opening of the Constituante; on this day more than half of the
deputies could have arrived in Petrograd. We entered into
conference with the other fractions. The Ukrainians, some other
national fractions, and the Menshevik Social Democrats adhered to
our resolution. The Revolutionary Socialists of the Left
hypocritically declared themselves partizans of an early opening
of the Constituante. But behold, the Council of the so-called
"Commissaries of the People" fixed the opening for the 5th of
January. _At the same time they called for the 8th of January a
Congress of the Soviets of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates,
thus hoping to be able to trick and to cover with the name of this
Congress their criminal acts_. The object of this postponement is
clear; they did not even hide it and threatened to dissolve the
Constituent Assembly in case that it did not submit to the
Bolshevik Congress of Soviets. The same threat was repeated by
those who are called Socialist-Revolutionists of the Left.
The delegation of the Ukrainian Revolutionary Socialists abandoned
us also and submitted to the order for the convocation on January
5th, considering that the fight of the Bolshevik power against the
Constituent Assembly is an internal question, which interests only
Greater Russia.
Citizens! We shall be there, too, on January 5th, so that the
least particle of responsibility for the sabotage of the
Constituent Assembly may not fall upon us.
But we do not think that we can suspend our activity with regard
to the speediest possible opening of the Constituent Assembly.
We address an energetic appeal to all the deputies; in the name of
the fatherland, in the name of the Revolution, in the name of the
duty which devolves upon you by reason of your election, come,
all, to Petrograd! On the 1st of January all the deputies present
will decide on the day for the opening of the Constituent
Assembly.
We appeal to you, citizens! Remind your elected representatives of
their duty.
And remember that your salvation is solely in your own hands, a
mortal danger threatens the Constituent Assembly; be all ready to
rise in its defense!
THE REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST FRACTION OF THE CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY.
On the 3d of January the League for the Defense of the Constituent Assembly
held a meeting at which were present 210 delegates, representing the
Socialist parties as well as various democratic organizations and many
factories--that of Putilov, that of Oboukhov, and still others from the
outskirts of Narva, from the districts of Viborg, Spassky, and
Petrogradsky, from the Isle Vassily. It was decided to organize for January
5th a peaceful display in honor of the opening of the Constituent
Assembly.
The Bolsheviki answered this by furious articles in the _Pravda_, urging
the people not to spare the counter-revolutionaries, these bourgeoisie who
intend, by means of their Constituante, to combat the revolutionary people.
They advised the people of Petrograd not to go out on the streets that day.
"We shall act without reserve," they added.
Sailors were called from Cronstadt; cruisers and torpedo-boats came. An
order was issued to the sailors and to the Red Guards who patrolled all the
works of the Taurida, to make use of their arms if any one attempted to
enter the palace. For that day unlimited powers were accorded to the
military authorities. At the same time an assembly of the representatives
of the garrison at Petrograd, fixed for that day, was proscribed, and the
newspaper, _The Soldiers' Cloak_, was suppressed.
A Congress of Soviets was called for the 8th of January. They prepared the
dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and they wanted to place the
Congress before the accomplished fact. The Executive Committee of the
Soviet of Peasants' Delegates, and the Central Executive Committee of the
Soviets of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates chosen at the first elections
answered by the two following appeals:
Peasant Comrades!
The Bolsheviki have fixed the 5th of January for the opening of
the Constituent Assembly; for the 8th of January they call the III
Congress of the Soviets of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, and
for the 13th the Peasant Congress.
The peasants are, by design, relegated to the background.
An outrage against the Constituent Assembly is being prepared.
In this historic moment the peasants cannot remain aloof.
The Provisional Executive Committee of the National Soviet of
Peasants' Delegates, which goes on duty as a guard to the
Constituent Assembly, has decided to call, on the 8th of January,
also, the Third National Congress of the Soviets of Peasants'
Delegates. The representation remains the same as before. Send
your delegates at once to Petrograd, Grand Bolotnai, 2A.
The fate of the Constituent Assembly is the fate of Russia, the
fate of the Revolution.
All up for the defense of the Constituent Assembly, for the
defense of the Revolution--not by word alone, but by acts!
[Signed] _The Provisional Executive Committee of the National
Soviet of Peasants' Delegates, upholding the principle of the
defense of the Constituent Assembly_.
APPEAL OF THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE SOVIETS OF
WORKMEN'S AND SOLDIERS' DELEGATES, CHOSEN AT THE FIRST
ELECTIONS
To all the Soviets of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, to all
the Committees of the Army and of the Navy, to all the
organizations associated with the Soviets and Committees, to all
the members of the Socialist-Revolutionist and Menshevist Social
Democratic fractions who left the Second Congress of Soviets:
Comrades, workmen, and soldiers! Our cry of alarm is addressed to
all those to whom the work of the Soviets is dear. Know that a
traitorous blow threatens the revolutionary fatherland, the
Constituent Assembly, and even the work of the Soviets. Your duty
is to prepare yourselves for their defense.
The Central Executive Committee, nominated at the October
Congress, calls together for the 8th of January a Congress of
Soviets, destined to bungle the Constituent Assembly.
Comrades! The Second Congress of Soviets assembled at the end of
October, under conditions particularly unfavorable, at the time
that the Bolshevik party, won over by its leaders to a policy of
adventure, a plot unbecoming a class organization, executed at
Petrograd a _coup d'état_ which gave it power; at a time when
certain groups with the same viewpoint disorganized even the
method of convocation of the Second Congress, thus openly aspiring
to falsify the results; at this same Congress the regular
representatives of the army were lacking (only two armies being
represented), and the Soviets of the provinces were very
insufficiently represented (only about 120 out of 900). Under
these conditions it is but natural that the Central Executive
Committee of the Soviets chosen at the first election would not
recognize the right of this Congress to decide the politics of the
Soviets.
However, in spite of the protestations, and even of the departure
of a great number of delegates (those of the Revolutionary
Socialist fraction, Mensheviki, and Populist-Socialists), a new
Executive Committee of the Soviets was elected. To consider this
last as the central director of all the Soviets of the country was
absolutely impossible. The delegates who remained in the Congress
formed only an assembly of a group with a little fraction of the
Revolutionary Socialists of the Left, who had given their adhesion
to them. Thus the Central Committee named by their Conference
could not be considered except as representatives of these two
groups only.
Bringing to the organization of Soviets an unheard-of disorder,
establishing by their shameful methods of fighting its domination
over the Soviets, some of which were taken by surprise, the others
terrorized and broken in their personnel, deceiving the working
class and the army by its short-sighted policy of adventure, the
new Executive Committee during the two months that have since
passed has attempted to subject all the Soviets of Russia to its
influence. It succeeded in part in this, in the measure in which
the confidence of the groups which constituted it in the policy
was not yet exhausted. But a considerable portion of the Soviets,
as well as fractions of other Soviets, fractions composed of the
most devoted and experienced fighters, continued to follow the
only true revolutionary road; to develop the class organization of
the working masses, to direct their intellectual and political
life, to develop the political and social aspects of the
Revolution, to exert, by all the power of the working class
organized into Soviets, the necessary pressure to attain the end
that it proposed. The questions of peace and of war, that of the
organization of production and of food-supply, and that of the
fight for the Constituent Assembly are in the first place. The
policy of adventure of the groups which seized the power is on the
eve of failure. Peace could not be realized by a rupture with the
Allies and an entente with the imperialistic orb of the Central
Powers. By reason of this failure of the policy of the
Commissaires of the People, of the disorganization of production
(which, among other things, has had as a result the creation of
hundreds of thousands of unemployed), by reason of the civil war
kindled in the country and the absence of a power recognized by
the whole people, the Central Powers tend to take hold in the most
cynical fashion of a whole series of western provinces (Poland,
Lithuania, Courland), and to subject the whole country to their
complete economic, if not political, domination.
