The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 11, 1924, Page 8

- The Rock-Botten Foundation (The Russian Working Class and It: N May 1, 1924, the number of Russian adult Communists was 680 thousand. The number of young Communists, between the ages of 18 and 25, was 570 thousand. The army of Russian Communists thus counted one and a quarter million, Since then the number has grown. The total membership of the Rus- sian labor unions is five million, em- bracing all persons engaged in a use- ful occupation. If we were to dis- count a million and a half office work- ers employed in the state machinery and co-operative organizations, most of whom are no less devoted to the new order than many other groups of workers, there would remain three million and a half proletarians en- gaged in factories, mines, mills, in the transportation system, partly in the forests, partly as hired laborers on the land. Those five million organized men and women, especially the three and a half million manual workers, form the foundation of the new order. Theone and a quarter million Communists is the cement that keeps them to- gether. Communism is the motive power that lends their work both aim and direction. “Masters” and “Slaves”? It is quite obvious at a glance that there can be no “domination” of the working class by the Communist “rul- ers” as the social patriotic liars would have us believe. “Domination” im- plies a small group commanding large masses. There can be no domination of one and g quarter million over five million people. Where each third or fourth member of the working class is a Communist, the Communists merge in the masses, especially under condi- tions where each proletarian can join the party any minute and thus become a “ruler.” The doors of the party open with great difficulty before an in- tellectual, a son of the bourgeoisie. But the doors of the party are wide “open before a worker, a proletarian of the factories and mills. Each one is free to become one of the chosen. Each one may do the work of admin- istration. No Definite Line Between the Party and the Working Class. The truth is that it is almost impos- sible to draw a line between the Com- munists and the rest of the workers. The working class is animated by the same ideas as the Communists. The workfng class lends a sympathetic and attentive ear to the advice of the Com- munists. Among the so-called non- partisan workers there are many who understand their revolution and class interests no less clearly than the Com- munists. If numbers of workers do not belong to the Communist party this is due to causes that have nothing to do with conviction: some are in bad health, others are overbusy, still others are not possessed of requisite abilities, some, recently arrived from the countryside, have not yet suffici- ently adapted themselves to urban life, others are handicapped by family con- ditions, still others think that the in- terests of the workers will be suffici- ently guarded even without their par- ticipation. It is not easy to be a Com- munist. Communist duties are severe. Communist activities are varied. The Communist party gets hold of all of @ man’s time, all his abilities, all his attention, all his strength, health; life. Not everyone can, therefore, become a member of the Communist party, The workers themselves distinguish as to who should and who should not be a member of the Communist party. In the practical day-by-day work, how- ever, it is impossible to find the line where the Communist party ends and the working class at large begins. The sessions of the Communist shop nucleus (local group) are being at- tended not only by Communists but by non-partisan workers as well, The discussions of the nucleus. are being ————— ee: participated in by all present, Com- munists and non-Communists alike. Meetings called by the nucleus are being frequented by all the workers of the plant. The life of the Com- munist party is of absorbing ihterest to large masses of workers. When- ever the party calls, whenever a dem- onstration of readiness to fight or ac- tual sacrifices are required, the bulk of the working class responds, Proletarian Dictatorship. This major part of the working class is the rock-bottom foundation of the Soviet Republic. This mass of workers is carrying thru the proletar- ian dictatorship. The white guards with their social- ist satellites would make the world believe that the Russian worker is a boob, a stupid beast of burden, a stunned, ignorant creature on whose back the Zinovievs and Kamenevs do their roughriding, hammering its head with the mallet of dictatorial power. The white guards with their socialist Abramovitch crew appeal to world capitalism to free the Russian working class from the Communist bandits. The fact is that the white guards would have long been victori- ous if the Russian working class were the dupe they depict it. Proletarian dictatorship would not last a day if the rank and file workers of the Soviet Republic would not understand the meaning and the significance of the proletarian revolution, if they would not see the road that leads to a bright future. The rank and file workers of the Soviet Republic understand a lot more than all the professional “friends of labor,” all “radical” bourgeois edi- tors and even those honest philan- thropists who deplore the “lamentable fate” of the Russian workers. The rank and file worker is fully alive to the fact that he has made a revolu- tion, that it has been a victorious revolution, that the revolution broke the backbone of capitalism, that he has seized the entire economic appara- tus so that enuf may be produced for the welfare of all, and that only this road will lead him to ultimate libera- tion, The rank and file worker is no an- gelic creature, no bloodless dreamer. The rank and file worker is a human being with all human weaknesses and passions. He would certainly like to lead a peaceful, comfortable existence. He understands no less than his so- cialist, well-wishers that clean clothes and large rooms are preferred to rags and crammed quarters. But he un- derstands also that were he to follow the lead of the menshevik counter- revolutionaries he would not only have no hope of clean clothes and de- cent quarters, but he would be merci- lessly shackled by the bourgeois, his lifeblood would be so thoroly squeez- ed out of his body that the very idea of a secure future for him and his kind would appear utterly preposter- ous. Down with the Capitalists! The rank and file Russian worker does not want the capitalists. He has driven them out of his land, and he will never permit them to get into power. In times of stress, under the pressure of a severe economic crisis, the private trader was in 1921 allowed to do business. The nepman came into being. But he is looked upon by the worker as a temporary evil. The Russian worker has not admitted the nepman either into the big industrial establishments, nor into the mines, nor into the oil fields, nor into the rail- road business, nor into the business of foreign trade. The Russian worker tolerates the private businessman in the retail more than in the wholesale trade because the state economic ap- paratus has not yet created the agen- cies that are necessary to reach the mass consumers especially in the vil- lage. The