Read this excerpt from Bachtell’s report  http://www.cpusa.org/article/standing-together-in-protest-unity-will-trump-hate/  and compare it to Lenin’s critique of Kautsky in the State and Revolution, last chapter (“Kautsky’s Controversy with the Opportunists”)

“Thirdly, we are not dropping Leninism or the ideas of Lenin. This includes Lenin’s concept of the revolutionary party rooted in the working class with the aim of socialism, a party devoted to developing strategy and tactics, studying stages of struggle, following the democratic path, and centered around the press (in the current day, this means the digital media, i.e. PeoplesWorld.org).”

My emphasis.

The closing of Bachtell’s report is also revealing in the same sense – what it does not contain.

I think the first paragraph of the last chapter in S&R says it all
“The question of the relation of the state to the social revolution, and of the social revolution to the state, like the question of revolution generally, was given very little attention by the leading theoreticians and publicists of the Second International (1889-1914). But the most characteristic thing about the process of the gradual growth of opportunism that led to the collapse of the Second International in 1914 is the fact that even when these people were squarely faced with this question they tried to evade it or ignored it.”

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Successful International communist seminar regarding Vladimir Lenin’s work was organised by the KKE in Athens

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2016/12/successful-international-communist.html

The International Seminar, with the subject: “A century from the publication of the work of V.I.Lenin “On the slogan of a United States of Europe”, took place today, Saturday 10th December, organised by the European Parliament Team of the KKE in Athens, responding to the call of the Plenary session of the Parties of the “European Communist Initiative”.

The GS of the CC of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas delivered a welcome-introductory message to the participants, while the major speech was made by Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC of the KKE and Member of the European Parliament.

In the Seminar, which comes to illuminate the modern, complex and serious for the employees of developments relating to the issues of the transnational capitalist associations and agreements, the following 20 Communist and Labor Parties participated:

PARTY OF LABOUR OF AUSTRIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF VENEZUELA, NEW COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRITAIN, UNIFIED COMMUNIST PARTY OF GEORGIA, COMMUNIST PARTY IN DENMARK, COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREECE (KKE), WORKER’S PARTY OF IRELAND, COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PEOPLES OF SPAIN, COMMUNIST PARTY OF ITALY, KAZAKHSTAN SOCIALIST MOVEMENT, COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE WORKERS OF BELARUS, SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S FRONT OF LITHUANIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF MEXICO, COMMUNIST PARTY OF NORWAY, HUNGARIAN WORKER’S PARTY, UNION OF COMMUNISTS OF UKRAINE, COMMUNIST WORKER’S PARTY OF RUSSIA, NEW COMMUNIST PARTY OF YUGOSLAVIA, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SWEDEN, COMMUNIST PARTY-TURKEY.

Kostas Papadakis, MEP and Member of the CC of the KKE.

Photos: 902.gr.

Τετάρτη, 6 Απριλίου 2016

Pablo Neruda- Ode to Lenin

 http://communismgr.blogspot.gr/2016/04/pablo-neruda-ode-to-lenin.html

 

I

Lenin, to sing to you

I must say farewell to words:

I must write with trees, with wheels,

with plows, with cereals.

You’re concrete

as facts and earth.

There never was

a more earthly man

than V. Ulyanov.

There are other imposing men

who like churches are used to

conversing with the clouds,

they are tall, solitary men.

Lenin made a pact with the earth.

He came from farther away than anyone,

People,

rivers, hills,

steppes,

were an open book,

and he read,

read farther than anyone,

clearer than anyone.

He looked deeply

into the people,

admired them like a well,

examined them as

they were an unknown mineral

he had discovered.

Water needed to be taken from the well,

the dynamic light needed to be elevated,

the secret treasure

of the people,

so everything germinated and hatched

to be worthy of time and earth.

 

II

Beware of confusing him with a frigid

engineer,

beware of confusing him with an

ardent mystic.

His intelligence blazed without

becoming ashes,

death has yet to freeze his heart of fire.

 

III

I like seeing Lenin fishing in the

clearness

of Lake Lakhta, and those waters are

like a small mirror lost amid the grass

of the vast, cold, organized north:

those solitudes, disdainful solitudes,

processing plants martyred by night

and snow,

the arctic whistle of the wind in its

cabin.

I like seeing him there alone listening

to the rain shower, the trembling flight

of turtledoves,

the intense pulsation of the pristine

forest,

Lenin attentive to the forest and life,

listening to the wind’s steps and to

history

in the solemnity of nature.

 

IV

Some men were only good for studying,

deep book, passionate science,

and other men had

as their virtue the soul of the movement.

Lenin had two wings:

wisdom and the movement.

