The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 7, 1925, Page 11

(Special Eighth Soviet: Ann ne Speech Delivered by Gregory Zinoylev tn Leningrad. F I were asked, what is the most important result that we have at- tained during the eight years since the Bolshevik revolution, in Novem- ber, 1917, I would reply: The most important thing is that today, all working men and women’ of the Nn- ion of Soviet Republics are support- ers of the revolution. We have followed the right path and if. we have not completely at- tained that. form of life which the working clags.must create, the fault is not.ours, If we still have difficulties, it is hecause we have years of severe fighting. behind us, during which the whole bourgeois world was proceeding against ys, General ‘Results of Eight Years. BHGIN ‘with the question of our home policy, I still have a vivid recollectfoh that on the eve of the revolutién ‘dne of the most powerful arguments against it was the theager bread ration’ in Petrograd, The town was only pfovisioned with bread for two days.” If the revolution is carried out, shid many, then tomorrow Petro: grad ‘(Leningrad) will be without bread; and the already existing starva- tion will be increased tenfold. I recollect that on the first anniver- sary of the revolution our speakers pictured the time when we would be able to revert to white bread. For years there was no more urgent and actual question for our city, and for all the workers of Russia, than the question of the bread ration. Now it’ no longer troubles us. There were times when the ques- tion of fuel was for us Ifterally a question of life and’ death, when eyerything hung by a hair, and when we had to send the best workers of Petrograd to the Donetz Basin in order that they might be able to ob- tain for us some meagre consign- ment of fuel. Later we were cut off from the Donetz Basin; Russia be- gan slowly to freeze before our eyes, one after another the factories closed down. Daily we received reports as to children frozen jn our children’s homes. ‘Nowhere was there a tay of hope of our ever: being able to es+ cape from our situation. A present we have. difficulties of quite a. different’ nature; we do not know where we shall dispose of our coal and our naphta, . The com- rades from Baku who yesterday brot us ‘50,000 rubles,-on behalf of the dis- tricts' damaged by inundation, related that the productivity, of),the naphta industry is steadily growing, but it is difficu]t to find markets for it. This, however, in my opinion, is only a temporary difficulty. You remember the fate of ‘our Sov- jet money. Recently many of us were millionaires, even milliardaires, as our salaries were réckonéd in‘hundreds of millions. But as millionaires we had a fairly hard time. We are no longer troubled with the question of stabiliz- ing out curreney. We have now a real geritine Soviet ney. Call to mind the turn of affairs in 1921:the transition ‘to’ the New Eco- nomic Policy, té ‘the so-called Nep. That was a time of great uncertainty. Many workers stood at the cross road and hesitated. It was not only the non-party workers who-vacillated, but many Communists too. It: must. now | be understood that by means of the Nep wed shall arrive-at socialism and the complete emancipation na the working class. Even a ‘superficial glance ak the events of the last seven years show us savage repression under which the peoples of the Moslem world are held in subjection to the great powers has lately been chal- lenged in Syria, This nation isa French mandate under the provis- ions of the treaty of Versailles, In- stead of treating it as a mandate, the French has literally enslaved the people of Syria. France, in a mili- tary alliance with Spain, already, had a colonial war on its hands in trying to subdue Abd-el-Krim in Morocco, The refusal of France to allow native representation in the government of Syria and its dis- patching an army corps there to wreak vengeance upon the inhabit- ants Yor daring to ask a vi that we have a considerable balance to our credit. Among the questions of oar inner political life there seems to rae to be two of very ‘great importance: Our Tasks in the Village, HE first question is the village, the peasants and our relations with them. The second is the raising of the product{vity of labor. The working class cannot: maintain power without the support of the peasantry. And it is not sufficient. when we speak of the alliance of the working class with the peasantry as being the most fundamental of all questions. The working class cannot raise the national economy, it cannot start with socialist construction, if we have no real union with the peasantry. The working class, as. the class which possesses power, must judge |/ the situation from- the standpoint of |) its rule. It: must continually keep in mind that if the many: . millions of peasants are not perfeotly clear as to what is’ taking place in the Soviet Union, we shall meet with innumer- able difficulties. x ‘We cannot stabilize qur budget, our economy, and the