200 were non-party, the + bulk of whom, I fancy, on this point would agree with the Mensheviks. + </p> + <p> + But apart from opposition to the "stratification" of the Trades Unions, + there is a cleavage cutting across the Communist Party itself and uniting + in opinion, though not in voting, the Mensheviks and a section of their + Communist opponents. This cleavage is over the question of "workers' + control." Most of those who, before the revolution, looked forward to the + "workers' control", thought of it as meaning that the actual workers in a + given factory would themselves control that factory, just as a board of + directors controls a factory under the ordinary capitalist system. The + Communists, I think, even today admit the ultimate desirability of this, + but insist that the important question is not who shall give the orders, + but in whose interest the orders shall be given. I have nowhere found this + matter properly thrashed out, though feeling upon it is extremely strong. + Everybody whom I asked about it began at once to address me as if I were a + public meeting, so that I found it extremely difficult to get from either + side a statement not free from electioneering bias. I think, however, that + it may be fairly said that all but a few lunatics have abandoned the ideas + of 1917, which resulted in the workmen in a factory deposing any technical + expert or manager whose orders were in the least irksome to them. These + ideas and the miseries and unfairness they caused, the stoppages of work, + the managers sewn up in sacks, ducked in ponds and trundled in + wheelbarrows, have taken their places as curiosities of history. The + change in these ideas has been gradual. The first step was the recognition + that the State as a whole was interested in the efficiency of each + factory, and, therefore, that the workmen of each factory had no right to + arrange things with no thought except for themselves. The Committee idea + was still strong, and the difficulty was got over by assuring that the + technical staff should be represented on the Committee, and that the + casting vote between workers and technical experts or managers should + belong to the central economic organ of the State. The next stage was when + the management of a workshop was given a so called "collegiate" character, + the workmen appointing representatives to share the responsibility of the + "bourgeois specialist." The bitter controversy now going on concerns the + seemingly inevitable transition to a later stage in which, for all + practical purposes, the bourgeois specialist will be responsible solely to + the State. Many Communists, including some of the best known, while + recognizing the need of greater efficiency if the revolution is to survive + at all, regard this step as definitely retrograde and likely in the long + run to make the revolution not worth preserving. [*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Thus Rykov, President of the Supreme Council of Public + Economy: "There is a possibility of so constructing a State + that in it there will be a ruling caste consisting chiefly + of administrative engineers, technicians, etc.; that is, we + should get a form of State economy based on a small group of + a ruling caste whose privilege in this case would be the + management of the workers and peasants." That criticism of + individual control, from a communist, goes a good deal + further than most of the criticism from people avowedly in + opposition.] The enormous importance attached by everybody + to this question of individual or collegiate control, may + be judged from the fact that at every conference I attended, + and every discussion to which I listened, this point, which + might seem of minor importance, completely overshadowed the + question of industrial conscription which, at least inside + the Communist Party, seemed generally taken for granted. It + may be taken now as certain that the majority of the + Communists are in favor of individual control. They say that + the object of "workers' control" before the revolution was + to ensure that factories should be run in the interests of + workers as well of employers. In Russia now there are no + employers other than the State as a whole, which is + exclusively made up of employees. (I am stating now the view + of the majority at the last Trades Union Congress at which I + was present, April, 1920.) They say that "workers' control" + exists in a larger and more efficient manner than was + suggested by the old pre-revolutionary statements on that + question. Further, they say that if workers' control ought + to be identified with Trade Union control, the Trades Unions + are certainly supreme in all those matters with which they + have chiefly concerned themselves, since they dominate the + Commissariat of Labor, are very largely represented on the + Supreme Council of Public Economy, and fix the rates of pay + for their own members. [*] + + * The wages of workmen are decided by the Trades Unions, who + draw up "tariffs" for the whole country, basing their + calculations on three criteria: (I) The price of food in the + open market in the district where a workman is employed, + (2)the price of food supplied by the State on the card + system, (3)the quality of the workman. This last is decided + by a special section of the Factory Committee, which in each + factory is an organ of the Trades Union.] +</pre> + <p> + The enormous Communist majority, together with the fact that however much + they may quarrel with each other inside the party, the Communists will go + to almost any length to avoid breaking the party discipline, means that at + present the resolutions of Trades Union Congresses will not be different + from those of Communists Congresses on the same subjects. Consequently, + the questions which really agitate the members, the actual cleavages + inside that Communist majority, are comparatively invisible at a Trades + Union Congress. They are fought over with great bitterness, but they are + not fought over in the Hall of the Unions-once the Club of the Nobility, + with on its walls on Congress days the hammer and spanner of the + engineers, the pestle and trowel of the builders, and so on-but in the + Communist Congresses in the Kremlin and throughout the country. And, in + the problem with which in this book we are mainly concerned, neither the + regular business of the Unions nor their internal squabbles affects the + cardinal fact that in the present crisis the Trades Unions are chiefly + important as part of that organization of human will with which the + Communists are attempting to arrest the steady progress of Russia's + economic ruin. Putting it brutally, so as to offend Trades Unionists and + Communists alike, they are an important part of the Communist system of + internal propaganda, and their whole organization acts as a gigantic + megaphone through which the Communist Party makes known its fears, its + hopes and its decisions to the great masses of the industrial workers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PROPAGANDA TRAINS + </h2> + <p> + When I crossed the Russian front in October, 1919, the first thing I + noticed in peasants' cottages, in the villages, in the little town where I + took the railway to Moscow, in every railway station along the line, was + the elaborate pictorial propaganda concerned with the war. There were + posters showing Denizen standing straddle over Russia's coal, while the + factory chimneys were smokeless and the engines idle in the yards, with + the simplest wording to show why it was necessary to beat Denizen in order + to get coal; there were posters illustrating the treatment of the peasants + by the Whites; posters against desertion, posters illustrating the Russian + struggle against the rest of the world, showing a workman, a peasant, a + sailor and a soldier fighting in self-defence against an enormous + Capitalistic Hydra. There were also-and this I took as a sign of what + might be-posters encouraging the sowing of corn, and posters explaining in + simple pictures improved methods of agriculture. Our own recruiting + propaganda during the war, good as that was, was never developed to such a + point of excellence, and knowing the general slowness with which the + Russian centre reacts on its periphery, I was amazed not only at the + actual posters, but at their efficient distribution thus far from Moscow. + </p> + <p> + I have had an opportunity of seeing two of the propaganda trains, the + object of which is to reduce the size of Russia politically by bringing + Moscow to the front and to the out of the way districts, and so to lessen + the difficulty of obtaining that general unity of purpose which it is the + object of propaganda to produce. The fact that there is some hope that in + the near future the whole of this apparatus may be turned over to the + propaganda of industry makes it perhaps worth while to describe these + trains in detail. + </p> + <p> + Russia, for purposes of this internal propaganda, is divided into five + sections, and each section has its own train, prepared for the particular + political needs of the section it serves, bearing its own name, carrying + its regular crew-a propaganda unit, as corporate as the crew of a ship. + The five trains at present in existence are the "Lenin," the "Sverdlov," + the "October Revolution," the "Red East," which is now in Turkestan, and + the "Red Cossack," which, ready to start for Rostov and the Don, was + standing, in the sidings at the Kursk station, together with the "Lenin," + returned for refitting and painting. + </p> + <p> + Burov, the organizer of these trains, a ruddy, enthusiastic little man in + patched leather coat and breeches, took a party of foreigners-a Swede, a + Norwegian, two Czechs, a German and myself to visit his trains, together + with Radek, in the hope that Radek would induce Lenin to visit them, in + which case Lenin would be kinematographed for the delight of the + villagers, and possibly the Central Committee would, if Lenin were + interested, lend them more lively support. + </p> + <p> + We walked along the "Lenin" first, at Burov's special request. Burov, it + seems, has only recently escaped from what he considered a bitter + affliction due to the Department of Proletarian Culture, who, in the + beginning, for the decoration of his trains, had delivered him bound hand + and foot to a number of Futurists. For that reason he wanted us to see the + "Lenin" first, in order that we might compare it with the result of his + emancipation, the "Red Cossack," painted when the artists "had been + brought under proper control." The "Lenin" had been painted a year and a + half ago, when, as fading hoarding in the streets of Moscow still testify, + revolutionary art was dominated by the Futurist movement. Every carriage + is decorated with most striking but not very comprehensible pictures in + the brightest colors, and the proletariat was called upon to enjoy what + the pre-revolutionary artistic public had for the most part failed to + understand. Its pictures are "art for art's sake," and cannot have done + more than astonish, and perhaps terrify, the peasants and the workmen of + the country towns who had the luck to see them. The "Red Cossack" is quite + different. As Burov put it with deep satisfaction, "At first we were in + the artists' hands, and now the artists are in our hands," a sentence + suggesting the most horrible possibilities of official art under + socialism, although, of course, bad art flourishes pretty well even under + other systems. + </p> + <p> + I inquired exactly how Burov and his friends kept the artists in the right + way, and received the fullest explanation. The political section of the + organization works out the main idea and aim for each picture, which + covers the whole side of a wagon. This idea is then submitted to a + "collective" of artists, who are jointly responsible for its realization + in paint. The artists compete with each other for a prize which is awarded + for the best design, the judges being the artists themselves. It is the + art of the poster, art with a purpose of the most definite kind. The + result is sometimes amusing, interesting, startling, but, whatever else it + does, hammers home a plain idea. + </p> + <p> + Thus the picture on the side of one wagon is divided into two sections. On + the left is a representation of the peasants and workmen of the Soviet + Republic. Under it are the words, "Let us not find ourselves again..." and + then, in gigantic lettering under the right-hand section of the picture, + "... in the HEAVEN OF THE WHITES." This heaven is shown by an epauletted + officer hitting a soldier in the face, as was done in the Tsar's army and + in at least one army of the counter revolutionaries, and workmen tied to + stakes, as was done by the Whites in certain towns in the south. Then + another wagon illustrating the methods of Tsardom, with a State vodka shop + selling its wares to wretched folk, who, when drunk on the State vodka, + are flogged by the State police. Then there is a wagon showing the + different Cossacks-of the Don, Terek, Kuban, Ural-riding in pairs. The + Cossack infantry is represented on the other side of this wagon. On + another wagon is a very jolly picture of Stenka Razin in his boat with + little old-fashioned brass cannon, rowing up the river. Underneath is + written the words: "I attack only the rich, with the poor I divide + everything." On one side are the poor folk running from their huts to join + him, on the other the rich folk firing at him from their castle. One wagon + is treated purely decoratively, with a broad effective characteristically + South Russian design, framing a huge inscription to the effect that the + Cossacks need not fear that the Soviet Republic will interfere with their + religion, since under its regime every man is to be free to believe + exactly what he likes. Then there is an entertaining wagon, showing + Kolchak sitting inside a fence in Siberia with a Red soldier on guard, + Judenitch sitting in a little circle with a sign-post to show it is + Esthonia, and Denikin running at full speed to the asylum indicated by + another sign-post on which is the crescent of the Turkish Empire. Another + lively picture shows the young Cossack girls learning to read, with a most + realistic old Cossack