He created by means of thought,

deciphered enigmas,

went on breaking the masks

of truth and man

and was everywhere,

was simultaneously in all places.

 

IX

Thank you, Lenin,

for the energy and the teachings,

thank you for the firmness,

thank you for the Leningrad and the steppes.

Thank you, Lenin,

for the hope.

Response to recent articles by CPUSA leadership

By James Thompson

The USA is in a highly unusual period. There is a global economic crisis which reaches from Asia to the Middle East to Africa to Europe to South America and North America. No capitalist country is immune to this looming disaster. Oil prices are down, inventories are up, sales are down, stockmarkets are down, interest rates are in purgatory, profits are down, unemployment is up and, understandably, the working class is angry.

At the same time, there is no organized communist or socialist movement on the globe. Historically, communist parties around the globe have fought for the interests of the working class. However, at this juncture, no such party or movement is effective or even exists. To some, it might seem that after years of repression, wars and rumors of wars, the working class has capitulated since the bourgeoisie has the workers on their knees.

The CPUSA has distinguished itself by becoming the vanguard party of the bourgeoisie. The so-called leadership of the CPUSA has recently posted a number of articles which are blatantly anti-Communist and anti-socialist. Let’s take a look.

Susan Webb

The first article appeared on January 4, 2016 to welcome in the New Year. It was posted on the People’s World website since the CPUSA no longer has a printed newspaper. It has been reproduced on this blog in an effort to promote public discussion. It was written by Susan Webb who is the ex-wife of former CPUSA chairman, Sam Webb. Sam Webb and his new partner, Elena Mora, have been slowly, meticulously and surely dismantling and liquidating the CPUSA. Ms. Mora recently wrote a letter of resignation from the CPUSA. Susan Webb has been standing by her man (even though he is no longer her man) and at times seems to be attempting to outdo Mr. Webb and Ms. Mora in their efforts to destroy the party. Susan Webb’s article is entitled “Everyone’s talking about socialism, but what is it?”

Ms. Webb’s article sings the praises of Bernie Sanders while condemning the great socialist experiment which was called the Soviet Union. Ms. Webb attempts to outdo the apologists for capitalism by condemning anything which might be considered socialist. She even condemns what she calls “cheesy socialist realism paintings.” In doing so, she condemns the likes of Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, Charles White and John Biggers. These artists painted some of the greatest murals in the world. A recent article in the Houston Chronicle puts a value on one of John Biggers’ murals at over $1 million.

Ms. Webb quotes Bernie Sanders as he praises Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Pope Francis. In a speech that, according to Ms. Webb, Sen. Sanders delivered at Georgetown University, he stated, “Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the 1%.” He also said, according to Ms. Webb, “you cannot have freedom without economic security” and detailed this as “the right to a decent job at decent pay, the right to adequate food, clothing, and time off from work, the right for every business, large and small, to function in an atmosphere free from unfair competition and domination by monopolies. The right of all Americans to have a decent home and decent healthcare.”

Those of sound mind will quickly recognize here a mixture of fantasy and reality. In the USA, under capitalism, the government serves only one function: To protect the interests of the bourgeoisie. In the history of the USA, there has never been a period in which working people have had any economic security. Unemployment in the USA varies, but has always been high. Access to food, clothing, paid leave, freedom from unfair competition and the right to a decent home and decent healthcare has always been nonexistent.

The problem here is not to achieve a kinder, gentler capitalism. The problem is to chart a reasonable, feasible path of struggle to the goal of socialism. Reforming capitalism can never result in the goals that Ms. Webb and her idol, Bernie Sanders set. Exploitation, repression, wars, racism, sexism, unemployment and other forms of hatred and abuse are inherent in any capitalist society.

Ms. Webb attempts to reduce socialism to co-ops, privately owned companies, individually owned businesses and sets tactics to achieve these goals to include worker decision-making, expanding town halls, implementing proportional representation, taking money out of political campaigns and making voting easy.

Such simplification is merely obfuscation of the main strategic goal of any Communist Party which is to bring about socialism.

Ms. Webb, in her article, returns to a maniacal rant against the Soviet Union. Interestingly, all of her criticisms of socialism and the Soviet Union are based on US propaganda. Her criticisms could have been written by Joseph McCarthy or J Edgar Hoover. She even goes so far as to say that the Soviet Union was not “socialist.” This may be an historical first.

She throws out red flags, Che and Lenin with the bathwater. She does not condemn Democratic Party president Harry Truman for the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and betraying the US ally, the Soviet Union, after their great contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany. After FDR’s death, Truman changed the course of US foreign policy which resulted in a very expensive Cold War and nuclear arms race which drained the resources of the working class and did irreparable damage to the planet. She did not condemn Democratic Party governor George Wallace for his virulent racism. She did not condemn the nasty, degenerate, vicious Dixiecrats.

