AnarchismBourgeoisieCapitalismCivil WarCommunismLeninRussian RevolutionSocialismSovietWorking Class

134 THE WORKERS COUNCIL (NOVEMBER 15, 1921 NOVEMBER 15, 1921 THE WORKERS COUNCIL 135 The Fourth Anniversary and the World Battle TH HE series of measures introduced in April, May and June, forming in their totality the new economic policy of the Soviets, has aroused an enormous volume of discussion both in Russia and abroad.
It is very significant to note that those who saw in them a renunciation of all the basic ideas of the Soviet system and an unconditional surrender to capitalism, were the sharpest opponents of the Soviet system, who had criticized it for forcing communism on Russia, which, in their opinion, was not ripe for experiments of this nature. One would have been inclined to think that the new set of measures would meet the approval of all these elements.
Indeed, within the ranks of the active Russian workers, who were fully alive to the demands of the moment, there was no marked consternation over the inaugurated concessions.
It may be well to quote an excerpt from an address delivered by Lenin at the Communist Conference in Moscow. With the sober vision and practical good sense that characterize all his utterances, he admitted that the new policy was a concession to the spirit of small ownership within Russia; he did not, however, consider the principles of the Revolution abandoned. The fight, in his opinion, was transferred from the political field into the realm of economic reconstruction. Russia, he said, is now attracting the attention of the workers of all countries, without exception. This is no exaggeration. This is one positive result of the revolution. The capitalists will not be able to pass it by in silence. Therefore, they try to point at its economic errors and weakness. Here is where the fight now rages on a world wide scale. IF WE SOLVE THIS PROBLEM OF ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION, WE SHALL HAVE WON WORLD BATTLE, DECISIVELY AND COMPLETELY.
This is why the problems of economic reconstruction acquire an exceptional significance for us. We must win the fight on this front by slow and gradual but inflexible rise and progress.
It was not for that that the revolutionary work For four continuous years the law of the land has ers, the revolutionary peasants, and the revolution been that he who does not work shali not eat.
ary soldiers sacrificed themselves.
If the Russian revolution has in the last six Power of Soviets Established months recognized that it must call private initiative and private undertaking to its aid, it was due For a period of eight months there was no central not to the collapse of the Dictatorship of the Prolepower in Russia to carry on the affairs of the tariat, but rather to the realization that this dictagovernment.
torship cannot of its own sheer strength rebuild the It seemed as if anarchy would take the place of economic ruin left by six years of war.
organized society, that uprisings, civil war, and unThe New Economic Policies ceasing strife would tear the government to shreds. The new economic policies of the Soviet GovThen came the power of the Soviets instituting ernment are a concession to the peasant class. The the new proletarian law and the new revolutionary revolution gave to the peasants the soil of the landorder and the masses followed, and they signified owners, to the workers control over the factories their approval, for it satisfied their demands and and workshops. So long as the war against the their social ideals.
internal and external foe was on, both classes were Thus there was again established in Russia an united in their defense of the revolution.
organized governmental power to carry on the The peasant sent his sons to the Red Army to affairs of the land.
withstand the white generals and landowners who, The Soviet government is one of the most powerif victorious, would take back the confiscated ful in the world; it is wielding a vast and profound properties.
influence on the minds of the masses.
The working class gave all its strength to ensure This was possible, of course, only because the the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Soviets were born from the deepest needs of the When the war was over, however, and the counmasses. It was possible because the Soviets are try turned to the work of reconstruction on a peacenow the most constant and direct expression of the ful basis, it became clear that the peasant was not daily needs of the people.
yet ready to institute a Socialist system.
It became clear that the peasants are not willing Old Bureaucracy is Abolished to work for the whole land, but for themselves, and The Russian revolution has abolished the old to satisfy their own interests.
bureaucracy which, even in Kerensky regime, Peasants Temporarily Victorious occupied so important a place in the governmental machinery.