rights of the Hepman, how- ever, are not allowed to be extended.Ja speech before an assemblage of If the last congress of the Russian Communist party decided to start a struggle of competition against the nepman, this was in accord with the wish of the working class. If the nep- man’s freedom of movement will fur- fer be restricted in the not far fu- ture, so will be the command of the working @lass. The rank and file Rus- sian worker wants no bosses, no busi- nessmen, no fat paunches, no indiyidu- als living on others’ work, on capital, on profits. : Slow Patient Work. é The rank and file Russian worker knows that one cannot get everything at once. The Russian worker is fully aware of the fact that the Russian factories are inferior in equipment to the factories of the capitalist coun- tries, that in point of technical‘ knowl- edge and efficiency the Russian work- er is far behind his Western brother, that there will.be much experiment- ing, much hard labor, much trying and blundering and correcting errors and starting anew before Russian indus- trial work reaches a high level, The Russian worker knows that his indus- trial apparatus is weak, undeveloped, unwieldy, absorbing over-much energy. But he knows also that it is his own apparatus, secured in fierce bloody battles after years of struggle. The Russian worker says to himself that a weak economic apparatus in the hands of the working class is better than a strong economic apparatus in the hands of the bourgeoisie. A weak eco- nomic apparatus can be improved, can be perfected, can be made to serve the best interests of the working class. A capitalist apparatus, however tech- nically efficient, is ever and ever a means of oppressing the working class. This elemental truth, which is Chinese to the average bourgeois economist, has become ingrained in the mind of the worker thru the very prac- tice of his daily life. Responsibility Before the Country. The rank and file Russian worker is conscious of his responsibility for both the political and economic ad- vance of the country. His behavior therefore, is that of a wise husband- man who will not consume all of a year’s crop, but leave a part for seeds, a part for the cultivation of new fields and a part for a rainy day. The Russian worker knows that it would not be economical to pay out to the workers in the form of wages all the wealth a gusesd their la- bor. The Russian working class is the supreme power, it can take as much as it pleases. It is aware, how- ever, that economy is imperative at present. Equipment is to be im- proved, capital is to be accumulated, productivity of labor is to be in- creased, the output of commodities is to be made to grow. The working class exploits itself in the present in order that its life may beasiertommor- row and ever after. The working class allots itself a smaller wage than the pre-war standard in order that it may be possible to improve and enlarge the factories, the mills, the — rail- roads, the entire economic life. If there are some workingmen who do not understand this economic fore sight and are therefore dissatisfied, the others bring them enlightenment. A work of education is being con- ducted among them so that they may realize that this policy is only con- ducted in their own class interests. And if the mensheviks attempt to uti- lize this ignorance of a small section of the workers to arouse them against the existing order, the work- ers will hit hard and without mercy. The rank and file Russian worker knows how to make sacrifices for his proletar order. A few days be- fore the nt writer departed from Moscow, _Kamenev, the economic spokesman of the R. C. P. delivered responsible ‘Communist workers... Re- viewing the economic situation, the speaker stressed the idea that in consequence of bad crops in a section of the Volga region and the additional burden thus put on the state budget, it was incumbent upon the workers to increase the productivity of labor: i, e. to work more intensively, to pro- duce more than they produced in a unit of time, which meant additional expenditure of energy on the part of the workers: Kamenev’s message -|was carried by the responsible com- munists all over Moscow factories and mills. Workmen’s meetings were called everywhere, facts and figures were put before the audiences, the entire mechanism of the economic life was laid bare; the situation of agriculture, the currency problem, the exchange of commodities between village and town, the role of cheap goods, the system of foreign trade. The demand of the hour was ex- plained to the workers in unequivo- cal language. What was their re- sponse? Did they revolt? Did they go on strike? Nonsense! There is nobody to revolt against, since the earriers of the message were them- selves in the main part manual workers, factory hands who were to be affected by an increase in the productivity of labor no less than their fellow workers. There is no sense in’striking since the workers know full well that the surplus cre- ated by increased productivity of their labor will not be appropriated by private owners but. will serve to satisfy the needs of the state. Five or six years ago the Russian’ worker shed his blood defending his proletarian revolution agaimst inner foes and world imperialism. Four years ago he ate dry bread and drank “carrot tea” without sugar in his stubborn fight for the October con- quests. Now his situation is incom- parably more advantageous: he has shaped his life more comfortably, he has removed the grossest manifesta- tions of poverty, he feeds and clothes himself more or less decently, the outlook is encouraging, .the future bodes well for the proletarian coun- try,—the more reason for the rank and file worker to stand ready to suf- fer temporary privation if such be the supreme command of the defense of proletarian power. The Workman and the Peasant. . The rank and file worker is draw- ing the poorer peasant into the work of building a new life. There is no basic contradiction between the in- terests of the workers and the inter- ests of the poorer peasants. It is good for the worker when the peas- ant produces more and better agricul- tural products, but this is also to the interest of the peasant. It is to the peasants’ benefit when the industrial establishments produce more and better manufactured goods to satisfy A. RYABOVA Delegate to the last Russian Party Congress. ‘jnomic forms. The By Mois: their wants, but the workers. E the peasants a lords, a class pletly wiped out capitalists who | both are against the rich peasant ership of the 1 The peasant ca the working clas not be opposed The. peasant ma his mind may cl conceptions, but him the - lesso: Central Executi , |drives him towards ¢ in common with other more advanced among have already engaged i new life. The ist an ants follow the fjead a class. The worlug a way. The working cla elsewhere, fulfilling its The working class he ants to overcome the ¢ production and to cre . helps the peasants i against the peasant e working tlass has int with the peasants in a ferent ways. The rep ers and peasants is no no ewphonic phrase. I reality, a Mving, work tween the worker and The peasant lends his | political activity of the because he realizes tl present order can ach mate liberation. Th many-sided aid rushed —— --