You get the picture. Ms. Webb’s article is filled with filthy, destructive anti-communism which has always been a knife in the heart of the working class.

Let’s look at how Ms. Webb’s article measures up to Lenin’s 21 conditions (previously posted on this blog).

Lenin maintained that the political work of the party should have a “really communist character” and should be devoted to the cause of the proletariat. He stated “in the columns of the press, at public meetings, in the trades unions, and the cooperatives-wherever the members of the Communist International can gain admittance-it is necessary to brand not only the bourgeoisie but also its helpers, the reformists of every shade, systematically and pitilessly.” Ms. Webb obviously violates this condition. She seems to want to do away with the CPUSA and instead support a progressive candidate of the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders apparently wants to reform capitalism to make it more comfortable for some sectors of the population in the USA. This is not a bad thing, but it is hardly the only thing that needs to be done. No one knows whether Sen. Sanders has any chance of attaining state power, and if he does, whether he will use that power in the interest of the working class. He is certainly not a communist or socialist.

Lenin goes on “Every organization that wishes to affiliate to the Communist International must regularly and methodically remove reformists and centrists from every responsible post in the labor movement (party organizations, editorial boards, trades unions, parliamentary factions, cooperatives, local government) and replace them with tested communists, without worrying unduly about the fact that, particularly at first, ordinary workers from the masses will be replacing “experienced opportunists.”

Ms. Webb advocates elevating a reformist, centrist opportunist, Bernie Sanders, to the highest office of the land.

Lenin discusses the class struggle but Ms. Webb seems to think that the class struggle is irrelevant to working people.

Lenin discusses the role of the Communist Party in working to prevent new imperialist wars. Apparently, Ms. Webb must believe that imperialism is also irrelevant.

Lenin advocates the elimination of petty bourgeois elements within the party. Ms. Webb embraces not only petty bourgeois, but fully bourgeois elements.

Lenin clearly states “all those parties that wish to belong to the Communist International must change their names. Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International must bear the name Communist Party of this or that country.” He goes on “The Communist international has declared war on the whole bourgeois world and on all yellow social Democratic parties. The difference between the Communist Parties and the old official ‘social Democratic’ or ‘socialist’ parties that have betrayed the banner of the working class must be clear to every simple toiler.” Again, Ms. Webb extols the virtues of the social Democrats while damning socialists and communists.

Lenin wrote “those party members who fundamentally reject the conditions and theses laid down by the Communist International are to be expelled from the party. Ms. Webb and her partners in crime, Mr. Webb, Ms. Mora and Mr. Bachtell have worked diligently to expel any members of the party who have expressed opposition to collaboration with the social Democrats.

Sam Webb

On January 29, 2016, Sam Webb, former chairman of the CPUSA, and his hand-picked puppet, John Bachtell, the current chairman of the CPUSA, launched two articles simultaneously. These articles have been reproduced on this blog in their entirety in an effort to promote public discussion. Webb’s article is entitled “Bernie or Bust.” As background information, it is important to know that Mr. Webb has advocated publicly abandoning the use of the words “œcommunist” or “Leninist.”

The thrust of his article is to maintain that the only viable strategy of people on the left is to fight the ultra right. His concept of the ultra right equates to members of the Republican Party. He maintains that if Sen. Bernie Sanders does not prevail in his effort to be the Democratic Party nominee for president, people on the left, particularly communists, should fall in lockstep with Hillary Clinton or anyone else that the DNC chooses to anoint. Presumably, if the DNC could resurrect George Wallace and nominate him for president, by Webb’s reckoning, communists should throw all their support behind him.

Webb argues that Hillary Clinton is a far superior candidate than any of the Republican contenders. He allows that Clinton’s foreign policy would most likely be “more aggressive and military-inclined then Obam’s.”

Mr. Webb’s convoluted, contradictory thinking is exemplified in this paragraph: “In sharp contrast to her Republican adversaries, Hillary has a democratic sensibility and the commitment, even if hemmed in by her centrist politics and class leanings. She may not want to break up banks too big to fail, or rein in US military presence and activity worldwide, or embrace single-payer health care (arguably for good reasons), but she will fight for the full range of democratic rights-collective bargaining rights, wage rights, job rights, women’s rights, civil rights, gay rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, and, not least, health rights-as well as defend the integrity of democratic structures, governance, and traditions.”