wages of the work- ers merely by what is being done in the towns. We must.always remem- ber that side by side with us there live millions of ‘peasants who carry on their undertakings in. the most backward manner. Therefore we must get into closer contact with these backward sections of the peasantry, War and other calamities have hith- erto prevented us from engaging in building up the Soviet. power in the village to’ the extent which was neces- sary. We have now taken the thing in hand; we shall: attract; more non- party peasants into the work and we shall devote muclr-smore attention to their opinion, When, 'thétefore; we consider: the question of our inner political life, we must say that there is no more: im- portant question today than ‘the ne- cessity of promoting the ‘work in’ the villages, of linking up the village with the Soviet constructive work, or’ rais- ing the activity of the non-party peas- ants, of abolishing bureaucratism, and wiping out bribery and .intemper, Increasing Productivity of 1 Tepes wag time, let ug 8 1920, when we issued’ thé ae increasing. the productivity of pote But how was it then with the produc- tivitysof labor? Wages were eithe: not paid at all, or when they were paid the worker received worthless money, and if the money still bad sans a some value, he was not able to buy anything with it, At that time the campaign for raising the productivity of labor was more or less futile. To- day it is otherwise. Today there exist the prerequisites for raising the productivity of labor. At present we must somehow work with the machines which we have and carry out every possible technical im- provement, For this we need think- ing people, If we employ specialists, if we pay them better, then they must be really valuable workers, who are of indisputable benefit to the pro- duction. The increase of the produc- The situation of the international revolution was at that time really desperate, Nobody knew what the morrow would bring. We were sur- rounded by enemies on all sides, Everyone of us still remembers the German ariplanes which appeared over Petrograd; we still recollect the occupation of Pskov, the occupation of the Ukraine, and of the Don area by the Germans, the capture of the Caucasus and of Archangel by the English, Let us call to mind our relations with Germany, At the time of the revolution our chief enemies were the tivity of labor depends, at least 50 per cent, not immediately upon the ywork- ers, but upon the government, upon the administration, and upon the trade unions. The other half, however, de- pends upon you, yourselves, comrades. This is what you must bear in mind, Outer Political Situation of the Soviet Union, HAT was our international situa. tion at the time of the revolution? "We were in a desperate position. Peo- ple said to us: Let us suppose that a miracle occurs, that you win the ma- jority of the workers of Petrograd, of Moscow, and: perhaps the whole of Russia; let us suppose that you seize power and drive the bourgeois govern- ment out of the Winter Palace; let us further suppose that you form a So- viet government—but don't you under- /fstand that that will be an absurdity, that the foreign bourgeoisie will drive You out, if not today, then tomorrow, ft] if not the German, then the English, if not the English then the Japanese bourgeoisie? What will you do, with gur inexperienced Red Army, with Your feeble working class, against the .Epglish ironclads, against the German guns, against the French tanks? by the Locarno pact diplomacy. new capitalist attack upon the Soviet Union than by preparing, organizing and conducting your own revolutionary struggles and, in Brance with the broad masses, leading them to victory. German imperialists. Their troops, Workers of All Countries! Your Own Revolutionary Struggles! ‘“.- FROM _ THE SOVIET ANNIVERSARY MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL. who were arméd to the teeth, were two steps from our frontier. We were complelled to décept the humiliating Brest-Litovsk peace, in accordance with which we had to pay a great in- demnity in gold and to give up a whole number of provinces, Our work- ers had to accépt this treaty, while they gritted their teeth, with the ex- pectation that times would alter and that in amy case we should not pay the indemnity, Are we threatened today with any sort of immediate danger on the part of the ruling class of Germany? I think not. .Their arms are too short. Of course there still exist in Germany the landowners, the fascists and junk- ers who would like to encompass our downfall. Now their only concern is how to retain their positions against their own wi rs, = of Our Re ins with France, Let us comgider another power which is hostile to us, bourgeois Frénce. ' We have already had a Franco-Rus- sian alliance (an alliance between the czar and. the Erench bankers) which only resulted a creating misery in THE DALLY WORKER our country (and also for the French people). It resulted in that the inter- est alone'on the loans which the French bankers