woman telling them they had better not. But there is + no point in describing every wagon. There are sixteen wagons in the "Red + Cossack," and every one is painted all over on both sides. + </p> + <p> + The internal arrangements of the train are a sufficient proof that + Russians are capable of organization if they set their minds to it. We + went through it, wagon by wagon. One wagon contains a wireless telegraphy + station capable of receiving news from such distant stations as those of + Carnarvon or Lyons. Another is fitted up as a newspaper office, with a + mechanical press capable of printing an edition of fifteen thousand daily, + so that the district served by the train, however out of the way, gets its + news simultaneously with Moscow, many days sometimes before the belated + Izvestia or Pravda finds its way to them. And with its latest news it gets + its latest propaganda, and in order to get the one it cannot help getting + the other. Next door to that there is a kinematograph wagon, with benches + to seat about one hundred and fifty persons. But indoor performances are + only given to children, who must come during the daytime, or in summer + when the evenings are too light to permit an open air performance. In the + ordinary way, at night, a great screen is fixed up in the open. There is a + special hole cut in the side of the wagon, and through this the + kinematograph throws its picture on the great screen outside, so that + several thousands can see it at once. The enthusiastic Burov insisted on + working through a couple of films for us, showing the Communists boy + scouts in their country camps, children's meetings in Petrograd, and the + big demonstrations of last year in honor of the Third International. He + was extremely disappointed that Radek, being in a hurry, refused to wait + for a performance of "The Father and his Son," a drama which, he assured + us with tears in his eyes, was so thrilling that we should not regret + being late for our appointments if we stayed to witness it. Another wagon + is fitted up as an electric power-station, lighting the train, working the + kinematograph and the printing machine, etc. Then there is a clean little + kitchen and dining-room, where, before being kinematographed-a horrible + experience when one is first quite seriously begged (of course by Burov) + to assume an expression of intelligent interest—we had soup, a plate + of meat and cabbage, and tea. Then there is a wagon bookshop, where, while + customers buy books, a gramophone sings the revolutionary songs of Demian + Bledny, or speaks with the eloquence of Trotsky or the logic of Lenin. + Other wagons are the living-rooms of the personnel, divided up according + to their duties-political, military, instructional, and so forth. For the + train has not merely an agitational purpose. It carries with it a staff to + give advice to local authorities, to explain what has not been understood, + and so in every way to bring the ideas of the Centre quickly to the + backwoods of the Republic. It works also in the opposite direction, + helping to make the voice of the backwoods heard at Moscow. This is + illustrated by a painted pillar-box on one of the wagons, with a slot for + letters, labelled, "For Complaints of Every Kind." Anybody anywhere who + has grievance, thinks he is being unfairly treated, or has a suggestion to + make, can speak with the Centre in this way. When the train is on a voyage + telegrams announce its arrival beforehand, so that the local Soviets can + make full use of its advantages, arranging meetings, kinematograph shows, + lectures. It arrives, this amazing picture train, and proceeds to publish + and distribute its newspapers, sell its books (the bookshop, they tell me, + is literally stormed at every stopping place), send books and posters for + forty versts on either side of the line with the motor-cars which it + carries with it, and enliven the population with its kinematograph. + </p> + <p> + I doubt if a more effective instrument of propaganda has ever been + devised. And in considering the question whether or no the Russians will + be able after organizing their military defence to tackle with similar + comparative success the much more difficult problem of industrial rebirth, + the existence of such instruments, the use of such propaganda is a factor + not to be neglected. In the spring of this year, when the civil war seemed + to be ending, when there was a general belief that the Poles would accept + the peace that Russia offered (they ignored this offer, advanced, took + Kiev, were driven back to Warsaw, advanced again, and finally agreed to + terms which they could have had in March without bloodshed any kind), two + of these propaganda trains were already being repainted with a new + purpose. It was hoped that in the near future all five trains would be + explaining not the need to fight but the need to work. Undoubtedly, at the + first possible moment, the whole machinery of agitation, of posters, of + broadsheets and of trains, will be turned over to the task of explaining + the Government's plans for reconstruction, and the need for extraordinary + concentration, now on transport, now on something else, that these plans + involve. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SATURDAYINGS + </h2> + <p> + So much for the organization, with its Communist Party, its system of + meetings and counter-meetings, its adapted Trades Unions, its infinitely + various propaganda, which is doing its best to make headway against ruin. + I want now to describe however briefly, the methods it has adopted in + tackling the worst of all Russia's problems-the non-productivity and + absolute shortage of labor. + </p> + <p> + I find a sort of analogy between these methods and those which we used in + England in tackling the similar cumulative problem of finding men for war. + Just as we did not proceed at once to conscription, but began by a great + propaganda of voluntary effort, so the Communists, faced with a need at + least equally vital, did not turn at once to industrial conscription. It + was understood from the beginning that the Communists themselves were to + set an example of hard work, and I dare say a considerable proportion of + them did so. Every factory had its little Communist Committee, which was + supposed to leaven the factory with enthusiasm, just as similar groups of + Communists drafted into the armies in moments of extreme danger did, on + more than one occasion, as the non-Communist Commander-in-Chief admits, + turn a rout into a stand and snatch victory from what looked perilously + like defeat. But this was not enough, arrears of work accumulated, + enthusiasm waned, productivity decreased, and some new move was obviously + necessary. This first move in the direction of industrial conscription, + although no one perceived its tendency at the time, was the inauguration + of what have become known as "Saturdayings". + </p> + <p> + Early in 1919 the Central Committee of the Communist Party put out a + circular letter, calling upon the Communists "to work revolutionally," to + emulate in the rear the heroism of their brothers on the front, pointing + out that nothing but the most determined efforts and an increase in the + productivity of labor would enable Russia to win through her difficulties + of transport, etc. Kolchak, to quote from English newspapers, was it + "sweeping on to Moscow," and the situation was pretty threatening. As a + direct result of this letter, on May 7th, a meeting of Communists in the + sub-district of the Moscow-Kazan railway passed a resolution that, in view + of the imminent danger to the Republic, Communists and their sympathizers + should give up an hour a day of their leisure, and, lumping these hours + together, do every Saturday six hours of manual labor; and, further, that + these Communist "Saturdayings" should be continued "until complete victory + over Kolchak should be assured." That decision of a local committee was + the actual beginning of a movement which spread all over Russia, and + though the complete victory over Kolchak was long ago obtained, is likely + to continue so long as Soviet Russia is threatened by any one else. + </p> + <p> + The decision was put into effect on May 10th, when the first Communist + "Saturdaying" in Russia took place on the Moscow-Kazan railway. The + Commissar of the railway, Communist clerks from the offices, and every one + else who wished to help, marched to work, 182 in all, and put in 1,012 + hours of manual labor, in which they finished the repairs of four + locomotives and sixteen wagons and loaded and unloaded 9,300 poods of + engine and wagon parts and material. It was found that the productivity of + labor in loading and unloading shown on this occasion was about 270 per + cent. of the normal, and a similar superiority of effort was shown in the + other kinds of work. This example was immediately copied on other + railways. The Alexandrovsk railway had its first "Saturdaying" on May + 17th. Ninety-eight persons worked for five hours, and here also did two or + three times as much is the usual amount of work done in the same number of + working hours under ordinary circumstances. One of the workmen, in giving + an account of the performance, wrote: "The Comrades explain this by saying + that in ordinary times the work was dull and they were sick of it, whereas + this occasion they were working willingly and with excitement. But now it + will be shameful in ordinary hours to do less than in the Communist + 'Saturdaying.'" The hope implied in this last sentence has not been + realized. + </p> + <p> + In Pravda of June 7th there is an article describing one of these early + "Saturdayings," which gives a clear picture of the infectious character of + the proceedings, telling how people who came out of curiosity to look on + found themselves joining in the work, and how a soldier with an accordion + after staring for a long time open-mouthed at these lunatics working on a + Saturday afternoon put up a tune for them on his instrument, and, + delighted by their delight, played on while the workers all sang together. + </p> + <p> + The idea of the "Saturdayings" spread quickly from railways to factories, + and by the middle of the summer reports of similar efforts were coming + from all over Russia. Then Lenin became interested, seeing in these + "Saturdayings" not only a special effort in the face of common danger, but + an actual beginning of Communism and a sign that Socialism could bring + about a greater productivity of labor than could be obtained under + Capitalism. He wrote: "This is a work of great difficulty and requiring + much time, but it has begun, and that is the main thing. If in hungry + Moscow in the summer of 1919 hungry workmen who have lived through the + difficult four years of the Imperialistic war, and then the year and a + half of the still more difficult civil war, have been able to begin this + great work, what will not be its further development when we conquer in + the civil war and win peace." He sees in it a promise of work being done + not for the sake of individual gain, but because of a recognition that + such work is necessary for the general good, and in all he wrote and spoke + about it he emphasized the fact that people worked better and harder when + working thus than under any of the conditions (piece-work, premiums for + good work, etc.) imposed by the revolution in its desperate attempts to + raise the productivity of labor. For this reason alone, he wrote, the + first "Saturdaying" on the Moscow-Kazan railway was an event of historical + significance, and not for Russia alone. + </p> + <p> + Whether Lenin was right or wrong in so thinking, "Saturdayings" became a + regular institution, like Dorcas meetings in Victorian England, like the + thousands of collective working parties instituted in England during the + war with Germany. It remains to be seen how long they will continue, and + if they will survive peace when that comes. At present the most + interesting point about them is the large proportion of non-Communists who + take an enthusiastic part in them. In many cases not more than ten per + cent. of Communists are concerned, though they take the initiative in + organizing the parties and in finding the work to be done. The movement + spread like fire in dry grass, like the craze for roller-skating swept + over England some years ago, and efforts were made to control it, so that + the fullest use might be made of it. In Moscow it was found worth while to + set up a special Bureau for "Saturdayings." Hospitals, railways, + factories, or any other concerns working for the public good, notify this + bureau that they need the sort of work a "Saturdaying" provides. The + bureau informs the local Communists where their services are required, and + thus there is a minimum of wasted energy. The local Communists arrange the + "Saturdayings," and any one else joins in who wants. These "Saturdayings" + are a hardship to none because they are voluntary, except for members of + the Communist Party, who are considered to have broken the party + discipline if they refrain. But they can avoid the "Saturdayings" if they + wish to by leaving the party. Indeed, Lenin points, out that the + "Saturdayings" are likely to assist in clearing out of the party those + elements which joined it with the hope of personal gain. He points out + that the privileges of a Communists now consist in doing more work than + other people in the rear, and, on the front, in having the certainty of + being killed when other folk are merely taken prisoners. + </p> + <p> + The following are a few examples of the sort of work done in the + "Saturdayings." Briansk hospitals were improperly heated because of lack + of the local transport necessary to bring them wood. The Communists + organized a "Saturdaying," in which 900 persons took part, including + military specialists (officers of the old army serving in the new), + soldiers, a chief of staff, workmen and women. Having no horses, they + harnessed themselves to sledges in groups of ten, and brought in the wood + required. At Nijni 800 persons spent their Saturday afternoon in unloading + barges. In the Basman district of Moscow there was a gigantic + "Saturdaying" and "Sundaying" in which 2,000 persons (in this case all but + a little over 500 being Communists) worked in the heavy artillery shops, + shifting materials, cleaning tramlines for bringing in fuel, etc. Then + there was a "Saturdaying" the main object of which was a general autumn + cleaning of the hospitals for the wounded. One form of "Saturdaying" for + women is going to the hospitals, talking with the wounded and writing + letters for them, mending their clothes, washing sheets, etc. The majority + of "Saturdayings" at present are concerned with transport work and with + getting and shifting wood, because at the moment these are the chief + difficulties. I have talked to many "Saturdayers," Communist and + non-Communist, and all alike spoke of these Saturday afternoons of as kind + of picnic. On the other hand, I have met Communists who were accustomed to + use every kind off ingenuity to find excuses not to take part in them and + yet to preserve the good opinion of their local committee. + </p> + <p> + But even if the whole of the Communist Party did actually indulge in a + working picnic once a week, it would not suffice to meet Russia's + tremendous needs. And, as I pointed out in the chapter specially devoted + to the shortage of labor, the most serious need at present is to keep + skilled workers at their jobs instead of letting them drift away into + non-productive labor. No amount of Saturday picnics could do that, and it + was obvious long ago that some other means, would have to be devised. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INDUSTRIAL CONSCRIPTION + </h2> + <p> + The general principle of industrial conscription recognized by the Russian + Constitution, section ii, chapter v, paragraph 18, which reads: "The + Russian Socialist Federate Soviet Republic recognizes that work is an + obligation on every citizen of the Republic," and proclaims, "He who does + not work shall not eat." It is, however, one thing to proclaim such a + principle and quite another to put it into action. + </p> + <p> + On December 17, 1919, the moment it became clear that there was a real + possibility that the civil war was drawing to an end, Trotsky allowed the + Pravda to print a memorandum of his, consisting of "theses" or reasoned + notes about industrial conscription and the militia system. He points out + that a Socialist State demands a general plan for the utilization of all + the resources of a country, including its human energy. At the same time, + "in the present economic chaos in which are mingled the broken fragments + of the past and the beginnings of the future," a sudden jump to a complete + centralized economy of the country as a whole is impossible. Local + initiative, local effort must not be sacrificed for the sake of a plan. At + the same time industrial conscription is necessary for complete + socialization. It cannot be regardless of individuality like military + conscription. He suggests a subdivision of the State into territorial + productive districts which should coincide with the territorial districts + of the militia system which shall replace the regular army. Registration + of labor necessary. Necessary also to coordinate military and industrial + registration. At demobilization the cadres of regiments, divisions, etc., + should form the fundamental cadres of the militia. Instruction to this end + should be included in the courses for workers and peasants who are + training to become officers in every district. Transition to the militia + system must be carefully and gradually accomplished so as not for a moment + to leave the Republic defenseless. While not losing sight of these + ultimate aims, it is necessary to decide on immediate needs and to + ascertain exactly what amount of labor is necessary for their limited + realization. He suggests the registration of skilled labor in the army. He + suggests that a Commission under general direction of the Council of + Public Economy should work out a preliminary plan and then hand it over to + the War Department, so that means should be worked out for using the + military apparatus for this new industrial purpose. + </p> + <p> + Trotsky's twenty-four theses or notes must have been written in odd + moments, now here now there, on the way from one front to another. They do + not form a connected whole. Contradictions jostle each other, and it is + quite clear that Trotsky himself had no very definite plan in his head. + But his notes annoyed and stimulated so many other people that they did + perhaps precisely the work they were intended to do. Pravada printed them + with a note from the editor inviting discussion. The Ekonomitcheskaya Jizn + printed letter after letter from workmen, officials and others, attacking, + approving and bringing new suggestions. Larin, Semashko, Pyatakov, + Bucharin all took a hand in the discussion. Larin saw in the proposals the + beginning of the end of the revolution, being convinced that authority + would pass from the democracy of the workers into the hands of the + specialists. Rykov fell upon them with sturdy blows on behalf of the + Trades Unions. All, however, agreed on the one point—that something + of the sort was necessary. On December 27th a Commission for studying the + question of industrial conscription was formed under the presidency of + Trotsky. This Commission included the People's Commissars, or Ministers, + of Labor, Ways of Communication, Supply, Agriculture, War, and the + Presidents of the Central Council of the Trades Unions and of the Supreme + Council of Public Economy. They compiled a list of the principal questions + before them, and invited anybody interested to bring them suggestions and + material for discussion. + </p> + <p> + But the discussion was not limited to the newspapers or to this + Commission. The question was discussed in Soviets and Conferences of every + kind all over the country. Thus, on January 1st an All-Russian Conference + of local "departments for the registration and distribution of labor," + after prolonged argument, contributed their views. They pointed out (1) + the need of bringing to work numbers of persons who instead of doing the + skilled labor for which they were qualified were engaged in petty + profiteering, etc.; (2) that there evaporation of skilled labor into + unproductive speculation could at least be checked by the introduction of + labor books, which would give some sort of registration of each citizen's + work; (3) that workmen can be brought back from the villages only for + enterprises which are supplied with provisions or are situated in + districts where there is plenty. ("The opinion that, in the absence of + these preliminary conditions, it will be possible to draw workmen from the + villages by measures of compulsion or mobilization is profoundly + mistaken.") (4) that there should be a census of labor and that the Trades + Unions should be invited to protect the interests of the conscripted. + Finally, this Conference approved the idea of using the already existing + military organization for carrying out a labor census of the Red Army, and + for the turning over to labor of parts of the army during demobilization, + but opposed the idea of giving the military organization the work of labor + registration and industrial conscription in general. + </p> + <p> + On January 22, 1920, the Central Committee of the Communist Party, after + prolonged discussion of Trotsky's rough memorandum, finally adopted and + published a new edition of the "theses," expanded, altered, almost + unrecognizable, a reasoned body of theory entirely different from the + bundle of arrows loosed at a venture by Trotsky. They definitely accepted + the principle of industrial conscription, pointing out the immediate + reasons for it in the fact that Russia cannot look for much help from + without and must somehow or other help herself. + </p> + <p> + Long before the All-Russian Congress of the Communist Party approved the + theses of the Committee, one form of industrial conscription was already + being tested at work. Very early in January, when the discussion on the + subject was at its height, the Soviet of the Third Army addressed itself + to the Council of Defense of the Republic with an invitation to make use + of this army (which at least for the moment had finished its military + task) and to experiment with it as a labor army. The Council of Defense + agreed. Representatives of the Commissariats of Supply, Agriculture, Ways + and Communications, Labor and the Supreme Council of Public Economy were + sent to assist the Army Soviet. The army was proudly re-named "The First + Revolutionary Army of Labor," and began to issue communiques "from the + Labor front," precisely like the communiques of an army in the field. I + translate as a curiosity the first communique issued by a Labor Army's + Soviet: + </p> + <p> + "Wood prepared in the districts of Ishim, Karatulskaya, Omutinskaya, + Zavodoutovskaya, Yalutorovska, Iushaly, Kamuishlovo, Turinsk, Altynai, + Oshtchenkovo, Shadrinsk, 10,180 cubic sazhins. Working days, 52,651. Taken + to the railway stations, 5,334 cubic sazhins. Working days on transport, + 22,840. One hundred carpenters detailed for the Kizelovsk mines. One + hundred carpenters detailed for the bridge at Ufa. One engineer specialist + detailed to the Government Council of Public Economy for repairing the + mills of Chelyabinsk Government. One instructor accountant detailed for + auditing the accounts of the economic organizations of Kamuishlov. Repair + of locomotives proceeding in the works at Ekaterinburg. January 20, 1920, + midnight." + </p> + <p> + The Labor Army's Soviet received a report on the state of the district + covered by the army with regard to supply and needed work. By the end of + January it had already carried out a labor census of the army, and found + that it included over 50,000 laborers, of whom a considerable number were + skilled. It decided on a general plan of work in reestablishing industry + in the Urals, which suffered severely during the Kolchak regime and the + ebb and flow of the civil war, and was considering a suggestion of one of + its members that if the scheme worked well the army should be increased to + 300,000 men by way of mobilization. + </p> + <p> + On January 23rd the Council of Defense of the Republic, encouraged to + proceed further, decided to make use of the Reserve Army for the + improvement of railway transport on the Moscow-Kazan railway, one of the + chief arteries between eastern food districts and Moscow. The main object + is to be the reestablishment of through traffic between Moscow and + Ekaterinburg and the repair of the Kazan-Ekaterinburg line, which + particularly suffered during the war. An attempt was to be made to rebuild + the bridge over the Kama River before the ice melts. The Commander of the + Reserve Army was appointed Commissar of the eastern part of the + Moscow-Kazan railway, retaining his position as Commander of the Army. + With a view of coordination between the Army Soviet and the railway + authorities, a member of the Soviet was also appointed Commissar of the + railway. On January 25th it was announced that a similar experiment was + being made in the Ukraine. A month before the ice broke the first train + actually crossed the Kama River by the rebuilt bridge. + </p> + <p> + By April of this year the organization of industrial conscription had gone + far beyond the original labor armies. A decree of February 5th had created + a Chief Labor Committee, consisting of five members, Serebryakov and + Danilov, from the Commissariat of War; Vasiliev, from the Commissariat of + the Interior; Anikst, from the Commissariat of Labor; Dzerzhinsky, from + the Commissariat of Internal Affairs. Dzerzhinsky was President, and his + appointment was possibly made in the hope that the reputation he had won + as President of the Extraordinary Committee for Fighting + Counter-Revolution would frighten people into taking this Committee + seriously. Throughout the country in each government or province similar + committees, called "Troikas," were created, each of three members, one + from the Commissariat of War, one from the Department of Labor, one from + the Department of Management, in each case from the local Commissariats + and Departments attached to the local Soviet. Representatives of the + Central Statistical Office and its local organs had a right to be present + at the meeting of these committees of three, or "Troikas," but had not the + right to vote. An organization or a factory requiring labor, was to apply + to the Labor Department of the local Soviet. This Department was supposed + to do its best to satisfy demands upon it by voluntary methods first. If + these proved insufficient they were to apply to the local "Troika," or + Labor Conscription Committee. If this found that its resources also were + insufficient, it was to refer back the request to the Labor Department of + the Soviet, which was then to apply to its corresponding Department in the + Government Soviet, which again, first voluntarily and then through the + Government Committee of Labor Conscription, was to try to satisfy the + demands. I fancy the object of this arrangement was to prevent local + "Troikas" from referring to Government "Troikas," and so directly to + Dzerzhinsky's Central Committee. If they had been able to do this there + would obviously have been danger lest a new network of independent and + powerful organizations should be formed. Experience with the overgrown and + insuppressible Committees for Fighting Counter-Revolution had taught + people how serious such a development might be. + </p> + <p> + Such was the main outline of the scheme for conscripting labor. A similar + scheme was prepared for superintending and safeguarding labor when + conscripted. In every factory of over 1,000 workmen, clerks, etc., there + was formed a Commission (to distinguish it from the Committee) of + Industrial Conscription. Smaller factories shared such Commissions or were + joined for the purpose to larger factories near by. These Commissions were + to be under the direct control of a Factory Committee, thereby preventing + squabbles between conscripted and non-conscripted labor. They were to be + elected for six months, but their members could be withdrawn and replaced + by the Factory Committee with the approval of the local "Troika." These + Commissions, like the "Troikas," consisted of three