Que contrar, Mr. Webb. It is well known that the Clintons have fought the unions, failed to support the employee free choice act, and as you have cited, opposed single-payer health care. However, even if a hypothetical President Clinton II took office, if she led the USA in further and more intense military provocation of Russia, and China, all humans on the planet could be transformed into cockroach food. As Pete Seeger sang “we can all be cremated equally.” After mass cremation, all of the above reforms become moot issues.

Mr. Webb does not seem to recall that former Secretary of State Clinton committed international war crimes when she presided over the destruction of a sovereign state, Libya, and the barbarous assassination of its leader, Moammar Qaddafi. He doesn’t seem to recall that Hillary Clinton’s husband, former Pres. Bill Clinton (who would return to the White House if his wife is elected president) presided over the destruction of the sovereign state of Yugoslavia and the persecution of its leaders. He does not recognize that this set the stage for George W. Bush to preside over the destruction of the sovereign nation of Iraq and the barbarous assassination of its leader, Saddam Hussein.

He only recognizes the extreme right elements within the Republican Party. He turns blind eyes and ears to the extreme right elements within the Democratic Party.

Again, Mr. Webb, like Ms. Webb, violates Lenin’s conditions by denigrating the Communist Party and touting Social Democrats and reformists while working tirelessly to liquidate the CPUSA. One of the tactics Mr. Webb has employed was to elevate his favorite henchman, John Bachtell, to the position of chairman of the CPUSA.

John Bachtell

It is no coincidence that Mr. Bachtell posted his article “Taking a sober look at the 2016 election” on the CPUSA website on the same day that Mr. Webb posted his article on his own personal blog. Both articles make reference to “Bernie or Bust.”

Mr. Bachtell apes the Webb line of “defeat the extreme right” which translates into support for the Democratic Party candidates, no matter how reactionary they may be. Much of the article is extremely poorly written with grammatical errors that would make anyone blush. His sentences don’t have any logical cohesion. They are presented in a staccato fashion which is highly confusing and raises party obfuscation to a new level.

Bachtell writes “We have to continue to emphasize the issues, promoting the best of both Sanders and Clinton, especially the most advanced positions. For example, there is growing discussion among the candidates about a financial transaction tax on Wall Street.” Bachtell does not seem to think that the class struggle is an issue worth discussing. Imperialism, socialism, and/or Leninism are not on the table for discussion either. However, the class struggle, and imperialism/fascism are the evils which plague the working class. Marxism Leninism and socialism are the tools which historically have been most effective in fighting the evils mentioned above.

Bachtell fecklessly quotes the New York Times and other sources of the bourgeois media and continues to confuse these voices of the bourgeoisie with the voices of the working people.

Bachtell talks about building a grand coalition to defeat the ultra right. Unfortunately, his predecessor, Sam Webb, has been very successful in dismantling and almost liquidating the party. It would be interesting to know what the party has done over the last 10 years to build any coalitions. The only coalitions that the party seems capable of building is a convergence of various sources of hot air. They also have been successful in infusing reality with a heavy dose of fantasy about their own importance.

Again, Bachtell follows in Webb’s footsteps and violates Lenin’s conditions in all regards.

On this eve of the Iowa primary and caucuses, is there any hope that the working class will inch towards the achievement of state power in the coming election cycle in the USA? Lenin said bourgeois elections do not solve anything. The great CPUSA chairperson, Gus Hall, urged communists that choose to engage in electoral struggle to “Aim to win.” When he said that, the CPUSA fielded candidates for various electoral offices around the country with little success. It is likely that he would be horrified at the state of the CPUSA today. Communists and socialists have been reduced to the position of deluding themselves into thinking that if a Democrat wins office, it is a victory for the working class. On the contrary, some might argue that support of bourgeois candidates is “Aiming to lose.”

The choices we must make are disgusting at best. It is like being forced to make a decision whether to drink poison and die or drink castor oil and get sick. The reality is that it is better to get sick and recover rather than to die and be gone forever.

Mr. Bachtell and Mr. Webb seem to think that there is no danger of fascism in the USA. Some might argue that it is already here. Much of Pres. Obama’s foreign policy might be characterized as fascist. His failure to support working people on many levels is not antithetical to fascism. The same can be said of both Sen. Sanders’ and former Secretary of State Clinton’s platforms. Sen. Sanders is clearly more progressive on more issues than former Secretary of State Clinton.

Will working people decide to drink castor oil or drain the poison? We will know more tomorrow. For sure, the class struggle will be very intense in the coming years.

V.I. Lenin

SPEECHES ON GRAMOPHONE RECORDS

1919-1921

 

 

THE THIRD, COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL

In March of this year of 1919, an international congress of Communists was held in Moscow. This Congress founded the Third, Communist International, an association of the workers of the whole world who are striving to establish Soviet power in all countries.