The question of provisioning has taken on an unheard-of acuteness;
the gross interference in the functioning of organs already
created for this object, and the civil war kindled everywhere
throughout the country, have completely demoralized the
provisioning of wheat in regions where they had none, the north
and the army are found on the eve of famine.
Industry is dying. Hundreds of factories and workshops are
stopped. The short-sighted policy of the Commissaries has caused
hundreds of workmen to be thrown on the streets and become
unemployed. The will of the entire people is threatened with being
violated. The usurpers who in October got hold of the power by
launching the word of order for a swift convocation of the
Constituent Assembly strive hard, now that the elections are over,
to retain the power in their hands by arresting the deputies and
dissolving the Constituante itself.
_All that which the country holds of life, and in the first place
all the working class and all the army, ought to rise with arms in
their hands to defend the popular power represented by the
Constituante, which must bring peace to the people and consolidate
by legislative means the revolutionary conquests of the working
class._
In bringing this to your knowledge, the Central Committee chosen
at the first elections invites you, Comrades, to place yourself
immediately in agreement with it.
Considering the Congress of October as incompetent, the Central
Committee chosen at the first elections has decided to begin a
preparatory work in view of the convocation of a new Congress of
the Soviets of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates.
In the near future, while the Commissaires of the People, in the
persons of Lenine and Trotzky, are going to fight against the
sovereign power of the Constituent Assembly, we shall have to
intervene with all our energy in the conflict artificially encited
by the adventurers, between that Assembly and the Soviets. _It
will be our task to aid the Soviets in taking consciousness of
their rôle, in defining their political lines, and in determining
their functions and those of the Constituante._
Comrades! The convocation of the Congress for the 8th of January
is dictated by the desire to provoke a conflict between the
Soviets and the Constituante, and thus botch this last. Anxious
for the fate of the country, the Executive Committee chosen at the
first elections decides to convoke at Petrograd for the 8th of
January an extraordinary assembly of _all the Soviets, all the
Committees of the Army and the Navy, all the fractions of the
Soviets and military committees, all the organizations that
cluster around the Soviets and the Committees that are standing
upon the ground of the defense of the Constituante._ The following
are the Orders of the Day:
1. The power of the Constituent Assembly.
2. The fight for the general democratic peace and the re-establishment
of the International.
3. The immediate problems of the policy of the Soviets.
Comrades! Assure for this extraordinary assembly of Soviets the
most complete representation of all the organizations of workmen
and soldiers. Establish at once election centers. We have a fight
to uphold.
In the name of the Revolution, all the reason and all the energy
ought to be thrown into the balance.
THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF SOVIETS OF WORKMEN'S AND
SOLDIERS' DELEGATES CHOSEN AT THE FIRST ELECTIONS.
_25 December, 1917._
IX
_The Manifestation of January 5th at Petrograd_
From eleven o'clock in the morning cortèges, composed principally of
working-men bearing red flags and placards with inscriptions such as
"Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!" "Land and Liberty!" "Long Live the
Constituent Assembly!" etc., set out from different parts of the city. The
members of the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants' Delegates
had agreed to meet at the Field, of Mars where a procession coming from the
Petrogradsky quarter was due to arrive. It was soon learned that a part of
the participants, coming from the Viborg quarter, had been assailed at the
Liteiny bridge by gunfire from the Red Guards and were obliged to turn
back. But that did not check the other parades. The peasant participants,
united with the workers from Petrogradsky quarter, came to the Field of
Mars; after having lowered their flags before the tombs of the Revolution
of February and sung a funeral hymn to their memory, they installed
themselves on Liteinaia Street. New manifestants came to join them and the
street was crowded with people. At the corner of Fourstatskaia Street (one
of the Streets leading to the Taurida Palace) they found themselves all at
once assailed by shots from the Red Guards.
The Red Guard fired _without warning_, something that never before
happened, even in the time of Czarism. The police always began by inviting
the participators to disperse. Among the first victims was a member of the
Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants' Delegates, the Siberian
peasant, Logvinov. An explosive bullet shot away half of his head (a
photograph of his body was taken; it was added to the documents which were
transferred to the Commission of Inquiry). Several workmen and students and
one militant of the Revolutionary Socialist party, Gorbatchevskaia, were
killed at the same time. Other processions of participants on their way to
the Taurida Palace were fired into at the same time. On all the streets
leading to the palace, groups of Red Guards had been established; they
received the order "Not to spare the cartridges." On that day at Petrograd
there were one hundred killed and wounded.
It must be noted that when, at a session of the Constituent Assembly, in
the Taurida Palace, they learned of this shooting, M. Steinberg,
Commissioner of Justice, declared in the corridor that it was a lie, that
he himself had visited the streets of Petrograd and had found everywhere
that "all was quiet." Exactly as the Ministers of Nicholas Romanov after
the suppressions said "Lie. Lie," so cried the Bolsheviki and the
Revolutionary Socialists of the Left, in response to the question formally
put on the subject of the shooting by a member of the Constituent Assembly.
The following day the Bolshevik organs and those of the Revolutionary
Socialists of the Left passed over these facts in silence. This silence
they kept also on the 9th of January, the day on which literally all
Petrograd assembled at the funeral of the victims. Public indignation,
however, obliged them in the end to admit that there had been some small
groups of participants and to name a Commission of Inquiry concerning the
street disorders which had taken place on January 5th. This Commission was
very dilatory in the performance of its duty and it is very doubtful if
they ever came to any decision.
Analogous manifestations took place at Moscow, at Saratov and other cities;
everywhere they were accompanied by shootings. The number of victims was
particularly considerable at Moscow.
X
_At the Taurida Palace on the Day of the Opening of the Constituent
Assembly_
The Taurida Palace on that day presented a strange aspect. At every door,
in the corridors, in the halls, everywhere soldiers and sailors and Red
Guards armed with guns and hand-grenades, who at every turn demanded your
pass. It was no easy matter to get into the palace. Nearly all the places
reserved for the public were occupied by the Bolsheviki and their friends.
The appearance of the Taurida Palace was not that of a place where the
free representatives of a free people were going to assemble.
The Bolsheviki delayed as much as possible the opening of the session. It
was only at four o'clock instead of at midday that they deigned to make up
their minds. They and the Revolutionary Socialists of the Left occupied
seats of the extreme left; then came the Revolutionary Socialists, the
Mensheviki, and the other Socialist fractions. The seats on the right
remained vacant. The few Cadets that had been chosen preferred not to come.
In this manner the Constituent Assembly was composed at this first and last
session solely of Socialists. This, however, did not prevent the presence
in the corridors and the session hail of a crowd of sailors and Red Guards
armed, as if it were a question of an assembly of conspirators, enemies of
the Revolution.
From the beginning a fight was started by the election of president. The
majority nominated for the office of president Chernov; the Bolsheviki and
the Revolutionary Socialists of the Left voted against him. The Bolsheviki
did not propose any candidate of their own, and placed before the members
the candidacy of a Revolutionary Socialist of the Left, Marie Spiridonova,
who was totally incapable of fulfilling this rôle. Afterward several
declarations were read--that of the Bolsheviki, that of the
Socialist-Revolutionists (read by Chernov), that of the Mensheviki (read by
Tseretelli). The partizans of each fraction greeted the reading of their
own declaration with deafening applause (for the audience was one of
"comrades" and did not hesitate to take part in the debates); cat-calls and
shouts greeted the orators of the opposing fractions. Each word of the
declarations of the Socialist-Revolutionists and of the Mensheviki
(declarations which every Socialist could sign) was received with a round
of hisses, shouts, deafening cries, exclamations of contempt for the
Bolsheviki, the sailors, and the soldiers. The speech of Chernov--president
and member of a detested party--had above all the honor of such a
greeting. As for Tseretelli, he was at first greeted by an inconceivable
din, but was able afterward--his speech was so full of profound sense--to
capture the attention of the Bolsheviki themselves.
