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Library:A History of the U.S.S.R./Part 3/Post-revolution: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with " ===== The Second Congress of Soviets ===== The Second Congress of Soviets was opened in the Smolny at 10:45 p. m. on October 25 (November 7). The assault on the Winter Palace was still in progress. Many of the congress delegates had taken part in the insurrection. The Smol ny Institute looked like a military camp. Armoured cars, automobiles, motor trucks filled with armed workers, columns of Red Guards and sailors with machine-gun cartridge belts across their chests and...")
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In the autumn of 1923, the Trotskyites dragged the Party ijito an other fierce discussion, but the Party rallied around Comrade Stalin who was fighting for Leninism against Trotskyism. The Trotsky ites were exposed and defeated. The platform of the Trotskyite op])03i tion was unanimously condemned and defined as a potty-bourgeois deviation, as the revision of Leninism.
In the autumn of 1923, the Trotskyites dragged the Party ijito an other fierce discussion, but the Party rallied around Comrade Stalin who was fighting for Leninism against Trotskyism. The Trotsky ites were exposed and defeated. The platform of the Trotskyite op])03i tion was unanimously condemned and defined as a potty-bourgeois deviation, as the revision of Leninism.
===== Death of Lenin =====
As he laid the foundation stones of social ist society Lenin dreamed of seeing backward, ruined, wretched and impotent Russia replaced by anew, mighty and happy land of flour ishing Socialism. He was destined, however, to see only the very first, comparatively small, successes of the grand reconstruction of the Soviet Union that he had planned. He who had caused such mighty transformations to take place was struck down by death at the very beginning of the historic road taken by our country towards the victory of » Socialism. From the beginning of his conscious life to the day ho drew his last breath, Lenin had devoted himself entirely to the cause of the revolution. The enormous, superhuman labours of this greatest man of our age had sapped his health, and his death wm hastened by the severe wounds that had been inilioted upon him by ihe vicious bullets of the enemies of the revolution. V. I. Lenin jmscd airay on Jannaiy 21, 1924. Tiie death of the leader filled the hearts of millions with grief. In its manifesto to the Party and to all the working people announcing the death of our great leader, the Central Coininittoe of the R,C.P.(B.) stated: "JSIover sinco Marx has the groat proletarian movement for emancipation produced such a titanic figure as our late leader, teacher and friend."
Briefly and concisely describing Lenin's greatness and the gigantic work he performed, the nia lifosto went on to say: "Lenin x^osscssod all the trul^r great and heroic virtues of the x^roletariat — b > fearless mind, an iron, inflexible and indomitable will which surmounts all obstacles, a holy and mortal hatred of slavery and tyranny, revolution ary ardour which moves mountains, boundless faith in the creativt* powers of the masses, and vast organizing talent. His name has be come the symbol of the new world fcomWest to East, and from South to North."
The Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party called upon the working class to mark the death of tlieir leader by mustering all tlieir strength to carry out Lenin's behests.
In the factories talks were delivered on the life of Lenin, after which the workers passed the curt but emjphatio resolution: "Wo vow to carry out Lenin's behests."
The workers of tl e Third Moscow Printing Plant, in sending a de legation to the funeral of the'r leader, handed it a banner bearing the inscription: "Lot us form a solid ring round the Communist Party and carry out Ilych's behests to the last!"
At a meeting held at the Moskvoretsky Textile Mills an old woman weaver mounted the platform and in a voice trembling with emotion said: "If I have wavered bill now, thinking that I was almost illit erate and w'thout trailing, then during these last days I have mihesitatingly decided to join the Party created by our infinitely be loved Ilyich, May ho rest in poace in his grave; we millions, the workers, will carry the cause begin by him to the end."
During those hours of grief hundreds of thousands of proletarians all over the country, like this old Moscow weaver, handed in applica tions to jom Lenin's Party.
At memorial meetings the workers passed resolutions pledging themselves to carry out Lenin's behests and to send their best sons to reinforce the Party.
The men in the Red Army passed similar resolutions. A meeting of Red Army men and commanders of the Sivash Division declared: "We must now guard not only our Red frontiers, but also the invio lability of the grave of our great leader and teacher."
Lenin's death caused profound grief and mourning in the settle ments of the Yakuts, in the camps of the nomad Nenets reindeer breeders, and in the villages of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The
working people in the most remote parts of the country sent delegations to Moscow to attend Lenin's funeral. The peasants in the Volga Region collected grain for a fund to build a monument to Lenin. The workers and peasants named towns, streets, factories and villages after Lenin. At the request of the workers, Petrograd, where Lenin had commenced his revolutionary activities as the leader of the proletariat and where he had led the working class in a victorious insurrection and to the capture of power, was named in his hon our, Leningrad.
On January 23, the peasants from the villages surrounding Gorki, where Lenin died, accompanied their friend and teacher on his last journey to Moscow. The workers of Moscow took their last leave of Lenin. For five days and nights a continuous stream of people flowed tlirough the Column Hall of the House of Trade Unions, where Lenin lay in state. Millions of working people waited their turn to bid their leader a last farewell.
===== Stalin's Vow =====
On the death of our beloved leader. Comrade Stalin, in the name of the Party and of the whole Soviet people, took a great vow .to carry out Lenin's behests.
At the Second Congress of Soviets of the U.S.S.R. on January 26, 1924, Comrade Stalin said:
"Departing jfrom us. Comrade Lenin adjured us to hold high and guard the purity of the great title of member of the Party. We vow to you. Comrade Lenin, that we will fulfil your behest with credit! . . .
"Departing from us, Comrade Lenin adjured us to guard the unity of our Party as the apple of our eye. We vow to you, Comrade Lenin, that this behest too, we will fulfil with credit! . . .
"Departing from us. Comrade Lenin adjured us to guard and strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat. We vow to you, Comrade Lenin, that we will spare no efforts to fulfil this behest too, with credit! . . .
"Departing from us, Comrade Lenin adjured us to strengthen with all our might the alliance of the workers and the peasants. We vow to you. Comrade Lenin, that this behest too, we will fulfil with credit! . . .
"Departing from us. Comrade Lenin adjured us to consolidate and extend the Union of Republics. We vow to you. Comrade Lenin, that this behest, too, we will fulfil with credit! . . .
"More than once did Lenin point out to us that the strengthening of the Red Army and the improvement of its condition is one of the most important tasks of our Party. . . . Let us vow then, comrades, that we will spare no effort to strengthen our Red Army and our Red ISTavy. . . .
"Departing from us. Comrade Lenin adjured us to remain faithful to the principles of the Communist International. We vow to you, Comrade Lonin, that we will not spare our lives to strengthen and extend the Union of the toilers of the whole world — ^the Communist International!" {Stalin on Lenin, Moscow, 1946, pp. 30-36.)
Stalin's great vow became the program of action of the Party and the Soviet State which ensured our country's victorious progress along the road to Socialism.
At 4 p, m. on January 27, amid the thunder of an artillery salute, the body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was placed in the Mauso leum erected during those days in the Red Square, Moscow. A last and mournful salute to the leader was sounded by sirens and hooters. Life throughout the country came to a standstill for the space of five minutes. Trains stopped in their tracks, the buzz of ma chinery in the factories was silenced. Five minutes of silence was also observed by working people in all capitalist countries.
==== The End of the Period of Restoration in the U.S.S.R. ====
===== The First Year Without Lenin =====
On the death of Lenin the working class of the U.S.S.R. rallied more closely than ever around Lenin's Party. Thousands of workers handed in applications to join its ranlis in order the bettor to carry out the behests of the do]iarted leader. The Central Committee proclaimed a mass admission of advanced workers into the Party's ranks. Over 240,000 of the most class-conscious and revolutionary workers made up the "Lenin Enrol ment" into the Party. Interest in the study of Leninist theory increased to an enormous degree. "Lenin is dead, but Leninism lives!" said the workers, and souglit to acquire a better knowledge of the principles of Lenin's teachings.
To satisfy this urge, Comrade Stalin, in the beginning of April 1924, delivered a series of lectures on "The Foundations of Lenin ism" at the '"Sverdlov" Communist University. In these lectures, which shortly afterwards were published in book form, he gave a sys tematic exposition of Lenin's great teachings about the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, of the historical roots and theory of Leninism, of Lenin's teachings about the Party, and of his views on the peasant and the national and colonial ques tions, He emphas'zed that Leninism was not only a Russian but an international doctrine. Leninism not only revived the reyolut ionary teachings of Marx and Engels, which had been distorted by the oxDpor tunists of the Second International, but developed them further, enriching them with the now experience of the proletarian class sti'ug gle in the epoch of imperialism. "Leninism," said Comrade Stalin, "is Marxism of the era of imperialism and of the proletarian revo lution." This splendid book, which is a further development of the Marxian theory, armed ideologically the working class of the U.S.S.R and of the whole world in their struggle for Sooialism. Comrade Stalin's book The Foundations of Leninism^ also played an enormous part in
bringing about the ideological defeat of Trotskyism.<blockquote>Remember, love and study Lenin, our teacher and leader. Fight and vanquish the enemies, internal and foreign — as Lenin taught ns.
Build the new life, the new existence, the new culture — as Lenin taught us.
Never refuse to do the little things, for from little things are built the
big things — this is one of Lcnin*s important behests.</blockquote>In May 1924, the Thirteenth Congress of the Party was hold. At
this congress Trotsky hypocritically stated that ho and his followers were giving up the factional struggle. Actually, ho had instruefcod his followers to make declarations about renouno ng Trotskyism while ill fact forming a counter-revolutionary underground organi zation.
The Thirteenth Congi'ess emphasized that tlie operation of the Party line laid down by Lenin at the time of the adoption of the New Economic Policy had strengthened the alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry and had created the conditions for the speedy liquidation of economic ruin. The congress called for assistance for the rural districts, for the organization of the rural poor and for the for mation of peasant mutual-aid committees. While demandirg an inten sification of the struggle against the kulaks and an improvement in activity among the poor and middle peasants, the congress confirmed the line of developing the co-operative movement as a means of achieving Sooialism. The congress indicated measures for improving the work of the state trading organizations and co-operativo societies, 'which under the New Economic Policy were to help in establishing the link between industry and peasant farming.
The New -Economic Policy created a considerable revival in the country after the ruin which had been caused by war and interven tion.
From 1924 to 1925 total industrial output increased 60 per cent and the number of workers employed in industry increased 27 per cent. The material conditions of the working class improved.
The currency reform of 1924 introduced a stable currency in place of the former depreciated paper money and strengthened the finan cial position of the Soviet State.
The revival of state and co-operative trade increased the proportion of the socialist forms of economy in the total economy of the country. Soviet trade began to squeeze the private trader out of the market. Peasant farming showed a marked improvement. The Soviet govern ment rendered the working peasantry considerable assistance. In the period from 1924 to 1925 the state assigned out of its limited re sources 290,000,000 rubles for the purpose of assisting the loovev peasants.
The Soviet Union's successes during the four years of tho operation of the New Economic Policy were achieved in a stubborn struggle against the resisting capitalist elements. In an endeavour to exploit the discontent of the peasant masses caused by tho shortage of manu factured goods, the high prices of these goodB, and tho survivals of "War Communism" that persisted in some parts of the rural districts, the kulaks tried to organize revolts.
The elections to the Soviets which took place at this time revealed that in a number of districts the middle peasants were inclined to swing over to the side of the kulaks. Comrade Stalin set the task of rallying the middle peasants around the proletariat and of enlisting the masses of the peasants in the work of building up the Soviets. At a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Party held on October 26, 1924, he said: "All those who are active, honest, possess initiative and are politically conscious, especially former Red Army men, who are politically the most conscious and possess most initiative among the peasants, must be drawn into the work of the Soviets."
The Soviets are bodies which establish a bond between the work ing class and peasantry, with the proletariat playing the leading role. Hence, enlivening and strengthening the Soviets meant strength ening the alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry in the joint struggle for Socialism.
===== Strengthening the Alliance Between the Proletariat of the U.S.S.R. and the Peasants of the Non-Russian Republics =====
After the U.S.S.R. was formed, the Russian proletariat increased its assistance to the peoples of the U.S,S.R. and thereby strengthened its alliance with the peasants in the non-Russian regions. The task of uniting the peoples in a single, fraternal union of state was hindered by three factors, viz,^ the actual inequality existing between the different na tionalities, the dominant-nation chauvinism of a section of the Russian Communists, and local nationalism. The Tenth and Twelfth Congresses of the Party, after hearing reports by Comrade Stalin, adopted a program of measures for combating the still existing ac tual inequality between the peoples of the U.S.S.R.
Under the New Economic Policy there was a revival and growth of dominant-nation chauvinism, a reflection of the former privileged position of the Great-Russians. This chauvinism found expression in tl.e neglect shown by certain Soviet and Party officials towards the needs and requirements of the non-Russian republics, and theatened to underini .ethe confidence of the peasant masses of the non-Russian areas in the U.S.S.R. towards the proletariat, which was exercising its dictatorship.
At the same time, there was a revival of local nationalism among the peoples who had not yet forgotten the national oppression they had suffered from Russian tsarism and the Russian bourgeoisie. The local nationalists sowed distrust in everything Russian, and tried to disrupt She alliance between the peasants of the non-Russian republics and the proletariat of the U.S.S.R. which was leading the struggle or Socialism in all the Soviet Republics.
In June 1923, the Central Committee of the Party held a joint conference with responsible officials from the non-Russian republics and regions. This conference, which was directed by Comrade Sialin, emphatically condemned both dominant-nation chauvinism and the nationalistic tendencies of individual Party members. At this con ference there wore exposed a group of Tatar bourgeois nationalists and a group of Uzbek nationalists.
The bourgeois-nationalists had become agents of foreign imperial ism and conducted subversive activities with the object of disrupting the work of building up the Soviet system in the border regions. The Georgian Mensheviks, assisted by the foreign imperialists, even at tempted to rouse the peasants of Georgia to revolt against the Soviets. In the summer of 1924, they captured Chiatury, the centre of the manganese industry in Georgia, dispersed the Soviets in Guria and other districts, and began to organize kulak and landlord fighting detachments. The Georgian peasantry, however, far from allowing themselves to be drawn into this reckless venture of the Georgian Mensheviks, resolutely helped in liquidati ig it in the course of a few days. The organizers of this revolt — a group of prominent Georgian Mensheviks — were tried before a Soviet court and mot with well-de served punishment.
The Soviet government rendered the peoples of the non-Russian republics considerable economic, organizational and cultural assist ance. A number of factories, with all their equipment, were trans ferred from Moscow to Georgia, Bokhara and Uzbekistan. Loans were granted to the industries and co-operative societies in the various republics. In all the non-Russian regions a drive was launched to enliven and strengthen the Soviets.
===== The National Delimitation of Central Asia =====
When the Soviet Republics in Turkestan were firmly established their national delim itation was carried into effect. The tsarist government, in intro ducing its administrative division of the country, had taken no ao oount of the specific national features and the territorial distribution of the peoples inhabiting it. The result was that the old boundaii 'S of gubernias and regions brought together into administrative units territories populated by different nationalities, and split up ho mogeneous nationalities. Particularly scattered 9,bout were the peoples of Central Asia. Some of the peoples Kad no administrative centre, •republic or region of their own, and this hindered their economic and cultural development.
In 1924, all the peoples of Central Asia reached a voluntary agree ment and established an absolutely new political and administrative •division of Central Asia, one that took into account the economic and •political interests of each nation. Two Union Soviet Socialist Republics were formed — ^the Uzbek and Turkmen Republics. Later, a third one, .the Tajik Republic, was formed, being detached from the Uzbek S.S.R., of which it had till then been a part, as an autonomous republic. Two autonomous Soviet Republics were also formed, namely, the Kirghiz and the Kara-Kalpak Republics. The part of Northeastern Turkestan inhabited by Kazakhs was incorporated in Kazakhstan. In the autumn of 1924, the Congresses of Soviets of Bokhara and Khiva resolved to rename their People's Republics, Socialist Republics. The Second Session of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. ratified the decision of the peoples of Central Asia regarding national delimitation. The Uzbek and Turk men Republics joined the U.S.S.R. as Union Republics.
In an estimation of the importance of national delimitation, Comrade Stalin wrote: 'The time has now come when these scattered fragments can be reiinited into independent states, so that the toil ing masses of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan can be united and welded with the organs of government. The delimitation of frontiers in Tur kestan is primarily the reunion of the scattered parts of these coun tries into independent states. The fact that these states then desired to join the Soviet Union as equal members thereof, merely signifies that the Bolsheviks have found the key to the profound aspirations of the masses of the East, and that the Soviet Union is the only volun tary union of the toiling masses of various nationalities in the world" (J. Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question, Moscow, 1940, pp. 182-183).
Thus, for the first time in their history, the Uzbek, Turkmen and Tajik peoples were able to unite in their national states. This they did on the basis of Soviet power, which is cherished and understood by the masses. National delimitation strengthened the alliance be tween the proletariat of the U.S.S.R. and the toiling peasantry of Central Asia and stimulated the economic and cultural development of the peoi)les of Soviet Central Asia.
=== The Struggle for Socialist Industrialization (1926–1929) ===
==== Steering a Course for Industrialization ====
===== The Soviet Republic's International Position Is Strengthened =====
After the prolonged post-war revolutionary crisis, world capitalism entered a phase of temporary, partial stabilization. As a result of the defeat of the revolutionary movement in 1923, counter-revolu* tionary coups were carried out in Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland. The tide of revolution temporarily subsided in Western Europe and capitalism partially stabilized its position. This partial stabili zation of capitalism intensified the antagonisms between the differ ent capitalist countries and also between the workers and capitalists in each country. A desire to form a united front against the offensive of capital arose among the proletarian masses in the capitalist conn tries. Delegations of foreign workers streamed into the U.S.S.R.
Comrade Stalin made the following comment: "At the one i)ole we find capitalism stabilizing itself, consolidating the position it has reached and continuing its development. At the other pole we find the Soviet system stabilizing itself, consolidating the position it has won and marching forward on the road to victory. Who will defeat whom? — ^That is the essence of the question" (J. Stalin, Lenin ism, Vol, I, Moscow, 1934, p. 162).
The successes which the working class of the U.S.S.R, achieved on the economic firont strengthened and consolidated the Soviet Union's international position. In 1924 and in the beginning of 1926, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and many other bourgeois countries ofidoially recognized the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1924, a "Gen eral Treaty between Great Britain and the U,S.S.R." was signed, but the reactionary British bourgeoisie launched a campaign against this, their argument being that "Great Britain had surrendered to Bolshevism."
===== The Program for Building Socialism in the U.S.S.R =====
The process of restoring the national economy of the U.S.8.R. was draw ing to a close. In 1925–1926, agriculture in the U.S,S.R. reached the pre-war level and produced 103 per cent of the pre-war output. The volume of industrial output also approached the pre-war level. But it was not enough for the Land of Soviets, which was building Socialism, merely to restore its economy, merely to reach the pre-war level, for that was the level of a backward and poverty-stricken country. It was necessary to go beyond that.
At the end of April 1926, the Fourteenth Conference of the Party was held. Guided by Lenin's thesis that Socialism could be victorious in one country, the conference passed a resolution which stated that the Party "must exert all efforts to build socialist society in the con viction that this work of construction can be, and certainly will be, successful if we succeed in safeguarding the country against all at tempts at restoration."
In substantiating Lenin's thesis that Socialism could be victo rious in our country, Comrade Stalin repeatedly emphasized that it was necessary to distinguish between two aspects of this question, namely, the domestic and the international aspect.
'The domestic aspect of the question was the relationships between the classes within the country: the country possessed all that was needed to build complete socialist society; the working class, which had established its political dictatorship and had converted the land, factories, mills, banks and means of communication into public prop- erty, could now further socialist construction and, relying on its? alliance with the peasantry, economically rout capitalism within the country.
But there was also an international aspect to the question of the victory of Socialism. For the time being the U.S.S.R. was the only socialist country in the world; it still existed in a capitalist encircle ment, and this was fraught with the danger of capitalist intervention. Complete guarantees against intervention could be provided only by the victory of Socialism on an international scale. Hence, the final victory of Socialism, meaning that it was guaranteed against inter vention, was possible only if the proletarian revolution was victo rious in a number of countries. If the world revolution was delayed, the proletariat of the U.S.S.B. could overcome the economic and technical backwardness of the country and ensure its independence only by its own internal forces and resources, by creating the indus trial basis for Socialism and reconstructing the national economy on socialist lines.
The Fourteenth Conference of the Party emphatically condemned Trotsky's theory that the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. was impossible, and called upon the working class to work with the ut most strain to ensure this victory. In May 1925, Comrade Stalin de livered a report in which, summing up the proceedings of this confer ence, he substantiated and amplified Lenin's teachings regarding the possibility of the victory of Socialism, and formulated the pro gram for the building of Socialism in the following few words: need from fifteen to twenty million industrial proletarians; we need the electrification of the principal regions of our country; we need the organization of agriculture on a co-operative basis; we need a highly developed metal industry. Then we need fear no danger. Then we shall be victorious on an international scale" (Lenin and Stalin, Selected Works ^ Vol. Ill, Russ, ed., p. 27).
The decisions of the Fourteenth Party Conference served as the basis for the proceedings of the Third All-Union Congress of Soviets which opened on May 13, 1925. The congress discussed the following reports: the state of industry; measures to raise and strengthen peas ant farming; agricultural co-operative societies; building up the So viets, and the Red Army. The congress passed a series of measures to improve the work of the Soviets, It also ratified the admission into the U.S.S.R. of the two new Union Republics — ^the Turkmen S-S.R. and the Uzbek S.S.R. and in doing so emphasized that "the entry of the afore-mentioned republics into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is fresh proof that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is indeed a voluntary union of equal nations and a reliable bulwark of the formerly 0 ]jpressed nations" {The Congresses of Soviets of the U.S.S,M. — Decisions and Resolutions, Moscow, 1939, Russ, ed., p. 78).
The congress devoted special attention to the problem of strength ening the defensive capacity of the country and the Red Army. Jn the resolution adopted on the report of M. V. Frunze it emphasized the general strengthening of the international position of the U.S.S.R. and went on to say: "The Third Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics deems it necessary to declare to the work ing people of the Soviet Union and of the whole world that notwith standing the efforts of the Workers' and Peasants' Government, and notwithstanding the treaties and agreements already concluded with a number of countries, the Soviet Union is not guaranteed against attempts on the part of world capital to disturb the peaceful labours of the workers and peasants" {The Congresses of Soviets of the TJ.S.SM . — Decisions and Resolutions, Moscow, 1939, Russ, cd., p. 82).
The congress approved the reform of tlio armed forces of the TT.S.S.R. carried out by the People's Commissariat of Military and Naval Affairs and which helped still further to improve the fighting efficiency of the Red Army and the Red Navy.
In the congrefcs' decision on M* V. Frunze's report the government was instructed to strengthen the defensive might of the country by the following measures:
"a) Secure a corresponding expansion of tlie armaments industry and run all the rest of tlie state industry of the Union in such a way as will in peacetime take into account the needs of wartime; b) improve armaments and saturate the Red Army with them; c) correspondingly improve and build a network of ways of communication — ^luilways, freight and motor traction; d) develop all forms of communication; e) develop horse-breeding, with the object of supplying the needs not only of agriculture, but also of the Red Army, and of its cava by in particular; f) pay profound attention to tiic military training of the entire population. ..." {The Congresses of Soviets of the U.S.S^R , — Decisions and Resolutions, Moscow, 1939, Russ, ed., j)* 83.)
The decisions which the Third Congress of Soviets adopted on Com rade Frunze's report were an important factor in strengthening the defensive capacity of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Comrade Frunze, however, was not destined to carry out this program of mil itary development; he died on October 31, 1925. His death was a severe loss to the Party and to the Soviet people. He was succeeded at the post of People 's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs by that hero of the Civil War and comrade-in-arms of Stalin and Frunze — K. E. Voroshilov.
In December 1926, the Fourteenth Congress ofthe Party was opened. In his report to the congress, Comrade Stalin set the Party the immediate task of transforming our country from an agrarian into an industrial state. The congress approved of the leader's proposal and it resolved: "To ensure for the U.S.S.R. economic independence, which will safeguard the U.S.S.R. against becoming an appendage of ca];)italist world economy, and for this purpose to steer a course to wards the industrialization of the country, the development of the production of means of production. ..."
The Fourteenth Party Congress has gone into the history of the Party and of our country as the Industrialization Congress. In view of the formation of the U S.S.R. the congress decided to rename the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks).
In deciding firmly to steer a course towards industrialization, the congress denounced the bourgeois views of the so-called "new op position" which sought to drag the Party and the working class back — to the path of restoring capitalism. The Zinovievites had secured elec tion as delegates to the congress by downright fraud (at the Party Conference in Leningrad that was held before the congress, they hypo critically voted for the Party line). The congress decided to send to Leningrad a group of its delegates, consisting of Comrades Molotov, Kirov, Voroshilov, Kalinin, Andreyev and others, to explain to the members of the Leningrad Party organization the duplicity which had been practised by their delegates at the Party Congress.
An Extraordinary Conference of the Leningrad Party organiza tion unanimously condemned the hypocritical Zinovievites and elected a new Regional Committee of the Party, headed by S. M. Kirov, under whose leadership the Leningrad Bolsheviks launched a struggle for socialist industrialization.
==== The Difficulties and Successes of Socialist Industrialization ====
===== The U.S.S.R. Becomes an Industrial Country =====
During the period of restoration the task had been to put agriculture on its feet and to restore the existing mills and factories. But these were old enterprises equipped with obsolete machinery. The task now was to re-equip these old plants with up-to-date machinery.
During the period of restoration it was mainly light industry that was developed. The task now was to expand and strengthen heavy industry, without which neither light industry nor agriculture could grow. It was necessary to build a number of new plants and to create new branches of industry that had not existed at all in tsarist Rus sia, Le., to build plants for the manufacture of machines, machine tools, automobiles, chemicals, aircraft and tractors, a new defence industry, etc. The cun*ent task was to bring about the socialist industrialization of the country.
The erection of industrial plants involves huge expenditure. Caj) italist countries, as a rule, build up their industries out of funds obtained from outside, by plundering colonies, by wars of conquest, by foreign credits and loans, and also by exploiting their own workers and peasants. The Land of Socialism could not on principle resort to such sources for its industrialization. There was only oire way open for the proletarian state, the way of the socialist accumulation of in ternal revenues and savings, of industrialization out of the internal resources of the country. The most important source of accumulation was the revenue of nationalized industries, state trade, and also the current funds of credit institutions and savings banks. Wide masses of the working people took up the slogan of the "'fight to effect econ omies." Stern measures were undertaken to eliminate the unproductive expenditure of state and public funds. At the same time the Soviet government permitted no reduction in expenditure on the protection of labour, and prohibited economies to be effected at the expense of the workers.
In capitalist countries industrialization usually starts with the development of light industry. Only after light industry has accumu lated the necessary funds docs the development of heavy industry begin. This process takes a long time; that was why the Communist Party did not take this path. "The Communist Party of our country therefore rejected the ^ordinary' path of industrialization and commenced the industrialization of the country by developing heavy industry" (J. Stalin, "Speech Delivered at an Election Meeting in the Stalin Election District, Moscow, February 9, 1946," Moscow, 1946, p. 16).
The very first year of the Party's course towards industrializa tion produced positive results. In 1926, the year's state grain purchases plan was carried out and the market price of grain dropped. The rate of the chervonets became stabilized. Trade turnover increased. Large scale industry also fulfilled its plan and showed a 40 per cent increase in output, the heavy industry showing an increase of nearly 60 per cent. The metal industry developed with exceptional rapidity; in 1924 its output had been less than half of the pre-war output, but in 1926 it already exceeded that of 1913.
Investments for the re-equipment of old i)lants and the building of new ones amounted to 811 ,000,000 rubles, compared with 385 ,000,000 in the preceding year.
Old plants which had been idle wore restarted, and now plants which had been built by the Soviet government were put into opera tion. In the spring of 1925, the first blast furnace of the Dniepropet rovsk Steel Plant, the largest in the South, which had been idle since 1917, was started. A month later the Karabash Copi)er Smelting Plant in the Urals was started. In the beginning of December 1926, the Shatura district power plant near Moscow, the largest peat-fuel power plant in the world, was opened. During the May Day festival in 1926, two large hydroelectric power stations were opened, one in Tashkent and one in Erevan.
In July 1926, traffic was started on the first electric railway in the U.S.S.R., that connecting Baku with the oil fields and the town-* ship of Sabunchi; and the foundation stone was officially laid of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant,
The enormous increase, xmder the leadership of the Party, in the activities and constructive initiative of the masses resulted in rapid economic successes. In September 1926, the output of Soviet industry for the first time exceeded the pre-war level. Beginning with the new economic year of 1926-1927, the industries of the U.S.S.Rf. produced more than in tsarist Russia at the peak of her economic development, viz., in 1913. Agricultural output and the national income of the Land of Soviets reached the pre-war level.
When the first decade of the existence of the Soviet State was reached the results of socialist industrialization were already palpable. Over a billion rubles had been invested in capital construction and a number of new large plants had been put into operation. The build ing of new giants of socialist industry was commenced. In December 1926, the Volkhov Electric Power Plant, the first-born of Soviet electrification, was officially opened. The building of this plant was begun on Lenin's proposal as far back as 1918. In 1927, the Trans caucasian district hydroelectric plant, which provided power for Tbi lisi, the capital of Soviet Georgia, was opened, the Red Putilov Plant turned out its first twenty-one tractors, and the AMO Automobile Plant (now the Stalin Plant) in Moscow turned out its first ten motor trucks. In the same year the construction was begun of the Turksib Railway which, running through the waterless desert of Kazakhstan, was to unite Siberia with Central Asia. Thus, all over the country intense work was in progress in building new factories, mills, mines, power stations and railways.
The proportion of industry to the entire national economy rose to 42 per cent and reached the pre-war level. Still more rapid was the growth of large-scale socialist industry, the output of which was 18 per cent higher than the preceding year. This was a record in crease, such as the large-scale industry of the most advanced capitalist countries never reached even in the period of their highest develop ment.
The jubilee session of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. held on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the victory of the October Revolution took a decision to introduce a 7-hour day in industry.
===== The Successes of Industrialization in the National Republics =====
Very considerable sncccss was achieved by various non-Russian national republics. In the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, large scale industry was quickly restored and agriculture was put firmly on its feet. Progress was also made in national culture. Two million school children received instruction in the Ukrainian language, and more Ukrainian books were published in two years than had been publishi'd in the entire century before the Great October Socialist Revolution.
Similar economic and cultural progress was achieved in the Bye lorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Before the October Revolution there was not a single technical school or higher educational estab lishment in Byelorussia, but in 1927, there were already four higher educational establishments and thirty technical schools. Schoolchildren received instruction in their native language. The Jewish language became officially recognized in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Repub lic. Over 100,000 Jewish working people found employment in industry and in agriculture. These achievements were the result of the policy of industrializing the formerly backward non-Russian regions.
Great success in the building of Socialism was also achieved in the Transcaucasian reimblios. Uniting their efforts in the task of reorganizing their national economy, the numerous nationalities of Transcaucasia established such a reign of pcac^e among themselves as they had never known before.
In the period of 1025-J927 there was carried out in the young republics of Central Asia an agrarian and water-resources reform which abolished the survivals of feudal relationships in the utilization of the land and water resources, and stimulated the development of the dekhan (peasant) farms which became the principal suppliers of So viet cotton for the textile mills in the U.S.S.R. Over 100,000 dekhan families (possessing little or no land) received a total of over 300,000 hectares of land which had been taken from the landlords and bai (kulaks).
===== The Provocative Conduct of the Imperialists and Their Trotskyite Agents =====
Socialist industrialization encountered the op position of the capitalist elements in the country, who were supported by foreign governments. In the endeavour to frustrate, or at least to hinder, the socialist industrialization of the U.S.S.R., the imperial ists tried to drag her into another war.
In February 1927, Austen Chamberlain, the British Foreign Sec retary, sent the government of the U.S.S.R. a note demanding the cessation of anti-British propaganda and threatening to abrogate the trade agreement and break off diplomatic relations. At this time also the Chinese militarists made a bandit raid on tlie U.S.S.R. Em bassy in Peking. In May the police raided the promises of the Soviet trade agencies in London. In retaliation to this gross violation of the trade agreement, the Soviet government stopped sending new orders for goods to England. Chamberlain broke cfE diplomatio relations with the U.S.S.Br. in the expectation that this would be followed by a rupture of relations between other capitalist countries and the U.S.S.B,, and the isolation of the latter.
In answer to this act of war provocation and attempt to institute an economic blockade against the U.S.S.R., the workers appealed to the Soviet government to issue a loan. The first Industrialization Loan in the sum of 200,000,000 rubles, was subscribed in a very short space of time.
The Aviation and Chemical Society founded in January 1927 issued an appeal for funds to build an aircraft squadron of the Red Air Fleet to be named "Our Answer to Chamberlain." This appeal met with a warm res])onso among wide masses of the people.
The imperialists, however, continued their acts of provocation. On June 7, 1927, a Wliiteguard killed the Soviet ambassador in War saw, Voikov, and the Polish rulers took this assassin under their pro tection.
Within the U.S.S.R. the agents of imperialism plotted to assas sinate leading members of Party and Soviet bodies. Several indus trial plants and army stores were set on foe.
The intensification of the class struggle in the country and the deterioration in the relations between the U.S.S.R. and the capital ist countries encouraged the Trotskyites to launch a new attack upon the general line of the Party. In 1926, the remnants of all the defeated factional groups formed what was called an "anti -Party bloc" headed by Trotsky, and that year became a secret agency of the British In telligence Service.
In the endeavoui' to disrupt the alliance between the working class and the basic mass of the peasantry, the enemies of the prole tarian dictatorship demanded that higher taxes be imposed uj)on the middle peasants. The Trotskyite provocateurs tried to induce the masses to believe that it was not worth while defending the U.S.S.R. because, so they said, the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. was impossible anyhow.
The Trotskyites organized an underground party which stood for the restoration of capitalism. They had their leading central bodies and secret printing plants, formed secret anti-Soviet groups, and enlisted in their ranks the remnants of the enemies of the people who had been expelled from the Party, On the Tenth Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution the Trotskyites and Zinovievites tried to organize anti-Soviet demonstrations in the streets of Moscow and Leningrad, In November 1027, the Bolshevik Party expelled the traitors Trotsky and Zinoviev from its ranks.
Characterizing the international position of the U.S.S.R. at the end of 1927, Comrade Stalin said: "iP/ic growth of interventionist tend encies in the cam'p of the imferialisis and the danger of loar {against the U.S,S.B,) is one of the main facts of the •present sitmtion^^ {Polit ical Report of the Gentral Committee to the Fifteenth Congress of the G.P.S.U.[B.}, Moscow, 1936, Russ, ed., p. 13).
The government and the Party called upon all the working people to display increased vigilance and to wage a relentless struggle against the enemies of the proletarian dictatorship. In 1927, a "Defence Week" was held throughout the country, the watchword being "In the struggle for peace strengthen the defences of the Land of Soviets." The working class demonstrateii its readiness to defend its socialist homeland. In the capitalist countries of Europe mass demonstrations and meetings of working people were also held to protest against the threat ening intervention.
While exposing the hostile designs of the imperialists, the Soviet government firmly pursued a peace policj^ and strove to improve relations with a number of capitalist countries. In the autumn of 1927, a trade agreement was concluded with Latvia, a treaty of neutrality and a trade agreement were concluded with Iran, and a convention permitting Japanese to fish in Soviet waters, and several concessions agreements were concluded with Japan. The economic ties between the U.S.S.R. and capitalist countries were strengthened in 1927.
Amid continuous acts of provocation and threats of war, the So viet government remained calm and determined to fight for the cause of peace to the end.
==== The First Five-Year Plan ====
====== Steering a Course Towards the Collectivization of Agriculture ======
The Tenth Anniversary of the existence of the proletarian dictator ship was marked by the achievement of considerable success in the socialist industrialization of the country; but agriculture, and grain farming in particular, still lagged very much behind. Individual peas ant farming could not achieve high productivity as it was unable to employ machines, fertilizers and the achievements of science and technique.
The raising of the entire national economy of the U.S.S.E. was hindered by the scattered character and backwardness of agriculture. The amount of grain available for the market was lower than before the war, the landlords, the former big suppliers of grain, having been liquidated. The breakup of peasant farms into small farms which began in 1918, continued through all the years of the revolution. The small peasant farms became hardly more than self-supplying. Al though the output of grain in 1927 was almost on the level of 1913, the amount of grain that reached the market was only a third of the pre-war quantity of marketable grain. The kulaks, whom the Soviet government was restricting and dislodging, sold only 2,080,000 tons of grain as against 10,400,000 tons which they sold before the revo lution. In 1927, the collective farms and state farms placed only about 560,000 tons of grain on the market. The grain problem facing the national economy was one of the utmost acuteness. To solve this prob lem it was necessary to eliminate the backwardness of agriculture, to supply it with machines and organize it on the basis of large-scale production; but this could be done only on the basis of the collective cultivation of the soil.
This was the solution jDroposod by Comrade Stalin in the report he delivered at the Fifteenth Congress of the G.P.S.U.(B.) which was held ill December 1927, Ho said: "The way out is to turn the small and scattered peasant farms into large united farms based on the common cultivation of the soil, to introduce oolku^tivo cultivation of the soil on the be sis of a new and higher tec]im(pie. , . . There is no other way out'* (Political Report of the Oeninil Committee to the Fifteenth Congress of the G.P.S.U.lB,], Moscow, 1930, Russ, od., p.26).
The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) has gone into history as the Collectivization of Agriculture Congress. It adopted a plan for extending and strengthening the network of collective farms, and issued directives to develop further the offensive against the ku laks. The congress also passed a resolution calling for the drafting of the First Five-Year Plan for the development of the national economy.
Commenting on the importance of this transition to a Five-Year Plan, Comrade Stalin said; "Our plans are not forecast plans, not guesswork plans, but directive plans, which are binding upon our lead ing bodies, and which define the trend of our futnre economic develop ment on a coantrg-wide (Political Report of the Central Committee to the Fifteenth Congress of the Moscow, 193G, Russ, ed., p. 40).
===== The Offensive Against the Kulaks =====
A start was made on the First Five-Year Plan in the autumn of 1928 in the midst of an intense ola^s struggle. Taking advantage of the grain dilhcultios, the kulaks did everything to sabotage the state purchase of grain. In conformity with the directives of the Fifteenth Congress, the Party launched a determined offensive against the kulaks. In retaliation to their re fusal to soil their suiplus stocks of grain to the state at fixed prices, emergency laws were passed by which the surplus stocks of the kulaks wore confiscated by order of a court. The poorcT peasants were granted additional rebates and the right to receive 25 per cent of the grain that was confiscated from the kulaks. These measures isolated the kulaks and their resistance was broken.
The bourgeois specialists also greatly inteiiKsified their opposi tion to the Soviet State. In 192S, a sabotage organization of bourgeois specialists was discovered in the Shakhty coal field region. These sa boteurs operated on the instructions of the former mine owners, White guard emigres and foreign capitalists, and set out to ruin the coal industry of the U.S.S.R, They wrecked mines and factories, organized fires and explosions, wrecked machinery, caused roof falls in miiaos, and did everything to worsen the coiaditions of the miners in order to rouse their discontent. The wreckers were tried and received the punishment they deserved.
The Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party called upon all Party organizations and all the workers to learn the lesson of the Shakhty case and to develop self-criticism on a wids scale in order to reveal tlie deficiencies in the work of economic and Soviet bodies and organizations. At the same time Comrade Stalin pointed out that Bolshevik business executives must themselves become experts in matters of production so that wreckers from among the old bourgeois specialists should not be able to deceive them. The Party and the Soviet government took measures to improve the training of young specialists, and thousands of capable and devoted men and women from the ranks of the working class were sent to study.
The Party's offeisive against the kulaks evoked the open defence of them by the Bakliarin-Rykov grouji. The Bukharinites demanded the repeal of the emergency laws against the kulaks and most strongly opposed the course taken by the Party aimed at the collectivization of the countryside.
They also opposed industrialization, and the creation of heavy industry in particular, and demanded that the funds assigned for heavy industry should be transferred to light industry.
The Party sternly rebuffed the Bights and denounced them as agents of the kulaks in the Party. Comrade Stalin said: . The
triumph of the Bight deviation in our Party would unleash the forces of capitalism, undermine the revolutionary positions of the proletariat and increase tlic chances of restoring capitalism in our country" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 233).
===== A Year of Great Change =====
In April 1929, the Sixteenth Conference of the O.P.S.U.(B.) endorsed the First Five-Year Plan which had been drawn up under the direction of Comrade Stalin.
This Five-Year Plan provid I cd for capital investments in the national economy, in the period of 1928-1933, amounting to 64,600,000,000 rubles. Of this sum, 19,500,000,000 rubles were to be invested in in dustry, including electrifica tion, 10,000,000,000 rubles in the transport system and 23,200,000,000 rubles in agri culture. This was a plan to equip the entire national economy of the U.S.S.R. with up-to-date technique.
The enormous tasks set by the Five-Year Plan roused the workers to new heights of labour enthusiasm and evoked a widespread wave of socialist emulation. Workers proclaimed themselves shock brigad ers of socialist labour and organized shook brigades in the factories. The workers and collective farmers not only fulfilled but more than fulfilled the plans proposed by the government; they also advanced counter-plans in excess of the government's proposals. A change took place in the attitude of people towards work, which from a compul sory duty began to turn, as Comrade Stalin has said, into "a matter of honour, a matter of glory, a matter of valour and heroism,"
Gigantic industrial construction was carried on all over the country. The building of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station (Dniepro ges), which was begun in 1927, was vigorously proceeded with. Where the rooky rapids had for ages prevented the passage of ships, a huge dam was built 760 metres long and 60 metros high. The water level was raised, the dangerous rapids were submerged and the Dnieper was converted into a navigable river along its whole length. The power of the waterfall was utilized to set up a huge hydroelectric plant. Intensive operations were conducted in building a giant steel plant on Mt, Magnitnaya, in the South Urals. For ages this mountain had concealed just below the surface of the ground enormous deposits of high-grade ore which could now be utilized by the vast new Soviet plant. In the Donetz Basin work was commenced on the erection of the Kramatorsk and Gorlovka Steel Plants, and on the reconstruction of the Lugansk Locomotive Works. N'ew collieries were opened and new blast furnaces were erected. The Urals Machine Building Works and the Berezniki and Solikamsk Chemical Works were midor construction; work was developed on the erection of large automobile plants in Moscow and Gorky and of gigantic tractor plants and harvester-combine plants in the Volga Region and in the Ukraine, In the course of eleven months a huge tractor plant rose up in the steppe near Stalingrad. In building the Dnieper Power Station and the Stalingrad Tractor Works the workers beat world records in productiv ity of labour. The enormous scope of the new industrial construction, and the heroism displayed by the millions of the working class, W'ere without parallel in human history.
The work of building up heavy industry was directed by the vet eran Bolshevik and pupil of Lenin and Stalin, G. K. Orjonikidze (1886-1937). During the Civil War, Sergo Orjonikidze was one of the creators and organizers of the Red Army, and during the years of the upbuilding of Socialism he became one of the greatest organizers of victory on the front of socialist construction. His uncompromising hostility towards all the enemies of Socialism, his strict adherence to principle and pursuit of lofty ideals, his straightforwardness and sterling honesty and his cordial, plain and solicitous attitude to wards people, won for him the profound love and respect of all work ing people. The First Five-Year Plan and its execution cannot be separated from the enormous work performed by Sergo Orjonikidze, whom the workers and business executives called the "command er-in-chief of heavy industry."
The wave of labour enthusiasm among the masses of the workers was followed by a wave of enthusiasm in the building of collective farms. An important part in swinging the masses of the peasants over to collective farming was played by the state farms and the ma chine and tractor stations.
In the spring of 1929, the Council of Labour and Defence adopted a decision to set up machine and tractor stations on a mass scale and vigorous measures were taken to carry out this decision. Peasants came to the state farms and machine and tractor stations, and after seeing the tractors at work asked for assistance in uniting in collective farms so as to be able to cultivate the soil with the aid of up-to-date machinery. This started the mass collective-farm movement.
Whereas in 1928, the area cultivated by collective farms amounted to 1,390,000 hectares, in 1929, it amounted to 4,262,000 hectares. That year the state farms and collective farms produced over 6,400,000 tons of grain of which 2,080,000 tons were available for the market. In 1929, the peasants joined the collective farms not individually, as had been the case hitherto, but in whole villages and districts. The middle peasants had joined the collective farms. In North Caucasus, in the Ukraine and in the Middle and Lower Volga Regions, entire districts became collectivized. This was the beginning of solid col lectivization.
The year 1929 has gone into the history of our country as "the year • of great change.'* It was signalized by sweeping victories for Social ism in industry and in agriculture, the swing of the middle peasants towards collective farming, and the beginning of tlie establishment of collective farms on a mass scale.
== U.S.S.R.—Land of Socialism ==
=== The U.S.S.R. in the Period of the Struggle to Collectivize Agriculture (1930–1934) ===
==== The Struggle for the Socialist Reorganization of Peasant Farming ====
===== Further Provocation of War =====
Tho successes achieved in so cialist industrialization facilitated the Soviet government's struggle for peace and against new acts of war provocation. The fact that the capitalist countries which encircled the Soviet Union continued active ly to prepare for war against the Land of Socialism made it urgently necessary still further to develop large-scale industry and to strength en the military might and defensive capacity of the U.S,S.E.
In 1929 an acute world economic crisis broke out, as a result of which 24,000,000 workers were thrown out of work. The industrial crisis was interwoven with an agrarian crisis, which gravely affected tens of millions of peasants. The bourgeoisie sought a way out of the crisis by suppressing the working class, on the one hand, and by driv ing towards another imperialist war for the redivision of the world, on the other.
Again the bourgeois press all over the world raised a howl that ^'Bolshevism is the enemy of civilization." The columns of the venal newspapers were filled with scurrilous legends about "Soviet dump ing," and "forced labour in the U.S.S.R." The Pope proclaimed an other "crusade" against the Soviet Union. The imperialists again tried to organize an economic boycott of the proletarian state. The govern ments of the United States, France, and Rumania passed laws impos ing a ban on imports from the Soviet Union. A new series of provoc ative anti-Soviet acts was perpetrated, one of the gravest of which was the confiiot on the Chinese Eastern Railway, organized by the counter-revolutionary groups in Manchuria in obedience to the or ders of the imperialist countries. On July 10, 1929, Whiteguard Chi nese forces seized the Chinese Eastern Railway, and shelled and ma chine-gunned Soviet frontier villages. The Soviet government called upon the central govermnent of China and the Manchurian authorities to settle the conflict in a pe«aceful way and demanded that the former situation on the Chinese Eastern Railway be restored. The Chinese government rejected the Soviet Union's legitimate demands, whereupon the Soviet government broke ol¥ dijiloniatic and commer cial relations with China and took a series of measures to protect the Soviet frontiers in the Far East. In August 1920, the Special Far Eastern Army was formed by order of Iv. E. Voroshilov, the People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. In October and November 1929, the Special Far Eastern Army struck a number of crushing blows at the Whiteguard Chinese forces. Only then was an agreement signed by which the Chinese Eastern Railwaj?^ was returned to the Soviet Union.
This turn of affairs sobered the advocates of intervention. The British government resumed diplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R, The attempt to introduce an economic boycott of the U.S.S.R. also failed. In the beginning of 1930, the Soviet government signed new trade agreements with Great Britain, Italy and Turkey.
Thus, the Soviet Union repelled this new attack of international imperialism and ensured for herself the opportunity of peacefully continuing the work of building Socialism.
===== The Elimination of the Kulaks as a Class =====
The succossc^s achieved in socialist industrialization brought tiearor the decisive clash with the last capitalist class in the U.S.S.lV — the kulaks. The growth of socialist industry and of the agricultural co-operative movement, which gradually accustomed the peasants to collective farming, and the resolute struggle that was waged against the kulaks in 1S23 and 1929, prepared the ground for the transition to solid collectivization.
The socialist reorganization of agricultme in the U.S.S.R. was the most difficult and complicated task the revolution had to face. In 1929, there were in the U.S.S.R. 25,000,000 individual peasant farms, of which 35 per cent were poor peasant farms, 60 per cent were middle peasant farms and 4 to 5 per cent kulak farms. Although the number of poor peasants had been reduced to half the number that had existed in pre-war times, capitalism had not been uprooted in the rural districts, for small individual farming still predominated.
Up to 1929 the Soviet State had pursued a policy of restricting and dislodging the kulaks. It imposed higher taxes upon them, compelled them to sell their grain to the state at fixed prices, kept the size of kulak farms within definite limits by the law which restricted the rent ing of land, reduced the scale of kulak farming by means of tho law which restricted the hiring of labour on individual peasant farms, etc.
At the end of 1929, in view of the growth of collective farms and state farms, the Soviet State abandoned the policy of restricting and dislodg ing the kulaks for tho policy of eliminating tho kulaks as a class.
The 'vvatehword concerning the elimination of the kulaks as a class on tho basis of solid collectivization, was issued by Comrade Stalin on December 27, 1929, and incori)orated in a special resolution of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.(B.) dated January 5, 1930, enti tled: "Tho Rate of Collectivization and State Measures to Assist the Development of Collective Farms." Taking into account the differ ent degrees of ripeness for collectivization in the various regions, this resolution provided for three groups of regions to carry through collecti vization at dififarent speeds. The first group included the most important grain regions — ^North Caucasus and the Middle and Lower Volga Regions — ^where the largest number of tractors were available, where there were the largest number of state farms, and where most experience had been gained in fighting the kulaks. This group was to complete the process of collectivization in the spring of 1931. The second group, which included the grain regions of the Ukraine, the Central Black Earth Region, Siberia, the Urals and Kazakhstan, was to complete the process of collectivization in the spring of 1932. For the other regions — ^the Moscow Region, Transcaucasia, Central Asia and others, the completion of the process of collectivization was put off until 1933, i.e., to the end of tho Five-Year Plan period. On the basis of this resolution tho Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.(B.) and the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., in February 1930, adopted a decision to prohibit the employment of hired labour in individual peasant farms and to grant the local Soviets in the districts where solid collectivization had been accomplished the right to take all measures necessary to combat the kulaks, including that of confiscating kulak lands and of deporting the kulaks from the given districts.
In a decision it adopted on January 5, 1930, the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.{B.) laid it down that the main type of collective farm to be established was to be the agricultural artel, in which the prin cipal means of production are collectivized.
At the same time the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U.(B.) deemed it necessary to accelerate the erection of plants for the manu facture of tractorsjharvester combines and other agricultural machin ery required for large-scale farming. To cover expenditure on surveying of tho land and on other farm measures, tho government, in 1929-1930, advanced the collective farms credits to the amount of 500,000,000 rubles. The kulaks were expropriated in the same way as the capitalists in industry had been expropriated in 1918, but the means of production owned by the kulaks passed not to the state, but to the collective farms. This was a most profoimd revolution.
"The distinguishing feature of this revolution is that it was ac complished /rom ahove^i on the initiative of the state, and directly supported from below by the millions of jieasants, who were fighting to throw off kulak bondage and to live in freedom in the collective farms.
"This revolution, at one blow, Holved three fuiulameiital 3)roblems of socialist construction:
"a) It eliminated the most miuiorons class of exploiters in our conntiy, the kulak class, the mainstay of ca])italist restoration;
"b) It transfciTed tlie most numerous labouring class in our coun try, the iieasant class, from the path of individual farming, wliich breeds cajiitalism, to the path of co-operative, collective, Socialist farming;
"c) It furnished the Soviet regime with a Socialist base in agri culture — ^the most extensive and vitally necessary, yet least devel oped, branch of national economy.
"This destroyed the last mainsprings of the restoration of capital ism within the country and at the same time created now and decisive conditions for the building up of a Socialist economic system" (Hu* tory of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union \_Bolshev%k8'\^ Short Course, Moscow, 1945, p. 305).
The kulaks waged a fierce struggle against the collect ivizatiou of agriculture. They killed active x>roponents of tiio collective farms, set fire to collective-farm projierty, and urged the peasants to slaughtei* their cattle before joining the collective farms; but all their atlemjits to turn back the wheel of history utterly faiUnl. The elimination of the kulaks as a class on the basis of sulitl collectivization was effected with the outright sup])ort of the poor and middle 3 )easants. But this does not at all im])ly that the process was accomplislied without all sorts of difficulties.
The Party and the government had to overcome enormous difficul ties. Por example, some Soviet administrators and Party workers, instead of x)atiently explaining tho Party's policy to those individual farmers who still hesitated to join the collective farms, resolved to complete the process of collectivization at tlio earliest date without any regard for local conditions. They violated tlie Bolshevik principle that collective farms were to be formed on a voluntary basis, and in some cases they applied the kulak-elimination measures against middle peasants and even against poor peasants. It transpired later that these "distortions of policy" had been deliberately practised by the Bukharinites and Trotskyites in order to turn the peasants against collectivization and to prevent its successful advance. These gross and pernicious distortions threatened to discredit tho collective-farm movement in the eyes of the peasants and to disrui)t tho alliance between the working class and the peasantry.
On March 2, 1930, Comrade Stalin published in Pravda an articlc^ entitled "Dizzy with Success," in which he urged tho irecessity of taking measures to put a stop to distortions of ])olicy in tho oolloctivo farm movement. In another article entitled: "Reply to Collcctive Parm Comrades," Comrade Stalin explained the essence of the Party line in collective-farm development and the importance of the collective farms for the working peasantr}^. He emphasized that the establish ment of collective farms must be on a purely voluntary basis, and reminded his readers that the main link in the collective-farm move ment was the agricultural artel. After this, the peasants who had left the collective farms as a result of the pigheaded distortions of the Party line began to join them again.
===== The Successes of the Socialist Offensive =====
On June 26, 1930, the Sixteenth Congress of the C.P.S.TJ.(B.) was opened. This congress lias gone into history as the congress of the sweeping offensive of So cialism along the whole front. In the preceding stages of the struggle for Socialism the Party had conducted the socialist offensive on sep arate sectors (trade, industry, collective -farm development). Now a general socialist offensive was launched for the purpose of tearing up the very deepest-grown roots of capitalism. As the resolution of the Sixteenth Party Congress stated: '-The task set by Lenin of convert ing '^NEP Russia' into "^Socialist Russia' is being carried out."
The Sixteenth Party Congress summed up the first results of the socialist offensive. Industry had reached a level nearly twice as high as the pre-war level. For the first time in the history of our country industrial output constituted more than half and agricultural outjmt less than half of the total output of the country. The collectivization plan was overfulfilled. On May 1, 1930, collectivization in the prin cipal grain regions already embraced 40 to 50 per cent of the peasant farms and the total sown area of the collective farms amounted to 36,000,000 hectares. During the three years the amount of produce available for the market from collective farms increased more than 40-fold.
The collective-farm peasantry had been converted into a genuine and firm bulwark of the Soviet State. The U.S.S.R. had entered the period of Socialism; Socialism had triumphed not only in industry but also in agriculture.
The successes of the socialist offensive were achieved in a struggle against the furious resistance of the moribund classes. In their struggle against the collective farms the kulaks resorted to new tactics in the effort to disrupt the collective farms from within. They wormed their way into the collective farms, some even got themselves elected to the management boards, or obtained jobs as business managers, team lead ers, bookkeepers, stablemen, etc. Employing the tactics of "quiet sapping" they tried to undermine labour discipline in the collec tive farms, spoiled tractors and agricultural machinery, infected the horses with glanders, mange and other diseases, piffered the col lective-farm crops and so forth. By these means they wanted to fright en the peasants and undermine their confidence in the collective farms .
But the best of the collective farmers staunchly defended the cause of collective farming. Self-Bcacrilicing fighters for the collective faring were also to be found among schoolchildren and Young Pioneers. Thus in the Urals, in 1032, a twelve-year-old Young Pioneer, Pavlik Morozov, exposed his own father, tl\e chairman of tho village Soviet, as an ac complice of tlie kulaks. Tho kulaks then ambushed Pavlik in the forest and killed him.
The Soviet authorities took resolute measures against the sabotage and wrecking work of tho kulaks; tho latter were cleaned out of the collective farms which they had managed to join, wore deported for wi*ecking work, and so forth. On August 7, 1932, a law was passed for the protection of socialist property. A plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the O.P.S.U. (B.) tliat was held in January 1933, re solved to set up Political Departments at Machine and Tractor Stations and in state farms. During the two years that these Departments existed they did an enormous amount of work in training leading collective farm personnel, consolidating the collective farms and purging them of kulak elements and wreckers.
The underground counter-revolutionary organizations which found . no support among tho masses and acted as agents for the foreign im perialists tried to take advantage of the intensification of tho class struggle in tlje rural districts. In 1930, tho State Political Administra tion discovered a counter-rovolutionaTy oi-ganization which called itself the Industrial Party and consisted of a group of engineer-sabo teurs who worn fulfilling tlie instructions of foreign capitalists. Tho members of the Industrial Party tried to cause disruption and chaos in industry and to prepare the ground for intervention, which their foreign masters had timed for 1930. Operating in contact with the Industrial Party was the kulak so-called Toiling Peasants ' Party which, led by So cialist Revolutionaries working underground, conducted wrecking and counter-revolutionary activities in the field of agriculture. A Menshevik sabotage organization, working in alliance with the above-mentioned counter-revolutionary organizations, was operating in the higher eco nomio and planning bodies. In September 1930, a gang of miscreants was discovered who made food supplies the sphere of their wrecking work; they vented their hatred iipon the Soviet people by deliberately spoiling and poisoning meat, fish, vegetables, etc., in order to spread starvation and thus rouse discontent among the working people. In 1930-1932 several counter-revolutionary groups of Bukharinites and Trotsky ites were discovered. It transpired later that all these groups were branches of a joint Trotskyite-Bnkharinite espionage, wrecker, sabotage and terrorist organization which was working deep underground. The loaders and members of this organization were ex posed and convicted by the proletarian court in 1936-1938.
A great part in defeating the enemies of Socialism was played by V. M. Molotov, who, in 1930, was the head of the Soviet government. After the victory of the October Revolution^ Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov — faithful disciple of Lenin^ and Stalin's close collab orator — became one of the foremost organizers and builders of the Soviet State. He was unswerving and uncompromising in carrying out the Leninist political line, strengthening the Soviet State and ensur ing the successful building of Socialism.
===== The Five-Year Plan in Four Years =====
The next task that faced the Party and the Soviet State after heavy industry, and the machine building industry in particular, had been built up, was to reorganize all branches of the national economy on the basis of new, up-to-date equipment. Technique acquired decisive importance, but many busi ness executives underrated its role in the period of reconstruction and did not concern themselves with problems of the technique of production as they regarded this as the business of the experts.
In a speech he delivered at the First All-Union Conference of Man agers of Socialist Industry in February 1931 , Comrade Stalin condemned this pernicious underrating of technique. "We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries," he said. "We must make good this <listance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 356). He went on to say that the Bolsheviks must master technique, that in the period of recon struction technique decides everything. In answer to the objection that it was dificult to master technique, Comrade Stalin said: "There are no fortresses which Bolsheviks cannot capture."
Following Comrade Stalin's advice, the Party and the working class began to promote and train new, Soviet experts. Gradually a new, Soviet industrial-technical intelligentsia came into being, drawn from the ranks of the working class and the peasantry, an in telligentsia that was vitally interested in achieving success in socialist construction.
The First Five-Year Plan for the development of the national economy was to have been carried out in the period from 1928 to 1933, but the workers advanced the watchword: "The Five-Year Plan in Four Years." The workers in the factories and the peasants in the collective farms examined the possibilities of speeding up the fulfilment of their plans, of cutting down expenditure and of increas ing productivity of labour. Factory challenged factory, work team challenged work team, and workers challenged one another individu ally, to engage in socialist emulation. Teams and individuals under took to work like shook workers. The first "shock brigades" came from the ranks of the Young Communist League. The workers and collective farmers began to work in a new way and steadily increased the productivity of labour.
An enormous role in placing the whole of economic activity on a new footing was played by the six conditions for success in industry which Comrade Stalin enumerated at a conference of business executives held in June 1931.
The first condition advanced by Comrade Stalin for the successful development of industry was that industrial undertakings must reoi'uit manpower in an organized way by concluding contracts with collec tive farms. The second condition was that an end be put to the fluctua tion of manpower, for this was having a serious effect upon production. He further proposed to do away with "wage equilization^' and to givti the principal categories of workers an inducement to remain at their particular factories by properly organizing wages and improving their living conditions. The third condition for the successful develop ment of industry, in Comrade Stalin's view, was properly to organize labour, to do away with "depersonalization" and make every employee strictly and personally responsible for the task with which he is en trusted. Comrade Stalin's fourth condition was that resolute steps be taken to train an industrial and technical intelligentsia from the ranks of the working class, while rank-and-file workers with initiative and organizing ability must more boldly be promoted to loading posts. His fifth condition was a change in attitude towards the en gineers and technicians of the old school; he urged greater attention to their needs, more solicitude for their welfare and a bolder attitude in enlisting their co-operation. His sixth and last condition for the development of industry was the introduction and enforcement of strict accounting and the development of capital accumulation within industry itself, by mobilizing internal resources and eliminating mismanagement .
In concluding his historic sxieech at the conference of business executives Comrade Stalin said; "What makes our production j^lan real is the millions of working people who are creating a new life. What makes our plan real is the living people, it is you and I, our will to work, our readiness to work in the now way, our determination to carry out the plan" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninimi, Moscow, 1947, p. 377).
===== The Results of the First Five-Year Plan =====
The execution of the Five-Year Plan in four years called for a very rapid rate of devel opment of industry. In 1931, the third year of the Five-Year Plan, which was called the "third decisive year," over a thousand new plants were planned to be built. The capital invested in industry and agriculture in that year amoimted to 17,000,000,000 rubles, compared with 10,000,000,000 in 1930. Traffic was started on the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, 1,500 kilometres long, which ran through the steppes of Kazakhstan where only recently goods were carried solely by horses and camels. In February 1931, the first Soviet tractor was put out at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, and in August the Kharkov Tractor Plant turned out its first tractors. The first Soviet blooming mill was built at the Izhevsk Plant, and the Eed Putilov Works completed its five-year tractor program in three years. The AMO (now the Stalin) Automobile Plant, built on the site of the old automobile assembly workshops, started production, and the erection of the Gorky Automobile Plant was also completed. In that year the harvester-combine ];)lant in Saratov also started production.
A new iron and steel centre had sprung up in the eastern part of the Land of Soviets. The first mine was already in operation at Mib. Magnit naya, pre})arations were being made to start new blast furnaces, and the socialist city of Magnitogorsk was rapidly taking shape and grow ing. The first section of the huge Kuznetsk Iron and Steel Plant began to operate.
New large-scale building projects were put into operation, such as the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal in Karelia, and in Moscow plans were being drawn up for the construction of an underground railway.