The First International, founded by Marx, existed from 1864 to 1872. The defeat of the heroic workers of Paris-of the celebrated Paris Commune-marked the end of this International. It is unforgettable, it will remain forever in the history of the workers’ struggle for their emancipation. It laid the foundation of that edifice of the world socialist republic which it is now our good fortune to be building.

The Second International existed from 1889 to 1914, up to the war. This was the period of the most calm and peaceful development of capitalism, a period without great revolutions. During this period the working-class movement gained strength, and matured, in a number of countries. But the workers’leaders in most of the parties had become accustomed to peaceful conditions and had lost the ability to wage a revolutionary struggle. When, in 1914, there began the war, that drenched the earth with blood for four years, the war between the capitalists over the division of profits, the war for supremacy over small and weak nations, these leaders deserted to the side of their respective governments. They betrayed the workers, they helped to prolong the slaughter, they became enemies of socialism, they went over to the side of the capitalists.

The masses of workers turned their backs on these traitors to socialism. All over the world there was a turn towards the revolutionary struggle. The war proved that capitalism was doomed. A new system is coming to take its place. The old word socialism has been desecrated by the traitors to socialism.

Today, the workers who have remained loyal to the cause of throwing off the yoke of capital call themselves Communists. all over the world the association of Communists is growing. In a number of countries Soviet power has already triumphed. Soon we shall see the victory of communism throughout the world; we shall see the foundation of the World Federative Republic of Soviets.

AN APPEAL TO THE RED ARMY

 

Comrades, red Army men! The capitalists of Britain, America and France are waging war against Russia. They are taking revenge on the Soviet workers’and peasants’Republic for having overthrown the power of the landowners and capitalists and thereby set an example to all the nations of the globe. The capitalists of Britain, France and America are helping with money and munitions the Russian landowners who are bringing troops from Siberia, the Don and North Caucasus against Soviet power, for the purpose of restoring the rule of the Tsar and the power of the landowners and capitalists. But this will not happen. The Red Army has closed its ranks, has risen up and driven the landowners’ troops and whiteguard officers from the Volga, has recaptured Riga and almost the whole of the Ukraine, and is marching towards Odessa and Rostov. A little more effort, a few more months of fighting the enemy, and victory will be ours. The Red Army is strong because it is consciously and unitedly marching into battle for the peasants’land, for the rule of the workers and peasants, for Soviet power.

The Red Army is invincible because it has united millions of working peasants with the workers who have now learned to fight, have acquired comradely discipline, who do not lose heart, who become steeled after slight reverses, and are more and more boldly marching against the enemy, convinced he will soon be defeated.

Comrades, Red Army men! The alliance of the workers and peasants of the Red Army is firm, close and insoluble. The kulaks, the very rich peasants, are trying to foment revolts against Soviet power, but they constitute an insignificant minority. They rarely succeed in fooling the peasants, and then not for long. The peasants know that only in alliance with the workers can they vanquish the landowners. Sometimes, in the rural districts people call themselves Communists who are actually the worst enemies of the working people, bullies who hang on to the authorities in pursuit of their own selfish aims, and to resort to deception, commit acts of injustice and wrong the middle peasant. The workers’ and peasants’ government has firmly decided to fight against these people and clear them out of the countryside. The middle peasants are not inmates but friends of the workers, friends of Soviet power. The class conscious workers and genuine Soviet people treat the middle peasants as comrades. The middle peasants do not exploit the labor of others, they do not grow rich at other people’s expense, as the kulaks do; the middle peasants work themselves, they live by their own labor. The Soviet government will crush the kulaks, well, out of the villages those who treat the middle peasants unjustly and, come what may, will pursue the policy of alliance between the workers and all the working peasants-both poor and middle peasants.

This alliance is growing all over the world. The revolution is drawing nigh, it is everywhere maturing. A few days ago it was victorious in Hungary. In Hungary, Soviet power, workers’ government, has been established. This is what all nations will inevitably do.

Comrades, Red Army men! Be staunch, firm and united. March boldly forward against the enemy. Victory will be ours. The power of the landowners and the capitalists, broken in Russia, will be defeated throughout the world.

IN MEMORY OF COMRADE YAKOV MIKHAILOVICH SVERDLOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE ALL RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

All those who have worked day after day with Comrade Sverdlov, now realize full well that it was his exceptional organizing talent which insured for us that of which we have been so proud, and justly proud. He made it possible for us to carry on United, efficient, organized activities worthy of all the organized proletarian masses, without which we could not have achieved success, and which answered fully the requirements of the proletarian revolution. The memory of Comrade Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov will serve not only as a symbol of the revolutionary’s devotion to his cause, not only as the model of how to combine a practical, sober mind, practical ability, the closest contact with the masses and ability to guide then, but also a pledge that ever-growing masses of proletarians will march forward to the complete victory of the communist revolution.