A general impression that was extremely distressing came from this historic
session. The attitude of the Bolsheviki was grossly unbecoming and
provocative of disdain. It indicated clearly that the dissolution of the
Constituante was, for them, already decided. Lenine, who continually kept
contemptuous silence, wound up by stretching himself upon his bench and
pretending to sleep. Lunotcharsky from his ministerial bench pointed
contemptuously with his finger toward the white hair of a veteran of the
Revolutionary Socialist party. The sailors leveled the muzzles of their
revolvers at the Socialist-Revolutionists. The audience laughed, whistled,
and shouted.
The Bolsheviki finally left the Assembly, followed, as might be understood,
by their servants, the Revolutionary Socialists of the Left. The fractions
which remained voted the law proposed by the Socialist-Revolutionists on
the transfer of the lands to common ownership (socialization of the soil).
The sailors and Red Guards attempted several times to interrupt the
session. At five o'clock in the morning they finally demanded with a loud
voice that everybody leave.
"We were obliged to go," said, later, the members of the Constituent
Assembly at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasants'
Delegates in recounting these tragic moments, "not that we were afraid of
being shot; we were prepared for that, and each one of us expected it, but
fear of something else which is far worse: for fear of insults and gross
violence. We were only a handful; what was that beside those great big
fellows full of malice toward the Constituante and of defiance for the
'enemies of the people,' the 'servants of the bourgeoisie,' which we were
in their eyes, thanks to the lies and the calumnies of the Bolsheviki?
Careful of our dignity, and out of respect for the place where we were, we
could not permit ourselves to be cuffed, nor that they throw us out of the
Taurida Palace by force--and that is what would have inevitably happened."
It was thus that the Constituent Assembly ended. The
Socialist-Revolutionist fraction maintained an attitude of surprising calm
and respectful bearing, not allowing itself to be disturbed by any
provocation. The correspondents of foreign newspapers congratulated the
members and said to them that in this session to which the Bolsheviki had
wished to give the character of "any-old-kind-of-a-meeting" all the
fractions maintained a truly parliamentary attitude.
The Bolshevik terror became rife. _All the newspapers that tried to open
the eyes of the people as to what was happening were confiscated_. Every
attempt to circulate the _Dielo Naroda_ or other newspapers of the
opposition was severely punished. The volunteer venders of these papers
were arrested, cruelly struck down by rifle butts, and sometimes even shot.
The population, indignant, gathered in groups on the streets, but the Red
Guards dispersed all assemblages.
XI
_The Dissolution of the Third All-Russian Peasants' Congress_
This is the course of the events which followed the dissolution of the
Constituante. On the 8th of January the members of the Constituante
assembled at Bolotnaia; two were arrested; the premises of the fraction
were occupied by the Red Guards. On the 9th of January took place the
funeral of the victims, in which all Petrograd took part. The Bolsheviki
this time did not dare to shoot into the magnificent procession preceded by
a long line of coffins. The 10th of January they dispersed the Third
All-Russian Congress of Peasants which had placed itself on the side of the
Constituent Assembly. The Congress had been at first arranged for the 8th
of January (the same day as the Bolshevik Congress of the Soviets), but,
because of the events, it was postponed to the 10th. The peasants who had
come to this Congress knew perfectly well that they would have a fight to
uphold, perhaps even to give their lives. Their neighbors, their
co-villagers, wept when they saw them set out, as if it were a question of
men condemned to death. That alone suffices to show to what degree were
conscious these peasants who had come from all corners of the country to
prepare themselves for the defense of the Constituent Assembly.
As soon as the Congress was opened sailors and Red Guards, armed with guns
and hand-grenades, broke into the premises (11 Kirillovskaia Street),
surrounded the house, poured into the corridors and the session hall, and
ordered all persons to leave.
"In whose name do you order us, who are Delegates to the Peasants' Congress
of All-Russia, to disperse?" asked the peasants.
"In the name of the Baltic fleet," the soldiers replied.
The peasants refused; cries of protest were raised. One by one the peasant
delegates ascended the tribune to stigmatize the Bolsheviki in speeches
full of indignation, and to express the hopes that they placed in the
Constituent Assembly.
The sailors listened. They had come to disperse a counter-revolutionary
Congress, and these speeches troubled them. One sailor, not able to stand
it any longer, burst into tears.
"Let me speak!" he shouted to the president. "I hear your speeches, peasant
comrades, and I no longer understand anything.... What is going on? We are
peasants, and you, too, are peasants. But we are of this side, and you are
of the other.... Why? Who has separated us? For we are brothers.... But it
is as if a barrier had been placed between us." He wept and, seizing his
revolver, he exclaimed, "No, I would rather kill myself!"
This session of the Congress presented a strange spectacle, disturbed by
men who confessed that they did not know why they were there; the peasants
sang revolutionary songs; the sailors, armed with guns and grenades, joined
them. Then the peasants knelt down to sing a funeral hymn to the memory of
Logvinov, whose coffin was even yesterday within the room. The soldiers,
lowering their guns, knelt down also.
The Bolshevik authorities became excited; they did not expect such a turn
to events. "Enough said," declared the chief; "we have come not to speak,
but to act. If they do not want to go to Smolny, let them get out of here."
And they set themselves to the task.
In groups of five the peasants were conducted down-stairs, trampled on,
and, on their refusal to go to Smolny, pushed out of doors during the night
in the midst of the enormous city of which they knew nothing.
Members of the Executive Committee were arrested, the premises occupied by
sailors and Red Guards, the objects found therein stolen.
The peasants found shelter in the homes of the inhabitants of Petrograd,
who, indignant, offered them hospitality; a certain number were lodged in
the barracks of the Preobrajenski Regiment. The sailors, who but a few
minutes before had sung a funeral hymn to Logvinov, and wept when they saw
that they understood nothing, now became the docile executors of the orders
of the Bolsheviki. And when they were asked, "Why do you do this?" they
answered as in the time, still recent, of Czarism: "It is the order. No
need to talk."
It was thus there was manifested the habit of servile obedience, of
arbitrary power and violence, which had been taking root for several
centuries; under a thin veneer of revolution one finds the servile and
violent man of yesterday.
In the midst of these exceptional circumstances the peasants gave proof of
that obstinacy and energy in the pursuit of their rights for which they are
noted. Thrown out in the middle of the night, robbed, insulted, they
decided, nevertheless, to continue their Congress. "How, otherwise, can we
go home?" said they. "We must come to an understanding as to what is to be
done."
The members of the Executive Committee who were still free succeeded in
finding new premises (let it be noted that among others the workmen of the
big Oboukhovsky factory offered them hospitality), and during three days
the peasants could assemble secretly by hiding themselves from the eyes of
the Red Guard, and the spies in various quarters of Petrograd, until such
time as the decisions were given on all great questions. _A procès-verbal
was prepared concerning all that had taken place on Kirillovskaia Street. A
declaration was made protesting against the acts of the Bolshevik
government_. This declaration was to be read at the Taurida Palace when the
Soviets were in congress by delegates designated for that purpose. The
Bolsheviki, however, would not permit the delegates to enter the Taurida
Palace.
