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diff --git a/old/1326-h.zip b/old/1326-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..10e5303 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1326-h.zip diff --git a/old/1326-h/1326-h.htm b/old/1326-h/1326-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f639c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1326-h/1326-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4077 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!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> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crisis in Russia, by Arthur Ransome + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Crisis in Russia + 1920 + +Author: Arthur Ransome + +Release Date: August 15, 2008 [EBook #1326] +Last Updated: February 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <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> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crisis in Russia, by Arthur Ransome + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA *** + +***** This file should be named 1326-h.htm or 1326-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/1326/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Crisis in Russia + 1920 + +Author: Arthur Ransome + +Posting Date: August 15, 2008 [EBook #1326] +Release Date: May, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA + +By Arthur Ransome + + + + + TO WILLIAM PETERS + OF ABERDEEN + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Introduction + The Shortage of Things + The Shortage of Men + The Communist Dictatorship + A Conference at Jaroslavl + The Trade Unions + The Propaganda Trains + Saturdayings + Industrial Conscription + What the Communists Are Trying to do in Russia + Rykov on Economic plans and on the Transformation of the Communist Party + Non-Partyism + Possibilities + + + ***I am indebted to the editor of the "Manchester Guardian" + for permission to make use in some of the chapters of this + book of material which has appeared in his paper. + + + + +THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA + + + + +THE SHORTAGE OF THINGS + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +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. + + + + +THE SHORTAGE OF MEN + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. +[*] + + * 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] + + +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: + + + Workmen in Moscow in 1913............159,344 + Workmen in Moscow in 1918...........157,282 + Workmen in Moscow in 1919............105,210 + + +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. + + +What has become of those workmen? + + +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.) + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +THE COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP + + +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? + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +A CONFERENCE AT JAROSLAVL + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +"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. + + +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. + + + + +THE TRADE UNIONS + + +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:-- + + +"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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + + +"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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. [*] + + * 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.] + + +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. + + + + +THE PROPAGANDA TRAINS + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +SATURDAYINGS + + +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. + + +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". + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +INDUSTRIAL CONSCRIPTION + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + + +"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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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: + + + (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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +"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." + + + + +WHAT THE COMMUNISTS ARE TRYING TO DO IN RUSSIA + + +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. + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + +"'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." + + +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:-- + +"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. + + +"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. + + +"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." + + +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. + + + + +RYKOV ON ECONOMIC PLANS AND ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY + + +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. + + +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 + +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." + + +I referred to what he had told me last year about the intended +electrification of Moscow by a station using turf fuel. + + +"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." + + +[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.] + + +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: + + +"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." + + +I asked about platinum. He laughed. + + +"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." + + +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." + + +(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.) + + +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." + + +"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?" + + +"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 + +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.) + + +"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." + + +"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." + + + + +NON-PARTYISM + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +Non-partyism may well be the protoplasmic stage of the future political +opposition of the peasants. + + + + +POSSIBILITIES + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. [*] + + * 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? + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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? + + + +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: + + + December 1919............475 wagons were repaired. + January 1920.............656 + February.................697 + March...................1104 + April...................1141 + May.....................1154 + June....................1161 + + +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: + + + January..................32 per cent + February.................50 + March....................66 + April....................78 + May......................98 + June....................104 + + +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. + + +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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crisis in Russia, by Arthur Ransome + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA *** + +***** This file should be named 1326.txt or 1326.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/1326/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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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 jourrnal of + +"Russia in 1919,"while giving as I believe a fairly accurate +pictureof 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. + + +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. + + +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, +unnecesary, 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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Introduction +The Shortage of Things +The Shortage of Men +The Communist Dictatorship +A Conference at Jaroslavl +The Trade Unions +The Propaganda Trains +Saturdayings +Industrial Conscription +What the Communists Are Trying to do in Russia +Rykov on Economic plans and on the Transformation of the Communist Party +Non-Partyism +Possibilities + + +***I am indebted to the editor of the "Manchester Guardian" for +permission to make use in some of the chapters of this book of material +which has appeared in his paper. + + + +THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA + + + +THE SHORTAGE OF THINGS + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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 exaggerationto 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 19l6 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. + + +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 than1,800 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. + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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 ." + + +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. + + + + +THE SHORTAGE OF MEN + + + +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. + + +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 +19l6 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 theoutput 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 wokers 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. + + +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.(*) [(*)Given any particular motive, any particula +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] + + +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 oflabor 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: + + +Workmen in Moscow in 1913............159,344 +Workmen in Moscow in 1918 ...........157,282 +Workmen in Moscow in 1919............105,210 + + +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. + + +What has become of those workmen? + + +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.) + + +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. + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +THE COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP + + + +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? + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + + +A CONFERENCE AT JAROSLAVL + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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, +19l8, 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. + + +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. + + +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. Everbody 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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +"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 atthis 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. + + +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. + + + + +THE TRADE UNIONS + + + +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:- + + +"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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + + +"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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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.*[(*)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 +workersand 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 bejudged 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.] + + +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. + + + + + + + + + +THE PROPAGANDA TRAINS + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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 ofTrotsky 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 Complaits 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. + + +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. + + + + +SATURDAYINGS + + + +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. + + +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". + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +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 iniative 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. + + +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. + + +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. + + + + +INDUSTRIAL CONSCRIPTION + + + +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. + + + +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. + + +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 neccesary. +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + + +"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 procceding in the works at Ekaterinburg. +January 20, 1920, midnight." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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: + + +(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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +"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." + + + + +WHAT THE COMMUNISTS ARE TRYING TO +DO IN RUSSIA + + + +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. + + +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." + + +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. + + +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. + + +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: + +'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." + + +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:- + + + +"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. + + +"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. + + +"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." + + +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. + + + + +RYKOV ON ECONOMIC PLANS AND ON THE +TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY + + + +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. + + +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 + +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." + + +I referred to what he had told me last year about the +intended electrification of Moscow by a station using turf +fuel. + + +"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." + + +[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.] + + +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: + + +"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." + + +I asked about platinum. He laughed. + + +"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." + + +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." + + +(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.) + + +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." + + +"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?" + + +"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 + +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.) + + +"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." + + +"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." + + + + +NON-PARTYISM + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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." + + +Non-partyism may well be the protoplasmic stage of the +future political opposition of the peasants. + + + + + +POSSIBILITIES + + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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.* +[(*)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?] + + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + + +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? + + + +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: + + +December 1919............475 wagons were repaired. +January 1920.............656 +February.................697 +March...................1104 +April...................1141 +May.....................1154 +June....................1161 + + +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: + + +January..................32 per cent +February.................50 +March....................66 + +April....................78 +May......................98 +June....................104 + + +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. + + +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. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Crisis in Russia, by Ransome + diff --git a/old/old/crrus10.zip b/old/old/crrus10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a774c24 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/crrus10.zip |