COMMUNICATIONS ON THE WIRELESS NEGOTIATIONS WITH BÉLA KUN

 

I knew Comrade Béla Kun very well when he was still a prisoner of war in Russia; and he visited me many times to discuss communism and the communist revolution. Therefore, when news of the Hungarian Communist revolution was received, and in a communication signed by Comrade Béla Kun at that, we wanted to speak to him and ascertain exactly how the revolution stood. The first communication we received about it gave us some grounds for fearing that, perhaps, the so-called socialists, traitor-socialists, had resorted to some deception, had got round the Communists, the more so that the latter were in prison. And so, the day after the first communication about the Hungarian revolution was received, I sent a wireless message to Budapest, asking Béla Kun to come to the apparatus, and I put a number of questions to him of such a nature as to enable me to make sure that it was really he who was speaking. I asked him what real guarantees there were for the character of the government and for its actual policy. Comrade Béla Kun’s reply was quite satisfactory and dispels all our doubts. It appears that the Left Socialists had visited Béla Kun in prison to consult him about forming a government. And it was only these Left Socialists, who sympathized with the Communists, and also people from the Centre who form the new government, while the Right Socialists, the traitor-socialists, the irreconcilables and incorrigibles, so to speak, left the Party, and not a single worker followed them. Later communication showed that the policy of the Hungarian Government was most firm and so Communist and trend that while we began with workers’ control of industry and only gradually began to socialize industry, Béla Kun, with his prestige, his conviction that he was backed by vast masses, could at once pass a law which converted all the industrial undertakings in Hungary that were run on capitalist lines into public property. Two days later we became fully convinced that the Hungarian revolution had at once, with extraordinary rapidity, taken the communist road. The bourgeoisie voluntarily surrendered power to the Communists of Hungary. The bourgeoisie demonstrated to the whole world that when a grave crisis supervenes, when the nation is in danger, the bourgeoisie is unable to govern. And there is only one government that is really a popular government, a government that is really beloved of the people-the government of the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’and Peasants’ Deputies.

Long live Soviet power in Hungary!

THE MIDDLE PEASANTS

 

The most important question now confronting the Communist Party, the question on which most attention was concentrated at the last Party Congress, is that of the middle peasants.

 

Naturally, the first question usually asked is, what is a middle peasant?

Naturally, Party comrades have often related how they have been asked this question in the villages. The middle peasant, we say in reply, is a peasant who does not exploit the labor of others, who does not live on the labor of others, who does not take the fruits of other people’s labor in any shape or form, but works himself, and lives by his own labor.

Under capitalism there were fewer peasants of this type then there are now, because the majority of the peasants were in the ranks of the impoverished, and only an insignificant majority, then, as now, were in the ranks of the kulaks, the exploiters, the rich peasants.

The middle peasants have been increasing in number since the private ownership of land was abolished, and the Soviet government has firmly resolved, at all costs, to establish relations of complete peace and harmony with them. It goes without saying that the middle peasant cannot immediately accept socialism, because he clings firmly to what he is accustomed to, he is cautious about all innovations, subjects what he is offered to a factual, practical test and does not decide to change his way of life until he is convinced that change is necessary.

It is precisely for this reason that we must know, remember, and put into practice the rule that when Communist workers go into rural districts they must try to establish comradely relations with the middle peasants, it is their duty to establish these comradely relations with them; they must remember that working peasants who do not exploit the labor of others are the comrades of the urban workers and that we can, and must, establish with them a voluntary alliance inspired by sincerity and confidence. Every measure proposed by the communist government must be regarded merely as advice, as a suggestion to the middle peasants, as an invitation to them to accept the new order.

Only by cooperation in the work of testing these measures in practice, finding out in what way they are mistaken, eliminating possible errors and achieving agreement with the middle peasant-only by such cooperation can the alliance between the workers and the peasants be insured. This alliance is the main strength and the bulwark of Soviet power; this alliance is a pledge that socialist transformation will be successful, victory over capital will be achieved and exploitation, and all its forms, will be abolished.

WHAT IS SOVIET POWER?

 

What is Soviet power? What is the essence of this new power, which people in most countries still will not, or cannot, understand? The nature of this power, which is attracting larger and larger numbers of workers in every country, is the following: in the past the country was, in one way or another, governed by the rich, or by the capitalists, but now, for the first time, the country is being governed by the classes, which capitalism formerly oppressed. Even in the most democratic and freest republics, as long as capital rules and the land remains private property, the government will always be in the hands of a small minority, nine-tenths of which consist of capitalists, or rich men.