Here are the texts of the declaration and of the procès-verbal:
At the Third National Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Delegates
grouped around the principle of the defense of the Constituent
Assembly, this declaration was sent to the Congress of Workmen's,
Soldiers' and Peasants' Delegates called together by the
Bolshevist government at the Taurida Palace:
At the Second National Peasants' Congress the 359 delegates who
had come together for the defense of the Constituent Assembly
continued the work of the Congress and elected a provisional
Executive Committee, independently of the 354 delegates who had
opposed the power of the Constituent Assembly and adhered to the
Bolsheviki.
We, peasant delegates, having come to Petrograd, more than 300 in
number, to participate in a Congress called by the Provisional
Executive Committee, which is that of those of the Soviets which
acknowledge the principle of the defense of the Constituent
Assembly, declare to our electors, to the millions of the peasant
population, and to the whole country, that the actual government
which is called "The Government of the Peasants and Workmen" has
established in their integrity the violence, the arbitrariness,
and all the horrors of the autocratic régime which was overthrown
by the great Revolution of February. All the liberties attained by
that Revolution and won by innumerable sacrifices during several
generations are scouted and trodden under foot. Liberty of opinion
does not exist; men who under the government of the Czar had paid
by years of prison and exile for their devotedness to the
revolutionary cause are now again thrown into the dungeons of
fortresses without any accusation whatever, of anything of which
they might be guilty, being made to them. Again spies and
informers are in action. Again capital punishment is
re-established in its most horrible forms; shooting on the streets
and assassinations without judgment or examination. _Peaceful
processions, on their way to salute the Constituent Assembly, are
greeted by a fusillade of shots upon the orders of the autocrats
of Smolny. The liberty of the press does not exist; the papers
which displease the Bolsheviki are suppressed, their printing
plants and offices looted, their editors arrested._
The organizations which, during the preceding months, were
established with great difficulty--zemstvos, municipalities,
agricultural and food committees--are foolishly destroyed in an
excess of savage fanaticism.
The Bolsheviki even try to kill the supreme representation, the
only one legitimately established, of the popular will--the
Constituent Assembly.
To justify this violence and this tyranny they try to allege the
well-being of the people, but we, peasant workers, we see well
that their policy will only tighten the cord around the workers'
necks, while the possibility of a democratic peace becomes more
remote every day; matters have come to the point where the
Bolsheviki proclaim a further mobilization--of salaried
volunteers, it is true--to renew the hostilities. They strive to
represent the war with Ukraine and with the Cossacks under the
aspect of a war of classes; it is not, however, the bourgeoisie,
but the representatives of the working classes who are killed on
one side and on the other. They promised the Socialist régime, and
they have only destroyed the production of the factories so as to
leave the population without product and throw the workers into an
army of unemployed; the horrible specter of famine occupies the
void left by the broken organizations of food-supply; millions of
the money of the people are squandered in maintaining a Red
Guard--or sent to Germany to keep up the agitation there, while
the wives and the widows of our soldiers no longer receive an
allowance, there being no money in the Treasury, and are obliged
to live on charity.
The Russian country is threatened with ruin. Death knocks at the
doors of the hovels of the workmen.
By what forces have the Bolsheviki thus killed our country? Twelve
days before the organization of the autonomous administration was
achieved and the elections to the Constituent Assembly begun, at
the time when there had been organized all the autonomous
administrations of volosts, districts, governments, and cities,
chosen by equal, direct, and secret universal suffrage, thus
assuring the realization of the will of the people and justifying
the confidence of the population--even then they seized the power
and established a régime which subjects all the institutions of
the country to the unlicensed power of the Commissaries of the
People. _And these Commissaries rely upon the Soviets, which were
chosen at elections that were carried out according to rank, with
open balloting and inequality of vote, for therein the peasants
count only as many representatives as the workmen of the cities,
although in Russia their number is sixty times greater_.
Absence of control permits every abuse of power; absence of secret
voting permits that into these Soviets at these suspicious
elections some enter who are attracted by the political rôle of
these institutions; the defeat of inequality in the suffrage
restrains the expression of the will of the peasants, and,
accordingly, these cannot have confidence in this system of
government. The tyranny that presided at these elections was such
that the Bolsheviki themselves pay no attention to the results,
and declare that the Soviets that are opposed to themselves are
bourgeoisie and capitalists. We, representing the peasant workers,
must declare in the name of our constituents: if anything can save
Russia, it can only be the re-establishment of the organs of
local autonomous administration, chosen by equal, direct, and
secret universal suffrage and the resumption, without delay, of
the work of the Constituent Assembly.
The Constituent Assembly alone can express the exact will of the
working-people, for the system of election which governs it
includes every measure of precaution against violence, corruption,
and other abuses, and assures the election of deputies chosen by
the majority; now, in the country, the majority is composed of the
working class.
Millions of peasants delegated us to defend the Constituante, but
this was dissolved as soon as it began to work for the good of the
people. The work of the Constituante was interrupted at the time
that it was discussing the law concerning land, when a new
agricultural régime was being elaborated for the country. For this
reason, and for this alone, the Constituante adopted only the
first articles of this law, articles which established the
definite transfer of all the land to the hands of the workers,
without any ransom. The other articles of this law, which
concerned the order of the apportionment of lots, its forms, its
methods of possession, etc., could not be adopted, although they
were completely elaborated in the commission and nothing remained
but to sanction them.
We, peasants assembled in Congress, we, too, have been the object
of violence and outrages, unheard of even under the Czarist
régime. Red Guards and sailors, armed, invaded our premises. We
were searched in the rudest manner. Our goods and the provisions
which we had brought from home were stolen. Several of our
comrade-delegates and all the members of the Committee were
arrested and taken to Peter and Paul Fortress. We ourselves were,
late at night, put out of doors in a city which we did not know,
deprived of shelter under which to sleep. All that, to oblige us
either to go to Smolny, where the Bolshevist government called
another Congress, or to return to our homes without having
attained any result. But violence could not stop us; secretly, as
in the time of Czarist autocracy, we found a place to assemble and
to continue our work.
In making known these facts to the country and the numerous
millions of the peasant population, we call upon them to
stigmatize the revolting policy practised by the Bolshevik
government with regard to all those who are not in accord with it.
Returned to our villages, dispersed in every corner of immense
Russia, we shall use all our powers to make known to the mass of
peasants and to the entire country the truth concerning this
government of violence; to make known in every corner of the
fatherland that the actual government, which has the hardihood to
call itself "Government of the Workmen and Peasants," in reality
shoots down workmen and peasants and shamelessly scoffs at the
country. We shall use all our strength to induce the population of
peasant workers to demand an account from this government of
violence, as well as from their prodigal children, their sons and
brothers, who in the army and navy give aid to these autocrats in
the commission of violence.
In the name of millions of peasants, by whom we were delegated, we
demand that they no longer obstruct the work of the Constituent
Assembly. We were not allowed to finish the work for which we had
come; at home we shall continue this work. We shall employ all our
strength to effect, as soon as possible, the convocation of a new
National Congress of Peasants' Delegates united on the principle
of the defense of the Constituante, and that in a place where we
need not fear a new dissolution. Lately we fought against
autocracy and Czarist violence; we shall fight with no less energy
against the new autocrats who practise violence, whoever they may
be, and whatever may be the shibboleths by which they cover their
criminal acts. We shall fight for the Constituent Assembly,
because it is in that alone that we see the salvation of our
country, that of the Revolution, and that of Land and Liberty.
Charged by our constituents to defend the Constituent Assembly, we
cannot participate in a Congress called by those who have
dissolved it; who have profaned the idea which to the people is
something sacred; who have shot down the defenders of true
democracy; who have shed the sacred blood of our Logvinov, member
of the Executive Committee of peasant deputies, who on the 5th of
January was killed by an explosive bullet during a peaceful
manifestation, bearing the flag "Land and Liberty."
Comrade-peasants who have come by chance to this Congress declare
to these violators that the only Executive Committee that upholds
the idea of the defense of the Constituante forms a center around
which are grouped all the peasant workers. We call the entire mass
of peasants to the work that is common to all--the fight for "Land
and Liberty," for the true government of the people. "We all come
from the people, children of the same family of workers," and we
all have to follow a route that leads to happiness and liberty.
Now this road, which leads to "Land and Liberty," goes through the
Constituent Assembly alone. The Constituent Assembly was
dissolved, but it was chosen by the entire people, and it ought to
live.
_Long live the Constituent Assembly!_
_Down with violence and tyranny!_
_All power to the people, through the agency of the_
_Constituent Assembly!_
[Signed] The Third National Congress of Soviets of Peasant
Delegates, United on the Principle of the Defense of the
Constituent Assembly.
PROCÈS-VERBAL OF THE SESSION OF THE III NATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF
PEASANTS' DELEGATES, UNITED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF THE DEFENSE OF THE
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
The Provisional Executive Committee of Soviets of Peasants' Delegates
nominated by the fraction of the Second National Congress of these Soviets,
which, to the number of 359 delegates, was organized on the basis of the
principle of the defense of the Constituent Assembly, had addressed to all
the Soviets an appeal inviting those who believe in the defense of the
Constituante to send representatives to the Third Congress, fixed by the
Committee for the 8th of January, and destined to offset the Congress
called for the 12th of January by the Committee of that fraction of the
Congress which, to the number of 314 votes, took sides against the power of
the Constituent Assembly and joined the Bolsheviki.
The Peasants' Congress, meeting by districts and by governments, as well as
the local executive committees of Soviets which have chosen us, knew well
to which Congress they delegated us and had given us precise mandates,
expressing their confidence in the Constituent Assembly and their blame of
the Soviets and the Bolshevik organs that impede the work of the
Constituante and call the peasants to the Congress of January 12th. These
congresses and these committees have charged us to use all our efforts to
defend the Constituent Assembly, binding themselves, on their part, in case
our efforts were insufficient, to rise in a body for its defense.
By reason of the disorganization of postal and telegraphic communications,
and because in different localities the calls of the Committee were held up
by the Bolshevist organizations, the instructions concerning the Congress
fixed for the 8th of January were not received in many provinces until
after considerable delay.
Some minutes before the opening of the Conference, which was to take place
on the premises of the Committee (11 Kirillovskaia Street), where the
delegates on hand had lodged, there arrived a detachment of sailors and Red
Guards armed with guns and bombs, who surrounded the house, guarding all
the entrances, and occupied all the apartments. The Executive Committee,
performing its duty toward the peasant workers, which duty was to hold
their flag with a firm hand, not fearing any violence, and not allowing
themselves to be intimidated by the bayonets and the bombs of the enemies
of the peasant workers, opened the session at the hour indicated.
The Bolshevist pretorians, however, violating the freedom of assembly,
broke into the hall and surrounded the office and members of the Conference
with bayonets drawn. Their leader, Kornilov, staff-commandant of the Red
Guards of the Rojdestvensky quarter, made a speech to the delegates, in
which he said that they were to go to the Smolny Institute, to the
Bolshevist Congress, assuring them that they had come to this Congress by
mistake; at the end he read a document ordering him to make a search of the
premises, to confiscate all papers, and to arrest all who would offer
resistance. In reply to this speech the delegates and the members of the
Executive Committee spoke in turn; they stigmatized vehemently the criminal
policy of the Bolshevist government, which dissolved the Constituent
Assembly, the true representation of the popular will, without having given
it the time to register a vote on the agricultural law; which shot down
workers participating in peaceful negotiations; which deprived the people
of the right of assembly to discuss their needs; which destroyed freedom of
speech and assembly and trampled in the dust the whole Russian Revolution.
The delegates, one after another, tried to explain to the Red Guards that
it was not the delegates that were deceived in coming to this conference,
but those who were going to Smolny to the Bolshevist Congress, those who,
by order of the Bolsheviki, kill the peasants' representatives and dissolve
their Congress.
In the midst of these speeches Kornilov declared the Congress dissolved; to
this Comrade Ovtchinnikov, president of the Conference, replied that the
Congress would not be dissolved except by force, and, besides, that the
document read by Kornilov did not authorize him to pronounce its
dissolution. Members of the Congress having entered into arguments with the
sailors and the Red Guards, concerning the violence inflicted on the
peasant delegates, the sound of the rattling of guns was heard and the
leader of the pretorians declared that if the Congress would not submit to
his orders he would stop at nothing. All the members of the Congress were
forthwith searched and thrown out of doors in groups of five, with the idea
that, having come from the provinces, and not knowing Petrograd, they would
find themselves dispersed in such a way as not to be able to assemble again
anywhere, and would be obliged either to betake themselves to the railway
and return home or to direct their steps toward Smolny, the address of
which was given to each one at the exit. At the same time, without reason,
the following were arrested: Minor, a deputy to the Constituent Assembly;
Rakitnikov, Ovtchinnikov, Roussine, Sorokine, and Tchernobaiev, members of
the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasant Delegates; and Chmelev, a
soldier. The premises of the Committee, on which were various documents and
papers which were to be sent into the country, were occupied by Red Guards,
and machine-guns were placed at the entrance. The search ended about nine
o'clock in the evening. Some late delegates alone were authorized to spend
the night on the premises under the supervision of Red Guards.
An inquiry held among the comrades, who had come for this Third National
Peasants' Congress, established that, at the time when the premises of the
Executive Committee were seized, January 10, 1918, there were, among the
sailors and Red Guards of the detachment that did the work, _German and
Austrian prisoners dressed in Russian uniforms_; it also established the
fact that many objects had disappeared in the course of the search. The
Congress decided: first, to consider as a law the socialization of the soil
voted by the Constituent Assembly and to apply the same in the country;
second, to consider that the Constituent Assembly, dispersed by brutal
force, was nevertheless elected by the whole people and ought to exist and
to assemble again as soon as that would be possible; third, to fight
everywhere in the provinces in the defense of the organs of autonomous
administration, which the Bolsheviki dispersed by armed force. During these
few days when the peasants were obliged to assemble in secret and to
station patrols to protect their meetings, they followed those methods of
conspiracy that the Russian Socialists had been obliged to employ when they
fought against the tyranny of autocracy. Returning to their villages, the
peasants bore with them the greatest hate for the Bolsheviki, whom they
considered the personification of tyranny and violence. And they took with
them also a firm resolution to fight against this violence.
The Executive Committee, whose powers were confirmed by the Third Congress,
found itself thus, for the second time, deprived of all its goods, its
premises, and its pecuniary resources; it found itself obliged to lead a
half-clandestine existence, to organize secret assemblies, etc. Miss
Spiridonova, who, in this fight against the peasants that rose to the
defense of the Constituent Assembly, gave proof of intolerance and peculiar
fanaticism, found herself at the head of the "peasants in uniform," sitting
at Smolny, _adopting a decree whereby all the moneys that came by post to
the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasant Delegates defending the
Constituent Assembly were to be confiscated._
The action of the Executive Committee was thus rendered very difficult. But
it continued to fight, to publish an organ, to commission delegates, to
entertain continued relations with the provinces and the country.
XII
_Conclusion_
_Morally, Bolshevism was killed in the eyes of the workers in the course of
these days_ when a peaceful demonstration was fired upon, the Constituent
Assembly dissolved, the Peasant Congress (and, very soon, the Congress of
the Agricultural Committees) dispersed. The Central Committee of the
Revolutionary Socialist party issued an order for new elections to the
Soviets, thinking thus to eliminate automatically the Bolsheviki. And, in
truth, when at Petrograd and in the provinces, these elections began, the
Revolutionary Socialists and the Mensheviki received the majority and the
Bolsheviki were snowed under. But these new elections were thwarted by many
circumstances: first, because of the lessening of production the workmen
were discharged in a body and quit the factories; second, the Bolsheviki
put obstacles in the way of the elections and sometimes openly prohibited
them. Nevertheless, wherever they could be held, the results were
unfavorable to the Bolsheviki.
Finally, when the working classes clearly saw the shameful rôle played by
the Bolsheviki in the matter of peace, when they saw the Bolsheviki humbly
beg for peace at any price from the Germans, they understood that it was
impossible to continue to tolerate such a government. _The Central
Committee of the Revolutionary Socialist party published a Manifesto
appealing to an armed fight against the Bolshevik government and the German
gangs_ that were overrunning the country.
The frightful results of this "peace," so extolled by the Bolsheviki,
rendered even the name of the Bolshevist government odious in the eyes of
every conscientious and honest man.
* * * * *
But Bolshevism still endures, for it is based on the armed force of the Red
Guard, on the supineness of the masses deprived of a political education,
and not accustomed to fight or to act, and from ancient habit of submitting
to force.
The causes which produced Bolshevism are: first, the accumulation of all
the conditions of the historic past of the Russian people; second, their
psychic character and their habits; third, the conditions of the present
time; and fourth, the general situation of the world--that is to say, the
war.
We also note the vague and hesitating policy of the Provisional Government;
the lack of political education among the people, ready to follow him who
promises the most; small development of civic sentiment; the want of any
attachment whatever to the state--that of the Romanov having never given
anything to the people and having taken all from them. Czarism took from
the miserable peasant his last penny under form of taxes; it took his
children from him for war; for the least act of disobedience to authority
he was whipped. He wallowed in misery and in ignorance, deprived of every
right, human or legal. How could he, this wretched and oppressed peasant
develop civic sentiments, a consciousness of his personal dignity? On the
other hand, we must take into account the immense weariness caused by the
war and by the disorganization which it brought into the whole cycle of
existence (to an incomparably greater degree than in western Europe). Such
were the causes which had established a favorable scope for Bolshevik
propaganda; to introduce their domination they knew how to make use of the
shortcomings of the people and the defects of Russian life.
In fine, what is Bolshevism in its essence? _It is an experiment, that is
either criminal or that proceeds from a terrible thoughtlessness, tried,
without their consent, on the living body of the Russian people_. Thus some
attempt to apply their theories, others wish to measure the height of their
personal influence, while still others (and they are found in every
movement) seek to profit by the circumstances.
Bolshevism is a phenomenon brought about by force; it is not a natural
consequence of the progress of the Russian Revolution. Taken all in all,
Bolshevism is not Socialism. The Bolshevist _coup d'état_ was accomplished
contrary to the wish of the majority of the people, who were preparing for
the Constituent Assembly.
_It was accomplished with the help of armed force, and it is because of
this that the Bolshevist régime holds out._
_It has against it the whole conscious portion of the peasant and working
population and all the Intellectuals._
_It has crushed and trampled under foot the liberty that was won by the
Russian people._
The Bolsheviki pretend to act in the name of the people. Why, then, have
they dissolved the Constituent Assembly elected by the people?
They pretend to have the majority of the people with them. Why, then, this
governmental terror that is being used in a manner more cruel even than in
the time of Czarism?
They say that, to fight against the bourgeoisie, the use of violence is
necessary. But their principal thrusts are directed not against the
bourgeoisie, but against the Socialist parties that do not agree with them.
And they dare give this caricature the name of Dictatorship of the
Proletariat!
Socialism must necessarily be founded on democratic principles. If not, "it
cuts off the branch of the tree on which it rests," according to the
expression of Kautsky.
Socialism needs constructive elements. It does not limit itself to the
destruction of ancient forms of existence; it creates new ones. But
Bolshevism has only destructive elements. It does nothing but destroy,
always destroy, with a blind hatred, a savage fanaticism.
What has it established? Its "decrees" are only verbal solutions without
sense, skeletons of ideas, or simply a revolutionary phraseology containing
nothing real (as for example the famous shibboleth, "neither peace nor
war").
During the few months of its reign Bolshevism has succeeded in destroying
many things; nearly everything that the effort of the Russian people had
established. Life, disorganized almost to its foundations, has become
almost impossible in Russia. The railroads do not function, or function
only with great difficulty; the postal and telegraphic communications are
interrupted in several places. The zemstvos--bases of the life of the
country--are suppressed (they are "bourgeois" institutions); the schools
and hospitals, whose existence is impossible without the zemstvos, are
closed. The most complete chaos exists in the food-supply. The
Intellectuals, who, in Russia, had suffered so much from the Czarist
tyranny and oppression, are declared "enemies of the people" and compelled
to lead a clandestine existence; they are dying of hunger. It is the
Intellectuals and not the bourgeois (who are hiding) that suffer most from
the Bolshevist régime.
The Soviets alone remain. But the Soviets are not only revolutionary
organs, they are "guardians of the Revolution," but in no way legislative
and administrative organs.
Bolshevism is an experiment tried on the Russian people. The people are
going to pay dearly for it. At least let not this experiment be lost, on
them, as well as on other peoples! Let the Socialists of western Europe be
not unduly elated by words or by far-fetched judgments. Let them look the
cruel reality in the face and examine facts to find out the truth.
A tyranny which is supported by bayonets is always repugnant, wherever it
comes from, and under whatever name it may strut. It can have nothing in
common with Socialism, which is not only a doctrine of economic necessity,
but also a doctrine of superior justice and truth.
"All the societies or individuals adhering to the Internationale will know
what must be the basis of their conduct toward all men: Truth, Justice,
Morality, without Distinction of Color, Creed, or Nationality," said the
statutes that were drawn up by the prime founders of our Internationale.
_The Executive Committee of the National Soviet of Peasant Delegates
Placing themselves on the Grounds of the Defense of the Constituent
Assembly, having had to examine, in its session of February 8, 1918, the
violence committed by the Bolsheviki, and to pass in review the
persecutions that this organization had to suffer from that party and from
the government of the Commissaries of the People, decided to bring the
violence committed by the Bolsheviki in the name of Socialism to the
knowledge of the Socialists of western Europe and of the International
Socialist Bureau through the citizen, E. Roubanovitch, representative of
the Revolutionary Socialist party at the International Socialist Bureau and
intrusted with International relations by the Executive Committee of the
First Soviet of Peasants.
The Executive Committee demands the expulsion, from the Socialist family,
of the Bolshevist leaders, as well as of those of the Revolutionary
Socialists of the Left, who seized the power by force, held it by violence
and compromised Socialism in the eyes of the popular masses.
Let our brothers of western Europe be judges between the Socialist peasants
who rose in the defense of the Constituent Assembly and the Bolsheviki, who
dispersed them by armed force, thus trampling under foot the will of the
Russian people._
INNA RAKITNIKOV,
_Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peasant
Delegates, who stand in Defense of the Constituent Assembly._
_May 30, 1918._
APPENDIX III
FORMER SOCIALIST PREMIER OF FINLAND ON BOLSHEVISM
The following letter was addressed to Mr. Santeri Nuorteva, who, it will be
remembered, was appointed Minister to America by the Revolutionary
Government of Finland. The author of the letter, Oskar Tokoi, was the first
Socialist Prime Minister in the world. He is a Socialist of long standing,
who has always been identified with the radical section of the movement.
Mr. Nuorteva, it should be added, is himself a strong supporter of the
Bolsheviki, and is their accredited American representative.
ARCHANGEL, _September 10, 1918._
SANTERI NUORTEVA,
_Fitchburg, Mass._:
DEAR COMRADE,--I deem it my duty to appeal to you and to
other comrades in America in order to be able to make clear to you
the trend of events here.
The situation here has become particularly critical. We, the
Finnish refugees, who, after the unfortunate revolution, had to
flee from Finland to Russia, find ourselves to-day in a very
tragic situation. A part of the former Red Guardists who fled here
have joined the Red Army formed by the Russian Soviet Government;
another part has formed itself as a special Finnish legion, allied
with the army of the Allied countries; and a third part, which has
gone as far as to Siberia, is prowling about there, diffused over
many sections of the country, and there have been reports that a
part of those Finns have joined the ranks of the Czecho-Slovaks.
The Finnish masses, thus divided, may therefore at any time get
into fighting each other, which indeed would be the greatest of
all misfortunes. It is therefore necessary to take a clear
position, and to induce all the Finns to support it, and we hope
that you as well, over in America, will support it as much as is
in your power.
During these my wanderings I have happened to traverse Russia from
one end to another, and I have become deeply convinced that Russia
is not able to rise from this state of chaos and confusion by her
own strength and of her own accord. The magnificent economic
revolution, which the Bolsheviki in Russia are trying now to bring
about, is doomed in Russia to complete failure. The economic
conditions in Russia have not even approximately reached a stage
to make an economic revolution possible, and the low grade of
education, as well as the unsteady character of the Russian
people, makes it still more impossible.
It is true that magnificent theories and plans have been laid
here, but their putting into practice is altogether impossible,
principally because of the following reasons: The whole propertied
class--which here in Russia, where small property ownership mainly
prevails, is very numerous--is opposing and obstructing;
technically trained people and specialists necessary in the
industries are obstructing; local committees and sub-organs make
all systematic action impossible, as they in their respective
fields determine things quite autocratically and make everything
unsuccessful which should be based on a strong, coherent, and in
every respect minutely conceived system as a social production
should be based. But even if all these, in themselves
unsurmountable obstacles, could be made away with, there remains
still the worst one--and that is the workers themselves.
It is already clear that in the face of such economic conditions
the whole social order has been upset. Naturally only a small part
of the people will remain backing such an order. The whole
propertied class belongs to the opponents of the government,
including the petty bourgeoisie, the craftsmen, the small
merchants, the profiteers. The whole Intellectual class and a
great part of the workers are also opposing the government. In
comparison with the entire population only a small minority
supports the government, and, what is worse to the supporters of
the government, are rallying all the hooligans, robbers, and
others to whom this period of confusion promises a good chance of
individual action. It is also clear that such a régime cannot stay
but with the help of a stern terror. But, on the other hand, the
longer the terror continues the more disagreeable and hated it
becomes. Even a great part of those who from the beginning could
stay with the government and who still are sincere Social
Democrats, having seen all this chaos, begin to step aside, or to
ally themselves with those openly opposing the government.
Naturally, as time goes by, there remains only the worst and the
most demoralized element. Terror, arbitrary rule, and open
brigandage become more and more usual, and the government is not
able at all to prevent it. And the outcome is clearly to be
foreseen--the unavoidable failure of all this magnificently
planned system.
And what will be the outcome of that? My conviction is that as
soon as possible we should turn toward the other road--the road of
united action. I have seen, and I am convinced that the majority
of the Russian people is fundamentally democratic and
whole-heartedly detests a reinstitution of autocracy, and that
therefore all such elements must, without delay, be made to unite.
But it is also clear that at first they, even united, will not be
able to bring about order in this country on their own accord. I
do not believe that at this time there is in Russia any social
force which would be able to organize the conditions in the
country. For that reason, to my mind, we should, to begin with,
frankly and honestly rely on the help of the Allied Powers. Help
from Germany cannot be considered, as Germany, because of her own
interests, is compelled to support the Bolshevik rule as long as
possible, as Germany from the Bolshevik rule is pressing more and
more political and economic advantages, to such an extent even
that all of Russia is becoming practically a colony of Germany.
Russia thus would serve to compensate Germany for the colonies
lost in South Africa.
A question presents itself at once whether the Allied Powers are
better. And it must be answered instantly that neither would they
establish in Russia any Socialist society. Yet the democratic
traditions of these countries are some surety that the social
order established by them will be a democratic one. It is clear as
day that the policy of the Allied Powers is also imperialistic,
but the geographical and economic position of these countries is
such that even their own interests demand that Russia should be
able to develop somewhat freely. The problem has finally evolved
into such a state of affairs where Russia must rely on the help
either of the Allies or Germany; we must choose, as the saying
goes, "between two evils," and, things being as badly mixed as
they are, the lesser evil must be chosen frankly and openly. It
does not seem possible to get anywhere by dodging the issue.
Russia perhaps would have saved herself some time ago from this
unfortunate situation if she had understood immediately after the
February Revolution the necessity of a union between the more
democratic elements. Bolshevism undoubtedly has brought Russia a
big step toward her misfortune, from which she cannot extricate
herself on her own accord.
Thus there exists no more any purely Socialist army, and all the
fighting forces and all those who have taken to arms are fighting
for the interests of the one or the other group of the Great
Powers. The question therefore finally is only this--in the
interests of which group one wants to fight. The revolutionary
struggles in Russia and in Finland, to my mind, have clearly
established that a Socialist society cannot be brought about by
the force of arms and cannot be supported by the force of arms,
but that a Socialist order must be founded on a conscious and
living will by an overwhelming majority of the nations, which is
able to realize its will without the help of arms.
But now that the nations of the world have actually been thrown
into an armed conflict, and the war, which in itself is the
greatest crime of the world, still is raging, we must stand it. We
must, however, destroy the originator and the cause of the war,
the militarism, by its own arms, and on its ruins we must build,
in harmony and in peace--not by force, as the Russian Bolsheviki
want--a new and a better social order under the guardianship of
which the people may develop peacefully and securely.
I have been explaining to you my ideas, expecting that you will
publish them. You over in America are not able to imagine how
horrible the life in Russia at the present time is. The period
after the French Revolution surely must have been as a life in a
paradise compared with this. Hunger, brigandage, arrests, and
murders are such every-day events that nobody pays any attention
to them. Freedom of assemblage, association, free speech, and free
press is a far-away ideal which is altogether destroyed at the
present time. Arbitrary rule and terror are raging everywhere,
and, what is worst of all, not only the terror proclaimed by the
government, but individual terror as well.
My greetings to all friends and comrades.
OSKAR TOKOI.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Plechanov never formally joined the Menshevik faction, I believe, but
his writings showed that he favored that faction and the Mensheviki
acknowledged his intellectual leadership.
[2] They had gained one member since the election.
[3] Quoted by Litvinov, _The Bolshevik Revolution: Its Rise and Meaning_,
p. 22. Litvinov, it must be remembered, was the Bolshevik Minister to Great
Britain. His authority to speak for the Bolsheviki is not to be questioned.
[4] The date is Russian style--March 12th, our style.
[5] _The State in Russia--Old and New_, by Leon Trotzky; _The Class
Struggle_, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 213-221.
[6] This document is printed in full at the end of the volume as Appendix.
I
[7] The author of the present study is responsible for the use of italics
in this document.
[8] Litvinov, _The Bolshevik Revolution: Its Rise and Meaning_, p. 30.
[9] Lenine is not quite accurate in his statement of Marx's views nor quite
fair in stating the position of the "opportunists." The argument of Marx in
_The Civil War in France_ is not that the proletariat must "break down" the
governmental machinery, but that it must _modify_ it and _adapt_ it to the
class needs. This is something quite different, of course. Moreover, it is
the basis of the policy of the "opportunists." The Mensheviki and other
moderate Socialists in Russia were trying to _modify_ and _adapt_ the
political state.
[10] The reference is to Karl Kautsky, the great German exponent of Marxian
theory.
[11] _The New International_ (American Bolshevik organ), June 30, 1917.
[12] _The New International_, July 23, 1917.
[13] Litvinov, _op. cit._, p. 31.
[14] _The New International_, April, 1918.
[15] See, _e.g._, the article by Lenine, _New International_, April, 1918,
and Litvinov, _op. cit._
[16] See my _Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and Socialism_ for the
I.W.W. philosophy.
[17] Bryant, _Six Months in Red Russia_, p. 141.
[18] This appeal is published as Appendix I at the end of this volume.
[19] Certain Soviets of Soldiers at the Front had decided that they would
stay in their trenches for defensive purposes, but would obey no commands
to go forward, no matter what the military situation.
[20] Figures supplied by the Russian Information Bureau.
[21] "It was with a deep and awful sense of the terrible failure before us
that I consented to become Premier at that time," Kerensky told the present
writer.
[22] The story was reproduced in _New Europe_ (London), September, 1917.
[23] _The New International_, April, 1918.
[24] See p. 254.
[25] See the letter of E. Roubanovitch, Appendix II, p. 331.
[26] _Justice_, London, January 31, 1918.
[27] _Justice_, London, May 16, 1918.
[28] _Vide_ Special Memorandum to the International Socialist Bureau on
behalf of the Revolutionary Socialist party of Russia.
[29] See Appendix III.
[30] _Pravda_, July 5, 1918.
[31] February, 1918, Protest Against Recognition of Bolshevik
Representative by British Labor Party Conference.
[32] Proclamation to People of the Northern Province, etc., December, 1918
[33] _The New International_, April, 1918.
[34] The dates given are according to the Russian calendar.
[35] See the Rakitnikov Memorandum--Appendix.
[36] _The New International_, April, 1918.
[37] The number of votes was over 36,000,000.
[38] _Vide_ Rakitnikov report.
[39] Twenty-three members of the Executive Committee were arrested and,
without any trial, thrown into the Fortress of Peter and Paul.
[40] From a Declaration of Protest by the Executive Committee of the Third
National Congress of Peasants' Delegates (anti-Bolshevist), sent to the
Bolshevik Congress of Soviets of Workmen, Soldiers, and Peasants, but not
permitted to be read to that assembly.
[41] _L'Ouorier Russe_, May, 1918.
[42] _Idem_.
[43] _Izvestya_, July 28, 1918.
[44] _Pravda_, October 8, 1918 (No. 216).
[45] "Agents-Provocateurs and the Russian Revolution," article in
_Justice,_, August 16, 1916, by J. Tchernoff.
[46] Most of the information in this paragraph is based upon an article in
the Swiss newspaper _Lausanne Gazette_ by the well-known Russian
journalist, Serge Persky, carefully checked up by Russian Socialist exiles
in Paris.
[47] Joseph Martinek, in the _Cleveland Press_.
[48] _Justice_ (London), January 23, 1919.
[49] _Justice_, London, January 31, 1918.
[50] Jean Jaurès, _Studies in Socialism_.
[51] F. Engels, 1895, Preface to Marx's _Civil War in France_.
[52] The reader is referred to my _Sidelights on Contemporary Socialism_
and my _Karl Marx: His Life and Works_ for a fuller account of these
struggles.
[53] Marx, _A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy_, p. 12.
[54] Editorial entitled "Bolshevik Problems," in _The Liberator_, April,
1918.
[55] The article by Lenine quoted by Mr. Eastman appeared in _The New
International_, February, 1918.
[56] _The Bolsheviks and the Soviets_, by Albert Rhys Williams, p. 6.
[57] _Ansprache der Centralbehorde an den Bund, vom Marz, 1850_: Anhang IX
der Enthullerngen über den Kommunisten-process Zu Koln, p. 79.
[58] Lenine, _The Soviets at Work_.
[59] Wilhelm Liebknecht, _No Compromise, No Political Trading_, p. 30.
[60] _Socialism: a Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles_, by
John Spargo, p. 215 (1st edition Macmillan, 1916).
[61] Liebknecht, _No Compromise, No Political Trading_, p. 16.
[62] Liebknecht, _No Compromise, No Political Trading_, p. 28.
[63] This subject is treated in the following, among others, of my books:
_Socialism: a Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles_; _Applied
Socialism_; _Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and Socialism_; _Elements of
Socialism_ (Spargo and Arner), and _Social Democracy Explained_.
[64] _The New International_, July 23, 1917.
[65] Conversation with Trotzky reported by E.A. Ross, _Russia in Upheaval_,
p. 208.
[66] Kautsky, _The Social Revolution_, p. 137.
[67] Lenine, _The Soviets at Work_.
[68] Lenine, _op. cit._
[69] Lenine, _op. cit._
[70] The best expositions of Guild Socialism are _Self-Government in
Industry_, by G.D.H. Cole, and _National Guilds_, by S.G. Hobson, edited by
A.R. Orage.
[71] Lenine, _op. cit._
[72] Lenine, _op. cit._
[73] Lenine, _op. cit._
[74] Lenine, _op. cit._
[75] Lenine, _op. cit._
[76] Of course, Trotzky's statement to Professor Ross about paying the
capitalists "5 or 6 per cent. a year" was frankly a compromise.
[77] E.A. Ross, _Russia in Upheaval_, pp. 206-207.
[78] Litvinov, _The Bolshevik Revolution: Its Rise and Meaning_, p. 39.
[79] Marx and Engels speak of the "idiocy of rural life" from which
capitalism, through the concentration of agriculture and the abolition of
small holdings, would rescue the peasant proprietors (_Communist
Manifesto_). In _Capital_ Marx speaks of the manner in which modern
industry "annihilates the peasant, _the bulwark of the old society_" (Vol.
I, p. 513). Liebknecht says that in 1848 it was the _city_ which overthrew
the corrupt citizen king and the _country_ which overthrew the new
republic, chose Louis Bonaparte and prepared the way for the Empire. "The
French peasantry created an empire through their blind fear of proletarian
Socialism" (_Die Grund und Bodenfrage_). Kautsky wrote, "Peasants who feel
that they are not proletarians, but true peasants, are not only not to be
won over to our cause, _but belong to our most dangerous adversaries_"
(_Dat Erfurter Programm und die Land-agitation_). It would be easy to
compile a volume of such utterances.
[80] Walling, _Russia's Message_, p. 118. The italics are mine.
[81] "Cabinet lands" are the crown lands, property of the Czar and royal
family.
[82] Ross, _op. cit._, pp. 206-207.
[83] _Justice_, London, August 1, 1917.
[84] The figures given are quoted by Sack, in _The Birth of Russian
Democracy_, and were originally published by the Bolshevist Commissaire of
Commerce.
[85] _Parvus et le Parti Socialiste Danois_, by P.G. La Chesnais.
[86] La Chesnais, _op. cit._
[87] In "_L'Humanité_," article condensed in _Justice_, January 31, 1918.
[88] International Notes, _Justice_, January 3, 1918.
[89] _The Disarmament Cry_, by N. Lenine, in _The Class Struggle_,
May-June, 1918.
[90] _The "Disarmament" Cry_, by N. Lenine, _The Class Struggle_, May-June,
1918.
[91] Most, if not all, dates in this document are given as in the Russian
calendar, which is thirteen days behind ours.
[92] This refers, doubtless, to the different basis for voting applied to
the peasants and the industrial workers, as provided in the Soviet
Constitution.