If Russian industry were not so terribly crippled The administration of all branches of social after the long years of war, the workers would be existence is now in new hands.
able to satisfy the peasants with manufactured The administrators of the new order have not goods and so provide the state with agricultural always had the requisite experience or the most fara products. But the factories and workshops were seeing vision as to the needs of the government, stricken harder than the agricultural districts. The But they have never feared to admit errors, and peasantry found itself in an advantageous position and able to dictate its demands to the working have constantly sought new methods. The whole class. It demanded that the government surrender tone of Russia political and social life has assumed a new character. The old has disappeared. The new its monopoly on agricultural products.
may seem untimely and unworkable. But the new Temporarily the peasants have won. The proleis here, and the way back is closed.
tarian government was forced to recognize the right of the peasant to his own labor that is, to Dreams Have Been Realized recogn the principle of ourgeois exchange in The Russian revolution has abolished private agriculture.
That necessitates giving up government monopownership of the means of production, and for the olies.
whole of four years Russia has maintained the new anti capitalist system.
The end of the fourth year of Proletarian DictaNever before in the annals of a great modern torship finds the peasant once more a small propeople has such a system been tried.
prietor, the storekeeper and trader private owners.
This is the new, the mighty contribution that the Faces Final Dismissal Soon Revolution has given to the social experience of The capitalistic world gloated over the tempomankind.
rary return to capitalism. The bourgeois Socialists That which Socialist theory foretold on the gloated even more perhaps than the bourgeois basis of its research has now become a living fact themselves over the failure of the Communist in Russia.
experiment.
What the dreamers and militant spirits of differ The truth is that these gentlemen are glorying ent lands yearned for and hoped for, and yet them over something which they cannot understand.
selves hardly dreamt was possible, has been real For in fact capitalism comes back to Russia not ized by the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
like a er, or a conqueror, but like a discharged For four years Russia has been free from private worker who is called back to finish a certain task ownership. There has been no profit system, no before final dismissal.
exploitation, no domination of man over man. The administration of the government remains as before in the hands of the peasant and working The four years of Communist administration class.
without capital and without private ownership canThe Dictatorship of the Proletariat is not broken. not be wiped from the face of the earth.
Both the peasant and the worker are opposed to Even if the Russian merchant and banker should capitalism, even though their motives may not be once more revel in prosperity, Russia has neverthethe same. Neither of these ruling classes, the less given capitalism its greatest blow. On the one worker or the peasant, has any desire to institute in side the government, on the other side the trade Russia the rule of capital.
unions will stand guard over the workers interests Both classes will watch each step, every move of and will not allow the profit makers to become the capitalist groups, and will not permit them to lords over life. Now they are servants in the embecome the rulers of the country.
ploy of the Proletarian Dictatorship, not rulers.
Capitalism Is Merely Tool Building the New World Capitalism in its present form is no more than a tool in the hands of the workers and peasants, The Russian revolution has begun to build a new world. It has called into existence unknown whereas in all other lands the workers and peasants are mere tools in the hands of capitalism.
powers; it has spread a flood of thought among the Therein is the fundamental difference between vast masses, has opened up a world of education the Soviet republic and the capitalistic governand knowledge to the workers and peasants of Russia.
ments.
How long the temporary stay of the recalled It has created the foundation for a new masscapitalism will endure will depend on the speed of culture, for a new literature, for a new art.
Russia economic reconstruction.
And so, tho the country writhe in pain on the When the factories are running again, when the present anniversary, and tho milions suffer inrailroads are improved, it will be possible to ask human woe, and tho hunger death stares millions capitalism again to leave the social field, and it will in the face, and tho they of narrow vision all over not have power enough to oppose the request.
the world see only misery and suffering in the revoEven if Russian capitalism were to become a sig lution, nevertheless, in the light of history, on the nificant factor in Russian life, its power is underbroad path of historic development, the Russian mined, its backbone broken, revolution is a momentous step forward.
It will never again have the might and the It is a beneficent storm which at the same time audacity which characterizes capitalism in other has uprooted a whole world, but raised it to a countries.
higher stage of development and growth,