In this country, in Russia, for the first time in the world history, the government of the country is so organized that only the workers and the working peasants, to the exclusion of the exploiters, constitute these mass organizations known as Soviets, and these Soviets wield all state power. That is why, in spite of the slander that the representatives of the bourgeoisie in all countries spread about Russia, the word “Soviet” has now become not only intelligible but popular all over the world, has become the favorite word of the workers, and of all working people. And that is why, notwithstanding all the persecution to which the adherents of communism in the different countries are subjected, Soviet power must necessarily, inevitably, and in the not too distant future, triumph over the world.

We know very well that there are still many defects in the organization of Soviet power in this country. Soviet power is not a miracle working talisman. It does not, overnight, heal all the evils of the past-illiteracy, lack of culture, the consequences of a barbarous war, the aftermath of predatory capitalism. But it does pave the way to socialism. It gives those who were formerly oppressed the chance to straighten their backs and to an ever-increasing degree to take the whole government of the country, the whole administration of the economy, the whole management of production, into their own hands.

Soviet power is the road to socialism that was discovered by the masses of the working people, and that is why it is the true road, that is why it is invincible.

HOW THE WORKING PEOPLE CAN BE SAVED FROM THE OPPRESSION OF THE LANDOWNERS AND CAPITALISTS FOREVER

 

The enemies of the working people, the landowners and capitalists say that the workers and peasants cannot live without them. “If it were not for us,” they say, there would be nobody to maintain order, to give out work, and to compel people to work. If it were not for us everything would collapse, and the state would fall to pieces. We have been driven away, but Cass will bring us back again.” But this sort of taught by the landowners and capitalists will not confuse, intimidate, or deceive the workers and peasants. An army needs the strictest discipline; nevertheless the class conscious workers succeeded in uniting the peasants, succeeded in taking the old Tsarist officers into their service, succeeded in building a victorious army.

The red Army established unprecedentedly firm discipline-not by means of the lash, but based on the intelligence, loyalty and devotion of the workers and peasants themselves.

And so, to say the working people from the yoke of the landowners and capitalists forever, to save them from the restoration of their power, it is necessary to build up a great Red Army of Labor. That army will be invincible if it is cemented by labor discipline. The workers and peasants must, and well, prove that they can properly distribute labor, establish devoted discipline and ensure loyalty in working for the common good, and can do it themselves, without the landowners and in spite of them, without the capitalists and in spite of them.

Labor discipline, enthusiasm for work, readiness for self-sacrifice, close alliance between the peasants and the workers-this is what will say the working people from the oppression of the landowners and capitalists forever.

WORK FOR THE RAILWAYS

 

Comrades, the great victories of the Red Army have delivered us from the onslaught of Kolchak and Yudenich and have almost put an end to Denikin.

The troops of the landowners and capitalists who wanted, with the aid of the capitalists of the whole world, to reestablish their rule and Russia have been routed.

The imperialist war and then the war against counterrevolution, however, have laid waste to and ruined, the entire country.

We must bend all efforts to conquer the chaos, to restore industry and agriculture, and to give the peasants the goods they need in exchange for grain.

Now that we have defeated the landowners and liberated Siberia, the Ukraine, and the North Caucasus, we have every opportunity of restoring the country’s economy.

We have a lot of grain, and we now have coal and oil. We are being held up by transport. The railways are out of action. Transport must be rehabilitated. Then we can bring grain, coal and oil to the factories, then we can deliver salt, then we shall begin to restore industry and put an end to the hunger of the factory and railway workers.

Let all workers and peasants set about rehabilitating the railways, let them set about the work with persistence and enthusiasm.

All the work necessary for the restoration of transport must be carried out with the greatest zeal, with revolutionary fervor, with unreserved loyalty.

We have been victorious on the front of the bloody war.

We shall be victorious on the bloodless front, on the labor front.

All out for work to restore transport!

LABOR DISCIPLINE

 

Why was it we defeated Yudenich, Kolchak and Denikin although the capitalists of all the world help them?

 

Why are we confident that we shall now defeat the economic chaos and rehabilitate industry and agriculture?

We overthrow the landowners and capitalists because the men of the Red Army, workers and peasants, knew they were fighting for their own vital interests.

We won because the best people from the entire working class and from the entire peasantry displayed unparalleled heroism in the war against the exploiters, performed miracles of valor, withstood untold privations, made great sacrifices and got rid of scroungers and cowards.

We are now confident that we shall conquer the chaos because the best people from the entire working class and from the entire peasantry are joining the struggle with the same political consciousness, the same firmness and the same heroism.