The "third decisive year" also witnessed an unprecedented growth of the collective farms. In the principal grain regions, the collective farms already united four-fifths, and in the other grain regions more than half, of the peasant farms; 200,000 collective farms and 4,000 state farms sowed two-thirds of the total sown area in the country. The number of tractors in operation in 1931 rose to 125,000. The collective farms and state farms became the principal producers of grain and agricultural raw materials. This was an enormous victory for Socialism in the rural districts.
The fourtli year of the Five-Year Plan was called the "fourth, culminating year." It gave an unprecedented impetus to socialist emulation. In May 1932, Nikita Izotov, a coal hewer at Gorlovka, having mastered to perfection the technique of coal production, ful filled his plan 10-fold. Izotov shared his experience with the best minors in the Donetz Basin and soon the Izotov movement spread over the whole coimtry.
In the "fourth, culminating year" the gigantic Dnieper Power Plant project was completed and in October of that year, 1932, the entire country celebrated the birth of this giant first-born of the Five Year Plan.
In 1932, vigorous construction work was carried on in the remote taiga, on the banks of the river Amur. Here came many thousands of Young Communist Leaguers who, under the most difficult conditions, set to work with tremendous enthusiasm to build a shipyard and a now socialist city that was named Komsomolsk (Young Communist League City).
Thus, enthusiastic, intense and tireless building activities were proceeding all over the country. During the years of the fulfilment oi the Five-Year Plan 2,400 new plants were built . A number of extreme ly important branches of industry that were created, such as tractor and automobile production, an up-to-date chemical industry, machine-building, and aircraft production, etc., were quite new in Russia, The output of electric power, oil, and coal increased immensely. A number of large power plants of over 100,000 kw. capacity werc^ started. The Soviet Union was transformed from an agrarian into an industrial country.
As a result of the execution of the First Five-Year Plan, by the heroic efforts of the working class led by the Party of Lenin and Stalin, the foundation was laid of socialist economy. This brought about tremendous changes in the material conditions of the working people. Unemployment was totally abolished and the working people of the U.S.S.E. had now no fears for the morrow.
In the rural districts a new, collective-farm system was built. At the end of 1932, the collective farms united over 60 per cent of the peasant farms in the country and accounted for over 70 per cent of the sown area. In the principal grain regions 80 to 90 per cent of the total peasant farms were already united in collective farms,
The rural districts were supplied with tractors, harvester combines and the most up-to-date agricultural machinery. Agriculture in the U.S.S.R., equipped with the most up-to-date machinery was now conducted on a scale unequalled in any other country in the world. The oollectivo farms destroyed the basis of class exploitation and poverty in the countryside. As Comrade Stalin expressed it, the coun tryside had ceased to be a stepmother to the peasants. The collective farms brought security into the lives of the former jyoov and middle peasants. The collective farms had become strong organizationally, economically and politically.
An imj)ortant factor in strengthening the collective farms was the First All-Union Congress of Collective-Farm Shock Workers, held in February 1933, at which Comrade Stalin issued the slogan: "Make the collective farms Bolshevik farms and all the collective farmers prosperous," Indicating to the collective farmers how this prosperity could be achieved, Comrade Stalin said: "Of you only one thing is demanded — and that is to work conscientiously; to distribute collective -farm incomes according to the amount of work done; to take good care of collective-farm property; to take care of the tractors and the machines; to organize proper care of the horses; to fulfil the assignments of your Workers' and Peasants' State; to consolidate the collective farms and to eject from the collective farms the kulaks and their toadies who have wormed their way into them" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, pp. 445-446).
During the period of the First Five-Year Plan enormous work was accomplished in industrializing the formerly backward non Russian national republics. In the former tsarist colonies — m Central Asia, Transcaucasia, in the steppes of Kirghizia and Kazakhstan, and in the remote northern regions — factories, mills, power j)lants, machine and tractor stations and state farms arose.
The victory of the
First Five-Year Plan was a world-historiu victoiy of tlie working class and peas antry of the tj.S.S.R., a victory which signified their liberation from the yoke
of exploitation and opened for all the working people of the U.S.S.R. the road
to a life of happiness and prosperity.
The victory of Stalin's Five-Year Plan showed the supei'iority of the social ist economic system.
As Comrade Stalin said in his report to the Joint
Plenum of the Central Com mittee and the Central Control Commission of the C.P,S.U.(B.) that was held in January 1933:
<nowiki>*</nowiki>The results of the Five-Year Plan have shown that it is quite possible to build a Socialist society in one country; for the economic foundations of such a society have already been laid in the U.S.S.R." (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, j). 42G).
In summing up the international significance of the Five-Year Plan, Comrade Stalin said that the plan was not the private affair of the Soviet Union but the affair of the entire international proletariat . that "Hhe successes of the Five-Year Plan are mobilizing the revolutionary forces of the working class of all countries against capitalism'^ {Ibid . jp . 397 )•
In January 1934, fche Seventeenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party was held. This congress summed up the results of the historic victory of Socialism in our country.
As early as 1918, and later, when the New Economic Policy was introduced, Lenin pointed out that there were the elements of fivt* social-economic formations in our country. These were: 1) patriarchal economy; 2) small-commodity production; 3) j^riviTte capitalism; 4) state capitalism; and 6) the socialist formation.
Now tlie socialist formation had undivided sway over the whole of our national economy. At this time socialist industry already consti tuted 99 per cent of the total industry of the country. Socialist agricul ture (colioctivc farms and state farms) already covered 85.5 per cent of the total area under grain. The capitalist elements were com])letely eliminated from the sjihere of trade.
Comrade Stalin's report at this congress was, as S.M. Kirov ex ]>ressed it, the mosb striking document of our epoch. In this report Comrade Stalin drew a picture of the grand work of socialist construc tion that had been carried out and the successes it had achieved. In it he also presented a jirogram for the building of socialist society in the psi'iod of the Second Kvo-Year Plan.
The Seventeenth Congress also heard reports from Comrades Molotov and Kuibyshev on the Second Pive-Year Plan for the develop ment of the national economy, the tasks of which were even greater than those of the First Five-Year Plan; it provided for an increase in the industrial output of the U.S.S.R. that would bring it eight times above the level of pre-war output by 1037, the last year of the plan.
At the Seventeenth Congress, Bukharin, Rykov,Tomsky,Kauicnev and Zinoviev delivered s])ecches of ropontanco, but these utterances were merely the oamoiiflagc of double-dealing enemies of the people. While verbally admitting that tlic Party line was correct, they were actually cons]3iring to assassinate Comrade Stalin, the leader of the Party, and other leading members of the Party and the goveriiment. The}'wore selling our country to the imperialists and counted on their aid in restoring capitalism in the U.S.S.Ii.
The first victim of the Trotskyite-Zinoviovite bandits was the favourite of the Party and the working class, Sergei Mironovich Kirov, whom the Zinovievites treacherously assassinated in the Smolny, Leningrad, on December 1, 1934. The evidence of members of this counter-revolutionary group revealed that they were connected with representatives of foreign capitalist coimtilos and received money from them. It transpired later that this assassination was organized by Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukliarin, on the orders of Trotslcy. The miscreants were annihilated on the unanimous demand of the people and by sentence of the proletarian court, which expressed the will of the Soviet people.
=== The Struggle to Complete the Building of Socialism. The Stalin Constitution ===
==== The Second Five-Year Plan for the Building of Socialism ====
===== Beginning of the Second World War and the U.S.S.R.'s Peace Policy =====
==== The Great Stalin Constitution ====
Prom the end of 1933 to the latter half of 1937, the capitalist countries were in a state of economic depression. In the latter half of 1937, a new economic crisis broke out, first in the United States and then in Great Britain, France and other countries
This new crisis broke out at a time when the Second World War had in fact commenced. In 1933, Italy attacked Abyssinia without declaring war upon her and annexed that country'-. In the summer of 1930, the imperialists organized military intervention in Spain. Ill 1937, Japan, after seizing Manchuria, invaded North and Central China. In 1938, Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia. Europe, Africaand Asia were being forcibly changed. The entire system of the post-war, so-called Versailles, peace settlement, was shaken.
The new economic crisis led to the further intensification of the struggle among the imiDerialist powers. The question of making a new' redivision of the world, of spheres of influence and colonies, was now being settled by war. Japan justified her aggressive action on the ground that when the Nine-Pow'er Pact was concluded in 1922, she was not allowed to enlarge her territories at the expense of China . Italy demand ed that the losses she had sustained in the First World War should be made up out of the colonial acquisitions of Great Britain and France. Hitler Germany, on the pretext of wanting to regain the colonies she had lost by the Treaty of Versailles and of acquiring territories inhabit ed by Germans, was openly preparing for a war to establish her world domination. All the capitalist countries, big and small, began feverishly to arm and jDrepare to take part in a new world war.
The Soviet Union was the only cotmtry that undeviatingly upheld the cause of peace. But while pursuing its peace policy, the Land of Soviets strengthened to the utmost its defensive cax^acity and its international position. At the end of 1934, at the request of thirty four countries, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations in the endeavour to utilize even this feeble organization as a means of hinder ing the unleashing of war.
With the object of maintaining peace, the Soviet government concluded a scries of pacts for mutual assistance in the event of aggression. The Soviet repre«eiitativori to the League of Nations demanded that aasistaiieo should be rendered the Spanish and Chinese peoj)les who were heroically lighting the interventionists to jjreserve their
iudepeudeiico.
In July 1938, the Ja]3anes(5 government presented the Soviet Union with a totally grouiulless claim to U.S.S.E;. territory near Lake Hasan, oil the Manchurian frontier. The Soviet govermnent rejected this claim.
After this, on July 29, taking advantage of the foggy weather, a Ja])anese dotachinent suddenly invaded Soviet territory and captured Bezimyanny Hill near Lake Hasan. The frontier guard, numbering eleven men in all, heroically kept the Japanese detachment of 150 men at hay until reinforcements arrived and beat the Japanese off. The Japanese then launched a wider offensive with larger forces of infantry and artillery. The Far Eastern Red Army was sent to the aid of the Soviet frontier guards and a battle was fought for Zaozerny and Bezimyanny Hills which lasted from August 2 to 0. Among the ffapanese forces there wore large numbers of Russian Whiteguards. On Augusb 6 Soviet bombing-plaiics v/ere brought into action against the Ja^jancsc. While the Soviet airmen were drox)i)ing hundreds of bombs on the tfapaneso fortifications on the hills, an offensive was begun by Soviet tanks anti infantry, who wont forward with the battle (try: "Forward! For our Motherland! For our Groat Stalin!" The Com munists and the Young Communist Leaguers wore in tlie front ranks. Right tliert^ in the trenches, in an atmosphere of impending battle, hundreds of noii-party Rod Army men handed in applications to join the Party. For example, Lieutenant Glotov, one of the heroes of Hasan, wrote in his application: "I ask to be accepted into membership of the C.P.S.TJ.(B.), and should an enemy bullet strike me down on the battlefield, I request to be counted a Bolshevik."
The Red Army routed the Japanese forces and drove them from Soviet territory.
In 1939, Japanese forces invaded the Mongolian People's Republic in the region of the river Khalkhin-gol. In conformity with the pact of mutual assistance which it had concluded with the Mongolian People 's Republic, the Soviet Union came to the assistance of the latter. Red Ai*my units, in conjunction with the Mongolian People's Army, struck a shattering blow at the Japanese troops and drove them from Mongo lian territory. The U.S.S.R. thus demonstrated to the whole world how faithfully it carries out its treaty obligations to other countries.
===== The Results of the Second Five-Year Plan =====
While the capitalist countries were in tlie throes of an economic crisis and then depression, socialist production continued steadily to rise in the U.S.S.R. By the middle of 1937, world capitalist industry barely reached 95 to 96 per cent of the 1929 level, but the industry of tlie U.S.S Jt. on that date had reached 428 per cent of its 1929 level. In the U.S.S.Ef. the building of Socialism was successfully nearing completion. Operations were begun by new industrial giants like the Krivoi Rog Steel Plant and the Stalin Machine-Building Plant in Kramatorsk, the first section of the Moscow subwaj^^, and the Moscow Volga Canal, 128 kilometres long, which connected the Soviet capital with the Volga.
In industry the Second Pive-Year Plan was completed by April 1 , 1937, that is to say, in four years and three months. With the execution of the First Five-Year Plan the U.S.S.R. had already outstripped France in volume of industrial production. After executing the Second Five-Year Plan it outstripped Great Britain and Germany, and remained second only to the United States. In 1936, the Dnieper Power Plant ^ alone produced more electric power than all the power stations in tsarist Russian put together. The Magnitogorsk plant smelted two and a half times as much pig iron as did all the blast furnaces in Poland. Exceptionally rapid during the Second Five-Year Plan period was the growth of industry in the non-Russian national Soviet Republics. The effect of the wise and farsighted policy pursued by the Party of Lenin and Stalin was that a new centre of heavy industry, coal and oil production, new centres of the machine-building and defence industries, were created in the Eastern regions of the Land of Soviets^ out of the range of the enemy.
The main task of the Second Five-Year Plan, namely, to complete the teclinical reconstruction of the whole of the national economy of the U.S.S.R., was accomplished. The machine-building industry increased its output almost 3-fold. In 1913, the output of machinery in tsarist Russia was only one-tenth of the amount produced in Great Britain, one-eighteenth of that produced in Germany and one-twenty third of that produced in the United States. At the end of the Second Five-Year Plan period the United States was the only country with an output of twice the amount of machinery produced in the U.S.S.R.
As regards the production of electric power, the U.S.S.R. moved up from fifteenth to second place in Europe, and to third place in the world. In output of tractors the U.S.S.R. reached first place in Europe, and in output of harvester combines it reached first place in the world.
During the period of the two Stalin Five-Year Plans the transport system of the Soviet Union was entirely reconstructed. The production of locomotives, of the most uiD-to-date types, increased 4-fold compared with 1913. The output of automobiles increased 8-fold in five years. In 1932, the Stalin (formerly AMO) plant turned out 50 cars a day; in 1937, it turned out 205 a day. The number of motor buses in the streets of Moscow and other towns increased and trolley buses were introduced. In 1935, after the heroic Arctic Yojages of the icebreaker Chelyuskin and other vessels, there began the exi)loitation of the Northern Sea Eoute.
The ];)eriod of the two Stalin Five-Year Plans also witnessed the consummation of the technical reconstruction of agriculture. Soviet agriculture was now not only conducted on a larger scale than in any other country but had become the most mechanized agriculture in the world. The sown area of all crops increased from 105,000,000 hectares in 1913 to 135,000,000 hectares in 1937. The collective farms in 1937 provided the market with over 27,300,000 tons of grain which was nearly 6,500,000 tons more than the landlords, kulaks and peasants together placed on the market in 1913. The collectivization of agricul ture was in the main completed. In 1937, 18,500,000 peasant households, constituting 93 per cent of all the peasant farms in the country, were organized in collective farms, while the grain area of these collective farms covered 99 per cent of the total peasant grain areas in the country.
Industry, agriculture and the transport system received an enor mous quantity of new machines and machine tools.
===== The Stakhanov Movement =====
The Party, headed by Comrade Stalin, di'cw the masses into the struggle to master the now technique, and the slogan, master technique, became the loading slogan of the Second Stalin Five-Year Plan. An enormous amount of work was done to train workers to become complete masters of modern technique. At the end of 1934, Comrade Stalin said that tlio most valuable thing that had been created in tlio ])rocoss of industrializing the country was skilled cadres. At the beginning of the ])eriod of reconstruction, when the country sufiEered from a lack of modern technique, the Party issued the slogan: "In the period of reconstruebion toohnique decides •everything." But when the process of reconstruction was in the main completed, the country suffered from an acute shortage of skilled personnel, that is to say, men and women able to handle the new machines. The Party therefore devoted special attention to the train ing of such cadres.
In his address to the graduates from tlio Bed Army Academies in May 1935, Comrade Stalin said: "Without people who have mas tered technique, technique is dead. In the charge of people who have mastered technique, technique can and should perform miracles," ' (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 523.) In his address "Comrade' Stalin advanced the new slogan, "Cadres decide everything."
The best men and women in the country responded to the leader's call with new achievements in their work, achievements which upset <nowiki>*</nowiki> all hitherto existing rates of output. On August 31, 1935, Alexei Stakhanov, a hewer in the Central Irmino Colliery, Donotz Basin, in one shift hewed 102 tons of coal as against the sliift rate of 7 tonsj 'thus performing the latter 14 1/2-fold. Stakhanov initiated a mass ' movement: among the workers and collective fanners to increase rates of output, to raise productivity of labour to a higher level. In honour of its initiator, this movement is known as the Stakhanov movement.
Stakhanov's example was followed by workers in other branches of industry, for example, by drop-hammer man Busygin at the Gorky Automobile Plant, the locomotive driver Krivonos in the Donetz Basin, the weavers Vinogradova at the Vichuga Textile Mills, and by maiiy others.
At the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites that was held in the Kremlin, Moscow, in November 1935, Comrade Stalin showed that the Stakhanov movement had sprung up on the basis of the success es achieved by Socialism in our country. It bore within itself, he said, the rudiments of the transition from Socialism to Communism, and of the elimination of the distinction between physical and mental labour, and it marked the beginning of a tremendous cultural and technical development of the working class. "The basis for the Stakha nov movement," he said, "was first and foremost the radical improve ment in the material welfare of the workers. Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous. And when life is joyous, work goes well. Hence the high rates of output. Hence the heroes and heroines of labour" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism^ Moscow, 1947, pp. 531-532). Comrade Stalin called the Stakhanovites innovators in our industry.
The Stakhanov movement spread all over the country, first in the towns and then in the rural districts.
In the period of the Second Five-Year Plan the collective -farm system became fully consolidated. Of exceptional importance for the development and prosperity of the collective farms were the rules for agricultural artels drawn up under Comrade Stalin's direction and adopted at the Second Congress of Collective-Farm Shook Workers held in February 1935. Another extremely important factor was the securing to the collective farms in perpetuity of the land they occu pied. Basing their activities on the rules promoted by Stalin, the collec tive farms made rapid progress towards a prosperous and cultured existence.
In the winter of 1935-36 a series of conferences was held of out standing workers in the various branches of agriculture and leading members of the Party and of the government. These conferences re vealad what splendid people the collective-farm system had produced. The conferences showed the whole country the new heroines of labour produced by the collective-farm system, such splendid women as Maria Demchenko, Pasha Angelina, and many others.
===== Liquidation of the Remnants of the Trotskyite-Bukharinlte Spies, Wreckers and Traitors =====
In their preparation for war against the U.S.S.R. the imperialist governments utilized the services of those traitors to their country, the Trotskyites and Bukharinites. The trials which took place in the i)oriod from 1935 to 1938, revealed that the Bukharinites and Trotskyites had long constituted one com mon gang of enemies of the people, the bloc of Bights and Trotskyites.
In obedience to the orders of their masters, the foreign, bourgeois intelligence services, the Trotskyites and Bukharinites set out to undermine the defences of our countiy, to facilitate foreign military intervention, pave the way for the defeat of the Bed Army, to dismember the U.S.S.B., surrender the Far Eastern Maritime Begion to the Japanese, Soviet Byelorussia to the Poles, Soviet Ukraine to the Germans and the Soviet North to the British, to abolish the gains won by the workers and collective farmers and restore capitalist slav ery in the U.S.S.B, The members of the counter-revolutionary Trots kyite-Bukharinite terrorist organizations were exposed, and after trial sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.B. to death by shooting.
The fact that these camouflaged enemies of the people had re mained undetected for so long was due to the political complacency of many of the members of the Party.
Comrade Sfcalin urged the necessity of abandoning this political complacency forthwith. Bevoaling the causes of it, lie emphasized that many comrades had forgotten that we were in a capitalist encircle ment, and the enemies of the people had taken advantage of this. Ho called upon the members of the Party and the entire Soviet people to display greater political vigilance and to master the principles of Bolshevism.
==== The Great Stalin Constitution ====
The enormous social and economic changes which had taken place in the country expressed in the fact that socialist society had in the main been built, and the greater political consciousness and activity of the Soviet people, raised the issue of changing the Constitu tion of the U.S.S.B. which had been adopted in 1924.
In February 1935, the Seventh Congress of Soviets of the U.S.S.B. instructed the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.B. to draft a new Constitution. A Constitution Commission headed by Comrade Stalin was set up, which after making the draft, submitted it to the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S,B. for consideration.
In June 1936, the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.B. approved the draft of the Stalin Constitution and submitted it for public discussion in order that the workers, collective farmers and the Soviet intelligentsia might express their opinion on it and propose any amendments they deemed fit. The draft of the new Constitution was publicly discussed by the Soviet people all through the summer and autumn of 1936 and mot with universal approval.
On December 5, 1936, the Extraordinary Eighth All-Union Congress of Soviets adopted the first Constitution of victorious Socialism in history.
In his report on the draft Constitution, Comrade Stalin summed up the magnificent results achieved in the building of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. During the preceding twelve years (from 1924 when the first Constitution was adopted, to 1936) immense changes had taken place in the economy and class structure of society, he said. The socialist system had fully triumphed, the exploiting classes had been liquidated. The landlord class and the big imperialist bourgeoisie had already been utterly routed during the Civil War. During the period of socialist construction, all the exploiting elements — capitalists, merchants, kulaks, and profiteers — ^were liquidated.
Under the Soviet system the workers, peasants and intelligentsia had undergone a profound change. The working class had ceased to be a proletariat in the strict sense of the term, had cjeased to he an exploited class. It has been converted into a new working class, a class which had abolished the capitalist economic system and had established the socialist ownership of the means and instru ments of proiuction. An entirely new peisantry, a collective-farm peasantry, had grown up in the U.S.S.R., for collective farming was based not on private , but on socio. list property , the product of collecti ve labour.
The intelligentsia in the L.S.S.R. had also undergone a radical change. Having sprung in the main from the ranks of the workers and peatanls they had become active builders of socialist society.
As regards the different nationalities in the U.S.S.R. Comrade Stalin said: , .their feeling of mutual distrust has disappeared,
a feeling of mutual friendship has developed among them, and thus real fraternal co-operation among the peoples has been estallished within the system of a single federated state" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism^ Moscow, 1947, p, 547).
Soviet socie^y consists of two friendly classes — the workers and the peasant's, between whom there is no antagonism, although some class distinctions still remain betveen them. The Constitution of the U.S.S.R. recorded the fact that the Soviet Union is a socialist state of workers and peasants.
The political foundation of the U,S.S.R. is the Soviets of Work ing People 's Deputies which grew and became strong as a result of the overthrow of the power of the landlords and capitalists and the conquest of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The economic foundation of the U,S,S.R. is the socialist system of economy and the socialist ownership of the means of production.
The U.S.S.R. is a voluntary, fraternal union of equal nations. Each of the sixteen republics comprising the Union independently settles all questions of state, except those that affect the Soviet Union as a whole.
The state structure of the U.S.S.R. guarantees the equality and the protection of the national interests of all the peoples of the U.S.S.R., big and small. The Supreme Soviet consists of two chambers with equal rights — ^the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities, which safeguards the specific interests of the work ing people arising from their specific national features.
All over the world, wherever the bourgeoisie rules, some nations are oppressed by others. Our Socialist Motherland carefully safeguards the rights of every nation and proclaims the preaching of national or race exclusiveness or hatred and contempt, as a crime against the state pimishable by law.
The Soviet Union unites about sixty nations, national groups and nationalities. A multi-national state has been built up with Social ism as its foundation. It is based not on oppression, but on the fraternal co-operation and friendship of the peoples. As Comrade Stalin has said; . . Priendship among the peo])lcs of the U.S.S.R. is a great and important achievement. Por as long as this friendship exists, the peoples of our country will bo free and invincible" ("Sjjeechcs," Part 2. '"Speech at a Conference of the Poreinost Collective Farmers of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan," Moscow, 1935, j). 23).
The state power and state administration in the U.S.S.R. are built u]j on tlie principles of genuine domoci-atism imd on drawing large numbers of the working people into the work of governing the Soviet State. The local organs of state pov^er in our country — ^the Terri torial, Regional, Area, District, City and Village Soviets of Work ing People's Deputies — enjoy wide powers.
The election of all Soviet organs takes place on the basis of univer sal, equal and direct suffrage, and secret ballot. The Stalin Constitution abolished the restrictions on electoral rights that had existed hitherto, as the exploiting classes had been abolished in the U.S.S.R.
The Soviet system is the most democratic system in the world, for it safeguards the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, whereas bourgeois democracy in any form is democracy for a ruling minority. The Stalin Constitution shows that our system of state is a model of the most consistent socialist democracy.
The Soviet system places no restrictions upon electoral rights, whereas in all bourgeois countries various qualifications such as prop erty, domiciliary and educational qualifications, are widely imposed in the interests of the capitalists. In capitalist countries the elector al rights of the inhabitants of colonies and of so-called "national minorities" are, as a rule, restricted.
A disgraceful blot on many bourgeois Constitutions is that they either entirely deprive women of electoral rights, or restrict those rights for women.
In the U,S.S.Er. women enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of the economic, governmental, cultural and public and political life of the country. The most distinguished daughters of the Soviet people are members of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., of the Supremo Soviets of Union and Autonomous Republics, and of local Soviets of Working People's Deputies.
Thanks to the victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., the dream of the best representatives of human society has come true ; everybody is ensured the right to work, to rest and recreation, to education and to maintenance in old age and in the event of disablement.
The Constitution guarantees for the citizens of the U.S.S.R. freedom of speech, press, assembly and meetings, street processions and demon strations, and safeguards the right of citizens to unite in public organi zations (trade unions, co-operative societies, etc., and for the most active and politically conscious citizens the right to unite in the Com munist Party).
The Stalin Constitution not only proclaims all the rights of the citizens of the U.S.S.R. (as the Constitutions of bourgeois countries do in relation to the rights of citizens), but also ensures the material conditions for enjoying these rights.
The Soviet system, while guaranteeing great rights to the citizens of the U.S.S.R. imposes upon them a number of lofty and honourable duties. Work in the U.S.SR. is a duty and a matter of honour for every able-bodied citizen. It is the duty of citizens of the U.S.S.R. to abide by the Constitution of the U.S.S.R., observe the laws, main tain labour discipline, honestly perform public duties and respect the rules of socialist intercourse. It is the duty of every citizen of the U.S.S.R. to safeguard and fortify socialist property. It is a duty of honour for citizens of the U.S.S.R, to serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the U.S.S.R.
The Land of Soviets received a new Constitution, the Constitution of victorious Socialism. The adoption of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. caused tremendous rejoicing among the peoples of the Soviet Union.
During the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. which were held on December 12, 1937, the Communist Party put forward can didates in a bloc with non-party people. The Central Committee of the C,P.S.U. (B.) called for votes to be cast for the candidates of this bloc. It was a call addressed to all those who wanted our country to remain mighty, cultured and free, the working people to be free from exploitation forever, our industry to continue to develop and outstrip the capitalist countries, our collective farms and state farms to con tinue to flourish and provide our country with an abundance of agri cultural produce; it was addressed to all who wanted our working people to contimie to be free from unemployment and uncertainty as to the morrow, and our women to continue to be free and equal in all branches of economy and administration, who wanted the science, literature and art of the peoples of the Soviet Union to develop and the peoples themselves to remain free and equal, and the working people of the U.S.S.R. to continue to enjoy the blessings of peaceful labour.
In response to this appeal about 90,000,000 voters (98,6 per cent of all those who went to the poll) cast their votes for the candidates of the bloc of Communists and non-party people.
The first candidate that the towns, collective farms and national republics unanimously nominated was the leader of the peoples, the creator of the Constitution, their beloved father and friend, Comrade Stalin. Comrade Stalin consented to stand for the Stalin electoral dis trict of Moscow. On December 11, 1937, on the eve of the election, Comrade Stalin addressed his electors, and said, Deputy should know that he is the servant of the people, their emissary in the Supreme Soviet, and that he must follow the line laid down in the mandate given him by the people. If he turns off the road, the electors are enti tled to demand new elections, and as to the Deputy who turned off the road, they have the right to send him packing . . , Dealing with the rights and duties of the electors. Comrade Sfcalin also indicated the sort of person a Deputy elected by the people should be. Comrade Sbalin said: *Tt is the duty and right of the electors to keep their Deputies constantly under their control and to impress upon them that they must under no circumstance sink to the level of political Philistines, impress upon them that they must be like the great Lenin" ("Speech Delivered at a Meeting of Voters of the Sbalin Electoral Area, Moscow, December 11, 1937, in the Bolslioi Theatre," Moscow, 1945, pp. 11-15).
The elections to the Supreme Soviet were virtually a nation-wide festival. The unanimity then displayed has never been witnessed in any election in any other country in the world.
The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is a genuine people's Soviet parliament. The Supreme Soviet (first convocation) settled a number of extremely important questions of state.
The first elections to the Supreme Soviet were a mighty demon stration of the moral and political unity of the Soviet people, a demon stration of its close solidarity with the Party of Lenin and Sbalin and with its leader. As Comrade Molotov said: "The moral and political unity of the people of our country has its living incarnation. Wo have a name that has become the symbol of the victory of Socialism. That name is also a symbol of the moral and political unity of the Soviet people. You know that that name is — Stalin!"
==== The U.S.S.R. Enters the Phase of Completing the Building of Socialism ====
===== The Third Five-Year Plan =====
The Great Stalin Constitution leg islatively enacted the world-historical fact that the U.S.S.R. had entered a now phase of development, the phase of the comple tion of the building of socialist society and of the gradual transition to Communism.
The Stalin Constitution records the main pillars of Socialism as follows: the absence of exploitation of man by man, the conversion of the means of production into socialist property, the fulfilment of the fundamental principle of Socialism: 'Trom each according to his ability, to each according to his work."
In the U.S.S.R., Socialism — ^the lower phase of Communism — has already been achieved. At this stage the distinctions between town and country and between mental and physical labour have not yet been abolished. Under Socialism, the survivals of capitalism still remain in the minds of men.
The victory of the two Stalin Eive-Year Plans created all the conditions for the gradual transition from Socialism to Communism, under which the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" will be applied. The productive forces in our country are freed from the fetters of capitalism, the U.S.S.R.'s com plete independence of capitalist countries is ensured, the socialist reconstruction of the entire national economy on the basis of new, most up-to-date technique has been completed, the nation-wide Stakha nov movement is steadily raising the productivity of labour, the material and cultural well-being of the entire Soviet people is im proving and the borderlines between town and country and between mental and physical labour are gradually being obliterated.
In March 1939, the Eighteenth Congress of the Party was held. In the historic report that he made at this congress, Comrade Stalin said that Communist society could not be built unJess the fundamental condition was carried out of overtaking and outstripping the capitalist world not only as regards level of technical development but also economically. As regards the level of technical development the Soviet Union had outstripped the principal capitalist countries; but it still lagged behind them in respect to output per head of the population. As regards pig iron, for example, the U.S.S.R. produced per head of the population less than half of that produced in* Great Britain and Prance, and one-third of that produced in the United States. The electricity generated in our country per head of the popula tion was half that of Prance, one-third that of Great Britain, two sevenths that of Germany and one-fifth that of the United States.
Comrade Stalin said:
"We have outstripped the principal capitalist countries as regards technique of production and rate of industrial development. That is very good, but it is not enough, Wc must outstrip them economi cally as well. We can do it, and we must do it. Only if we outstrip the principal capitalist countries economically can we reckon upon our country being fully saturated with consumers' goods, on having an abundance of products, and on being able to make the transition from the first phase of Communism to its second phase" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 610).
In this report Comrade Stalin also dealt with extremely important theoretical questions such as, for example, the intelligentsia and the state. As regards the latter question he emphasized that under Commu nism the state will remain"unless the capitalist encirclement is liquidat ed, and unless the danger of foreign military attack has disappeared" (J, Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 637).
At this congress Comrade Molotov delivered a report in which he summed up the triumphant fulfihnent of the Second Five-Year Plan ahead of time and outlined the Third Stalin Five-Year Plan, The Third Five-Year Plan was a continuation of the Second and First Five-Year Plans, and its keynote was the furtlier industrialization of the country.
The Third Five-Year Plan provided for the strengthening of the defensive power of the Soviet State on a larger scale tlian was the case in the first two Five-Year Plans. It took into account the possibility of an attack upon the U.S.S.R. from the West, and provided for the erection' in the Eastern regions of the country of duplicate plants in the machine-building, oil-refining and chemical industries. It also provided for the creation of a new centre of the textile industry in Central Asia and for an exceptionally rapid increase in the output of coal and cement in the Soviet Far East. The pride of the Third Five Year Plan was the "Second Baku" and the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power project — ^the largest of its kind in the world — ^that was to ir rigate the arid lands of the trans-Volga Region. In the first years of the Third Five-Year Plan period hundreds of new industrial plants were completed and put into operation. In particular, the Magnitogorsk Steel Plant in the Urals was completed. The grand program for the further transformation of our motherland was to have been completed in 1942. After that a Fifteen-Year Plan for the development of our national economy was contemplated with the object of converting our motherland economically into the most advanced and richest country in the world.
During the first three years the fulfilment and overfulfilment of the plan proceeded successfully, but in the summer of 1941, our peaceful labours were interrupted by the perfidious attack of th<>! German fascist robbers upon the Soviet Union.
===== Labour and Political Enthusiasm in the Land of Socialism =====
The decisions that were adopted by the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U. (B.) placed in the hands of the working people of our country a powerful weapon for the achievement of further victories and roused them to unprecedented .heights of labour and political enthusiasm. Socialist emulation in honour of the Third Stalin Eive-Year Plan developed on a wide scale throughout the country. The ranks of the heroes of labour grew with unprecedented rapidity. New names of workers and oollecbive farmers, men and women, of people working in the si)here of culture and technology, science and art, became famous throughout the country and roused thousands to perform new feats of valour. As the popular Soviet song says: "Any one of us can become a hero."
The title of Hero of Socialist Labour was instituted in the U.S.S.R.
The government conferred the title of Hero of Socialist Labour on Comrade Stalin on his sixtieth birthday".
The high title of distinction — Hero of the Soviet Union — ^was also instituted. The first Heroes of the Soviet Union were the valiant airmen who rescued the passengers of the wrecked Ghelyushin from the i03 in the Arctic. The rescue of the "Chelyuskinites" was a model of the unexampled heroism and Bolshevik capacity for organization displayed by Soviet people. The roll of Heroes of the Soviet Union was augmented by the names of valiant commanders and men of the Red Army who won fame for themselves and their Soviet Motherland by their unprecedented deeds.
The first women to have the title of Hero of the Soviet Union con ferred upon them were those splendid aviators Valentina Grizodubova, Marina Baskova and Paulina Osipenko.
The capitalist encirclement of the U.S.S.Br. and the growing war danger arising from the fact that the capitalist countries were "creep ing" into the Second World War created the necessity of strengthen ing the defences of the U.S.S.Ri., of reinforcing the Red Army, the Red Air Force and the Red Navy.
The people surrounded their army with love and care. In the speech he delivered on the Tenth Anniversary of the Red Army, Comrade Stalin said: "Nowhere in the world do the people treat the army with such love and solicitude as our people do. . . . Our army is the only army in the world that enjoys the sympathy and support of the workers and peasants. Herein lies its power, herein lies its strength" (J. Stalin, Tht Three Specific Features of the Bed Army, Moscow, 1940, Russ, ed., p. 6). The men, commanders and political instructors of the Red Army and the Red Navy are the finest sons of the people, selflessly devoted to their great motherland. The army and the navy live in unison with the whole country.
==== The Cultural Revolution in the U.S.S.R. ====
The almost two-fold increase in the national income during the Second Five-Year Plan period and the growth of prosperity among the working people of the TJ.S.S.II. created a firm foundation for the steady improYoment of their cultural standards.
During the period of the fii'st two Five-Year Plans universal com pulsory elementary education was introduced throughout the country, with universal seven-year education in the towns.
The number of pupils attending elementary and high schools rose to 33,000,000 at the end of the Second Five-Year Plan period, compared* with 8,000,000 in 1914. More schools were built in the U.S.S,R. in the course of twenty years than were built during 200 years in tsarist Russia. After the revolution a wide network of higher educa tional establishments (universities, etc.) was created, and in 1939, they were attended by 600,000 students, nearly six times the number that attended such establishments in tsarist Russia. The number of students attending higher educational establishments in the U.S.S.R. exceeds that of twentythroe capitalist countries put together. Before the revolution there were seventy higher educational establishments in the territory of what is nowtheR.S.F.S.R.jin 1937 there were 436. In the Ukraine there were nineteen higher educational establishments before the revolution; at the end of tlie Second Five-Year Plan period there were 123. In Georgia there was only one before the revolution, but during the iieriod of the Stalin Five-Year Plans nineteen were opened. In the other non-Russian national republics there was not a single higher educational establishment, but under Soviet rule over one hundred were opened. The number of pupils and students attend ing schools and higher educational establishments of all typos in the U.S.S.R. in 1939 was 47,500,000, or over one-fourth of the entire population.
Many of the nationalities which had not possessed an alphabet before, acquired one under the Soviet system, opened schools in which instruction was conducted in the native language, and created their •own literature, theatre and intelligentsia.
In 1936 alone, 183,000,000 copies of books printed in the lan guages of the various peoples of the U.S.S.R. were published, not counting books published in Russian. Newspapers in the U.S.S.R. are published in fifty-nine languages and books in 111 languages. The total circulation of newspapers increased 14-fold, by compari son with the figures for tsarist Russia. The number of libraries, reading rooms, recreation clubs, theatres, cinemas, stadiums, athletic grounds and village laboratories gtows from year to year.
The Soviet intelligentsia, which during the Second Five-Year Plan period grew to 9,600,000 persons, will grow still more as the main task is fulfilled in the sphere of cultural development, namely, to raise the cultural and technical level of the entire working class to that of the engineer and technician.
Exceptionally great is the role played in the Soviet Union by science, that progressive science which does not divorce itself from the people and which serves the cause of Socialism, Comrade Stalin referred to Papanin and Stakhanov as innovators in science, for they had set examples of how bold practice can be combined with serious scientific research.
In the U.S.S.R. science is closely connected with the practi cal work of building Socialism.
Soviet science helps to build huge hydroelectric power stations, to carry out such gigantic projects as the MoscowVolga Canal, the White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal, the Moscow Subway, the finest in the world, and others. Soviet designers have designed scores of new types of machines, machine tools and instruments. Exceptionally great are the successes which Soviet scientific and technical thought has achieved in the sphere of aviation. The excellent design and high technical equipment of Soviet aeroplanes, hydroplanes, etc., have enabled Soviet airmen to establish world records.
In July 1936, that great airman of our time, Valeri Pavlovich Chkalov and his comrades performed a tremendous circular flight over the Soviet North and East. In March 1937, an expedition flew to the North Pole. The aircraft which took part in this expedition were flown by our finest aviators, headed by Hero of the Soviet Union Vodopya nov. In May the aircraft landed at the North Pole and left on the ice four valiant Soviet patriots, headed by Papanin. Papanin and his comrades drifted on the ice for 274 days and covered 2,500 kilometres, conducting, under exceptionally difficult conditions, in tense scientific research work which enriched world science with new data on the Arctic.
On June 18-19, 1937, our hero aviators Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyaliov, in spite of cyclones and ice crust, flew from Moscow to America across the North Pole; and a month later this flight was re peated by Gromov, Yumashev and Danilin, who established a new record in long-distance flying. All these flights were undertaken with the scientific object of finding a route to , America across the North Pole.
Similarly important scien tific work was conducted in 1938-1939 by the valiant crew of the icebreaker Sedov,
Soviet agricultural science is helping to change nature in our country. The discoveries made by that brilliant geneticist Mi churin remained unrecognized for forty-five years before the revolution, and it was only under the Soviet regime that they acquired wide fame. Mi churin was given the opportu nity to continue, on a huge scale and on a wide scientific basis, his experiments in crossing plants and obtaining now species, hybrids. Academician Lysenko, the son of a peasant, who is continuing the work of Michurin, has applied that great horticulturist's methods to the development of field crops. He worked out the theory of stages in the development of plants and found a method of vernalizing wheat which greatly increases the yield. Academician V. R. Williams, a Bolshevik, worked oufc the theory of the rotation of grass crops. Academician Tsitsin, By crossing wheat with couch grass, produced a new variety of perennial wheat that is impervious to drought. In a conversation he had with Academician Tsitsin, Comrade Stalin said: "Be bolder in your experiments, we will support you." Together with our Soviet scientists, and under their direction, thousands of front rank collective farmers are carrying on scientific research in village laboratories and experimental fields to produce varieties of drought resisting, high-yielding agricultural plants.
Physics, mathematics, physiology and other sciences have made enormous progress in our country. Problems of agro-physics, solar radiation and photo-chemical conversion are being successfully solved. Our Soviet mathematician. Academician Vinogradov, found a brilliant solution for Ho Ibaoh's problem, on which the greatest matlj ematioians all over the world had been working for nearly 200 years.
The work of the great Russian scientist and father of modern physi ology, Academician I, P. Pavlov, enriched world science with now achievements in the study of the higher nervous activity of animals. This work was able to assume the dimensions it deserved only under the Soviet system, a whole townlet of laboratories having been built for Pavlov and his assistants in Koltushi, near Leningrad.
In the U.S.S.E>. not only scientific experimental work, but also scientific theoretical work is being developed as in no other country in the world.
In the U.S.S.R. the great Marx ist-Leninist theory has unlim ited possibilities for develop ment. The works of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Stalin are publisJied in editions running into millions. Extremely popular among the broad masses of the working people of our country are works on the history of our motherland and of the Bolshevik Party. The year 1938 saw the appearance of Stalin's work* the History of the Gommunisi Party of the Soviet Union [Bolsheviks']^ Short Course, This splendid sci entific work contains a concise and vivid account of the long and glorious historical road traversed by the Party of Lenin and Stalin and of the fighting experiance it gained, as well as an exposition of the foundations of the Marxist-Leninist theory.
In the U.S.S.R. there have been established treasure stores of scientific books that are of world importance. These are the Lenin Li brary in Moscow, the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in Leningrad, and others.
Enormous scientific work is being conducted by the Academy of Sciences of the U,S.S.R.and its numerous institutes, and also by such world-important scientific-research institutes as the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, and others.
Socialism created fertile soil for the vigorous growth of the art of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. The Great October Socialist Revolu tion, which emancipated the peoples, gave the broad masses access to all the treasures of culture and art created by mankind.
An enormous contribution to the development of revolutionary literature in the Soviet period was made by the great proletarian writer and devoted friend of the working people Maxim Gorky. In 1921, Gorky fell very sick and on Lenin's insistence he went to Italy to recuperate; but while there he Rept in close touch with his Soviet Motherland, with the working people of the U.S.S.E. In Italy he wrote ifefy Unii'ersities, The Rise and Fall of the Artamojiovs, and the first volume of The Life of Klim Scmgin. When, in 1928, he returned to his native land he enthusiastically de voted his efforts to the creation of a new, socialist culture in the U.S.S.B. He was the initiator and inspirer of numerous literary and educational undertakings. For the outstanding services ho had rendered the working class of the U.S.S.R. he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
The great humanitarian Gorky passionately hated the enemies of the j^ople and of Socialism, and above all ho hated fascism. He defined his attitude to the enemies of the people in the words: "If the enemy does not surrender, he must be destroyed." The enemies of the people — ^the Trotskyites — ^Icilled the great, popular writer and fighter.
The revolution gave an impetus to the development of the art of the most talented poet of the Soviet epoch V. V. Mayakovsky (1893 1930). His versos and poems of the pre-revolutionary period breathe hatred for the bourgeois system; to the service of the revolution he devoted all his tremendous talent. He wrote verses, drew posters and created splendid poems on the revolution, such as^ 160,000 fiOO^ Vladimir Ilyich Lenin^ Good, and others. During the Civil War lie founded the ROSTA "Windows," f.e., a series of political propaganda posters which called for the struggle to establish the power of the Soviets and praised thfe heroes of labour.
Soviet authors have produced a number of vivid stories dealing with the proletarian revolution, the Civil War and the building of Socialism. Of these mention can be made of Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don and The Soil Upturned, Fadeyev's Defeat and The Last of the Udegei, Furmanov's Chapayev, Serafimovich's Iron Flood, Bagritsky's The Lay of Opanas, and others. Extremely popular are the historical novels written by Soviet writers such as A, N. Tolstoy's Peter /, Novikov-Priboi 's Tsushima, Tynyanov's novels on Griboyedov and Pushkin, and others. Extremely popular among Soviet readers are How the Steel Was Tempered and Born of the Storm by Nikolai Ostrov sky, whose life and work were im bued with genuine revolutionary fervour. Altliough blind and para lyzed as a consequeiioe of the severe wounds he received during the Civil War and the illness he suffered after it, this young Bolshevik writer found the courage and strength to continue to serve the Party and the revolution with his pen until he drew his last breath.
Comrade Stalin described Soviet writers as the "engineers of human souls," and called upon them to pro duce works that harmonized with the great epoch we are living in. At a congress of writers, Comrade A. A.
Zhdanov spoke of the tasks that con fronted Soviet writers and said: "To be an engineer of human souls means standing with both feet on the ground of real life. . , . Soviet literature must be able to portray our heroes, must be able to see into our future."
The culture of the Land of Soviets, uniform in its socialist trend and heroic content, and with its rich variety of form, was built up as the sole, socialist culture of all the peoples who inhabit the U.S .S .R. The culture of each people, national in form and socialist in content, develops in close alliance with the culture of all the other peoples of the Union, and primarily with progressive Russian culture. Nation al culture springs from the depths of the people.
The most outstanding and characteristic representative of this cul ture was the aged popular poet of Kazakhstan, the akyn (bard) JambuL He began to compose his beautiful songs while still a youth when wan dering through the steppes of Kazakhstan; but his art seemed to have faded before he reached the age of fifty. The great proletarian revolu tion, however, rejuvenated the heart of the seventy-year-old bard.
The proletarian revolution performed the same miracle on the popular ashug (poet) of Daghestan, Suleiman Stalsky. The son of a poor Lezghian peasant, he grew up amidst great privation. His songs were composed in tones of grief and melancholy. When he composed songs that sounded the call to battle the tsarist authorities put a ban upon them. The art of Suleiman Stalsky, this Homer of the 20th cen tury, as Maxim Gorky called him, revived and blossomed forth again under Socialism. His poems "'Daghestan" "A Song of Comrade Stalin," "Thoughts about My Country," "A Poem about Sergo," and others, are truly magnificent.
P. G. Tyohina, the most outstanding modern poet in the Ukraine, is closely connected with the working class. His book of verse entitled T/ie Party Leads, breathes deep sincerity and love for the people.
Yanka Kupala, the outstanding j)eople's poet of Byelorussia, the son of a peasant, started work as an unskilled labourer, became a writ er and was eventually elected a member of the Academy of Science's. He commenced his literary activities as early as 1905, but his art really blossomed forth only under the Soviet system. His verses and poems dealing with collective-farm life are particularly popular.
Akop Akopyan, the people 's poet of the Armenian Soviet Social ist Republic, was the first Armenian proletarian writer to devote his poems to the life and labours of the workers.
The folk songs of the peoples of the Soviet Union have revived. The'people 'shards, poets and narrators compose an exceptionally large number of songs about Lenin and Stalin.
Art is making tremendous strides in our country. The Soviet theatre occupies first place in Eurox3e for artistic achievements. It has rich clas sical traditions and presents classical Russian and foreign plays with profound artistic realism, and in portraying former Russia it culti vates among our people a hatred of oppression and a love for our Soviet Motherland.
The first Soviet plays dealt with the revolution and the Civil War, .and they have become a permanent i)art of the repertoire of the Soviet theatre.
Soviet and historical revolutionary themes also inspire our com posers, who have composed symphonies and operas remarkable for their design and the ideas they express.
The Soviet cinema — ^that most important and most popular form of art — is flourishing. The Soviet films Oha/payev, We Are From, KroU'^ AStadt, Lenin in October, Lenin in 1918, the Maxim trilogy, Shchors, The (heat Oitizen, Member of the Government and others, thrill millions of spectators not only in the U.S.S.R. but also abroad.
Great successes have been achieved by the theatre and music of the non-Russian Soviet Republics. In the Ukraine a galaxy of young composers has sprung up who utilize the rich folklore of the Ukraine for their symphonies and operas.
The creator of Georgian opera music is the '"Georgian Glinka," Zakhari Paliashvili, who before the revolution composed the opera Abessalom and Eteri and in 1924 the opera Daissi, which is popular not only in Georgia but all over the U.S.S.R.
• The founder of Soviet opera in Azerbaijan is the composer Hajibe kov, who after the revolution composed the opera Ker Ogly, Of the works he composed before the revolution exceptionally popular is his opera Leyly and Medjnun,
One of the creators of Armenian music was the pre-revolution com poser Komitas, who skilfully utilized Armenian folklore and exercised considerable influence on the subsequent development of Armenian music. An important part in developing the theatre and' music in Armenia under the Soviet system was played by the composer Spen diarov, whose best productions are the opera Almost and his Erevan ^tudeSe
Considerable success was also achieved by the theatre and music in Uzbekistan, where there had been no theatres at all before the revolution. The oiieras Farhhadand Shirin, Oulsara, and others are extremely popular,
Kazakh and Kirghiz theatres came into being. Peoples who not long ago had no knowledge of written music, have now produced their own composers, musicians and opera singers.
The Party and the government search out and carefully train thousands of talented people who* would have had no opportunity for developing their talent under tsarism . Often singers and musicians may be heard in the theatres of the capital who only recently have been working in the collective-farm fields or in the factories. Soviet musicians carry off the prizes at international pianoforte and violin competitions.
Poets, singers, actors, musicians and artists enjoy the love and respect of the Soviet people. Many of them have been elected as Depu ties to Supreme Soviets. The flourishing culture of the U.S,S.R. demon strates to the whole world how much brilliant talent is produced under the socialist system. It is with legitimate pride that the Soviet people look back on the historical road they have traversed and re member the words of the great Stalin;
'Tt is pleasant and joyful to know what our people fought for and how they achieved this victory of world-wide historical importance. It is pleasant and joyful to know that the blood our people shed so plentifully was not shed in vain, that it has 2 ^roduced results. This arms oiir working class, our i)easantry, our working intelligentsia spiritually. It impels them forward and rouses a sense of legitimate pride. It increases confidence in our strength and mobilizes us for fresh struggles for the achievement of new victories of Communism" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 668).
==== The Fight for Peace amidst the Conditions of the Second World War ====
===== The U.S.S.R.'s Fight for Peace =====
In the reiiort he delivered at the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) that was held in March 1939, Comrade Stalin formulated the U.S.S.E«.'s foreign policy in the following words:
"The foreign policy of the Soviet Union is clear and explicit.
'TWe stand for peace and the strengthening of business relations with all countries. That is our position; and we shall adhere to this position as long as these countries maintain like relations with the Soviet Union, and as long as they make no attempt to trespass on the interests of our country.
"3. We stand for 2 )eacoful, close and friendly relations with all tl)c neighbouring countries which have common frontiers with the U .S .S .K . That is our position; and we shall adhere to this 25osition as lung as these countries maintain like relations with the Soviet Union, and as long as they make no attempt to trespass, directly or indirectly, on the integrity and inviolability of the frontiers of the Soviet State*
"3. We stand for the support of nations which are the victims of aggression and are fighting for the independence of their country.
"4. We are not afraid of the threats of aggressors, and are ready to deal two blows for every blow delivered by instigators of war who attempt to violate the Soviet borders" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism^ IToscow, 1947, pp. 605-6).
Comrade Stalin proposed that this peace policy be continued so as to prevent the provocators of war from dragging theU.S.S,R. into a conflict.
Taking into account the growing danger of the outbreak of another world war and the direct menace of an attack upon the U.S.S.R., the Soviet government opened negotiations with the representatives of Great Britain and France for the conclusion of a pact of mutual assistance against fascist aggression in Europe; but these negotiations failed owing to the intrigues of the extreme reactionary circles in those countries who were hostile to the U.S.S.R., and who wanted, by striking a bargain with fascist Germany, to turn the latter's aggression exclusively against the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, the German government offered to conclude a pact of non-aggression with the U.S.S.R. This pact established a basis for ensuring peace between the two biggest states in Europe, the re lations between whom had been very strained since the fascists came into power in Germany. It also gave the Soviet Union the opportunity to prepareher forces appropriately for the contingency of fascist Germany attacking her. In view of this, the Soviet government consented to conclude the pact of non-aggression which Germany proposed.
This pact, which was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939, stat ed: "The two high contracting parties engage to refrain from all violence, from all aggressive actions, and from any attack upon each other either singly, or in conjunction with other powers."
In the radio address which he delivered on July 3, 1941, Comrade Stalin summed up the historic significance of the pact of non-aggression that was concluded between the Soviet Union and Germany in the following words:
"It may be asked: How could the Soviet government have con sented to conclude a non-aggression pact vdth such perfidious people, and such fiends as Hitler and Ribbentrop? ... A non-aggression ]3act is a pact of peace between two states. It was precisely such a pact that Germany proposed to us in 1939. Could the Soviet government decline such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state could decline a peace treaty with a neighbouring country even if that country is headed by such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. But that, of course, only on the one indispensable condition that this peace treaty did not jeopardize, either directly or indirectly, the territorial integrity, independence and honour of the peace-loving state. As is well known, the non-aggression pact between (Jermany and the tJ.S.S.Ef. was precisely such a pact.
"What did we gain by concluding the non-aggression pact with Germany? We secured our country peace for a year and a half and the opportunity of preparing our forces to repulse fascist Oermany should she risk an attack on our country despite the pact" (tf. Stalin, On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union^ Moscow, 1946, p. 11).
Subsequent events proved that the Soviet government had taken a correct stand. On September 1, 1939, fascist Germany attacked Poland. Shortly after that, the war spread over the whole of Europe. First, Great Britain and France, who wore bound by treaty obligations with Poland, entered it. In April 1940, Germany commenced to seize the Scandinavian countries, and started with Norway. In May 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Luxemburg,
In this way a bridgehead was created in Europe for developing an offensive against Franco and against Great Britain. In June 1940, Italy joined Germany and declared war on Groat Britain and France.
Adhering faithfully to its peace policy, the Soviet government took a series of steps to avert the war danger. It proclaimed the neu trality of the U.S.S.R. and while strictly adhering to it, took meas ures to ensure the country's security against foreign enemies.
The wise foreign policy pursued by the Soviet government still further enhanced the role the U.S.S.R. was playing in the settlement of international questions and raised its prestige in the eyes of the working people all over the world.
===== The Re-Union of Western Ukraine with the Ukrainian S.S.R. and of Western Byelorussia with the Byelorussian S.S.R. =====
Soon after the opening of hostilities the Polish forces were crushed and the Polish government went abroad, leaving the people of Poland to their fate.
In view of these circumstances, the Soviet government could not remain indifferent to the fate of its kinsmen, the Ulcrainians and Byelo russians who inhabited Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia. Moreover, the situation in Poland was fraught with contingencies that were dangerous to the U. S.S.R.
On Soptombor 17, 1939, Comrade Molotov, then the head of the Soviet government, delivered a radio address in which he announced that the Soviet government had instructed the Supreme Command of the Bed Army to order our troops to cross the frontier to protect the lives and property of the inhabitants of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia.
The Byelorussians and Ukrainians living in Poland were bereft of rights. Their languages, culture and national customs were subjected to perse cution. The Ukrainian and Byelorussian national schools had been suppressed and the majority of the inhabitants of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia were illiterate.
Ukrainians and Byelorussians were barred from posts in the service of the state. In the east ern borderlands, called "kresy'* by the Polish government, almost the entire land belonged to Polish landlords and the peasants possessed tiny plots of land which were barely enough to provide an existence of
semi-starrotion. I-urthermore,  government colotihe Red Army and the Working People nized these regions with ^'setof Western Ukraine and^Western Byelo tlers," that is, Polish kulaks.
More than once the peasants of Western Ukraine and West ern Byelorussia rose in revolt against the Polish gentry, but the Polish government sent punitive detachments into these regions and the revolts were suppressed with great cruelty. The Polish government prevented the development of industry in the "kresy." Notwithstanding the immense natural wealth, in dustry in Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia was cut down, as the Polish government regarded the "kresy" merely as an agri cultural and raw-material base for the industry of Poland proper. The workers in Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia suffered from unemployment, and the wages they received were only a half or even a third of those paid to workers in the central and western regions of Poland.
The conditions of the intelligentsia in these regions were also extremely hard. Ukrainians, Byelorussians' and Jews were almost entirely barred from high schools and colleges, and even if some managed to obtain a university education at the cost of enormous sacrifice, they found no outlet for their knowledge and abilities.
All this explains why the working people of We stern Ukraine and Western Byelorussia welcomed thoir liberator, the Red Army, with tremendous rejoicing.
In Wostorn Ukraine and Western Byelorussia Popular Assemblies were elected on the broad democratic basis of universal, equal and direct suSrage and secret ballot. Tn obedience to the will of the peopJ^e, the Popular Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia proclaimed the establishment of Soviet power in their respective territories and decided on the confiscation of the land of the landlords, monasteries and high government offioialSj and the transfer of this land, without compensation, to the Avorking peasants. They also proclaimed the nationalization of the banks and large-scale industry. The Pop ular Assemblies requested the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. to accept the peoples of Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia into the great family of Soviet people. At its session on November 1 and 2, 1939, the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. granted the request of the working peoi)lo of Western Ukraine and Western Byelo russia.
===== Strengthening the Security of the Northwestern Frontiers of the U.S.S.R. =====
The outbreak of the Socotul World War confronted tho^ Soviet government with the iii*gent task of streiigtliening the se curity of the northwestern frontiers of the U.S.S.R.
The Soviet government offered to conclude with tlie Finnish gov ernment a treaty on terms that were to the advantage of both coun tries and wliicli would liave guaranteed the security of the northwest ern frontiers of the U.S.S.R. and of Leningrad in xiarticular. The Finnish government entered into negotiations with the government of the U.S.S.R., but during the course of them it took an uncompro misingly hostile stand. The Finnish militarists began to commit acts of provocation on the Soviet-Finiiish frontier and went to the lengtli of shelling the Soviet frontier posts near Leningrad. In view of tiiis, Comrade Molotov, as head of the Soviet government, announced in the radio address he delivered on November 29, 3930, that, faced with the fact that Finnish troops had attacked the Soviet frontiers, the Soviet government was obliged to recall its political and business rep resentatives from Finland and to order the Red Army to repel every sortie by the Finnish militarists. In this address Comrade Molotov exposed the slanderous inventions of the foreign bourgeois press which falsely asserted that the U.S.{iJ.R. intended to seize and annex Finland, or establish Soviet rule there. Comrade Molotov said: "We stand firmly for allowing the Finnish people thomselves to settle their internal and foreign affairs in the way they doom fit. . . . The only object of the measures wo have undertaken is to ensure the security of the Soviet Union, and particularly of Leningrad with its three and a half million population/'
The Finnish militarists, who had long been in contact with the German fascists and were egged on by anti-Soviet quarters in certain imperialist countries, commenced war against the Soviet Union. De spite the exceptional difficulties of the terrain and the temperature, being 50® below zero Centigrade — ^the Red Army broke through the fortifications of the Karelian Isthmus, which had been built in con formity with the most up-to-date rules of military engineering and had been regarded as impregnable.
The White Finnish army was defeated, losing over half its man power in killed and wounded.
The Finnish government was obliged to sue for peace.
On March 12, 1940, peace was signed with Finland. A new state frontier was drawn between the U.S .S .R . and Finland which ensured the security of Leningrad and Murmansk. The whole of the Karelian Isth mus with the city of Vyborg and Gulf of Vyborg, were incorporated in the U.S.S.R. The governments of Finland and the U.S.8.R. mutually engaged to refrain from aggression against each other and to take no part ill any alliance directed against either of the contracting parties.
The peace treaty between the U.S.S.R and Finland once again demonstrated what policy the Soviet Union pursued in relation to small countries. After routing the Finnish army, the Red Army could have occupied the whole of Finland and the U.S.S.R. could have demanded an indemnity to cover war expenditure; but the Soviet government showed its magnanimity by restricting itself to the minimum nec essary to ensure the security of Leningrad and Murmansk.
On March 13, 1940, the Sixth Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. adopted a decision to transfer the incorporated territory to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and to trans form the latter into a Union Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. Thus, another Union Republic was added to the family of fraternal Union Republics. This was another step towards strengthening the multi-national socialist Soviet State.
===== The Peaceful Settlement of the Soviet-Rumanian Conflict over Bessarabia =====
Another extremely important victory for Stalin's peace policy was the peaceful settlement of the longstanding Soviet-Rumanian conflict over Bessarabia.
The Soviet government had never resigned itself to the forcible annexation of Bessarabia by Rumania, who occupied that country in 1918, when Soviet Russia was hard pressed by her foreign enemies. For over two decades the Moldavian people had been forcibly divided, on one side of the Dniester Soviet Moldavia flourished, but on the other side, Bessarabia, inhabited by Moldavians and Ukrainians, groaned under the heel of the Rumanian boyars. Rumania had converted Bessarabia into her colony, and the country became poverty-stricken, ruined and economically still more backward than it had been before. Even of&oial Eumaiiiaii figures showed that infantile mortality in the Bes sarabian rural districts had reached horrifying dimensions as the result of poverty. The Rumanian landlords, capitalists and high government officials seized the land and factories and reduced the people of Bes sarabia to slavery. Tons of thousands of the progressive people of Bessarabia were killed or tortured to death in the dungeons of the Sigurmxta, the Rumanian Secret Police, The working people of Bes sarabia rose in revolt against the sanguinary oppression of the invad ers; exceptionally big revolts took place in Khotin in 1919, and in Tatar Bunar in 1924. All through this period they fought continuously for their liberation from the yoke of the Rumanian boyars and for their reunion with the family of fraternal peoples of the IT.S.S.R.
The same heavy yoke was borne by the people of Northern Buko vina, who had been forcibly divorced from their brothers, the Ukrain ians, The land of Bukovina was seized by landlords, and the country was subjected to a reign of colonial oppression and exploitation. Time and again the people of Northern Bukovina rose in revolt against the Ruman ian conquerors. In November 1918, a meeting ofrei)rescntatives from nearly every town and village in the country was held in Chernovitsi, and passed a resolution in favour of Bukovina joining Soviet Ukraine.
The Soviet Union came to the aid of the fraternal peoples of Bes sarabia. On June 28, 1940, the Soviet government called upon the Rumanian government to restore Bessarabia to the Soviet Union and to cede to the Soviet Union the Northern part of Bukovina, which was inhabited by Ukrainians.
The Rumanian government accepted this proposal , and the 3 ,200 ,000 working people of Bessarabia and the 600,000 people of Northern Bukovina joined the family of Soviet peoples. The inhabitants of Bes sarabia and Northern Bukovina welcomed their liberator, the Red Army, with great rejoicing. The liberated peoples sent their delegates to the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. with the request that it should form a Union Moldavian Soviet Socialist Eepubho and reunite in it the Moldavian people of Bessarabia with the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On August 2^ 1940, the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. grant ed this request and adopted a decision to form the Union Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. It also adopted a decision to incorporate Northern Bukovina and the tliree counties of Bessarabia that were inhabited by Ukrainians in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
===== The Entry of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the U.S.S.R. =====
The change in the international situation and the consistent peace policy which the Soviet Union pursued gave a new asj)oct to the ques tion of relations between the U.S.S.R. and the Baltic countries. Lithuania, like the other Baltic countries, acquired national state independence as a result of the victory of the Great October Social ist Revolution. The Soviet government was the first to recognize the Lithuanian Republic. On July 12, 1920, a peace treaty was signed between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Lithua nia, by which a large part of the former Vilna Gubernia, with the city of Vilna, passed to Lithuania. Vilna became the capital of the Lithua nian Republic.
