14th Congress

Fourteenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (b). December 18 - 31, 1925

December 1925. Verbatim report. - M.-L.: Gosizdat, 1926.

The Fourteenth Congress of the CPSU (b) was held in Moscow from December 18 to December 31, 1925. 1306 delegates took part in the work of the Congress

Rykov’s opening speech

Comrades, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, I welcome the XIV Congress of our Party. (Applause.)

During the time between the 13th and 14th Congresses, our Party has lost many old, staunch fighters who are most devoted to the interests of the Party and the working class. A member of the Central Committee, Comrade Frunze, has died; candidates for membership in the Central Committee, Comrade Frunze, have died. Myasnikov and Nariman-Narimanov, tragically died comrades. Sklyansky and Mogilevsky, a number of other responsible workers and the oldest members of our party went to the grave. I propose at the 14th congress to honor their memory by standing up. (The Congress rises.)

Comrades, the previous XIII Congress took place a year and a half ago. In such a revolutionary era in which we live, a year and a half is a very long time. It would be the greatest mistake to think that, in contrast to the period of the civil war, the direct struggle for power, the past year and a half was a period of calm. It is enough to enumerate the main moments of the struggle of the Party and the working class over the past year and a half to understand the whole fallacy of such a view. None of us can doubt that the struggle waged by the proletariat and the party during this period of time on the economic and cultural fronts plays no less a role in relation to the fate of the communist movement than [the accompanying struggle on military fronts ...

Over the past year and a half, the entire economic situation in the country has changed significantly.

In a number of branches of the economy, we have already reached or are reaching the pre-war level; for the first time major successes were made in the field of cooperative building. For the first time, the working class embarked on a new construction project on an economic scale.

The past year and a half can be defined as a period of rapid recovery [of the economy] of the USSR.

[In international politics, the position of the USSR ...] by the XIV Congress of the Party was recognized by all the largest states of the world, with the exception of America. For the first time, the role of the USSR began to be felt in the system of the world economy. Over the past year and a half, the sympathy of the workers of Western Europe for our Union, for our party, as the builder of a socialist society, has grown and strengthened. Even those strata of the Western European proletariat who doubted the success of our construction and the expediency of the October Revolution, upon direct acquaintance with the life of our Union, by sending special delegations, change their prejudice to ardent sympathy for our Union.

For the countries of the East and for all oppressed peoples, the USSR has become, to a greater extent than before, a symbol of the liberation movement.

These are, in the most general terms, our achievements over the past year and a half.

The general restoration process of our economy could not but contribute to an extraordinary increase in the political life of the entire country, the growth of the activity of all classes, groups, strata, and strata of the population. The masses of the people, freeing themselves from poverty and devastation - this difficult legacy of the civil war - are beginning to take an ever more direct and wider participation in the building of a new society.

But the economic revival of the country, strengthening the political and economic role of the working class, at the same time determined the growth of the activity of the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois strata of the population of our Union. In connection with the increase in the activity of the population and the economic revival of the country, both the administration of the state and the work of the party leadership have become extremely complicated. The main thing that makes it possible for the party to cope with new tasks in these incomparably more difficult conditions is the growth of the working class on the basis of the development of industry, its cohesion, organization, and activity. This determines the firmness of the proletarian dictatorship and the ability for the party to lead the life of the country with sufficient success in new, difficult conditions. It was in such a situation that the activities of the Central Committee elected by the XIII Congress proceeded.

In assessing the work of the Party and its Central Committee, one should neither overestimate the successes achieved and in no case underestimate the difficulties that have stood, are, and will still arise before the Party and its governing bodies. This difficulty was expressed at least in the fact that in the absence of sufficient experience and skill in the field of planned leadership, the absence of some elements necessary for planned maneuvering (for example, reserves), shortly before the congress we had to revise a number of economic plans drawn up in the fall. I'm talking about revising our grain procurement export-import plans, as well as the plan for the development of industry. Those miscalculations and blunders that were made during the elapsed time are by no means [...] a recovery process [...] to step as far as we wanted and how we thought to do it this fall. The pace of development will be slightly slower. But in general, it will be large enough even with the revealed difficulties in order “to significantly strengthen the role of the working class and the role of socialist elements in the entire system of our economy.

