The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 2, 1926, Page 12

Lg ae German Workers Visit the Soviet Union revolutionary Russia and the broth+—————. WO and a half months have passed since the German workers’ dele- gation returned to Germany from the Soviet Union. Everybody remembers what great difficulties they met, But all these hindrances, which ‘were placed in the way of the fifty-eight German workers by the German gov- ernment forces and last but not least, by the social-democratic and trade union bureaucracy, did not prevent them from leaving Stettin on July 11, headed for Leningrad. After six weeks the trade union del- egates returned to Germany and en- countered new difficulties. The same social-democratic and trade union bu- reaucracy, and in some places the pol- ice, attempted to prevent the dele- gates from fulfilling the promise they had given to the German workers to give a true and unexaggerated report of what they had seen in Soviet Rus- sia, But these hindrances also were over come and the fifty-eight delegates, composed of twenty-nine social-demo- crats, seventeen Vommunists and twelve non-partisan workers, ad- dressed approximately 1,000 meetings in giving their report. These meet- ings included a large number of in- dustrial workers, white-collar workers and petty-bourgeois. At the same time the delegation commuctee printeu a report of their trip, called: “What 58 German Workers Saw in Xussia.” It is about 160 pages, has many illus- trations, and carries an introduction by Edo Fimmen. In the face of great difficulties and disappointments following the German revolution of 1919, the German work- ers have long been asking themselves about the revolution in Soviet Russia and have been interestea in working class life there. Was Soviet Kussia a country in which the principes of Marx and Engels were really being -applied.?...Does. the eight-hour aay ex- ist in the Soviet Union? Has the fac- tory committee really a decisive in- fluence on production? How is the development of the lite of the Russian worker progressing? Who leads the workers’ movement in the dJoviet Union? Are the workers of the So- viet Union free, or are they still under- a yoke? Kautsky Lies Fade. The delegation wanted to investi- gate the reports that had been pub- lished in the Vorwaerts (central organ of the socialdemocratic party). The followers of Kautsky have kept on as- serting that in the Soviet Union the factory committee does not exist, that there are no really influential trade unions. The report says that the So- viet factory committees and trade unions have more influence than those tin Germany; that without their agree- ment it is impossible to pass any so- cial law; that they have an influence ‘on all questions of economic matters and state construction, The delegation was especially in- terested in investigating the cultural tasks of the factory committees and in general the cultural ‘institutions exist- ing in every factory in the Soviet Union. “As opposed to Germany,” says the report, “Soviet Russia goes on this principle: that the more edu- cated the worker and the peasant be- come, the more consolidated the state power, In Germany the official slo- gan is, on the contrary, as follows: the leas educated and the less com- pletely class-conscious the worker is, the stronger is the power of capital- ism,” The general situation of production, the conditions of labor and wages, liv- ing conditions, the care of children, cultural tasks and achievements, all of these are closely bound up one with another and aro frequently much bet- ter in Soviet Russia than in Germany. The impression recetved in Lenin- grad was deepened by what was seen in the interlor of the Soviet Union of Red Russia, Here they felt more strongly the pulse of the life of new erly tie between the German and the Russian proietariat became, stronger: In the face of the great and imposing demonstrations on the Red Square and before the mausoleum of Lenin, Comrade Bukharin could ask with an fronic smile: “Is the dictatorship above the proletariat?’ And the re- port of the delegation answers this question as follows: “Everyone of us felt that this enthusiasm of the masses is not superficial or machine- made, and that the Russian workers, with all the fervor of their existence, | bind themselves to their leaders and} their government and are ready at any moment to defend the Soviet Union with their blood.” Before the mausoleum of Lenin, the feeling of the delegation was very strong, as is shown by their words: “How strange to the proletariat are those who speak about a ‘new saint’ Or a ‘red czar.’ Those who speak so do not understand the difference be- tween praising god and czar and the love of the Russian workers for their great leader. Today, when god is something mystic and czars are the result of the monarchist system, here to the grave of Lenin come workers who fought side by side with him at the time of his worst sufferings and bitterest moments and who freely followed his directions because they knew, ‘he is our cleverest, our best The attention of the delegation was naturally more directed to the side of Soviet realities in which the Ger- man workers are more interested. Therefore the greater part of this report considers such questions as the co-operative movement, the con- cession policy of the Soviet govern- ment, the trade union movement, the working day, strikes, workers’ vaca- tions, participation of Communists in the leadership of the trade unions, ete, } After acquaintaicé erative movement, its functions and tasks, the delegation reports its im- pression that the general growth of this movement in recent years prom- ises a great future and is one of the strongest means for the development of socialist society. In a considerably detailed report of the trade union movement in the U. S. S. R., the account of the delegation dwelt’ with great attention upon the core crucial points, and these also were most often advanced by the Ger- man workers during the verbal re- ports of the delegate’. The delegation in the most indis- putable manner established that the eight-hour working day, as general normalcy, is strictly adhered to in the