members: (1) from the + management of the factory, (2) from the Factory Committee, (3) from the + Executive Committee of the workers. (It was suggested in the directions + that one of these should be from the group which "has been organizing + 'Saturdayings,' that is to say that he or she should be a Communist.) The + payment of conscripted workers was to be by production, with prizes for + specially good work. Specially bad work was also foreseen in the detailed + scheme of possible punishments. Offenders were to be brought before the + "People's Court" (equivalent to the ordinary Civil Court), or, in the case + of repeated or very bad offenses, were to be brought before the far more + dreaded Revolutionary Tribunals. Six categories of possible offenses were + placed upon the new code: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (1)Avoiding registration, absenteeism, or desertion. + (2)The preparation of false documents or the use of such. + (3)Officials giving false information to facilitate these crimes. + (4)Purposeful damage of instruments or material. + (5)Uneconomical or careless work. + (6)(Probably the most serious of all: Instigation to any of + these actions. +</pre> + <p> + The "Troikas" have the right to deal administratively with the less + important crimes by deprival of freedom for not more than two weeks. No + one can be brought to trial except by the Committee for Industrial + Conscription on the initiative of the responsible director of work, and + with the approval either of the local labor inspection authorities or with + that of the local Executive Committee. + </p> + <p> + No one with the slightest knowledge of Russia will suppose for a moment + that this elaborate mechanism sprang suddenly into existence when the + decree was signed. On the contrary, all stages of industrial conscription + exist simultaneously even today, and it would be possible by going from + one part of Russia to another to collect a series of specimens of + industrial conscription at every stage of evolution, just as one can + collect all stages of man from a baboon to a company director or a + Communist. Some of the more primitive kinds of conscription were not among + the least successful. For example, at the time (in the spring of the year) + when the Russians still hoped that the Poles would be content with the + huge area of non-Polish territory they had already seized, the army on the + western front was without any elaborate system of decrees being turned + into a labor army. The work done was at first ordinary country work, + mainly woodcutting. They tried to collaborate with the local "Troikas," + sending help when these Committees asked for it. This, however, proved + unsatisfactory, so, disregarding the "Troikas," they organized things for + themselves in the whole area immediately behind the front. They divided up + the forests into definite districts, and they worked these with soldiers + and with deserters. Gradually their work developed, and they built + themselves narrow-gauge railways for the transport of the wood. Then they + needed wagons and locomotives, and of course immediately found themselves + at loggerheads with the railway authorities. Finally, they struck a + bargain with the railwaymen, and were allowed to take broken-down wagons + which the railway people were not in a position to mend. Using such + skilled labor as they had, they mended such wagons as were given them, and + later made a practice of going to the railway yards and in inspecting + "sick" wagons for themselves, taking out any that they thought had a + chance even of temporary convalescence. Incidentally they caused great + scandal by finding in the Smolensk sidings among the locomotives and + wagons supposed to be sick six good locomotives and seventy perfectly + healthy wagons. Then they began to improve the feeding of their army by + sending the wood they had cut, in the trains they had mended, to people + who wanted wood and could give them provisions. One such train went to + Turkestan and back from the army near Smolensk. Their work continually + increased, and since they had to remember that they were an army and not + merely a sort of nomadic factory, they began themselves to mobilize, + exclusively for purposes of work, sections of the civil population. I + asked Unshlicht, who had much to do with this organization, if the + peasants came willingly. He said, "Not very," but added that they did not + mind when they found that they got well fed and were given packets of salt + as prizes for good work. "The peasants," he said, "do not grumble against + the Government when it shows the sort of common sense that they themselves + can understand. We found that when we said definitely how many carts and + men a village must provide, and used them without delay for a definite + purpose, they were perfectly satisfied and considered it right and proper. + In every case, however, when they saw people being mobilized and sent + thither without obvious purpose or result, they became hostile at once." I + asked Unshlicht how it was that their army still contained skilled workmen + when one of the objects of industrial conscription was to get the skilled + workmen back into the factories. He said: "We have an accurate census of + the army, and when we get asked for skilled workmen for such and such a + factory, they go there knowing that they still belong to the army." + </p> + <p> + That, of course, is the army point of view, and indicates one of the main + squabbles which industrial conscription has produced. Trotsky would like + the various armies to turn into units of a territorial militia, and at the + same time to be an important part of the labor organization of each + district. His opponents do not regard the labor armies as a permanent + manifestation, and many have gone so far as to say that the productivity + of labor in one of these armies is lower than among ordinary workmen. Both + sides produce figures on this point, and Trotsky goes so far as to say + that if his opponents are right, then not only are labor armies damned, + but also the whole principle of industrial conscription. "If compulsory + labor-independently of social condition-is unproductive, that is a + condemnation not of the labor armies, but of industrial conscription in + general, and with it of the whole Soviet system, the further development + of which is unthinkable except on a basis of universal industrial + conscription." + </p> + <p> + But, of course, the question of the permanence of the labor armies is not + so important as the question of getting the skilled workers back to the + factories. The comparative success or failure of soldiers or mobilized + peasants in cutting wood is quite irrelevant to this recovery of the + vanished workmen. And that recovery will take time, and will be entirely + useless unless it is possible to feed these workers when they have been + collected. There have already been several attempts, not wholly + successful, to collect the straying workers of particular industries. + Thus, after the freeing of the oil-wells from the Whites, there was a + general mobilization of naphtha workers. Many of these had bolted on or + after the arrival of Krasnov or Denikin and gone far into Central Russia, + settling where they could. So months passed before the Red Army definitely + pushed the area of civil war beyond the oil-wells, that many of these + refugees had taken new root and were unwilling to return. I believe, that + in spite of the mobilization, the oil-wells are still short of men. In the + coal districts also, which have passed through similar experiences, the + proportion of skilled to unskilled labor is very much smaller than it was + before the war. There have also been two mobilizations of railway workers, + and these, I think, may be partly responsible for the undoubted + improvement noticeable during the year, although this is partly at least + due to other things beside conscription. In the first place Trotsky + carried with him into the Commissariat of Transport the same ferocious + energy that he has shown in the Commissariat of War, together with the + prestige that he had gained there. Further, he was well able in the + councils of the Republic to defend the needs of his particular + Commissariat against those of all others. He was, for example able to + persuade the Communist Party to treat the transport crisis precisely as + they had treated each crisis on the front-that is to say, to mobilize + great numbers of professed Communists to meet it, giving them in this case + the especial task of getting engines mended and, somehow or other, of + keeping trains on the move. + </p> + <p> + But neither the bridges mended and the wood cut by the labor armies, nor + the improvement in transport, are any final proof of the success of + industrial conscription. Industrial conscription in the proper sense of + the words is impossible until a Government knows what it has to conscript. + A beginning was made early this year by the introduction of labor books, + showing what work people were doing and where, and serving as a kind of + industrial passports. But in April this year these had not yet become + general in Moscow although the less unwieldy population of Petrograd was + already supplied with them. It will be long even if it is possible at all, + before any considerable proportion of the people not living in these two + cities are registered in this way. A more useful step was taken at the end + of August, in a general census throughout Russia. There has been no + Russian census since 1897. There was to have been another about the time + the war began. It was postponed for obvious reasons. If the Communists + carry through the census with even moderate success (they will of course + have to meet every kind of evasion), they will at least get some of the + information without which industrial conscription on a national scale must + be little more than a farce. The census should show them where the skilled + workers are. Industrial conscription should enable them to collect them + and put them at their own skilled work. Then if, besides transplanting + them, they are able to feed them, it will be possible to judge of the + success or failure of a scheme which in most countries would bring a + Government toppling to the ground. + </p> + <p> + "In most countries"; yes, but then the economic crisis has gone further in + Russia than in most countries. There is talk of introducing industrial + conscription (one year's service) in Germany, where things have not gone + nearly so far. And perhaps industrial conscription, like Communism itself, + becomes a thing of desperate hope only in a country actually face to face + with ruin. I remember saying to Trotsky, when talking of possible + opposition, that I, as an Englishman, with the tendencies to practical + anarchism belonging to my race, should certainly object most strongly if I + were mobilized and set to work in a particular factory, and might even + want to work in some other factory just for the sake of not doing what I + was forced to do. Trotsky replied: "You would now. But you would not if + you had been through a revolution, and seen your country in such a state + that only the united, concentrated effort of everybody could possibly + reestablish it. That is the position here. Everybody knows the position + and that there is no other way." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHAT THE COMMUNISTS ARE TRYING TO DO IN RUSSIA + </h2> + <p> + We come now to the Communist plans for reconstruction. We have seen, in + the first two chapters, something of the appalling paralysis which is the + most striking factor in the economic problem to-day. We have seen how + Russia is suffering from a lack of things and from a lack of labor, how + these two shortages react on each other, and how nothing but a vast + improvement in transport can again set in motion what was one of the great + food-producing machines of the world. We have also seen something of the + political organization which, with far wider ambitions before it, is at + present struggling to prevent temporary paralysis from turning into + permanent atrophy. We have seen that it consists of a political party so + far dominant that the Trades Unions and all that is articulate in the + country may be considered as part of a machinery of propaganda, for + getting those things done which that political party considers should be + done. In a country fighting, literally, for its life, no man can call his + soul his own, and we have seen how this fact-a fact that has become + obvious again and again in the history of the world, whenever a nation has + had its back to the wall-is expressed in Russia in terms of industrial + conscription; in measures, that is to say, which would be impossible in + any country not reduced to such extremities; in measures which may prove + to be the inevitable accompaniment of national crisis, when such crisis is + economic rather than military. Let us now see what the Russians, with that + machinery at their disposal are trying to do. + </p> + <p> + It is obvious that since this machinery is dominated by a political party, + it will be impossible to understand the Russian plans, without + understanding that particular political party's estimate of the situation + in general. It is obvious that the Communist plans for Russia must be + largely affected by their view of Europe as a whole. This view is gloomy + in the extreme. The Communists believe that Europe is steadily shaking + itself to pieces. They believe that this process has already gone so far + that, even given good will on the part of European Governments, the + manufacturers of Western countries are already incapable of supplying them + with all the things which Russia was importing before the war, still less + make up the enormous arrears which have resulted from six years of + blockade. They do not agree with M. Clemenceau that "revolution is a + disease attacking defeated countries only." Or, to put it as I have heard + it stated in Moscow, they believe that President Wilson's aspiration + towards a peace in which should be neither conqueror nor conquered has + been at least partially realized in the sense that every country ended the + struggle economically defeated, with the possible exception of America, + whose signature, after