We must neither underestimate the difficulties facing the Party, nor overestimate the achievements made over the past time. Self-criticism, a clear awareness of all the difficulties, shortcomings and mistakes in our work are an indispensable precondition for the successful activity of the Party and the working class in the future.

The Central Committee submitted its main decisions on the peasant question, which has been the most urgent over the past time, for discussion at the KIV party conference. And its decisions, as well as the resolutions of the Yabrsk plenum of the Central Committee, were the main directive for the work of the party.

The XIV Congress of our Party, which is opening today, should take stock of everything that has been done in the past period. He must give an impartial assessment of the activities of the central bodies elected at the last congress, guidelines for further work, and determine the nearest paths of socialist construction.

We have entered a new era - the era of construction. This era raises a number of new questions, which, of course, cannot be resolved without discussion, without controversy. In the interval between the XIII and XIV Congresses, our Party resumed discussion with Trotskyism. In this discussion, the Party revealed the exceptional maturity and solidarity of its ranks.

At this congress, another group of questions is to be discussed, connected with the economic growth of the country's impudent, with the increased activity of all classes and strata of the population, with the building of socialism, with work in the countryside, etc. It seems to me that I will not be mistaken if I say that and in resolving these questions the Party will display the same self-control and the same solidarity as during the period of the above-mentioned discussion.

The past year and a half have been a test for all of us, for the entire party as a whole, how it copes with major tasks and issues in an increasingly complicated situation without Vladimir Ilyich. These one and a half years were an exam for the system of collective leadership of the Party, which was established by the Thirteenth Congress.

If we look back at what we have experienced, then we all recognize that the party that was founded by Vladimir Ilyich, which he led for many decades, turned out to be worthy of its teacher. She showed full maturity and did not follow events, but ahead of them.

Comrades, Party congresses have always been a completely exceptional event not only in the life of the Party itself, but also in the life of the working class and this country. Vladimir Ilyich always prepared with particular care for the party congresses and regarded them as events of decisive importance. After the death of Vladimir Ilyich, the party congresses also played a decisive role in new questions: in the interpretation of Leninism, in the application of the teachings of Comrade Lenin to the new living conditions of the working class and the life of the country. And in this respect the Congress is the ultimate authority. (Stormy applause.)

Comrades, the entire working class, and the entire country will follow with the greatest strain the work of the present XIV Congress of the Russian Communist Party. I think that I will express the feelings and thoughts of all the members of the Party and the entire working class if I say that the Fourteenth Congress will justify the hopes that the workers of our Union and the whole world are placing on it.

I declare the Fourteenth Congress of our Party open. (Applause.)

Comrade Ryutin has the floor for a proposal on the composition of the Presidium.

Ryutin. Comrades, the composition of the presidium, both personal and quantitative, has been coordinated with the senior convention and with all delegations. The Senior-Convention proposes a quantitative composition of the presidium of 47 people.

Rykov (presiding). Any other suggestions? Not. Who is in favor of the proposal, please raise your hands? Who is against? Who is abstaining? Adopted unanimously.

Ryutin. The composition of the Presidium is proposed as follows: Comrades. Stalin, Rykov, Bukharin, Tomsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Molotov, Kalinin, Rudzutak, Dzerzhinsky, Sokolnikov, Voroshilov, Andreev, Bubnov, Dogadov, Kuibyshev, Yaroslavsky, Shkiryatov, Krupskaya, Petrovsky, Kaganovich, Chimovar, Uglanov, Mikhailov, Antipov, Sulimov, Kosior St., Kubyak, Mikoyan, Ordzhonikidze, Kirov, Zelensky, Ikramov, Goloshchekin, Chaplin, Chudov, Kolotilov, Kabakov, Zhdanov, Krinitskii, Nikolaeva, A.P. Smirnov, Manuilkhky and Lashevich ...

Topics: International Situation - Imperialism, colonies and semi-colonies, winners and looser, contradictions between the winning countries, Capitalist World and the Soviet Union, External situation of USSR, The task of the Party.