U. S. S. R. The more Soviet economy (indus- try) is developed, the more the Soviet enterprises are expanded, the Better becomes the materia) condition of the Soviet workers. The delegation with some envy remarks that the U. S. S. R. and its working class lives un- der the conditions of a peaceful and Stable political system. Even if the wages have not everywhere reached the pre-war level, nevertheless with all the privileges accorded the work- ing class, it is assured of a fully satis- factory existence. Therefore in the Soviet economy (industry) there is no place for strikes, The “Dictatorship of the Children.” At the meetings where the dele- gates appeared with reports about U. S. S, R., very often were heard statements, somewhat strange at a first appearance, that in the U. 8. S. R. besides the dictatorship of the proletariat, there also reigns a dic- tatorship of children. By this will be understood the extremely attentive care of children and of the growing- up generation generally, which the report of the delegation marks with greatest interest during their visits to every factory and town, The delegation’s report naturally brought forth comparisons between the Soviet and German conditions. For in- The Bridge to War. z 3 as) a//v tas =f enya (erat = | Wad we oo . — =< The Locarno agreement Is the liquidation of the past war and the advance to the new world war—according to this cartoon published In the Gudok. The skeleton on horseback Is called War, and the bridge Is called Locarno. stance, the difference between the sol- diers of the red army and the soldiers of the German reichswehr, which lat- ter are merely simple hirelings be- sides being deprived of all their ele- mentary political rights, was astonish- ing to them. Wherever they went, remarked the delegates in their reports, they re- ceived the heartiest welcome of the workers. They encountered no opposi- tion in their selection of the tour. Their every wish received lively response. Very often. they went with- delegates knew the Russian language, and in the Volga German republic, they were entirely in the midst of their own. In all the cadres of the population, we read further in the re- port, we notice loyalty to the Soviet republic and its government. The delegation is convinced that the U. S. S. R. is on the right road and that no one is in power to stop the victorious march of its peoples to the cultural and material ascent, Of course, the delegation saw much deficiency and disorganization, but this was the sad inheritance from the czarist and bourgeois epoch which left | - to the workers’ and farmers’ govern- ment innumerable ruins. Among these cuins here and there are still crawling those who are not satisfied with the new order of things, who have not un- derstood the great idea embodied in it. But these elements compose a very insignificant minority, The members of the delegation were very much interested in the condition of the jails in the U. S. S. R. and the condition of the political prisoners. The delegation visited many jails in the various localities in the U. S. 8S. R., and a group which was in the Cau- casus especially undertook to get ac- quainted with the conditions in Georgia and the prisoners there, about whose condition the social-democratic press had recited so many different horrors, And in this connection the delegates were pleasantly disappoint- ed. They were convinced that the basic principle of the prison system, jin the U. 8. 8S. R. consists not in pun- ishing the emprisoned, but in educat- ing them and making out of them use- ful citizens of the Soviet republics. From the entirely candid discus- sions with the participants of the Georgian uprising, the delegates learn- ed that the uprising itself was only a stillborn fancy and its participants only await their freedom so that they can enter the ranks of the wowkers of their country on the Soviet basis. According to the deep conviction of the delegation, Soviet Russia which " iliterpreter because some of the | has shaken off its landlords and cap italists, is by its examples showing other countries the way to their emancipation. The first condition of success in this direction 1s the unity of the world trade union t. The delegates put as one its problems to work in this direction. By way of affirming the fact that the present report is the collective opinion and impressions of the dele- gation as a whole, each of its mem- bers in conclusion also individually. subscribed to its correctness by a brief resume, SRAM MI The authors of the report ns at its conclusion a number of ques- tions which they call to the attention of the reader. These five questions are: 1. What is your general opinion of the report? 2. What is in it that is not clear to you? 3. Which questions are not suf- ficiently clarified in it? “ 4. What can you offer for the creation of the united trade union front? : 5. What would you like to know ~ about Russia? In a foreword to the report, Edo Fimmen among other things says to the delegation: “During the last years I have read much about the workers’ and peas- ants’ republic, and I saw a number of courageous and honest attempts to break down the wall of lies and slan- . der encircling Russia and to bring closer together the struggling work- ing class of the VU. S. S. R. and the struggling and suffering proletariat of the rest of the world. “Among this literature there were books written better and in more scholarly fashion than yours. But I have never yet read anything with greater joy than your story about U. S. S. R. in the present report. The reason for this is because you are ordinary workers from shops and mines, who artlessly and without col-. oring, in your own way, tell the read- ers what you saw there, Among those who visited Russia previous to you there were men and women with bet- ter education, more learned and cleverer than you, but among them > undoubtedly there was no one who could better understand and learn , life of the Russian workers and could compare their lot with that of your | own and form an unbiased opinion, | And therefore your book, regardless of its simplicity, is one of the best books on the new Russia which have thus far appea'