From the moment it was formed, the Lithuanian Republic became the object of the intrigues of the European governments and, in partic ular, of the Polish government, which openly aimed at seizing Lithua nia. In 1920, despite the signing of a Polish-Lithuanian treaty, Poland seized Vilna and the Vilna Region. The League of Nations sanctioned this act of aggression. The Soviet government alone sujjported Lithua nians protest and refused to recognize the legality of Poland's action.
Soviet -Lithuanian relations were based on the mutual respect of the interests of the two countries. On September 28, 1926, a Soviet Lithuanian pact of non-aggression and peaceful settlement of disputes was signed. In 1934, this pact was prolonged for another ten years.
The Soviet Union had always strongly supported the Lithuanian Republic. In 1927, it averted war between Poland and Lithuania which was being provoked by reactionary Polish circles. In 1937 > Polish troops were again concentrated on the Lithuanian frontier, and it was only the intervention of the U,S,S.R, which prevented this conflict from developing into a war between Poland and Lithuania.
The policy of peace and friendship which the Soviet Union pur sued met with the profound satisfaction and gratitude of the working people of Lithuania, but the foreign imperialists tried to convert Lithuania into a flace d^armes for war against the U.S.S.R. During the Sejm elections in 1926, the reactionary nationalist party headed by Smetona sustained utter defeat. After this, Smetona, backed by the landlords, the militarists and the Catholic clergy, carried out a military coup and established his dictatorship. The working people of Lithuania were subjected to a reign of tyranny and oppression. Smetona extended the landlord system and imposed an unbearable burden of taxation upon the small peasants. The Lithuanian people rose against Smetona 's bloody regime time and time again. After war broke out between Germany and Poland the Soviet government, in October 1939, anxious to ensure the security of the Soviet and Lithua nian frontiers, invited the Lithuanian government to conclude a treaty of mutual assistance, and without compensation transferred to Lithuania the city of Vilna and the Vilna Region which had been liberated by the Red Army. Instead, however, of honestly abiding by Lithuania 's treaty obligations, the Smetona clique plotted new acts, of provocation against the Soviet Union.
The government of the U.S.S.R. demanded that a change be made ill the composition of the Lithuanian government, and that additional contingents of the Red Army be permitted to enter Lithuania for the purpose of guaranteeing the security of the XJ.S.S.R. and Lithuanian frontiers. The Lithuanian people welcomed the Red Army with great rejoicing. On July 14-15, 1940, a new government held democratic elections for the People's Sejm, and in these elections the candidates of the Lithuanian Labour Alliance polled 99 per cent of the votes. The People's Sejm unanimously resolved to proclaim Lithuania a Soviet Socialist Republic and sent a plenipotentiary delegation to the U .S .S.R . to request the Supreme Soviet to accept Soviet Lithuania into the Soviet Union.
The request of the representatives of Soviet Lithuania was granted, and on August 3, 1940, the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. accepted Lithuania into the Soviet Union as a Union Republic possessing equal rights with the others.
The same road was traversed by the Latvian bourgeois republic.
Soviet-Latvian relations were governed by the peace treaty of August 1920, which had also provided for the revival of economic I'clations between the two countries. But the bourgeois and kulak cir cles which dominated Latvia, instigated by the foreign imperialists, refused to sign a trade agreement with the U.S.S.R. It was not until the end of 1926, after the fall of the reactionary Ulmauis government, that more normal relations were established between the two countries by tlio couclusioii of the Latvian-Hoviet guarantee treaty of 1927 and the Latvian-Soviet tiuile agreement of June 1927. Subsequently Ulmanis, the leader of the so-called Peasant Union, carried out a counter-revolutionary coup and the last traces of bourgeois-democratic liberties were wiped out in Latvia. Notwithstanding the pact of mutual assistance that was concluded with the U.S.S.R. on October 5, 1939, the Latvian bourgeoisie continued its intrigues and, hohind the back of the U.S.S.R., formed a military alliance of Baltic countries against U,S.S.R., utilizing for this purpose the '"Baltic Entente" which had been formed as early as 1934.
Realizing that the ruling circles in Latvia were incapable of hon estly carrying out the pact of mutual assistance the government of the U.S.S.R. called fora change in the composition of the Latvian govern ment and demanded permission for Rod Army units to enter Latvia.
The free elections to the Latvian Sejm that followed resulted in a sweeping victory for the candidates of the Bloc of tho Working People of Latvia. The Sejm unanimously proclaimed Latvia a Soviet Republic. On tho application of a plenix)otoiitiary delegation which the Sejm sent to Moscow, the Seventh Session of the Supremo Soviet of the U.S.S.R. on August 6, 1940, accepted Soviet Latvia into tho Soviet Union as a Union Republic possessing equal rights with the others.
Estonian-Soviet relations were governed by the peace treaty signed in the beginning of 1920, which caused the first breach in the Entente 's blockade of the U.S,S.R. The Estonian bourgeoisie, however, had con nections with countries that were hostile to the U.S.S.R., and on their instigation it more than once supported anti-Soviet adventures. IiiMay 1922, the Estonian authorities in Reval executed the Estonian ])opiilar hero Victor Kingisepp, a member of the All-Russian Central JBJxccutive Committee, and even sent a protest to the government of the U.S.S.R. for changing the name of the town of Yambur, near the Estonian frontier, to that of Kingisepp.
In 1924, the workers of Reval heroically rose in revolt against the reign of White terror in Estonia; the Estonian government used this as a pretext for launching another anti-Soviet campaign.
In 1925, the Estonian bourgeoisie, on the direct orders of the for eign imperialists, refused to conclude a trade agreement and guarantee treaty with the IJ.S.S.R. The Estonian government sabotaged the pact of mutual assistance that was concluded between the U.S.S.R. and Estonia on September 28, 1939. The Estonian governing clique entered into a military alliance with the other Baltic countries and began to prepare for war against the IJ.S.S.R. The vigilance of the Soviet government, however, frustrated these designs.
On June 21, 1940, the working people of Estonia swept away the warmongers and put a i^eople's government in power. The elections to the Estonian State Duma that took place on July 14-15 resulted in a sweeping victory for the democratic elements. At the very first meeting of the Duma a resolution was unanimously adopted to proclaim Estonia a Soviet Republic and to affiliate the republic to the U.S.S.R.
At its meeting on August 6, 1940, the Seventh Session of the Su l^reme Soviet heard the statement of the plenipotentiary delegation from the Estonian Soviet Republic and unanimously accepted the republic into the Soviet Union as a Union Republic possessing equal rights with the others.
=== The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People ===
===== Hitler Germany's Perfidious Attack upon the U.S.S.R =====
While carrying out the immense tasks of the Third Stalin Five-Year Plan and firmly and undeviatingly pursuing a peace policy, the So viet government did not for a moment lose sight of the possibility of the imperialists making another attack upon our country. When fas cist Germany began openly to unleash war in Europe, Comrade Stalin called upon the people of the Soviet Union to put themselves in a state of mobilization and preparedness. As early as February 1938, in his reply to the letter of the Young Communist Leaguer Ivanov, he wrote: "'Indeed, it would be ridiculous and stupid to close our eyes to the fact of the capitalist encirclement and to think that our external enemies, the fascists, for example, will not, if the opportunity arises, make an attempt at a military attack upon theU.S.S.R."
Comrade Stalin strongly urged the necessity of strengthening tiie defensive capacity of our country. He wrote; "Our Bed Army, Bed Navy, Bed Air Fleet, and the Aviation and Chemical Society must be increased and strengthened to the utmost.
"The whole of our people must be kept in a state of mobilization and preparedness in face of the danger of a military attack, so that no ^accident ' and no tricks on the part of our external enemies may take us by surprise. ..."
Comrade Stalin's warnings put the Soviet people on the alert and prompted them more vigilantly to watch tlie intrigues of their enemies and in every way to strengthen the Bed Army.
The Soviet people understood tiiat the German foscists, headed by Hitler, were aiming to unleash another sanguinary war with the object of winning world domination. Hitler had jn'oclaimed the Ger mans the "superior race" and all other peoples as lower and inferior races. The Hitlerites particularly hated the Slavonic peoples, and primarily the groat Russian people, who had fought the German aggres sors more than once in the course of their history. The Hitlerites in tended, after they had achieved victory in the World War, to di*ive a large section of the Slavs out of Europe beyond the Urals and totally annihilate tlie other section.
The Hitlerites dreamed of utilizing the immense resources of the Land of Soviets — oil, coal and food — ^for the purpose of carrying out their further plans of conquest. Hitler counted on defeating the Soviet Union in a short space of time and then on utilizing all his forces for the purpose of subjugating the rest of the world.
The Hitlerites based their designs on the plan for an attack upon^ and the lightning defeat of, .Russia drawn up by General Hoffmann during the First World War. This plan provided for the concentration of vast armies on the Western frontiers of our country, the seizure of its vital centres within a few weeks and for a rapid march into the in terior right up to the Urals. Subsequently, this plan was supplemented and endorsed by the Hitler High Command who called it the "Bar barossa plan."
On the night of June 21-22, 1941, Hitler's army suddenly and perfidiously attacked the U.S.S.R. in spite of the pact of non-aggres sion which had been signed between Germany and the U.S.S.B. Hitler expected to win the war in a matter of two or three months. He based his calculations on the considerable numerical superiority of the German army, which had long been mobilized, was well armed and had already gained war experience. Hitler also calculated that the Soviet rear would prove unstable; he believed that the Soviet system would break down as a result of military reverses, that con flicts would break out between the workers and the peasants, and that national strife would break out among the peoples of the Soviet Union.
The monstrous war machine of the Hitler imperialists began it* devastating drive in the Baltic countries, Byelorussia and the Ukraine, and threatened the vital centres of the Land of Soviets.
===== The U.S.S.R.'s War Against Germany, a War of Liberation =====
The Land of Soviets was in mortal peril, and in his radio address of July 3, 1941, Comrade Stalin warned the Soviet people of thisHe called upon them to abandon the complacency and carelessness of peacetime, to rise up in defence of their motherland and the gains of the October Revolution, and to wage a patriotic war against the fas cist invaders. In this historic address, Comrade Stalin clearly defined the character of the Great Patriotic War which the Soviet Union was waging as a just war for liberation. On the other hand he showed that Hitler Germany, which had launched a perfidious and predatory attack upon our country, was waging an unjust war of conquest. He exposed the predatory designs of the Hitlerites and warned that a victory for Germany would mean enslavement and oppression for the peoples of the U.S.S.R. "The enemy is cruel and implacable," he said. "He is out to seize our lands which have been watered by the sweat of our brow, to seize our grain and oil which have been obtained by the labour of our hands. He is out to restore the rule of the land lords, to restore tsarism, to destroy the national culture and the na tional existence as states of the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanians and the other free peoples of the Soviet Union, to Germanize them, to convert them into the slave* of German princes and barons. Thus, the issue is one of life and death for the Soviet State, of life and death for the peoples of the U.S.S.R., of whether the peoples of the Soviet Union shall be free or fall into slavery" (J. Stalin, On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet JJnion^ Moscow, 1946, p. 13).
Comrade Stalin pointed out that the war against Hitler Germany must not be regarded as an ordinary war* It was not only a war be tween two armies, he said; it was a nation-wide patriotic war against the fascist oppressors, the object of which was not only to remove the danger that was hovering over our country, but also to help all the peoples of Europe who were groaning under the yoke of German fas cism.
Comrade Stalin's speech was an example of scientific foresight and at the same time a jDrogram for the struggle of the Soviet x^eople against Hitler Germany. In response to Comrade Stalin's call, all the peoples of the U.S.S.R. rose up to defend the honour, freedom and inde])endence of their inotherJand.
===== Collapse of the Fascists' Plan for a Blitzkrieg =====
The very first months of the .war revealed the total unsoimdnoss of thoplaais of the fascists, of their calculations on the Soviet armies suffering lightning like defeat, and on the Soviet rear being an unstable one. The enemy'^s temporary advantages — suddenness of attack, numerical superiority in tanks, aircraft and automatic weapons and the absence of a second front in Europe — enabled him to achieve certain tactical and operative successes .
But in the course of the war the armed forces of the Soviet Union expanded and became strong. The Soviet Army fought stubbornly for every inch of Soviet soil. The Soviet Supreme Command countered the enemy's onslaughts with Stalin's strategy and tactics of active defence. Wearing clown the enemy and sapping his manpower, tlie Soviet Army strove to liquidate the enemy's temporary advantages in the shortest possible time. The men of the Soviet Army sclf-sacri ficingly defended our Soviet towns and villages to the last. The battle of Smolensk, for example, lasted nearly thirty days. The German tank division which broke into Smolensk was annihilated in the streets of the city. Tens of thousands of German soldiers wore wi]ied out in the vicinity of Smolensk.
The defence of Odessa was even more j)rolongod and stubborn, last ing nearly seventy days. The Germans and Rumanians hurled eight een divisions against this city, while the defenders had at their com mand only four infantry divisions and small units of sailors and people's volunteers. Nevertheless, the Gormans failed to take the city by storm; it was abandoned by the Soviet troops for strategical reasons.
Stubborn fighting procooclod along the whole frontier from the Arctic Sea to the Black Sea. Emx>loying Stalin's tactics of active de fence, the Soviet Army stubbornly held at bay the mighty onslaught of Hitler's hordes. Hitler's army sustained immense losses.
The calculations oftlie Hitlerites on being able to inflict lightning like defeat on the Soviet Union proved baseless.
===== The Defeat of the Germans Near Moscow =====
Exceptionally fierce was the enemy's onslaught on Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. On October 2, 1041, the German High Command launched a general offensive with the object of surrounding and seizing Moscow. Tlio Ger mans tried to capture Moscow by an enormous "])ineer" movement via Rzliev-Kalinin from the North and Orel-Tula from the South. Hitler was so confident tliai this i)laii would succeed that he gave orclei's for a parade of German troops to be held on the Red Square on November 7. The Soviet Army, however, frustrated this insane plan of the Hitler ites,
At the very outset of the war a State Committee for Defence, head ed by Comrade Stalin, was set up . Under the direction of this Commit tee the entire country began actively to put itself on a war footing. A general mobilization and training of replenishments for the Soviet Army was undertaken. The armament industry was expanded. Whole plants were transported from the regions threatened by invasion east wards to Siberia, the Urals and Central Asia. The inhabitants of Mos cow formed people's volunteer units to repel the enemy. Over 120,000 Moscow volunteers were formed into new divisions which constituted a powerful barrier against the enemy's advance upon the capital. With in a short space of time tens of thousands of Moscow citizens encircled the city with strong defence lines. A state of siege was proclaimed in Moscow. The defence of the capital was directed by Comrade Stalin in person.
On November 6, 1941, at the moment when the enemy was fighting his way towards Moscow, Comrade Stalin delivered an address at a meeting of the Moscow Soviet on the occasion of the 24th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. In his speech he enumerated the causes of the Soviet Army's temporary reverses, showed how the evil designs of the enemy had collapsed and drew the conclusion that the defeat of the German imperialists and their armies was inevitable. He depicted the prospects of the war and pointed to the three main factors which would lead to the inevitable defeat of the Hitlerite im perialists. The first factor, he said, was the instability of the European rear of imperialist Germany, against whom all the peoples of Europe enslaved by the Germans would inevitably rise. The second factor was the instability of the German rear itself, which would be more and more shaken as Hitler's army sustained defeat. The third factor was the establishment and strengthening of the fighting coalition of the U.S.S.R., Great Britain and the United States against the German fascist imperialists.
Taking all these factors into account, Comrade Stalin forecast an inevitable turn in the whole course of the war in favour of the Soviet Union and. its Allies.
Next day, November 7, 1941, Comrade Stalin spoke at the Soviet Army parade on the Red Square. Recalling the fighting traditions of the great ancestors of the Russian people, he called upon the men and commanders of the Soviet Army and the Soviet Navy to follow their example in this heroic struggle for the freedom and independence of our Soviet Motherland. He said: "Lot the heroic images of our great forebears — ^Alexander Nevsky, Dimitri Donskoi, Kuzma Minin, Dimitri Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov — inspire you in this war I May you be inspired by the victorious banner of the great Leiiinl" (J. Stalin, On the Oreat Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1946, p. 41.)
These historic utterances of Comrade Stalin's inspired the Soviet Army and the entire Soviet people to perform new heroic deeds. The men of the Soviet Army fought the enemy at the approaches to Moscow with unprecedented courage. The Guards Division commanded by General Panfilov in particular covered itself with glory. In a battle lasting over four hours, twenty-eight guardsmen of this division, led by Political Instructor Klochkov, held at bay fifty powerful German tanlcs on an important line in the defences of Moscow. Almost all of these heroes were killed in this unequal battle, but the enemy was halted and, with the arrival of reinforcements, hurled back.
Thousands of Moscow volunteers fought at the approaches to the city side by side with fighters from different Soviet nationalities. The entire Soviet people defended Moscow — ^tho heart of the Soviet Union.
In October 1941, as many as thirty-five Gorman divisions were almost wiped out by the heroic defenders of Moscow. The Germans' October offensive against the Soviet capital failed.
After this Hitler called upon his troops to strike another decisive blow. In November, fifty-ono divisions were hurled against Moscow, among thorn being thirteen tank and motorizoddnfantry divisions. The Germans tried to capture Moscow by employing new "pincers" and "wedges." But the Soviet Army, now steeled in battle, put up a staunch resistance and wore the enemy out by means of powerful counter strokes. Meanwhile, the Supremo Command of the Soviet Army made preparations for a decisive offensive. On December 6, 1941, Comrade Sfcalin issued the order for the offensive to bo launched, and the Soviet Army routed the Germans near Moscow within forty days. Daring this period the Soviet Army captured or destroyed about 1,600 enemy tanks and large quantities of artillery and other weapons. The Gormans sustained heavy losses in manpower. As a result of the Soviet Army's offensive operations, the enemy was hurled back from the capital, in some places as much as 400 kilometres.
The defeat of the Germans near Moscow was the decisive event in the first year of the war and the first important defeat of the Germans in the Second World War. It revealed that the Soviet Army was a powerful fighting force that was capable not only of withstanding the onslaught of the Gorman fascist troops, but also of defeating them in open battle. The Soviet Army thus dispelled the myth that had gained currency in Euroi)e to the offcob that Hitler's army was in vincible. The defeat of fcho Germans near Moscow inspired both the Soviet people who had temporarily fallen under the yoke of the German invaders, and all the peoples of Europe whom the Hitlerites had enslaved, to rise up and fight the aggressors.
Simultanconsly with the defeat they sustained near Mosow the Germans sustained defeat in the North — in the region of Tikhvin — and in the South — in the region of Rostov-on-Don. This showed what a formidable fighting force the Soviet Army had grown into. By February 23, 1942, Soviet Army Day, the wliole of the Moscow and Tula Regions, a considerable part .of the Kalinin Region, and parts of the Leningrad and Smolensk Regions, had been cleared of the enemy. During the entire winter campaign of 1941-1942, the Soviet Army lib erated over* sixty towns and 11,000 inhabited centres.
But the German war machine was not yet demolished. It was still formidable, and was employed exclusively on 'the Soviet Front. In 1941 the Soviet Union actually fought Germany single handed, but at that time an anti-Hitler coalition of the Great Powers — the U.S.S.R., Great Britain and the U.S.A. — ^was already being formed. In July 1941, the governments of the U.S.S.R. and Great Britain signed an agreement for joint operations in the war against Hitler Germany. In 1942, Great Britain and the Soviet Union con cluded a treaty of alliance in the war against Germany and her ctm federatos in Europe and of co-operation and mutual assistance after the war. This treaty was signed for twenty years. The United States also concluded a military agreement with the Soviet Union,
But the conclusion of tlicso treaties did not do away with the anti-Soviet trends in those countries. The reactionary elements as serted that the unity among the Groat Powers was a temporary phe nomenon, and that only the war had imposed it on them.
The German imperialists had always dreaded a war on two fronts* All their strategy and tactics were designed to beat their enemies one by one, but they were not always able to do this. During the First World War Germany fought against Great Britain and France in the West, and against Russia in the East. Of the 220 divisions which the Garmans had at their command in 1914-1016, eighty-five divisions (and counting the forces of Germany's allies, 127 divisions) fought on the Russian Front. The rest of the divisions at the command of Germany and her allies were on the Western Front. During the Second World War Hitler Gennany waged war for a long time mainly on the EasternFront, utilizing her main forces to fight the Soviet Union, Of the 256 divisions wliich the Germanshadat their command in 1941 1942 no loss than 179 operated against tho U.S.S.R. The Soviet Army was obliged to repel the mighty onslaught of Hitler's armies singlohandod.
Tho intrigues and machinations of tho reactionaries headed by Prime Minister Cliurohili and his adherents in Groat Britain and the U.S.A. were aimed at weakening tho Soviet Union in every way in its struggle against Hitler Germany, and at dragging out, at all costs, the military operations in progress on the Soviet-German Tront.
Taking advantage of the absence of a second front, the Hitlerites, in the beginning of May 1942, launched another offensive. Scores of German divisions wore withdrawn from the Western Front and bronglit into action on the Soviet-German Front. After capturing Ketch, the Hitlerites resinned the assault on Sevastopol, The defence of Sevastopol lasted 260 days. The sailors of the Black Sea Fleet defended the city with unprecedented valoiir.
When the battle of Sevastopol was at its height, Comrade Stalin sent. greetings to its defenders in which he said: "'The self-sacrificing struggle waged by the defenders of Sevastopol sets an example of' heroism to the entire Red Aimy and the Soviet people."
===== The Battle of Stalingrad =====
In the summer of 1942, the Hitlerites, having established a considerable numerical superiority of forces on the southwestern direction of the Soviet-German Front, achieved important tactical successes and reached the region of Voronezh^ Stalingrad and STovorossiisk. Hitler still regarded as his main objective the capture of Moscow, but this time his intention was to outflanl?: the capital on the east and cut it off from the rear areas of the Volga and the Urals. Especial importance in Hitler's new plans was attached to the capture of Stalingrad, which was of enormous strategical significance. Situated at the junction of vital water and railway communications, it linked the centres of the country with the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, with Astrakhan and Baku and witli the Volga area and the Eastern Regions of the U.S.S.R. Stalingrad was also a vital arsenal which supplied the Soviet Army with tanis and other weapons.
The Hitler High Command hurled against Stalingrad their Sixth Army, under the command of General von Paulus, who had gained fame by his victories in Europe. Over 1,500 guns shelled the city from every side. Many thousands of aeroplanes dropped high-explosive and incendiary bombs on it every day.
Stalingrad staunchly and bravely repelled the vicious onslaughts of the enemy. The workers at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, and at the other plants in the city, continued to work under enemy fire, supplying the city's defenders with tanks and ammunition. An active part in the defence of Stalingrad was played by heroes of the Civil War who had taken part in the valiant defence of Tsaritsyn (as Sta lingrad was then called) xuider the personal direction of Comrade Stalin.
The entire country went to the aid of Stalingrad. Everybody was aware that the outcome of the battle of Stalingrad would determine the fate of our motherland. The heroic defence of the city enabled the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army to muster reserves and to draw up and put into operation a plan forthe defeat of the Gormans at Stalingrad,
At dawn on November 19, 1942, after terrific artillery preparation, the Soviet Army forces of three fronts launched an offensive and broke througli the enemy's defences. After routing the enemy's iianks the Soviet Army surrounded the j)ioked German uiiitKS and proceeded to annihilate them. By the beginning of J?ebruary ]043, two Gorman armies, numbering 330,000 men, ceased to exist. Nearly a third of this force, headed by Goiioral von Paulus, was taken prisoner. »
The Stalingrad operation, which was carried out in conformity with plans which had been drawn up by Comrade Stalin, was unprec edented in world history both in scale of operations and skilful gener alship. This was the first time in the history of war that such a vast mass of enemy troops was surrounded and annihilated. In an address he delivered on November 6, 1943, Comrade Stalin appraised the battle of Stalingrad in the following words: "To form an idea of the slaughter on the battlefield of Stalingrad, which was on a scale unprec edented in history, one should know that after the battle of Stalin grad 147,200 dead German men and ofiicers and 46^700 Soviet men and offioors were picked up and buried. Stalingrad marked the beginning of the decline of the German fiiscist army. It is common knowledge that the Germans never recovered from the Stalingrad slaughter" (J. Stalin, On tha Qrmi Patriotic War of the Hovi&t Union, Moscow, 1946, p. 116).
The victory at Stalingrad brought about a radical turn in the whole course of the Great Patriotic War. The heroic defence of Sev astopol and Odessa, the defeat of the Germans near Moscow, the stubborn battles fought near Leningrad, and the greatest battle in history fought at the walls of Stalingrad, laid a firm foundation for victory over the German fascist armies.
===== The Radical Turn in the Course of the War =====
In the winter of 1942-1943, the Soviet Army, despite difficult conditions, was on the offensive on a front of 1,500 kilometres, and at nearly every point struck the fascist army blow after blow. The enemy troops were hurled back great distances from Vladikavkaz, Stalingrad and Voronezh.
The relation of forces on the Soviet-German Pront had now changed. During the twenty months of the war the Soviet Army, in the course of defensive and offensive battles, had put out of action several mil lions of Hitlerite soldiers and officers, including the Rumanian, Italian and Hungarian armies, flung by Hitler over to. the Soviot-G^rman Front, who were utterly routed. Thus, tlie Gorman fascist army lost the advantage it had possessed in conducting large-scale military oper ations. After acquiring exporionoo in modern warfare tho Soviet Army became a fully seasoned army which had mastered tho tactics of manoeuvring, surrounding and annihilating tho enemy's manpower.
In the spring of 1943, a temporary lull in military operations set in. Both sides made preparations for decisive battles. The Hitler ites mustered forces for another big offensive. In (Jermany '"totah' mobilization was proclaimed, and the number of German divisions on the 8ovict-German Front was brought up to 257. The industry of oocu})iod Eui'oiie worked, at top speed manufacturing weapons for the German army,
, At the beginning of the summer of 1943, the Germans launched an offensive against the salient that had been formed at Kursk as a re*sult of the Soviet Army 's offensive during the preceding winter in the region of the Ore 1-Kursk-Be Igor od Railway. The Germans' plan was to strike from two directions — ^from their Orel flace d 'armes in the North, and the region of Belgorod in the South — sur round and annihilate the Soviet troops that were concentrated inside the Kursk salient, and then commence a drive against Moscow. To carry out this plan, the Germans concentrated on a relatively short front seventeen tank and eighteen infantry divisions and a vast number of aircraft. Never before had such a huge quantity of the weapons of war been brought into action as in the battle of Kursk. The density of armaments amounted to 100 to 150 tanks and 100 to 200 guns per kilometre. Notwithstanding this, the Germans failed to pierce the Soviet Front. The Soviet Army had organized a deeply echeloned defence and the Soviet artillery exterminated the enemy's "Tigers" and "Ferdinands."
After wearing down the main forces of the German fascist army and bleeding them white, the Soviet Army undertook the offensive in its turn. On August 5, 1943, exactly a month after the Germans had launched their offensive, the Soviet Army captured Orel and Belgorod, thus liquidating the enemy's fortified bridgehead at Orel, the most powerful and dangerous one for our country at that time, and which the Hitlerite High Command had antieijpated using for another offensive against Moscow.
The battles of Kursk, Orel and Belgorod marked the opening of the Red Army's powerful summer offensive. The Soviet troops made a drive for Kharkov, and on August 23, 1943, the city was liber ated from the German invaders. At the same time operations were commenced for the liberation of the Donetz Basin. On September 8, 1943, Stalino was liberated as the result of an impetuous assault. The Gorman High Command attempted to halt the advance of the Soviet trooi)s at the water's edge at the River Desna, and particularly at the River Dnieper; but the Soviet Army successfully forced the Desna, and later the upper reaches of the Dnieper, and on September 25, 1943, liberated Smolensk, a most important German strategical centre of deftuice in the western direction.
Tile Soviet Army's summer offensive cMilminated in stubborn jaghting for the Dnieper. The German High Command concentrated vast forces for the defence of their powerful Dnieper defence line. They occupied the well-fortified hilly right bank of tlie river, blow up all the bridges, and destroyed everything that could be used for crossing the river; they were convinced that the broad and deep Dnie per, the middle and southern reaches of which were as much as 600 metres wide, could not be forced. But to the enemy's surprise the Soviet troops did begin to cross the river at a number of points. Tl^e crossing proceeded not on pontoon bridges, but on rafts and every thing else at hand that could float. In this crossing the Soviet Army received enormous assistance from the Ukrainian partisans who had prepared rafts and improvised boats and on these rowed the Soviet Army men across to the right bank. In a number of places the partisans had dislodged the G3rmans from important strategical points and held them until the Soviet Army arrived.
After capturing several important bridgeheads on the right bank of the Dnieper, the Soviet Army began an offensive with the object of liberating Kiev. On November 6, 1943, after stubborn fighting, Kiev was captured by assault. In liberating Kiev the Soviet troops were assisted by the Czechoslovak Brigade which had boon formed in Russia,
After this, in the course of one week, the Soviet Army advanced 130 kilometres beyond Kiev. Developing the offensive, the troops under the command of General Vatutin captured Zhitomir on Decem ber 31. At this time the troops on the Byelorussian Front liberated Gome land thereby made a beginning in liberating the whole of Byelo russia.
The Soviet Army's drive through the Ukraine and Byelorussia was supported by operations on all the other fronts from Finland to the Crimea.
The Soviet Army's offensive operations in the summer of 1943 created a critical situation for Hitler's army and upset all the Germans' oxj^eotations of being able successfully to wage a long-drawn-out defensive' war on the Soviet-German Front.
The year 1943 marked a radical turn in the course of the war. Notwithstandiiag the fact that the Soviet Army still bore the whole brunt of the fighting against the German fascist hordes, it achieved a brilliant victory over them.
===== The Wholesale Expulsion of the German Fascist Invaders =====
The fourth year of the war proved to be a year of decisive victory for the Soviet Army. In the beginning of 1944, the Leningrad group of German troops was routed. The Soviet Amy forces which were defending Leningrad had heroically held the Gormans at bay for two years. In the autumn of 1941, the fascists attempted to capture Leningrad by assault, but when this attempt failed they, with the assistance of the Finns, laid siege to the city. Completely blockaded, the inhabitants of Leningrad suffered hunger and cold. Day after day the Oormaiis battered the residential quarters from the heavy long-range guns with which they had encircled the city. But neither starvation, artillery bombardment, nor daily bombing from the air could crush the heroic spirit of the defenders of the city of Lenin.
In January 1943, the Soviet troops on the Leningrad and Vol khov Fronts broke through the blockade. The food situation in the ha-oic city considerably improved. But the Germans, building several belts of strong fortifications around the city, continued the siege. On January 14, 1944, after thorough preparation, the troops on the Lenin grad Front launched a determined offensive with the object of completely liberating Leningrad, The Germans were hurled into Estonia. The Soviet Army was thus enabled to commence a drive in the Baltic Regions and in Finland.
At the end of January 1944, the Soviet Army undertook an offen sive with the object of liberating Ukranian territory west of the Dnie per. In the Korsun-Shevchenlcovsky Region, Soviet troops surrounded and wiped out ten divisions and one brigade of the enemy. Early in the spring of 1944, in spite of the spring thaw and the thick layer of sticky mud that covered the roads, the Soviet Army launched an offensive with the object of completely liberating the Ukraine west of the Dnieper. Pursuing the retreating Germans the Soviet Army sur rounded largo and small enemy forces and wiped them out. The enemy lost a great deal of his manpower and materiel in this way.
After forcing the Dniester, the Soviet Army entered Moldavia, and on March 26, 1944, after a swift drive, reached the river Pruth, the frontier between the U.S.S.R. and Rumania. In the beginning of April the Soviet troox)s defeated the Germans in the foothills of the ■Carpathians and reached the frontier between the U.S.8.R. and Czecho slovakia. Thus, the war was carried across the frontiers of our country.
After routing the German troops in Right-Bank Ukraine, the Soviet Army proceeded to liberate the Crimea. The Germans had tried to keep the Crimea as a base for another drive into the Kuban Region; moreover, their occupation of the Crimea imperiled the existence of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. The Hitlerites had strongly fortified Per ckop, the gate to the Crimea, and had transformed the region of Sevastopol into a powerful fortress.
The fighting to liberate the Crimea began on April 8, 1944. After forcing the Sivash Shallows, the Soviet Army drove into the interior of the Crimea. The remnants of the defeated German fascist troops fortified themselves in Sevastopol. On May 7, the Soviet Army launched an assault upon the Sevastopol fortress, and after three days of fierce fighting Sevastopol was liberated. The liberation of the Crimea changed the whole situation in the Black Sea and brought the Soviet Army near to the Balkans.
In the summer of 1944, the liberation of the Karelo-Binnish Ile public began. On June 19, 1044, after smashing the Einnish defences in the centre of the Mannerheim Line, the Soviet Army captured Vy borg. A week later it cleared the Murmansk Kailway of enemy forces and liberated Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Karelo-Pimiish Be publio. Fascist Germany's Finnish allies found themselves faced with disaster. Finland sued for peace and on September 19, 1944, signed an armistice treaty. Thus, Hitler Germany lost her faithful ally on the northern sector of the Soviet Front.
During these same summer months decisive battles were fought for the complete expulsion of the Germans from Byelorussia and Lith uania. The chief objective of the offensive in Byelorussia was to isolate the main forces of the German central group concentrated east of Minsk. Hear Minsk the troops of the three Byelorussian Fronts enclosed the Gormans in an iron ring. In the morning of July 3, Minsk was liberated. About 60,000 German soldiers and officers wore taken prisoner in Byelorussia, and these wore sent via Moscow to prisoner of-war camps.
The Soviet troops continued their iriiini])hant drive westward.
On July 13, Vilna, the caihtal of the Liiluianiaii Soviet Bcpublie,. was liberated. The German garrison in the city was wijied out. The liberation of the whole of Sovi(?t Byelorussia and of part of Soviet Lithuania enabled the Soviet Army to reacii the frontier between the Soviet Union and East Prussia.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Array was continuing its oflensivo in the south, in Bessarabia. On August 23, Kishinev, the cajiital of the Moldavian Republic, was liberated. The German and Rumanian troops, tried to make a stand in the region of Jassi, but hero a large group of them was encircled and completely wiped out. The swift drive begun by the Soviet Army culminated on August 30, 1944, in its entry into Bucharest, the capital of Rumania. Unable to continue the war any further, Rumania was obliged to capitulate. The new Rumanian government that was formed signed an armistice with the U.S.S.R. and declared war on Germany.
On September 5, the Soviet govornment sent the government of Bulgaria a note stating that since Bulgaria was in fact fighting the Soviet Union, the latter would regard herself at war with Bulgaria. The Bulgarian people, however, liaving no desire to be at war with the Soviet Union, on S<^ptemb('r 9 overthre^w the fascist governinont and set nj) a democratic government, which deedared war on Germany.
Thus, as a result of the victori('s which the Sf)vi(',t Arm^' had achieved, Germany lost her most imiiortant allies. Hiis still furtlu^r aggravated the military, economic and political situation for fascist Germany.
===== The Anti-Hitler Coalition is Strengthened =====
Faced with dis aster, Hitler Germany exerted all efforts to disrupt the united front of the Allies wlio were fighting against her. After the '"blitzkrieg" failed the Hitlerites based all their strategy on the jJrolongation of the war and on preventing the cementation of the alliance and friend shij) between the U.S.S.II., Great Britain and the United States. The fital interests of all the freedom-loving iDeoples, however, called for the speedy and complete defeat of the armed forces of fascist Ger many and of her vassals.
For the purpose of discussing concrete measures to bring about the speedy termination of the war a conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union was held in Moscow in October 1943. This Moscow Conference drew up the measures necessary for shortening the war against Ger many and her allies, and formulated the basic i)rinciples upon which a system of international co-oi)eration and security was to be estab lished. The conference expressed itself in favour of restoring the free dom and independence of Austria, and stressed the necessity of creating a democratic government in Italy. It also adopted a declaration to the effect that the Hitlerites would be called to book for the atrocities they had committed. This declaration was published over the signa tures of Stalin, Eooscvelt, and Churchill.
A month later, in November 1943, the leaders of the Three Pow ers — J. V. Stalin, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain — ^met in Teheran. The Teheran Conference adopted a "Declaration of the Three Powers" which expressed unanimous determination to crush Hitler Germany and ensure peace and security for the peoples. The leaders of the Three Powers who signed this declaration stated: "We express our determination that our nations shall W'ork together in war and in the peace that will follow." As regards the Allies' war plans, the declaration emphasized their firm determination to strike Hitler Germany the finalblow and demolish her armed forces on land, on sea, and in the air. The leaders of the Allied Powers reached complete agreement on the scojDe and timing of the operations to be undertaken against Hitler Germany.
In the succeeding period, however, Churchill, bent on satisfying the mercenary interests of British imperialism, resorted to all sorts of devices to hold up the opening of the second front, and to inflict as much damage as possible on our state.
The Soviet Army's victories were a decisive factor in ensuring tho Allies' military successes in North Africa and in Italy; and the fact that the Germans' main strategical reserves had been withdrawn from the West and that the finest Gorman divisions had boon anni hilated on the Soviet-German Pront, enabled the Allies successfully to develop large-scale oSensive operations in Europe,
The second front was opened only when it became clear that the Soviet Union was in a position, unaided by the Allies and with its own forces, to oceux^y the whole of Germany and to liberate the peoples of Eurox}e. On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed in northern France. The second front tied down nearly seventy-five of Hitler's divisions, and, to some degree, helped the Soviet Army to carry out its task of utterly defeating the German troops. However, the main burden of the war continued, as heretofore, to be borne by the Soviet Army, which tied down over 200 divisions. The fourth year of the war proved to be a year of decisive victories over the German troops achieved by the Soviet armies and the armies of our Allies. ' The Liberation of the Peoples of Europe. The course of the war totally upset all the plans and calculations of the Hitler imperial ists in the sphere of foreign j^olicy. Tlio predatory Hitler bloc col lapsed, Tlio peoples of Euro|)o who had been enslaved by the Germans intensified tlioir resistance, fur their hatred of the fascist invaders grow the longer the German occupation lasted. In all the countries they had conquered the fascists liad established their so-called "new or der," which, in fact, was only a replica of tlio old order of slavery or serfdom. The Germans conquered and enslaved advanced European nations like the French, Czechs, Slovaks, Polos, Norwegians, Dutch, Belgians, Serbians and others, and everywhere the Hitler party, the party of tho most rapacious and predatory imperialists in the world, applied their cannibal race theory. In all the countries they subju gated the Germans introduced the methods of slavery and serfdom, covered Europe with gallows, and destroyed tho finest treasures of tho culture of all nations.
The German fascists treated tho inhabitants of tho Soviet regions they had occupied with exceptional ferocity and cruelty. Tho fright ful atrocities which tho German fascists perpetrated were systemat ically reported by the Soviet Information Bm*oau and also by the Extraordinary Commission which the Soviet government set up to collect information about them. But during tho war years the atroc ities were only partly brought to tho light of day. When the Gtermans were defeated, the whole world received convincing proof of tho ghastly crimes committed by the fascist monsters. The Nuromburg trial also yielded a shocking picture of the sufferings endured by Soviet people in tho occupied areas, subjected, as they were, to torture and insult of every kind,
Tho Hitler authorities condemned Soviet people to death for tho slightest resistance or opposition. The Gorman butchers shot, burned to death, hanged and tortured Soviet people in thousands. The eollective farms in the occupied regions were broken up and the land was given to Gar man landlords and kulaks. The collective farmers, driven o£E their land, were compelled to work for the new landlords, or else were driven oflE to Germany to work like galley slaves. Millions per ished as a result of the unbearable toil which the German conquerors forced upon them. The Germans destroyed the finest monuments of Russian national culture. They wrecked the estate of the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana, the home of the great Rus sian composer Chaikovsky in Klin, and the house of the famous Russian author Chekhov in Taganrog, all of which had been converted into museums. They also defiled great relics connected with the name of Pushkin, and so on.*
As early as 1941, Comrade Stalin had said that the 'hiew order" in Euroi)e was a volcano which was ready to erupt at any moment. The enslaved peoples of Europe were only waiting for the opportunity to rise up against their enslavers. It was the liberating mission of the Soviet Army to help the peoples of Europe in their struggle to free themselves from Hitler tyranny. As the Soviet Army neared the frontiers of the U.S.S.R., the peoples of all the countries that were occupied by the Germans rose to wage a general struggle for liberation against the invaders.
The Soviet Army came to their aid. As soon as it crossed the Ru manianYugoslav frontier, it rendered substantial assistance to the People 's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, who had been heroically fighting the Germans from the very first day the latter invaded their country. On October 20, 1944, the Soviet Army, jointly with the People'sLiberation Army liberated Belgrade, the capital of Yugosla via, In the beginning of 1945, the Soviet Army helped our ally Poland to liberate a number of important Polish towns, and on January 14, 1945, Soviet troops, in conjunction with the First Polish Army, lib erated Warsaw, the long-suffering capital of the Polish Republic. The Soviet Army also rendered considerable assistance to the freedom-lov ing peoples of Czechoslovakia who had been resisting the German invaders all the time. Thus, the Soviet Army carried out its liberating mission in relation to all the peoples of Europe and helped them to throw off the yoke of the German tyrants.
===== The Heroic Struggle Waged by the Soviet Partisans =====
An ex tremely important part in the war against the Hitler robbers was played by the patriotic Soviet partisans who operated in all the Soviet regions that were temporarily occupied by the Germans. In the radio address he delivered on July 3, 1941, Comrade Stalin called upon all the Soviet people in the occupied regions to make conditions ^'unbearable for the enemy and all his accomplices." "They must be hounded and annihilated at every step, and all their measures must be frustrated," he said (J. Stalin, On the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1946, p. 15).
Thousands and hundreds of thousands of Soviet patriots respondfid to Comrade Stalin's call. Men and women of all ages and professions withdrew to the forests where they joined the partisan units. The Soviet people will never forgot the name of one of the first women-partisans, the Moscow high-school girl, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, In 1941, Zoya voluntarily joined a partisan unit and bravely fought against the Hitlerites. During one of the partisan operations she was taken, prisoner. She was subjected to frightful torture, but nothing could break the heroic spirit of this patriotic Soviet girl. Failing to compel the young heroine to give them any information, the Hitlerites decided to hang her in public. As the noose was being put round her neck she turned to the peasants who had been driven to the scene of the execution and made a passionate appeal to them to exterminate the fascists. "Don't be afraid," she said. "Stalin is with us. Stalin will come!"
The same staunchness and devotion to his country was displayed by the sixteen-ycar-old schoolboy and member of the A^oung Commu nist League, Shura Chekalin. Shura voluntarily joined an Extermi nation Battalion. One day, while a battle was in lungross, he found himself cut oft in the enemy's rear. He succeeded, however, in estab lishing contact with a i)artisan unit and served in it actively as a scout. Evcutxmlly ho was caught hy the Germans who, after subject ing him to inhuman torture, took him out to be hanged. Under the gallows the heroic lad proudly faced the Germans and said: "You can 't hang us all! Wc are far too many for you!" The young patriot went to his death singing the "International."
Outstanding among the j)opnlar heroes, the organizers and leaders of the partisan movement, were tlie Bolsheviks wJio in peace time had been managers of collective farms and factories, Soviet administrators or loaders of Party organizations.
The "avengers of the people" as these heroic partisans were called, struck at the enemy's most vulnerable ])ohits. They wrecked factories and ojBGlces in the enemy's rear, cut the Germans' communications, attacked and wiped out supply columns, struck at enemy reserves and blew up bridges, In this extensive war of liberation the partisans en listed the masses of the people who were groaning under the heel of the German invaders. The forests in which the partisans operated be came a nightmare to the Gerinans.Tho Gorman Command re])catodly sent punitive detachments to "comb"t]io W'oods and wij)o out the ])artisans, but through their scouts the partisans learned ofthe movements of these punitive detachments and took couuter-measui*(?s against them. The enemy wore caused exceptional difficulties and damage from the "rails war" waged by the Soviet partisans, who tore up thousands of kilometres of railway lines, tlms hindering the retreat of the Germans and facilitating their pursuit by the Soviet Army. They also saved Soviet civilians from extermination or from being driven off into slavery in fascist Germany. They liberated prisoners and restored to the civilian inhabitants the proi)erty which the Germans had plun dered.
During the course of the Great Patriotic War the partisan detach ments wiped out hundreds of thousands of Hitlerites, wrecked innumer aUo German trains, blew up thousands of railway and road bridges and destroyed thousands of tanks, armoured cars, guns, motor trucks and aircraft.
The outstanding partisan leaders Sidor Kovpak, A. P. Fyodorov, P. Vershigora and others were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Before the war S. A. Kovpak was the chairman of the Soviet of the small Ukrainian town of Putivl. When the Germans occupied the town, Kovpak and a comrade named Rudnev organized a partisan detachment which became famous all over the Ukraine. In 1942, Kovpak and other partisan leaders were called to Moscow to see Stalin, and there it was decided to organize a partisan raid deep into the in terior of the Ukraine west of the Dnieper for the purpose of rousing the people to fight the Germans and of striking at the enemy's communica tions. Kovpak 's detachments conducted devastating warfare on a large scale in Carpathian Ukraine where, among other things, they destroyed several oil refining plants and over 50,000 tons of oil. To combat Kovpak 's partisan detachments the Germans drew troops from Galicia and Hungary, but the partisans broke through the enemy encirclement and returned to the Ukraine.
All the Soviet people who had temporarily fallen under the fascist yoke waged a heroic struggle in the enemy's rear. The Germans tried to break the spirit of resistance of the Soviet patriots by means of frightful atrocities, but to no avail. An example of this heroic re sistance is provided by the struggle that was waged by the Young Communist iLeaguers in Krasnodon. In this small mining town an un derground Young Communist L3ague organization was formed which called itself the "Young Gaard." This organization, which was led by seventeen-year-old Oleg Koshevoi, set out to wage an uncompro mising struggle against the German invaders. The "Young Guard" distributed leaflets, repeatedly destroyed lists of names of people who had been marked off for deportation to Germany, and liberated prisoners from concentration camps. OvV^ing to treachery and trickery tlie Young Guard organization was discovered by the Gestapo and its mombors wore arrested. The Germans subjected these young heroes of underground warfare to frightful torture, but not one of them be trayed weakness or cowardice. Failing to break their spirit, the inlnunan fascist trutes flung them, while still alive, to the bottom of a wreeketl colliery shaft.
===== The Heroic Effort of the People in the Rear =====
The successes which tlio Soviet Army achieved ou the battlefield wore facilitated by the tremendous patriotic enthusiasm that was displayed by the entire Soviet peoj)lc in the roar. Within a short space of time the mu nition plants in the threatened areas were evacuated to tho remote eastern regions of the country and soon began to supply the Soviet Army with all it needed. Tho coal and metallurgical centres whrch had been built in the East in the course of the fulfilment of the Stalin Five-Year Plans partly compensated for the loss of the plants in the western and southern regions occupied by the enemy. In many cases the evacuated plants were put up and operated in districts where there had been no industry whatever before. 'Now plants were erected at war-time tempo. The local inhabitants and tho 6vacu6es worked with self-sacrificing zeal under the most trying conditions.
The scale of tho organizing work done in the rear by Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War is unprecedented in the history of war. Within a short space of time the output of tho Kuznetsk Steel Plant began to make good the temporary loss of the Donetz Basin. Huge new blast furnaces wore erected in Magnitogorsk. In Chelyabinsk, a giant steel plant was erected. Many oftlie old plants in the Urals were entirely reconstructed. Tho Urals became an enormous arsenal for the Soviet Army. In Siberia and Central Asia, now machine-building, automobile, electrical engineering and chemical plants were .erected.
Socialist emulation was undertaken on an unprecedented scale, Stakhanov methods of working became extensively employed and tlu^ movement for producing now inventions assumed mass pro])ortions. All this testified to tho enormous creative energy of the working class and to its indomitable will to achieve victory. An extremely important part in the armament industries began to bo played by women and juveniles. Dmung the war tho trade and factory training schools j)ro-. vided industry with over 2,000,000 trained workers, and women learned the most complicated trades, so-called men 's jobs, and were exemplary in their labour heroism.
In the factories the young workers formed themselves into what were called "front brigades." The young Moscow worldngwoman, Yekate rina Baryshnikova, started a movement among the young workers to overfulfil production plans with fewer workers. Katya Baryshnikova overfulfilled her own plan with three workers assisting her instead of six as formerly. Her example was followed by young workers all over the country with the result that tens of thousands of workers became availahlo for other jobs.
In his Order of tho Day of May 1 , 1944, Comrade Stalin paid a tribute to tho working class, which, amidst tho trying conditions of the war, had achieved decisive successes in the mass production of arms, ammunition, equipment and provisions for the Red Army.
Equally self-sacrificing was the effort exerted by the collective farm peasantry to bring about victory over the German fascist invaders. During the Great Patriotic War collective farmers, men and women, displayed an understanding of the interests of the State that reached a high level. By their intense labours they ensured regular supplies of food and raw materials for the Soviet Army and the country as a whole. The women collective farmers proved to be a great force in the countryside. For example, in the Ryazan Region, the women's tractor team led by Darya Garmash showed record results all through the war of area covered per tractor. The All-Union contest between women 's tractor teams begun on her initiative was of great benefit to her native land. The young people in the collective farms were pioneers in introducing new methods of labour into agriculture and thus increasing output.
The Soviet intelligentsia too made a priceless contribution to the cause of victory, boldly resorting to innovations in the spheres of technology and culture, developing science, and applying its achieve ments to the manufacture of weapons for the Soviet Army. Soviet physicists, chemists, mathematicians, medical men and other scien tists achieved great success in their respective spheres, and employed their achievements to help bring about the defeat of the enemy. Acad emicians Burdenko, Abrikosov, Orbeli, Bogomolets and Lena Stern achieved wonderful results in the field of medicine and thus saved the lives of innumerable wounded fighters. Academicians Bardin and Baikov, by their researches in the field of metallurgy, helped to develop Soviet industry still further. Academicians Lysenko, Tsitsin, Pryanish nikov and others, devised new methods of increasing agricultural output. The botanists, Academicians Komarov and Keller, and the geologists, Academicians Persman, Obruchev and others, worked very hard during the Patriotic War to develop further the natural resources of the U.S.S.R. As a result of the labours of Soviet scientists immense deposits of ores and various other valuable minerals wer3 discovered. The Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and the Academies of Sci ences of the Union Republics achieved great successes in all branches of science.
The entire Soviet people displayed exceptional solicitude for the needs of the Soviet Army. One of the manifestations of this was the broad popular movement for the collection of contributions for the Soviet Army Fund. At the end of 1942, when the battle of Stalingrad was at its height, the collective farmers in the Tambov Region with in a few days collected a considerable sum of money to build tanks. The example of the Tambov collective farmers was followed by col lective farmers all over the country. On the initiative of F.P. Go lovaty, a collective farmer in the Saratov Region, many collective i armors contributocl all their savings to the Soviet Army Fund. Golovaty wrot '3 a letter to Comrade Stalin saying that he had contrib utod 100,000 rubles, all his savings, for the ])urp{)so of building a fight er pianoHo was allowed to pick out a fighUu' plane at an aircraft factory and to have the following inscriiitiou made on it: "A gift to the Stalingrad Front from Golovaty of tJie Stakhanov Collective Farm," Comrade Stalin sent Golovaty a message ofgreetings and thanks for his gift. Comrade Stalin wrote: "Thank you, Fera]R)ut Petrovich, for your coucerii for the Red Army and its air force. The Red Army will ix)t forget that you gave up all your savings to huilda combat aircraft."
The example of collective farmer Golovaty was followed by many thousands of working i)eople in the provinces and non-Russian repub lics. By March. 31, 1943, over 7,000,000,000 rubles and large quantities of provisions and miscellaneous articles had been contributed to the Soviet Army Fund, and throughout the war about 13,000,000,000 rubles in money and a huge sum in state loan bonds were contributed to the Defence Fund. In addition to contributing to the Defence Fund, the Soviet people rendered the state enormous assistance by sub scribing to war loans.
The close unity between the rear and the front during the Great Patriotic War not only upset all the enemy's calculations on the So viet system lacking stability, but was a vital factor in bringing about his utter defeat.
===== The Rout of Hitler Germany in 1945 =====
The year 1945 arrived, the year in which the Soviet Army's historic victories reached their cuhninatiou, and saw the utter defeat of fascist Germany. In January 1945, the Soviet Army began to liberate Poland and Czechoslovakia, The troops of the U.S.S.R.'s allies were successfully pushing towards Germany 's vital centres. During these decisive days of the beginning of February 1945, a conference of the loaders of the great Allied Powers — Stalin, Roosevelt and' Churchill — was held in the Livadia Palace near Yalta, in the Crimea. The conference drew uj) a plan for the final defeat of Germany. At this time Germany was lield in the vise of two fronts. The heads of the three Great Powers agreed that they would demand fascist Germany's unconditional surrender. In their joint declaration on the conference, the leaders of the Great Allied Powers said: 'Tt is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world."
The loaders of the Three Powers also stated that it was not their purpose to destroy the German jieople. When Nazism and militarism were extirpated, they said, the German people would find ways for a decent existence in the comity of nations. To maintain peace and security the Crimea Conference decided to set u]> with the other Allied Powers a world-wide, international organization of United Nations. The Crimea Conference also adopted a "Declaration on Liberated Europe" which proclaimed the principle that the Three Powers would co-ordinate their policies and adopt joint decisions on the major po litical and economic questions concerning liberated Europe.
The united action of the Allies ensured their victory over Germany. The military situation became catastrophic for the latter. As a result of the onslaughts of the Soviet Army, which had pushed into German Silesia in tlie south and into East Prussia and Pomerania in the east and north, the German forces retreated into the interior of Gfermany. The Soviet Army's uninterrupted offensive resulted in the defeat of the Koenigsberg group of German troops. On April 9, 1945, the Soviet Army stormed and captured the city of Koenigsberg. Sev eral days later, on April 13, the Soviet Army liberated Vienna, the capital of Austria.
The road to Berlin was open for the Soviet Army. The Germans hurled all their reserves against it. The Soviet assault on Berlin was launched simultaneously from different directions. On the night of April 19, tens of thousands of guns opened fire on the city. By order of Marshal Zhulcov, the Soviet Army launched a sudden night attack. After artillery preparation, thousands of tanks made a drive for Ber lin; about 6,000 aircraft rained bombs on the German positions. On April 21, the Soviet troops, after breaking through the defences of Berlin, engaged the enemy in its suburbs. The ring closed tighter and tighter around the city. At last the forward units forced their way to the centre of Berlin and hoisted the Red flag over the German Reichstag. The Order of the Day of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Comrade Stalin of May 2, 1945, contained the long-awaited announce ment: "The Red Army has captured Berlin."
While the Soviet i^y's assault on Berlin was at its height, the Allied troops were rapidly advancing through German territory, meet ing with no resistance on the part of the Germans. In an endeavour to cause a split in the ranks of the Allies the Germans offered to sur render to the United States and Great Britain, but refused to ca pitulate to the Soviet Union.
But this time too the German fascist manoeuvre failed. The Allies demanded unconditional surrender from Germany. On May 8, 1945, the leaders of Germany's armed forces signed an act of unconditional surrender. The Germans reported the suicide of Hitler, Goebbels and of other of Hitler's accomplices. The rest of the rulers of the fascist state, including Goering and Field Marshal Keitel, were arrested and delivered up to an International Tribunal, which tried the major war criminals in Nuremburg.
On May 9, 1945, Comrade Stalin issued an address to the people announcing that the great day of victory over Geiroany had arrived. In this address Comrade Stalin said: "We now have full grounds for saying that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of our people's groat victory over German imperialism has arrived* The great saorifioos we have made for the freedom and independence of our country, the incalculable privation and suffering our people have endured during the war, our intense labours in tlie rear and at the front, laid at the altar of our motherland, have not been in vain; they have been crowned by complete victory over tlio enemy. The age-long struggle of the fclavonio peoples for tlieir existence and independence has ended in victory over the German aggressors and German tyranny. Henceforth, the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace between the peoples will fly over Europe" (J. Stalin, On the, Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1946, pp. 196-97).
===== The Defeat of the Japanese Imperialists =====
After the defeat and capitulation of fascist Germany, the Allies were faced with the task of defeating imperialist Japan, which continued the war despite the fact that Hitler Germany had capitulated.
Faithful to its duty as an ally, the Soviet Union adhered to the Potsdam Declaration of the United States, Great Britain and China of July 26, 1945, which demanded Japan's unconditional surrender.
The Japanese imperialists had been long-standing enemies of the Russian people and had made repeated attempts to seize our Ear Eastern territory. As far back as 1904, during the Russo -Jaiianeso War, Japan tried to cut off our country from the Pacific and the outlets to the ports of Kamchatka and Chukotsk. In 1918-1922, wlion the Soviet Republic was beating off the attacks of tho interventionists and uphold ing its independence, the Japanese imperialists tried to seize the So viet Far East. The young Red Army, in arduous battles, drove tho Japanese aggressors from Soviet soil. In 1038, the Japanese made another predatory attack upon the Soviet Union in tho region of Lake Hasan, and in 1939 they attacked, in tho region of Khalkhin-gol, the Mongolian People's Republic, with which the Soviet Union iiad signed a treaty of mutual assistance. These attempts wore also frus trated by the valiant Red Army. During the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War against Germany the Japanese hold their Kwantung Army, consisting of picked troops, on the Soviet frontier, threaten ing to cross it at any moment.
The Soviet State could no longer tolerate this constant menace in the East, and so the Soviet government announced that as from August 9, 1946, tho Soviet Uniqn would bo at war with Japan,
Tho Soviet Army launched an offensive in the Far East in several directions, and within a short space of time routed tho Kwantung Army— the largest group^of Japanese armies — and liberated Manchuria.
The U.S.S.R, 's entry into tho war against Japan and the suc cesses achieved by tho Soviet Army hastened the defeat of imperialist Japan. On September 2, 194:5, uuuuie to continue the war any longer, the Japanese capitulated and the Soviet people were able to present to the Japanese aggressors their just demand for retribution.
Commenting on the capitulation of imperialist Japan, Comrade Stalin said: "We of tlie older generation waited for this day for forty years, and now this day has arrived. Today Japan admitted defeat and signed an act of unconditional surrender.
' 'This means that the southern iiart of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands revert to the Soviet Union and henceforth ivill serve not as a bciffrier between the Soviet Union and the ocean and a base for Jap anese attack upon our Far East, bub as a direct means of communi cation between the Soviet Union and the ocean and a base for the defence of our country against Japanese aggression.
"Our Soviet people spared neither strength nor labour for the sake of victory. We experienced extremely hard years. But now every one of us can say: We have won. Henceforth we can regard our coun try as being free from the menace of German invasion in the West and of Japanese invasion in the East, The long-awaited peace for the peo ples of all the world lias come" (J. Stalin, On. the Qrmt PalrioUc Wnr of iha Soviet Union, Moscow, 1946, pp. 209-10).
===== The Causes and the Sources of the Victory of the Soviet Union =====
The victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War roused the admiration of all ])rogres.sive mankind. The wiiole world recognized tlie great merits of the Soviet Army, which by its heroic and" scdf-sacrificing struggle had saved world civilization from the Gorman fascist barbarians and the Japanese imperialists. The Soviet Army stood before the whole world as an army of liberation, and the Soviet Union as the saviour of civilization and progress in Europe and throughout the world.
What was th<^ source of the Soviet Aimy's great victory?
The Soviet Army was able successfully to perform its duty to its country and cany out its liberating mission in relation to the peo ples of Europe primarily because it received tlie devoted support of all the peoples of the Soviet Union; because its victory was ensured by the entire state and social system of our country.
As Comrade Stalin emphasized in the speech he delivered on Feb ruary 9, 1046, the victory of the U.S.S.R. signifies first of all, that the. Soviet social system was victorious and had successfully passed the test of the fire of war and proved that it is fully viable; secondly, the victory of the U.S.S.R. signifies that our Soviet state sj^stem was viotiorioiiH, tJiat our multi-national Soviet State })assed all the tests of the war and proved its viabilit}^; thirdly, the victory of the U.S.S.R. signifies that the Soviet armed forces, the Soviet Army, was victoi*! ous, the Soviet Anny which had heroically withstood all the hard ships of the war and had routed most powerful enemies. The socialist system which arose out of the October Revolution lent mtr people and our Red Ai*my groat and invincible strength. The victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R., the successful executicn of the tlu'ee Five-Year Plans for the development of our national economy, made it possible to prepare the countiy for active dcfonco even amidst the extremely unfavourable conditions created by the enemy's perfidious and unexpected attack. The victory of the policy of industrializing the cciintry and of collectivizing agriculture citi ated the material possibilities for organizing the defence.
Amidst the unprecedented difficulties created by the Patriotic War the Soviet multi-national state proved to be strong and invin* eible. Being a model of what a multi-national state should be, and built on the basis of Socialism, the Soviet Union draws strength fiom the indestructible friendship that exists among the peoples of our coun try. Ukrainians and Byelorussians, G.^oj-gians and Armenians, Uz beks and Turkmenians — 'll! the peojiles of the boundless Land of Soviets, led by the great Russian people — fouglit heroically on the different fronts during lhv:i Great Patriotic War. The glorious roll of Heroes of the Soviet Union contains tlie names of Soviet patriots of the most diverse nationalities. The Russian airman, thrice Hero of the Soviet Union, Alexander Pokryslikin, the Ukrainian partisan Sidor Kovi)ak, the Byelorussian partisan Sosnovsky, the Kazakh Tulegen Tokhtarov, the Georgian Mikhail Takhokidzo, the Latvian Janis Wilhelms, the Estonian Meri and the Jew Gorelik are bub a few of the names of the long list of men and women who today are the pride of the peoples of the Soviet Union. Valiant reprosentiitives of all the peoples of the U.S.S.R. fearlessly rushed into battle with the cry: "For our Motherland For Stalin!"
Under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party headed by the great est leaders of manl^ind, Lenin and Stalin, the Soviet State, that prod uct of the age-long struggle of the great Russian peojilo, converted our country into an impregnable fortress. ^
The greatest source of the Soviet Union's strength is the leading and directing role played by the Bolshevik Party among the masses of the people. During the Patriotic War, the Bolshevik Party was the inspirer and organizer of the nation-wide struggle againstj>he fascist invaders; and it was as a result of the organizing activities of the Parly that all the efforts of the Soviet people were united and directed to wards the common goal.
The Great Patriotic War revealed the mighty strength of Soviet patriotism, which is linkedwiththe entire glorious past of the peoples of our country. The splendid qualities and fighting traditions of tJjo Soviet people found expression in the mass heroism which they dis played at the front and in the rear in defending the honour, freedom and independence of their Soviet Motherland. Many of the names of Soviet lioroes have iiO'w* become legendary. Such, for example, is the immortal name of Captain Gastello, who in the first days of the war sent his burning aeroplane hurtling down upon an enemy supply column; suoli is the name of Hero of the Soviet Union, Guardsman Alexander Matrosov, who with his body blocked the embrasure of a pillbox, the continuous firing from which was hindering the advance of attacking Soviet Army forces; such are the names of the twenty eight guardsmen of Panfilov's Division, who gave their last drop of blood in defence of their positions near Moscow; such are the names of the sixteen guardsmen who at the cost of their lives repulsed the fierce attack of twelve eujiny tanks at a decisive moment in the enemy's offmsive at Stalingrad. The entire Soviet people reveres the memory of Heroes of the Soviet Union, members of the Young Communist L3ague, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Liza Chaikina, Sasha Chekalin and Victor Talalikhin, of the girl snipers Natasha Kovshova and Maria Polivanova, of the young Krasnodoii heroes headed by Oleg Koshe voi, and of many others like them.
The victory of the Soviet armed forces was also ensured by the Soviet military art and the wi.so strategy of Stalin. Generalissimo of tho Soviet Union, Comrade Stalin, trained splendid Generals of a now t>T^)e like Zhukov, Konev, Vasilycvsk}^ Toibuldiin, Govorov, Vatutin, Antonov and otliers, who proved themselves outstanding front commanders and everywhere successfully applied the Stalinist sciioiico and art of war in all their strength and might.
Lastly, tho Soviet Army was victorious because the organizer and iuspircr of its liberating struggle was tho loader of the i>ooples, tho greatest of strategists and generals, Comrade Stalin. It was with thc^ name of Stalin on their lips tliat tho Soviet peo]ple went into battle, and with it tliey emerged victorious.
===== The Five-Year Plan for the Restoration and Development of  the National Economy of the U.S.S.R. =====
The historic victories which the Soviet people achieved in the Great Patriotic War enabled the U.S.S.ll* to pass back to peacetime socialist construction. On Feb ruary 10, 1946, the Soviet people, with splendid unanimity, elected now Deputies to tho Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. which was to pass measures to promobe tho immense task of post-war restoration. The people's first candidate, Comrade Stalin, in the historic speech he delivered on February 9, 1J46 at a meeting of voters in the Stalin District of Moscow, revealed to the Soviet peoi>le wide prospects of fixrfchor (lovelojmKmt of tho Land of Socialism, of a tremendous ad vance in tho oGimomio aii<l cultural development of our country, of the eonsolidalion of tho ocononiic and military might of the Soviet State and of an increase in the well-being of tho masses of the people.
Stalin's vitnvs on tho post-war restoration and further develop ment of tho Soviet State wore embodied in a new Five-Year Plan which tho First Session of the Supremo Soviet of the U.S.S.R., Second Convocation, passed as a law entitled The Five-Year Plan for the Hiosto. ration and Development of t lie National Economy for 104G-1950'
The U.S.S.U/s victory in the Patriotic War was achieved at the cost of iinmctiso sacrifice. The German invaders caused our country untold damage. The Supreme Soviet therefore gave priority to the task of restoring the devastated regions and of raising industry and agriculture to the pre-war bvol. Aftei* that the ])ro-war level is to Ue exceeded to a considerable degrc-(^ This means giving first place to restoring and further developing the heavy industry and the' railways, a further increase in the outimt of agriculture and of the industries wdiich produce consumers' goods, the creation in the country of an abundance of the prinoij)al consumers' goods, and a general improve ment in the material welfare of the peoples of the U.S.S.R.
To ensure the powerful development of tlie national economy of the U.S.S.R. the new Five-Year Plan provides for further techni cal progress in all branches of the national economy; this will ensure higher productivity of labour.
The new Five-Year Plan also calls for the exertion of the efiorts of i'ho entire Soviet ])ooplo to carry out the main economic task of the U.S.S.R., namely, to overtake and outsfcri]) the princij)le capitalist countries economical ly .
Thus, the now Stalin plan opens for our Soc/ialist Motherland the great prospect of completing the building of Socialism and of the gradual transition from Socialism to Communism, Under the leader ship of the Party of Lanin and Stalin, the Soviet iieople will carrj?' out this historic task and usher in a new ora in wwld history.
=== Principal Dates in the History of the U.S.S.R. ===

Revision as of 16:08, 25 July 2024

The Second Congress of Soviets

The Second Congress of Soviets was opened in the Smolny at 10:45 p. m. on October 25 (November 7). The assault on the Winter Palace was still in progress. Many of the congress delegates had taken part in the insurrection. The Smol ny Institute looked like a military camp. Armoured cars, automobiles, motor trucks filled with armed workers, columns of Red Guards and sailors with machine-gun cartridge belts across their chests and hand grenades strung around their belts, Red Cross nurses in ambulance carts and Red Cross cars moved in an endless stream to and from the Smolny. At tiie congress there were 650 delegates, of whom 390 were Bolsheviks.

When the congress was opened the Mensheviks, the Bundists and the Bight Socialist-Revolutionaries called upon the soldier and non Party delegates to leave, but only a handful of Menshevik and Social ist-Revolutionary leaders left the hall.

As they left the indignant delegates shouted at them: "Kornilov ites!", "Deserters!"

A delegate from the Twelfth Army got up and said amidst general approval: "We must take power into our hands. Let them go. The army is not with them! "

At 2:10 a. m. the Winter Palace was captured. The wretched group of friglitened Ministers of the Provisional Government was arrested and taken to the Portress of Peter and Paul.

At 5 a. m. on October 26 (November 8), the Congress of Soviets passed the historic decision declaring that all power had passed to the Soviets and approved the appeal to the working people, written by Lenin, announcing this great historic event. The appeal read: "Backed by the will of the vast majority of workers , soldiers and peasants, backed by the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison which has taken place in Petrograd, the congress takes the power into its own hands" (V. I. Lenin, Selected WorJcs, Two-Vol. ed,, Vol II, Moscow, 1947, p. 226).

The second session of the congress opened at 8:40 p. m. on the same day (October 26 [Novembers]). At this session Lenin, who was greeted with indescribable rejoicing, read the Decree on Peace, which called upon all the belligerent peoples and their governments to conclude a just, democratic peace without annexations and without indemnities, on the basis of the self-determination of oppressed nations. The congress unanimously passed this decree.

Lenin next read the Decree on Land, which proclaimed that all landord, appanage, monasterial and church lands, with their livestock, farm buildings' and implements, were to pass without compensation under the control of Volost Land Committees and Uyezd Soviets of Peasants' Deputies. In all Soviet rule brought to the peasants over 150,000,000 hectares of land and relieved the peasants of the payment of rent to the landlords amounting to about 500,000,000 gold rubles per annum.

The Decree on Land proved to the peasants that "there are no more landlords in the countryside/' as Lenin expressed it.

This decree was based on the General Peasant Instructions which had been drawn up on the basis of 242 local Peasant Mandates, the main one of which had been the abolition of the private ownership of land and the transfer of the land to the peasants without compen sation through the Land Committees and Soviets.

At 2:30 a. m. the congress passed a decree announcing the forma tion of the first Soviet government — ^the Council of People's Commis sars. The congress endorsed Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) as Chair man of the Coimoil of People's Commissars, and Lenin's unfailing colleague, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, as People's Commissar of Nationalities, the function of which was to help to unite the oppressed nations in a single fraternal socialist federation of nations. The activ ities of the Coimcil of People's Commissars were to be controlled by a Central Executive Committee elected by the All-Russian Congi'ess of Soviets.

The first Soviet government consisted exclusively of Bolsheviks, although the latter had invited the "Left" .Socialist-Revolutionaries to join it. Before the Second Congress of Soviets was opened the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries were still organizationally connected with the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries. It was only after the latter had left the congress together with the Mensheviks that the "Left" Socialist-Rev olutionaries formed their own se]parate party. Conscious of the pressure of the entire mass of the peasantry who were thirsting for land, the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries had been constantly wavering be tween the Bolsheviks and the Right Socialist-Revolutionarj^-Menshevik bloc and urging the Bolsheviks to reach an agreement with the latter. Lenin called them "fellow travellers of the proletarian revolution" and foresaw that they would betray the revolution at the critical moment. Influenced by the revolutionary temper of the peasants and soldiers, the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries announced that they supported the October Revolution. It was then that the Bolsheviks invited them to enter the government.

But the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed the formation of a Sovietgovemment; they wanted "a homogeneous socialist govern ment," by which they meant a Cabinet consisting of representatives of different parties, ranging from the People's Socialists to the Bolshe viks. The Second Congress of Soviets, however, rejected this proposal and set up the first Soviet government entirely of Bolsheviks.

The congress closed at 5 a.m. on October 27, amidst the enthusias tic cries of the delegates andPetrograd workers: "Long live the revolu tion!", "Long live Socialism!"

Suppression of the Kerensky and Krasnov Anti-Soviet Revolt

The victory of the socialist revolution in Peti'ograd evoked the desper ate resistance of the deposed classes. The Committee for the Salvation of the Fatherland and the Revolution, which was headed by Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries and backed by the Entente imperialists, became the centre of the counter-revolution. The workers and soldiers called this committee "The Committee for the Salvation of the Counter Revolution."

The first armed revolt of the counter-revolution was organized by Kerensky and the Cossack General Krasnov. After fleeing from Petrograd, Kerensky withdrew several Cossack units from the front and sent them against Petrograd under the command of General Krasnov to crush the proletarian revolution. On October 28 (November 10), Kras nov occupied Tsarskoye Selo (now the town of Pushkin) near Petrograd.

The workers of the capital rose to defend the revolution. They marched to the firing line, dug trenches, erected fortifications and manu factured arms. Work in the factories went on day and night. The Putilov Plant received orders to fix armour plats on two railway fiat cars, and Lenin, who was personally directing the organization of the defence of Petrograd, went to the plant to see how this order was being carried out. He found the workers busily engaged on the job. He spoke to the work ers, encouraging them to further efforts, and told them what the situation was at the front. Within twenty-four hours the order was executed. Lenin ordered destroyers to move up the Neva to cover the flanks of the Red forces, and as many as ten thousand men ready for action were concentrated on the Pulkovo Hills.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Red forces had gone ofi to the front, the counter-revolutionaries in Petrograd organized a mutiny of cadets in the city. On tlie night of October 28 (November 10), a Red Guard patrol detained two suspicious men. One of them tried stealthily to get rid of some document or other, but one of the Red Guards saw it and picked it up. It turned out to be the plan for the mutiny. Thanks to the united and vigorous efforts of the workers and soldiers the mutiny was crushed by 4 p. m. next day. On October 31 (November 13), the revolutionary workers and soldiers routed a force of Cossacks near Pulkovo. This defeat caused rapid disintegration among the Cossack units, and in spite of all the orders issued by Krasnov, the Cossacks re fused to take to arms, A delegation of Soviet sailors went to the Cos sacks in Gatchina and promised that they would be allowed to return to their homes if they stopped fighting the Soviets and delivered up Kerensky. The Cossacks agreed to this, but Kerensky managed to escape from Gatchina disguised as a Bed Cross nurse. Ki-asnov was arrested but released later on giving his word of honour not to fight against the Soviets.

He failed to keep his word, however. He fled to the Don, which subsequently became a hotbed of counter-revolution.

The Insurrection in Moscow

On receiving news of the insurrec tion in Petrograd the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party, on October 25 (November 7), took measures for an insurrection in Moscow.

On the night of October 25, the Bolshevik Military Centre called upon the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Moscow Soviet to garrison the Kremlin with troops who were loyal to the revolution; but instead of doing this the Revolutionary Military Committee leaders entered into negotiations with the counter-revolutionary headquar ters. In the evening of October 26, the Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party held a special meeting'^"and demanded the cessation of these negotiations. Meanwhile, the counter-revolution aries launched an offensive. On October cadets occupied all the bridges across the Moscow River. At 7 p. m. that day Colonel Ryab tsev, the commander of the counter-revolutionary forces, presented an ultimatum to the Revolutionary Military Committee, demanding that it should dissolve.

The cadets captured the Kremlin by a ruse, surrounded the revolu tionary soldiers there and shot them down with machine guns. This out rage roused the indignation of the workers and soldiers of Moscow. The Moscow Committee of the Bolshevik Party called upon the workers to take to arms in order to crush the counter-revolution and to seize power forthwith. The Moscow proletariat and soldiers unanimously responded to this appeal. The workers sent Red Guard units to the assist ance of the Moscow Soviet. The offensive converged from the various districts of the city to the centre, where the Moscow Soviet headquarters were situated. The initiative in the fighting passed to the districts.

An exceptionally active role in the October fighting in Moscow was played by the workers of the Simonov District (now the Lenin District) where the AMO (now Stalin) Automobile Plant, the Dynamo Plant and other big plants were situated. The workers captured the arsenal and armed themselves, and detachments of Red Guards fought their way from the district towards the Moscow Soviet and took a most active part in the assault upon the cadets. The workers and soldiers fought solidly in the other districts as well. In the Lefortovo and Bas manny Districts they captured pieces of artillery and for two days bombarded the Alexeyevsky Military School and finally compelled the cadets to surrender. In the centre of the city the Red Guards and soldiers attacked the General Post Office, the Central Telegraph Office and the Central Telephone Exchange. In the Khamovniki District the Red Guards dislodged the cadets from the army food warehouse and captured the Krymsky Bridge and the Bryansk (now Kiev) Railway Station. The workers of the Krasnaya Presnya District cleared the cadets out of the whole district up to the Kovinsky Boulevard.

Red Guard units came bo the assistance of the Moscow workers from the adjacent towns. Detachments of poor peasants armed with shot guns and axes arrived from the villages in the Moscow Region and were organized and armed by the workers of the railway repair shops. Red Guards from Petrograd, sailors from Kronstadt, weavers from Ivanovo and workers from Tula on motor trucks and armed with machine guns, hastened to the assistance of Moscow.

On October 31 (November 13), the Red Guards captured the Gen eral Post Office, the Central Telegraph Office and the railway stations, and two days later began to bombard the Kremlin.

At 9 p. m. on November 2 (15), after six days' fighting, the counter-revolutionaries were defeated and forced to surrender. All power passed to the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Moscow Soviet.

The October Revolution at the Front

The Second Congress of So viets issued an appeal to the soldiers at the front to support the insurrec tion of the Petrograd workers, and stated that the Soviet government would exert all efforts to terminate the war. The decrees on peace and on the land were immediately circulated to all the soldiers' organizations, but the Army Committees, led by Men sheviks andSocialist-Revolutionaries , tried to conceal from the soldiers the decisions which had been adopted by the Second Congress of Soviets. The soldiers, however, sent deputa tions to the Petrograd Soviet to learn the truth about the events that had taken place in the capital. When these delegates returned and in formed their comrades that Soviet rule had been established in Petrograd, the masses of soldiers heartily welcomed it. The proletarian revo lution triumphed first on the Northern and Western Fronts, which were closest to Petrograd. Here the Bolsheviks had conducted extensive activity; nearly all the Regimental Committees were headed by Bolsheviks and, as a consequence, the soldiers •declared unanimously for Soviet power. The other fronts* — ^the Southwestern, Rumanian and Caucasian — being very remote from the centre of the revolution, did not at once learn of the victory of the proletarian revolution in Petrograd; but as the truth about the events came through and the soldiers learned of the Soviet decrees they too joined the revolution.

Although defeated in Petrograd and in Moscow, the counter revolution still made efforts to organize and pass to the offensive. The representatives of the anti-Soviet parties which had been defeated by the revolution, and the military missions of the Entente countries which refused to recognize the Soviet government, flocked to the 'General Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev, which now became the centre of a new counter-revolutionary plot. General Headquarters kept from the soldiers the decree on peace and began to form units for a drive against Petrograd. The Soviet government ordered General Dukhonin, Chief of the General Staff, who after the flight of Kerensky, had proclaimed himself Supreme Commanderin-Chief, immediately to open negotiations for an armistice with the German Command, but Dukhonin refused to obey this order, whereupon Lenin dismissed Dukhonin and sent revolutionary detachments to Mogilev which captured General Headquarters and liquidated this hotbed of coimter-revolution .

The Organization of the Soviet State

Failure of Attempts to Liquidate the Proletarian Dictatorship

After the armed insurrection the proletariat became the ruling class in Russia.

The class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie continued in new and more intense forms. As Lenin wrote: "The dictatorship of the proletariat is a most determined and most ruthless war waged by the new class against a more, 'powerful enemy, the bomgeoisie, whose resistance is increased tenfold by its over throw " (V. I. Lenin, Selected Worl^s^ Two-Vol. ed., VoL II, Moscow,

1947, p. 573.) The proletarian dictatorship set out to crush the resistance of the vanquished exploiters and to build communist society.

Emphasizing the significance of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the struggle against the vanquished bourgeoisie, Comrade Stalin said: "The dictatorship of the proletariat is not a mere change of government, but a new state, with new organs of power, both central and local. ..." (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism ^ Moscow, 1946, p. 42.)

The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries launched a struggle against the dictatorship of the proletariat and demanded the establish ment of a "homogeneous socialist government" in place of Soviet rule.

The All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railwaymen^s Union, (known as Vikzhel) which was controlled by Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, threatened a general railwaymen's strike if negotiations were not opened on the issue of power. Meanwhile Krasnov and Kerensky were at the gates of the capital. Kamenev, who was. then the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, opened negotiations with the Railwaymen's Executive as to the establishment of a coalition government. He commit ted an act of unparalleled tr achery by conceding the demand of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks that Lenin, the leader of the proletariat, should he removed from the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and that either Avksentyev or Chernov, both Socialist-Revolutionaries and creatures of the counter-revolution, be appointed in his place.

After the Kerensky and Elrasnov revolt was crushed, Lenin de manded that negotiations with the Railwaymen's Executive should cease forthwith. In answer to this Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov and the few supporters the^r had, resigned from the Central Committee of the Party. Lenin demanded that these deserters and blacklegs of the revolution should be removed from all Soviet and Party work. In an angry letter he addressed to Zinoviev and Kamenev he wrote: ". . . You are causing indecision in the ranks of the fighters in an in surrection which is still in progress. . , (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works,

VoL XXII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 57.)

The Central Committee of the Party addressed a letter 'To All Party Members and to All the Toiling Classes of Russia" in which it emphasized that only a Bolshevik government could now be regarded as the Soviet government.

At that time Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov was elected as Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,

A steadfast Leninist and a man of extraordinary strong will and outstanding organizing talent, Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov played a tremendous part in building up the Party and Soviet power after the victory of the October Revolution. His iron will, seething energy, enormous capacity for work, phenomenal memory, astonishing knowledge of men and his ability to find and place the neces sary workers made him a priceless leader and organizer of Soviet power.

The Breakup of the Old State Machine

The fundamental antithesis between bourgeois revolutions (including the French bour geois revolution of 1789) and the Great October Socialist Revolution lay in that "the French (and every other) bourgeois revolution, while liberating the people from the chains of feudalism and absolutism, put new chains upon them, the chains of capitalism and bourgeois de mocracy, whereas the socialist revolution in Russia smashed all chains whatsoever and liberated the people from oil forms of exploitation. ..." (J. Stalin, S. Kirov and A, Zhdanov, Comment on a Synopsis for a Textbook on Modern History.)

After overthrowing the rule of the capitalists and landlords and becoming itself the ruling class, the proleto^riat had to organize in a new way the state power it needed to be able to crush the resistance of the exploiters and lead the peasants in building the new socialist society.

This process of creating the new proletarian authority was a compli cated and difficult one, for it entaihd the breaking up of the old bourgeois machinery of state and the creation of a new tj^e of state authority. As Lenin wrote: ". . . All the revolutions which have occurred up to now have helped to perfect the state machine, whereas it must be smashed, broken.

"This conclusion is the chief and fundamental thesis in the Marxian doctrine of the state" (V. I. Lenin, Selected WorTcs, Two-VoL ed., Vol. II, Moscow, 1947, p. 169).

The Paris Commune of 1871 was the first attempt in history at the breakup of the bourgeois state machine by a proletar ian revolution. The revolutions of 1905 and of February 1917, which set up Soviets, not only continued the cause of the Paris Commune but took further gi gantic strides in that direction. As Comrade Stalin wrote: "The dictatorship of the proletariat cannot arise as the result of the peaceful development of bour geois society and of bourgeois democracy; it can arise only as the result of the smashing of the bourgeois state machine, the bourgeois army, the bourgeois bureaucratic machine, the bourgeois police" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Moscow, 1945, p. 44).

By the decree of December 16 (29), 1917, plenary power in the army was transferred to the Soldiers' Soviets and Committees. The Com missars of the Provisional Government were removed and the election of officers, right up to front commanders, was introduced. All the old ranks, titles and decorations were abolished. This decree thus completed the democratization of the army and signified the complete breakup of the old army. The organization of the new army was sanc tioned by the decree of January 15 (28), 1918, about the formation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red .^my.

The Soviet government liquidated the old machinery of vio lence and oppression by the decree of November 22 (December 5), 1917, which abolished the old judiciary and established the new, people's courts.

The police force had been shattered by the workers in the very first days of the February revolution. In its place the Provisional Government had formed a militia, but not on the principle of recruiting it from among the ranks of the working people. After the victory of the proletarian revolution aWorkers' Militia was organized to maintain revolutionary order, and was placed under the control of the local Soviets.

A series of decrees was issued abolishing the old division of the population into estates. Thus, on November 10 (23), 1917, a decree was passed abolishing the different estates and civil ranks. The designations current till then (noble, merchant, burgher, peasant, etc.,) were abolished and the designation of Citizen of the Russian Republic was introduced to cover all the inhabitants of Soviet Russia.

Decrees were also issued abolishing the privileges of the church. Thus, the decree of January 21 (February 3), 1918, separated the church from the state and the school from the church. The state ceased to maintain the clergy and missionaries, relieved schoolchildren from the obligation of learning the scriptures, and proclaimed religion and the church to be the private affair of citizens.

The Soviet state emancipated women and purged family relation ships of feudal survivals. The decrees issued on December 19 and 20, 1917, old style, introduced civil marriages, placed children under the protection of the proletarian state and granted women equal rights with men in all respects.

On December 21 (January 3), spelling reform was introduced, thus making it easier for the vast population which had been kept in ignorance for generations to learn to read and write. On January 25 (February 7), 1918, a decree was issued abolishing the old style calendar and introducing the calendar in use in all Europian countries.

First Steps Towards Socialism

The October victory ushered in the first stage of socialist construction. The Great October Socialist Revolution, as Lenin said, completed, in passing, the task of the bour geois-democratic revolution and at the same time took ths first steps towards Socialism,

The first decrees of the Soviet State introducing socialist meas ures were also aimed at doing away completely with the survivals of feudalism, serfdom and the caste system. In this respect the Soviet State did more in a few weeks than the Cadets, the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries had done during the eight months they were in power.

On October SO (November 12), 1917, a decree was issued intro ducing the 8-hour working day.

To combat the sabotage of the capitalists, workers' control of industry was introduced, the Regulations on Workers' Control being passed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 14 (27), 1917, Workers' control meant that the workers prevented the deliberate closing of factories, the removal of finished goods and stocks of raw materials and fael from the premises, and the stopping of produetion, and kept watch over the machinery. The decree introducing workers' control was one of the first steps towards Socialism, for it gave the workers an opportunity to learn to manage industry and to administer the state. Tens of thousands of workers passed through this school.

From workers' control the Soviet State gradually passed on to workers' management of industry". The case of the first Soviet factory, formerly Lickin's Textile Mill, may serve as an example of how this transition was made. The workers at this mill, discover ing that the owner was deliberately sabotaging production, raised the demand that they be allowed to take over the management. On November 17, 1917, Lenin signed a decree nationalizing the mill. The higher officials and technical staflF of the mill boycotted the work ers ' management and refused to work without the capitalists, but the factory committee came to the aid of the workers' management and production at this first nationalized Soviet plant was organized.

On December 5 (18), 1917, a decree was issued setting up the Supreme Council of National Economy, This was a militant organ of the Dictatorshij) of the Proletariat established for the purpose of directing industry. Lenin wrote that "the Supreme Council of Nation al Economy must not be converted into a parliament, but must be just as militant an organ for combating the capitalists and landlords in the sphere of economics, as is the Council of People's Commissars in the field of politics" (V. I, Lenin, Collected Worlca, VoL XXII, Moscow, 1937, Euss. ed., p. 108).

The railways and the merchant fleet were taken over by the proletarian state.

Foreign trade was declared a monopoly of the Soviet State* The loans contracted by the tsarist regime and the Provisional Government were annulled, thus liquidating forever Russia's economic dependence upon West-European capital which was gradually transforming our country into a colony of British and French imperialism.

On December 14 (27), the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree nationalizing all private banks and merging them with the State Bank. This measure shattered one of the most im portant props of the economic sway of the bourgeoisie and strengthened the material basis of the young proletarian state.

The decree on land passed by the Second Congress of Soviets abolished the economic basis of the domination of the landlords and cleared the way for the struggle to reorganize petty-bourgeois peasant farming on collective lines.

Such are the most important decrees that were issued in the first months of the Soviet regime. These decrees laid the foundation of the new Soviet socialist system of stato and marked the beginning of the reorganization of the country's economy on socialist lines.

Building the Soviet Machinery of State

The establishment of Soviet power met with the strong opposition of the bourgeois intel ligentsia who had formerly been in the service of the overthrown landlord and capitalist classes. In order to undermine the young pro letarian state, government officials and the higher categories of ad ministrative employees engaged in sabotage. Politically this sabotage was directed by the Cadets, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolu tionaries who on the very day that power passedinto the hands of the Soviets, called upon government officials to refuse to obey the new authorities. The officials of all fourteen Ministries declared a general strike, being financed by the bourgeoisie to' the extent of over 2,000,000 rubles. The banks refused to finance those enterprises which had been placed under workers* control, and bank clerks carried away the keys of the vaults. The Pood Administration announced that it would no longer be responsible for supplying the capital with food. The bread ration was reduced to 150 grams per day. The Ministry of State Relief stopped paying pensions to orphans, disabled persons and the aged. The Technical Engineers* Union expelled those of its members who obeyed the Soviet decree on workers* control and co-operated with the Bolsheviks. The Post and Telegraph Emxjloyees* Union ordered all local post and telegraph offices to hold up all orders issued by the Soviet government.

Notwithstanding this sabotage, the Soviet government and the Bolshevik Party built up a network of Soviet institutions. Commu nication was established between the central organs of the Soviet State and the local Soviets, but during the first period work was carried on under very difficult conditions.

Here is how N. K. Krupskaya has described the conditions of this period: 'Work in the Smolny went on not only during the day, but all through the night. In the beginning all the work was done in the Smolny — ^Paity meetings, sessions of the Council of People's Commissars and the work of the People's Commissariats. Telegrams and orders were sent out from there. People streamed to the Smolny from everywhere. And what kind of staff did the Council of People's Commisars have? In the beginning, four utterly inexperienced people, working without respite, doing everything that was re quired. . . . Lenin often had to do the most routine work, making phone calls, etc."

On November 15 (28) the Council of People's Commissars ordered that the work of all the People's Commissariats be conducted in the premises of the corresponding Ministries and that the Com missars should gather in the Smolny only in the evenings. The reason for this decision was that m the process of combating sabotage a new Soviet machinery of state was beginning to be built up. A tremendous part in organizing the Soviet machinery of state was played by the trade unions, which sent members to work in the People's Commissariats, financed the Commis sariats which were not receiving money from the banks, and so forth.

The very lowest ranks, the most oppressed sections, of the people yield 3d the new forces that proceeded to build up the Soviet State.

The Merging of the Soviets of Workers' Deputies with the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies

The operation of the Decree on Land gave rise to a fierce class struggle in the rural districts. The newly organized People's Commissariat of Agriculture issued regulations governing the work of the Kural Area Land Committees which had begun to put the land decree into force. The Socialist-Revo lutionaries tried to hinder the holding of new elections for these Land Committees and also the establishment of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies. They concealed from the peasants the decrees on land and peace adopted by the Congress of Soviets, and also decrees of the Soviet governm?nt. The peasants learned of these only from letters sent home by soldiers and from workers and soldiers who arrived in the villages. Many villages sent deputations to Lenin. Lenin, in plain and simple terms, explained to ^e peasants the tasks of the new workers' and peasants' government and urged them to take advantage of the new Soviet laws and to strengthen the alliance with the working class in order to become masters of their own lives.

Lenin said: "What we need is an alliance between the poorest peas ants and the workers — ^when we get that Socialism will triumph all over the world" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Worhs, Vol. XXII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 51).

In November 1917, the All-Russian Congress of Peasants' Soviets was held in Petrograd. At this congress Lenin demanded of the "Lefb" Socialist-Revolutionaries that they drop their policy of compromise with the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries. Reckoning with the wishes of the masses of the peasantry, the Bolsheviks invited the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaires to join the government. These latter, yielding to the pressure of the peasant masses, accepted the Bolshevik terms and appointed their representatives to the Council of People's Commissars.

To tighten the alliance between the workers and the peasants it was decided to unite the Executive Committees of the Soviets of Workers' Deputies and of the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies in one All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.

At a joint session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Petrograd Soviet and the Congress of Soviets of Peasants ' Deputies, a resolution was unan imously adopted to unite the Soviets of Workers' Deputies with the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies.

"The Declaration of Rights of the Nations of Russia." The main principles of the Soviet na tional policy were proclaimed in the Declaration of Rights of the Nations of Russia that was signed by Lenin and Stalin and pub lished on November 2 (15), 1917.

The plain, clear and powerful words in which the Declaration was couched found an echo not only among the nations inhabiting Russia but also among the colonial and dependent peo ples abroad. The Declaration pro claimed the emancipation by the Great October Socialist Revolution of all the nations inhabiting Russia and laid down the following principles of the national policy of the Soviet State: 1) Equality and sovereignty of the nations of Russia; 2) the right of the nations of Russia to free self-determination, including the right to secede and form independent states; 3) abolition of all and sundry national and national-religious privileges and restrictions; 4) the free development of the national minorities and ethnographical groups inhabiting the territory of Rus sia. This policy of the Soviet State satisfied the age-long strivings of the oppressed nationalities and thereby strengthened their alliance with the Russian proletariat who had established themselves in power.

The Establishment of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission

On December 7 (20), 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage was set up to protect the proletarian dictatorship and safeguard all the gains of the revolution. This Commission soon became, as Comrade Stalin called it, "the ever-wakeful guardian of the revolution, the drawn sword of the proletariat."

At the head of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission the Party placed that most faithful comrade-in-arms of Lenin and Stalin, firm Bolshevik and staimch fighter in the revolution, Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky. F. E. Dzerzhinsky was bom in 1877, and was one of the veterans of the Polish and Russian working-class movements. His whole life was a record of revolutionary daring; it was a lif^ of the tireless activity of a professional revolutionary interspersed with impris onment, exile and escapes. "Only the grave can put a stop to the struggle I am waging, "he wrote. "Here in prison things are bad, sometimes fright ful and yet, if I had to start all over again, I would do what I have been doing up to now." The February revolution liberated Dzerzhinsky from the penal servitude prison where he had spent nine years. The October Revolution entrusted him with the task of safeguarding the power of the Soviets. His sterling honesty, courage and Bolshevil?: power of penetration won for him the love of and tremendous author ity among the broad masses who called him "Iron Felix." Comrade Stalin said of h'm: "A terror to the bourgeoisie — ^that is what Felix Dzerzhinsky was."

The Soviet intelligence 'department which was directed by F. E. Dzerzhinsky, was built up with the aid of staunch, devot ed and vigilant advanced workers and with the constant backing of the working people, who helped the Extraordinary Commission to discover plots and wi^^e out the enemies of the revolution.

The Triumphal March of Soviet Power

The Expansion and Consolidation of Soviet Power

The power of the Soviets quickly spread throughout the country. In most of the industrial districts where the Bolsheviks had won over the Soviets before the October insurrection, power passed to the Soviets peace fully. There Revolutionary Military Committees were set up and Red Guards occupied the post and telegraph offices and other public buildings. Backed by the trade unions, the Revolutionary Military Committees organized administrative machinery and made prepara tions for the summoning of Congresses of Soviets to set up plenipo tentiary organs of Soviet power. This was the case in numerous dis tricts in the Urals, the Donetz Basin, in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, in Shuya and other towns.

In a number of towns, however, the establishment of Soviet power was delayed because coalition Revolutionary Military Commit tees had been set up, and the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolution aries did all they could to prevent the transfer of power to the Soviets.

Lenin described the period from October 25 to February 18 <up to the ofEensive launched by the German imperialists) as the period of the triumphal march of Soviet power. The Soviets triumphed quickly because the masses, while the Provisional Government was still in power, had lost faith in the Kerensky regime owing to its policy of compromise with the bourgeoisie. The decisions of the Second Congress of Soviets, the decrees of the Soviet government, the manifestoes and appeals issued b\' the Bolshevik Party and Lenin's speeches and newspaper articles were therefore welcomed by the masses with tremendous enthusiasm.

Speaking at a meeting of the Moscow Soviet on March 12, 1918, Lenin said:

"Soviet power has not only been established in the big towns and factory districts, it has penetrated to all the remote comers of the country" (V. I. Lenin, Collected WorJcs, Vol. XXII, Moscow, 1937, Euss. ed., p. 381).

In the villages around industrial districts, Soviet power was organized by factory workers; in the nonindustrial districts it was organized by the poorer peasants and Bolshevik-minded soldiers returned from the front. The latter brought Bolshevik newspapers with them, held village meetings at which they explaiaed the tasks facing the Soviets in power, and under their direction new elections to the Soviets were held.

At the end of December 1917, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs issued an order abolishing all the former local govern ment bodies and replacing them by Soviets.

The Defeat of Kaledin and Dutov

At the very beg inn ing of the October Eevolution a geographical demarcation of a kind between the revolution and the counter-revolution was to be ob served. As Comrade Stalin wrote: "Inner Russia with her industrial, cultural and political centres — Moscow and Petrograd, with a nation ally homogeneous, mainly Russian, population, has become the base of the revolution. The outlying regions of Russia, on the other hand, mainly the Southern and Eastern regions, with no important industrial and cultural and political centres, with a population extremely diverse nationally and consisting of privileged Cossack colonizers on the one hand, and disfranchised Tatars, Bashkirs, Kirghiz (in the East), Ukrainians, Chechens, Ingushes and other Moslem peoples on the other — has become the base of the counter-revo lution" (Lenin and Stalin, Selected Works ^ Vol. II, Euss. ed., p. 276),

This demarcation was distinctly visible in the counter-revolu tionary operations of General Dutov in Orenburg and of Kaledin on the Don.

The Cossacks had long played the part of colonizers in the Oren burg territory. The conditions of the Russian settlers, "strangers" as they were called, and particularly of the native inhabitants — Kirghiz, Bashkirs, Tatars and Kazakhs — were extremely hard. The Provisional Government permitted the Cossacks in Orenburg to set up a Cossack Eegional Eepresentative Assembly, which still further helped to transform the Cossacks into an exclusive, privileged mili tary caste. After capturing Orenburg, Chelj^abinsk and Troitsk, General Dutov planned to establish contact with the counter-revolutionary forces in Siberia and the Urals ^ and with those in the Don and the Kuban via the Volga Kegion. This was a plan for the military encir clement and economic isolation of Soviet Russia so as to cut her off from the rich grain and other produce regions.

The workers of Orenburg sent a deputation to Lenin and Stalin to ask for assistance in the fight against Dutov. Accordingly^ detachments of sailors were sent from Petrograd, and workers' Red Guard units were sent from the Volga Region and the South Urals. An active part in defeating Dutov was played by the native in- habitants, particularly the Kazakhs and the Kirghiz. The rich feudal elements among these nationalities, who were organized in the nation alist party known as Allash, actively supported Dutov.

In the beginning of December 1917, a congress was held in Orenburg of representatives of the bourgeois and feudal elements oi Kazakhstan. At this congress the Allash party set up a counter revolutionary Kazakh government known as the Allash Orda, which co-operated with General Dutov in his struggle against the Soviets. At the end of December 1917, Dutov 's forces were routed by the Red Guard, and in January 1918, Orenburg became a Soviet city.

Similar defeats awaited the Cossack counter-revolution in the Don and Kuban Regions . The Don Region had become a refuge for the counter-revolution since the Kornilov mutiny and particu larly so after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. It was here that Kornilov, Denikin and the other generals had fled.

On learning that Soviet power had been established in Petro grad, the Ataman of the Don Cossacks, Kaledin, proclaimed the independence of the Don Region and prepared for war against the Soviets. Counter-revolutionary officer units were formed, which went to make up the Whiteguard Volunteer Army that was commanded by Generals Kornilov and Denikin. In December 1917, Kaledin cap tured Rostov and prepared for a march into the Donetz coal basin.

Kaledin received considerable assistance from the Ukrainian Central Rada, which sent him arms, ammunition and money, and while allowing detachments of army cadets and Cossacks to pass through its territory, refused to allow Red Guard units fi'om the North to go through to flght Kaledin.

To help the workers of the Donetz Basin in their struggle against Kaledin, Red Guard detachments were sent from Soviet Russia. Cossacks home from the front and the poorer Cossack farmers who demanded land and peace also rose against Kaledin. At the end of December, a congress of Cossacks who had served at the front, representing forty-six regiments, was held at Kamenskaya, at which a Don Eevolutionary Military Committee was set up, headed by tho Cossack Podtyolkov. This Revolutionary Military Committee recognized the Soviet government and called upon working Cos sacks to fight Kaledin, Backed by the revolutionary Cossacks, the Red Guards launched an offensive against Novocherkassk and Rostov, The officer and cadet units sent against them by Kaledin were defeated.

Realizing that his position was hopeless, Elaledin committed suicide. At the end of February 1918, the Red forces occupied Rostov and Novocherkassk. Soviet power was established in the Don Region.

The remnants of the White forces commanded by General Kor nilov fled to the Kuban, where they hoped to obtain the assistance of the counter-revolutionary Cossack Kuban Rada; but by this time Soviet power was being established in the Kuban Region.

On March 14, 1918, Kuban Red Guard forces dislodged the forces of the Kuban Rada from Ekaterinodar, The remnants of the Kuban counter-revolutionary forces fled beyond the river Kuban, and power in Ekaterinodar passed over to the Revolutionary Military Com mittee,

When Kornilov learned of the flight of the Rada from Ekate rinodar he went to the assistance of the Kuban counter-revolutionaries. On the way his bandit troops robbed and murdered the peasant '"strangers" andthe Cossack poor; his line of march was strewn with corpses. Kornilov united all the counter-revolutionary detachments under his own command and on April 11 launched an offensive against Ekaterinodar. The town was defended by Red Guards and the entire working population. The assault, which lasted three days, was repulsed. The Whiteguards were defeated. Kornilov was killed. The remnants of the Whiteguards, under the command of Denikin, fled. Soviet power became firmly established in the Kuban Region.

The Fight to Establish Soviet Power in North Caucasus

After the victory of the October Revolution in Petrograd, the upper strata of the Don and Terek Cossacks concluded an alliance with the Chechens, the rich highlanders of Daghestan, to prevent the establishment of Soviet power in the Cossack and mountain regions of North Caucasus. This alliance between the Cossack upper strata and the feudal highland rulers, however, found no support among the masses. There w^as a long-standing enmity between the North Caucasian highlanders and the Cossack colonizers over the land The "strangers," i, e., the landless Russian peasants who had set tled in North Caucasus and did not belong to the Cossack caste, also waged a struggle against the uj)per strata of the Cossacks.

The situation was exceptionally tense in the Terek Region with its extremely diverse population. Of a total of 1.200,000 inhabitants in the Terek Eegion, the Cossacks niunhered only 150,000, the peasant '"strangers" 300,000, while the rest constituted the small highland peoples. The Cossacks owned on the average eleven hectares of the best land per head, whereas whole villages of highlanders lived on land rented from the Cossacks. Many of the Cossack stanitsas had only recently belonged to the highlanders, whom the tsarist author ities had evicted and had forced into the rocky mountain gorges. Before the revolution, the highlanders were almost regarded as out laws. It was no crime to kill a highlander on Cossack land. The tsarist authorities constantly incited the highland peoples against each other, particularly Christians against Moslems.

The February revolution did scarcely anything to relieve the ten sion in North Caucasus. After the victory of the Great October Social ist Eevolution the local aristocratic army officers incited the highland peoples to fight the Soviets.

An extremely important part in the struggle for Soviet power in this complicated situation was played by S. M. Kirov, who returned to Vladikavkaz after the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. He travelled from village to village explaining to the people the laws which had been passed by the Soviet Congress on coming to power, and organizing the highland poor for the struggle against the eounter-revolution. The working folk among the Cossacks and highlanders were not yet ready for the immediate establishment of Soviet power. There were no Soviets yet among the highland peoples, only so-called National Councils existing.

In February 1918, a People's Soviet for the Terek Region was •set up on the recommendation of S. M, Kirov, and this Soviet con vened in Pyatigorsk a congress of all the nationalities of the region. In spite of the provocative work of the counter-revolutionaries, peace was solemnly proclaimed at this congress, which was guided by S. M. Kirov, between ail the peoples of Terek.

The congress passed a resolution moved by Bolsheviks recog nizing the authority of the Council of People 's Commissars and sent a telegram of greetings to Lenin.

Four days later the Regional People's Congress moved from Pyatigorsk to Vladikavkaz, the centre of the Terek Region and there elected the Terek Council of People's Commissars, headed by the Bolshevik Noy Buachidze.

By the spring of 1918, Soviet power was established in all parts of the Russian "Cossack Vendee" — in the Don, Kuban and Terek Regions.

The Struggle for Soviet Power in Siberia

In the large ■centres of Siberia — Omsk, Tomsk, Novonikolayevsk (now Novo sibirsk) and others — ^power passed into the hands of the Soviets in the early days of November 1917 (old style). The Soviets had to conduct a struggle against the counter-revolutionar 3 " organizations of the "^regionalists, " who demanded the formation of an independent Siberian region, and also of the Socialist-Revolution aries and kulaks. In December 1917, the "regionalists" gathered at an extraordinary All-Siberian Congress at which it was decided to convene a Siberian Constituent Assembly in March 1918, and before that to convene a Siberian Regional Duma.

In the early part of February the Duma delegates began to gather in Tomsk, but here part of them were arrested by the local Soviet by order of the Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Siberia (Tsentrosibir). The delegates who remained at large formed an underground counter-revolutionary Provisional Siberian Govern ment.

In January and February Soviet power was also established in the remoter regions of Siberia — in the majority of districts in the Transbaikal Region, and in the northern districts of the Tobolsk Gubernia.

At the end of February 1918, the Second All-Siberian Congress of Soviets was held at which a new Central Executive Committee of Soviets (Tsentrosibir) was elected, headed by Bolsheviks. Soviet power prevailed over the whole of Siberia.

Dispersion of the Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly became the watchword of the bourgeois counter-revolu tion, which rose up to fight the Great October Socialist Revo lution. In opposition to the slogan of "All power to the Soviets" the bourgeoisie and its agents, the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries, issued the slogan of "All power to the Constit uent Assembly!" On November 29 (December 12), 1917, the Soviet government issued a decree ordering the arrest of the members of the Central Committee of the Cadet (Constitutional-Democratic) Party as enemies of the people.

The Soviet authorities did not hinder the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, since the j)6asants had to be given an opportunity of outliving illusions they had about it. The elections to the Constituent Assembly resulted in a majority for the Socialist-Revolutionaries: of the 715 seats they secured 412, while the Bolsheviks won only 183, all the other parties receiving an insignificant number of seats. Actually, however, not only did the Right-wing Socialist-Revolutionary majority in the Constitu ent Assembly not reflect the real relation of forces in the coimtry. It did not even represent the actual relation of forces within the Socialist-Revolutionary Party itself. The elections to the Constituent Assembly took place in November, after Soviet power had been established, whereas the lists of candidates for election to the Assembly had been drawn up before the victory of the revolution. During the period between the nominations and the elections the Socialist-Revolutionary party had split, but the peasants and soldiers who supported the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries had to vote for the general Socialist-Revolutionary ticket.

On December 13 (26), 1917, Lenin published his "Theses on the Constituent Assembly" in which he pointed out that the masses of the people were demanding that the Constituent Assembly should recog nize the power of the Soviets and the major decrees on peace, land and workers' control.

The Constituent Assembly w^as opened on January 5 (18), 1918, by Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Sverdlov read the Declaration of Rights of the Toiling and Exploited People, drawn up by Lenin and Stalin. The Declaration called upon the Constituent Assembly to proclaim Russia a Soviet Republic, to abolish the private ownership of land and to endorse ail the Soviet laws. The Constituent Assembly, however, rejected the declaration, whereupon the Bolsheviks declared that the Constit uent Assembly "expresses the yesterday of the revolution," that they had no desire to cover up the crimes of the enemies of the people and were leaving the Assembty. After the Bolsheviks left, followed by the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries, the x^roceedings soon ter minated. At 4 a. m. a sailor named Zheleznyakov walked up to Cher nov, the Chairman of the Assembly, and said: "The guards are tired. It*s time to close." The Deputies filed out of the hall. On January 6, 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued a decree proclaiming the Constituent Assembly dissolved.

The workers and peasants unanimously approved of the disper sion of what they called the "Constitute," for they saw that the Constituent Assembly wanted to hand power back to the capital ists and landlords.

Delegates to a Peasant Congress then in session, when asked to indicate their attitude to the Constituent Assembly gave the following written answers: "I place no hopes in the Constituent Assembly," "The soldiers have no confidence in the Constituent Assembly and expect nothing good from it," "Confidence in the Constituent Assembly has been shaken," and so on.

The Third Congress of Soviets

The Great October Revolu tion in Russia took place at the time when the war on the Western Front had entered an acute stage. This explains why the Soviet state at first gained what Lenin called a sort of temporary independ ence of international relations. Without the backing of the foreign imperialists the forces of the enemies of the proletarian dictatorship XDroved to be impotent. At that time, as Lenin said ". . . the Civil War was one unbroken triumph for Soviet power because its enemies, the exploiters, the landlords and the bourgeoisie, had no political or economic support whatever. ..." (V. 1. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 390.)

The broad results of the triumphal march of Soviet power in the country were summed up by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets that was held in January'1918. The congress adopted the Decla ration of Rights of the Toiling and Exploited People, drawn up by Lenin in conjunction with Stalin, which stated: "Russia is hereby proclaimed a Republic of Soviets of Workers", Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. All power, centrally and locally, belongs to these Soviets."

The Third Congress confirmed all the decrees issued by the Soviet authorities laying the foundation of the new Soviet Socialist State and confirmed the point that the main task of the Soviet State was to abolish all exploitation of man by man, to build socialist society in Russia and to fight for the victory of Socialism in all countries.

After a report delivered by Comrade Stalin, the congress proclaimed that "the Soviet Russian Republic is established on the basis of the free union of free nations as a federation of Soviet national republics." The formation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.) ensured the free and voluntary, and therefore close and durable, alliance of the working people of all the formerly oppressed nations in Russia.

The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets is of enormous im portance in the history of the Soviet State, for it consolidated its socialist foundations.

Soviet Power Brings Liberation to the Oppressed Nations

Recognition of the Independence of Finland

The bourgeois "National Councils" and regional bourgeois "governments" that were set up before the Great October Socialist Revolution wanted to preserve the bourgeois order and therefore declared war on the Soviet government.

The workers and peasants in the non-Russian regions, having under the leadership and with the assistance of the Russian workers set up Soviets of Workers' and Peasants* Deputies, launched a struggle to establish Soviet power in the non-Russian regions as well.

Among the first to start this struggle for power was the working class of Finland. But the treacherous Right-wing of the Finnish Social Democratic Party surrendered power to the bourgeoisie. The Finnish Sejm sanctioned the formation of the reactionary government headed by Svinhuvud. An extraordinary congress of the Social-Democratic Party was called to settle the issue of power.

On November 14 (27), 1917, J. V. Stalin, then People's Commissar of Nationalities, addressed this congress and after greeting the workers of Finland explained the program of the Soviet State on the national question. The Soviet government guaran teed the independence of Finland. "'Complete freedom^" proclaimed Comrade Stalin, ""for the Finns, as well as for all the other nation alities of Russia, to arrange their lives in their own way. A volun tary and honest alliance of the Finnish people with the Russian people I No tutelage, no supervision from above, over the Finnish people!" (Lenin and Stalin^ 1917, Selected Writings and Speeches, Moscow, 1938, p. 659.) He called upon the workers of Finland to follow the uxample of the Russian workers, and promised them the fraternal assistance of the Soviet Eepublic.

• The congress, however, being controlled by the opportunists, did not decide in favour of the seizure of power by the working class of Finland, With the aid of the Finnish Social-Democrats, the bourgeoisie consolidated its rule. The bourgeois majority in the Finnish Sejm voted in favour of secession from Russia.

In December 1917, the Council of People's Commissars issued a decree recognizing the independence of the Finnish Eepublic, thus demonstrating that the Soviet government really stood for the right of nations to self-determination, including secession as state entities.

The Struggle to Establish Soviet Power in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

The working people in the Baltic coimtries greeted the October Eevolution with tremendous enthusiasm; the landlords and the bourgeoisie of those countries met it with hatred and fear.

The Lithuanian bourgeoisie wanted to separate Lithuania from Soviet Russia and prevent the establishment of Soviet power there. In December 1917, the Lithuanian National Council (Tary ba), of which the reactionary landlord Smetona was President, pro claimed the independence of the Lithuanian state. Taking advantage of the fact that Lithuania had been occupied by German troops dur ing the war, the National Council appealed to the Kaiser for assistance in combating the Bolshevik revolution, and expressed readiness to enter into a military , economic and customs union with Germany. Thus, the bourgeois Lithuanian Eepublic was formed with Vilna as its capital; but the real masters in Lithuania were the German military author ities who were backed by the Lithuanian landlords and the bourgeoisie .

In the unoccupied part of Latvia, Soviet power was established in October (November) 1917. An important role during the Octo ber days was played by the Lettish Eifleswho took an active part in the proletarian revolution. They occupied the railway junctions in Latvia and prevented troops being sent from the front to help Keren sky. But Soviet rule in Latvia was short-lived. Terrified by the prole tarian revolution, the Latvian bourgeoisie and landlords appealed to the German authorities to send troops into the part of Latvia where Soviet power had been established. The request was fulfilled b^r the German imperialists.

In Estonia the proletarian revolution took place immediately after the victory of the armed insurrection in Petrograd. All power passed into the hands of the All-Estonian Soviet of Workers', Peas ants', Soldiers' and Sailors' Deputies. With the establishment of Soviet power in Estonia the land and factories were nationalized. This victory of the Soviets in Estonia greatly" facilitated the success of the October fighting in Petrograd, for the Soviet authorities in Estonia i3revented the dispatch of troops from the front to assist Kerensky. In the middle of November 1917, the Estonian National Sejm, which had become a centre of the counter-revolution, was dissolved, whereupon, the Estonian bourgeoisie and the Baltic barons prepared for a coup d^Etat. They appealed to the German military authorities, who as early as September 1917 had occupied a number of Estonian islands, to occupy Estonia itself. Thus com- menced the German occupation of the whole of Estonia.

The Struggle to Establish Soviet Power in the Ukraine

As Comrade Stalin has stated, in the border regions the Great October Socialist Revolution encountered a barrier in the shape of the "Na tional Councils" and regional "governments" that had been set up before the October Revolution. "The revolution, which started in the centre," he wrote, "could not long be confined to this narrow territory. Once having triumphed in the centre, it was bound to spread to the border regions. And, indeed, from the very first days of the seizure of power, the revolutionary wave spread from the North all over Russia, sweeping over one border region after another. But here it struck a dam in the form of the 'National Coimcils' and regional 'governments' (Don, Kuban, Siberia) which had come into being before the October Revo lution. The fact is that these 'national governments' would not hear of a socialist revolution. Bourgeois by nature, they had not the slightest intention of destroying the old bourgeois world; on the contrary, they considered it their duty to preserve and consolidate it by every means in their power. Essentially imperialist, they had not the slightest intention of breaking with imperialism; on the contrary, they were never averse to seizing and subjugating bits and morsels of 'foreign' nationalities whenever opportunity offered. No wonder that the ^na tional governments' in the border regions declared war on the socialist government in the centre. And, once they had declared war, they naturally became centres of reaction attracting all that was counter revolutionary in Russia" (J. Stalin, Marxism arid the National arid Colonial Question^ Moscow, 1940, p, 63).

After the October Revolution the Ukrainian Central Rada be came a bulwark of the bourgeois counter-revolution. On learning that power in Russia had passed into the hands of the Soviets it passed a resolution refusing to recognize the Soviet State and declaring that all attempts to establish Soviet power in the Ukraine would he combated. It concluded an agreement with various Russian counter revolutionary organizations and parties and proclaimed its loyalty to the "'Allies," i, e., the Entente.

The masses of the workers and peasants in the Ukraine, however, were roused to enthusiasm by the news of the victory of the insur rection in Petrograd and rose up to fight for the establishment of Soviet power. In Kiev, the workers, led by the Bolshevik Andrei Iva nov, set up a Revolutionary Committee, which organized an insurrec tion against the Provisional Government,

Just when the Kiev workers were on the point of victory, the Central Rada, which claimed to be neutral but was actually helping the troops of the Provisional Government, treacherously attacked the Kiev Soviet and seized power. The Rada concluded an alliance with Kaledin and allowed Cossack units to pass through its territory from the front to the Don. At the same time the Rada refused the right of passage to Soviet troops who were marching against Kaledin.

After exhausting all means of reaching a iDeaceful settlement of the conflict, the Soviet government, on December 4 (17), sent the Rada a categorical demand to stop assisting Kaledin. The Ukrainian workers and the poorer strata of the peasantry began to rise in revolt against the Rada.

On December 11 (24), 1917, an All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets was held which set up a Central Executive Committee; the latter set up the first Soviet government in the Ukraine. Troops from Soviet Russia were sent to the assistance of this government.

On January 16 (29), 1918, in answer to the call of the Bol sheviks the workers in Kiev rose in amied insurrection against the Rada. During the fighting, which lasted several days, exceptional heroism was displayed by the workers employed in the Kiev .^senal, who, though surrounded and even after their ammunition, drink ing water and provisions had run out, refused to surrender, and kept on fighting. The Rada inflicted cruel reprisals upon the ArsenaPs brave defenders. But Soviet troops were already approaching Kiev and, on January 27 (February 9), assisted by the Kiev workers who rose in revolt again, they captured the city. The Rada fled to .JZhitomir. Soviet power was established all over the Ukraine.

The Struggle to Establish Soviet power in Byelorussia

The fight to establish Soviet power in Byelorussia was waged by the revolutionary-minded masses of workers, peasants and soldiers at the front, led by the Bolsheviks. As soon as the first news of the October insurrection in Petrograd was received in Minsk, the Minsk Soviet seized power, liberated from pris on all the soldiers whom the Kerensky government had arrested for "political of fences" and formedj^them into a revolutionary regiment.

The counter-revolution made an attempt to use Cos sacks in order to crush the Minsk Soviet, but an armoured train and a regiment of soldiers arrived from the front and the Cos sacks were beaten off. The Bolsheviks in Polesie, led by L. M. Kaganovich, established control over the movements of troop trains and held up and disarmed the Cossack contin gents.

The Eleventh Congress of the Western Eront, which was held in Minsk in the latter half of November 1917, proclaimed the establish ment of Soviet power in Byelorussia.

The Struggle to Establish Soviet Power in Transcaucasia

The population of Transcaucasia, numbering seven million, was made up of dozens of different nationalities. In the endeavour to keep the masses from taking part in the proletarian socialist rev olution, the enemies of the revolution fomented strife among these nationalities. The Transcaucasian bourgeois nationalists — the Armenian Dashnacks, Azerbaijanian Mussavatists and the Georgian Mensheviks — ^who had got on very well with the Provisional Govern ment, decided to secede from Russia as soon as Soviet power was established.

With this object in view they set up, on November 11 (24), 1917, a Transcaucasian Commissariat, which was a bloc of all the bour geois parties to fight the Soviet State. Claiming to assert the inde pendence of the Transcaucasian peoples, this Commissariat broke with Soviet Russia and concluded an alliance with the coun ter-revolutionaries in the Don and Kuban Regions. The Transcau casian Commissariat formally united Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, but actually each of these countries was ruled by its own National Council. Acute inter-national strife broke out among them. The Transcaucasian counter-revolution was led by the Georgian Mensheviks. The latter captured the Tiflis Arsenal and the premises and funds of the Regional Soviet of the Caucasian Army and began to form national units. They intended to arm these units with the weapons of the demobilized Caucasian Army. In January 1918, an armoured train, supported by armed gangs of Mussavatists, was sent to Shamkhor, where it fired on troop trains carrying soldiers home from the Caucasian Front. As a result of this treacherous onslaught 2,000 Russian soldiers were killed. The Shamkhor mas sacre roused the most profound indignation and protest among the working people in Transcaucasia, but the Transcaucasian Commissariat retaliated to this by sterner measures of repression; it suppressed workers' newspapers, arrested a number of Georgian Bolsheviks and broke up demonstrations.

On February 10, the workers and soldiers in Tifiis organized a huge meeting in the Alexander Park to protest against the counter-revo lutionary activities of the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Armed detachments sent by the Mensheviks surrounded the meeting and shot down the miarmed workers with machine guns. That day the Transcaucasian Sejm which consisted of Menshevik, Dashnack, Mussa vatist, Socialist-Revolutionary and Cadet members of the dispersed Constituent Assembly, was opened in Tifiis. White terror was intensified in Transcaucasia. Punitive expeditions were sent to suppress the peasant movement and thousands of peasants were shot down.

Unable to cope with the growing revolutionary movement the Transcaucasian ^'national governments" appealed to the Western imperialists for assistance in crushing the workers and peasants.

Transcaucasia and the rich oil fields of Baku in particular had long attracted the West-European imperialists. The separation of Transcaucasia fk>m Russia and the rule of the bourgeois nationalists in that region now facilitated the seizure of Transcaucasia by the imperialists.

The Transcaucasian Sejm first opened negotiations with the Entente, but at that time the latter lacked the necessary forces to undertake such an operation. The Sejm then decided to strike a bargain with the German coalition and opened negotiations with Turkey. The Turks, however, backed by the Mussavatists, broke ofi these negotiations, seized Kars and Batum, and commenced a drive into the interior of Transcaucasia. Through the mediation of the Mussavatists, the Dashnacks and Mensheviks came to an arrangement with the German and Turkish imperialists, and on their demand, in April 1918, pro C'laimed the "independence" of Transcaucasia.

But the British imperialists also had designs upon Transcaucasia, In the beginning of 1918, they sent a military expedition there through Persia. The head of this expedition enlisted the services of Russian army officers who had fled to Persia from Soviet Russia and began to make preparations to seize Baku.

The Baku Soviet of Workers' Deputies, in which the Bolsheviks were in the majority, was the only Soviet in Transcaucasia that wel comed the insurrection in Petrograd and refused to recognize the authority of the Transcaucasian Sejm. In a resolution passed in the beginning of March 1918, the Baku Soviet declared: "The City of Baku must be transformed into a base for the struggle to establish Soviet rule in Transcaucasia." This struggle was started &st of all against the bourgeois nationalist parties, the Mussavatists and Dashnacks, who were conducting provocative activities among the Azerbaijanians and among the Armenians in Baku. On March 18, the Mussavatists rose in revolt against Soviet rule, but the Baku workers, led by the veteran Bolshevik Stepan Shaumyan, crushed this counter-revolutionary uprising. Soviet rule was consolidated in Baku and the heroic Baku Commune was formed.

The Struggle to Establish Soviet Power in Central Asia

While the fighting in Petrograd was at its height the Bolsheviks in Tashkent began to prepare to seize power, but on October 28 (November 10), 1917, Cossacks and army cadets surrounded the Tashkent Soviet and arrested the members of the Revolutionary Committee. Sirens sounded the alarm and in response as many as 3,000 armed workers, Russians and Uzbeks, rallied to liberate the prisoners. An insurrection commenced. Cossacks and army cadets occupied the Tashkent fort and dispatched armoured cars against the city. The work ers built barricades ' and barred their way. The fighting lasted for nearly four days. Uzbek and Kirghizian peasants came from the surrounding villages to help the workers.

On October 31 (November 13), 1917, after stubborn fighting, power passed into the hands of the SovietsThe members of the Revo lutionary Committee were liberated from prison and the Soviet govern ment of Turkestan was set up in Tashkent.

To combat Soviet rule in Central Asia, the bourgeois nation alists and Russian Whiteguard colonizers, assisted by the British, set up in Kokand, in November 1917, a government of their own called the "Kokand Autonomy," which started civil war in Central Asia. In February 1918, the Kokand "government" was liquidated by the Turkestan Red Guard, which consisted not only of urban workers — railwaymen and cotton warehousemen — ^but also of Uzbek, Kirghiz, Kazakh and Turkmen handicraftsmen and peasants.

The People's Commissariat of Nationalities

In the very first days after the victory of the October Revolution a People's Commissariat of Nationalities (Narkomnats) was formed to direct the struggle of the oppressed nationalities for their liberation and to give practical effect to the national policy of the Soviet State. The Narkomnats was headed by Comrade Stalin. It was faced with the enormous task of directing the political, economic and cultural growth of the non-Russian nationalities, which, with a total pojDulation numbering 65,000,000, differed very widely in language, habits of life and in their level of cultural and political development.

In the beginning of 1918, Comrade Stalin, in the name of the Narkomnats, addressed a message to the Soviets of Kazan, Ufa, Orenburg and Ekaterinburg and to the Council of People's Com missars of the Turkestan Eegion, in which he explained the funda mental aims of the Soviet State on the national question and outlined a complete program of action for rallying the masses around the Soviets. He proposed that the border regions should be given autonomy and that steps be taken forthwith to set up local schools and courts, local organs of power and local political and educational bodies, all to function in the native languages. The Soviets were to strengthen the alliance between the workers and peasants of the different nationalities and lead them to Socialism.

The People's Commissariat of Nationalities did considerable u'ork in developing the national culture of the formerly oppressed nationalities, trained personnel to conduct work among them, published books and newspapers in their respective languages and set up schools and other educational institutions.

The Narkomnats was particularly energetic in protecting the interests of the national minorities who had been utterly down trodden imder the old regime, such as the Yakuts, Nentsi, the peoples of the Volga Eegion, etc. On the suggestion of the Narkomnats the Council of People's Commissars, in the summer of 1918, issued a decree calling for the "uprooting of the anti-Semite movement." Lenin wrote the following on the draft of the decree: "Pogrom mongers and those conducting pogrom propaganda are to be outlawed."

The Great October Socialist Eevolution razed to the ground that prison of the peoples — tsarist Russia, laid a firm foundation for the alliance of the Russian workers and peasants with the working, people of all the non-Russian nationalities, awakened the most backward peoples of Russia to political life and opened up to them the road to Socialism.

The policy of the Soviet State on the national question was of enormous international importance and exercised excep tional infiuence upon the peoples of the Orient.

The Soviet government annulled all the imequal treaties which the tsar had concluded with Turkey and Persia and began to with draw the troops from the regions which Russian tsarism had occupied, such as Turkish Armenia, and others.

The struggle which the Soviet government waged for the inde pendence of small nations gained for it the confidence of the formerly most backward and downtrodden nations.

The World-Historic Importance of the Great October Socialist Revolution

Reasons for the Victory of the October Revolution

The Great October Socialist Revolution was brought about by thfe working class and the poorest strata of the peasantry. The revolution was socialist in character. After overthrowing the exploiting classes, the proletariat set up the proletarian dictatorship in the shape of the Soviet State. The Soviet State set out to build complete socialist society in our country.

The great proletarian revolution smashed the chains of imperialism and overthrew the rule of the bourgeoisie with relative ease.

"There were several reasons for this comparatively easy victor^' of the socialist revolution in Russia. The following chief reasons should be noted:

"1) The October Revolution was confronted by an enemy so comparatively weak, so badly organized and so politically inexpe rienced as the Russian bourgeoisie. Economically still weak, and completely dependent on government contracts, the Russian bourgeoi sie lacked sufficient political self-reliance and initiative to find a way out of the situation. It had neither the experience of the Erenoh bour geoisie, for example, in political combination and political chicanery on a broad scale, nor the schooling of the Britisli bourgeoisie in broadly conceived crafby compromise. It had but recently sought to reach an understanding with the tsar; yet now that the tsar had been over thrown by the February revolution, and the bourgeoisie itself had come to power, it was unable to think of anything better than to continue the policy of the detested tsar in all its essentials. Like the tsar, it stood for Var to a victorious finish,' although the war was beyond the country's strength and had reduced the people and the army to a state of utter exhaustion. Like the tsar, it stood for the preservation in the main of big landed property, although the peasantry was perishing from lack of land and the weight of the landlords' yoke. As to its labour policy, the Russian bourgeoisie outstripped even the tsar in its hatred of the working class, for it not only strove to preserve and strengthen the yoke of the factory owners, but to render it intolerable by wholesale lockouts.

"It is not surprising that the people saw no essential difference between the policy of the tsar and the policy of the bourgeoisie, and that they transferred their hatred of the tsar to the Provisional Govern ment of the bourgeoisie.

"As long as the compromising Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshe vik parties possessed a certain amount of influence among the people, the bourgeoisie could use them as a screen and preserve its power. But after the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries had exposed themselves as agents of the imperialist bourgeoisie, thus forfeiting their influence among the people, the bourgeoisie and its Provisional Government were left without a support.

"2) The October Revolution was headed by so revolutionarj" a class as the working class of Russia, a class which had been steeled in battle, which had in a short space passed through two revolutions, and which by the eve of the third revolution had won recognition as the leader of the people in the struggle for peace, land, liberty and Socialism. K the revolution had not had a leader like the working class of Russia, a leader that had earned the confidence of the people, there would have been no alliance between the workers and peasants, and without such an alliance the victory of the October Revolution would have been impossible.

"3) The working class of Russia had so effective anally in the revolution as the poor peasantry, which comprised the overwhelming majority of the peasant population. The experience of eight months of revolution — ^whioh may unliesitatingly be compared to the expe rience of several decades of 'normaP development — had not been in vain as far as the mass of the labouring peasants were concerned . During this period they had had the opportunity to test all the parties of Russia in practice and convince themselves that neither the Con stitutional-Democrats nor the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Menshe viks would seriously quarrel with the landlords or sacrifice themselves for the interests of the peasants; that there was only one party in Rus sia — ^the Bolshevik Party — ^which was in no way connected with the landlords and which was prepared to crush the latter in order to satisfy the needs of the peasants. This served as a solid basis for the alliance of the proletariat and the poor peasantry. The existence of this alliance between the working class and the poor peasantry determined the conduct of the middle peasants, who had long been vacillating and only on the eve of the October uprising wholeheartedly swung over towards the revolution and joined forces with the poor peasants.

"It goes without saying that without this alliance the October Revolution could not have been victorious.

"4) The working class was headed by a party so tried and tested in political battles as the Bolshevik Party. Only a party like the Bol shevik Party, courageous enough to lead the people in decisive attack, and cautious enough to steer clear of all the submerged rocks in its path to the goal, could so skilfully merge into one common revolu tionary torrent such diverse revolutionary movements as the general democratic movement for peace, the peasant democratic movement for the seizure of the landed estates^ the movement of the oppressed nationalities for national liberation and national equality, and the socialist movement of the proletariat for the overthrow of the bourgeoi sie and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

"Undoubtedly, the merging of these diverse revolutionary streams into one common powerful revolutionary torrent decided the fate of capitalism in Russia.

"5) The October Revolution began at a time when the imperialist war was still at its height, when the principal bourgeois states were split into two hostile camps, and when, absorbed in mutual war and undermining each other's strength, they were unable to intervene effectively in 'Russian affairs' and actively to oppose the October Revolution.

"This undoubtedly did much to facilitate the victory of the October Socialist Revolution" (History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [Bolsheviks], Short Course, Moscow, 1945, pp. 212-214).

The Significance of the October Revolution

The Great October Socialist Revolution is of enormous significance in the history of man kind. It marked a radical turn from the old capitalist world to the new socialist world. It split the world into two opposite systems — the system of dying capitalism and the system of victorious and flourishing Socialism.

For first time in history, the Great October Socialist Revolu-* tion razed to the ground the old state machinery of the exploiting classes and built in its place a new type of state~the Soviets, as the state form of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

By depriving the bourgeoisie and the landlords of the means of production and converting the factories, the land, the railways and the banks into public property, the October Revolution put an end to the exploitation of the masses of the people, rid millions of workers of the horrors of unemployment, and millions of peasants from bond age to the landlords and gradual extinction.

. The victory achieved in the establishment of Soviet power gave the people, for the first time in history, not only freedom, but also the possibility of assuring their material well-being, the opportu nity to lead a happy, prosperous and cultured life.

The Great October Socialist Revolution brought freedom, for the first time in world history, to the oppressed nations and converted them into free and equal builders of Socialism. Thus it indicated to the enslaved colonial peoples the way to fight for their emancipation.

Before th3 October Revolution our country was in danger of becoming the prey of the predatory imperialists and of being reduced to the position of a dependent colonial country. The victory of the so cialist revolution saved Russia from the danger of losing her inde pendence as a state.

The emancipated workers and peasants and liberated nationalities inhabiting Russia became the arbiters of their own destiny. The So viets rendered it possible for the widest masses of the people to take an active part in affairs of state. Proletarian democracy, which safeguards the vital interests of the majority of the people, w'as firmly established.

The Great October Socialist Revolution is a colossal triumph for the theory of Marxism-Leninism, and proved that when revolution ary theory takes hold of the masses it becomes a mighty factor in the development of society.

Comrade Stalin wrote: . The victory oi the October Revolution

signifies a radical change in the history of mankind, a radical change in the historical destiny of world capitalism, a radical change in the liberation movement of the world proletariat, a radical change in the methods of struggle and the forms of organization, in the life and traditions, in the culture and ideology of the exploited masses through out the world" (J. Stalin, Problems of Leninism^ Moscow, 1947, p. 19S).

The Brest-Litovsk Peace. The Struggle for a Respite

The Brest-Litovsk Peace

The Struggle to Extricate Russia from the Imperialist War

One of the most important tasks that confronted the young Soviet State was to extricate the country from the imperialist war and to Gontlude peace.

The Decree on Peace of October 26 (November 8), 1917, called on all the governments and peoples to terminate the war and conclude a just and democratic peace.

The governments of the Entente countries rejected the Soviet government's proposal. They wanted at all costs to keep the Russian troops on the Eastern Front until the United States, which had entered the war against Germany, had transported her troops to Europe.

Kaiser Germany agreed to enter into peace negotiations in the hope of easing her military and food situation. On November 20 (December 3), 1917, peace negotiations were opened in Brest-Litovsk. At the conference, the Soviet delegation read out the Decree on Peace and proposed the conclusion of peace without annexations and indemnities. The German delegation accepted this proposal, stipulating, however, that peace without annexations and indemnities would only be possible if the Entente countries agreed to it. The Entente countries rejected the Soviet proposals. But when the Soviet delegation asked the Germans how far they would retire. General Hoffmann answered cynically: "Not a single millimetre." The Soviet delegation suspended negotiations for a week and returned to Petro grad. Lenin proposed that the negotiations be resumed in a neutral country, but the German imperialists rejected this proposal and presented predatory peace terms which included the surrender to Germany of the Moon Soimd Islands, the Gulf of Eiga and the city of Eiga, and also Poland, Lithuania and the parts of Latvia and Byelorussia which the Germans had captured during the war. The Soviet delegation protested against these terms, broke off negotiations and returned to Petrograd again.

The Soviet government was faced with* the alternative of conclud ing peace with Kaiser Germany on the latter's predatory terms or of resuming the war. But the newly established Soviet Republic was not in a condition to fight. A process of spontaneous demobilization was taking place at the front. The soldiers were making for home. The old army was breaking up, but no new army had yet been formed. Utterly worn out by the war, the masses of the working people were longing for peace and were unable to wage another war. On January S (21), 1918, at a joint meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party and the Bolshevik delegates at the Third Congress of Soviets, Lenin read out his theses concerning the immediate conclusion of a separate peace with Germany. In his theses he showed that the Soviet Republic was not in a condition to continue the war. It would be sheer recklessness, he said, to make the fate of socialist Russia dependent on the possibility of an early revolution taking place in Germany at a date wiien nobody could foretell. The conclusion of peace, said Lenin, would not weaken but strength en the Soviet Republic, for it would give the Soviet government a respite which it could utilize to strengthen the defences of the country and consolidate the power of the Soviets.

The Struggle Against the Trotsky-Bukharin Instigators of War

In its, struggle for peace the Bolshevik Party had to overcome the fu rious resistance of the numerous enemies of Soviet power.

The Russian and foreign bourgeoisie and their servitors, the Men sheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, wanted to drag the unarmed Soviet Republic into . a war' with Germany in order to overthrow the rule of the Soviets. This aim was also , pursued by the enemies of So cialism and traitors to their country, the Trotskyites and Bukharin ites, who were, supported by the double-dealers Kamenev and Zinoviev. Concealing *his' -treach^ous designs, Trotsky, who was the head of the Soviet delegation^ inBrest-Litovsk, conducted the negotiations in such, a way as to lead to a rupture. A delegation &om the Ukrainian Rada also arrived in Brest-Litovsk claiming to represent an independ ent government, although, by that time the Rada had been driven out by the insurgent masses of the Ukraine. Trotsky recognized the competence of the "independent" Rada, and the German imperial ists concluded a treaty with it, behind the backs of the Soviet delega tion, on terms that meant the enslavement of the Ukraine. Having secured the support of the betrayers of the Ukrainian people the German Kaiser's government sharply changed its tone towards the Soviet delegation and presented an ultimatum demanding the accept ance of its predatory terms.

In defiance of Lenin's instructions to conclude peace without delay, Trotsky refused to sign the peace terms proposed by Germany, but at the same time declared that the Soviet Republic would not wage war and would demobilize her army. The German impe rialists could not wish for anything better. The Land of Soviets was in mortal danger, but Bukharin and Trotsky continued with their provocative assertion that "the Germans will not dare to attack. "

Lenin categorically insisted that the acceptance of the peace terms be telegraphed to Germany and in this he was supported by Stalin and Sverdlov. On February 18, while the Central Committee of the Bol shevik Party was in session, a communication was received to the eflFect that at noon that day the Germans had launched an offensive along the whole front. The Central Committee adopted Lenin's proposal to conclude peace with Germany forthwith, but the German imperial ists were in no hurry to conclude peace as they wanted to seize as much Russian territory and war supplies as possible. They hurled against the Land of Soviets thirty divisions of infantry, cavalry and armoured cars. Some of the German divisions marched through Latvia and Estonia to Narva and threatened Petrograd, while others occupied Dvinsk and marched on Pskov in order to reach Petrograd from the southwest. By arrangement with the Ukrainian Rada, Austrian and German troops began at the same time to occupy the Ukraine.

On February 21, 1918, Lenin proclaimed the socialist fatherland in danger. The Council of People's Commissars of the R.S.F.S.R. issued an appeal to the entire working population to rally to the defence of the socialist fatherland against the invasion of the German aggressors, whose aim was to enslave the workers and peasants and restore the capitalist system. Red Army detachments were formed in all parts of the Soviet land.

At Pskov and Narva the German army encountered the heroic resistance of the first units of the young Red Army.

While oi^anizing the defence of the country amidst extremely difficult conditions, Lenin and Stalin called upon the working class of Petrograd to be vigilant and to wage a ruthless struggle against enemies who were trying to organize a revolt in Petrograd and to capture the capital. The German army's offensive was halted. February 23, the day on which the Red Army repulsed the troops of German imperialism has since then been celebrated in the U.S.S.R. as Red Army Day.

On March 3, 1918, the Soviet delegation signed the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the terms of which were even more harsh than those which Germany had proposed at the beginning of the negotiations. By this treaty Soviet Russia withdrew from Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and part of Byelorussia. It had to conclude peace with the Ukrainian Central Rada, demobilize the army and navy and pay Ger many an enormous indemnity. At this time Turkey seized Kars and Batum.

The act of provocation committed by Trotsky and Bukharin jeopardized the very existence of the Soviet Republic. As Lenin wrote, the Trotsky ites and Bukharinites "actually lielfed the Ger man imperialists and hindered the growth and development of the revolution in Germany" (V. I. Lenin, Selected, Worhs^ Two-Vol. ed., Vol, II, Moscow, 1947, p. 287). The German imperialists gained control of a vast territory covering almost a million square kilome tres, equal in area to that of Germany and France put together. Over forty million Ukrainians, Letts, Estonians, Byelorussians and Lithuanians found themselves under the heel of German im perialism.

Ratification of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty

Another fierce struggle flared up over the question of ratifying the peace treaty. The Trotsky and Bukharin gang of warmongers entered into a conspiracy with the Right and "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries and organized a coun ter-revolutionary plot with the object of preventing the ratification of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, of overthrowing the Soviet government and of arresting and killing Lenin, Stalin and Sverdlov. This mon strous plot was uncovered only twenty years later.

The Seventh Congress of the Party (March 6-8, 1918) denoimced the subversive and disruptive activities of the Communists"

and ratified the peace treaty that had been signed in Brest-Litovsk.

On March 14, the Extraordinary Fourth Congress of Soviets was convened to ratify the peace treaty. At this congress the Men^eviks and the Right and "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries formed a united front against Lenin. They were supported by the Trotsky ites and Bukharinites. How ver, the enemies of Soviet rule sustained another defeat. The Congress of Soviets approved the policy of gaining a req)ite, ratified the peace treaty and called upon the working people to mobilize all forces to defend their socialist fatherland and strengthen its defences.

In view of tiie military tlu'eat resulting from the invasion of the Baltic countries and Finland begun by the Geimaii imiDerial ists, the congress resolved to transfer the seat of government from Petrograd to IMoscow, which thus became the capital.

The Struggle of the Soviet People against the German Occupation Forces in 1918

The Fight Against the German Invaders in the Ukraine

According to the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty Germany was to cease hostilities against Soviet Russia; but the German imperialists, having concluded a separate peace treaty with the Central Rada, sent as many as 300,000 Austrian and German soldiers to the Ukraine and the Don Region. The German invaders needed the Ukraine for its rich re sources of raw materials and food. They counted , on crossing the Ukraine so as to reach the Donetz coal fields, and on crossing the Don and Kuban to reach Transcaucasia and the oil fields of Baku. German imperialism particularly needed to seize the Ukraine as a base from which to war against the Soviet regimej to dismember the Land of Soviets.

In an article he wrote on March 14, 1918, entitled "The Ukrainian Knot," Comrade Stalin wrote of the mortal danger that threatened Soviet Ukraine and called on the Ukrainian people to wage a pa triotic war for liberation against the German invaders. "The imperial ists of Austria and Germany he wrote, "are carrying on their bayo nets a new shameful yoke which is not one whit better than the old Tatar yoke — such is the significance of the invasion from the West. Evidently this is felt by the Ukrainian are feverishly

preparing to offer resistance. The formation of a peasant army, the mobilization of the Workers' Red Guard, a number of successful clashe.^ with the "civilized" violators after the first flashes of panic, the recapture of Bakhmaeh, Konotop and Nejin, and the approach to Kiev, the evergrowing enthusiasm of the masses who are rushing in thousands into the battle against the enslavers — such is the response of the people of the Ukraine to the invasion of the violators.

"Against the foreign yoke that is coming from the West, Soviet Ukraine is rising to wage a patriotic war of liberation — such is the significance of the events that are developing in the Uloraine" (J. Stalin, Articles and S'peeches on tlie Ukraine^ Kiev, 1936, Russ, ed., pp. 40-41).

On February 22, 1918, the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of the Xlkrame issued an appeal to the people to fight the Ger man invaders. The aiDpealread: "Organize partisan units, blow up bridges, railways and roads; if yon are forced to retreat, carry off or de stroy grain stocks and everjrthing that may be useful to the hungry rob ber hordes. . . Let the violators know that they will meet with determined resistance everywhere along their path. Let them know that only over our dead bodies will they enter the capital of the Ukraine."

In Kiev and other cities Defence Committees and Emergency Defence Staffs were formed. The weak Ked Guard units doggedly resist ed the powerful armoured forces of the German army and held them at bay near Kiev for three whole days, but it was an imequal battle, and on March 1 Kiev fell to the Germans. The German army marched on to Kharkov and the Donetz Basin in one direction, and to the industrial centres of South Ukraine in another.

Along their entire line of advance — ^fipom the frontiers furthest west to the northern frontiers' of the Ukraine, on the borders of tlie Voronezh and Kursk Gubernias, and in the East, on the borders of the Don Begion — ^the Austrian and (Jerman troops encountered the determined armed resistance of the Ukrainian workers and peasants who were backed by the fraternal Bussian people.

The foreign invaders were fought by detachments of the Bed Guards consisting of workers from all the industrial centres of the Ukraine. Gradually, the numerous Bed Guard detachments were formed into five Ukrainian armies. The Central Executive Committees of the Ukraine, the Donetz-Krivoi Bog Soviet Eepublic, which had been formed in the Donetz Basin, the Don and Crimea Soviet Republics resolved to combine their forces to wage a joint struggle against the German imperialists. Red Guard detachments from Moscow, Petrograd and other big Russian towns were sent to assist the Ukraine.

The resistance to the German invaders in the Ukraine was organ ized by K. E. Voroshilov, who at that time was one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Bolsheviks. With the assistance of the veteran Bolshe vik Artyom (Sergeyev), Voroshilov united a number of partisan detach ments and formed the Fifth Ukrainian Army. When the Germans had seized the Ukraine he determined to fight his way through to Tsa ritsyn to unite with the Red Army. For six weeks the Fifth Ukrain ian Army fought its way forward through the Cossack Don Region. When the column reached the Cossack stanitsa of Chirskaya it was found that the Whiteguards had blown up the bridge across the Don. Voroshilov ordered the bridge to be repaired. To do this it was neces sary to fill the river bed at one point with sand, stones and earth, and build huge trestle supports of railway sleepers. When the comrade who proposed the plan was asked how much earth would be required to fill the river bed he said, pointing to a tall hill situated about two kilometres from the bank: "See that hill over there? It'll have to be dragged to the Don." They set to, and, undsr fire from the Cossacks, without carts or special implements to help them, carried the earth to the river in baskets. Somewhat later assistance arrived in the shape of the carts of peasants who were retreating with the partisans. The bridge was built and the army proceeded on its way to Tsaritsyn.

In the Ukraine the Central Rada, headed by Petliura, was rein' stated in power, but shortly after, in April 1918, the Rada government was overthrown on the demand of the German authorities, and Pavel Skoropadsky, a big landlord and tsarist General, was proclaimed Hetman, or ruler, of the Ukraine.

The Germans established a colonial regime of plunder in the ter ritory they occupied. The German military authorities possessed unlim ited power in the Ukraine. Field courts-martial were set up ev erywhere which ordered the shooting of non-combatants on the slightest suspicion of sympathy with the Soviets* The Ger mans carried through the wholesale extermination of the popula tion. Thousands upon thousands of workers and iDeasants were shot, hanged or sent to concentration camps. All the prisons were crammed. The inspector of the Petrakov Elementary School reported to the Ekaterinoslav Zemstvo administration the following: "Instruction in the school of which I am in charge has ceased because a punitive expedition hanged and shot several persons right outside the doors and windows of the school, leaving iie bodies lying here for three days."

In many towns and villages the Gterman military authorities put up the following warning: "For every German soldier who is killed or wounded the first ten Russian soldiers or inhabitants that are caught will be shot forthwith."

Trainloads of plundered property were sent from the Ukraine and the Don Region to Germany. The German invaders established a sanguinary regime of requisition and plunder. The peasants were robbed of their land, grain stocks, cattle, food stocks, farm implements and domestic furniture and utensils.

The German invaders wrecked the entire industry of the Ukraine. They closed down factories and mills and transported the machinery to Germany. Unemployment was rampant in all the towns in the occupied territory. Famine and epidemics raged over this once bounteous land. Those who were employed were forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day. The workers were driven from the apartments they had received under Soviet rule and compelled to live in cold and filthy barracks. Tens of thousands were forcibly driven to Germany to work in the coal mines or on the farms of the big landlords.

With the German troops came the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian landlords. The Hetman reintroduced forced labour for the peasants, compelling them to harvest the crops on the landlords* land. Puni tive expeditions consisting of the sons of kulaks flogged and shot peas ants on the reports of reactionary clergymen and kulaks. Heavy contri butions were imposed on villages and towns. During the rule of the. Hetman nearly 250,000 tons of grain and over 50,000 tons of sugar were transported to Germany, and during the whole period of German occupation 37,000 carloads o£ provisions and goods of various kinds were taken out of the Ukraine. Tkere were hundreds of thousands of unemployed in the Ukraine. Owing to starvation and epidemics the death rate increased enormously.

Tne Party led by Lenin and Stalin organized a people's war against the German invaders. Underground Bolshev.k organizations were formed all over the Ukraine and insurgent Military Staff Head quarters and Revolutionary Committees were organized. Tne whole of the Ukrainian people — ^the miners of the Donetz Basin, the workers of Kharkov, Nikolayev and Odessa, and the peasants of the Kiev, Poltava and Chernigov Gubernias — rallied to defend their native Soviet land. Within a short space of time, in nearly all parts of the Ukraine, innumerable partisan detachments were formed, made up of factory workers, miners and village folk. The partisans made sudden raids upon enemy garrisons and captured arms. The Germans sent punitive detachments armed with artillery and machine guns against the partisans but the latter were not to be caught. Dislodged from one locality they appeared in another, and everywhere they received the assistance of the working people.

One of the famous heroes in this patriotic war against the German yoke in the Ukraine was Nikolai Shchors, the son of a Ukrainian rail way worker. Tne partisans ied by Shchors exterminated small German units engaged in plundering the peasants, and hindered in every way the movements of German troops. Tne Germans sent a large force against Shchors, but he retreated to the borders of Soviet Russia where he formed a regiment named after the Cossack Bogun, a comrade-in-arnosof Bogdan Chmielnicki who fought for the liberation of the Ukraine in the seventeenth century. The Bogun Regiment commanded by Shchors covered itself with undying glory.

Insurrections broke out in different parts of the Ukraine. A pop ular movement flared up. In the towns strikes broke out. In July, a general railwaymen's strike was declared and the railways were brought to a standstill. The invaders crushed the strike with the utmost cruelty and sent many of its leaders to concentration camps in Germany. In spite of this, however, the workers' and peasants' movement against the German invaders continued to grow.

The Fight Against the Germans in the Crimea

In April 1918, the Ge^'inan imperialists invaded the Crimea with the object of en trenching themselves on the Black Sea coast. The well-armed German troops seized the Crimea, after meeting the feeble resistance offered by the newly formed Red Guard. The most stubborn and courageous resistance to the invaders was put up by the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet. To avoid falling into the hands of the German imperialists, who had occupied Sevastopol, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet retired to Novorossiisk — ^the centre of the Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic. Claiming that it was so stipulated in the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the German imperialists called for the surrender of the Black Sea Fleet. Lenin realized that the Kuban-Black Sea government would be unable to save the fleet, so he sent the Black Sea sailors the following secret order: "Sink the fleet. Don't surrender it to the enemies of the revolution." The revolutionary sailors obeyed Lenin's order. The torpedo boats sank, with the last signal flying at their mast heads: "I perish but do not surrender." The battleship Svobodnaya Rossiya was sunk by three torpedoes fired at her by the revolutionary torpedo boat Kerch, In the morning of June 9, the Kerch herself sank after sending out her last radio message: "To all! To all! To all! I perish after sinking part of the Black Sea Fleet, which preferred death to shameful surrender." After sinking part of the fleet the Black Sea sailors went to the front, joining the ranks of the Red Army.

The Fight Against the German Occupation Forces in Byelorussia

The Austrian and German occupation forces reinstituted the rule of the landlords and the bourgeoisie in Byelorussia as well. On February 21, 1918, the Germans occupied Minsk. The Byelorussian Rada pro claimed the "independence" of Byelorussia, but at the same time it called upon the Byelorussian people to obey the German authorities in all things. The Rada also sent the German Kaiser Wilhelm II a telegram expressing their gratitude to him for liberating the country from the Bolsheviks. Shortly afterwards, however, the Germans ap^ IDointed a "government" that suited their purposes better, name 13 ", that of the counter-revolutionary landlord Skirmunt. The monar chist system was restored in all the towns and villages of the countr 3 ^ and Byelorussia was proclaimed a German province. All power passed into the hands of the German militarists. All the towns were ruled byGerman commandants. The workers, peasants and working intelli gentsia of Byelorussia were subjected to cruel oppression.

To fight the German invaders the Bolsheviks in Byelorussia or ganized a partisan movement.

In April 1918, a Congress of Soviets of the Western Region was convened in the Soviet part of Byelorussia. This congress elected an Executive Committee which took the lead of the mass revolutionary" movement for the liberation of the workers and peasants of Byelo russia.

The whole of Byelorussia was covered hy a dense network of par tisan detachments. On March 15, 1918, one of these detachments suddenly attacked a Bavarian cavalry regiment that was stationed at Tsibuly-ovo and completely wiped it out. In the beginning of Sep tember another large partisan detachment occupied the township of Gorval, in the Rechitsa Uyezd, Minsk Gubernia, and wiped out the German garrison. In the Rudobelsk Volost alone there were as many as 400 armed avengers of the people. In the villages of Polesie there were nearly 500 partisans who were armed with machine guns and artillery.

Lenin and Stalin closely watched and directed the struggle of the people against the German invaders. In the spring of 1918, Nikolai Shchors, the organizer of the Ukrainian partisans, arrived in Moscow. He had been invited by Lenin to talk over matters. The partisans received Lenin's advice on liow to fight the German invaders in the Ukraine. In Jime 1918, Lenin issued directives to extend the partisan movement and indicated the methods which should he -employed in fighting the invaders. 'Hamper the advance of the enemy in every way you can," he wrote. "Lay ambushes. Act with fire arms and cold steel. Protect your rear. And for that purpose com pletely exterminate all spies, provocateurs, and counter-revolutionar\' traitors who render direct or indirect assistance to the enemy."

The Germans imagined that their march into the Land of Soviets, into the Ukraine and Byelorussia would be a mere walkover. Actually, however, the peoples of the Land of Soviets rose up to wage a general patriotic war which ended in the utter defeat of the German imperialists. Living in an atmosphere of universal con tempt and constantly subjected to the blows of the partisans and the Red Army, the occupational forces deteriorated and lost their fight ing efiSciency.

The Fight Against the Occupation Forces in the Baltic Provinces

During the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk the Germans rejected the demand of the Soviet delegation that the Baltic peoples should be granted the right of self-determination, and on their part demanded that Russia should renounce the territory of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed the Baltic Provinces were occupied by German troops.

The Lithuanian Taryba, or National Council, sent an address to the German Kaiser expressing their loyalty and begging him to con clude a "perpetual alliance" with the Lithuanian state. In March 1918, Wilhelm IE officially recognized the "independence" of Lithu ania. Actually, however, Lithuania became completely subjected to the German authorities. Continuing to betray the national interests *of the Lithuanian people, the Taryba, in July 1918, proclaimed Lithu ania a monarchy, and it was only due to the universal discontent of the Lithuanian people that this proclamation was not put into force. A Lithuanian government headed by Voldemaras, leader of the reac tionary "Tautin" party (the Lithuanian bourgeoislandlord nationalist party), was set up.

Forced labour for the benefit of the Germans was introduced. The Lithuanian peasants were obliged to work three days a week repairing roads and felling trees. In addition they were compelled to pay a land tax and numerous other taxes, including a heavy poll tax. There were innumerable taxes, which the occupationists collected by force.

• The German authorities also tried to establish monarchist rule in Latvia. Hindenburg, the German Commander-in-Chief, issued an order that large tracts of land in the country should be set aside for German colonists and as a result the Latvian peasants were robbed of 50 per cent of their land for the benefit of German landlords and kulaks.

Soviet power w'as established in Estonia in October 1917, but it lasted only three and a half months.

In February 1918, the bourgeois republic was re-established in Estonia. The Germans tried to incorporate Estonia in the German state and proclaimed Grerman the official language. All state posts were occupied by German nominees.

The Part Played by the Germans in Suppressing the Revolution in Finland

In January 1918, a workers' revolution commenced in Fin land. A revolutionary government — ^the Council of People's Represent atives — concluded a treaty of friendship with Soviet Russia. But there was no Communist Party in Finland at that time. The Council of People's Representatives, which was controlled by the Finnish Social Democrats, allowed the bourgeoisie to retain their electoral rights and their capital.

Svinhuvud, the head of the overthrown bourgeois government, fled to Vasa, in the north of Finland, where he received from Sweden and Germany arms and money for a counter-revolutionary campaign against the revolutionary part of Finland. A counter-revolutionary "Black" brigade came from Sweden and a punitive corps came from Germany to assist the Whiteguatd Finns.

The Finnish Red Guard numbered 70,000 men, but they were poorly armed, and notwithstanding their courage and heroism, suf fered defeat from the Whiteguard Finns and the Germans.

The revolutionary proletarian government moved to Vyborg. On April 27, 1918, the Germans and Whiteguard Finns occupied Helsing fors, the capital of Finland. The interventionists had counted on capturing the Soviet Baltic Fleet which was anchored off Helsingfors, as the sea was then frozen and it seemed impossible for the fleet to get * away. But, on orders from the Soviet government, the Dreadnoughts Garigut, Poltava, Petro'pavlovsh and Sevastopol and several cruisers, assisted by the icebreakers Termak and Volynets, undertook the passage to Kronstadt, a heroic journey of several hundred kilometres through solid stretches of ice. Later, the remaining 160 vessels were brought away. The Soviet Baltic Fleet was saved by the heroism and class consciousness of the Soviet sailors.

The position of the Finnish revolution became hopeless. On May 12, 1918, the Whiteguard Finns occupied Vyborg, and then commenced a reign of terror against the workers and Red Gruards. About 17,000 revolutionary workers were shot and over 70,000 men and women were herded in concentration camps.

Seizure of Bessarabia by Rumania

Taking advantage of the difficul ties the Soviet Republic was encountering, boyar-ruled Rumania, with the approval and assistance of the Entente imperialists,* seized Bessarabia, which is inhabited by Moldavians, Ukrainians and Jews. As early as November 1917, a Sfatul Tsarii, or Regional Council, w^as set up in Bessarabia which shortly afterwards proclaimed the forma tion of the Moldavian People's Republic and the decision to join the R.S.F.S,R. But on January 26, 1918, Rumanian troops captured Kishinev. Red Guard detachments fought the Rumanian invaders, but owing to the occupation of the Ukraine by German troops the Soviet units were obliged to retreat from Bessarabia. The leadership of the Sfatul Tsarii fell into the hands of the agents of Rumania who secured the adoption of a decision incorporating Bessarabia in Rumania. In December 1918, in opposition to the will of the masses of the working people of Bessarabia, the Rumanian parliament ratified the incorpora tion of Bessarabia in the Kingdom of Rumania.

The Beginning of Socialist Construction

Lenin's Plan for the Initial Steps in Socialist Construction

While the working people of the Ukraine, the Crimea, Byelorussia, Lithua nia, Latvia and Estonia were fighting for their independence against the German troops in occupation of their territory, the Soviet govern ment in Russia was mustering forces for the inevitable struggle against the German imperialists and for the liberation of the Soviet territo ries they had seized. At the same time the government of the R.S.F.S.R. strove to utilize the respite won by the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace for the transition to socialist constinction. The Bolshevik Party utilized the respite to organize and strengthen the Soviet State and to build up a workers' and peasants' Red Army.

At a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee* held on April 29, 1918, Lenin delivered a report on the immedi ate tasks of the Soviet government in which he urged that it was neoes sary to take advantage of the respite to start building the foundation of socialist economy, and submitted a plan of how this beginning should be made. The All-Russia\i Central Executive Committee ratified this plan.

By the spring of 1918, the proletariat was already in command of the key positions in the national economy, namely, the land, the big industrial plants, the railways and ban^, the mercantile fl.eet and foreign trade. No .less than 500 enterprises had been nationalized. In Lenin's opinion the main task of the proletarian dictatorship at that time was to keep account of what was being produced and to ensure state control 6ver the distribution of the finished x>roduct.

At that time agriculture in the Soviet Republic was conducted in 20,000,000 small, scattered, individual peasant farms. The petty proprietors in town and country recognized neither labour nor state discipline, refused to ^submit to either accounting or control and grew rich by profiteering and huckstering. As Lenin said: "The profiteer, the trade marauder, the disrupter of monopoly — ^these are our principal ^intemar enemies, the enemies of the economic enactments of the Soviet government" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Worlcs^ Vol. VII, Moscow, 1936, p. 362).

Lenin set the proletariat the task of creating a new Soviet labour discipline, of increasing the productivity of labour and of organiz ing socialist emulation. Lenin proposed that the services be enlisted of bourgeois specialists who should be made to serve the interests of the socialist state. At the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee that was held on April 29, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed this program of Lenin's and were supported by the Bukharinites, who, under cover of "Left" phrases, defended the kulaks, shirkers and profiteers.

After breaking down the resistance of the enemies of the proletarian dictatorship, the working class, in the summer of 1918, completed the expropriation of the big bourgeoisie. On June 28 of that year the Coun cil of People's Commissars issued a decree for the nationalization of the whole of large-scale industry. The whole of the nationalized industry was placed under the control of the Supreme Council of Na tional Economy.

The Development of the Socialist Revolution in the Rural Districts

In the spring of 1918, the counter-revolutionary kulaks rebelled against the socialist measures of the Soviet government. They refused to deliver grain at the prices fixed by the government and were the main cause of the starvation ]Drevalent in the countr}'^. The workers of Moscow and Petrograd were getting only fifty grams of adulterated bread every other day. The demobilization of the army overloaded the railways, and this still further hindered the delivery of food to the towns. The food administration, which was controlled by of6.cials and profiteers who were hostile to the Soviet regime, sabotaged the procurement of ^ain. The Socialist-Revolution aries and Mensheviks took advantage of these food difficulties to con duct propaganda among the workers and peasants in favour of abolish ing the state grain monopoly and of introducing free trade in grain.

On May 24, 1918, Lenin published an open letter to the Petrograd workers, entitled "The Famine," in which he called upon them, as the vanguard of the Russian proletariat, to organize a mass "crusade" against the grain profiteers, kulaks, parasites, disorganizers and bribetakers. "The famine is not due to the fact that there is no bread in Russia, " he wrote, "'but to the fact that the bourgeoisie and the rich gener^ ally are putting up a last decisive fight against the rule of the toilers, against the state of the workers, Against the Soviet government, on this most important and acute of questions, the question of bread" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Wwlce, Two-Vol. ed., Vol. 11, Moscow, 1947, p, 345).

Lenin explained to the workers that the fight for bread was a fight for Socialism and that it was necessary for them to go into the rural districts, organize the rural poor and take the grain from the kulaks in order that the workers and the army could be fed.

The Soviet government issued a series of decrees dealing with the struggle against the rural bourgeoisie who were hoarding or profit eering in grain. The decree issued in May 1918, for the formation of special workers' food detachments facilitated the task of the People's Commissariat of Pood in procuring grain for the state. The Petro grad proletariat chose from its ranks about fifteen thousand of its most advanced members to be sent into the rural districts. Other industrial towns also sent food detachments, made up of their best workers. The food detachments relied on the rural poor in their operations in the rural districts.

On June 11, 1918, a decree was issued, on Lenin's recommendation, regarding the organization of committees of the village poor. The committees were given the responsibility of assisting the People's Commissariat of Pood in requisitioning superfluous grain stocks and of redistributing the confiscated land, farm implements and cattle. As a result of these measures of the Soviet State, the village poor and the middle peasants secured additionally over 50,000,000 hec tares of land held by the kulaks. The formation of these committees of the village poor marked a further stage in the development of the socialist revolution in the rural districts.

The Committees of the Poor Peasants organized the poorest strata of the peasantry and converted them into active builders of the Soviet system in the rural districts. They were also the medium for form ing the Red Army. They explained to the working pea antry the measures adopted by the Soviet State and won the middle peasants over to its side. At first the middle peasants were suspicious of the Committees of the Poor Peasants, but whc-n they became convinced that the Soviet State was helping the middle peasants, that the kulaks had been vanquished, they came over to the side of the Soviet State. This swing-over of the middle peasants enabled the Bolshevik Party, as early as the autumn of 1918, to raise the question of abol ishing these Committees of the Poor Peasants and of establishing a firm alliance between the working class and the bulk of the middle peasants. All this ensured the further consolidation of the proletarian state.

Military Intervention. The Civil War

The Beginning of Military Intervention

The Respite Ends

The Part Played by International Imperialism in Organizing the Civil War

In the summer of 1918, the work begun on the build ing of Socialism was halted by civil war. The civil war was fomented and directed by international imperialism, in alliance with the Kussian landlords and the bourgeoisie, and with the active support of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks and the Bukharinite and Trotsky ite traitors.

The chief reason that prompted the foreign imperialists to inter vene in Russia was their fear that the revolution would spread to Europe and their desire to prevent the building of a socialist state in Russia. They could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their big investments in Russia's large undertakings, and so insisted on inter vention.

In December 1917, the Erench and British imperialists reached an agreement to divide Russia into "spheres of influence"; the Ukraine, the Crimea and the Donetz Basin were to constitute France *s "sphere," and North Russia, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia were to be Great Britain's "sphere." Since the Entente imperialists were w'ithout frontiers contiguous with those of Soviet Russia and did not possess adequate military reserves, they were unable to com mence intervention openly. To deceive the masses of the working people, they had to make it appear that the Russian people them selves were asking for the despatch of Entente troops to fight the Germans and the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolution aries, Trotsky ites and Bukharinites acted as the accomplices and agents of the foreign imperialists and Russian landlords and capi talists in organizing the intervention.

Having joined in a conspiracy with the British imperialists, Trots ky and Buj^arin exerted all efforts to hasten the resumption of hostilities with Germany and thereby put an end to the hardwon respite. Trotsky sent his followers who were at the head of the Murmansk So viet the treacherous instruction to permit a landing of British troops in Murmansk on the pretext that they were coming to fight the Ger man imperialists. Lenin and Stalin categorically ordered the Chairman of the Murmansk Soviet to stop this shameful collaboration with the interventionists, and when the Murmansk traitors failed to obey this order they were proclaimed enemies of the people. Trotsky also facili tated the intervention of the Japanese imperialists in the Far East. At the end of March 1918, Trotsky, in conversation with the British rep resentative in Moscow, told him that he had no objection to the landing of Japanese troops in Kussia for the purpose, allegedly, of protecting the Siberian Railway. Several days later, on April 5, 1918, Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok. The Entente imperi alists, however, were engaged in the world war, fighting decisive battles on the Western Front and therefore could not organize their intervention on a wide scale. Nor could Germany participate in this intervention of the Anglo-French-Japanese-American bloc because she was at war with this bloc. Nevertheless, Kaiser Wilhelm's govern ment remained the bitterest enemy of Soviet Russia, and notwith standing the peace treaty it had signed with Russia, supported her enemies and did all in its power to isolate, weaken and ruin the Land of Soviets. Under cover of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty it began openly to seize the Ukraine, Byelorussia and the Baltic countries.

Conspiracies and Revolts Against the Soviet Regime

When the counter-revolutionary Army General Headquarters were liquidated, the representatives of the foreign powers aimounced that they were leaving the Soviet Republic. They were, however, in no hurry to quit Russia, hut established themselves in Vologda.

The Entente imperialists supported the bourgeois and landlord counter-revolution and supplied money and arms to all the under ground organizations in Russia which were conspiring to overthrow the Soviet regime.

The counter-revolutionaries plotted to use as their armed force the Czechoslovak Corps which had been formed during the war of Czech and Slovak prisoners of war. The Soviet government had given this Corps permission to leave for France via Vladivostok provided it surrendered its arms and journeyed in small contingents.

On the way to Vladivostok large numbers of Russian officers and cadets joined the Corps, which numbered 60,000 men. The Czecho slovak contingents were strung out along the whole length of the railway from Penza to Vladivostok.

On May 25, 1918, the Czechoslovaks, supported by imderground counter-revolutionary organizations, rose in revolt with the object of seizing Siberia, the Urals and the Volga Region. On June 8, 1918 they, with the assistance of Socialist-Revolutionaries, captured Samara and there set up a Whiteguard-Socialist-Revolutionary author ity known as the Committee of the Constituent Assembly (Comutch). A Whiteguard "government" headed by Socialist-Revolutionaries was also set up in Western Siberia.

The rule of the Socialist-Revolutionaries was exactly like that of the tsar. They annulled all the decrees of the Soviet State and returned the land and the crops taken from it to the landlords and the kulaks. Pre-revolution conditions were restored in the factories and strikes were prohibited. All supporters of Soviet rule were per secuted. The Committee of the Constituent Assembly sent from Samara to the East a "deatJi train" containing 2,700 arrested Communists, work ers and peasants, of whom 2,000 were shot or tortured to death. On the Volga and the Kama there were similar "death barges" on which hundreds of completely naked prisoners were starved, beaten and shot. Punitive expeditions roamed the country-side and pressed the peasants into the White army. The peasants were robbed of their land and cattle.

Meanwhile, Entente agents, jointly with Russian Whiteguards, were organizing revolts in twenty-three cities around Moscow, but they succeeded in carrying out a big revolt only in Yaroslavl. On July 6-8, 1918, the Whiteguards captured this town and subjected the workers to incredible torture; but on July 21, the Red Army liberated the town.

The Czechoslovak revolt was accompanied by a wave of kulak revolts, which everywhere were headed by Right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries .

It was in this atmosphere of tense struggle that the Fifth All-Rus sian Congress of Soviets opened on July 4, 1918. The "Left" Socialist Revolutionaries who were present at the congress demanded the annul ment of the decrees on the Committees of the Poor Peasants and on the food detachments. The congress rejected these counter-revolutionary de mands, whereupon the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries wi^drew from the congress and began to organize a revolt against the Soviet regime. In secret complicity with the Bukharinites and Trotskyites they set themselves the object of provoking war with Germany, and to this end, on July 6, assassinated the German ambassador, Mirbach.. The German government answered this act with the demand that the Soviet government should permit German troops to enter Moscow ostensibly for the purpose of protecting the German embassy. The Soviet government emphatically rejected this demand. Lenin declared that the entire Soviet people, young and old, would rise up to defend the Soviet capital if the German imperialists dared to send their troops against her.

During those days, so full of peril for the Republic, the "Left" So cialist-Revolutionaries, with the knowledge and approval of Trotsky and Bukharin, raised a counter-revolutionary revolt in Moscow. The Congress of Soviets suspended its proceedings and declared that all the dele gates were mobilized for the fight against the counter-revolution. Under Lenin's personal direction, the Soviet State vigorously crushed this reckless "Left" Socialist-Revolutionary adventure. The "Left" Socialist-Revolutionary party had conclusively become a counter revolutionary bourgeois kulak party.

While these events were taking place, the "Left" Socialist-Revo lutionary adventurer, ex-Colonel Muravyov, who was in command of the troops that were fighting the Czechoslovaks, tried to raise a revolt in Simbirsk, but thanks to the revolutionary vigilance of Com rade Kuibyshev, the adventurer's plot was speedily crushed.

The Czechoslovak revolt and the counter-revolutionary revolts of the kulaks and Socialist-Revolutionaries stimulated the activities of the monarchist counter-revolutionaries who placed their hopes on the last tsar, who, with his family, was at that time under arrest int Ekaterinburg. In view of this, the Ural Regional Soviet resolved, in the interests of the revolution, to do away with the ex-tsar and his family, and in July 1918, they were shot.

The First Soviet Constitution

On July 10, 1918, after the "Left" Socialist-Revolutionary plot in Moscow had been foiled, the Con gress of Soviets adopted a Soviet Constitution (the Eundamental Law of the R .S .F .S .R .) . This Constitution had been drafted by a commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee headed by Y. M. Sverdlov, with the assistance of Lenin and Stalin. The Constitution was based on the Declaration of Rights of the Toiling and Exploited People and on the "General Principles of the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R." which had been drawn up by Comrade Stalin.

In the Constitution were recorded the &st gains of the Great Octo ber Socialist Revolution, The Constitution set the aim of "guarantee ing the dictatorship of the proletariat with the object of suppressing the bourgeoisie, abolishing the exploitation of man by man, and of building Socialism." It declared that it was the duty of all citizens of the Soviet Republic to engage in useful labour and proclaimed the slogan: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat." It further declared that it was the duty of all citizens of the republic to defend the socialist fatherland, but it granted the right to defend the revolu tion with arms only to working people — ^the non-working elements of the population were only permitted to undertake service in the rear.

The Constitution deprived the exploiters and their defenders of political rights in the Soviet State. All those who exploited hired la bour and lived on unearned incomes, and also monks and the clergy, as well as former gendarmes and policemen, were deprived of elec toral rights. The Constitution, proclaimed the All-Russian Congress of Soviets as the supreme organ of state power in the R,S,P.S.R. The congress was to consist of representatives of City Soviets at the rate of one Deputy for every 25,000 voters, and of representatives of Gubernia Congresses of Soviets at the rate of one Deputy for every 125,000 inhabitants. The inequality in the representation of workers and peasants was a temporary measure necessitated by the fact that the individual peasant still lacked sufficient political consciousness, was poorly organized and needed the leadership of the proletariat. In the intervals between congresses the supreme authority was the All Russian Central Executive Conunittee^ elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

To administer and direct the country's economic and political life, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee set up a Soviet government known as the Comic jl of People's Commissars.

The Constitution of the R.S.P.S.R. that was adopted at the Fifth Congress of Soviets was the first genuinely democratic Constitution in the world, one that enabled the masses of the working people to take part in the administration of the state.

The Defence of Tsaritsyn

In A Ring of Fire

At the end of 1918, the Soviet Republic was enclosed in a ring of fire.

The whole of the Middle Volga P».egion, the Urals and Siberia right up to the Far East, were occupied by the Czechoslovaks.

In the Far East the Japanese imperialists were in control, and assist ed by the mercenary gangs of Semyonov and Kalmykov were prepar ing to seize the Maritime and Amur Regions.

In the North, which was occupied by British troops, a petty-bour geois government consisting of ex-members of the Constituent Assem bly was formed, but later this government was replaced by the open military-bourgeois dictatorship of General Miller.

In North Caucasus, the Whiteguard Volmiteer Army commanded by General Denilcin launched an offensive. In the Don Region, the Cossack Ataman Krasnov, who had fled to the Don after the Kerensky venture was crushed, established his rule with the aid of the German imperialists, who perfidiously violated the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty they had concluded with Russia.

The Uliraine, Byelorussia and the Baltic countries were under the heel of the German imperialists, Transcaucasia was in the hands of the Turkish and German imperialists, and the Transcaspian Region was in the hands of the British imperialists.

Soviet Russia^ being surrounded by battle fronts, was cut off from her main food, raw material and foe! regions. Lenin emphasized that now that the power of the landlords and capitalists had been overthrown, the workers and peasants would have to defend their native Soviet land against the imperialists and the counter-revolution. "Since November 7 (October 25), 1917," he said, "we have become defencists. . . . From that day on we stand for the defence of our Fatherland" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Worlcs^ 7ol. XXII 5 Russ, ed., p, 291).

To defend Soviet Russia the formation of the workers ' and peasants ' Red Army was vigorously iiroceeded with.

At first the new army was an army of volunteers; only the most class-conscious and organized elements of the working classes were allowed to enlist.

During the first two months after the victory of the October Revo lution 100,000 men voluntarily enlisted in the Red Army. In addition, the best organized revolutionary units of the old army and the local partisan detachments were incorporated in the Red Army. The staunchest and most class-conscious section of the Red Army was that made up of the proletarian Red Guards. An extremely important part in building the Red Army w'as plaj-ed by the Military Commissars, who trained the new recruits politically and welded them together.

In May 1918, a decree was passed introducing compulsory mili tary service for workers and peasants. In the autumn, Lenin called for the formation of an army 3,000,000 strong. On November 30, 1918, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defence was set up. This Council, which was headed by Lenin, was in charge of providing replenishments for the Red Army and of supptying the front with arms and pro visions.

The First Siege of Tsaritsyn

Cut oft from the grain regions, the Ukraine, the Volga Region and Siberia, the Soviet Republic experienced severe starvation. The key to the grain regions of the Lower Volga and North Caucasus, which kept Soviet Russia supplied with bread, was Tsaritsyn. That city became the pivot of the struggle that was to decide the fate of the revolution. The counter-revolutionaries aimed to capture Tsaritsjui in order to link up the Czechoslovaks on the Eastern Front with Krasnov's forces on the Southern Front, and thus close the counter-revolutionary ring around Moscow. This would have out off the Soviet Republic from vital sources of grain and oil, and would have isolated Baku and the Lower Volga from the central area of the country.

On Lenin's recommendation Comrade Stalin was sent to Tsaritsyn to organize food supplies. He arrived in Tsaritsyn on June 6 and found that the situation there was very bad. The Tsaritsyn Soviet was not operating the state grain monopoly, and the city and the adjacent villages teemed with profiteers, bagmen and bourgeois who had fled from Moscow and Petrograd. Saboteurs and spies were ensconsed iu Soviet and military establishments. There was no strong revolutionary authority in the town. In a conversation Lenin had with Com rade Stalin over the direct wire at that time, he said: "As regards food I must say that nothing at all is being issued either in Petrograd or Moscow today. The situation is very bad. Inform me whether you can take urgent measures, because we have no other source of supplies .except you." Comrade Stalin took determined measures against the speculators. Grain was secured, but with gz'eat difficulty, after overcoming the resistance of the kulaks, who had hidden away their grain stocks.

Comrade Stalin realized that not only the question of food supplies, but also that of the defence of the Soviet Eepublic was being settled at Tsaritsyn. He therefore took charge of the defence of the town.

On August 18, 1918, Tsaritsyn was surrounded on three sides by the forces of Krasnov. To aid the White Cossacks who were approach ing, the counter-revolutionaries were preparing a revolt in the rear — in Astrakhan and in Tsaritsyn itself. In Tsaritsyn the revolt was organized by Socialist-Revolutionaries and by tsarist army officers who were hiding underground. At the head of the conspiracy was General Nosovich, sent there by Trotsky on military duties. The conspirators were supported by the foreign Consuls in Tsaritsyn. Comrade Stalin discovered this criminal plot in time and the Whiteguards and spies were arrested. In Astrakhan army officers who had been enlisted in the Red Army raised a mutiny and succeeded in capturing the fortress, arresting Communists, dispersing the Soviet and capturing the bank and the railway station. This Whiteguard mutiny was, however, suppressed the very next day.

At that time the Whiteguards laxmched an attack on Tsaritsyn. Although their forces considerably outnmnbered the defenders of the city, they encountered very strong resistance. The defence of Tsaritsyn was directed by Comrade Stalin in person with the assistance of his close colleague, Comrade Voroshilov. They united the separate par tisan detachments which arrived in Tsaritsyn from the IJlcraine and the Don Region into regular units, and on Comrade Stalin's instruc tions all the available weapons, artillery in particular, were utilized for the defence. Armoured trains, united in a single combat group, often broke into the rear of the Whites. As Comrade Voroshilov has written: "Comrade Stalin directed the whole defence. His dynamic spirit, his energy and will, accomplished what had seemed impossible before his arrival. In a very short time divisions, brigades, regi ments, staffs and supply departments sprang into being. The entire rear was thoroughly purged of counter-revolutionary and hostile ele ments. . . , Those were days of the utmost tension. Then was the time to see Comrade Stalin. As ever, calm, engrossed in his thoughts he went without sleep literally for days on end, his intense activi ties divided between the the atres of operations and army headquarters" (K. E. Voroshi lov, Stalin and the Bed Army, i938j Russ, ed., p. 18).

Meanwhile, work went on night and day in the facto ries and plants, where guns and machine guns were manu factured and armoured trains repaired. The entire popu lation of the town was mobi lized to dig trenches.

As a result of this heroic defence, by the end of August the White Cossacks were flung back from Tsaritsyn.

The Attempt to Assassinate Lenin

While the attacks of the Whiteguards were be ing repulsed at Tsaritsyn, the Soci alist-Revolutionaries , in criminal conspiracy with the Trotsky ites and Bukharinites, prepared to strike a mortal blow at the revolution by robbing it of its leader and organizer, V. I. Lenin.

In the evening of August 30, 1918, Lenin addressed a meetmg at the Michelson Plant (now the Vladimir Ilyich Plant) at which he called upon the workers to rally for the fight against the Czecho slovaks. After the meeting, with workers crowding aroimd him, he walked out mto the factory yard to his car. Hiding behind the car, Fanny Kaplan, a Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist, lay in wait for him with a revolver. She fired three shots at Lenin and then tried to escape amidst the confusion, but the workers detained the would-be assassin.

The news of this attempt on the life of the beloved leader of the working people flashed throughout the countr 3 ^ like lightning. Their hearts burning with indignation against the enemies of the people, the vast masses of the workers and peasants anxiously watched the bulletins that were issued about Lenin's condition. Thanks to his strong constitution Lenin recovered from his serious wounds, but his health was greatly undermined.

The unparalleled outrage committed by the Socialist-Revolution aries roused among the masses of the people a feeling of the bitterest hatred towards the enemies of the revolution. On September 2, the Land of Soviets was proclaimed a military camp. Following a report by Y. M. Sverdlov on the attempted assassination of Lenin^ the Soviet government took the decision to proclaim a mass Red terror in retaliation to the White terror of the bourgeoisie and its servitors, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Members ofWhiteguard organizations and participants in revolts became liable to the penalty of death by shooting.

At this time the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission dis covered a series of plots against the Soviet regime. In the beginning of September 1918, one of the biggest of these Whiteguard plots, direct ed by Lockhart, the head of the British Diplomatic Mission, in conjunc tion with the French Consul Grenard, was liquidated. They tried to bribe the Red Army men who were guarding the Kremlin, so as to get into the premises of the Council of People's Commissars and arrest the Soviet government. The plotters blew up bridges, disorganized the food supply in the capital and disrupted the Soviet administrative machinery . They wonned their way into the Red Army, stole military plans and conveyed them to the enemies of the Soviet regime. But all the enemies' plans went a-wTy. The Red Army men whom they tried to bribe reported the matter to the Extraordinary Commission and helped the latter to capture the ringleaders of the conspiracy while they were at a secret meeting. The spies and plotters headed by Lockhart were arrested.

The Rout of the Czechoslovaks

The attempts of the enemies of the revolution to check the ofiensive which the Red Army had launched on the Eastern (Czechoslovak) Front failed. On August 1, before he was wounded, Lenin had sent a message to the com manding personnel of the Eastern Front in which he wrote; "*Now the entire fate of the revolution is staked on one card: speedj^ victory over the Czechoslovaks on the Kazan-Ural-Samara Front. Ever 3 rbhmg depends upon that." The main forces of the Czechs and Whites were concentrated at Kazan, from where they launched an offensive against Sviyazhsk, the capture of which would have opened the road to Moscow. Lenin ordered the most reliable units to be sent to Sviyazhsk. Soon an army of 10,000 men was formed there. Lenin also ordered several torpedo boats from the Baltic Fleet to be sent to Sviyazhsk via the Volga, and in August the Prythi, JRetivy and Prochny arrived, after travelling through the Mariinsky waterway. The torpedo boats broke into the Whiteguard lines and set fire to their steamers and barges. The arrival of the Baltic torpedo boats strengthened the Red Volga Flotilla which was commanded by the sailor Markin.

In the beginning of September the Red Army, supported by the Volga Flotilla, launched an attack upon Kazan. Several warships imder the command of Markin sailed right up to Kazan and landed a force of Red troops. On September 10, the city was captured and cleared of Whiteguards.

Lenin, who was now convalescent, sent the men of the Red Army a telegram congratulating them on their brilliant victory.

Two days later the Iron Division, which had been formed by V. V. Kuibyshev, captured Lenin's native city Simbirsk. The Red Army men sent Lenin the following telegram: "Dear Ilyich: The capture of your native Simbirsk is a reply to one of your wounds; the reply to the second will be the capture of Samara."

Lenin sent an answering message, addressed to Kuibyshev, in which he congratulated the men on their victory and thanked them on be half of all the working people.

On learning of the villainous attempt to assassinate Lenin, the defenders of Tsaritsyn struck blows at the enemy with renewed energy. On September 7, Comrade Stalin sent Lenin a telegram informing him that the enemy had been routed and hurled across the Don, that the position of Tsaritsyn was now secure, and that the offensive was continuing.

In the middle of September, Comrade Stalin was called to Moscow where he related to Lenin, who was now on the way to recovery, the story of the heroic defence of Tsaritsyn. Lenin and Stalin sent Comrade VorosliiloY the following message of greetings for the heroes of Tsaritsyn: "Hold aloft the Red banners, cany them forward fearlessly, ruthlessly root out the counter-revolutionary landlords, generals and kulaks and show the whole world that Socialist Russia is in vincible."

The victorious Red Army continued the offensive through the whole of the Volga Region, The First Army marched on Syzran, while the Fourth Army, of which V. V. Kuibyshev was Political Commissar, marched on Samara. On October 7, 1918, Samara was liberated by the Red Army and the Volga Region was cleared of Czechs and Whiteguards.

Second Defeat of the Enemy at Tsaritsyn

After the Czecho slovaks were defeated, the Southern Front began to acquire deci sive importance.

In September 1918, on Lenin's recommendation, a Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front was set up, J. V. Stalin was appointed chairman of the Council, and K. B. Voroshilov Commander of the Front. On September 22, 1918, Comrade Stalin returned to Tsaritsjm from Moscow, He foresaw that another inter national conspiracy against Soviet Russia was being hatched in the South and expected the Entente to order the Whiteguards to make another attempt to capture Tsaritsyn, this time from the southwest. Krasnov realized that German intervention was coming to an end and therefore appealed for assistance to his new masters, the British and French imperialists.

By October 1918, he had mustered against Tsaritsyn twelve cavalry and eight infantry divisions, well supplied and armed b}^ the foreign imperialists. Tsaritsyn was completely surrounded and its position was extremely grave. Notwithstanding all the requests that were sent to him, Trotsky failed to send either reinforcements or ammunition. On Comrade Stalin's orders the production of shells was organized at the Ordnance Works in Tsaritsyn. As was the case during the first siege of the city, the entire population was mobilized for the front. Among those mobilized were the engineers of the survey party that was working on the Volga-Don Canal project. In reply to a request of the Tsaritsyn Soviet for the release of these engi neers so that the survey should not be interrupted^ Comrades Stalin and Voroshilov wrote: "We shall dig the canal after we have drowned the Cadets in the Volga and the Don."

The poorly-armed, ill-shod and badly-clothed Red Army defended Tsaritsyn with exceptional heroism. Stalin and Voroshilov remained in the frontline positions directing the attacks in person.

On October 16, the Whiteguards launched determined attacks in the endeavour to break through to Tsaritsyn, but encountered the indomitable resistance of its defenders. That day many of the defenders met the death of heroes, including the twenty-three-year old hero commander Nikolai Rudnyev. During the battle of Tsaritsyn splendid Red Army commanders came to the forefront, such as Par khomenko, Budyonny, Timoshenko and others.

In October 1918, on the recommendation of Comrades Stalin and Voroshilov, the first Bed mounted unit was formed under the command of Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny. The son of a poor peasant in the Don Region, Budyonny as a youth experienced all the hardships of an agricultural labourer and later of a trooper in the tsar's cavalry. At the beginning of the Civil War he organized a mounted partisan unit in the Don Region and, like many partisan commanders, fought his way to Tsarits 3 m to join the Red Army there. Here the separate mounted detachments were tmited in a cavalry regiment and later in the First Cavalry Division. Under the command of S. M. Budyonny, this Red Cavalry Division struck crushing blows at Krasnovas forces.

In October 1918, the second plan to capture Tsaritsyn was frustrat ed just as the first had been. On October 24, Comrade Stalin, who had been called back to Moscow after the White Cossacks were defeat ed, sent greetings to the defenders of Tsaritsyn in the name of the Soviet government.

Denikin Captures North Caucasus

While Krasnov, backed by the German imperialists, was surrounding Tsaritsyn, Denikin's Volun teer Army marched to his assistance from the South.

Denikin's aim w'as to cover Krasnov's Southern Front and defeat the Red Army in North Caucasus. The main Soviet forces, which had been mustered by Sergo Orjonikidze, were concentrated near Bataisk, under the command of a former officer of the old army named Sorokin, who turned out to be a traitor. Part of the troops were posted on the Taman Peninsula and part near Tikhoretskaya.

On the proposal of Sergo Orjonikidze, the Soviet Republics of North Caucasus — ^the Kuban, Black Sea, Stavropol and Terek Re publics — decided to combine their forces for the struggle against the counter-revolution .

In the summer of 1918, the First Congress of Soviets of North Caucasus proclaimed the formation of a united North Caucasian Soviet Republic. Before, however, this republic had time to consolidate itself, Denikin launched an offensive with the object of cutting off Soviet North Caucasus from the Volga and of preventing the Cauca sian Red Army from striking at Krasnov's forces from the South.

In June 1918, Denikin succeeded in cutting off North Caucasus from Tsaritsyn and marched against Tikhoretskaya, where a Red Army 30,000 strong was concentrated. Denikin had a force of 20,000 men, nearly all army officers, Cadets and upper-class Cossacks. This so-called Volunteer Army was well armed with artillery and ar moured cars, which it had received through Krasnov from the Germans. In the middle of July Denikiirs forces captured Tikhoretskaya.

Denikin's successes encouraged the entire counter-revolution in North Caucasus.

Whiteguard revolts broke out in the Cossack stanitsas and in the towns. In August, as the result of Sorokin's treachery, Deni kin's forces caj)tured Ekaterinodar and pushed the Soviet main forces across the river Kuban. By capturing Ekaterinodar, the White guards out off the Bed Army that was stationed on the Taman Pen insula. The Taman Bed Army decided to fight its way along the coast to Novorossiisk and then through Tuapse to Armavir to join the main forces of the Caucasian Bed Army. The column marched along the shore of the Black Sea and over the rocky heights of the Caucasian Mountains with no food and no water, under a blazing sun. With it retreated tens of thousands of refugees carrying their belongings. Women and chil dren travelled on munition carts, sitting on cases filled with shells. There was continuous fighting all along the way. Clothing and foot wear were worn to shreds. The only sustenance available was some corn and nuts. Near Tuapse the way — the only one available for the Soviet Taman forces — was barred by enemy forces. Bold spirits were chosen and these, sticking their bayonets and rifles in the fissures of the rock to serve as steps, climbed the steej) rooky mountainside and attacked the enemy from the rear. The Whites retreated. The column went in pursuit and forced its way into Tuapse.

At the end of September 1918, after a march of 600 kilometres with fighting all the way, the column captured Armavir and eflFected a junction with the Bed Army. This heroic march of the Taman forces is described in Serafimovich's novel The. Iron Flood,

The units of the Caucasian Bed Army were reorganized to form the Eleventh and Twelfth Armies of the Southern Eront. Their posi tion was one of great difficulty. They were cutofi from Tsarits3m, and Denikin's forces were advancing against them on three sides. In their rear were the steppes and the Astrakhan sandy wastes. There was no food, and typhus was rampant among them. The womided received no medical assistance. The situation was made worse by the treacherj'^ of Sorokin, who in October rose in revolt and shot the leaders of the Bolshevik organization and of the Soviet government of North Caucasus. This greatly facilitated Denikin's task in capturing the whole of the Kuban.

At the same time Denikiix's agents raised a revolt in the Terek Region. This revolt was organized by the Menshevik Bichorakhov, whose gangs surrounded Vladikavkaz, the centre of the Terek People's Republic. Sergo Orjonikidze hastened to the assistance of Vladikavkaz from Tsaritsyn. He broke through the enemy's lines, entered the city, organized its defence and with the aid of Caucasian highlanders liberated the city. After this Bicherakbov's forces besieged Grozny.

The workers of the Grozny oil fields, assisted by the highland poor led by that brave leader of the highlanders, Aslanbek Sheripov, staunchly defended the city and held out for three months until it was liberated by troops sent by Sergo Orjonikidze. To dis lodge the Bicheraldiov gangs who had fortified themselves in the Cossack stanitsa of Grosnenskaya, right close to the city, it was de cided to burn down the stanitsa. The Red Army men bombarded the stanitsa with incendiary shells and bottles of kerosene and drove off the Whiteguards. The Terek remained a Soviet area; the rest of North Caucasus was occupied by Denikin's forces

The Entente Armies Attack Soviet Russia

The Defeat of Germany and the Annulment of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty

The latter half of July 1918 marked a turning point in the World War in favour of the Entente. The strength of German imperialism was giving out. In October 1918, Austria sued for j)eace. In the same month Turkey capitulated. Germany's defeat at the front stimulated revolutionary unrest at home, and on November 9 . 1918, this unrest culminated in a revolution. Kaiser Wilhelm II fled abroad and a bourgeois republic was established in Germany. Two days later, on November 11, 1918, an armistice was concluded o the Western Front. The World War ended in the defeat of Germany.

The defeat of Germany by the united forces of the Allies facili tated the struggle which the Soviet people were waging against the German imperialists. The German invaders began to be driven out at all points from Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia and the Baltic countries. On November 13, 1918, the Soviet government solemnly announced the annulment of the predatory Brest-Litovsk Treaty. This act marked a victory for Lenin's farseeing tactics on the question of peace. Harsh and degrading as the terms of the Brest Litovsk Treaty had been, they had nevertheless given the Soviet people a respite, during which the Soviet State consolidated its position, armed its forces and beat off all the attacks of the internal counter-revolution. The change in the international situation enabled the Soviet government to denounce the predatory peace treaty which had been forced upon it.

The Intervention of the Entente Countries

The defeat of Germany complicated the international situation. Describing this situation in the report he delivered at the Sixth All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8, 1918, Lenin said: . . While we have never been so near to an international revolution, never, on the other hand, has our position been so dangerous as it is now. The imperialists were engrossed with each other. But now the Anglo-FrancoAmerican group has swept away the other. They are making it their cardinal aim to stifle world Bolshevism, to destroy its chief seat, the Russian Soviet Republic" (VJ, Lenin, Collected Works^ Vol. XXIII, New York, 1945, P..284).

Indeed, the Entente imperialists were alarmed at the spread of the revolutionary movement in Western Europe and therefore decided to take advantage of Germany's defeat to wage a struggle against Soviet Russia, which they regarded as the hotbed of revolution. The Entente plan was to hurl their forces against Soviet Russia in conjunction with the counter-revolutionary forces which had begun to fight the Soviet regime immediately after the victory of the October Revolution. This general offensive was to start simul taneously in three directions. The British troops, supported by Deni kin's forces were to occupy the Eastern regions of Russia, primarily the Transcaspian Region and Baku. The French troops were to land in South Russia and to occupy the Ukraine with the assistance of the Ukrainian nationalists. The united forces of Great Britain and America were to launch an offensive in the North and move along the Northern Dvina to establish a junction with the Czechoslovak and Kolchak forces.

British Intervention in the Transcaspian Region and Baku

This plan began to be put in operation as early as the summer of 1918, when the Soviet Republic was enclosed in a hostile ring and was holding at bay the Czechoslovaks, the German imperialists and the Russian Whiteguards.

The commander, of the British forces in Persia struck a bargain with the bourgeois nationalists in Turkmenia and with the Russian Whiteguards, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks in Central Asia, and with their aid, in July 1918, the Soviet regime was over thrown in Ashkhabad, Merv, Krasnovodsk and other Transcaspian cities. Nine Ashkhabad Commissars were taken prisoner and ^ot. A Whiteguard government headed by Socialist-Revolutionaries was set up in Ashkhabad, The Transcaspian Region was occupied by British troops. The Turkmen bourgeois nationalists and the Russian Whiteguards treacherously signed an agreement with the British interventionists which converted Turkmenia into a British colony.

After entrenching themselves in the Transcaspian Region, the British imperialists made preparations to seize Baku . At that time the situat ion of the Baku Commune was one of great difficulty. It was being attacked by Turkish troops and by'armed bands organized by the local national ists, the Mussavatists. On the pretext of combating Turkish atroci ties, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks of Baku entered into secret negotiations with British agents and then demanded that the Baku Soviet should call in the assistance of British troops. Comrade Stalin sent the Baku Bolsheviks categorical instructions not to permit foreign troops to enter Baku under any circumstances. The Baku Council of People's Com missars, headed by Stepan Sha umyan, took energetic measures for the defence of the Baku Com mune.

There had been close co-oper ation between Soviet Russia and the Baku Commune; oil from Baku was sent to Soviet Russia Astrakhan, and So viet Russia sent Baku grain from its stocks in North Caucasus.

But with the seizure of North Caucasus by Denikin's forces, the food situation in Baku became considerably worse.

The enemy had cut off the Baku Commune not only from its grain supplies but even from its sources of drinl^iing water. The Men sheviks and Socialist-Revolution aries took advantage of this grave situation to intensify their de featist propaganda and on July 25, 1918, after a stormy session, they succeeded in getting the Baku Soviet to pass a resolution to invite British troops into the city. Several days later a counter-revo lutionary government seized power in the city and called in the British troops. The twenty-six members ofthe Baku Council of People's Com missars tried to escape to Soviet Astrakhan, but the ships on which they travelled were fired at by the British and compelled to return to Baku. The People's Commissars were arrested and flimg into prison.

The British remained in Baku only for a month. In September Turkish troops and detachments of Mussavatists surrounded the city. Just before the British left, the arrested Baku Commissars succeeded in escaping from prison and made another attempt to reach Astra khan, but on the orders of the ship's captain the ship carrying the Baku Bolsheviks suddenly changed course and beaded for Krasnovodsk, where the Commissars were arrested by the Trans caspian government. On September 20, 1918, they were taken to a point 207 kilometres from Efrasnovodsk and brutally put to death.

The fall of the Baku Commune and the death of the twenty-six Baku Commissars had disastrous consequences for all the Transcaucasian Republics, for after this they long remained dependencies of the foreign imperialists.

The Liberation of the Ukraine from the Foreign Interventionists

Shortly after the annulment of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty the Cen tral Committee of the Bolshevik Party commissioned Comrade Stalin, who had just retmmed from Tsaritsyn, to organize the struggle to liberate the Ukraine from the German invaders. In November 1918, Soviet rule was restored in the liberated part of the country and the Ukrainian Soviet government calied upon the Ukrain ian workers and peasants to over throw Hetman Skoropadsky , the pup pet of the Germans, The ke^mote of Jeanne Labonrbe the struggle against the German in

vaders was "All power to the Soviets. " The Ukrainian Bolsheviks intensified their work of disintegrating the German army. The German sol diers began to demand that they be sent home at once, and to sur render their artillery and ammunition to the Bed Army. Deprived of the support of the German troops, Hetman Skoropadsky lost all power. He fled from Kiev disguised as a German officer. Power in Kiev was seized by new enemies of the Ukrainian people — ^the bour geois nationalists headed by Petliura. The Petliura government, known as the Directory, sought the support of the new interventionists. At this time the Entente commenced intervention. At the end of November 1918, two French and two Greek divisions were landed in the Ukraine. In all 50,000 Entente troops were landed in the South of Russia, together with large quantities of machine guns, artillery and shells intended for the White "governments which were fighting against Soviet Russia.

The Petliura government signed a treaty with France by which it pledged itself to form an army of 30,000 men to fight the Bol sheviks and to place the entire economy of the Ukraine under France's control.

The indignant workers and toiling peasants rose in revolt against the betrayers of the Ukrainian people. The fraternal Red Army came from Soviet Russia to assist the revolutionary insurgents. On February 5, 1919, the Tarashchansky Regiment, comma.nded by Bo zhenko, a carpenter employed in the Kiev Arsenal, and the Bogun Regiment commanded b}" Nikolai Shchors liberated Kiev. Soviet rule was restored over the greater part of the Ukraine. Only in the South, in Odessa, Nikolayev and Kherson, and in the Crimea, did Entente troops, supported by Denikin's forces remain. Entente warships were still anchored in the ports.

The Bolshevik underground organ izations in Odessa, Nikolayev, Kher son and Sevastopol conducted vigor ous propaganda activities among the French soldiers and sailors, and in Odessa the underground Bolshevik organization formed a "foreign com mittee" in which an active part was taken by Jeanne Labourbe, a French woman Communist, who was ardently devoted to the revolution. Subse quently, Jeanne Labourbe was betrayed by an agent provocateur and was bru tally put to death by the French im perialists.

Energetic work among the French forces was also conducted by the French revolutionary sailor Andre Marty, who organized a mutiny in the French fleet. The mutiny was sup pressed and Marty was arrested. He was in danger of being executed^ but the protests and revolutionary demonstrations of the French workers secured his release.

Lacking sufficient forces, the interventionists withdrew from Kherson and Nikolayev in March 1919, and concentrated in Odessa; but on April 6, 1919, the Red Army entered Odessa. On April 7, the Red Army, wading across the icy shallows of Sivash, occupied the Crimea.

The main reason for the speedy defeat of the British and French occupational forces in the South was the disintegration that rapidly spread through their ranks. Realizing that they had been deceived, the French soldiers refused to fight against Soviet Russia and said to their officers: "We haven't come here to fight."

In April 1919, the French government was obliged to withdraw its forces from all the Black Sea ports. On the eve of the departure of the French from Odessa the workers in that city rose in armed revolt and power passed to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. Soviet rule was restored in the whole of the Ukraine and the Crimea.

The Failure of the Entente Offensive in the North

In Mur mansk and Archangel, about 50,000 Entente troops were landed. The region was controlled by the British who appointed their puppet. General Miller, as Military Dictator. The interventionists shamelessly plundered the region, cut down forests and carried off furs. Everybody who was suspected of sympathizing with the Soviet regime was sent to penal servitude on remote uninhabited islands. Preparations were made to strike from the North at Moscow.

The British interventionist troops moved along the Northern Dvina to Kotlas, from where a railway ran to Vyatka. The Entente intended in the region of Kotlas-Perm to effect a junction between the forces of the northern counter-revolution and the Czech and Kolchak forces. The Whiteguard units, which were formed with the aid of British instructors and were well supplied with British armoured trains, aircraft, artillery and machine guns, outnumbered the Red Army which was operating on the Northern and Eastern Fronts by three to one. Five divisions under the command of the Czech General Gaida surrounded the Third Red Army in the region of Perm (now the city of Molotov) and inflicted grave defeat upon it. In December Gaidars forces occupied Perm and marched onto Vyatka (now the city of Kirov). From Vyatka there was a straight road to Moscow.

Comrades Stalin and Dzerzhinsky were sent to the Eastern Front to save the situation. Their instructions were to ascertain the causes of the disaster and to propose measures for its elimination. Comrade Stalin found the Eastern Front in a state of utter disorganization. The tsarist generals whom Trotsky had appointed violated the Soviet government 's instructions to recruit the Red Army only from among the working classes of the population. The army teemed with sons of kulaks and the bourgeoisie and downright spies who were demoralizing the Red forces. There was no cbmmunication between the front and the rear, and numerous spies and saboteurs were at work at staff headquarters and in the administrative services. General Headquarters had no definite plan of campaign and issued contradictory orders, which only served to demoralize the army. Comrade Stalin drove enemies out of headquarters, established order in the army administrations, organized the formation of regiments in conformity with the Soviet government's instructions and took measures to clean up the rear. Above all, Comrade Stalin issued an order to hold Vyatka at all costs so as to prevent the Entente forces in the North from linking up with Kolchak's forces and the Czechoslovaks who were advancing from the East, As a result of all these measures Vyatka was held and the Entente troops failed to join forces with the Czechoslovaks.

Enormous assistance was rendered the Red Army in tlie North by, ski-runners of the Komi people, who proved to be splendid scouts and dispatch carriers. Dressed in white coveralls and moving very swiftly, they out-witted the enemy.

An active part in the struggle against the invaders in both the North and South was played by women and juveniles, who obtained information about the enemy's operations and intentions, supplied the partisans with food and arms and distributed Bolshevik leaflets.

Disintegration set in among the Entente forces in the North just as it did in the South. This was facilitated considerably by the Bolshe vik propaganda that was carried on among them by means of leaflets which were posted up on trees and scattered wherever the foreign troops were stationed. The result of this propaganda was that the Entente soldiers refused to fight against the Bolsheviks and demanded that they be sent home. The Entente's attempt to destroy the Soviet regune with the aid of their own forces failed. As Lenin wrote: "The victory we gained , . . was the greatest victory we have gained over the Entente. We have deprived it of its soldiers" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Worhs, Vol. VIII, Moscow, 1936, p. 54).

The Liberation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from the German Invaders

The defeat of Germany gave an impetus to the strug gle of all the Baltic peoples against the German invaders. The expulsion of the Germans was accompanied by mass revolts against the local bourgeoisie who had betrayed the people and had entered into a deal with the invaders.

In Lithuania, after the expulsion of the Germans, the workers set up Soviets which organized revolts against the bourgeois government of Voldemaras. The preparations for these revolts were directed by the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia that was formed at that time. The Voldemaras government fled from Vilna, and in December 1918 the Vilna Soviet proclaimed the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic. On December 23, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee recognized the independence of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic and issued a decree to incorporate the Kovno and Vilna Gubernias in Soviet Lithuania,

In November 1918, the advancing Red Army compelled the German troops to retire from Latvia too. The various bourgeois parties in Latvia feared that the proletarian revolution would be victorious in that country and in the endeavour to prevent this they set up in Riga a National Council, which, on November 18, 1918, proclaimed the for mation of a Latvian bourgeois republic. A provisional bourgeois govern ment was set up headed by Uhnanis, the leader of the Farmers' Union. This government concluded an agreement with the German Social-Democratic government, by which the latter undertook to send "volunteers" to Latvia. Roused to indignation by this act, the masses of the people of Latvia rose in revolt and captured Riga. The bourgeois government fled to Libau. In January 1919, a Congress of Latvian Soviets was held which proclaimed the formation of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Latvian Soviet state authorities formed a Red Army, abolished the private ownership of land, confiscated state, landlord and church lands and expelled the landlords from the country.

In the spring of 1919, the Latvian bourgeois government which had establi^ed itself in Libau sent an army of 80,000 men against Riga and captured the citj^. At that time Soviet Russia was surrounded by enemies and was unable to render the Latvian Soviet Republic military assistance, and so a bourgeois republic was established in Latvia.

In Estonia, after the German troops left, the bourgeoisie appealed for assistance to Great Britain, and the latter sent a squadron of war ships to assist the Estonian counter-revolution. The working people of Estonia rose in revolt and with the assistance of the advancing Red Army expelled the invaders. On November 30, 1918, Soviet rule was restored in the shape of the Estonian Working People's Commune. The Estonian bourgeoisie again appealed to Great Britain and also to their nei hbour^ White Finland, for assistance. The well-armed forces of the White Estonians, White Finns and the British forces compelled the Red Army to withdraw from Estonia and the Soviet regime was again abolished.

The Liberation of Byelorussia and the Formation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

By December 1918, the Byelo russian workers and peasants, assisted by the Red Army, had cleared their country of German troops. The part of Byelorussia which the Germans had occupied during the imperialist war was also liber ated. The working people of Byelorussia appealed to Lenin and Stalin to help them form a Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In December 1918, the First Congress of the Commtmist Party of Byelo russia was held and resolved to proclaim an independent Socialist Byelorussian Republic consisting of the Minsk, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk and Smolensk Gubernias. The congress declared: "The work ing people of Byelorussia wish to know no other power except the power of the Soviets, which is the power of the workers, agricultural labourers and peasants. The power of the landlord Byelorussian Rada is hateful to them."

On February 2, 1919, the First All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets was held in Minsk, which made the arrangements for the formation of the Byelorussian Soviet Republic. All the land of the landlords, monasteries and churches was proclaimed public property, the rail ways and factories were nationalized, and the Soviet laws were pro claimed in force. Y. M. Sverdlov, Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, who was present at the congress, announced the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to recog nize the independence of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and promised that it would be rendered fraternal assistance. In his speech he said: "The Russian proletariat will never forget that you were the first to meet the blows and the onslaught of Ger man imperialism and check its advance into the interior of our country."

The congress proclaimed the formation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, ordered the opening of negotiations with the R.S.F.S.R. with the object of establishing federal ties, and appealed to all the independent Soviet Republics to follow the example of the B.S.S.R.

The Fight Against the Polish Invaders in Lithuania and Byelorussia

From the very first days of their existence the j^oung Soviet Republics of Lithuania and Byelorussia were attacked by gentry ridden Poland, which had become the faithful agent of the Entente. Poland was indebted for her independence to the October Socialist Rev olution, but the Polish capitalists and landlords were filled with mortal hatred of Soviet Russia, for the revolution had deprived them of vast estates and capital invested in the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Lithuania. Hence, notwithstanding the repeated peace offers of the Soviet government, gentry-ridden Poland broke off diplomatic relations with Russia and with the assistance of the Entente moved her troops to the frontiers of Soviet Lithuania and Soviet Byelorussia.

The Congresses of Soviets of Lithuania and Byelorussia decided to miite their forces against the White Poles and at a joint meeting of the Central Executive Committees of the Lithuanian and Byelorussian Republics a government for the united Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed.

The government of the R.S.F.S.R. rendered the young Soviet Republics all the assistance it could. Y. M. Sverdlov sent them men with experience in Soviet and Party work, and Lenin and Stalin helped them to form a Red Army for the purpose of combating the White Poles.

In the spring of 1919, the White Poles laimched an offensive and in April they captured Vilna, the capital of Lithuania.

The government of the R.S.F.S.R. sent units of the Red Army to Byelorussia to assist the fraternal Soviet Republics of Lithuania and Byelorussia. In June 1919, Sergo Orjonikidze, then a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Sixteenth Army, was sent to the Western Front, where he organized the resistance to the White Poles. The Red Army entrenched itself on the river Berezina.

In the parts of Lithuania and Byelorussia they captured, the Polish invaders restored private property and returned the factories to the capitalists and the land to the landlords. Scores of villages were burned to the ground and the peasants were robbed of their grain and cattle.

Under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party the workers and peasants of Byelorussia organized partisan detachments which operated in the rear of the "White Poles and also in the frontline areas. In con junction with the Red Army, these detachments waged a determined struggle against the Polish aggressors for the freedom and independence of their country.

Defeat of the Three Entente Campaigns

The Defeat of Kolchak

The Entente's Plans in the Spring of 1919

After defeating Germany and her allies, the Entente concentrated all its attention on the struggle against the Soviet Republic. By the spring of 1919, the prep arations for an oifensive by Kolchak's forces on the Eastern Rront were completed. An army of nearly 300,000 men marched across the Urals with the object of reaching Moscow, its rear "covered" by British, French, American, Japanese and Czechoslovak detachments. Inter ventionist forces totalling over 100,000 men helped Kolchak in his campaign against the Soviets. The Whiteguard detachments under the command of Yudenich, jointly with White Estonian and White Finnish forces, and with the active assistance of a British naval force, were to march against Petrograd. Denikin, together with the Don and Kuban Cossack armies under his command, was to move up from the South. General Miller was making preparations for an oifensive from the North, In the Ukraine, Whiteguard and Entente agents were preparing counter-revolutionary revolts of the bandit Hetman Gri goryev. In Central Asia an attack was to be launched by the British invaders, supported by the Basmaohi. Such were the far-reaching plans for the Entente's first campaign. As Stalin said: "This was a combined campaign, for it provided for a simultaneous attack by Kolchak, Denikin, Poland, Yudenich and the joint Anglo-Russian detachments in Turkestan and in Archangel, the pivot of the campaign being in Kolchak's region" (J. Stalin, Speeches and Articles on the XJhraine, Kiev, 1936, Russ, ed., p. 90).

The Organization of Resistance to the Entente. On March 18, 1919, the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshe viks) was opened. This congress showed that the Central Committee led by Lenin was indeed a "militant organ of a militant party in the period of the Civil War,"

The main item on the agenda of this congress was the question of the attitude to be adopted towards the middle peasants. As a result of the victory of the October Revolution there were more middle peas ants in the rural districts than before the revolution. They consti tuted the majority of the peasant population, but in the early part of 1918 still wavered between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Taking advantage of these waverings the Whiteguards succeeded in temporarily overthrowing Soviet rule in the Volga and other regions. Bitter experience, however, soon taught the middle peasants that the victory of the Whites meant the restoration of the rule of the landlords. In and following the autumn of 1918, the middle peasants swung over to the Soviet regime. This explains why Lenin at that time advanced the watchword: 'TSlnow how to reach agreement with the middle peasant, while not for a moment renouncing the struggle against the kulak, and relying solidly and solely on the poor peasant. . . (V. I. Lenin, Collected Worhs^ Vol. XXIII, Moscow,

1934, Russ, ed., p. 294.)

After hearing Lenin's report the congress passed a resolution de manding that a strict distinctionbe drawn between the middle peasants and the kulaks and that close attention should be paid to the needs of the middle peasants. The congress adopted the policy of establish ing a firm alliance with the middle peasants, and of relying upon the poor peasants, while preserving the leading role of the proletariat in this alliance.

Some of the army delegates at this congress formed what was called the ^'military opposition," which was headed by the defeated group of former ^'^Left Communists." This opposition tried to drag the Party back to partisan methods of warfare, opposed the employment of military experts in the Red Army, etc. The congress devoted a great deal of attention to the task of building up*the Red Army. Lenin and Stalin strongly attacked this "military opposition." Comrade Stalin said: "Either we create a real worker and peasant — ^primarily a peasant — strictly-disciplined army, and defend the Republic, or we perish."

The congress also strongly censured Trotsky for staffing the central establishments of the Eed Army with elements clearly hostile to So* viet rule and for cramping in every way the activities of the Commu nists, and particularly of the Political Commissars, in the army. The congress passed a resolution calling for the strengthening of the Eed Arihy, and issued a special appeal to the workers and peasants, warn ing them of the impending war danger and of the campaign being prepared by the Entente.

On March 18, 1919, on the day the Eighth Congress of the Party was opened, proletarian Moscow saw to his last resting place Y. M. Sverd lov, the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, "the first man in the fiirst Soviet Socialist Republic," "the first of the organizers of the broad masses of the proletariat," as Lenin said of him. In his intense efforts to build up the Soviet State, Y. M. Sverdlov knew no rest. During one of his tours of the country he caught cold, fell seriously ill and died. The death of Sverdlov was a severe loss to the Party and to the Soviet State.

On March 30, 1919, on Leninas recommendation, M. I. Kalinin was elected Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Originally a Tver peasant, and later a highly skilled metal worker employed in St: Petersburg, Mildiail Ivanovich Kalinin was an outstanding example of one who combined in his revolutionary activities the revolutionary struggle of the Russian worker and of the Russian peasant, Lenin said the following:

"It is very difficult to find a real substitute for Comrade Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov. If we can find a comrade who combines expe rience of life and knowledge of the life of the middle peasant we shall solve this problem, and I think that the nomination you have read in the newspapers today satisfi.es all these conditions. The nomination is that of Comrade Kalinin" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Worlcs^ Vol. XXIV, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., pp. 188-189).

Kolchak's Regime in Siberia

In the spring of 1919, the bulk of the armed forces of the foreign interventionists were compelled to leave the Land of Soviets, but they left the Russian "Whiteguards their artillery, tanks and aircraft. The imperialists of the Entente had not abandoned intervention, they had merely entrusted tjhis task to their puppets, the Russian ^^iteguards. First among these was Admiral Kolchak, whom the British, French and American impe rialists lavishly supplied with arms, army clothing, provisions and money. The people at that time noted Kolchak's complete dependence upon his foreign masters even in ditties such as the following: Kolchak established a military monarchist dictatorship and restored the tsarist regime in Siberia. The Siberian peasants, who had never known landlordism, were reduced almost to the condition of serfs. Their grain and cattle were requisitioned, levies were imposed upon them, and they were compelled to pay not only arrears in taxes, but also taxes several years ahead. For the slightest display of resistance they were subjected to public flogging. Kolchak was exceptionally cruel in his treatment of the workers and Bolsheviks and had them shot without mercy.

Proclaiming the slogan "Russia, united and indivisible," Kolchak cruelly suppressed movements for national lib3ration. He refused to recognize the national autonomy of a single people inhabiting the territory he occupied. He even refused to recognize the Bashkir counter-revolutionary government headed by Validov, in spite of the fact that the latter served him faithfully. The discontented masses of the Bashkir people compelled Validov to appeal for assistance to the Soviet government.

To stimulate the formation of a united front of the working people against Kolchak and to expose the counter-revolutionary manoeuvres of the Bashkir nationalists, Lenin and Stalin sent a telegram to the Eevolutionary Committee in Ufa confirming the autonomy of Bash kiria and granting an amnesty to the Bashkir government head.d by Validov. In March 1919, a decree of the Soviet government was issued, signed by Lenin and Stalin, concerning the formation of the Autonomous Soviet Bashkir Republic. The working people of Bashkiria enrolled in the Red Army to fight Kolchak , but the bourgeois nationalists continued to play their double game, merely waiting for the opportunity to overthrow the Soviet regime in Baslikiria.

Kolchak's Offensive and Defeat

In the beginning of 1919, Kolchak launched an offensive along -Sie whole of the Eastern Front. In the northern direction (Perm-Vyatka) , Kolchak's Siberian Army continued operations against the Third Red Army, but thanks to the resolute operations of Comrades Stalin and Dzerzhinsky the Siberian Army's advance was checked at Glazov. In March and the early part of April, 1919, Kolchak's Western Army captured Ufa, Bugulma and Buguruslan and threatened Simbirsk and Samara. Kolchak's middle group of troops which coimeotsd the Siberian and Western Armies, threatened Kazan. Finally , south of Ufa, and further towards Turkestan , the White Cossack armies of Duto v and Tolstoy threatened Orenburg and Uralsk. Kolchak's offensive assumed threatening proportions and creat ed the danger that the Eastern and Southern counter-revolutionary forces would lijik up. Kolchak planned to effect a junction with Denikin in the region of Saratov in order to form a single front for an ad vance against Moscow. At that time Denikin had captured a part of the Donetz Basin. Yudenich launched an offensive against Petrograd.

The country was in grave peril; swift and determined measures had to be taken to defeat Kolchak.

On April 12, the "Theses of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in connection with the situation on the Eastern Front," drafted by Lenin, were published in Pravda. In this document Lenin emphasized: "All our energies must be bent to the extreme to smash Kolchak" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Two-VoL ed., VoL II, Moscow, 1947, p. 467). The Party issued the slogan: "Everything for the Eastern Front!"

In response to the appeal of the Party and of Lenin, Moscow and Petrograd sent one-fifth of their Communists and one-tenth of their trade union members to the front. The Young Communist League sent several thousand of the best of the youth to the Eastern Front. Volunteers were enlisted in every town. In the rear women took the places of the men who went off to the front.

The task of organizing the defeat of Kolchak was entrusted to M. V. Frunze, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Group of the Eastern Front, and to V. V. Kuibyshev, who was appointed a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front. During the Civil War, the veteran Bolshevik Mildiail Vassilyevich Frunze developed into a splendid proletarian military leader. As early as the autumn of 1918, he was sent as Commander of the Fourth Army to strengthen the Eastern Front. Backed by the textile workers who came to his assistance, Frunze quickly restored revolu tionary order in the army and launched a successful offensive, first against the White Cossacks and then against Kolchak. In the fighting against Dutov, the White Cossacks and Kolchak, V. V. Kui byshev was always with Frunze in the frontline positions wher ever the fighting was hottest. Frunze and Kuibyshev trained a num ber of splendid proletarian army commanders and political workers. One of such commanders and heroes was V. I. Chapayev, around whose name legends have been woven,

Vassili Ivanovich Chapayev was born in Chuvashia. As a boy he helped his father and grandfather who travelled from village to village on the Volga doing carpentry jobs. As a youth he suffered the severe barrackdiscipline of the tsarist army and spent the best years of his life at the front during the imperialist war. The hardships he endured roused in his heart a burning hatred for the oppressors and exploiters. After the February revolution he returned to the Volga, joined the Bolshevik Party, and from the very first days of the October Revolution plunged into the struggle to establish and consoli date the power of the Soviets.

At the end of April 1919, the Southern Group of the Red Army, which Frunze had formed with the assistance of his close colleagues Kuibyshev and Chapayev, launched a general offensive. In the beginning of May, the 25th Division, commanded by Cha payev, fought successful battles at Buzuluk and Buguruslan. On May 13, the Red Army cap tured Bugulma and the White armies retreated towards Ufa. At this crucial moment Trotsky treacherously proposed that the Red Army's offensive against Ufa should be halted and that part of the troops should be transferred from the Eastern Eront to the Southern Front, Had this proposal been carried out, the Urals, with its indus trial plants, would have re mained under Kolchak's con trol, and this would have ena bled him to recover from his defeat. Frunze strongly opposed Trotsky's order and was sup ported by Lenin, who demand ed that the Urals should be liberated before the winter set in.

Under Frunze's leadership the Red Army forced the river Belaya and battled for Ufa.

Chapayev's division repulsed the counter-attacks of Kolchak's picked corps commanded by Kappel, and after fierce fighting the Red troops captured Ufa. Kolchak's army rapidly retreated eastwd. The Red Army pursued the retreating Kolchak forces and reached the foothills of the Urals. On July 13, it captured Zlatoust, thus opening the road into Siberia, and on July 14, Ekaterinburg (now Sverdlovsk). ,

Meanwhile, fierce guerilla warfare was waged m Kolchak s rear by partisan detachments composed of workers and peasants from the Urals and Siberia. At the same time, the Red Army com menced offensive operations against Kolchak's allies, the White


Chapayev's 25th Division was transferred to the Ural hront, and there fought its way forwards to the relief of Uralsk, which h.ad been heroically holding its besiegers at bay for the past two months. Chapayev liberated Uralsk and drove the White Cossacks towards the Caspian Sea. On September 5, 1919, his headquarters in the stanitsa of Lbishohenskaya was surrounded by White Cossacks who had broken through from the rear. Finding himself surrounded by the enemy, Chapayev fought his way to the river Ural into which he plunged, but he was wounded while in the water, and was drowned. The image of Chapayev is engraved in the hearts of the So viet people forever.

The Eed Army had dealt Kolchak a shattering blow, but he still retained some of his forces and tried to put up resistance. In August, Lenin published "A Letter to the Workers and Peasants in Connection with the Victory over Kolchak," in which he warned that "the enemy is still far from being destroyed. He has not even been definitely broken. Every effort must be made to drive Kolchak and the Japanese and the other alien marauders out of Siberia. . . (V. I. Lenin,

Selected Works, Two-Vol. ed., Vol. II, Moscow, 1947, p. 518.)

At this jimcture Denikin in the South, and Yudenich in the West, went into action in support of Kolchak.

The Fight for Astrakhan

After capturing North Caucasus, Denikin made a drive for the Volga in order to join forces with Kolchak. At that time a stronghold of the revolution which pro tected the mouth of the Volga against the Whiteguards and prevent ed Kolchak and Denikin from effoctiiig a junction was Astrakhan* The defence of the city was organized by S. M. Kirov, who had arrived there in January 1919. The situation in Astrakhan was one of great difficulty. The armed forces available were few. After a heroic march through the waterless Astrakhan steppe, the remnants of the Eleventh Army arrived, but nearly the whole force was sick with typhus. Typhus and scurvy were rampant in the city itself. The inhabitants were starving. The counter-revolutionaries openly conducted anti-Soviet propaganda. There were few industrial workers in the city. The city was beset on all sides by the enemy, Kolchak's troops and White Cossacks moving from the East and Denikin's forces from the West. Warships of the British interventionists were almost at the mouth of the Volga.

Kirov set up a Revolutionary Military Committee and established revolutionary order. The Revolutionary Military Committee issued the warning: "Bandits and marauders will be shot on the spot.'^ The saboteurs were told: "He who does not wish to work shall not eat. Available provisions will be issued only to those who work for Soviet Russia." '

Help came to Astrakhan in the shape of the Volga Flotilla which the Bolsheviks of Nizhni Novgorod, under the direction of LM. Kaganovich, had in the spring of 1918, formed out of river steamers and cutters covered with armour plate and mounted with guns. To reinforce the Volga Flotilla Lenin sent several light torpedo boats from Kronstadt via the canals of the Mariinsky system. Under Kirov's personal direction, the combined flotilla, numbering about forty vessels, crossed the dangerous shallows to the Caspian Sea where the British were in control. By a sudden raid Kirov captured the radio station by which Denikin maintained communication with Kolchak, and from Denikin's reports he learned that one of Denikin's generals had been sent to Kolchak with the plans of future operations. This general was captured together with the plans.

Bierce fighting raged around Astrakhan. Kirov mobilized all forces to resist the enemy. At a conference of Party members that was held on August 3, 1919, he said: "As long as there is a single Communist left in the Astrakhan Region the mouth of the Volga will always remain Soviet'^ At this juncture Trotsky sent an order from General Head quarters to evacuate Astrakhan for the purpose of "straightening out the front." Kirov appealed directly to Lenin and urged that Ast rakhan must be held at all costs. Lenin sent the following reply: "Defend Astrakhan to the last." Kirov carried out Lenin's order.

The Defeat of Yudenich near Petrograd

To assist Kolchak the imperialists, in the spring of 1919, organized an offensive against Petrograd under the command of General Yudenich, who was sup ported by White Finns, White Estonians and a British naval squadron. The Red Army's forces near Petrograd had been weakened by the transfer of its best units to other fronts. A British spy was organizing a large-scale military plot in Petrograd. In his service were former army officers serving as military experts in the Red Army, and they seized the Kronstadt forts of Krasnaya Gorka and Seraya Loshad. Spies and conspirators were busy at Red Army Headquar ters in Petrograd. The foreign diplomatic missions had stocks of machine guns, grenades and bombs to be used in the counter-revolu tionary revolt that was to take place in Petrograd. Zinoviev and his supporters were spreading panic and consternation. Yudenich 's forces were approaching Petrograd.

The Party sent to the Petrograd Front that tried organizer of victory, Comrade Stalin. He conducted a drive against 8|i:s, and ordered the Red Baltic Fleet to capture the mutinous forts from the sea. In spite of the assurances given to Comrade Stalin by military experts that this operation was doomed to failure, the gallant sailors of the cruiser Oleg and the battleships Petro'pavlovsh and Andrei Pervo zvanny braved the guns on the forts, drove close in and subjected them to a heavy bombardment. On June 16, Stalin's order was carried out, Krasnaya Gorka was cleared of mutineers. This fort was renamed Krasnoflotski (Red Fleet) in honour of the gallant Red Navy men who captured it. Seraya Loshad also surrendered and was subsequently renamed Peredovoi (Advanced).

Tbe British, squadron came to Yudenich's assistance. It attempted to attack Kronstadt, but it met with heroic resistance.

The Red forces began to push back the Whites all along the line. Stalin reported to Lenin that the offensive was proceeding successfully and that the Whites were in flight. In August 1919, Yudenich's army was defeated and its remnants retreated to Estonia.

The Defeat of Denikin

Denikin Launches an Offensive

The defeat of Kolchak did not discourage the leaders of the Entente. They prepared a "cam paign of fourteen countries" against Soviet Russia, to be;^in in the autumn of 1919. Apart from the Entente countries, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Transcaucasian bourgeois govern ments and the Whiteguard forces in Russia and in the Ukraine were to be included in the campaign. But the governments of the border' (limitrophe) bourgeois states did not trust the tsarist generals who dreamed of restoring "Russia, united and indivisible." Tne contra dictions within the camp of the bourgeoisie, and above all the resistance offered by the Red Army, resulted in the campaign falling through. The Entente concentrated all its attention on assisting General Denikin, their last hope in the struggle against Soviet Russia. Thus was prepared the Entente's second campaign.

As Comrade Stalin wrote: "The Entente's second campaign was launched in the autumn of 1919. This was also a combined campaign, for it involved a simultaneous attack by Denikin, Poland and Yudenioh (Kolchak had been struck out of account). This time the pivot of the campaign is the South, in Denikin's region" (J. Stalin, Articles and Speeches on the Ukraine ^ Kiev, 1936, Russ, ed., p. 91).

On July 3, Denikin ordered an offensive on Moscow. His forces advanced in three columns: one, under the command of Wrangel moved along the line of the Volga; the centre was formed by the army of the Don, and the lefb flank was formed of Denikin's picked troops, the so-called Volunteer Army. To hasten the capture of Moscow, Denikin sent into action a cavalry force under the command of Mamon tov. It operated in the rear of the Red armies of the Southern Front, and raided the towns of Tambov, Kozlov and Eiets. On October 6, the Whites captured Voronezh. On October 13, Denikin captured Orel and marched on Tula. At this juncture Yudenioh launched another offensive against Petrograd.

The landlords and capitalists felt certain that the fall of Moscow was only a matter of days. The capitalists of the Donetz Region offered a prize of a million rubles to the first Denikin regiment to enter Moscow. One of Denikin's armoured trains bore a destination plate with the inscription: "To Moscow."

In the regions occupied by Denikin's forces the workers and peasants were subjected to a reign of bloody terror. The Donetz coal fields ran with proletarian blood. The people called the Volunteer Army the "Robber Army." As Kolchak had done in Siberia, Denikin in the areas he occupied returned the land to the landlords, restored the rule of the landlords and capitalists and re-established the monarchical regime. In the Ukraine the Ukrainian language was banned. The highland villages in North Caucasus were wiped off the face of the ea»rth'. Daghestan was proclaimed a part of "Russia, united and indi visible." In all the occupied regions the Volunteer Army was able to maintain itself only by means of ruthless terrorism.

Victory Over Denikin

On July 9, 1919, Lenin issued an ap peal to the workers and peasants entitled "Everything for the Eight Against Denikin" in which he wrote: "The Soviet Republic . . . must become a single military camp, not in word but in deed. All the work of all institutions must be adapted to the war and placed on a military footing!"

Under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet govern ment, the Land of Soviets exerted all efforts to defeat Denikin.

During the summer and autmnn of that year the Party conducted "Party weeks" during which 200,000 new members joined its ranks, and these were forthwith sent to the front and to the sectors where the constructive work of the Soviets had to face the greatest ob stacles. The Young Communist League displayed supreme devo tion to the revolution. Often there were notices on the doors of the Y, C. L, premises stating: "The Committee is closed down. Everybody has gone to the front."

The Central Committee of the Party entrusted the task of organ! z ing the defeat of Denikin to Comrade Stalin. After studying the situa tion on the Southern Front, Comrade Stalin rejected Trotsky's treach erous plan to conduct the offensive against Denikin by way of Tsar itsyn-Novorossiisk. In a letter to Lenin, Comrade Stalin wrote;

"It is therefore necessary right away, without loss of time, to alter the old plan, which experience has already discredited, and replace it by a plan according to which the main attack will be launched on Rostov — ^by way of Kharkov and the Donetz Basin:

"Firstly, here we shall be in surroundings which are not hostile, but on the contrary sympathetic to us, a circumstance which will facilitate our advance.

"Secondly, we shall secure an extremely important railway system {that of the Donat z Basin and the main artery feeding Denikin's army — the Voronezh-Rostov line. . . .) "Thirdly, by this advance we will cut Denikin's army in two. One part, the Volunteer Army, we shall leave for Makhno to de vour, while the other, the Cossack army, we shall threaten with an attack in the rear.

"Fourthly, we shall be in a position to set the Cossacks quarrelling with Denikin, who, if our advance is successful, will try to move the Cossack units to the West, to which the majority of the Cossacks will not agree. , . .

"Fifthly, we shall secure coal, while Denikin will be left with out coal" (K. E. Voroshilov, Stalin and the Bed Army, Moscow, 1942, p. 23).

Lenin approved of Stalin's plan and conceded his demand that Trotsky should not be allowed to have any say in the affairs of the Southern Front.

To carry out Stalin's plan a special group of ' shock troops was formed and placed under the command of Stalin's colleague, Sergo Orjonikidze. An extremely important place in the plan was assigned to the operations of Budyonny's cavalry.

Operating in conformity with Stalin's plan, the Red troops, on October 20, 1919, liberated Orel from the Whites. On October 24, Budyonny's Cavalry Corps, which had only just defeated Denikin's cavalry under the command of Mamontov, liberated Voronezh by a lieroio surprise attack whose audacity and precipitation stunned the Whites, In this operation the Red cavalry were supported by a detachment of Voronezh workers and railwaymen under the command of L. M. Kaganovich. Budyonny inflicted another defeat on the White cavalry at Kastomaya. During these battles the Soviet cavalry grew and became firmly welded. In November, on Comrade Stalin's recommendation, the First Cavalry Army was formed. S. M. Budyon ny was appointed commander ol this army, and K. E. Voroshilov a member of its Revolutionary Military Council.

The Cavalry Army never sustained defeat. Nearly all its command ers came from the ranks of the workers and peasants and had led the partisan struggle against the Whiteguards. The First Cavalry Army produced many valiant heroes, such as Morozov, Parkhomenko, Dun dich, and others.

Meanwhile, partisan units were active in Denikin's rear in the Ukraine. This partisan movement was led by the Bolshevik under ground organizations and was assisted by the peasants, who gave the partisans concealment when necessary.

The atrocities that Denikin's hordes committed roused the hatred of the peasants and swept them into the ranks of the fighters for the power of the Soviets. In the village of Golubovka, in the Ekaterino slav Gubernia, for example, the Whites captured a partisan, cut a five-pointed star on his breast and then cut out his heart. The effect of this atrocity was to bring 300 additional peasants from the villages in the neighbourhood of Golubovka into the partisan struggle against the Whites. Numerous cases of a similar kind occurred.

The Young Communist League also played a heroic part in the underground struggle against Denikin. The young Soviet heroes displayed no less courage and fortitude under torture in the dungeons of Denikin's counter-intelligence department than was displayed by the adult workers and peasants. There was the case, for example, of the nine members of the Young Communist League of Odessa, one of whom, Dora Luharskaya, wrote as follows in the letter she sent to her comrades just before her death: 'Dear Comrades, I shall die as honestly as I have lived during my short life. Only now do I really feel like a conscious revolutionary and Party worker. How I behaved under arrest, and when I was sentenced, my comrades will tell you. They say I be haved like a briok. All of us, the condemned, are behaving well, we are cheerful. . . . Soon, very soon, the whole of the Ukraine will breathe freely and real constructive work will commence, I am only sorry that I shall not be able to take part in it."

The revolt of the workers and peasants against the Whites spread far and wide in all the districts occupied by Denikin's forces.

' After sustaining defeat at Orel, Kastomaya and Voronezh, Deni kinas army rapidly retreated southwards to the Black Sea ports. In the beginning of January 1920, the First Cavalry Army, tireless in pursuit of the Whites, occupied Eostov-on-Don, and on March 27, 1920, Novorossiisk, the WThites' last stronghold on the Black Sea coast, fell. The second campaign of the Entente, who had organized Denikin's offensive, was defeated as thoroughly as the first had been. In his "Letter to the Workers and Peasants of the Ukraine in Conneo* tion with the Victories over Denikin," Lenin wrote: "Denikin must be vanquished and destroyed, and such incursions as his not allowed to recur. That is to the fundamental interest of both the Great-Bus sian and the Ukrainian workers and peasants. The fight will be a long and hard one, for the capitalists of the whole world are helping Deni kin and will help Denikins of every kind" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works ^ Two-Vol. ed., Vol 11, Moscow, 1947, p. 551).

The organizer of the Red Army's victory over Denikin was J. V. Stalin.

In November 1919 the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in recognition of Comrade Stalin's tremendous services on the different jhonts during the Civil War, conferred upon him the country's highest award — the Order of the Red Banner.

The Rout of Yudenich

At the time when Denikin was at the height of success Yudenich launched another attack upon Petro grad. The Whiteguards were supplied with tanks by the British, and the entire West-European press confidently prophesied the early capture of Petrograd. Lenin sent the workers of Petiograd an order not to surrender the capital. The Communists and Young Communist Leaguers of Petrograd were mobilized to defend the city. Women and old men went to the front. Whole workers' families went out to dig trenches. The factories worked day and night producing materials for the city's defence. The workers themselves unearthed traitors and spies, searched the whole city and confiscated arms from the bourgeoisie. Proletarian Petiogriid was converted into a fortiess. Machine guns wcie posted at the windows of the houses. The daily ration for ^rorkers amounted to half a pound of bread and one salt herring, but the spirit of Red Petrograd was indomitable.

On October 21, the Seventh Red Army launched a counter-offensive with tremendous enthusiasm, and on October 26 captured Krasnoye Selo. On November 14, the Red forces captured Yamburg and took the greater part of Yudenioh's army prisoner. Yudenich's soldiers killed their officers and went over to the Red Army. The peasants harassed the rear of the retreating Whiteguards.

That was how Yudenich's army faded away.

The defeat of Denikin and Yudenich accelerated the utter defeat of Kolchak. In the autumn of 1919, the Red Army quickly checked Kolchak's attempt to advance in the region of Tobolsk. Amidst the severe frosts of Siberia the Red Army drove the exhausted Kolchak army across the Siberian steppes, through the taiga to the East. The Red Army liad powerful allies in the Rod partisans of the Urals and Siberia. The Bolsheviks took the lead in the struggle to establish Soviet power in Siberia. On November 14, 1919, the Red Army captured Omsk, Kolchak's capital, and on January 15, 1920, entered Irkutsk. Kolchak was arrested and shot. Soviet rule was established in Siberia.

Socialist Construction during the Civil War

The Policy of War Communism

During the Civil .War the Soviet Republic was a besieged military camp. The interventionists surrounded her and * operated an economic blockade. The forces of counter-revolution out off the proletarian centres from the regions which supplied food and raw materials. The lack of raw materials, fuel and food caused a drop in production. In 1919 industrial output was only one-fourth of pre-war. Workers who had not gone to the front dispersed to the rural districts. The existence of numerous fronts put a tremendous strain upon the Soviet State. It was neces sary to supply the army with bread, arms, footwear and clothing. To hold out and supply food to the essential categories of workers and the Red Army the Soviet State made a register of all stocks of food, fuel and manufactured goods. In addition to the big enter prises, medium and even small enterprises were nationalized.

On January 24, 1919, the Couneil of People's Commissars issued a decree introducing surplus appropriations, in conformity with which the peasants were obliged to deliver to the state at fixed prices all stocks of food over and above their own requirements. Lenin explained the need for the mf^asure as follows: "If you, the peasant, offer a loan to the state and give your grain, the worker will be able to restore industry. . . . There is no other way out!" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXIV, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed,, pp. 409-410.)

Pood was rationed on a strictly class basis. The bourgeoisie re ceived one-fourth of the workers' ration, but children received rations at a higher rate.

The Soviet Stp.,te introduced compulsorj' labour service for all classes. In drawing the bourgeoisie into work the Soviet State applied the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat." Military methods, iron discipline had to be established in all Soviet, economic and trade union organizations; commissars were appointed or political departments set up in place of elected leaders. In tlie war area and aieas libeiaied from the Whites, Revolutionary Com mittees were set up in place of elected Soviets, The whole of this system of measures, measures evoked by the conditions re.«;ultiRg from the country's defence, was designated by the term "War Com munism."

The Civil War made it necessary to put the whole life of the country on a war footing. Only such a policy could guarantee the proletariat a firm rear and an invincible front. Only the strictest discipline, organ ization and centralization enabled the working class and the peasantry to organize victory over an immeasurably more powerful enemy.

Economic and Cultural Development in the Period of the Civil War

During the Civil War and foreign intervention the entire life of the country was subordinated to the interests of the war fronts; but even when conditions were most severe, when hunger, cold, epidemics, counter-revolutionary conspiracies and revolts and the hardships and dangers of war prevailed , the working class of the Land of Soviets continued the work of reorganizing all aspects of social life.

In the very first months after the establishment of Soviet power Lenin devoted considerable attention to the problem of elec trifying the coimtry. On his recommendation preparations were commenced in 1918 for the erection of a powerful hydroelectric plant on the river Volkhov, known as the Volkhovstroy project. In 1919, the erection of an electric power plant at Kashira, near Moscow, was start ed. At the same time work was commenced on the erection of the Shatura power plant, which was to use as fuel the peat available in the district. Thanlcs to the invention of a Russian engineer, the problem of utilizing peat fuel was solved, and in 1920 the temporary Shatura power plant began to produce power. From 1918 to 1920, a fairly large number of small power plants was built. In 1920, the output ca pacity of the electric power plants in Russia was even higher than pre-war, but tlie actual output was lower owing to the fact that most of the plants were idle due to the shortage of fuel.

The seizure of the Donetz coal region by the Whites and the dam age they did to the collieries caused the fuel crisis to become excep tionally acute. Wood became almost the only available form of fuel, but the cutting and transporting of logs was accompanied by enormous difdculties. The Council of Defence and the Council of Peo ple's Commissars drew up a number of measures to solve the fuel crisis. The railways were militarized and the transportation of wood fuel was put on a par with the transportation of war supplies. In KTovember 1919, compulsory labour service was introduced for the preparation, loading and unloading of fuel of all kinds, and the peasants were obliged to supply transport facilities to cart wood logs to the railways and river ports. Thus, assisted by the self-sacrificing labours of the workers and peasants, and thanks to the firm discipline that was introduced, the Soviet Republic gradually emerged from the fuel crisis.

The food situation too was extremely acute for the working people True, the People's Commissariat of Pood collected three times more grain in the 1918-1919 season than in the preceding year, and in the following year it collected nearly 3,000,000 tons of grain; but this was an infinitesimal amount compared with the needs of the civilian population and the army. The state was able to supply the workers with only half the food products they required, the rest had to be purchased on the open market from speculators who charged exorbitant prices.

To combat profiteering, the co-operative societies were given the responsibility of purchasing jfrom the peasants produce not liable to delivery under the surplus appropriations system. The workers were also encouraged by the Soviet government to cultivate vege table plots.

On February 14, 1919, a decree was issued introducing socialist agrarian legislation and measures for the transition to socialist agriculture. The decree contained a number of measures for assisting the socialist sector of agriculture, namely, the state farms and col lective farms. During the two years the proletarian dictatorship had been in existence 900 large state farms and 6,960 agricultural communes and co-operative farms were organized. The collective farms covered an area of over 3,000,000 hectares. The overwhelming majority of the peasants, however, remained small individual farmers.

Epidemics, particularly typhus, were a formidable menace at that time to the Land of Soviets. In a speech at the Seventh Congress of Soviets Lenin said: "We cannot imagine the horrors that have over taken the localities infested by typhus. The population is helpless, en feebled and bereft of material resources. All life, all public activity, is commg to a standstill. We say: 'Comrades, all our attention must be devoted to this problem. Either the lice triumph over Socialism, or Socialism will triumph over the lice!'" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, VoL VIII, Moscow, 1936, p. 72.)

To combat epidemics, the Soviet government mobilized about a thousand doctors, who worked with self-sacrificing devotion to save the working people. Free medical assistance was introduced for the working people and many rich mansions were converted into hospi tals, dispensaries, creches and consultation centres.

During the Civi. War years masses of workers were given apart ments in bourgeois houses, in most cases rent free. Electric light and other municipal services were also free.

Even during the most difi6.cult periods of the Civil War the Soviet State continued its cultural activity among the workers and peasants. At this time about 10,000,000 children attended school in Soviet Russia, whereas in tsarist Russia, which covered a far larger area, only about 8,000,000 children attended school. The Soviet school teachers remained faithful to the people and vigorously set to work to reorganize the schools and adapt them to the needs and interests of the working people. Not infrequently they worked on empty stomac-is and in freezing schoolrooms, and taught both children and adults in spite of the shortage of paper, books and writing materials.

An enormously important part in the cultural awakening of the people was played by the Party and Soviet newspapers, which reached the most remote corners of the country. In the towns, theatres and work ers ' clubs were opened, which provided free entertainment for masses of people who had never gone to theatres before.

Public dining rooms were opened to relieve workingwomen of the drudgery of the kitchen.

Particular attention was paid by the Soviet government to the struggle against child vagrancy, which became a mass phenomenon. On Lenin's recommendation, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commis sion, under the direction of Felix Dzerzhinsky, organized children's colonies where homeless waifs were trained in industrious habits.

During the period of the Civil War the working class set splendid examples of new forms of Communist labour. Communist subbotniks — the voluntary turn-out of masses of workers to perform work of public importance — ^became a regular sight. The first Commu nist subbotnik was organized on May 10, 1919, by the workers on the Moscow-Kazanskaya Railway. Lenin called it "a great initiative," seeing in these subbotniks the beginning of the new, Communist form of work, and the embryo of the new labour discipline of sooiaL ist society.

The Respite in the Spring of 1920

After Kolchak and Denikin were defeated the Soviet Republic received a brief respite. The Red Army's victory, and the struggle whioli the workers in the capitalist countries had waged against intervention and the blockade, had strength* ened Soviet Russia's international position. In February 1920, peace with Soviet Russia was concluded by Estonia, the first country to do so. "Peace with Estonia," said Lenin, "is an unprecedented victory over world imperialism. ..." (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXV, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 23.)

During the Civil War the Soviet government repeatedly invited the Entente powers to conclude peace, but all its offers were rejected.

In the beginning of December 1919, the Seventh All-Russian Con gress of Soviets adopted, on Lenin 's motion, a special resolution reajBdrm ing "its undeviating desire for peace," and inviting the Entente powers to enter into peace negotiations, either collectively or sever ally. This was the eleventh time Soviet Russia had offered to nego tiate peace, but this time too the offer was rejected. It was not until January 1920, after the main forces of the counter-revolution had been defeated, that the Supreme Council of the Entente decided to call off the economic blockade of Soviet Russia. This decision did not mean that the Entente had dropped the idea of further attempts at intervention. The imperialists were simply waiting for an opportunity to incite gentry -ridden Poland against Soviet Russia. Lenin warned the country of this in March 1920 when lu' wrote: "We know that France is instigating Poland and is spending millions there. . . (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXV, Moscow, 1937,

Russ, ed., p. 58.)

The Soviet State took all measures to save the workers and peasants from another war. In January 1920, the Council of People's Commissars invited Poland to enter into peace negotiations, but the Polish gentry did not respond. On February 2, the Soviet govern ment issued an appeal to the Polish people calling upon them to put a stop to the war and to commence a joint struggle against famine and economic chaos, but the Polish gentry kept this appeal from the Polish people. In the beginning of March 1920, the Soviet government made Poland a third offer of peace, but again Poland failed to answer and, with the assistance of the Entente, continued to arm. Thus, the danger of war still existed and it was impossible to demobilize the Red Army. While remaining under arms, many of the units of the Red Army were employed cutting timber for fuel, harvesting the crops and repairing the railways. A number of Red Army units stationed in the Urals, in Siberia and in the Ukraine were transformed into Labour Armies. In February 1920, a Committee for Universal Labour Service was set up. The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defence was transformed into a Council of Labour and Defence, and .a State Planning Commission (Gosplan) was set up to assist it.

Displaying enormous heroism and perseverance, the Soviet people utilized the brief respite to combat hunger, cold and epidemics. The economic situation in the Soviet Republic was extremely grave. Stocks of raw materials and fuel had run out. Coal output was only a fourth of the pre-war figure; the production of pig iron was only 3 per cent of pre-war, and the output of cotton textiles was only 5 per cent of pre-war. The area under cultivation and the crop yields had shrunk considerably. After the liberation of the grain-growing regions the food situation somewhat improved, but the dislocation of the rail ways rendered the transportation of grain extremely difficult. As many as 60 per cent of the locomotives in the country were out of commis sion.

The Soviet government took measures to strengthen the food admin istration and the work of the latter improved. Several thousand Communists were sent to work on the railways, and skilled workers were recalled from the front and sent into industry.

The Ninth Congress of the Bolshevik Party which was opened on March 29, 1920, discussed questions connected with the utilization of the respite for economic development and decided to begin by restor ing the railways, improving the fuel supply, and restoring the iron and steel industry.

Lenin and Stalin upheld the necessity of strengthening one-man management in industry. In the early period of the Soviet regime col legial management had been the rule, and this had served as a good school for the training of Soviet administrative personnel. But during the Civil War, when there was a particular need for swift decisions on problems as they arose and for individuals to be personally responsible for the fulfilment of these decisions^ collegial manage ment proved to be a hindrance. Hence, the Ninth Congress of the Party resolved to "establish complete and absolute one-man management in workshops and shops, to work towards one-man management of whole factories, and to reduce collegial management at the middle and higher levels of the administrative and industrial apparatus."

At the congress this decision was opposed by a group which included many former "Left Communists," and which called for "democratic centralism." Distorting the Bolshevik principle of democratic central ism, they demanded the election of managements under all circum stances, the loosening of discipline, demanded unrestricted "collegial management," and opposed one-man management in industry and Soviet administration. At a time when the country was mustering every ounce of strength for the struggle, the "democratic centralists" caused disruption in the ranlcs of the Party and weakened the dictatorship of the proletariat, thereby assisting the worst enemies of the Soviet State who were preparing to attack it again. At this time also Trotsky came out with a pernicious proposal to convert the temporary measures to militarize labour which had been called forth by the exigencies of the Civil War and economic chaos, into a permaneDt system of leading the working class and the peasantry. In particular, he proposed that the Labour Armies should be made permanent institutions, for he regarded coercion as the natural method by which the working class should lead the peasantry.

The Party, which during the Civil War had done its utmost to strengthen the military and political alliance between the working ■class and the middle peasants, rejected all these proposals which could only have led to disaster.

The Defeat of the White Poles and Wrangel

War with Gentry-ridden Poland

The respite which the Soviet Republic enjoyed came to an end in the spring of 1920, when the Entente launched another campaign against the country. This time the Entente chose for its tools gentry-ridden Poland and the Whiteguard General Wrangel, who had mustered the remnants of Denikin's army in the Crimea,

Describing this third Entente campaign against Soviet Russia, Comrade Stalin wrote: " . . . The campaign which gentry -ridden Poland has launched against workers' and peasants' Russia is in fact an Entente campaign. . . . The point is, &st, that Poland could not have organized her attack on Russia without the assistance of the En tente; that primarily France, and then Great Britain and America, are giving every support to Poland's offensive with arms, equipment, money and instructors" (J. Stalin, Articles and Speeches on tM Ukraine^ Kiev, 1936, Russ, ed., p. 90).

The Polish imperialists had taken an active part in all the En tente's campaigns against Soviet Russia, and in obedience to the French imperialists, Pilsudski, the head of the Polish state, had an swered the Soviet government's repeated peace offers by proposing terms that were nothing more than the provocation of another war.

In April 1920, the Whiteguard Poles', believing that Soviet Russia was not ready for another war and that the Red Army was warwearv , invaded the Ukraine without declaring war . Their aim was to seize the XJkraine, Byelorussia and Lithuania, and by annexing these Soviet Republics to form a "Great Poland" that was to stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The Polish gentry hoped to gain control of Ukrainian grain and Donetz coal. They received the help of those betrayers of the Ukrainian people, the Petliura-ites, who promised to grant estates to the Polish landlords if their government recognized Petliura as head of the Ukrainian (counter revolutionary) government. The Poles oommenced their offensive by hurling an army of 50,000 men against a force of 15,000 Red Army men, which was then operating in the Ukraine. Thanks to their numerical superiority, Pil sudski's troops were able, on May 6, to capture Kiev, and soon cap tured nearly the whole of the Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper. To those districts where Polish landlords had formerly owned estates the interventionists sent punitive detachments which robbed the peas ants not only of their land, but of all their grain stocks and cattle; and if they met with the slightest resistance they burned down vil* lages and shot and flogged the peasants. In the village of Kocheriny (Byelorussia), for example, the miscreants, after setting fire to the peasants' cottages, prevented the inmates, even women and children, from leaving them, and 200 persons were burned to death. In t'ie towns and villages where Jews resided, the White Poles organized pogroms.

Thousands of Ukrainian and Byelorussian workers and peasants rose up to fight the Polish gentry.

The command of the Red Army that was operating against the White Poles on the Southwestern Front was entrusted to Comrade Stalin. The First Cavalry Army, led by Voroshilov and Budyonny, was placed at the disposal of Comrade Stalin. It performed a heroic march of a thousand kilometres in full fighting order from Maikop to Uman, on the way clearing the rear of the Petliura and Makhno bands who were plundering the Ulcrainian villages.

In the beginning of June 1920, the First Cavalry Army pierced the Polish Front in the region of Kazatin, occupied Zhitomir and moved into the rear of the Polish forces. This break-through" was of decisive importance in turning the tide of the war. On Pilsudski's own confession, the First Cavalry Army roused dismay and panic in the ranks of the Polish army, which began rapidly to retreat from the region of Kiev and Berdichev. On Jime 12, Kiev was liberated from the White Poles.

Meanwhile, the Red Army was preparing for an offensive on the Western Front. By the beginning of July nearly 100,000 Soviet troops were concentrated here against 76,000 Poles. On July 4, the Red Army launched its offensive along the whole of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian Front and on July 11 liberated Minsk, which the Poles had occupied since August 1919. The masses of the working people in the Ukraine and Byelorussia welcomed their liberators with enthusiasm and joy.

In this war against the White Poles the Bed Army displayed not only exceptional heroism but also a high level of political under standing. Many of the heroes of the Civil War greatly distinguished themselves. One of these was Grigori Ivanovich Kotovsky, "the bravest among the modest and the most modest among the brave," as Comrade Stalin described him. In the beginning of 1918,Kotov sky organized a partisan detach ment to fight the Rumanian in vaders. Later his detachment was incorporated in the Red Army and remained with it throughout the Civil War. He became a terror to the White Poles, and led the cavalry brigade which he com manded, in the boldest attacks.

About the middle of Au gust 1920, the Red Array com menced a drive on Warsaw and Lvov. Alarmed by the victories ■of the Red Army, the Entente hastened to the aid of the Polish gentry. Thousands of machine guns and arti llery pieces and hun dreds of aeroplanes and motor trucks were sent to Warsaw from France, and the French General Weygand arrived in Warsaw to organize the defence of Poland.

Earlier, Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, had called upon the Soviet government to stop the offensive and conclude an armi stice with Poland, threatening to declare war in the event of a refus al. Curzon 's aim was to secure a respite for the Poles, and conse quently, the Soviet government rejected this note.

The Red Army continued its offensive, but the Soviet government declared that it was willing to open peace negotiations with Poland, but without intermediaries.

On July 22, the Polish government sent a request for the opening of peace negotiations. The Soviet government agreed. Negotiations were opened, but were broken off several days later by Poland. The Red Army resumed its offensive.

At this time the First Cavalry Army laid siege to Lvov. In a telegram to Red Army General Headquarters dated August 21, Comrade Voroshilov urged the necessity of capturing Lvov in order to inflict a crushing defeat upon the Poles. The High Command, however, which was headed by the traitor Trotsky , ordered the siege of Lvov to be raised, ostensibly for the purpose of reinforcing the drive against War saw. This was downright treachery, for Trotsky's orders deprived the Southwestern Front of its major striking force. The capture of Lvov and the further advance of the First Red Cavalry Army to the principal industrial centres of Poland would have been the best assistance that could be rendered the Western Front. By his action Trotsky rendered direct assistance to the Poles and the Entente. As for the Red Army offensive on Warsaw, it proceeded in an absolutely disorganized fashion, through the fault of the traitors Trotsky and Tukhachevsky* The Red Army, after fighting its way forward for almost 600 kilometres, became separated from its reserves. Supplies of ammunition were late in arriving. Reinforcements failed to keep up with the rapidly advanc ing main force. So strenuous was the advance that the Red Army men wore out their footwear and many were obliged to proceed barefooted. Although the badly-organized offensive on Warsaw ended in failure and the Red Army was obliged to retreat, gentry-ridden Poland, exhausted as a result of the war, was unable to fight any longer and offered to conclude peace.

Peace between Soviet Russia and Poland was signed in Riga in March 1921. In conformity with the Riga Peace Treaty the part of Byelorussia which the Poles had occupied at the beginning of the war was restored to Soviet Russia, but Western Byelorussia and Ukrainian Galicia were retained by Poland.

The Defeat of Wrangel

The Polish gentry ' were to have re ceived assistance from Baron Wrangel, who had established himself in the Crimea. As Lenin put it, gentry-ridden Poland and Wrangel were the two hands of international imperialism which wanted to strangle the Land of Soviets. With the assistance of the Entente, Wran gel reorganized the remnants of Denikin's army which had been trans ported to the Crimea in Entente ships from ports in the Ukraine and Caucasia. The remnants of the Russian forces which had fought in France during the imperialist war were also sent to the Crimea to reinforce WrangeFsarmy. That was how Wrangel's army was formed. The Entente also supplied him with arms, ammunition and provisions.

Lenin saw the danger looming in the Crimea, and as early as March 1920 demanded of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic that it prevent the concentration of a White army there. "Pay close attention to the obvious blunder which has hem committed in con nection with the Crimea (failure to dispatch sufficient forces in time); concentrate all efforts on rectifying this blunder. . . he wrote. But the War Department failed to carry out Lenin's instructions.

Lenin's warning was particular^ justified because when the Whiteguard Poles launched their attack the Entente increased its pressure upon Soviet Russia. British naval forces were concentrated off the coasts of the Black and Baltic Seas. On April 4 and 6, 1920, Japan renewed her intervention in the Far East. France and Great Britain were supplying Wrangel with arms and helping him to prepare for an offenaive^ the first objective of which, on the demand of the French bourgeoisie, he was to make the occupy, tion of the Donctz Basin.

On July 7, 1920, Wrangel marched his forces out of the Crimea and occupied Northern Taurida. The Crimean "thorn" grew into a formidable danger, for Wrangel had got into the rear of the Ked Army which was operating on the Polish Front.

Comrade Stalin, who was directing operations on the South western Front, took measures to smash WrangePs forces' which were creeping uji from the Crimea. By the beginning of August 1920, the units of the Red Army in action against Wiangel received additional reinforcements. The Red divisions } assed to the offensive, inflicted several defeats upon the enemy, but failed to exterminate him completely. Nevertheless, as a result of this offensive, the Red Army entrenched itself at Kakhovka, on the left bank of the Dnieper. Thus 'was established the famous Kakhovka bridgehead which threatened the rear of WrangePs army. Wrangel hurled his picked troops, rein forced with tanks, against Kakhovka, but failed to capture it. The Kakhovka bridgehead, the formation of which had been planned by Comrade Stalin, was an extremely important factor in bringing about the utter defeat of the "'Black Baron," as Wrangel w^as called.

In the beginning of August the forces operating against Wrangel were formed into a sei^arate fi:ont. The Party instructed Comrade Stalin to concentrate his efforts entirely upon this front, but illness prevented him from consummating the liquidation of Wrangel. M. V. Frunze was placed in command of the Southern Front. Frunze's plan of operations was to cut off WrangePs army from the Isthmus of Perekop and inflict defeat upon him before he could take cover behind the fortifications of Perekop. Using the Kakhovka bridgehead as his base, he laimched a drive with the object of surrounding WrangePs forces. The First Cavalry Army', which had been transferred to the Southern Front, broke through into the rear of WrangePs army. In the beginning of October, Wrangel made another attempt to capture Kakhovka and hurled fouiteen tanks, ten ar moured cars and infantry armed with 600 heavy machine guns against it. But the tank attack was repulsed. The Red Army men rushed at the tanks and pelting them with hand grenades, (kove them off. The October battles at Kakhovka marked the beginning of WrangePs defeat.

On October 28 the Red Army launched a general offensive on the Southern Front. Sanguinary fighting raged in Northern Taurida.

As a result of the battles fought from October 28 to November 2, WrangePs army was defeated. Nearly 20,000 prisoners were taken. Nevertheless, WrangePs best troops succeeded in retreating to the Crimea and in taking cover behind the Perekop fortifications.

The Isthmus of Perekop is eight kilometres wide, and was intersected by the Turkish Wall, which was twenty metres high. In front of this wall there was a deep ditch stretching from the Black Sea on the one side to the swampy Sivash (or Putrid Sea — an inlet of the Azov Sea) on the other. On the wall were mounted about 200 guns. The whole Isthmus was covered with a dense network of barbed-wire entanglements. Near the village of Yushun, south of the Isthmus-, a second line of strong fortifications had been iDuilt. The Isthmus of Chongar, east of Perekop, was fortified no less strongly than Perekop, and a Whiteguard fleet was stationed there. With the aid of French army engineers Perekop was transformed into a first-class fortress. The only way to attack it was across a completely open and level terrain, or by wading across the Sivash. It proved impossible to make an outflanking movement viath& Tongue of Arabat, as this needed the support of the Red Fleet, which, however, was icebound in Taganrog Bay. Consequently, Frunze, ignor ing the advice of high military experts who regarded this as an absolutely hopeless undertaking, issued the order to storm Perekop. In the biting cold, in threadbare clothes, half starved, and lacking the necessary technical implements, the Red Army men proceeded with the preparations for breaking through the Perekop fortifications.

The Red Army was burning with desire to put an end to Wrangel as speedily as possible. One night the forward units of the 15th and 52nd Divisions, taking advantage of the fact that the wind had driv en back the water of the Sivash, waded knee -deep across the muddy bed of the Rotten Sea to get into the rear of the Perekop fortifica tions, dragging artillery and machine guns through the briny and icy water. When they reached the opposite shore, which was covered with barbed-wire entanglements, the wind changed, drove the water back into the Sivash, and cut off their retreat. The enemy opened a ter rific fire. The heroic Red Army men rushed at the entanglements, threw their greatcoats over them and climbed over the barbed-wire obstacles. On November 8, the Soviet troops entrenched themselves on the shore of Litovsky Peninsula, threatening the rear of Perekop.

At about midday on November 8, the 51st Division launched a frontal attack against Perekop, but the first attempt to capture the Turkish Wall failed. Reinforcements were needed for a second assault, but by this time the water was returning to the Sivash, threatening to cut off the forces that were fighting on the Litovsky Peninsula. Calling in the assistance of the local Revolutionary Committees, Frunze mobi lized the peasants of the surrounding villages to fight the incoming wa ter. The peasants came out en massey brought along straw, dug ditch es, and within a few hours built a dam which held up the incoming water. In this way, fresh reinforcements, ammunition and provisions were sent across the Sivash. At 2 a. m. the 61st Division made another assault on the Turkish Wall, and this time succeeded in capturing it.

After the capture of Perekop the last fortifications in the hands of the Whites were those near the village of Yushun. Frunze ordered the position to be attacked from the front and rear. On the night of November 10, the Yushun positions were captured and the White& retreated in panic. At this juncture a revolt against Wrangel broke out in the Crimea. Crimean partisans came down from the mountains and struck at the retreating White cavalry.

On November 10, Frunze telegraphed to Lenin: "Today our cavalry occupied Kerch. The Southern Front is liquidated."^ The remnants of Wrangers troops boarded Entente ships and sailed for Turkey. The capture of Perekop marked the victory of the Soviets on the last front of the Civil War.

The Civil War in the Border Regions

The Liberation of Kazakhstan and Central Asia

The Military-Political Alliance of the Peoples of Russia

In the struggle against the interventionists and the counter-revolution the alliance was strengthened between the peoples fighting jointly against the common enemy. The heroic struggle of the Russian people against the landlords, the bourgeoisie and tlie foreign interventionists developed into a patriotic war of the working people of all the na tionalities inhabiting Russia for their fi'eedom and independence.

Under the leadership of the Party of Lenin and Stalin these nationalities consolidated the military and political alliance they had voluntarily established. It was this alliance^ operated under the leadership of the working class and the Bolshevik Party that ensured victory on all fronts during tlie Civil War,

As Stalin wrote: "... The Russian workers could not have defeated Kolchak, Denikin and Wrangel had they not enjoyed the sympathy and confidence of the oppressed masses of the border regions of for mer Russia. It must not be forgotten that the field of action of these mutinous generals was confined to the area of the border regions inhabited mainly by non-Russian nationalities, and the latter could not but hate Kolchak, Denikin and Wrangel for their imperialist policy and policy of Russification. The Entente, intervening and supporting these generals, could rely only on the elements in the border regions who were the vehicles of Russification. And thereby it only inflamed the hatred of the population of the border regions for the mutinous generals and increased the sympathy of the poi)ulation for the Soviet government. "This accounted for the intrinsic weakness of the Kolchak, Denikin and Wrangel rear, and therefore for the weakness of their fronts, that is, in the long run, for their defeat" (J. Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question, Moscow, 1940, pp. 105-106).

The Liberation of Kazakhstan

At the end of 1918, Soviet rule prevailed over the greater part of Kazakhstan. The People's Com missariat of Nationalities set the Bolsheviks in Kazakhstan the task of establishing an Autonomous Soviet Republic, However, some of the leading members of the Party and Soviet bodies hin dered the proclamation of the autonomy of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh nationalists took advantage of this, and in the spring of 1919, while Kolchak was developing his offensive, they carried out, with the assistance of Kolchak's agents, a counter-revolutionary coup in the Turgai Region and captured and shot the Soviet leaders, including Amangeldy Imanov, the national hero of Kazakhstan.

Continuing its drive against the forces of Kolchak and Dutov, the Red Army went to the aid of the Kazakh people. Comrade Frunze, who was in command of the Turkestan army that was fighting Dutov, issued an appeal to the working people of Kazakhstan to set up Soviets and support the Red Army ^at was bringing the Kazakh people free dom and independence. In July 1919, a Revolutionary Committee was set up to administer the Kirghiz territory (now Kazakhstan). This committee set up organs of Soviet power in Kazakhstan.

The Liberation of Central Asia

The counter-revolutionary re volts of the Urals, Orenburg and Semirechensk Cossacks cut off Tur kestan from Soviet Russia; Turkestan itself saw the development of a counter-revolutionary movement of native feudalists and kulaks, known as the Basmachi. The British imperialists and Russian White guards who had occupied the Transcaspian Region tried to link up with the White Cossacks and Kolchak's forces and seize Soviet Turkestan. The situation in Turkestan during the Civil War was very grave. The region was cut off from its grain supplies and the population and the cattle died of starvation. The Basmachi plundered and wrecked the vil lages. The Red Army men were almost in rags and were badly armed; shells and small-arms ammunition for the Turkestan Red Army were manufactured in a primitive way in the railway workshops. Lenin and Stalin paid special attention to the struggle to maintain Soviet rule in Turkestan and sent Red Army units, munitions and provisions to help the working people of Turkestan.

The fighting in Central Asia proceeded mainly along the railways. Trains of an unusual appearance could be seen creeping along the dilap idated tracks. In front of a worn-out locomotive there was a flat car, "fortified" with bales of cotton; behind .the locomotive were freight, wagons carrying Red Army men, war materiel and supplies and a first aid station. On the flat car carrying the cotton bales machine guns were mounted. These trains were called "armoured trains." Owing to the shortage of petrol and wood, the locomotives were often fueled with cottonseed oil.

When Kolchak and Dutov were defeated, the Turkestan Soviet Republic united again with Soviet Russia. In the autumn of 1919, a commission of the Central Com mittee of the Russian Commu nist Party (Bolsheviks) and of the All-Russian Central Execu tive Committee headed by Com rades Frunze and Kuibyshev, went to Turkestan. They had instruc tions from the C.C. and Lenin to help the working people of Cen tral Asia to wipe out the remnants of the Whiteguards and to consol idate Soviet rule there.

After defeating the remnants of Kolchak's Southern Army and liberating Kazaldistan, Frunze ordered his army to effect a junction witli the Red Army of Turkestan. In fighting to liberate Turkmenia from the British interventionists and the Whiteguards, the Red Army employed the tactics of widely outflanking the enemy's positions by marching through the Kara-Kum Desert, or over the Kopet-dagh Mountains. Tn the summer the Red Army men had to march for days through the waterless desert in a temperature of 60° Centigrade, receiving a meagre water ration of three glasses per day. An equally diflhcult trek was undertaken by Red Army units under the command of V. V. Kuibyshev at the end of 19103 iR winter time, the weather being exceptionally cold for Turkmenia. The march of men, horses, and camels loaded with guns and supplies, went on for four days and nights. The sudden appearance of the Red Army from the desert caused the Whiteguards to flee in panic.

In February 1920, the Red Army, after heavy fighting, captured Krasnovodsk, the last British and V^iteguard stronghold in Tur kestan. The railway from Ashkhabad to Krasnovodsk was cleared and Soviet power was restored all over Turkmenia.

Between Soviet Turkestan and the Transcaspian Region, which the Whiteguards sfcill controlled, lay Khiva and Bokhara, the most back ward regions in Central Asia. These territories, with their mediae val order of life, served as the refuge for alHhe counter-revolutionary forces that were attacking Soviet Turkestan. Bokhara was ruled by an Emir who invited British officers to organize his army. In the beginning of 1918, the working people of Bokhara rose in revolt against the Emir, but the revolt was suppressed with great cruelty. In Feb ruary 1920, a revolt broke out in KJiiva against the Khan, and Khi va was proclaimed the Khoresm People *s Riepublio. In August 1920, another revolt broke out against the Emir of Bokhara. The Bed Army came to the aid of the rebels and finally liberated Bokhara. The Emir fled to Afghanistan under the protection of the British. Bokhara was also proclaimed a People's Republic.

The Turkestan Commission headed by Frunze and Kuibyshev did a great deal to restore confidence and friendship among the peoples of Central Asia and also to strengthen their economic and cultural ties with the Russian and other peoples of Soviet Russia. Thanks to the work of Comrades Frunze and Kuibyshev, the working people of Central Asia began better to understand that the Soviet State is the friend of the toiling and oppressed peoples.

The correct policy on the national question pursued by the Bolshevik Party, the policy of Lenin and Stalin, helped the peoples of Central Asia to outlive national strife, and resulted in the consoli dation of the Central -Asian Soviet Republics. This facilitated the defeat of the Basmachi bands. An era of peace set in for the peoples of Central Asia.

Soviet Power Is Established in Transcaucasia

The Victory of the Soviet Regime in Azerbaijan

In the spring of 1920, after Denikin was defeated, the Red Army on the Cau casian Front, led by G. K. Orjonikidze and S. M. Kirov, drew near to the borders of Transcaucasia.

The masses of the working people of the Caucasus appealed to the Red Army for assistance in fighting the counter-revolutionaries. In their appeal they wrote: "We do not wish to remain slaves, particu larly now, when by our side stands the emancipated proletariat of Russia, with whom we want to form a single proletarian international family."

The conditions of the workers and peasants in all the Transcau casian Republics were extremely hard. Power had been seized by the respective nationalist counter-revolutionary parties — ^the Menshe viks in Georgia, the Mussavatists in Azerbaijan and the Dashnacks in Armenia — ^who were in the service of the foreign imperialists and did all in their power to help the Russian counter-revolutionaries. In Jan uary 1920, the Transcaucasian Republics, governed as they were by the counter-revolutionary nationalist parties, were officially recog nized by the Supreme Council of the Entente. The workers and peasants rose in rebellion^ but they were suppressed with the aid of foreign interventionists. The land remained in the possession of the landlords. In Azerbaijan the khans and begs continued to exploit the peasants.

In response to the appeal of the working people of Caucasia the Red Army of Soviet Russia launched an offensive against the Cau casian counter-revolutionaries and on March 30, 1920 liberated the highlanders of North Caucasus and Daghestan. Soviet power was established in the whole of the liberated territory.

The establishment of Soviet power in Daghestan gave a further impetus to the revolutionary movement in Azerbaijan. The workers of Baku, led by A. I. Mikoyan, who was then working underground in that city, made preparations for an insurrection against the coun ter-revolutionary Mussavatists. In response to the request of the underground Revolutionary Committee, the Eleventh Red Army, under the command of Kirov and Orjonikidze, went to the assist ance of the insurgent Baku workers and on April 27, 1920, the Mussavatists were defeated and put to flight. Azerbaijan was pro claimed a Soviet Republic.

The Establishment of Soviet Power in Armenia

In May 1920, a popular revolt broke out in Armenia against the Daslmaeks, wlio had been openly supporting the foreign imj)erialists and the Armenian exploiters. The Dashnaoks succeeded in crushing this revolt and dealt ruthlessly with the rebels. The days of the Dashiiack regime were numbered, however. The revolutionary movement grew month after month. Another rebellion broke out in the autumn •of 1920. The Armenian Revolutionary Committee, which directed this rebellion, appealed to the Red Army for assistance, and with its aid the Dashnacks were overthrown. On November 29, 1920, Armenia be came a Soviet Republic

The Fight to Establish Soviet Power in Georgia

The Georgian Mensheviks pursued the same anti-popular policy as was pursued by the Mussavatists in Azerbaijan and the Dashnacks in Armenia. In January 1919, the Menshevik government of Georgia passed a law for the sale of "surplus'* land by landlords to private purchasers. As a result of this "agrarian reform" all the best land was taken by the landlords and kulaks. In dividing the land the landlord was given one share of the land, another share went to his wife, a third to his sister. Thus, all the land was distributed between the land lord's nearest relatives. That meant the restoration of the landed proprietorship in existence before the promulgation of the law of 1919. Deprived of the land, the peasants rose in revolt, seized the land by force and divided it among themselves. The Menshevik rulers sent punitive expeditions against the peasants and set up field courts martial. The Georgian Mensheviks claimed that theirs was democratic rule, but actually there was no democracy in Georgia. The"* Mensheviks would not permit tree elections to the Constituent Assembly. There was not a single worker or peasant in the Georgian government. All the laws that were passed were in the interests of the landlords, kulaks and capitalists. Trade unions and workers' newspapers were suppressed, strikes were banned, Bolsheviks were fiung into prison. The Mensheviks pursued a chauvinist great-power policy^ persecuting the national minorities in Georgia.

In December 1918, the Mensheviks launched a fratricidal war against Armenia with the object of annexing villages on the Armenian-Georgian border with mixed Georgian and Armenian populations. Taking advantage of Georgia's advantageous geograph ical situation, the Georgian Mensheviks prevented the transit of goods over the Georgian railways by imposing exorbitant transit dues.

In view of the fact that the Red Army was drawing near, the Georgian Mensheviks, in the spring of 1920, offered to conclude peace with Soviet Russia, and in May 1920, a peace treaty was signed. S, M, Kirov was sent to Georgia as the Soviet plenipotentiary repre sentative. He vigorously exposed the refusal of th^ Georgian Menshe viks honestly to carry out the terms of the treaty they had signed with the Soviet government. The situation in Georgia became increasingly critical for the Menshevik rulers. The revolutionary movement of the workers and peasants, led by the Georgian Bolsheviks, grew all over the country. Revolts broke out, first in one county and then in another, and the rebels established Soviet power in those districts.

In the middle of January 1921, the Armenian peasants in the border regions annexed by Menshevik Georgia rose in revolt. The revolt vSpread to the Georgian districts. On February 16, a Georgian Revolu tionary Committee was set up, which took the lead in the struggle to establish Soviet rule. The Eleventh Red Army, under the com mand of Sergo Orjonikidze, was sent to the aid of the insurgent Geor gian workers and peasants. Masses of Georgian workers, peasants and soldiers went over to the side of the Red Army. On February 25, 1921, Orjonikidze sent Lenin and Stalin the following telegram: "The Red flag of Soviet power is flying over Tiflis. Long live Soviet Georgia! "

Several days later a successful insurrection took place in Abkhasia. On March 4, 1921, the Abkliasian Revolutionary Committee sent the following radio message to Lenin and Stalin: "By the will of the working people, a new Socialist Soviet Republic has been born — Abkhasia, The Soviet Republic of this small nation servos as a strik ing illustration of the groat role of liberator being jolayed by the Red Army."

The MeAsheviks fled from Tiflis to Batum in the hope of receiving assistance from the Turkish government, to whom they promised to cede Batum; but an insurrection against the Menshevik traitors broke out in that city too. On March 19, 1921, Batum and the whole of Adjaristan were proclaimed Soviet.

The bankrupt Menshevik government of Georgia fled abroad on a French torpedo boat, taking with them -a large amount of treas ure that belonged to the Georgian people.

The Defeat of the Japanese Interventionists

The Fight Against Japanese Intervention in the Far East

The Japanese imperialists, by agreement with the Entente imperial ists, seized the Far East as early as 1918. Japan was the pioneer of military intervention in Siberia and the Far East,

The Japanese imperialists had long coveted the vast and rich Far Eastern territory. The first landing of Japanese troops in Vladi vostok took place on April 6, 1918. This marked the beginning of Allied intervention. By September 1918, 100,000 Japanese troops had been landed in Vladivostok, from where Japanese units marched northward to the region of the rivers Ussuri and Amur, and westwards to Blagoveshchensk, Chita and the Transbaikalia. The principal area of activity of the Japanese imperialists was the Amur and the Maritime Regions.

At the same time the Japanese imperialists began to supply Kolchak's army lavishly with arms, ammunition and money, and to form Whiteguard detachments on their own account. Their tools were the Whiteguard bandits Ataman Semyonov and Ataman Kalmy kov, who were notorious for the incredible atrocities they perpetrat ed. In August 1918, Semyonov's bandit forces, supplied with Japa nese artillery, captured Chita; in September, Kalmykov's bands cap tured Khabarovsk. On September 18, the Whiteguards captured the last stronghold of Soviet power in the Far East, namely, Blago veshchensk.

After the fall of the Soviets, power passed into the hands of coun ter-revolutionary govemments-~Bemyonov's government in Trans baikalia, and Kalmykov's government in Khabarovsk. The Japanese seized the Soviet fleet on the Amur, robbed the Russian fishermen of their catch and the peasants of their grain stocks and cattle. They shipped to Japan huge quantities of provisions and timber.

The Japanese imperialists cruelly suppressed the slightest attempt at resistance.The village of Ivanovka, for example, was subjected to repeated raids by the Japanese. One day the Japanese burst into the village, drove 300 peasants onto the village green, lined them up in rows, and mowed them down with machine-gun fire, row after row. Then they set fire to the village, surrounded it, and allowed no one to escape from the conflagration. The inhabitants perished in the flames. The school, packed with children, and the hospital with its bed-ridden patients, were burned to the ground. The horses, cattle and poultry were roasted alive. The hearts of the peasants in the Far East became filled with burning hatred for the Japanese imperialists. Partisan units were formed in the taiga all over the Far East. Their battle cry was: 'Tor Soviet power!"

Exceptionally popular among the leaders of the partisan war in the Far East was Sergei Lazo. At the time the February revolution broke out he was a sublieutenant in Krasnoyards:. He removed his officer's shoulder straps and placed his company at the command of the Krasnoyarsk Soviet. In 1918, he joined the Bolshevik Party and began a heroic struggle against the Japanese imperialists. After the fall of the Soviet regime in the Far East he retreated to the taiga together with the other Bolsheviks. Soon he became a popular parti san commander.

After defeating Kolchak, the Red Army drew close to the Far East, but after capturing Verkhne-Udinsk its advance eastward was halted. Its next objective was Chita, where large Japanese forces were concentrated. To attack Chita meant coming into direct collision with the Japanese troops, and that meant open war between Japan and Soviet Russia. The Soviet Republic could not afford to plunge into such a war, for a new danger was threatening on its western frontiers — the Entente's third campaign, in which gentry -ridden Poland played the leading role. To defeat the Wliite Poles and Wrangel the Soviet Republic needed a respite in the Far East, and* it was evident that to call for the establishment of Soviet power there would have meant coming into immediate collision with Japan.

The Party and the Soviet government were of the opinion that it was not worth while running the risk of war with the Japanese imperialists, whose forces were still quite formidable. The thing to do was to direct the struggle of the workers and peasants of the Far East against the Japanese imperialists while avoiding a direct military conflict with Japan.

The Party and the Soviet government therefore agreed to the formation in the Far East of a "buffer state" which would, for a time, save the R.S.F.S.R. from direct contact with Japan. Lenin sent the Revolutionary Committee of Siberia and the command of the Fifth Amy instructions to set about the establishment of a buffer state. In this way the Far Eastern Republic arose in 1920. In form it was a bourgeois-democratic state, but it was directed by Bolshe viks. The formation of this state enabled the Soviet Republic to avoid war with Japan under unfavourable conditions, and to muster forces for a decisive struggle against Japanese imperialism. Realizing that their position in .the Far East was becoming more and more untenable, the Japanese imperialists made repeated efforts to create pretexts for continuing their intervention. In January 1920, after a successful revolt Vladivostok had passed under the control of a Revolutionary Committee headed by Sergei Lazo. On April 4 and 5, the Japanese attacked Vladivostok, arrested Lazo, Lutsky and Sibir tsev, the Bolshevik leaders in the Far East, and handed them over to the Whiteguard bandits who burnt them alive in a locomotive furnace. The Japanese committed similar atrocities in other towns in the Far East,

The savage cruelty of the Japanese imperialists in the Far East gave rise to universal indignation, A revolt began in Transbaikalia. In October the partisans and the People 's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic captured Chita. Fearing that Japan would become too strong in the Far East, the United States brought pressure to bear upon her to open negotiations with the government of the Far Eastern Republic for the evacuation of the Japanese troops. The negotiations were conducted in Dairen, where the Japanese imperialists presented seventeen demands, which, if accepted, would have transformed the Russian Far East into a Japanese colony. They demanded that Vladivostok be placed under foreign control, that they be granted unlimited fishing, mining and navigation rights, that all fortresses in the Russian Far East be razed, that the Soviet Pacific Fleet be de stroyed and that the northern half of Sakhalin be leased to Japan for eighty years. Finally they demanded a guarantee that a Commu nist regime would be barred 'Tor all time" from the Far Eastern

Republic. The Soviet delegation rejected these demands of the Japanese imperialists.

Japanese intervention in the Rar East was on its last legs That was why the imperialists began still more actively to assist the Russian Whiteguards. In 1921, they set up a new counter-revolutionary government in Vladivostok.

The People's Revolutionary Army was sent to the aid of the Mari time Region.

The Battle of Volochayevka

The counter-revolutionaries' main stronghold on the road to Khabarovsk was the fortress of Volochayevka, which had been built by the Japanese. All the hills around Volochay evka were strongly fortified, and these fortifications could be reached only by crossing a plain covered with deep snowOn February 10, 1922, the People's Revolutionary Army, with the battle cry of "Conquer or die!" launched an assault upon Volochayevka. Neither the twelve rows of bar bedwire entanglements, the hurricane fire of the enemy, the frost, 40*^ below zero Centigrade, nor the biting wind could stop the he roic onrush of the Red warriors. They hacked at the entanglements with their swords, demolished them with the butts of their rifles, threw their greatcoats over them and crept towards the enemy's trenches under machine-gun fire. After two days' fighting the Whites could no longer withstand the onslaught and retreated to Khabarovsk. On February 14, 1922, the People's Revolutionary Army captured Khabarovsk. Continuing its advance it cleared the Maritime Region of Whites. In October Spassk, the last Whiteguard stronghold, was captured, and on October 25, 1922, the revolutionary troops occupied Vladivostok.

This concluding stage of the struggle for Soviet power in the Far East is commemorated in the following words of the popular parti

san song:

The Atamans' hordes we shattered

We put the Whites to flight.

And on the shore of the Pacific

We terminated the fight.

Commenting on this victory when the Civil War was over,

Lenin said: "Vladivostok is very far away, but it is our town." This explains why the brave sons of the Russian people fought so heroically in the Far East until they had driven the last of the interventionists from Soviet soil.

In November 1922, on the fifth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Soviet rule was restored in the Far East.

Soviet Russia's Fraternal Assistance to the Working People of Mongolia

The Japanese imperialists had long harboured designs of seizing Manchuria, Mongolia and the Russian Far East, right up to Lake Baikal, with the object of converting this vast area into a "Great Mongolia" which was to be a dependency of Japan. At the end of 1918, the Japanese ordered the Whiteguard Ataman Semyonov to form a "Great Mongolian State," to consist of Outer Mon golia and the present Buryat-Mongolia, which is inhabited by Buryats, kinsmen of the Mongols.

When the Red Army defeated Ataman Semyonov, the latter's partner, the Whiteguard General Baron Ungern, retreated, in 1920, with his hordes of bandits into Mongolia. In February 1921, Ungern captured Urga, the capital of Mongolia. The Mongolian people took to arms to fight the Whiteguard Ungern and the Japanese imperialists. At the head of this struggle was the Mongolian People's Revolution ary Party, the leader of which was Sukhe-Bator, a printer by trade, who organized the partisan movement. In March 1921, a Mongolian Pro visional People's Revolutionary Government was set up and it appealed to Soviet Russia for assistance. The combined forces of the Soviet Red Army and the Mongolian People 's Army launched an attack upon Urga.

The whole of Mongolia was cleared of Whiteguards. Urga was lib erated and renamed Ulan-Bator-Hoto, which means "City of the Red Warrior."

In 1924, the first Great Hural, or Assembly, proclaimed Mongolia an independent People's Republic. It concluded a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Hepublic* In an address to the. Soviet government the government of Mongolia expressed its gratitude to Soviet Russia, for the fraternal and disinterested assistance it had rendered Mongolia. The Red Army, the liberator of the Mongolian people, was given a ceremonial send-off that continued right to the Soviet frontier.

The Bolshevik Party, the Organizer of Victory at the Fronts

During the Civil War years the military and political alliance of the working class and the peasantry took definite shape. The same period saw the realization of an alliance between the working people of all the oppressed nationalities, under the leadership of the Russian proletariat.

The enemies of the Soviet regime were convinced that its defeat was inevitable, for the Red Army, which was formed in the course of the war, in the beginning lacked experienced commanding personnel, good weapons and the necessary quantities of ammunition. Further^ more, the interventionists had captured the parts of Russia that were richest in raw materials and food.

Ill spite of all this, however, the Red Army vanquished the com bined forces of tlie foreign interventionists and tho Russian bour geois and landlord counter-revolutionaries. "The Red Anny was victorious because tho Soviet government's policy for which the Red Army was fighting was a right policy, one that corresponded to the interests of the people, and because the people understood and realized that it was the right policy, their own j)olicy, and supported it unre servedly" {History of the Oonmunist Party of the Soviet Union [BoU sheviks], Short Course, Moscow,' 1945, p. 244). The Red Army was victorious in the Civil War because the Red Army men understood the aims and purposes of the war and recognized their justice.

"The Red Army was victorious because its leading core, both at the front and in the rear, was the Bolshevik Party, united in its soli darity and discipline, strong in its revolutionary spirit and readiness for any sacrifice in the common cause, and unsurpassed in its ability to or ganize millions and to lead them properly in complex situations. . . .

"The Red Army was victorious because the Soviet Republic was not alone in its struggle against Whiteguard counter-revolution and foreign intervention, because the struggle of the Soviet government and its successes enlisted the sympathy and support of the ]:)roletarians of the whole world" {History of the Ooynmunist Party of the Soviet Union [Bolsheviks] y Short Goursey Moscow, 1945, pp. 245-246),

The Bolshevik Party trained splendid commanders and commis sars who led the Red divisions and armies into battle. The heroic strug gle of the Soviet people and of the Red Army was directed by the greatest geniuses in the history of mankind — ^Lenin and Stalin.

The Bolshevik Party, Lenin and Stalin created a body of military commissars who gave political training to the Red Army men, established indissoluble bonds between the Red Army men and their commanders and imbued them with the spirit of discipline revolutionary courage and military ardour.

The Transition to the Peaceful Work of Economic Restoration

The Struggle to Restore the Country's Economy

The Soviet State's Transition from War to Peaceful Economic Construction

The International Position of Soviet Russia in 1921

At the end of 1920, after achieving victory in the Civil War, Soviet Russia pro ceeded to the peaceful work of economic construction. This transition was made in an extremely tense situation.

The defeat of the Entente's military intervention fundamentally changed the international position of the Soviet Republic. Describing this situation in November 1920, Lenin said: "... We have not only a respite— we have a new stage, in which our fundamental interna tional existence within the network of capitalist states has been won" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXV, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 486).

The Soviet Republic was recognized by a number of capitalist countries, which resumed commercial relations with our country. In 1920, peace treaties were concluded between the Soviet Republic c'lnd Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Poland. In 1921, the Soviet Republic concluded treaties with Persia, Afghanistan and Tur key, and trade agreements with Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Austria and Italy.

The improvement of the Soviet Republic's international position was due not only to the military victories it had achieved, but also to the strained situation in the capitalist countries. At the end of 1920, a grave economic crisis affected the capitalist world. In Europe, at the beginning of 1921, there were 10,000,000 unemployed and 30,000,000 workers working part time. Huge strikes took place in all the EurO' pean countries and a movement for national liberation arose in the colonial countries. In all those countries the workers and the progressive intelligentsia energetically came out in defence of the Soviet Eepublic, their watchword being "Hands off Soviet Russia!"

Under these circumstances, the governments of the capitalist countries were obliged to recognize Soviet Russia, but this did not mean that they had abandoned the struggle against the Soviets; this struggle merely assumed different forms. In the endeavour to cause the utmost ruin in the country the foreign imperialists and the Russian counter-revolutionaries sent spies and saboteurs into the country and plotted new revolts against the Soviet State.

During the whole of 1921, the foreign imperialists continued to send bandit gangs into Soviet territory. Assisted by the landlords of Poland Petliura's bands operated in the Ukraine. The bandits led by Makhno found refuge in Rumania and from there they were sent back to work against Soviet Ukraine. In Byelorussia the bands of the Polish agent Bulak-Balakhovieh were rampant. In Karelia, White Finnish army officers, directed by the Finnish Baron Mannerheim, organized a counter-revolutionary revolt. In the Far East, the Japa nese imperialists, jointly with the Russian Whiteguards, terrorized the inhabitants of Transbaikalia and the Maritime Region. Di the heart of Soviet Russia, the agents of imperialism — ^the Socialist-Revolu tionaries — organized a kulak bandit movement. In the Tambov Gu bernia its ringleader was that bandit, the Socialist-Revolutionary Antonov, and in the Saratov Gubernia just the same sort of Whiteguard, the Socialist-Revolutionary Sapozhkov. In the Urals and in Siberia, the kulaks, organized by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, incited the peasants to resist the Soviet authorities, disrupted the supply of grain to the industrial centres, buried the grain in pits and let it rot, wrecked railways, and killed Soviet officials

Economic Ruin in Soviet Russia

The seven years of war — ^the impe rialist and civil wars — caused economic ruin in Soviet Russia to a degree that no other belligerent country experienced.

During the period of the Civil War only a ninth part of the terri tory of Russia remained under Soviet rule; the rest was under the heel of the different foreign interventionists who succeeded each other.^ The productive forces of the country were in a state of ruin. In the course of the Civil War a large part of the railway tracks and over 7,000 bridges, of which 3,500 were railway bridges, were wrecked. The damage resulting from the wrecking of industrial plants and the flooding of mines amounted to hundreds of millions of rubies, and the loss inflicted upon the entire national economy of the Land of Soviets was estimated at tens of billions of rubles. The total output of agri culture in 1920 was only a half of the pre-war amount, while the pre^ war level itself was that of the poverty-stricken rural districts of tsarist Russia. In many gubernias the crop failed, and throughout the country about 20,000,000 hectares of land remained unsown. Peasant farming was in a state of acute crisis. Industry was also ruined* The output of large-scale industry was about one-seventh of the pre-war output. Tlie output of pig iron in 1921 amounted to only 116,300 tons, i.e., about 3 per cent of the pre-war output; the amount of metal produced in Soviet Russia at that time was equal to that produced in the reign of Peter I. The output of fuel diminished. The railways were completely dislocated. The number of sound rolling stock — locomotives and cars — ^was only about a third of what it was before the war. Trains travelled slowly and irregularly; it took eight to ten days to travel from Moscow to Kharkov. The streets in towns were unlit at night as neither gas nor electricity was available. The tramways ceased running. Dwellings and offices were freezing in the winter owing to the absence of fuel. The country lacked the prime necessities of life: bread, fats, fuel, footwear, clothing and soap. The productivity of labour dropped. The peoples of the Land of Soviets received as a legacy from the past a country that was not only technically backward and semi -pauperized, but was also absolutely ruined.

The political situation too was extremely tense. In the winter of 1920-1921, the peasants delivered very little grain. By the end of 1920, the surplus-grain appropriations produced over 3,200,000 tons of grain and the Soviet government was able to accumulate a grain reserve. While the war was in progress, the peasants put up with the surplus appropriations system, but on the victorious termination of the Civil War, when the danger that the landlords would return passed away and the peasants felt firmly in possession of the land, they strongly opposed this system. Furthermore, they lacked textile goods, footwear, hardware, agricultural machines, and other things they needed, and demanded that the government should supply them in exchange for the grain they delivered. But the factories were idle, and the Soviet State was unable, at that time, to supply the peasants with manu factured goods.

The situation in the country was still further complicated by the difficulties connected with the demobilization of the army and the reconversion of industry to peacetime production. Tens and hundreds of thousands of demobilized workers were unable immediately to find employment. Part of the workers went to the rural districts. The working class was becoming scattered (declassed).

The bread ration of the workers amounted to 100 grams per day, and hunger and weariness caused discontent among a section of the workers.

The Kronstadt Mutiny

The internal and external enemies of the Soviet regime hastened to take advantage of these economic and political difficulties. The activities of the counter-revolutionary elements— Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Wliiteguards and bourgeois-nationalists— revived. Posing as non-party people, they dropped their former slogan of "Down with the Soviets" and issued a new one "Por the Soviets, but without Communists!" These new tactics of the class enemy found most vivid expression during the counter-revo lutionary mutiny that broke out in Kronstadt in March 1921.

Kronstadt was the chief base of the Baltic Fleet. During the revolu tion and the Civil War, the Baltic Fleet sent many thousands of devot ed revolutionary fighters to the different fronts. Among the new recruits for the navy at that time were casual individuals, fre quently declassed elements, who had not been steeled by the revolution. The work of political education was at that time badly organized in the Baltic Fleet, and the Trotskyites, who managed to get into leading positions in the fleet, caused the degeneration of a group, a small one, of Communist sailors. Posing as "non-party" people the Social ist-Bevolutionaries, Mensheviks and Anarchists intensified their dis ruptive activities in the fleet and at a meeting of sailors held on March 1, they succeeded in securing the adoption of a counter-revo lutionary resolution. Kromtadt fell into the hands of a bunch of Whiteguard agents.

The military operations of the Kronstadt mutineers were direct ed by Whiteguard military experts, headed by General Kozlovsky. The mutineers had the support of all the counter-revolutionary forces at home and abroad. The T^iteguard Emigres in Paris organized col lections of money and provisions for the mutineers, and the American Red Cross sent food supplies to Kronstadt xmder its flag. The Con stitutional-Democrat, Milynkov, supplied the Kronstadt counter revolutionaries with the watchword "Soviets without Communists. "

In an exposure of the manoeuvres of the class enemy Comrade Stalin said subsequently: "Soviets without Communists — such was then the watchword of the chief of the Russian counter-revolution, Milyukov. The counter-revolutionaries understood that it was not only a matter of the Soviets themselves, but, first and foremost, of who would direct them" (J. Stalin, Articles and Speeches, Moscow, 1934, , Russ, ed., p. 217).

Kronstadt remained in the hands of the Whiteguards for seven teen days. The Committee of Defence of the Petrograd Fortified Area failed to crush the mutiny at its birth. Zinoviev negotiated with the traitors for seven whole days, thereby giving them time to fortify themselves. Picked units of the Red Army were sent to crush the Kronstadt counter-revolution. The Tenth Congress of the Party, which was in session at that time, sent 300 of its delegates, headed by K. E. Voroshilov, to reinforce them. On March 16, the revolution ary soldiers, camouflaged in white coveralls, commenced an assault upon the main forts of Kronstadt, rushing forward in spite of con tinuous machine-gun fire and the bursting shells which broke the already fragile ice over wEich they were advancing. In the front ranks of the assault columns was Voroshilov, setting aii example of .Bolshevik courage and valour.

On March 17, the hotbed of counter-revolution in Kronstadt was liquidated.

The Trade Union Discussion in the Party

The situation in the country was still further aggravated by the fact that the unity of the Party was being undermined from within by various anti-Leninist group lets which had revived as a consequence of the difficulties connect ed with the transition from war to the peaceful work of economic construction.

The Leninist Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party was of the opinion that at this new stage the economic ruin in the country was as dangerous an enemy to the proletarian dictatorship as interven tion and blockade had been during the period of the Civil War; that the economic chaos could be vanquished only if millions of workers and peasants were drawn into tlie struggle against it. The Party Central Committee considered that there was no justification for the furtlier maintenance of the regime of War Communism called into existence by the war, and that tho way to operate was not by issuing military commands but by employing methods of ]}er suaaion.

At the end of 1 920 and the beginning of 3 921 , a fierce discussion arose in the Party over the question of the role and tasks of the trade unions. The promoter of the discussion and of tho struggle against Lenin was Trotsky. He demanded that "the trade unions be given a shaking up, opposed the method of persuading the masses and the development of trade union democracy, and stood for downright coer cion and the issuing of orders from above in the workers' organiza tions. In the wake of Trotsky came the so-called "Workers' Opposi tion," which used this name to cover up its potty-bourgeois nature. This group demanded that the Party and the State should refrain from all interference in the economic life of the country, and that the management of the entire national economy should be transferred to an "All-Russian Producers' Congress." The "Workers' Opposition" regarded not the Party but the trade unions as the highest form of organization of the working class, Trotsky was assisted in his struggle against Lenin by Bukharin, who formed a "buffer group," and later openly imited with the Trotskyites. The Trotskyites and Bukharin ites tried to undermine the Party as the leading force in the prole tarian state, and worked to split the working class, weaken the leadership it gave to the peasantry, and undermine the dictatorship nf the proletariat.

Lenin countered the platforms of the opposition groups with the Party platform which declared that the trade unions are a school of administration, a school of economic management, a school of Communism. The trade unions should work by methods of persuasion, for in that way they would succeed in drawing the workers into so cialist construction, in mobilizing them for the speediest liquidation of the economic chaos in the country. The Party supported Lenin; the oppositionists were utterly routed.

Comrade Stalin lias described the situation in Soviet Russia on the termination of the Civil War in the following words; "Ruined by four years of imperialist war, and ruined again by three years of civil war, a country with a semi-literate population, with a low technical level, with isolated industrial oases lost in a sea of dwarf peasant farms — such was the country we inherited from the past. The task was to transfer this country from mediaeval darkness to modem industry and mechanized agriculture" (J. Stalin, Probhms of Leninism, Moscow, 1947, p. 520). This was ,a task of unprecedented difficulty.

The Eighth Congress of Soviets and the GOELRO Plan

The Soviet State exerted all efforts to remove as speedily as possible the grave domestic difficulties being experienced by the country after the termination of the Civil War.

The Eighth Congress of Soviets, which met in December 1920, drew up a whole series of measures to bring about the economic revival of the country. The congress was held in the Bolshoi Theatre, in Moscow; owing to the lack of fuel the theatre was unheated and the delegates were obliged to sit in their felt boots and overcoats. On the stage hung a huge map of the future electrification of the Land of Soviets. Small shining electric lamps indicated where electric power plants were to be built in the future. Lenin explained the importance of the plan for the electrification of the country as a means of passing from poverty and ruin to socialist construction. On Lenin's initiative, and under his direction, there was drawn up the so-called "plan of the GOELRO" (the Russian initials of State Commission for the Electrification of Russia), Lenin's GOELRO plan was the first economic plan of the Soviet State, the prototype of Stalin's Five-Year Plans. The plan provided for the erection of thirty large power plants throughout the country within the next ten years. Comrade Stalin wrote the following to Lenin about the GOELRO plan: "It is a masterly draft of a really unified and really state -economic plan. It is the only Marxist attempt made in our day to build up for the Soviet superstructure of economically backward Russia a really technical and production foundation — ^the only foundation feasible in the present conditions" (Lenin and Stalin, Selected Worhs^ Vol, II, Russ, ed., p. 365).

By the electrification of the country Lenin and Stalin meant not only the building of power plants, but the gradual reorganization of the entire economy of the country, including agriculture, on the basis of modern technique, of modern large-scale machine production. Only such a reorganization, carried through by the Soviet State, could finally uproot capitalism in the country and ensure the construc tion of an unshakable foundation of socialist economy. Lenin said that ^"Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Worles, Vol. VIII, Moscow, 1936, p. 276).

The Eighth Congress of Soviets called upon the working people of the Land of Soviets to work with self-sacrificing devotion to restore the country's economy, and it instituted the decoration of The Red Banner of Labour to be awarded to those who distinguished themselves on the labour front.

Transition to the New Economic Policy

To tear the country out of the clutches of economic ruin and successfully develop the building of Socialism, it was first of all necessary to abolish the ])olicy of War Communism, which had been a temporary measure and no longer suited the new situation. The military-political alliance established between the working class and the peasantry during the Civil War rested on a certain economic basis — ^the peasants received from the workers land and protection against the landlords and the kulaks, and the workers received from the peasants grain, on loan. With the termination of the Civil War a different economic basis for this alliance was needed. The peasants had to be given the right freely to dispose of their produce.

The correct policy for the proletariat, which was exercising ' its dictatorship in a small-peasant country, was to give in exchange for grain the manufactured goods which the peasants needed. The tax in kind marked the transition to this policy. The law intro * duoing a tax in kind was passed as early as the autumn of 1918, but could not at that time be operated owing to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lenin proposed a return to the tax in kind and that tax assessments should be lower than the surplus appropriations had been.

Under this law the peasant could sell on the market all that was left over after he had made his tax deliveries to the state. Thus, he secured complete control of his surplus food stocks. To permit free trade meant a certain revival of capitalism in the country. Lenin emphasized, however, that as political power was in the hands of the working class, which also occupied the economic key positions in the country — ^the land, large-scale socialist industry, the transport system, and the monopoly of foreign trade — ^there was no danger in permitting capitalism within certain limits, and under the control of the Soviet State. When it secured a leading position in trade, the Soviet State would succeed in linking up socialist industry with peasant farming and create the conditions for liquidating capitalism in the country.

In March 1921, the Tenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party was held. This congress adopted the historic decision to abolish the surplus appropriations system and to introduce the tax in kind instead. This meant the adoption by the j)roletarian state of a new economic policy when the war was over. The New Economic Policy (NEP) — a prod uct of Lenin's genius — was conceived by him as a plan for the transition to Socialism. The main significance and point of this plan, in his opinion, was that it fully ensured the building of the foundation of socialist economy. The struggle between Socialism and capitalism was transferred to the economic arena. Here, said Lenin,

• a fierce struggle lay ahead, but the country possessed all that was /needed to ensure that in this struggle Socialism achieved complete victory over capitalism.

The . enemies of. Socialism maliciously distorted Lenin's the ory of the New Economic Policy. The Trotskyites and Bukharin ites argued that it was nothing hut a retreat; it was in their interests to argue in this way because the^r line was to restore capitalism in Russia. While Lenin regarded the New Economic Policy as the road to Socialism, the Trotskyites and Bukharinites regarded it as the road to capitalism. Comrade Stalin upheld and* developed Lenin's theory of the New Economic Policy as the only correct economic policy the victorious proletariat could adopt for the purpose of building Socialism. He gave the New Economic Policy the following classical definition: "NEP is a special policy of the proletarian state calculated on permit ting capitalism while the key positions are held by the proletarian state, calculated on a struggle between the elements of capitalism and the elements of Socialism, calculated on an increase in the role of the socialist elements to the detriment of the capitalist elements, calculat ed on the victory of the socialist elements over the capitalist elements, calculated on the abolition of classes and on the building of the foundations of socialist economy" (J. Stalin, Collected Worics, VoL VII, Moscow, 1947, Buss, ed., p. 364).

The transition to the peaceful work of economic construction on the basis of the New Economic Policy marked a sharp historic turn in the policy of the Soviet State. In proclaiming this turn the Tenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party declared that the fundamental and decisive condition for its success was the unity and solidarity of the Party.

In a resolution "On Party Unity" proposed by Lenin, the con gress ordered "the immediate dissolution of all groups without excep tion which have been formed on the basis of one platform or another," and prohibited all factional pronouncements on pain of immediate expulsion from the Party.

The Tenth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.) also heard a report from Comrade Stalin on the national question and adopted the program that he proposed for making an actual reality of the equal rights possessed by the non-Bussian nationalities.

The First Results of NEP

After the Tenth Congress of the Party, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Coun cil of People's Commissars issued the first decrees giving a now direction to the economic policy of the Soviet State, By a law passed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on March 21, 1921, the surplus-appropriations system was replaced by a tax in kind, the total return from which was to be a little over half of that obtained from the surplus appropriations. On April 22, the Council of People's Commissars fixed the total amount of the tax in kind at 3,850,000 tons, as against 6,800,000 tons obtained from the surplus appropriations. Hie Council of People's Commissars issued a series of decrees permitting free trade in grain and withdrawing the food patrols from those gubernias which had completed their grain-sur plus deliveries. The restrictions which had been imposed upon the co-operative societies with respect to the purchasing of food were removed. The co-operative societies were granted the right to pur chase all kinds of agricultural produce and to lease industrial en terprises. Small artisans and handicraftsmen were granted the right freely to purchase raw materials and to sell their finished goods.

The Party launched an extensive campaign to explain its policy. On April 9, 1921, Lenin addressed a meeting of leading members of the Moscow Party organizations at which" he dealt with the main question troubling large numbers of workers, namely, to what extent were free trade and individual production compatible with socialist production, and did free trade mean the abandonment of the build ing of Socialism in our country. In answer to these questions Lenin reminded his listeners that with the dictatorship of the proletariat in force, trade, and therefore capitalism, which was permitted within certain limits, must be controlled and regulated by the proletarian state.

Lenin set the proletarian state the following task: it "must be come a cautious, assiduous and shrewd 'businessman,' a punctilious toJiolesale merchant — otherwise it will never succeed in putting this small-peasant country economically on its feet" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Two-Vol. ed., Vol. II, Moscow, 1947, p. 752).

Trade, to use Lenin's expression, was — in 1921-1922 — the 'Tink" which had to be grasped in order to pull up the whole "chain," i. e., to ensure the successful building of Socialism. "Com munists," said Lenin, "must learn to trade." Some Communists said: "We were not taught to trade when we were in prison." To this Lenin answered: "There were lots of things we were not taught in prison which we were obliged to learn after the revolution , but we learned them and learned them very well" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, VoL XXVII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 75).

At first, economic development proceeded slowly on the basis of the New Economic Policy, for the consequences of the Civil War, the blockade and the general state of ruin made themselves severely felt. In 1921, there was a grave failure of the harvest and 20,000,000 people starved. The Volga Region, which had been devastated by the Whiteguards, was particularly hard hit.

The Soviet government mobilized resources to assist the famine stricken ; voluntary contributions were collected all over the country, tlie slogan being "Ten persons who have food must feed one starving person."

The capitalist world tried to take advantage of these new difficulties, and saboteurs and spies set fire to and blew up Soviet enterprises. The American Relief Administration adapted its operations to this hostile, subversive work.

The New Economic Policy, however, strengthened the alliance between the workers and peasants. Agriculture began to revive, and the autumn sowing in 1921 was carried out successfully. Even the famine-stricken districts sowed 75 per cent of their winter crop area. Kulak bandit ism was wiped out, the peasants assisting the Red Army in this. Industry and transport began to be restored.

The first results of the New Economic Policy were summed up at the Ninth Congress of Soviets, which opened at the end of December 1921. The congress took a number of decisions which were to adjust the entire work of Soviet bodies and the whole of Soviet legisla tion to the new conditions. It proclaimed the raising of agriculture as the most important task of the period immediately ahead; it called upon industry to supply the peasants with larger quantities of manufactured goods. To demonstrate the first achievements of agriculture it was decided to organize an agricultural exhibition in 1922.

This congress adopted a special declaration on the international position of the R.8.F.S.R., stating that world imperialism had not abandoned its designs to overthrow the Soviet State. The declaration went on to say: "The congress warns the governments of neighbouring oountries that if they, in future, encroach upon or support encroachments upon the integrity of Soviet territory and the security of the Soviet Republics, the latter, in their legitimate and just defence against those who threaten the security and welfare of the republics, will be compelled to retaliate in a way that may prove fatal for the at tacker and his accomplices."

The Economic Restoration of Soviet Russia

Failure of Attempts to Conduct Economic War Against Soviet Russia

After their plans to crush Soviet Russia by armed force had failed, the foreign imperialists began to plan economic war against her with the object of transforming her into their colony by "peaceful" means with the aid of their capital.

At a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Entente that was held at Cannes in the beginning of 1922, the British Prime Minister Lloyd George proposed that an international conference be called "to restore the vitality of the European system." In addition to the Entente countries, Germany, Austria and Soviet Russia were invited. The conference was held in Genoa in April 1922. Aiming to "restore Europe" at Soviet Russia's expense, the Entente presented the Soviet delegation with a memorandum in which it demanded the repayment of the foreign loans contracted by the tsarist government and the Provisional Government, the restitution to the foreign capitalists of their enterprises which had been confiscated by the Soviet State, and the cessation of Communist propaganda in other countries. The Soviet delegation rejected the claims of the imperialists and presented coun ter-claims for damage caused by the blockade and intervention. The Soviet government agreed to pay the pre-war debts, but demanded postponement for thirty years and also credits for the restoration of Russia's national economy. '

The attempt to enslave the Soviet Republic failed. An attempt to form a united front of capitalist states against it also fell through. The Soviet government broke this front by concluding in Rapallo, a health resort near Genoa, a treaty with Germany establishing normal diplomatic relations with her. This took place in April 1922.

When the Genoa Conference closed, the "Russian question,'^ on Lloyd George's proposal, was submitted to a Committee of Experts which met at The Hague in July 1922; but at The Hague the Soviet delegation upheld the economic independence of the Soviet Bepublics as vigorously as it had done in Genoa. After the Genoa and Hague Conferences the Soviet Republic's international position was greatly strengthened. Its prestige was raised particularly by the fact that the Soviet delegation at the Genoa Conference had demanded a universal reduction of armaments.

The Offensive Undertaken on the Basis of NEP

In his report at the Eleventh Congress of the Party that was held in March 1922, Trf,uiT) stated that the transition from War Communism to the New Economic Policy had been, in the main, completed. "The retreat has ended," he said, and called for the regrouping of all the forces of the Party and the Soviet State for the purpose of launching an offen sive upon private capital.

Building the foundation of socialist economy meant building up a highly developed industry, for that is the foundation of Socialism; but the start had to be made with agriculture. As Comrade Stalin wrote: 'Industry cannot be developed in a vacuum, industry cannot be developed if there are no raw materials in the country, if there is no food for the workers, and if agriculture, the principal market for our industry has not to some extent been developed" (Lenin anxd Stalin, Selected Works, Vol. Ill, Moscow, Russ. ed.,p. 56).

At that time there were in the U.S.S.R. 20,000,000 small, individ ual, peasant farms, three-fourths of which were poor farms. These small and dwarf farms were still being run on the old and backward three-field system. About 40,000,000 desyatins of land lay fallow every year. Pastures, wasteland and bog amounted to 50,000,000 desyatins. In tsarist Russia, the area of land that was left uncultivat ed was equal to the amount that was cultivated, namely, 90,000,000 desyatins.

In 1922-1923, agriculture showed a marked improvement. The good harvest that was reaped in 1922 enabled the gubernias which had suffered from the famine to recuperate. The peasants were success fully restoring their livestock. The Soviet government called urgently for the transition to the rotation of crops system.

The growth of the productive forces in agriculture created the basis for the rehabilitation of industry. Strict accounting was intro duced into the operation of industrial enterprises. The workers began to retmm to the towns from the rural districts. Productivity of labour increased.

Hie restoration of agriculture ensured the development first of all of the light industry, i. e,, those industries which produce consum ers' goods. The value of the entire industrial output of Soviet Rus sia rose from 550,000,000 gold rubles in 1921 to 750,000,000 rubles in 1922, but the latter amounted to only 26 per cent of the pre-war output.

The old skilled workers who had preserved the factories during the Civil War were now the first to set to work to start them rumiing again, and carried out the first assignments of the Soviet State with tremendous enthusiasm. In the spring of 1922, the Kashira Power Plant, which was built during the Civil War, was put into operation. In October of the same, year, tlie first Soviet automobile was assembled. At that time too the first Soviet aeroplane was built.

With the transition to the New Economic Policy the invest ment of Russian and foreign private capital was temporarily per mitted in the U.S.S.R. During the first two years about 4,000 small enterprises were leased. The Soviet State retained possession of over 4,500 large enterprises, the work of which had considerably improved.

As state industry grew and became firmly established, private capital was squeezed out, but still occupied an important place in trade, mainly in the retail trade. Here too state and co-operative trade gradually developed and established itself in opposition to the private trader. Effect was given to Lenin's watchword of "Learn to trade!" The Party, led by Lenin, perseveringly and methodically waged the offensive against private capital within the framework of the New Economic Policy.

The Struggle Against Counter-Revolution in the Period of Restoration

The fact that capital had been permitted to function within certain limits gave a new impetus to the class struggle in the U.S.S.R. As Lenin wi*ote: "The enemy is the petty-bourgeois element which surrounds us like the air, and penetrates deep into the ranks of the proletariat. . . . The petty-bourgeois element in the comitry is backed by the whole international bourgeoisie, which is still world-powerful" (V. I. Lenin, Selected WorJcs, Two-Vol. ed., Vol. II, Moscow, 1947, p, 740).

Having lost all hope of overthrowing Soviet rule by force of arms, the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie began to base their hopes on its degeneration under NEP conditions.

For example, the bourgeois ideologist, Professor Ustryalov, in a symposium entitled Smena Vekh, called upon the boui'geois intel ligentsia to go into the service of the Soviet State, with a view to gaining control of the entire economic and cultural life of the country and accelerating the degeneration of the Soviet State into a bour geois state. Dealing with the class basis of this trend, Lenin said: "Tlie Smena Vekli-iiOi^ express the sentiments of thousands and tens of thousands of all sorts of bourgeois people, or of Soviet employees, who are participating in the operation of our new economic policy. This is the real and main danger" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., p. 243).

The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries had utterly ex posed their true character while the Civil War was still going on. Now they disguised themselves as non-party people and conducted a furious campaign against the New Economic Policy, speaking often at conferences of non-partj'^ workers.

Abroad there was a Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist organization which received funds from foreign governments for the purpose of organizing revolts in the Land of Soviets and of conducting espionage, sabotage and terrorist activities. The G.P.U. (State Political Admin istration), discovered an underground Socialist-Revolutionary organ ization, The members of this organization were arrested and brought up for trial before the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal on the charge of conducting counter-revolutionary terroristic activities against the Soviet State. The Second International sent lawyers to Moscow to defend these conspirators. The workers of Moscow met these advocates of the counter-revolution with a mighty demonstration of anger and derision. The Soviet court proved incontrovertibly the guilt of the Socialist-Eevolutionaries. Without even attempting to say anything in court tlie lawyers of the Second International left Moscow. The Supreme Tribunal passed sentence of death on 12 of the principal culprits, but ordered that the sentence was to be carried out only if the Socialist-Eovolutionary Party continued their tactics of terrorism and sedition.

The defeat of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Eevolutionaries, the split in the camp of the counter-revolution, and the differentiation developing among the bourgeois intelligentsia showed that the proletarian dictatorship was becoming more and more firmly estab lished and was successfully repelling the attacks of the counter revolution.

The Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Building of the Soviet System in the Non-Russian Regions of the R.S.F.S.R.

The People's Commissariat of Nationalities, which Comrade Stalin had directed since the beginning of the proletarian revolution, did a great deal to carry out the Bolshevik program of national self-determination by organizing autonomous national republics and regions and protecting the interests of the national minorities. As early as 1920, Russia was divided into adminis trative areas according to nationality, and the coimection between the outlying regions and Central Russia assumed the concrete form of autonomous national republics united in a federation of Soviet Republics based on common defence and economic tasks.

During the period of 1920-1922 a number of autonomous Soviet Republics and autonomous regions were formed and these affiliated to the R.S.F.S.R.

The Autonomous Bashkir Republic was formed as early as March 1919. Its first act was to restore to the Bashkir peasants the land which had been seized by the landlords and kulaks under the tsar. This en couraged the nomad Bashkirs to take up agriculture and helped to convert them to a settled way of life. Bashkir schools were set up, and in 1924 there were already 2,000 Bashkir elementary schools. The Bashkir Republic incorporated the South Urals, including its industrial region, and this served as a basis for creating a Bashkir working class.

In the spring of 1920, tho Tatar Autonomous Soviet Republic was formed. The First Congress of Soviets of the Tatar Republic elected a government and adopted a decision to affiliate to the Russian Soviet Federation. The Tatar Republic, which was severely affected by the crop failure and famine of 1921 , received assistance from the government of the R.S.F.S.R. in restoring its agriculture. In the spring of 1921, the Central Executive Committee of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic issued a decree making the Tatar language the official language of the Republic on a par with Russian. Under the tsar there were only 70 Russian village schools in the area of the Tatar Republic, but not a single Tatar school, except for the Mohammedan religious schools; in 1924, however, there were already in the Republic 1,700 elementary schools, conducted in the Tatar language.

In October 1920, the First Congress of Soviets of Kazakhstan proclaimed the formation of the Kirghiz Autonomous Republic on the territory of Kazakhstan. One of the first decrees issued by the Kirghiz Soviet government was that discontinuing further migration from Central Russia to Kazakhstan. This ensured security of tenure for the Kirghiz inhabitants and eased the task of converting the Kazakhs to a settled agricultural life. The Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirghiz Republic also issued a series of decrees concerning marriage law and abolished a number of ancient laws and customs which had perpetuated the survivals of the patriarchal-tribal system among the working people of Kazakhstan.

The Soviet State conducted similar activitievS in North Caucasus and in Daghestan aimed at the national emancipation of the peoples forming part of the R.S.F.S.R.

The Daghestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was pro claimed at the First Daghestan Congress of Soviets, held immedi ately after the termination of the Civil War. The specific feature of Daghestan is that its population is divided up into nxunerous tribes speaking six different languages and thirty-two dialects. Before Soviet power was established many of the peoples of Daghestan had no alphabet. By 1924, however, there were already over a thousand schools in the Republic. Shortly after the establishment of Soviet power industry and agriculture began to develop in Daghestan. Irri gation canals were dug to facilitate the further development of agriculture.

The Karelian Soviet Republic was formed in the summer of 1920. The White Finns exerted all efforts to destroy the Karelian Republic. In the autumn of 1921, White Finnish bands invaded Karelia. This invasion had been organized by the heads of the Vyborg Bank and the big Finnish lumber companies.

In February 1922, the White Finns were driven out of Karelia by the Red Army with the active assistance of the Karelian peas ants. After firmly establishing itself in Karelia the Soviet State proceeded to develop the immense power resources of the Karelian waterfalls. The erection of a hydroelectric power plant was soon begun on the river Konda. Education made great strides; a large number of elementary and secondary schools, conducted in the native language, were opened. Before the revolution there were scarcely any schools in Karelia, not even Russian schools.

The Yakut Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in 1922. Under the tsar, Yakutia had been a place of exile for revolutionaries. The inhabitants were subjected to monstrous exploitation and were dying out. The chief task of the new Yakut Soviet Republic was to regenerate the nationalities that inhabited its territory and to raise their material and cultural standards.

In addition to the Autonomous Soviet Republics, the R.S.F.S.R. included small autonomous regions possessing their own administra tions, such as the Adygei, Votyak or Udmurt, Mari, Oirot, Komi and other regions.

Soviet autonomy helped the peoples of Soviet Russia to strength en the fraternal alliance and mutual confidence without which the proletarian state could not have existed. This mutual confildence and voluntary accord between the peo]3los constituting the R.S.F.S.R. gave the Russian Federation a durability that no multi-national bourgeois state could possess.

As Comrade Stalin wrote: 'Tf the R.S.F.S.R. is the only country in the world in which the experiment in the peaceable co-existence and fraternal collaboration of a whole nmnber of nations and peoples has succeeded, it is because it contains neither ruling nor subject peoples, neither a metro2)olis nor colonies, neither imperialism nor national oppression. In the R.S.F.S.R. federation rests on mutual confidence and a voluntary desire for union on the part of the toiling masses of the various nations. This voluntary character of the federa tion must absolutely be preserved in the future, for only a federation of this kind can serve as a transition stage to that supreme unity of the toilers of all countries in a single world economic system, the necessity for which is growing more and more palpable'^ (J. Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question ^ Russ, ed., 1939, p. 92).

Formation of the U.S.S.R

The Party's national policy, di rected by Comrade Stalin, led to the close collaboration of the Soviet peoples. Six independent Soviet Republics were formed — ^the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.), the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Uk. S.S.R.), the Byelorussian Soviet Social ist Republic (B.S.S.R.), the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Georgian Soviet Social ist Republic. At first, all these Soviet Republics existed as independ ent states; they had their own armies, their own currency, etc. During the Civil War they combined their forces to wage a joint struggle against the interventionists and Whiteguards. When the Civil War terminat ed, the fraternal alliance of the Soviet Republics was still further strengthened. In December 1920, a treaty was concluded between the Uk.S^S.R. and the R.S.F-S.R. establishing a military and economic alliance. Some of the People's Commissariats, such as the Commis sariats of War and the Navy, Finance, Railways, Foreign Trade, etc., were amalgamated. Similar treaty relations were established between the R.S.F.S.R. and the other Soviet Socialist Republics — ^Byelorussia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

Experience showed, however, that these ties were not enough. Economic development called primarily for the further strengthen ing of the alliance between the peoples. Their meagre economic resources had to be combined in order that the best use could be made of them. The economic division of labour between the different regions made the separate existence of the national republics impossible. For example, the Donetz Basin, i, e., the Ukraine, was then the centre of the coal and iron and steel industry. Baku, in Azerbaijan, was the centre of the oil industry. Chiatury, in Georgia, was the centre of the manganese industry. Central Asia, i. c., Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, was the cotton growing region. The Moscow Region was the centre of the cotton textile industry and Petrograd of the engineering industry, and these are in the R.S.F.S.R. With such a division of labour, the building of Socialism was possible only if the national republics were economically and politically united. Unification was also dictated by the interests of defending the Soviet land. The successful activ ities of the joint Soviet delegation in Genoa and The Hague had proved the necessity of conducting a joint foreign policy. Unity was also prompted by the necessity of ensuring the all-round develop ment of all the nationalities in the Soviet State, where power is based not upon the exploitation of man by man but upon uniting all the peoples to form one socialist family.

Thus, life itself dictated closer and more expedient forms of collabo ration between the Soviet Republics. In March 1922, the three Trans caucasian Soviet Republics concluded among themselves a treaty of military, political and economic alliance. Thus was formed the Trans caucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The First Transcauca sian Congress of Soviets ratified the formation of the Transcaucasian S.F,S.R., set up a Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars, and sent a proposal to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to call a joint Congress of Soviets of the four republics — ^R.S.F.S.R., Transcaucasian S.F.S.R., Uk.S.S.R. and B.S.S.R. — to discuss the formation of a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Similar decisions were adopted by the All-Ukrainian and All-Byelorussian Congresses of Soviets.

On December 26, 1922, the* Tenth All-Russian Congress of So viets unanimously supported the proposal of the non-Russian repub lics. The speeches delivered at this congress by the representatives of the fraternal Soviet Republics were a mighty demonstration of peoples uniting voluntarily for the purpose of building Socialism. This community of tasks to be performed found splendid expression in tlio speeoli of the representative of Azerbaijan. "Azerbaijan," he said, '^is embodied in the Baku proletariat. The Baku proletariat has a revolu tionary history. From its ranks sprang heroes and martyi's like the twenty-six Commissars who laid down their lives in the steppes of Turlonenia for proletarian ideas. The Baku proletariat has produced leaders like Comrade Stalin. And these Baku workers, jointly with the Azerbaijan peasants, have declared ever since Azerbaijan was Sovietized, that the oil which Azerbaijan' supplies to all Soviet coun tries is not the property of the Azerbaijan proletariat alone, but the property of the proletariat of all the Soviet countries." The Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets unanimously adopted the resolution moved by Comrade Stalin urging the necessity of forming theU,S.S.R.

The First Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was opened on December 30, 1922. In the speech ho delivered at this congress, Comrade Stalin said: "But, comrades, today is not only a day of retrospect, it is also a day which marks the triumph of the new Russia over the old Russia, the Russia which was the gendarme of Europe and the hangman of Asia. Today is a day of triumph for the new Russia, which has smashed the chains .of national oppression, organized victory over capital, created a dictatorship of the proletariat, awakened the peoples of the East, inspired the workers of the West, transformed the Red flag from a Party banner into a state banner, and rallied around that banner the peoples of the Soviet Republics in order to unite them into a single state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the prototype of the future World Soviet Socialist Re public" (J. Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question^ Moscow, 1940, p. 115). On Comrade Stalin's motion the congress unani mously adopted the declaration and treaty on the formation of the U.S.S.R., and instructed the Central Executive Committee to draft thft Constitution of the U.S,S.R.

Notwithstanding his illness, Lenin devoted considerable attention to the work of forming the U.S .S .B, He approved the initiative taken in forming the Transcaucasian S .E .8 .R . and called upon the Transcaucasian Communists to explain to the broad masses how necessary a federation was for the purpose of establishing national peace among the numerous peoples of Transcaucasia who, in the past, had been torn by national enmity. In greetings that he sent to the Ukrainian Congress of Soviets which had gathered to discuss the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Lenin stressed the world-historical importance of the fraternal union of the peoples. In a speech made in 1923 Lenin said that questions concerning nationalities are such as "for hundreds of years have occupied the European states and as have been settled only to an infinitesimal degree in democratic republics. We are settling them, and we need somebody to whom the representative of any na tion can go and give a detailed account of wi at is wanted. Where can we find such a man?. . He went on to say that the only suitable man for this job was Comrade Stalin who, as People's Commissar of Nationalities, had without interruption directed the work of forming the fraternal union of Soviet Republics. "Nobody," he added, . could name a candidate other than Comrade Stalin" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXVII, Moscow, 1937, Russ, ed., pp. 263-264).

Comrade Stalin rendered enormous service in bi'inging about the formation of the U.S.S.R. and in drawing up the first Constitution of the Soviet Union.

The First Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

The structure of the Soviet State and of its organs, and the rights and duties of Soviet citizens were defined in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. The Consti tution was finally ratified by the Second Congress of Soviets in Janu ary 1924. Every Union Republic had its own Constitution. The Con stitution of the R.S.E.S.R., like the Constitutions of the other Union Republics, set itself the task of "guaranteeing the dictatorship of the proletariat with the object of suppressing the bourgeoisie, of abolishing the exploitation of man by man and of bringing aboul; Commun'sm. , .

According to the Union Constitution, the supreme organ of the U.S.S.R. was the Congress of Soviets of the Union, In the intervals between congresses, the supreme organ of Soviet power was the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. The Central Executive Committee consisted of two Chambers — the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. All the republics, irrespective of the num ber of their inhabitants, were given the right to send an equal number of representatives to the Soviet of Nationalities.

The Union and Autonomous Republics set up their own Councils of People's Commissars.

According to the 1924 Constitution of the U.S.S.R. the right to elect and be elected to Soviets was granted to all citizens of both sexes who had reached the age of eighteen on election day, irre spective of religion, race, nationality or domicile. Only those citizens were de| rived of electoral r'ghts who exploited hired labour, private traders, ministers of rel'g'on, former police officers and gendarmes and also those sentenced by a court to deprivation of political rights.

Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics constituted an en tirely new type of state, o ie which ensures the unity and friendship of the peoples inhabiting it in the work of building Socialism and of de fending the state against the imperialists, ensures the free national development of the peoples, their independence and constructive initiative in their internal affairs. Every republic was guaranteed the right freely to secede from the Union if it so desired, and affiliation to the Union was open to all existing Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as .to those which might arise in the future.

Lenin's Behests

Lenin's Last Public Utterances

In the spring of 1922, Lenin fell seriously ill. After the Eleventh Congress of the R.O.P.(B.) the Central Committee of the Party elected Comrade Stalin as its General Secretary. The Party and the working class regarded Comrade Stalin as Lenin's militant and tried comrade-in-arms, his most faithful disciple, and the continuator of his cause.

In October 1922, Lenin's health somewhat improved and he re sumed his functions for a short time. He presided at the meetings of the Council of People's Commissars, attended the meetings of the Party Central Committee and spoke at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. On November 15, 1922, he delivered a report at the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, in which he summed up the five years of the revolution in Russia and the pros pects of the world revolution. Lenin said: 'The peasants realize that w© captured power for the workers and that our aim is to oroabo a so -ciali&t system with the aid of this power. Therefore, the economic prep aration for socialist economy was most important for us. We could not do this in a direct way. We had to do it in a roundabout way" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. X, Moscow, 1938, p. 329).

Lenin amplified this idea at a plenary session of the Moscow Soviet held on November 20, 1922, when he stressed with even greater emphasis that in the conditions prevailing in Russia, the New Economic Policy was the only road to Socialism. He concluded his speech by expressing the firm conviction that . We shall all, not in one day, but in the course of several years, all of us together, fulfil this task, come what may; and NEP Russia will be transformed into Socialist Russia" (V. I. Lenin, OoUected Works, Vol. XXVII, 3rd Russ, ed., p. 366).

This was Lenin's last public speech. His illness took a grave turn for the worse. In January and February 1923, hurrying to take advan tage of every moment between the attacks of his illness, he managed to dictate his last testame it to the Party and to the country. It was contained in his articles "Pages from a Diary," "On Co-operation," "Our Revolution," "How We Should Reorganize the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection," and "Better Fewer, but Better."

These articles of Lenin taught the Party and the working class how to use the New Economic Policy as a means of building Socialism in our country, surrounded as it is by capitalist countries. In the article "How We Should Eeorganize the Workers' and Peasants' luspeotion" he urged the necessity of preserving and strengthening the unity of the Party, as the vital condition for the further success of the proletarian dictatorship. In his last article, "Better Fewer, but Better," he urged the necessity of strengthening the alliance between the working class and the peasantry and of achieving the utmost development of large-scale machine industry, the basis of Socialism. As he put it figuratively, it was necessary to change "firom the peas ant, muzhik horse of poverty ... to the horse of large-scale machine industry, of electrification, of Volkhovstroy, etc/' (V. I. Lenin, Selected TForfcs, Two-Vol. ed., VoL II, Moscow, 1947, p. 855.) In all his last articles and speeches Lenin gave concrete directions as to how this was to be accomplished.

He was of the opinion that Socialism could be achieved in agricul ture by uniting the individual peasant farms to form co-operative farms, and by reorganizing agriculture on the basis of machine industry and electrification. In his article "On Co-operation" he showed that the Land of Soviets possessed all that was needed to build complete socialist society. Amplifying Iiis co-operative plan, Lenin showed tliat the medium through which the ];easants were to bo drawn into socialist construction was co-oxieration; but complete co-oper ation and the transition to Socialism could not be achieved without a cultural revolution, for the cultural backwardness of the peasants was the most serious obstacle to the socialist re-organization of agriculture.

Lenin called for the raising of cultural standards in the U.S.S.R. and in this regard urged that a start should be made by abolishing that shameful survival of tsarism — illiteracy. The standard of literacy in Russia was still far below that of the more cultured countries in West ern Europe. In 1920, the rate of literacy in Russia was 319 per 1,000 and in some districts it was even lower. Lenin demanded that school teachers should be placed on a level on which they had never stood nor ever could stand in bourgeois society.

The main points of Lenin's great plan for the building of Socialism in our country may be enumerated as follows: having seized power, hold the key positions in the economic life of the country; place the country's economy on. the basis of modern advanced tech nique; build socialist industry and by means of it technically re-equip agriculture; organize the peasants in co-operative societies and convert small individual backward agriculture into large-scale collective so cialist agriculture; secure the economic independence of the Land of Soviets and build up its defences; strengthen the U.S.S.R. as the base of the struggle for Socialism all over the world.

The Twelfth Congress of the Bolshevik Party

In March 1923, Lenin suffered a severe relapse. He was taken to the village of Gorki near Moscow. His condition roused grave apprehensions. The entire people waited anxiously e^ery morning for the bulletin of their leader's health.

In April 1923, while Ijenin was ill, the Twelfth Congress of the Party was held. The proceedings were directed by Comrade Stalin. In its decisions the congress took into account all the directives Lenin had given in his last articles and letters.

The congress strongly rebuffed all those who interpreted the New Economic Policy as a retreat from the socialist position and wanted to divert the development of the Land of Soviets to the path of tie res toratioi of capitalism. The Trotskyites and Bukharinites proposed that vital branches of industry should be leased to foreign capitalists, and Trotsky even wanted to have the Putilov and Brj^ansk Plants closed because they were not showing a f^rofit. Trotsky's supporters tried to thrust upon the Party tjie disastrous policy of d'sru^>ting the alliance between the working class and the peasantry. They proposed that iiidusory should be developed by ex )loitiag the peasaits. They also proposed that the debts contracted by I'.he tsar's government sl^oiiJd be j?aid to tie foreign ca 2 htalists and that t)ie mono^ioly of foreign trade be abandoned.

The Twelfth Congress of the Bolshevik Party unanimously reject od and condemned all these defeatist proposals of the Trotskyites and Bukharinites. It proposed that industry should be developed not at the expense of the peasants, but in close conjunof.^on witiii tliem. The congress devoted considerable attention to jiroblems concern ing tlie policy of the Soviet Stale on the national question.

The reporter on this subject was Comrade Stalin, who unfolded a broad program of naeasures for abolishing the economic and cultural inequality that existed among the peoples of the Soviet Union. He par ticularly emphasized that the Russian proletariat, who had ren dered the oppressed nationalities fraternal assistance in their struggle against their enslavers, should now render them "real, systematic, sincere and genuine proletarian assistance" in economic and cultural development. "The Russian proletariat," he said, "must takn every necessary measure to establish centres of industry in those republics" (J. Stalin, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question, Moscow, 1940, pp. 137-138). The congress denounced the Georgian national deviators who had opposed the formation of the Transcaucasian Pederation and the cementing of friendship among the Transcaucasian people. The Trotskyites and Bukharinites supported these Georgian nationalists.

The Foreign Imperialists Attempt to Drag the U.S.S.R. into War

The foreign imperialists resolved to take advantage of tJie grave sit uation created in the country and in the Party by Lenin's illness and, by means of new acts of provocation, tried to drag the U.S.S.R. into war and thus disrupt the work of socialist construction. Foreign spies developed extensive espionage and sabotage activities in the U.S.S.R. The Soviet government had a number of British spies arrested and deported them. Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, sent the Soviet government an ultimatum demanding "damages" for the arrest of the spies, that the Soviet plenipoten tiary representatives be recalled from Persia and Afghanistan because of their alleged anti-British activities, and that British fishermen be per mitted to fish off the Soviet coasts. The ultimatum was accompanied by a threat of new intervention.

The bourgeoi's press in Great Britain and France launched a fierce anti-Soviet campaign. Encouraged by Curzon 's ultimatum, the dregs of the various Whiteguard gangs abroad became active again. In May 1923, V. V. Vorovsky, the Soviet representative in Italy, a most prom inent Bolshevik and outstanding Soviet diplomat, was assassinated while in Switzerland, by a Whiteguard,

The working people of the U.S.S.E.. answered Curzon 's ultimatum and the assassination of Vorovsky with huge protest demonstrations in which they expressed their determination to resist. All over the country funds were collected for the construction of an aircraft squadron which was named "Ultimatum. " At that time also the society known as the Friends of the Air Fleet was inaugurated.

In answer to all acts of provocation the Soviet government sent a note contai liiig the categorical warning that "the position of the Soviet Republic has not, cannot have, nor will have anything in common with dependence upon the will of a foreign government."

Curzon 's act of provocation roused a storm of protest and indigna tion among the British workers, and the Conservative government was forced to resign. At the end of 1923, the so-called "Labour govern ment," headed by Ramsay MacDonald, came into office in Great Brit ain, and in February 1924, yielding to the demands of the British workers, the MacDonald government recognized the Soviet government and established diplomatic relations with it.

The Difficulties of Restoring the National Economy

International complications were aggravated by the difficulties of restoring the na tional economy. The growth of industry lagged behind the country's requirements. At the end of 1923, there were about a million unem ployed in the country. In July 1923, the Supreme Council of National Economy, which was headed by the Trotskyite Pyatakov, issued an order to the State Trusts to make the highest possible profit by raising the prices of manufactured goods. The price paid for, grain, oa the other hand, was kept at a low level.

The result was that the peasants found it difficult to buy manufac tured goods and the factories had no market for their products. Co-oper ative and state trade lacked working capital. The Soviet currency became unstable. This affected the economic position of the workers and peasants. The Trotsky ites declared that these temporary economic difficulties were indicative of a "crisis" of the whole economic sys tem of the U.S.S.R. under the New Economic Policy.

At this time the Soviet government was exerting efforts to reform the currency by replacing the depreciated paper currency with chervon tsi, or ten-ruble notes, having a firm gold backing. The Trotsky ites sabotaged this financial reform by issuing orders to raise the prices of manufactured goods and declared that the reform and stabilization of the currency was unprofitable for industry. Instead of reducing prices, the Trotskyites advocated "commodity intervention," that is to say, the purchase abroad of deficient goods. As a means of obtaining funds they advocated the raising of taxes, the raising of prices of manufactured goods, and so forth. Their object in pressing for these measures was to frustrate the building of Socialism, which had successfully begun, to cause a rupture between the working class and the peasants, and to convert the economy of the U.S.S.R, into an appendage of capitalist Europe.

Taking advantage of the aggravation of the international situa tion, the economic difficulties in the U.S.S.R. and of Lenin's illness, the Trotskyites began secretly to rally the remnants of the defeated anti-Leninist groups for another attack upon the Party. Tliey wore joined by the "Democratic Centralists," remnants of tlio "Workers' Opposition," former "Left Communists," Menshevik typos expelled from the Party, and similar scum, who were united by their common hatred for the Leninist Central Committee of the Party.

In the autumn of 1923, the Trotskyites dragged the Party ijito an other fierce discussion, but the Party rallied around Comrade Stalin who was fighting for Leninism against Trotskyism. The Trotsky ites were exposed and defeated. The platform of the Trotskyite op])03i tion was unanimously condemned and defined as a potty-bourgeois deviation, as the revision of Leninism.

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