Internal Situation of the Soviet Union – National Economy as a whole, Industry and agriculture, Trade issues, Classes, their activity, their ratio, Three Slogans of Lenin on the peasant question, Two dangers and two deviations on the peasant question, The tasks of the party. In the field of development of the national economy as a whole, we must work:

a) along the line of further increasing the production of harvest ^

b) along the line of transforming our country from agrarian into industrial;

c) in the direction of ensuring in the national economy a decisive preponderance of the socialist elements over the capitalist elements;

d) in the direction of ensuring the national economy of the Soviet Union the necessary independence in a capitalist environment;

e) in the direction of increasing the share of non-tax revenues in the general system of the state budget.

In the field of industry and agriculture, work:

a) along the line of developing our socialist industry on the basis of a higher technical level, raising labor productivity, lowering production costs, and increasing the rate of capital turnover;

b) along the line of bringing balances of fuel, metal, as well as fixed capital railway. transport in accordance with the growing needs of industry and the country;

c) along the line of intensified development of the Soviet industry of local importance;

d) along the line of raising the yield of land, raising the technical level of agriculture, developing industrial crops, industrializing agriculture;

e) along the line of including scattered peasant farms in socialist construction through mass cooperation and raising the cultural level of the peasantry.

In the field of trade, conduct work:

a) along the line of further expansion and qualitative improvement of the commodity distribution network (cooperation of all types, state trade);

b) along the line of maximizing the speed of goods turnover;

c) in the direction of lowering retail prices and further increasing the preponderance of Soviet-cooperative trade over private trade;

d) along the line of establishing a united front and strict procurement discipline among all procurement bodies;

e) along the line of increasing trade with the outside world, ensuring an active trade balance, and hence an active balance of payments, which is a necessary condition for maintaining a hard currency and a necessary guarantee against inflation.

In the area of the ratio of classes to work:

a) along the line of ensuring the alliance of the proletariat and the rural poor with the middle peasantry;

b) in the direction of ensuring the leadership of the proletariat in this alliance;

c) along the line of political isolation and economic pushing back of the kulak and the urban capitalist.

In the field of Soviet construction, to work along the line of a resolute struggle against bureaucracy, on the line of drawing the broad masses of the working class into this struggle.

Molotov. Comrades, the most important and most characteristic of the organizational work in our Party over the past period should be considered the growth of the activity of the workers and peasants and, in connection with this, the revitalization of mass organizations. We, the Party of Communists, have set and are setting the task of pouring this growing political activity of the workers and peasants of the working masses into our Soviet channel and directing this activity for the benefit of the proletarian revolution, for the benefit of building socialism. This means that the party, as the vanguard of the working class, at the head of the working class, must at the present time concentrate exceptionally great attention on the tasks of the communist education of both the broad non-party masses of the workers and the poor, farm laborers, and also the middle peasants in the countryside. The task of revitalizing the mass organizations is precisely the task of gradually re-educating the masses in the interests of socialist construction in modern conditions.

With the revival of the mass organizations of the working class in the city, the organizations of the working people in the countryside also revive. At the same time, both in the city and especially in the countryside, socially alien and hostile layers are reviving. In relation to these strata, the party and the working class have only one means - to overcome their resistance and, regardless of the obstacles and difficulties that stand in the way of our party in connection with the influence that these strata still have on the masses, to lead the masses to socialist construction., to the implementation of the work on which the Party, the Soviet government and all proletarian organizations are working.

The party understood the importance of the slogan of revitalizing mass organizations more than a year ago and set this task as a task that should be in the center of attention of the party and the working class in all organizational work. The October plenum of last year, which issued a directive to revitalize the Soviets, gave precisely that course, the line that determined a new moment in the development of the Soviet Union, a new era in the development of the proletarian revolution and the building of socialism, a new stage in the development of the party itself.