all, is still to be ratified. They believe that + even in seemingly prosperous countries the seeds of economic disaster are + already fertilized. They think that the demands of labor will become + greater and more difficult to fulfill until at last they become + incompatible with a continuance of the capitalist system. They think that + strike after strike, irrespective of whether it is successful or not, will + gradually widen the cracks and flaws already apparent in the damaged + economic structure of Western Europe. They believe that conflicting + interests will involve our nations in new national wars, and that each of + these will deepen the cleavage between capital and labor. They think that + even if exhaustion makes mutual warfare on a large scale impossible, these + conflicting interests will produce such economic conflicts, such refusals + of cooperation, as will turn exhaustion to despair. They believe, to put + it briefly, that Russia has passed through the worst stages of a process + to which every country in Europe will be submitted in turn by its + desperate and embittered inhabitants. We may disagree with them, but we + shall not understand them if we refuse to take that belief into account. + If, as they imagine, the next five years are to be years of disturbance + and growing resolution, Russia will get very little from abroad. If, for + example, there is to be a serious struggle in England, Russia will get + practically nothing. They not only believe that these things are going to + be, but make the logical deductions as to the effect of such disturbances + on their own chances of importing what they need. For example, Lenin said + to me that "the shock of revolution in England would ensure the final + defeat of capitalism," but he said at the same time that it would be felt + at once throughout the world and cause such reverberations as would + paralyze industry everywhere. And that is why, although Russia is an + agricultural country, the Communist plans for her reconstruction are + concerned first of all not with agriculture, but with industry. In their + schemes for the future of the world, Russia's part is that of a gigantic + farm, but in their schemes for the immediate future of Russia, their eyes + are fixed continually on the nearer object of making her so far + self-supporting that, even if Western Europe is unable to help them, they + may be able to crawl out of their economic difficulties, as Krassin put it + to me before he left Moscow, "if necessary on all fours, but somehow or + other, crawl out." + </p> + <p> + Some idea of the larger ambitions of the Communists with regard to the + development of Russia are given in a conversation with Rykov, which + follows this chapter. The most important characteristic of them is that + they are ambitions which cannot but find an echo in Russians of any kind, + quite regardless of their political convictions. The old anomalies of + Russian industry, for example, the distances of the industrial districts + from their sources of fuel and raw material are to be done away with. + These anomalies were largely due to historical accidents, such as the + caprice of Peter the Great, and not to any economic reasons. The + revolution, destructive as it has been, has at least cleaned the slate and + made it possible, if it is possible to rebuild at all, to rebuild Russia + on foundations laid by common sense. It may be said that the Communists + are merely doing flamboyantly and with a lot of flag-waving, what any + other Russian Government would be doing in their place. And without the + flamboyance and the flag-waving, it is doubtful whether in an exhausted + country, it would be possible to get anything done at all. The result of + this is that in their work of economic reconstruction the Communists get + the support of most of the best engineers and other technicians in the + country, men who take no interest whatsoever in the ideas of Karl Marx, + but have a professional interest in doing the best they can with their + knowledge, and a patriotic satisfaction in using that knowledge for + Russia. These men, caring not at all about Communism, want to make Russia + once more a comfortably habitable place, no matter under what Government. + Their attitude is precisely comparable to that of the officers of the old + army who have contributed so much to the success of the new. These + officers were not Communists, but they disliked civil war, and fought to + put an end of it. As Sergei Kamenev, the Commander-in-Chief, and not a + Communist, said to me, "I have not looked on the civil war as on a + struggle between two political ideas, for the Whites have no definite + idea. I have considered it simply as a struggle between the Russian + Government and a number of mutineers." Precisely so do these "bourgeois" + technicians now working throughout Russia regard the task before them. It + will be small satisfaction to them if famine makes the position of any + Government impossible. For them the struggle is quite simply a struggle + between Russia and the economic forces tending towards a complete collapse + of civilization. + </p> + <p> + The Communists have thus practically the whole intelligence of the country + to help them in their task of reconstruction, or of salvage. But the + educated classes alone cannot save a nation. Muscle is wanted besides + brain, and the great bulk of those who can provide muscle are difficult to + move to enthusiasm by any broad schemes of economic rearrangement that do + not promise immediate improvement in their own material conditions. + Industrial conscription cannot be enforced in Russia unless there is among + the conscripted themselves an understanding, although a resentful + understanding, of its necessity. The Russians have not got an army of + Martians to enforce effort on an alien people. The army and the people are + one. "We are bound to admit," says Trotsky, "that no wide industrial + mobilization will succeed, if we do not capture all that is honorable, + spiritual in the peasant working masses in explaining our plan." And the + plan that he referred to was not the grandiose (but obviously sensible) + plan for the eventual electrification of all Russia, but a programme of + the struggle before them in actually getting their feet clear of the + morass of industrial decay in which they are at present involved. Such a + programme has actually been decided upon-a programme the definite object + of which is to reconcile the workers to work not simply hand to mouth, + each for himself, but to concentrate first on those labors which will + eventually bring their reward in making other labors easier and improving + the position as a whole. + </p> + <p> + Early this year a comparatively unknown Bolshevik called Gusev, to whom + nobody had attributed any particular intelligence, wrote, while busy on + the staff of an army on the southeast front, which was at the time being + used partly as a labor army, a pamphlet which has had an extraordinary + influence in getting such a programme drawn up. The pamphlet is based on + Gusev's personal observation both of a labor army at work and of the + attitude of the peasant towards industrial conscription. It was extremely + frank, and contained so much that might have been used by hostile critics, + that it was not published in the ordinary way but printed at the army + press on the Caucasian front and issued exclusively to members of the + Communist Party. I got hold of a copy of this pamphlet through a friend. + It is called "Urgent Questions of Economic Construction." Gusev sets out + in detail the sort of opposition he had met, and says: "The Anarchists, + Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks have a clear, simple economic plan + which the great masses can understand: 'Go about your own business and + work freely for yourself in your own place.' They have a criticism of + labor mobilizations equally clear for the masses. They say to them, 'They + are putting Simeon in Peter's place, and Peter in Simeon's. They are + sending the men of Saratov to dig the ground in the Government of + Stavropol, and the Stavropol men to the Saratov Government for the same + purpose.' Then besides that there is 'nonparty' criticism: + </p> + <p> + "'When it is time to sow they will be shifting muck, and when it is time + to reap they will be told to cut timber.' That is a particularly clear + expression of the peasants' disbelief in our ability to draw up a proper + economic plan. This belief is clearly at the bottom of such questions as, + 'Comrade Gusev, have you ever done any plowing?' or 'Comrade Orator, do + you know anything about peasant work?' Disbelief in the townsman who + understands nothing about peasants is natural to the peasant, and we shall + have to conquer it, to get through it, to get rid of it by showing the + peasant, with a clear plan in our hands that he can understand, that we + are not altogether fools in this matter and that we understand more than + he does." He then sets out the argument which he himself had found + successful in persuading the peasants to do things the reward for which + would not be obvious the moment they were done. He says, "I compared our + State economy to a colossal building with scores of stories and tens of + thousands of rooms. The whole building has been half smashed; in places + the roof has tumbled down, the beams have rotted, the ceilings are + tumbling, the drains and water pipes are burst; the stoves are falling to + pieces, the partitions are shattered, and, finally, the walls and + foundations are unsafe and the whole building is threatened with collapse. + I asked, how, must one set about the repair of this building? With what + kind of economic plan? To this question the inhabitants of different + stories, and even of different rooms on one and the same story will reply + variously. Those who live on the top floor will shout that the rafters are + rotten and the roof falling; that it is impossible to live, there any + longer, and that it is immediately necessary, first of all, to put up new + beams and to repair the roof. And from their point of view they will be + perfectly right. Certainly it is not possible to live any longer on that + floor. Certainly the repair of the roof is necessary. The inhabitants of + one of the lower stories in which the water pipes have burst will cry out + that it is impossible to live without water, and therefore, first of all, + the water pipes must be mended. And they, from their point of view, will + be perfectly right, since it certainly is impossible to live without + water. The inhabitants of the floor where the stoves have fallen to pieces + will insist on an immediate mending of the stoves, since they and their + children are dying of cold because there is nothing on which they can heat + up water or boil kasha for the children; and they, too, will be quite + right. But in spite of all these just demands, which arrive in thousands + from all sides, it is impossible to forget the most important of all, that + the foundation is shattered and that the building is threatened with a + collapse which will bury all the inhabitants of the house together, and + that, therefore, the only immediate task is the strengthening of the + foundation and the walls. Extraordinary firmness, extraordinary courage is + necessary, not only not to listen to the cries and groans of old men, + women, children and sick, coming from every floor, but also to decide on + taking from the inhabitants of all floors the instruments and materials + necessary for the strengthening of the foundations and walls, and to force + them to leave their corners and hearths, which they are doing the best + they can to make habitable, in order to drive them to work on the + strengthening of the walls and foundations." + </p> + <p> + Gusev's main idea was that the Communists were asking new sacrifices from + a weary and exhausted people, that without such sacrifices these people + would presently find themselves in even worse conditions, and that, to + persuade them to make the effort necessary to save themselves, it was + necessary to have a perfectly clear and easily understandable plan which + could be dinned into the whole nation and silence the criticism of all + possible opponents. Copies of his little book came to Moscow. Lenin read + it and caused excruciating jealousy in the minds of several other + Communists, who had also been trying to find the philosopher's stone that + should turn discouragement into hope, by singling out Gusev for his + special praise and insisting that his plans should be fully discussed at + the Supreme Council in the Kremlin. Trotsky followed Lenin's lead, and in + the end a general programme for Russian reconstruction was drawn up, + differing only slightly from that which Gusev had proposed. I give this + scheme in Trotsky's words, because they are a little fuller than those of + others, and knowledge of this plan will explain not only what the + Communists are trying to do in Russia, but what they would like to get + from us today and what they will want to get tomorrow. Trotsky says:— + </p> + <p> + "The fundamental task at this moment is improvement in the condition of + our transport, prevention of its further deterioration and preparation of + the most elementary stores of food, raw material and fuel. The whole of + the first period of our reconstruction will be completely occupied in the + concentration of labor on the solution of these problems, which is a + condition of further progress. + </p> + <p> + "The second period (it will be difficult to say now whether it will be + measured in months or years, since that depends on many factors beginning + with the international situation and ending with the unanimity or the lack + of it in our own party) will be a period occupied in the building of + machines in the interest of transport, and the getting of raw materials + and provisions. + </p> + <p> + "The third period will be occupied in building machinery, with a view to + the production of articles in general demand, and, finally, the fourth + period will be that in which we are able to produce these articles." + </p> + <p> + Does it not occur, even to the most casual reader, that there is very + little politics in that program, and that, no matter what kind of + Government should be in Russia, it would have to endorse that programme + word for word? I would ask any who doubt this to turn again to my first + two chapters describing the nature of the economic crisis in Russia, and + to remind themselves how, not only the lack of things but the lack of men, + is intimately connected with the lack of transport, which keeps laborers + ill fed, factories ill supplied with material, and in this way keeps the + towns incapable of supplying the needs of the country, with the result + that the country is most unwilling to supply the needs of the town. No + Russian Government unwilling to allow Russia to subside definitely to a + lower level of civilization can do otherwise than to concentrate upon the + improvement of transport. Labor in Russia must be used first of all for + that, in order to increase its own productivity. And, if purchase of help + from abroad is to be allowed, Russia must "control" the outflow of her + limited assets, so that, by healing transport first of all, she may + increase her power of making new assets. She must spend in such a way as + eventually to increase her power of spending. She must prevent the + frittering away of her small purse on things which, profitable to the + vendor and doubtless desirable by the purchaser, satisfy only individual + needs and do not raise the producing power of the community as a whole. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + RYKOV ON ECONOMIC PLANS AND ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY + </h2> + <p> + Alexei Rykov, the President of the Supreme Council of Public Economy, is + one of the hardest worked men in Russia, and the only time I was able to + have a long talk with him (although more than once he snatched moments to + answer particular questions) was on a holiday, when the old Siberian + Hotel, now the offices of the Council, was deserted, and I walked through + empty corridors until I found the President and his secretary at work as + usual. + </p> + <p> + After telling of the building of the new railway from Alexandrovsk Gai to + the Emba, the prospects of developing the oil industry in that district, + the relative values of those deposits and of those at Baku, and the + possible decreasing significance of Baku in Russian industry generally, we + passed to broader perspectives. I asked him what he thought of the + relations between agriculture and industry in Russia, and supposed that he + did not imagine that Russia would ever become a great industrial country. + His answer was characteristic of the tremendous hopes that nerve these + people in their almost impossible task, and I set it down as nearly as I + can in his own words. For him, of course, the economic problem was the + first, and he spoke of it as the director of a huge trust might have + spoken. But, as he passed on to talk of what he thought would result from + the Communist method of tackling that problem, and spoke of the eventual + disappearance of political parties, I felt I was trying to read a kind of + palimpsest of the Economist and + </p> + <p> + News from Nowhere, or listening to a strange compound of William Morris + and, for example, Sir Eric Geddes. He said: "We may have to wait a long + time before the inevitable arrives and there is a Supreme Economic Council + dealing with Europe as with a single economic whole. If that should come + about we should, of course, from the very nature of our country, be called + upon in the first place to provide food for Europe, and we should hope + enormously to improve our agriculture, working on a larger and larger + scale, using mechanical plows and tractors, which would be supplied us by + the West. But in the meantime we have to face the fact that events may + cause us to be, for all practical purposes, in a state of blockade for + perhaps a score of years, and, so far as we can, we must be ready to + depend on ourselves alone. For example, we want mechanical plows which + could be procured abroad. We have had to start making them ourselves. The + first electric plow made in Russia and used in Russia started work last + year, and this year we shall have a number of such plows made in our + country, not because it is economic so to make them, but because we could + get them in no other way. In so far as is possible, we shall have to make + ourselves self-supporting, so as somehow or other to get along even if the + blockade, formal or perhaps willy-nilly (imposed by the inability of the + West to supply us), compels us to postpone cooperation with the rest of + Europe. Every day of such postponement is one in which the resources of + Europe are not being used in the most efficient manner to supply the needs + not only of our own country but of all." + </p> + <p> + I referred to what he had told me last year about the intended + electrification of Moscow by a station using turf fuel. + </p> + <p> + "That," he said, "is one of the plans which, in spite of the war, has gone + a very long way towards completion. We have built the station in the + Ryezan Government, on the Shadul peat mosses, about 110 versts from + Moscow. Before the end of May that station should be actually at work. (It + was completed, opened and partially destroyed by a gigantic fire.) Another + station at Kashira in the Tula Government (on the Oka), using the small + coal produced in the Moscow coalfields, will be at work before the autumn. + This year similar stations are being built at Ivano-Voznesensk and at + Nijni-Novgorod. Also, with a view to making the most economic use of what + we already possess, we have finished both in Petrograd and in Moscow a + general unification of all the private power-stations, which now supply + their current to a single main cable. Similar unification is nearly + finished at Tula and at Kostroma. The big water-power station on the + rapids of the Volkhov is finished in so far as land construction goes, but + we can proceed no further until we have obtained the turbines, which we + hope to get from abroad. As you know, we are basing our plans in general + on the assumption that in course of time we shall supply the whole of + Russian industry with electricity, of which we also hope to make great use + in agriculture. That, of course, will take a great number of years." + </p> + <p> + [Nothing could have been much more artificial than the industrial + geography of old Russia. The caprice of history had planted great + industrial centers literally at the greatest possible distance from the + sources of their raw materials. There was Moscow bringing its coal from + Donetz, and Petrograd, still further away, having to eke out a living by + importing coal from England. The difficulty of transport alone must have + forced the Russians to consider how they could do away with such + anomalies. Their main idea is that the transport of coal in a modern State + is an almost inexcusable barbarism. They have set themselves, these ragged + engineers, working in rooms which they can hardly keep above + freezing-point and walking home through the snow in boots without soles, + no less a task than the electrification of the whole of Russia. There is a + State Committee presided over by an extraordinary optimist called + Krzhizhanovsky, entrusted by the Supreme Council of Public Economy and + Commissariat of Agriculture with the working out of a general plan. This + Committee includes, besides a number of well-known practical engineers, + Professors Latsinsky, Klassen, Dreier, Alexandrov, Tcharnovsky, Dend and + Pavlov. They are investigating the water power available in different + districts in Russia, the possibilities of using turf, and a dozen similar + questions including, perhaps not the least important, investigation to + discover where they can do most with least dependence on help from + abroad.] + </p> + <p> + Considering the question of the import of machinery from abroad, I asked + him whether in existing conditions of transport Russia was actually in a + position to export the raw materials with which alone the Russians could + hope to buy what they want. He said: + </p> + <p> + "Actually we have in hand about two million poods (a pood is a little over + thirty-six English pounds) of flax, and any quantity of light leather + (goat, etc.), but the main districts where we have raw material for + ourselves or for export are far away. Hides, for example, we have in great + quantities in Siberia, in the districts of Orenburg and the Ural River and + in Tashkent. I have myself made the suggestion that we should offer to + sell this stuff where it is, that is to say not delivered at a seaport, + and that the buyers should provide their own trains, which we should + eventually buy from them with the raw material itself, so that after a + certain number of journeys the trains should become ours. In the same + districts we have any quantity of wool, and in some of these districts + corn. We cannot, in the present condition of our transport, even get this + corn for ourselves. In the same way we have great quantities of rice in + Turkestan, and actually are being offered rice from Sweden, because we + cannot transport our own. Then we have over a million poods of copper, + ready for export on the same conditions. But it is clear that if the + Western countries are unable to help in the transport, they cannot expect + to get raw materials from us." + </p> + <p> + I asked about platinum. He laughed. + </p> + <p> + "That is a different matter. In platinum we have a world monopoly, and can + consequently afford to wait. Diamonds and gold, they can have as much as + they want of such rubbish; but platinum is different, and we are in no + hurry to part with it. But diamonds and gold ornaments, the jewelry of the + Tsars, we are ready to give to any king in Europe who fancies them, if he + can give us some less ornamental but more useful locomotives instead." + </p> + <p> + I asked if Kolchak had damaged the platinum mines. He replied, "Not at + all. On the contrary, he was promising platinum to everybody who wanted + it, and he set the mines going, so we arrived to find them in good + condition, with a considerable yield of platinum ready for use." + </p> + <p> + (I am inclined to think that in spite of Rykov's rather intransigent + attitude on the question, the Russians would none the less be willing to + export platinum, if only on account of the fact in comparison with its + great value it requires little transport, and so would make possible for + them an immediate bargain with some of the machinery they most urgently + need.) + </p> + <p> + Finally we talked of the growing importance of the Council of Public + Economy. Rykov was of opinion that it would eventually become the centre + of the whole State organism, "it and Trades Unions organizing the actual + producers in each branch." + </p> + <p> + "Then you think that as your further plans develop, with the creation of + more and more industrial centres, with special productive populations + concentrated round them, the Councils of the Trades Unions will tend to + become identical with the Soviets elected in the same districts by the + same industrial units?" + </p> + <p> + "Precisely," said Rykov, "and in that way the Soviets, useful during the + period of transition as an instrument of struggle and dictatorship, will + be merged with the Unions." (One + </p> + <p> + important factor, as Lenin pointed out when considering the same question, + is here left out of count, namely the political development of the + enormous agricultural as opposed to industrial population.) + </p> + <p> + "But if this merging of political Soviets with productive Unions occurs, + the questions that concern people will cease to be political questions, + but will be purely questions of economics." + </p> + <p> + "Certainly. And we shall see the disappearance of political parties. That + process is already apparent. In the present huge Trade Union Conference + there are only sixty Mensheviks. The Communists are swallowing one party + after another. Those who were not drawn over to us during the period of + struggle are now joining us during the process of construction, and we + find that our differences now are not political at all, but concerned only + with the practical details of construction." He illustrated this by + pointing out the present constitution of the Supreme Council of Public + Economy. There are under it fifty-three Departments or Centres (Textile, + Soap, Wool, Timber, Flax, etc.), each controlled by a "College" of three + or more persons. There are 232 members of these Colleges or Boards in all, + and of them 83 are workmen, 79 are engineers, 1 was an ex-director, 50 + were from the clerical staff, and 19 unclassified. Politically 115 were + Communists, 105 were "non-party," and 12 were of non-Communist parties. He + continued, "Further, in swallowing the other parties, the Communists + themselves will cease to exist as a political party. Think only that + youths coming to their manhood during this year in Russia and in the + future will not be able to confirm from their own experience the reasoning + of Karl Marx, because they will have had no experience of a capitalist + country. What can they make of the class struggle? The class struggle here + is already over, and the distinctions of class have already gone + altogether. In the old days, members of our party were men who had read, + or tried to read, Marx's "Capital," who knew the "Communist Manifesto" by + heart, and were occupied in continual criticism of the basis of capitalist + society. Look at the new members of our party. Marx is quite unnecessary + to them. They join us, not for struggle in the interests of an oppressed + class, but simply because they understand our aims in constructive work. + And, as this process continues, we old social democrats shall disappear, + and our places will be filled by people of entirely different character + grown up under entirely new conditions." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NON-PARTYISM + </h2> + <p> + Rykov's prophecies of the disappearance of Political parties may be + falsified by a development of that very non-partyism on which he bases + them. It is true that the parties openly hostile to the Communists in + Russia have practically disappeared. Many old-time Mensheviks have joined + the Communist Party. Here and there in the country may be found a Social + Revolutionary stronghold. Here and there in the Ukraine the Mensheviks + retain a footing, but I doubt whether either of these parties has in it + the vitality to make itself once again a serious political factor. There + is, however, a movement which, in the long run, may alter Russia's + political complexion. More and more delegates to Soviets or Congresses of + all kinds are explicitly described as "Non-party." Non-partyism is perhaps + a sign of revolt against rigid discipline of any kind. Now and then, of + course, a clever Menshevik or Social Revolutionary, by trimming his sails + carefully to the wind, gets himself elected on a non-party ticket. 'When + this happens there is usually a great hullabaloo as soon as he declares + himself. A section of his electors agitates for his recall and presently + some one else is elected in his stead. But non-partyism is much more than + a mere cloak of invisibility for enemies or conditional supporters of the + Communists. I know of considerable country districts which, in the face of + every kind of agitation, insist on returning exclusively non-party + delegates. The local Soviets in these districts are also non-party, and + they elect usually a local Bolshevik to some responsible post to act as it + were as a buffer between themselves and the central authority. They manage + local affairs in their own way, and, through the use of tact on both + sides, avoid falling foul of the more rigid doctrinaires in Moscow. + </p> + <p> + Eager reactionaries outside Russia will no doubt point to non-partyism as + a symptom of friendship for themselves. It is nothing of the sort. On all + questions of the defense of the Republic the non-party voting is + invariably solid with that of the Communists. The non-party men do not + want Denikin. They do not want Baron Wrangel. They have never heard of + Professor Struhve. They do not particularly like the Communists. They + principally want to be left alone, and they principally fear any enforced + continuation of war of any kind. If, in the course of time, they come to + have a definite political programme, I think it not impossible that they + may turn into a new kind of constitutional democrat. That does not mean + that they will have any use for M. Milukov or for a monarch with whom M. + Milukov might be ready to supply them. The Constitution for which they + will work will be that very Soviet Constitution which is now in abeyance, + and the democracy which they associate with it will be that form of + democracy which were it to be accurately observed in the present state of + Russia, that Constitution would provide. The capitalist in Russia has long + ago earned the position in which, according to the Constitution, he has a + right to vote, since he has long ago ceased to be a capitalist. Supposing + the Soviet Constitution were today to be literally applied, it would be + found that practically no class except the priests would be excluded from + the franchise. And when this agitation swells in volume, it will be an + agitation extremely difficult to resist, supposing Russia to be at peace, + so that there will be no valid excuse with which to meet it. These new + constitutional democrats will be in the position of saying to the + Communists, "Give us, without change, that very Constitution which you + yourselves drew up." I think they will find many friends inside the + Communist Party, particularly among those Communists who are also Trade + Unionists. I heard something very like the arguments of this new variety + of constitutional democrat in the Kremlin itself at an All-Russian + Conference of the Communist Party. A workman, Sapronov, turned suddenly + aside in a speech on quite another matter, and said with great violence + that the present system was in danger of running to seed and turning into + oligarchy, if not autocracy. Until the moment when he put his listeners + against him by a personal attack on Lenin, there was no doubt that he had + with him the sympathies of quite a considerable section of an exclusively + Communist audience. + </p> + <p> + Given peace, given an approximate return to normal conditions, + non-partyism may well profoundly modify the activities of the Communists. + It would certainly be strong enough to prevent the rasher spirits among + them from jeopardizing peace or from risking Russia's chance of + convalescence for the sake of promoting in any way the growth of + revolution abroad. Of course, so long as it is perfectly obvious that + Soviet Russia is attacked, no serious growth of non-partyism is to be + expected, but it is obvious that any act of aggression on the part of the + Soviet Government, once Russia had attained peace-which she has not known + since 1914-would provide just the basis of angry discontent which might + divide even the disciplined ranks of the Communists and give non-partyism + an active, instead of a comparatively passive, backing throughout the + country. + </p> + <p> + Non-partyism is already the peasants' way of expressing their aloofness + from the revolution and, at the same time, their readiness to defend that + revolution against anybody who attacks it from outside. Lenin, talking to + me about the general attitude of the peasants, said: "Hegel wrote 'What is + the People? The people is that part of the nation which does not know what + it wants.' That is a good description of the Russian peasantry at the + present time, and it applies equally well to your Arthur Hendersons and + Sidney Webbs in England, and to all other people like yourself who want + incompatible things. The peasantry are individualists, but they support + us. We have, in some degree, to thank Kolchak and Denikin for that. They + are in favor of the Soviet Government, but hanker after Free Trade, not + understanding that the two things are self-contradictory. Of course, if + they were a united political force they could swamp us, but they are + disunited both in their interests and geographically. The interests of the + poorer and middle class peasants are in contradiction to those of the rich + peasant farmer who employs laborers. The poorer and middle class see that + we support them against the rich peasant, and also see that he is ready to + support what is obviously not in their interests." I said, "If State + agriculture in Russia comes to be on a larger scale, will there not be a + sort of proletarianization of the peasants so that, in the long run, their + interests will come to be more or less identical with those of the workers + in other than agricultural industry!" He replied, "Something in that + direction is being done, but it will have to be done very carefully and + must take a very long time. When we are getting many thousands of tractors + from abroad, then something of the sort would become possible." Finally I + asked him point blank, "Did he think they would pull through far enough + economically to be able to satisfy the needs of the peasantry before that + same peasantry had organized a real political opposition that should + overwhelm them!" Lenin laughed. "If I could answer that question," he + said, "I could answer everything, for on the answer to that question + everything depends. I think we can. Yes, I think we can. But I do not know + that we can." + </p> + <p> + Non-partyism may well be the protoplasmic stage of the future political + opposition of the peasants. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + POSSIBILITIES + </h2> + <p> + I have done my best to indicate the essential facts in Russia's problem + today, and to describe the organization and methods with which she is + attempting its solution. I can give no opinion as to whether by these + means the Russians will succeed in finding their way out of the quagmire + of industrial ruin in which they are involved. I can only say that they + are unlikely to find their way out by any other means. I think this is + instinctively felt in Russia. Not otherwise would it have been possible + for the existing organization, battling with one hand to save the towns + front starvation, to destroy with the other the various forces clothed and + armed by Western Europe, which have attempted its undoing. The mere fact + of continued war has, of course, made progress in the solution of the + economic problem almost impossible, but the fact that the economic problem + was unsolved, must have made war impossible, if it were not that the + instinct of the people was definitely against Russian or foreign invaders. + Consider for one moment the military position. + </p> + <p> + Although the enthusiasm for the Polish war began to subside (even among + the Communists) as soon as the Poles had been driven back from Kiev to + their own frontiers, although the Poles are occupying an enormous area of + non-Polish territory, although the Communists have had to conclude with + Poland a peace obviously unstable, the military position of Soviet Russia + is infinitely better this time than it was in 1918 or 1919. In 1918 the + Ukraine was held by German troops and the district east of the Ukraine was + in the hands of General Krasnov, the author of a flattering letter to the + Kaiser. In the northwest the Germans were at Pskov, Vitebsk and Mohilev. + We ourselves were at Murmansk and Archangel. In the east, the front which + became known as that of Kolchak, was on the Volga. Soviet Russia was a + little hungry island with every prospect of submersion. A year later the + Germans had vanished, the flatterers of the Kaiser had joined hands with + those who were temporarily flattering the Allies, Yudenitch's troops were + within sight of Petrograd, Denikin was at Orel, almost within striking + distance of Moscow; there had been a stampede of desertion from the Red + Army. There was danger that Finland might strike at any moment. Although + in the east Kolchak had been swept over the Urals to his ultimate + disaster, the situation of Soviet Russia seemed even more desperate than + in the year before. What is the position today! Esthonia, Latvia, + Lithuania, and Finland are at peace with Russia. The Polish peace brings + comparative quiet to the western front, although the Poles, keeping the + letter rather than the spirit of their agreement, have given Balahovitch + the opportunity of establishing himself in Minsk, where, it is said, that + the pogroms of unlucky Jews show that he has learnt nothing since his + ejection from Pskov. + </p> + <p> + Balahovitch's force is not important in itself, but its existence will + make it easy to start the war afresh along the whole new frontier of + Poland, and that frontier shuts into Poland so large an anti-Polish + population, that a moment may still come when desperate Polish statesmen + may again choose war as the least of many threatening evils. Still, for + the moment, Russia's western frontier is comparatively quiet. Her northern + frontier is again the Arctic Sea. Her eastern frontier is in the + neighborhood of the Pacific. The Ukraine is disorderly, but occupied by no + enemy; the only front on which serious fighting is proceeding is the small + semi-circle north of the Crimea. There Denikin's successor, supported by + the French but exultantly described by a German conservative newspaper as + a "German baron in Cherkass uniform," is holding the Crimea and a + territory slightly larger than the peninsula on the main land. Only to the + immense efficiency of anti-Bolshevik propaganda can be ascribed the + opinion, common in England but comic to any one who takes the trouble to + look at a map, that Soviet Russia is on the eve of military collapse. + </p> + <p> + In any case it is easy in a revolution to magnify the influence of + military events on internal affairs. In the first place, no one who has + not actually crossed the Russian front during the period of active + operations can well realize how different are the revolutionary wars from + that which ended in 1918. Advance on a broad front no longer means that a + belt of men in touch with each other has moved definitely forward. It + means that there have been a series of forward movements at widely + separated, and with the very haziest of mutual, connections. There will be + violent fighting for a village or a railway station or the passage of a + river. Small hostile groups will engage in mortal combat to decide the + possession of a desirable hut in which to sleep, but, except at these rare + points of actual contact, the number of prisoners is far in excess of the + number of casualties. Parties on each side will be perfectly ignorant of + events to right or left of them, ignorant even of their gains and losses. + Last year I ran into Whites in a village which the Reds had assured me was + strongly held by themselves, and these same Whites refused to believe that + the village where I had spent the preceding night was in the possession of + the Reds. It is largely an affair of scouting parties, of patrols dodging + each other through the forest tracks, of swift raids, of sudden conviction + (often entirely erroneous) on the part of one side or the other, that it + or the enemy has been "encircled." The actual number of combatants to a + mile of front is infinitely less than during the German war. Further, + since an immense proportion of these combatants on both sides have no wish + to fight at all, being without patriotic or political convictions and very + badly fed and clothed, and since it is more profitable to desert than to + be taken prisoner, desertion in bulk is not uncommon, and the deserters, + hurriedly enrolled to fight on the other side, indignantly re-desert when + opportunity offers. In this way the armies of Denikin and Yudenitch + swelled like mushrooms and decayed with similar rapidity. Military events + of this kind, however spectacular they may seem abroad, do not have the + political effect that might be expected. I was in Moscow at the worst + moment of the crisis in 1919 when practically everybody outside the + Government believed that Petrograd had already fallen, and I could not but + realize that the Government was stronger then than it had been in February + of the same year, when it had a series of victories and peace with the + Allies seemed for a moment to be in sight. A sort of fate seems to impel + the Whites to neutralize with extraordinary rapidity any good will for + themelves which they may find among the population. This