When millions of working people unite as one and follow the best people from their class, victory is assured.

We drove the scroungers out of the Army. And now we say, “Down with the scroungers, down with those who think of their own advantage, of speculation and of shirking work, those who are afraid of the sacrifices necessary for victory!”

Long live labor discipline, zeal and work and loyalty to the cause of the workers and peasants!

Eternal glory to those who died in the front ranks of the Red Army!

Eternal glory to those who are now leading millions of working people and who, with the greatest zeal, March in the front ranks of the army of labor!

NON-PARTY PEOPLE AND THE SOVIETS (Comrade Lenin Speaks)

 

Workers and peasants, provide us with nonparty people of integrity, devoted to Soviet Power, for the purpose of governing the country and improving the economy. The Soviet stand in need of honest and devoted non-Party people, since there are not enough Party members. Among non-Party workers and peasants there are very, very many who are marked by integrity and the capacity to conduct matters of government and the running of the economy. For instance, they can get handicrafts enterprises and cooperatives going, help distribute foodstuffs fairly, improve matters with catering facilities, housing, the feeding of children, and so on and so forth.

In every gubernia, there are thousands upon thousands of non-Party workers and peasants who are not hit involved in matters of government and the rehabilitation of the economy. It is the bounden duty of Party and Government functionaries to find such people, give them promotion and work to do, verify their abilities, and enable them to develop and show their worth.

We have nothing to fear from the eight given by non-Party workers and peasants; on the contrary, it is necessary and desirable. We should beware only of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, who are nowadays fond of calling themselves non-Party people, while in fact carrying on their treacherous work for the benefit of the whiteguards and the landowners. It was with good reason that all the whiteguards and landowners Payson to give help to the Kronstadt mutiny. Such disguised non-Party people should be exposed and arrested, while honest non-Party workers and peasants should be drawn into our work in every possible way.

CONSUMERS’ AND PRODUCERS’ COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES

 

Consumers’ cooperative societies are associations of workers and peasants for the purpose of supplying and distributing the goods they need. Producers’cooperative societies are associations of small farmers or artisans for the purpose of producing and marketing products, whether agricultural (such as vegetables, dairy products and the light) or nonagricultural (all sorts of manufactured goods, woodwork, ironware, leather goods, and so forth).

The substitution of the tax in kind, for the surplus appropriation system, will give the peasants grain surpluses which they will freely exchange for all sorts of manufactured goods.

Producers’cooperatives will help to develop small industry, which will supply the peasants with greater quantities of necessary goods. Most of these do not have to be transported by rail over long distances and do not need large factories for their manufacture. Everything must be done to foster and develop producers’cooperatives, and it is the duty of Party and Soviet workers to render them every assistance, for this will give the peasants immediate relief and improve their condition. At the present time, the revival and restoration of the national economy of the workers’ and peasants’state depends most of all on the improvement of peasant life and farming.

There must also be support and development of consumers’cooperative societies, for they will ensure swift, regular and low-cost distribution of products. It remains for the Soviet authorities to supervise the activity of the cooperative societies to see that there are no fraudulent practices, no concealment from the government, no abuses. In no circumstances should they hamper the cooperative societies but should help and promote them in every way.

ON THE TAX IN KIND AND THE FREE EXCHANGE OF SURPLUS GRAIN (Comrade Lenin Speaks)

 

Comrades, as a result of the substitution of the tax in kind for the surplus appropriation system, the peasants should, given a medium harvest, have hundreds of millions of poods of surplus grain left. The law entitles the peasants to make use of that surplus quite freely, at their own wishes, to improve their food, supply their livestock with fodder, and exchange it for industrial products. The free exchange of surplus grain for industrial products will make the peasants more interested in bettering their farming, and will make it easier to do so through the development of all kinds of industries that will turn out products necessary to the peasants. It would be best of all, if it proved possible, to rapidly and fully restore the big factories, as well as railway and water transport. That would enable the peasants to be rapidly, and cheaply, supplied with many of the necessary products of industry, such as salt, kerosene, textiles, footwear, agricultural implements, and fertilizers. But big supplies of both fuel and food are needed in the cities for the rapid rehabilitation of large-scale industry. Yet we are unable to rapidly collect and deliver such supplies. That is why, together with the work of gathering and delivering these supplies, what should at once be started on developing and encouraging small-scale industry in every possible way. It can and should insure for the peasants and immediate improvement in his life, and his farming, without big State expenditures of stocks of raw materials, fuel and foodstuffs. So let all Party  and Government functionaries thoroughly understand and conscientiously perform their duty in encouraging and developing, in every possible way, small-scale industry, which is of such benefit to peasant farming.