It is important for us that the tasks that the Party outlined more than a year ago, we really can accomplish in the way that communists, Bolshevik-Leninists, leaders of the proletarian revolution should do. For this, our Party must march invariably at the head of the working masses. For this it must always be the true vanguard of the working people. To do this, it must not lag behind in activity, but go ahead in its activity, initiative, in its participation in all practical socialist construction, which is currently unfolding. It follows from this that the party has emphasized at the present time as the most important matter in all its organizational work, namely, the development of intra-party democracy, the development of the activity of the masses in the party itself, the development of collectivity in the entire work of the party, the increase in the activity and participation of workers within the party and in all governing bodies, the party.

The party put forward as the main line in organizational work - the deployment of internal party democracy. This follows from the course towards the deployment of mass organizations, it follows from the tasks of our construction, as they now confront us.

These, in a nutshell, are the general conditions and the general political situation in which our party is currently operating.

I pass on to the main branches of the practical work of our Party.

I will divide my report into four main parts: the first part - the party and the leadership of the working class; the second part - the party and the leadership of the peasantry; the third - the party and the leadership of the state apparatus and the fourth - the party and the tasks of the internal party leadership,

As you can see, comrades, all these four parts of the report speak of the leadership of the Party, the tasks of the Party in the field of leading the masses, the tasks in exercising communist leadership in all the work of our Soviet construction and in all the activity of the working people.

Now I will turn to the first part of the report.

1. Party and leadership of the working class.

What questions should the Party raise in connection with the tasks of leading the working class, and what do we have now in this respect? It seems to me that there are the following three main points and three tasks to which we should pay attention:

1) the growth of mass proletarian organizations and the revitalization of their work;

2) strengthening the influence of the party in them;

3) the growth of non-party proletarian activists around the party. It is at these three points that we must stop for

in order to find out what are the successes of the party leadership in relation to the working class. In doing so, it would be most correct to devote the main attention to the tasks of leading the Party of the working class through the trade unions. On this example, on the example of trade unions, now it is necessary to dwell especially.

(…)

2. Party and leadership of the peasantry.

I pass on to the second part of my report. Here I will speak on the question of the party and the leadership of the peasantry.

In relation to the peasantry at the present time the party has basically the same three organizational tasks as in relation to the working class. These tasks can be briefly characterized as follows: on the one hand, the party is faced with the task of developing mass work and reviving the corresponding mass organizations in the countryside, while exercising correct political leadership over them; on the other hand, the task is to strengthen the influence of the party in these organizations, which, in essence, is the implementation of genuine proletarian leadership in the countryside, and, finally, it is necessary to create in the countryside a broad non-party peasant active around the party, which alone can provide in modern conditions the real influence and leadership of the party by the broad peasant masses.

(…)

RESOLUTIONS AND DECISIONS OF THE XIV CONGRESS OF THE CPSU (b).

About the place of work of the XIV Congress.

To change the decision of the XIII Congress - to conduct the work of the XIV Congress in Moscow.

According to the report of the Central Committee.

The Fourteenth Congress of the CPSU (B.) fully approves the political and organizational line of the Central Committee, which provided the party, the working class, and the whole country with a general rise in the national economy and strengthened the position of socialism both outside and inside the country.

Thanks to this policy in the international sphere, the Soviet Union received a number of new recognitions from the capitalist states, concluded a number of new trade agreements and concessions with them, increased its external trade and strengthened its international position.

Thanks to the same internal policy, the Soviet Union was able to secure a solid state budget, to move forward quickly, with a general rise in wages and labor productivity, the development of industry and the further development of agriculture, bringing their products to almost pre-war levels and ensuring the growing role of socialist elements. throughout the national economy.

Thanks to the same policy, the Soviet government strengthened the alliance of the working class with the peasantry and ensured proletarian leadership in it, raised the actual role and importance of the cooperatives, rallied large sections of the technical and other intelligentsia on the basis of socialist construction? under the leadership of the proletariat, strengthened the cooperation of the peoples of the Soviet Union and, with the successful implementation of regionalization, - began to lay the material and economic basis for the region, autonomous and union republics.

While noting these successes, the Congress at the same time notes mistakes in the procurement of grain and foreign trade, which threatened our hard currency, this necessary condition for our economic development, and led to the passivity of the trade balance. Approving the decisions of the Central Committee of the Party adopted at the beginning of November of this year and correcting these mistakes, the Congress instructs the Central Committee to strengthen its leadership of the work of the economic people's commissariats and to watch vigilantly that such mistakes do not occur in the future.

In the new reporting year, the party begins its work in new conditions, both external and internal.

In the field of international relations, there is evidence of the consolidation and expansion of the "respite" that turned into a whole period of the so-called peaceful cohabitation of the USSR with the capitalist states, despite the fact that the contradictions between these two camps are not weakening, but growing. This provides both the possibility of internal construction and - thanks primarily to economic relations with foreign countries - certain benefits for the acceleration of this construction in the USSR. On the other hand, the growing ties of our economy with world capitalism increase our dependence on this latter, which entails a whole series of new dangers and which the Party cannot but take into account in its work on socialist construction and ensuring the necessary economic independence for our country.

Within the capitalist countries it is necessary to note the partial stabilization of capitalism and the relative strengthening of the political power of the bourgeoisie in Europe; the unprecedentedly increased role of S.-A. Conn. States bordering on their global financial hegemony; the gradual decline in the role of the British Empire as a world power; I expect contradictions between the defeated and the victors in the imperialist war, contradictions in the camp of the victors themselves, contradictions between the United States of America and Europe; the undermining of the entire system of imperialism by the awakening colonial and semi-colonial peoples (China, India, Syria, Morocco), whose movement, taking the form of national liberation wars in some places, reached enormous, previously unseen dimensions; finally, the growth - in new forms - of the labor movement in Europe and its close connection with the proletariat of the USSR (the struggle for the unity of the trade union movement, workers' delegations in the USSR, etc.)

Relative stabilization and the so-called “pacification” of Europe under the hegemony of Anglo-American capital led to a whole system of economic and political blocs, the last of which is the Locarno conference and the so-called “guarantee treaties” directed against the USSR. These blocs and treaties, covered by the allegedly pacifist League of Nations and the false hype of the Second International about disarmament, mean, in essence, nothing more than the alignment of forces for a new war. Against these blocs of capitalist states under the hegemony of Anglo-Ayeriki, accompanied by a frenzied increase in armaments and therefore fraught with the danger of new wars, including the danger of intervention, the proletariat of the advanced countries is growing closer to the proletariat of the USSR under the slogan, above all, of the struggle for peace, the struggle against new imperialist wars and armed attacks on the USSR.

Considering these circumstances, the Congress instructs the Central Committee to be guided in its policy by the following basic provisions:

a) to strengthen in every possible way the alliance of the proletariat of the USSR, as the basis of the world revolution, with the Western European proletariat and the oppressed peoples, keeping a course towards the development and victory of the international proletarian revolution;

b) pursue a policy of peace, which should be at the center of the entire foreign policy of the government and determine all of its main statements;

c) to conduct economic construction from such an angle of view so that the USSR from a country importing machinery and equipment can be transformed into a country producing machinery and equipment, so that in this way the USSR in a capitalist encirclement cannot turn into an economic appendage of the capitalist world economy, but represents as an independent economic unit, built in a socialist way and capable, thanks to its economic growth, to serve as a powerful means of revolutionizing the workers of all countries and the oppressed peoples of the colonies and semi-colonies;

d) prepare, as far as possible, economic reserves that can provide the country from all and all accidents both in the domestic and foreign markets;

e) take all measures to strengthen the country's defense and strengthen the might of the Red Army and the Red Navy, sea, and air.

In the field of economic construction, the Congress proceeds from the assumption that our country, the country of the dictatorship of the proletariat, has "everything necessary for building a complete socialist society" (Lenin) The Congress considers that the struggle for the victory of socialist construction in the USSR is the main task of our party ... The reporting year has fully proved the correctness of these provisions. Before the seizure of power in other countries by the proletariat, but with its undoubted support, without the so-called "help" from foreign capital and in the continuous struggle with private capital in our country, the working class, in alliance with the bulk of the peasantry, had already achieved its first serious successes in socialist construction.

The past year was marked by the rapid growth of the national economy as a whole, with it approaching the pre-war level and the growth of its individual branches: industry, agriculture, transport, foreign trade, domestic trade, credit system and banks, public finance, etc. With all the diversity of its constituent parts (natural peasant economy, small-scale commodity production, private capitalism, state capitalism and socialism), the proportion of socialist industry, state and cooperative trade, nationalized credit and other commanding heights of the proletarian state is sharply increasing.

Thus, there is an economic offensive of the proletariat on the basis of the New Economic Policy and the advancement of the USSR economy towards socialism. State socialist industry is increasingly becoming the vanguard of the national economy, leading the national economy as a whole.

The Congress notes that these successes could not have been achieved without the active participation of the broad masses of the workers in the general work of building socialist industry (campaigns to raise labor productivity, production conferences, etc.).

At the same time, however, the special contradictions of this growth and the specific dangers and difficulties determined by this growth are developing. These include: the absolute growth of private capital and the relative decline of its role, especially private trading capital, which diverts operations to service the Village; the growth of kulak farms in the countryside, together with the growth of differentiation of this latter; the growth of the new bourgeoisie in the cities, striving to merge economically with the commercial capitalist and kulak farms in their struggle to subjugate the bulk of the middle peasant farms.

On this basis, the Congress instructs the Central Committee to be guided in the field of economic policy by the following directives:

a) prioritize the task of ensuring the victory of socialist economic forms over private capital in every possible way, strengthening the monopoly of foreign trade, the growth of socialist state-owned industry and the involvement, under its leadership and with the help of cooperation, of an ever increasing number of peasant farms in the channel of socialist construction;

b) to ensure economic independence for the USSR, protecting the USSR from turning it into an appendage of the capitalist world economy, for which purpose it is to pursue a course towards the industrialization of the country, the development of production of means of production and the formation of reserves for economic maneuvering;

c) based on the decisions of the XIV Party Conference, to promote in every possible way the growth of production and trade in the country;

d) use all resources, observe the strictest economy in spending public funds, increase the turnover rate of state industry, trade, and cooperation to increase the rate of socialist accumulation;

e) to develop our socialist industry at an advanced technical level, however, in strict accordance with both the capacity of the market and the financial capabilities of the state;

f) to assist in every possible way the development of Soviet local industry (district, okrug, province, oblast, republic), in every possible way stimulating local initiative in organizing this industry, calculated to meet the diverse needs of the population in general, and the peasantry in particular;

g) support and push forward the development of agriculture in the direction of improving agricultural culture, developing industrial crops, improving farming techniques (tractorization), industrializing agriculture, streamlining land management, and providing all-round support for various forms of collectivization of agriculture.

The Congress considers that one of the necessary conditions for the solution of these tasks is the struggle against disbelief in the building of socialism in our country and with attempts to view our enterprises, which are enterprises of the "consistently socialist type" (Lenin), as state capitalist enterprises. Such ideological currents, making it impossible for the conscious attitude of the masses to the construction of socialism in general and socialist industry in particular, can only slow down the growth of the socialist elements of the economy and facilitate the struggle against them on the part of private capital. The Congress therefore considers it necessary to carry out extensive educational work to overcome these distortions of Leninism.

In the field of relations between classes, the congress notes the following main phenomena, which are basically determined by the economic development of the USSR: the growth of the industrial proletariat, the strengthening of the kulaks in the countryside, the growth of the new bourgeoisie in the city, the rise in the activity of all classes and groups in our country. One of the main forms of the class struggle at the present time is the struggle between the capitalist and socialist elements of the economy, the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat for the mastery of the bulk of the peasantry. This struggle also finds its political expression, mainly in the attempts of the kulak elements in the countryside to take possession of the middle peasant strata and thus subordinate the Soviets to their influence.

If the poor and, above all, the farm laborers are the mainstay of the proletariat in the countryside, then the middle peasant is and must be its strong union. It should not be forgotten for a single moment that as a result of the abolition of landlord ownership and the transfer of landlord lands into the hands of the peasantry, as a result of the Kombedi policy and dispossession of kulaks in the countryside, and finally, in view of the withdrawal of land from commodity circulation (nationalization of land), the middle peasant strata of the peasantry have become extremely strong and that these strata constitute the present, despite the process of differentiation, the bulk of the peasantry. Without this mass as a solid ally or confining itself to only neutralizing these strata, now, after the consolidation of the proletarian dictatorship, it is impossible to build socialism. For the main way of building socialism in the countryside is that, with increasing economic leadership from the socialist state industry, state credit institutions and other commanding heights in the hands of the proletariat, involve the bulk of the peasantry in the cooperative organization and ensure socialist development for this organization, using, overcoming, and displacing its capitalist elements. Therefore, any underestimation of the middle peasant, misunderstanding of his exceptionally important role, an attempt to turn the party from the slogan of a lasting alliance with him to the outdated slogan of neutralizing it, "fear of the middle peasant" objectively leads to the undermining of the proletarian dictatorship, for thereby breaking the workers 'and peasants' bloc.

The struggle against the kulaks must proceed both by organizing the poor peasants against the kulaks, and by strengthening the alliance of the proletariat and the poor peasants with the middle peasants with the aim of separating the middle peasants from the kulaks in order to isolate the kulaks.

The lack of understanding of the full importance of the struggle along both of these lines is due to two deviations from the correct party line outlined by the XIV Party Conference and the October Plenum of the Central Committee.

The Congress decisively condemns the deviation which consists in underestimating the differentiation in the countryside; it does not see the dangers associated with the growth of the kulaks and various forms of capitalist exploitation, does not want to understand the whole need to repulse the kulaks and limit its exploiting aspirations, which does not see the obligation for the party of the proletariat to organize and unite the poor and farming against the kulak and in the fight against it.

But at the same time, the congress condemns with the same decisiveness the attempts to obscure the fundamental question of communist policy in the countryside, the question of fighting for the middle peasant as the central figure in agriculture, and of cooperation as the main organizational form of the movement of the countryside towards socialism.

The Congress especially stresses the need to combat this last deviation. While the party is relatively more prepared for direct struggle against the kulaks and for overcoming the first deviation, overcoming the second deviation is a much more difficult task, for overcoming it requires more complex methods of struggle to combine methods of political isolation of the kulaks with methods of drawing the bulk of the peasantry into the channel of socialist construction. Moreover, in the present conditions this second deviation threatens to return to the policy of dispossession, to disrupt the present line of the party in the countryside, a line that has already ensured serious political successes, to break the bond between the proletariat and the peasantry and, consequently, to disrupt all our construction work.

The congress fully approves the decisions of the XIV Party Conference on the peasant question (including on expanding lease rights and the right to hire labor, on helping handicraft industry, on the transition from a system of administrative pressure to economic competition and economic struggle, on revitalizing the Soviets and so on), aimed at further improving the party's policy in the direction of strengthening the bond between the working class and the peasantry. The congress notes that only this turn in party policy, resulting from the changed relations between classes, radically improved the situation in the countryside, raised the prestige of the proletariat and its party among the peasantry, and created a solid basis for broad organizational work to involve the peasantry in socialist construction.

At the same time, the congress fully and completely approves the decisions of the October plenum of the Central Committee on work among the rural poor. Only to the extent that the rise of the rural forces of the countryside is accompanied - in the current conditions of increased activity of all class groupings - by the organization of low-powered peasants and farm laborers, will the proper balance of class forces and the leadership of the industrial proletariat be ensured. Approving the decisions of the Central Committee on material assistance to the poor and on organizing groups of the poor, the congress stresses that there can be no question of either a return to Kombeds, or a return to the system of pressure from the period of war communism, the practice of "dispossession", etc. We are talking about the organization of the rural poor, which with the help of the party and state power in the struggle on the economic and political front (collective farms, artels, associations, cooperatives, cross committees, soviets) must get rid of the remnants of dependent psychology, take the path of organized class resistance to the kulak and to become a reliable pillar of proletarian politics in its struggle to rally the middle peasants around the proletariat. (Kombed; Committees of Poor Peasants, S.M)