is true of both + sides, but seems to affect the Whites especially. Although General Baron + Wrangel does indeed seem to have striven more successfully than his + predecessors not to set the population against him and to preserve the + loyalty of his army, it may be said with absolute certainty that any large + success on his part would bring crowding to his banner the same crowd of + stupid reactionary officers who brought to nothing any mild desire for + moderation that may have been felt by General Denikin. If the area he + controls increases, his power of control over his subordinates will + decrease, and the forces that led to Denikin's collapse will be set in + motion in his case also. [*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * On the day on which I send this book to the printers news + comes of Wrangel's collapse and flight. I leave standing + what I have written concerning him, since it will apply to + any successor he may have. Each general who has stepped + into Kolchak's shoes has eventually had to run away in them, + and always for the same reasons. It may be taken almost as + an axiom that the history of great country is that of its + centre, not of its periphery. The main course of English + history throughout the troubled seventeenth and eighteenth + centuries was never deflected from London. French history + did not desert Paris, to make a new start at Toulon or at + Quiberon Bay. And only a fanatic could suppose that Russian + history would run away from Moscow, to begin again in a + semi-Tartar peninsula in the Black Sea. Moscow changes + continually, and may so change as to make easy the return of + the "refugees." Some have already returned. But the + refugees will not return as conquerors. Should a Russian + Napoleon (an unlikely figure, even in spite of our efforts) + appear, he will not throw away the invaluable asset of a + revolutionary war-cry. He will have to fight some one, or + he will not be a Napoleon. And whom will he fight but the + very people who, by keeping up the friction, have rubbed + Aladdin's ring so hard and so long that a Djinn, by no means + kindly disposed towards them, bursts forth at last to avenge + the breaking of his sleep? +</pre> + <p> + And, of course, should hostilities flare up again on the Polish frontier, + should the lions and lambs and jackals and eagles of Kossack, Russian, + Ukrainian and Polish nationalists temporarily join forces, no miracles of + diplomacy will keep them from coming to blows. For all these reasons a + military collapse of the Soviet Government at the present time, even a + concerted military advance of its enemies, is unlikely. + </p> + <p> + It is undoubtedly true that the food situation in the towns is likely to + be worse this winter than it has yet been. Forcible attempts to get food + from the peasantry will increase the existing hostility between town and + country. There has been a very bad harvest in Russia. The bringing of food + from Siberia or the Kuban (if military activities do not make that + impossible) will impose an almost intolerable strain on the inadequate + transport. Yet I think internal collapse unlikely. It may be said almost + with certainty that Governments do not collapse until there is no one left + to defend them. That moment had arrived in the case of the Tsar. It had + arrived in the case of Kerensky. It has not arrived in the case of the + Soviet Government for certain obvious reasons. For one thing, a collapse + of the Soviet Government at the present time would be disconcerting, if + not disastrous, to its more respectable enemies. It would, of course, open + the way to a practically unopposed military advance, but at the same time + it would present its enemies with enormous territory, which would + overwhelm the organizing powers which they have shown again and again to + be quite inadequate to much smaller tasks. Nor would collapse of the + present Government turn a bad harvest into a good one. Such a collapse + would mean the breakdown of all existing organizations, and would + intensify the horrors of famine for every town dweller. Consequently, + though the desperation of hunger and resentment against inevitable + requisitions may breed riots and revolts here and there throughout the + country, the men who, in other circumstances, might coordinate such + events, will refrain from doing anything of the sort. I do not say that + collapse is impossible. I do say that it would be extremely undesirable + from the point of view of almost everybody in Russia. Collapse of the + present Government would mean at best a reproduction of the circumstances + of 1917, with the difference that no intervention from without would be + necessary to stimulate indiscriminate slaughter within. I say "at best" + because I think it more likely that collapse would be followed by a period + of actual chaos. Any Government that followed the Communists would be + faced by the same economic problem, and would have to choose between + imposing measures very like those of the Communists and allowing Russia to + subside into a new area for colonization. There are people who look upon + this as a natural, even a desirable, result of the revolution. They forget + that the Russians have never been a subject race, that they have immense + powers of passive resistance, that they respond very readily to any idea + that they understand, and that the idea of revolt against foreigners is + difficult not to understand. Any country that takes advantage of the + Russian people in a moment of helplessness will find, sooner or later, + first that it has united Russia against it, and secondly that it has given + all Russians a single and undesirable view of the history of the last + three years. There will not be a Russian who will not believe that the + artificial incubation of civil war within the frontiers of old Russia was + not deliberately undertaken by Western Europe with the object of so far + weakening Russia as to make her exploitation easy. Those who look with + equanimity even on this prospect forget that the creation in Europe of a + new area for colonization, a knocking out of one of the sovereign nations, + will create a vacuum, and that the effort to fill this vacuum will set at + loggerheads nations at present friendly and so produce a struggle which + may well do for Western Europe what Western Europe will have done for + Russia. + </p> + <p> + It is of course possible that in some such way the Russian Revolution may + prove to be no more than the last desperate gesture of a stricken + civilization. My point is that if that is so, civilization in Russia will + not die without infecting us with its disease. It seems to me that our own + civilization is ill already, slightly demented perhaps, and liable, like a + man in delirium, to do things which tend to aggravate the malady. I think + that the whole of the Russian war, waged directly or indirectly by Western + Europe, is an example of this sort of dementia, but I cannot help + believing that sanity will reassert itself in time. At the present moment, + to use a modification of Gusev's metaphor, Europe may be compared to a + burning house and the Governments of Europe to fire brigades, each one + engaged in trying to salve a wing or a room of the building. It seems a + pity that these fire brigades should be fighting each other, and + forgetting the fire in their resentment of the fact that some of them wear + red uniforms and some wear blue. Any single room to which the fire gains + complete control increases the danger of the whole building, and I hope + that before the roof falls in the firemen will come to their senses. + </p> + <p> + But turning from grim recognition of the danger, and from speculations as + to the chance of the Russian Government collapsing, and as to the changes + in it that time may bring, let us consider what is likely to happen + supposing it does not collapse. I have already said that I think collapse + unlikely. Do the Russians show any signs of being able to carry out their + programme, or has the fire gone so far during the quarrelling of the + firemen as to make that task impossible? + </p> + <p> + I think that there is still a hope. There is as yet no sign of a general + improvement in Russia, nor is such an improvement possible until the + Russians have at least carried out the first stage of their programme. It + would even not be surprising if things in general were to continue to go + to the bad during the carrying out of that first stage. Shortages of food, + of men, of tools, of materials, are so acute that they have had to choose + those factories which are absolutely indispensable for the carrying out of + this stage, and make of them "shock" factories, like the "shock" troops of + the war, giving them equipment over and above their rightful share of the + impoverished stock, feeding their workmen even at the cost of letting + others go hungry. That means that other factories suffer. No matter, say + the Russians, if only that first stage makes progress. Consequently, the + only test that can be fairly applied is that of transport. Are they or are + they not gaining on ruin in the matter of wagons and engines! Here are the + figures of wagon repairs in the seven chief repairing shops up to the + month of June: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + December 1919............475 wagons were repaired. + January 1920.............656 + February.................697 + March...................1104 + April...................1141 + May.....................1154 + June....................1161 +</pre> + <p> + After elaborate investigation last year, Trotsky, as temporary Commissar + of Transport, put out an order explaining that the railways, to keep up + their present condition, must repair roughly 800 engines every month. + During the first six months of 1920 they fulfilled this task in the + following percentages: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + January..................32 per cent + February.................50 + March....................66 + April....................78 + May......................98 + June....................104 +</pre> + <p> + I think that is a proof that, supposing normal relations existed between + Russia and ourselves, the Russian would be able to tackle the first stage + of the problem that lies before them, and would lie before them whatever + their Government might be. Unfortunately there is no proof that this + steady improvement can be continued, except under conditions of trade with + Western Europe. There are Russians who think they can pull through without + us, and, remembering the miracles of which man is capable when his back is + to the wall, it would be rash to say that this is impossible. But other + Russians point out gloomily that they have been using certain parts taken + from dead engines (engines past repair) in order to mend sick engines. + They are now coming to the mending, not of sick engines merely, but of + engines on which post-mortems have already been held. They are actually + mending engines, parts of which have already been taken out and used for + the mending of other engines. There are consequently abnormal demands for + such things as shafts and piston rings. They are particularly short of + Babbitt metal and boiler tubes. In normal times the average number of new + tubes wanted for each engine put through the repair shops was 25 (10 to 15 + for engines used in the more northerly districts, and 30 to 40 for engines + in the south where the water is not so good). This number must now be + taken as much higher, because during recent years tubes have not been + regularly renewed. Further, the railways have been widely making use of + tubes taken from dead engines, that is to say, tubes already worn. Putting + things at their very best, assuming that the average demand for tubes per + engine will be that of normal times, then, if 1,000 engines are to be + repaired monthly, 150,000 tubes will be wanted every six months. Now on + the 15th of June the total stock of tubes ready for use was 58,000, and + the railways could not expect to get more than another 13,000 in the near + future. Unless the factories are able to do better (and their improvement + depends on improvement in transport), railway repairs must again + deteriorate, since the main source of materials for it in Russia, namely + the dead engines, will presently be exhausted. + </p> + <p> + On this there is only one thing to be said. If, whether because we do not + trade with them, or from some other cause, the Russians are unable to + proceed even in this first stage of their programme, it means an + indefinite postponement of the moment when Russia will be able to export + anything, and, consequently, that when at last we learn that we need + Russia as a market, she will be a market willing to receive gifts, but + unable to pay for anything at all. And that is a state of affairs a great + deal more serious to ourselves than to the Russians, who can, after all, + live by wandering about their country and scratching the ground, whereas + we depend on the sale of our manufactured goods for the possibility of + buying the food we cannot grow ourselves. If the Russians fail, their + failure will affect not us alone. It will, by depriving her of a market, + lessen Germany's power of recuperation, and consequently her power of + fulfilling her engagements. What, then, is to happen to France? And, if we + are to lose our market in Russia, and find very much weakened markets in + Germany and France, we shall be faced with an ever-increasing burden of + unemployment, with the growth, in fact, of the very conditions in which + alone we shall ourselves be unable to recover from the war. In such + conditions, upheaval in England would be possible, and, for the + dispassionate observer, there is a strange irony in the fact that the + Communists desire that upheaval, and, at the same time, desire a rebirth + of the Russian market which would tend to make that upheaval unlikely, + while those who most fear upheaval are precisely those who urge us, by + making recovery in Russia impossible, to improve the chances of collapse + at home. The peasants in Russia are not alone in wanting incompatible + things. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1326 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |