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. 163

E. M. Yaroslavsky - V. I. Lenin

October 3, 1922

Rome. 3.X. 22 y.

Dear Vladimir Ilyich.

I am writing to you from Rome, where the decision of the Politburo threw me . We have already examined all the Berlin representations and are going to leave for London one of these days. As it seems to me now, the result of our trip could be and probably will be some streamlining of reporting, a reduction in the number of representative offices and a reduction in the number of employees of these representative offices, greater clarity and responsibility in work. One condition is necessary for this: that this revision, in its results, should not be an ordinary revision of RCTs, which have developed a contemptuous attitude due to the impunity of persons whose criminality has been discovered by more than one revision, and who, nevertheless, continue to sometimes play a decisive role.

The reason for this letter is certain facts from the life of the German and Italian working class, picked up by me, though without a deep study of the question, but confirmed by the comrades working in Germany and Italy. Since you will make a report at the Fourth International Congress of the Comintern on the prospects of the revolution , 2 I think that the facts presented will be of use to you.

In Germany there is a growing sympathy among the workers for the KKE. The Scheidemanns 3 call the movement of factory committees communist. It is not yet, but it can be so in the shortest possible time. On Sunday, October 1st, I saw a demonstration of factory committees in Berlin. According to our Moscow scale, it is not very impressive. But more than 120,000 to 150,000 workers marching under the slogans of the Communists at the moment of the joyful unification of the Scheidemanns and the Independents means a lot. Not a single banner, poster, leaflet of the Scheidemanns. And clear sympathy for the communists, in this matter - the fight against "Vuhertum und Schibertum, Gegen Verelendung und Tejerun" 4the broadest mass. But at the same time, there is still a very great restraint in the movement. This restraint is explained by the profoundly serious attitude of the German workers to the slogans of the movement after all that they have experienced unsuccessfully. But there is also something else.

The German worker sees that talk of a crisis in bourgeois economy is, as it were, in conflict with certain facts. Krupp, Stinnes and other industrial and financial bigwigs are swelling, getting richer and stronger before his eyes, and it is difficult for him to accept the characterization of the German bourgeoisie as a colossus with feet of clay. And without this, it is difficult for him to believe in the possibility of victory over the bourgeoisie.

The second is our NEP. Although you said a lot of valuable things about this at the 3rd Congress of the Comintern, although the 3rd Congress unanimously recognized our tactics in this matter as correct and expressed admiration for them, the German workers did not grasp its necessity from the communist point of view. (We still have quite a few such workers today.) Therefore, they did a good job by indirectly including this issue on the agenda of the Fourth Congress. But it is precisely these sentiments of a section of the workers who regard our NEP as a renunciation of communist tactics, as a "compromise" must be kept in mind in the report.

Third, this concerns the activities of the Communist Party of Germany. It seems to me and to many comrades who come from Russia that the Party does not know how to make use of the crisis, that it issues vague slogans, that it does not have a well-defined line, that it does not systematically accustom the workers to the idea that they will take power into their own hands. Hence - a certain confusion, lack of clarity of line, so necessary for the masses and so always distinguishing our party.

True, comrade. Bukharin, with whom I spoke about Rote Fahne and the activities of the German comrades in general, thinks that now everything is going well in the German Communist Party. But such facts as the trend towards complete independence from the party of the trade union movement, which is observed among professional communists in Germany, make us regard this "well-being" somewhat differently.

In Italy it is impossible not to talk about fascism. At the recent congress in Rome of the Italian Socialist Party, almost nothing was said about him. Meanwhile, the Fascists are clearly moving towards seizing power not only locally, but also on a national scale. Ministers gradually become defenders of fascism. The Nazis FORCE entire organizations to join the party. Youth unions and local communist cells ALL sometimes fit in with the fascists. Several newspapers are in the hands of the fascists (Il Popolo d'Italia and others). They are financed by the Banco Commerciale and, in addition, they receive large sums from the French government. The 200,000-strong gendarmerie corps sympathizes with them and helps them. The army is either sympathetic or neutral, inactive. About 75% of the officers are in Fashi. Mussolini has every reason to say that in two months they will take power into their own hands. They could take her now if they made a serious effort. When the fascists in Saint-Michello broke into the car and demanded that I take off the badge of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, no one dared to say a word to them. The socialist deputy Mucci fell silent cowardly when he suspected a fascist neighbor. The Fascists are already now the second state power in the country, whose laws are no less binding than those of the royal government. And the workers are influenced not only by the mistakes of the Communist Party of Italy and the behavior of socialists like Serrati, but even more so by the Turatians, not only by the impotence of the socialists and not only by the terror of the fascists. They are influenced by the ORGANIZATION of the fascists, they are impressed by the POWER THE FASCITS HAVE SOMETHING TO LEARN OUR ITALIAN COMRADES. All these facts that I am reporting are probably well known. But at the Congress of the Comintern, clear, distinct conclusions must be drawn from them, because the methods of fascism may for a time become the methods of the bourgeoisie in other countries (and in some places they are).

I am very sorry that I could not see you in Moscow, although I made several attempts to do so. I would like to share with you some conclusions about the peasantry drawn from the experience of Siberian work. Upon arrival in Moscow, I will definitely do this.

With comradely, communist greetings and joy at your return to work, Em. Yaroslavsky.

Please convey my regards to Maria Ilyinichna and Nadezhda Konstantinovna.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 326. L. 20-22. Typewritten text. The signature and the postscript after the signature are autographs.

Notes:

On August 14, 1922, the Orgburo approved a commission chaired by Yaroslavsky for the revision of foreign missions (RTsKhIDNI, F. 17, Op. 112, D. 361, L. 1). Yaroslavsky was offered to go abroad within a week, but he appealed to the Politburo with a protest against this decision. On August 17, the Politburo approved the decision of the Orgburo, but gave Yaroslavsky leave before the trip (Ibid. Op. 3. D. 308. L. 3).

2 With a report “Five Years of the Russian Revolution and the Prospects of the World Revolution”, Lenin spoke at the IV Congress of the Comintern on November 13, 1922 (Lenin V. I. PSS. T. 45. P. 278-294).

3 Scheidemann is one of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

4 Distorted German: "usury and speculation, against impoverishment and high cost."

No. 164

AM Nazaretyan — G. K. Ordzhonikidze

October 21, 1922

Dear, dear Sergo!

It's hard for you there now, I remember the past days. Then it was worse. Then we hung in the air and, by instinct, stubbornly and firmly held one line. Now Stalin and Lenin are with you. Everyone here was unusually outraged by the tone of the note about the "old Marxists." Their impudence has gone so far that they bypass even Stalin and report to Ilyich through Bukharin. Now this last path also gave them nothing. Koba is very determined 1 . Nothing new, nothing special. On the 25th we will be in Vladivostok. Deveru 2 - cover 3 . An agreement with Otto Wolf is brewing 4 . Things are no worse with the Americans 5. Koba is finishing the second letter today, from which you will learn everything. The letter is larger than the past and richer in content. Chess will be ready by the 1st. You are on a magnificent horse with your long nose (well, don’t swear, I feel that when reading this you will call me salty Armenian).

Well, I wish you success in this difficult, painful struggle not with the Mensheviks, but with your own, our close friends yesterday. It hurts, even here, I can't believe that such comrades as Seryozha 6 , Kote 7 , Eshba, finally, Philip 8 could go so far and sink to such vulgarity. Well, God be with them, maybe they will recover in Russia 9 .

I shake your hand tightly and kiss you warmly.

Your Amayak.

21/X

I take advantage of Comrade Egorov's departure and send this note. AND.

RTSHIDNI; F. 85. Op. 1/S. D. 13. L. 4-5. Autograph.

Notes:

On October 19, 1922, at the expanded plenum of the Tiflis Party Committee, members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia Tsintsadze, Okudzhava, Kavtaradze and Makharadze made statements in which they welcomed the decisions of the plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) of October 6, 1922 on the formation of the USSR, but at the same time announced that they will petition for the liquidation of the Transcaucasian Federation and the independent entry of the Transcaucasian republics into the USSR. The leadership of the Zakkraykom qualified these statements "as an unacceptable violation of party discipline." Ordzhonikidze threatened to take the case to Moscow and made several offensive statements. The Zakkraykom decided to release Okudzhava from the duties of Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. In response, a group of Georgian communists, on the night of October 20-21, called Yenukidze, secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by direct wire and asked them to convey to Kamenev and Bukharin a statement: “Soviet power in Georgia has never been in such a threatening position as it is at the moment.” “All this,” the appeal said, “was created by Ordzhonikidze, for whom persecution and intrigue are the main weapon against comrades who do not servile him. It became unbearable to live and work under his Dzhimordovsky regime. Do we really not deserve a better leader in the Marxist and comradely sense, and are doomed to be the object of tyranny? In Moscow, this appeal was condemned not only by Stalin, but also by Lenin, who telegraphed to Georgia: “[...] I strongly condemn the abuse against Ordzhonikidze and insist on transferring your conflict in a decent and loyal tone to the permission of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the RCP, to which Your message has been transmitted over a direct wire” (Zhuravlev V., Nenarokov A. V. I. Lenin: “Together and on an equal footing ...” // Lesson gives history. M., 1989. P. 124-127).

2 Far Eastern Republic.

3 We are talking about the entry of the Red Army into Vladivostok and the liquidation of the Far Eastern Republic. On November 15, 1923, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree on the unification of the Far Eastern Republic with the RSFSR.

On October 20, 1922, the Soviet press reported that the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR approved "an agreement with a consortium of the largest German factories ... led by the Otto Wolf concern" on the establishment of a "Russian-German trading joint-stock company." On November 16, a protocol on the establishment of the society was signed in Berlin (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. T. V. M., 1961. S. 623-624, 762).

5 We are talking about economic agreements with American oil companies on the development of fields in Azerbaijan and the Far East (Ibid., pp. 722-723, 759).

6 Kavtaradze.

7 Tsintsadze.

8 Makharadze.

On October 9 , 24, 1922, the resignation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia was accepted in Moscow. The former leaders of Georgia were supposed to be sent to work outside the republic (Zhuravlev V., Nenarokov A. V. I. Lenin: “Together and on an equal footing ...”, pp. 127-128).