Bolshevik Leaders correspondence

Bolshevik leadership Correspondence. 1912-1927
Collection of documents 1996.
Compiled by: A.V.Kvashonkin, L.P.Kosheleva, L.A.Rogovaya, O.V.Khlevnyuk.

No. 147

N. A. Lakoba — G. K. Ordzhonikidze

March 12, 1922

Dear Sergo!

Today I am leaving for Abkhazia, which is your luxury, if you have ever allowed yourself any “political luxury” at all. Without exaggeration, without falsehood, I declare quite sincerely that everywhere and everywhere in our revolutionary work, under all foreseen and unforeseen conditions, dear Sergo will accompany me and my comrades, as a leader, as an inspirer, whom we so easily perceive with a pure mind and heart. . In this respect, we are no exception to those (and there are very, very many of them) who truly devoted themselves to the cause of the Revolution, who are sensitive to everything that constitutes the gigantic work that you are so playfully doing in the vast expanse of the Proletarian Revolution. All this, of course, will not be seen by those whom I call communist artists, communist crooks,

Well, their....

I am leaving Tiflis with fresh forces, one might say, a professor. Do not think that I suffer from delusions of grandeur. It didn't happen at all. I am also insured against the so-called communist swagger. To put it simply, I can easily understand things, no matter how complex they are, at least it’s not so difficult for me to decipher all sorts of combinations of different “Kutaisi heroes” ... 1Do not be surprised at the blurryness of my thoughts. It would be possible to formulate more clearly the thoughts that I wanted to present to you. But I am deliberately not doing this now, probably, and for you there will be no particular need for this. I want to tell you directly about only one thing: This is that I was madly burning and burning with the desire to convince you by my work, my behavior, my revolutionary plans that I am devoted to the Communist Revolution and to you personally. And I will prove this at any time, under any conditions. The ears get in the way a little, but nothing. I will restore my hearing at a critical moment, when it will be necessary. In any case, I will prove to you that I am not one of those thousand people who daily sing praises to you, the devil knows why.

Sometimes remember the mosquitoes of Abkhazia, which are able to bite the enemies of the leaders of the Revolution.

I allowed myself such babble, taking advantage of your warm attitude towards me, which I still do not deserve, but I think I will deserve it.

With warm communist greetings, always devoted to you

N. Lakoba.

12/III 22

PS We had a deal with Comrade Rabinovich and came to an “agreement”.

N. Lakoba.

RTSKHIDNI. F.85. Op. 1/S. D. 11. L. 12-13. Autograph.

Notes:

1 We are talking about the leadership of the Communist Party of Georgia, which was in conflict with Ordzhonikidze in connection with the issue of creating a Transcaucasian federation.

No. 148

M. I. Kalinin — V. I. Lenin

March 27, 1922

Vladimir Ilyich

1. We live not only by authority, but also by the fact that a communist stands in all the most important centers of government.

And, finally, for better or worse, every communist is involuntarily the guardian of statehood wherever he is.

It ties the hands of our enemies; breaks the continuity of their grid.

2. You speak of the need to reduce the party to a size where it can be more or less easily surveyed, and that its size should enable the Central Committee to easily maneuver 1 .

Undoubtedly, this task is correct from the strategic point of view. But after all, we are forced to have the Red Army not only of a certain quality, but also of the required minimum quantity.

It seems to me that the necessary need for communists is expressed in a much greater amount than you think; this minimum, it seems to me, should not be less than half a million.

In any case, in this question, before solving it, it is necessary to first make a calculation of the real need for communists.

3. We have absolutely no idea whether our party is growing or shrinking at a given time (outside of the purge); all objective data show that it is decreasing, and there are grounds for believing that this decrease is mainly due to two social groups in the party—peasants and workers. There are no objective facts that would indicate that this process will not only stop, but will also go in the opposite direction - that is, the workers and peasants will be thrown into the party. The Genoa Conference , of course, is of no importance; even old Communists flee from the Party, as long as they do not occupy a responsible post.

It is not an easy task for a worker or peasant to be a communist today; it is enough to recall at least the need for their participation in the collection of surplus appropriations.

Belonging to the party does not give any advantages to the ordinary communist, on the contrary, it destroys his minimum well-being by frequent transfers and mobilizations, on the basis of which there is a strong departure from the party.

4. In my opinion, many years of experience is not at all a serious guarantee, a good way to select the best workers.

a) it is beneficial to a sedentary working man living in one place;

b) a worker striving to live a conscious life, striving to improve in his profession, is very mobile, inquisitive, thanks to which his candidacy in the party will turn out to be many times longer in practice.

5. The petty bourgeoisie, you say, can use the factory (this is so easy to do with our inaccuracy). It's a big mistake to think that it's easy to talk at the factory for six months. Workers do not like loafers. If, however, individuals manage to enter the factory, work for six months, gain the trust of the cell, we do not protect the Party against such people; anyway, with a little hurdle, they might just get the fake papers.

Finally, a paragraph could be introduced that would specify precisely that only those who actually do physical labor are considered workers.

The entire random element - foremen, graders, watchmen, etc. - should be classified as employees.

6. It would not hurt, at least [if] in Moscow, to check the growth of factory and factory cells - I have no doubt that this information would undoubtedly give a decrease in the number of Communists from January 1, 22, not counting assigned to their area.

7. Six months is a sufficient period for the workshop to form a definite opinion about the worker, both as a professional and about his political consciousness.

I repeat again that it takes a long time for a worker to join the Party, and that it is more difficult for a petty bourgeois to slip into the Party through a factory than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. He will find an easier way to get a recommendation from Comrade himself. Lenin or another authoritative member of the Central Committee.

8. About the experience of the Red Army.

Our service will probably be two or so years, which means that the length of service must inexorably be shorter than this period, if we believe that, in addition to commissars and commanders, there should be at least a little bit of Communists and ordinary Red Army soldiers. Let this minimum percentage determine the command.

I think no one will risk leaving the army with only communist command personnel, because then, undoubtedly, their connection with the Red Army masses will be lost. There is no reason to give a ticket when leaving, because there is almost no doubt that 9/10 military communist peasants will leave the party as soon as they get to the countryside. But they will be in the party again when they are mobilized for military operations.

9. It may not be entirely pleasant that the party is, as it were, a passing gate, but it seems to me that it is necessary for its own good, it always decreases and grows. We have no reason to delay who leaves it, but also there is no reason to tightly close the gates of entry.

For me, there is no doubt that the party lives only by selection, and among those selected, after a certain period of time, elements are again obtained that have not taken root for a number of reasons. No reduction in the number of members will guarantee the suspension of this process.

10. The restriction, the difficulty of entering the Party, strengthens the non-Party masses with an active element, creates leaders for it. I fear this danger more than the danger of the degeneration of the Party in the next one or two years. And there it will be seen - where to bend the line.

27/III-22 years

M. KALININ.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 27. L. 9-10. Typewritten text.

Notes:

one. The question of purging the party in the context of the transition to the NEP was raised at the XI Party Conference in December 1921. On the eve of the XI Congress of the RCP(b), the Organizing Bureau prepared a draft theses "On strengthening the party." Lenin got acquainted with the first version of the project on March 9, 1922. In a note to Molotov, prepared on the same day, he expressed the idea of the need to require the recommendation of members of the RCP (b) with three years of experience when admitting workers to the party, and with four years of experience when accepting peasants and Red Army soldiers. , and all the rest - with five years of experience (V.I. Lenin. Biographical chronicle. S. 230). On the eve of the Plenum of the Central Committee (March 25, 1922), on March 24, 1922, Lenin dictated to Fotieva the day of the transfer to the Central Committee of new remarks and proposals for the theses. In particular, he suggested that the Orgburo leave a candidate's seniority of six months only for workers who have worked in production for at least 10 years, increasing it to everyone else up to one and a half years. He proposed to the peasants and the Red Army men to establish a two-year, and to employees - a three-year experience (Lenin V.I. PSS. T. 45. S. 17-18). “Regarding your letter to the members of the Central Committee on the decision of the Plenum (25/III,” Molotov informed Lenin, “I answer: I fully agree with the essence of the letter. 1) Everyone needs to increase the length of their candidate's experience, except for the workers and the Red Guards (the latter are young people and it is possible to conduct relatively good political indoctrination there, in the Red Army). For peasants, employees and others - 2 years (for this I and a number of comrades, and at the Plenum were for this). I don't think it's necessary to increase it further. In any case, the next party congress can do this. 2. It is necessary to determine, so to speak, the content (checking) of the political [ic] work for the candidates seriously. The plenum of the Central Committee adopted Lenin's proposals and approved the draft theses of the resolution "On the Strengthening and New Tasks of the Party" (Lenin V. I. PSS. T. 45. P. 501). Further discussion of this issue took place at the 11th Congress of the RCP(b), which opened on March 27, 1922. entry not purely proletarian elements. To this end [...] approve the following procedure for admission to the party: a) for admission to the party, establish three categories: 1) workers and Red Army soldiers from workers and peasants; 2) peasants (except for the Red Army) and handicraftsmen who do not exploit the labor of others; 3) others (employees, etc.) [...]”. The condition for admission to the party of representatives of the 1st and 2nd categories was the presence of recommendations of three members of the party with three years of experience, for the 3rd - five members of the party with five years of experience. Moreover, for the 2nd and 3rd categories, mandatory approval of the issue of entry by the provincial committee of the RCP (b) was required. All youth under 20, with the exception of the Red Army, had to join the party through the RKSM. Candidate experience, for representatives of the 1st category was set for a period of at least 6 months, for the 2nd - one year, for the 3rd - 2 years (CPSU in resolutions ... T. 2. S. 504-505 ).

2 See note 8 to document No. 136.

No. 149

A. A. Solts — V. I. Lenin

March 27, 1922

Moscow, March 27, 1922! one

Vladimir Ilyich!

All your instructions about caution in admission to the party are absolutely correct; however, factory workers and young Red Army soldiers must be accepted.

The old are not always better than the young. One cannot lose sight of the fact that in the era of war communism, a lot of both adventurist and naive people simply made their way to us, who believed that he would taste all the benefits of socialism, namely, in the form as it is depicted in the novel “In a Hundred Years ".

Now it is clear to everyone that there are still many hardships ahead and that workers and Red Army soldiers will not come to us so much.

All those workers who took refuge in the factories from mobilization have long since left them. Under the worker one should understand only those who have been at the machine for at least a year.

The All-Russian Conference of the Control Commissions decided that in the future the Control Commissions should carry out the work of purging the Party. All that is necessary is to circularly recommend to the gubernia committees that they take care of the selection of appropriate Control Commissions and that the Control Commissions not be hindered from carrying out this purge.

It is necessary to intensify Party work in order to digest the young, it is necessary to carry out the strictest Party discipline, which they do not like so much, in relation to responsible Party workers, especially intellectuals, and by means of Party transfers, throw out all those who will not observe this discipline.

If we comply with all this, then we will cope with the matter.

With communist greetings:

A. Solts.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 27. L. 8. Typewritten text. The signature is an autograph.

Notes:

1 On the letterhead: “Proletarians of all countries, unite! Central Control Commission of the RCP (Bolsheviks). On March 28, 1922, Lenin talked with Solts (Lenin V.I. PSS. T. 45. P. 127).

No. 150

I. N. Smirnov - V. I. Lenin

[March 1922]

Vladimir Ilyich on the issue of restrictive measures when joining the workers' party.

A mass withdrawal from the party of peasants begins, the urban philistinism departs, but to a lesser extent. The only true reserve is the worker.

But there are very few of them in the party. ( At the factories of Petrograd - 2-3%, and the peasants in the army and navy - 10-12%).

There is no need to increase the obstacles to the entry of the workers, all the more so since the outside element from the working masses has already withdrawn - to the countryside, trade, and so on. I have had occasion to observe a sharply negative attitude of workers towards those of them who do not live only by working in factories, but are also engaged in trade.

Our misfortune is not so much that the Party has become clogged up, but rather that the old cadres are in no way connected with each other and with the Central Committee, cannot counteract the pressure of the new layer in the Party, and are dissolved by new people.

We must find a form for uniting this cadre, otherwise, under the pressure of the workers' opposition 1 (due to the grave financial situation of this opposition), our Party may really crack.

I. Smirnov 2 .

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 27. L. 11-12. Autograph.

Notes:

oneThe "Workers' Opposition" is a faction of the RCP (b) of the anarcho-syndicalist direction. It took shape in September 1920. In November 1920, she organized a special meeting at the Moscow Provincial Party Conference. On January 25, 1921, Shlyapnikov's theses "On the Tasks of the Trade Unions" were published in Pravda, which, along with Kollontai's pamphlet "The Workers' Opposition", became the program documents of the group. The main demand is the transfer of management of the national economy into the hands of the trade unions, the creation of an economic management body (“congress of producers”) from the “producers-workers” themselves, the concentration of management of individual branches of industry in the hands of the relevant trade unions, etc. Among the delegates of the Tenth Congress of representatives of the “working opposition” there were 45. As a result of the controversy (“discussion about trade unions”), which unfolded the day before and during the Tenth Congress adopted a resolution "On the syndicalist and anarchist deviation in our party" condemning the views of the "workers' opposition". Propaganda of her ideas was declared incompatible with belonging to the RCP(b). The XI Congress of the RCP(b) also returned to this issue and again condemned the activities of the group as factional.

2 On the letterhead: “Proletarians of all countries unite. RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY (BOLSHEVIK) SECRETARY OF THE REGIONAL SEVZAPBURO OF THE CC.