granted to the czar, in order that he might maintain his secret police, and his dungeons, and to enable him to conduct the war against Japan, amounted to many mil- lions of rubles. We do not need such an alliance as this. By means of the Communist International we maintain connections with the French workers and peasants, as a real friendly bond between two peoples, which is inde- pendent of our recognition by the cap- italists. Even the most reactionary French Conduct Preiecs the Union of Soviet Republics from the intervention policy of the imperialist powers which is still being carried on. ‘Prevent the encirclement of the Soviet Union But you, cannot better conduct the struggle against a } bourgeois no longer dreams of com- Pelling us to pay the old czarist debts. Of course they remain our bitter op- ponents. But behind the imperialists there stands an army, the army of their “own” workers, at the head of which there stand such comrades as Comrade Marty, who was ready to risk his head for the sake of the Rus- sian workers, in the same way as our workers are ready to support the French workers with all their power. The old times are past, Our Relations with England, HERE was a time, it was some years ago—even before the revolu- tion, when there was no other dictator in Petrograd than the English Ambas- sador Buchannan—the Russian work- ers know this name very well. At that time the English government held everything in its, hands: first» the |$ czarist government, and then the pyo- visional government of the Russian bourgeoisie. Before the revolution the workers did not know that the English ambassador. lorded over everything. The Bolsheviks were persecuted. Af- ter the revolution, Buchanan sent. war- ships against us and took possession of Archangel. It was with his active participation that the blockade was organized, You are aware of the recent dispute between the leader of the English lib- erals, Lloyd George and the leader of the. English mensheviks, MacDonald, MacDonald is prepared to guarantee @ loan to us of 300 to 500 gold rubles, under conditions advantageous to both parties, Lloyd George, however, the representative of the “liberal” bour- geoisie, says: I will grant nothing, they must do without it. Thereupon the menshevik MacDonald replies that he, Lloyd George, has spent a hun- dred million pounds ($500,000,000) on interventions, in interfering in Rus- sian affairs, and now he will not grant 80 million pounds ($6,000,000) under advantageous commercial conditions. HEN the mensheviks and the lib- erals quarrel, we learn a piquant detail, we learn the exact figures: a hundred million pounds ($500,000,000) has been expended in order to fight against our revolution. The English imperialists considered no sum too great in order to annihilate us. Revolution Demonstrates Its Power. HIS shows how the power of the first proletarian revolution is grow- ing in the international arena. We were told at first: “If you attempt to seize power, it will not help you, be- cause on the very next day the Eng- lish, French or Germans will force you to restore power to the bour- geoiste,” and now you see how the attitude of the foreign powers towards us has changed. Today, nobody can force the work- ing class of our country to hand back power to the bourgeoisie. In addition to this I must tell you that the Eng- lish and French, as well as the Ger- man and Japanese bourgeoisie, are now in a position when they must rather think of saving themselves than of destroying others. They must take care that they do not lose power themselves, There has been an exchange of roles. At the beginning of the revolution they expended hun- dreds of millions of rubles in order to help the Russian counter-revolution oyerthrow the Soviet order; today the situation has changed considerably, ‘our Soviet Union is the friend, the brother and the teacher of the work- ers of all countries. Our Soviet Union, by means of the Communist International, has become the friend, the brother and the teacher of the working class of all countries, and also of a considerable portion of Page Five ighth Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution the peasantry. The best representa- tives of the working class of the whole world look tg us for help and broth- erly support. It was a hard task for us and for the. international- working class to make the first breach in the capitalist front, The beginning was difficult, ‘We have made the beginning and we have maintained power under such conditions as we never even thot, It is hard to enumerate those difficulties which our revolution has overcome since the blockade, up to the epidem- ics and famine of thé year 1922, when it- almost came to cannibalism, Nevy- ertheless we have overcome them. Why? Because we relied upon the broad, powerful, iron foundation of the working class and its alliance with the peasantry; because the revo- lution revealed such powerful creative ‘forces of which the boldest revolution- aries never ventured to dream; be- cause the revolution has stirred the deepest strata of the people; because the working women, the peasants, the Communist youth and our entire gen- eration have taken up the cause of the revolution, The workers of all countries are interested in our success. In the difi- cult famine years of 1919 to 1922, the social revolutionaries daily prophesied our downfall. Now it is different. Now every worker in all countries feels instinctively that our cause is marching on, and'that our revolution has become the tocsin rousing all workers of the world to struggle. The Idea of Lenin Will Be Victorious Thruout the World, if igirsing was 4 great man in our midst who, in the most difficult time for the working class, when the Russian workers hung their heads and the English and: Russian capitalists danced for joy, was firmly convinced that the working class would be vie- torious. I speak of course of Com- rade Lenin. The result of all we have passed thru is: When we percieve how pasionately and enthusiastically the working masses and huge masses of peasants are supporting our cause, when we perceive how, in: spite of the desper- ate situation:in>which we have been not so jong:ago, a splendid young generation of workers is growing up before our eyes,-who regard the cause of the state as their own, then we say: “Comrade‘Lenin is no longer with us, but his cause lives and will be victorious thruout the whole world.” Fight Years of Proletarian Dictatorship---Seven Years of So-called “Democratic Government” L (pee proletarian dictatorship on the territory of the old Russia has now been in existence for eight years. Fight years of Soviet republic. Hight years of .experiment” as all bour- geois, learned and unlearned, cho to express it. Hight years of “dicta- torship of an, ingurrectionary clique of conspirators, of a minority, over great. Russian people, which groan’ under its yoke,” as all democratic, | autocratic and social-democratic wor. shippers of, capitalism have declared Yor the past seven years. fist In the course of these years-—~a com: plete change of stage and -scenery over the’ whole globe.:° 1917-1918, an apparently victorious. .German-Aus- trian alliance; advance into the, Uk- WORLD OF ISLAM CHALLENGES IMPERIALISM lenged. Reserves were sent from France, and Damascus was sacked ned amidst scenes of inde- horror, > ly the news of this vandal- ism has been carried to other parts, of the Moslem world and the vast numbers of Moslems back of Syria, In tne territory Dounded on the east by the Persian gulf and on the west by the Red Sea and on the south by the Indian Ocean are beginning to stir restlessly. The above map explains the out- standing strate; ic points in the struggle that pending. when the colonial, peoples of th bordering the Mediterranean will rise and challenge the imperialism of Europe and rica. —tLeft Pr this point in- raine, into the Caucasus, carnage in the Ukraine, in the Baltic provinces— |the formation of which into an inde- pendent unity with constantly modi- fied frontiers, was the invention of a German or Austrian Pole—the claim pof the Duke of Uraqh to Lithuania (on the grounds that he was of equal stat- ure with the, Lithuanian princes of the seventh century); the democratic apostle Wilson with the well-managed steel trust, which supplied munitions, guns, railway material, whilst Wilson supplied the necessary cannon fodder; the campaign of honest old England for self-deterimnation of the nations {those which were not under the sphere of influence of honest old Eng- land); France playing the part of the noble martyr in the cause of civiliza- tion and culture; Italy as a champion in the fight for democracy (after, it had become clear whose “democracy” right arrow traverses the Mediter- ranean Sea and points to Damascus where French forces razed the town, murdered the inhabitants and near where the natives are mobilizing their forces to fight back. This ter- . ritory is held under mandate by France and is at present the sore- wpot in the Mohammedan world, 2 —Arrow indicates the scene of ac- ' against Morocco, 3. the Italian forces in their drive regions of ara and Cyrenaica, Royal Dutch Shell against Standard Oil and where the natives resent treaty mandate over Irak and Mosul, would be victorious); the Second’ In- ternational in favor of war to’a victor- ious end in their respective countries; German social-democracy ' suddenly against annexations (which they ac- cepted with pleasure at the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest) after | they had got scent of the fact that things were going amiss for Germany. HEN the bacchanal of the peace treaties of Versailles, St. Germain, Neuilly, Trianon; the orgies of “de- mocracy” and “self-determination” | thru the Balkanization of Europe, an- |nexations on a most liberal scale, tributes, wars of intervention, secret | treaties, military alilances, colonial in- trigues (think' only of Syria, Silesia, Mesopotamia, Armenia). Added to this the change of scene In the governmetits: Wilson, the dem- ocrat followed by the republican Hard- ing; his successor Coolidge already fighting against a new movement; Lloyd George replaced by the con- servative Bonar Law and he by Bald- win, he again by MacDonald the be bor leader who, in his turn, has bee overthrown by the conservatives—all *|this in democratic England, where, as class antagonisms intensify, a fascist movement will no doubt not arise spontaneously, but be created. In France the change from Clem- enceau via Deschanel and Poincare to —alas, only to Doumergue the “brave garcon” of whom the best that can be said is that he has a “sweet” smile. An external change from Briand to Millerand. A change of ministers from Poincare. to Herriot, to Painlev. But all along the supremacy of de Wendel family and M, Loucheur. In Italy—from Nitti, the sighing hanger-on of liberalism, to Mussolini the whilom socialist, now a fascist. In Germany and Austria the whole gamut of “socialist” (the lord pre- serve us!) governments down to the reactionary combindtions of priests, generals and—“soclulists” of course, Everywhere unrest, lack of equilib. rium, problems for which a new “pat- ent solution” is ound every three months, which marisa for exactly three wi c Colonial risings, pa wars and dan- gers of war in the Far Hast and the Near, Hast, in the Balkans. Germany a colony of a syndicate which is dis- united in itself. No rest’ anywhere, not even a stable government any- tivity of the Spanish troops | whore, everywhere bankruptcy of fas- ism in Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, bank- —The arrow indicates the path of |ruptcy of the ideology of the Second International which differs in every against the Senussi, who inhabit the | country, is in every country, as oc- casion demands, nationalist, defends —Arrow indicates Mosul where |the “just” war of its “own” country, + the British strive to contro! out- |enthusiastically acclaims reparations put of oil in the struggle of the |and sanctions, praises or disapproves of the Dawes plan occasion de- mands, works in closg-alliance with or the enforcement of its Versailles | loyally opposes fase -as occasion ‘demands ves a Germany). At the same time, everywhere, Srowth of the influence of the’ Com- munist International. In the ¢oloiiies increasing anti-imperialist movements. Among the’proletariat a growing deep longing for unity and revolutionary class-war, realignment of that’ prole- tariat which from the politica) ‘and ideological point of view is most lick? ward, the English, U. NLY on the territory of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics do we see quite another picture. A pic- ture which to the fools of the bour- geoisie and their heralds, the reform- ists, is still an insoluble riddle, At the time of the blockade it was possible with a serious face to say to one’s neighbor: “Do you know that in Russia the Bolsheviks only rule with the help of the Chinese; they have simply chopped off everyone else’s head?” but nowadays it is hard to palm off such nonsense. It is, how- ever tried, even if without success. But not a single reasonable person believes a word of such silly fables. On the contrary, every sensible be- ing must ask himself: How#is it in reality possible that 130-150 million people, of whom all the workmen carry arms, are indeed systematically armed (not only compulsory military service for all those who do not ex- ploit the labor of others, not only a system of militia for them but also compulsory training in arms for the young), who have created a voluntary air force, who are creating a volun- tary chemical (gas) war association, allow themselves to be “ruled” by a party of not more than about 500,000 members? And how is it that this does not treat the reformist parties as enemy, bourgeois parties, it will en- joy the advantages of a “democracy” of a German, English, French, Italian or Bulgarian cut which, as occasion demands, will make use of martial |law, spécial powers acts and fascist government monopoly, but will still remain a dictatorship of the bour- geoise leaders over the proletariat and lower middle classes, But this already shows the differ- ence between the two dictatorships. |The ‘dictatorship of the proletariat Athe government affairs of which must naturally be organized;. this is of course the party ofthe proletariat and as its party rélies upon its sympathy and “active help) is the dictatorship of an enormous majority over a very small minority. The dictatorship of the -bourgeoisie, which calls itself democratic, is always the dictatorship of a small clique over a vast majority, But there is nowhere a party of the bourgeoisie, For the bourgeoisie is in itself split up and therefore often consists of many not organized, ‘but disorganized parties (Germany, France, Poland with its national mi- norities, also Jugoslavia, Czecho-Slo- vakia and Finland). Parliament, with its lack of definite grouping and ma- jorities, only reflects this splitting up while it conceals the important fact that hardly anywhere in the bour- geois democracies does party rule, only marionettes in the hands of quite small cliques of the capitalists as in America, Germany, France, to say nothing of the small new states. Til. HE other objection, that in Russia the proletariat represents only a rule, under exactly the same govern-/small fraction of the population, only ment, is again and again “tolerated,”| points out the particularly fine ach- nay, accepted with enthusiasm or at|ievements of the Bolshevists, Russia least with confidence by Soviet con-| is, it is true, a land with an immense gresses, conferences and peasants’ or-| peasant majority but, in contrast to ganizations, without any disturbances |the reformists, the Bolshevists real- or difficultie: ized that it was necessary to make an The “riddle” is easily solved; the|ally of the peasant population. answer is that the Soviet government,| The proletarian dictatorship has this dictatorship of the Communist|only become possible thru the agrar- Party (as the “democratic” fools say: |ian and peasant policy of the Bolshe- “over the proletariat”) is that form of| viks which gives the dictatorship of government which best suits the tran-|thewCommunist Party the firm hold sition from capitalism to Communism,| which it has, No serious student of HE demogogic talk of the dictator-| Russian conditions, no matter to ship of the party “over the prole-} what camp he may belong,’ has been tariat” is easily refuted. The Com-|able to deny that the Soviet govern- munist Party is the party of the:pro-}ment is thus firmly rooted in the letariat. The essence of Leninism is} broad masses of the peasantry, All that it theoretically propogates andj|enemies of Communism regard with practically realizes the thesis; there|indignation, astonishment and a lack ig and can be only one party, the party}of understanding this hegemony of of the revolutionary proletariat,| the proletariat, rule of the Communist Events in Europe have fully con-| Party (dictatorship of the proletariat) firmed this doctrine. Wherever ithas|which at the same time is a stable, been disregarded (as in Germany in| reliable alliance of proletariat and 1923) the proletariat has experiencd| peasantry, This is the solution of a defeat. The reformists who claim| the riddle. that their party also is a proletarian{ On the other hand, in no country party, know very well why they do it.| does. or-can_ the bourgeoisie under- As long, however, as the proletariat}stand how to keep even the bour- visi bbl ites PA nib andail geoisie together. If we consider the occurrences in Germany in 1923, the pitiless expropriation of the people with small possessions thru inflation and, instead of talking of the Dawes Plan in empty phrases, seriously con- sider its consequences, it is easy to see thatythe governing cliques of the bourgeoisie themselves split up and differentiate the bourgeoisie and can- not fail to proletarize a portion of them and to drive some into the Com- munist, some into the fascist sphere of influence.. This is true, on the whole, of all European countries and of the United States. The present des- berate cry of Germany “co-operation of all classes,” the symbol of which is & coalition of all parties from the German nationalists to the social democrats, has no more value than the hue and cry of pacifism; when wars are being prepared, the clamor for peace is loudest; when class structure is crumbling to the ground, the howl for solidarity of the people is wildest, The process of differentiation is de- veloping fast in Germany. It will also be accelerated in England and France. In England the way leads via class solidarity, but ay class contrasts increase (which will result from the Dawes plan), the bourgeoisie even there will cry for solidarity of the people (in order to save the empire), 2 ha balance of the eight years of Soviet Republic is easily drawn. Thru all imaginable difficulties, the economics, culture and physical health in the Soviet Union have gradually and steadily developed, in spite of all natural catastrophies (famine in 1921, Partial failure of the harvest in 1924), in spite “of “all thé destruction thru war,.and civil war, in spite of all the | evil which arose from the low level of culture of the Russian population. And Burope? Its peoples ate fed with promises while the difficulties increase. The Dawes plan will help— So say the promise-mongers in France and Germany, patented and “approv- ed” for the Yast ten years; the league of nations will help—as those fools profess who will not see that the league. of nations will soon help Bu- rope onto her feet*thru general mobili- zation for a war in which more or less all towns have the prospect of being exterminated by means of gas, like nests Of vermin, The uncle from America will help—as those swindlers whine who have not yet had enuf of the American “help” of the late man of honor, Mr. Wilson, Oh yes, Amer- ica will help, with fitre and sword and the ledger of the chief agent for repa- rations, Only the proletariat will and can’ help. For it must help itself and only yen a eight years’ bal. ance IGzes ee