The increased activity of the masses, along with the increased activity of all class groups and strata, itself - on the basis of economic growth - became a factor of paramount political importance. The proletariat and its party, as the main leading social force, must use this JJOJCÏ A to further involve the masses in the process of socialist construction on all fronts of this construction and “to combat the bureaucracy of the state apparatus. In the cities, the growth in the activity of the masses found expression in the revitalization of city councils, trade unions, workers' cooperatives, etc. In the countryside, the increased activity of the middle and poor masses found expression in the revitalization of the soviets and cooperatives. The Congress once again emphasizes that under present conditions it is impossible to strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat by the methods of war communism and administrative pressure; that it is impossible to build cooperation outside of its volunteerism, accountability of elected bodies to the voters, trust in these bodies on the part of shareholders; that the revitalization of the Soviets, the growth of their ties with broad circles of the working population is a necessary prerequisite for all further work of the Party and the Soviet government.

The revitalization of village councils and co-operatives, which unleashes initiative and activity among the peasantry, presupposes - from the point of view of preserving - and strengthening the proletarian leadership - revitalization and cohesion, an increase in activity and strengthening of the organizations of the proletariat. Only under this condition can the proletarian dictatorship be consolidated and a political line, correct from the point of view of socialism, ensured. Hence, first of all, the slogan of the revitalization of the trade unions - this mass movement of the Germanization, which seeks to encompass the entire proletariat without exception. Trade union democracy should be the method that facilitates the participation of the masses in their common work, expands the possibility of recruiting new nominees, renews the leadership of the trade union organizations and helps class cohesion and raising the class identity of the proletarian masses.

In order to properly carry out all this work to revive the mass organizations of the proletariat and peasantry, it is necessary that the leading force of these organizations, that is, The CPSU, in all its constituent parts, took the path of consistent internal party democracy. The congress approves the November appeal of the Central Committee plenum on internal party democracy and invites the party organizations to keep in mind the following tasks in this area: a) raising the activity of the broad party masses in discussing and resolving the most important questions of party policy; b) the consistent implementation of the election of leading Party bodies with the advancement of new forces for leadership work, the expansion of the Party activists and the formation of new Party cadres to help the old; c) improving the qualifications of the party activists, in particular raising their theoretical level; d) the dissemination of the foundations of Lenin's teaching in the widest circles of the party.

The strengthening of the party and the strengthening of its leading role in all spheres of our construction work, which is more necessary than ever before in the present difficult situation, also presupposes correct regulation of the composition of the Party. The congress considers it necessary to pursue a policy in this area aimed at raising the quality of the composition of party organizations, for the ever greater involvement of workers in the party and for a constant increase in the proportion of the proletarian party nucleus. At the same time, while reaffirming the need for strict implementation of the established measures of restriction in relation to the admission of non-proletarian elements to the Party, the Congress rejects a policy leading to an excessive swelling of the Party ranks and filling them with semi-proletarian elements that have not passed the schools of trade unions and proletarian organizations in general. Sezd condemns such attempts as attempts that have nothing to do with Leninism, deny the correct relationship between the party (the vanguard of the class) and the class and make communist leadership impossible.

The leading role of the party can be fully ensured only with absolute unity of will, the unity of the party ranks, and the preservation and strengthening of the Bolshevik proletarian discipline in the party.

The congress approves the Central Committee's policy, which was aimed at preventing open discussion with some leaders of the Leningrad organization and their individual associates from the Central Committee, trying to overcome differences in an internal order and to ensure the collective leadership of the party.

The Congress instructs the Central Committee to wage a decisive struggle against all attempts to undermine the unity of the Party, no matter where they come from and whoever they are headed by. The Congress expresses its firm conviction that the Leningrad organization will stand in the forefront of fighters for the solidarity and unity of our Leninist party, a unity that must be preserved and strengthened at all costs.

The congress welcomes the strengthening of ties between the proletariat of the Soviet Union and the proletariat of all countries. The Congress sees in this the growth of the influence of the Soviet Union as the basis of the international labor movement. The congress proposes that the Central Committee continue to strengthen in every possible way the bonds of international solidarity, under the sign of which the dictatorship of the proletariat was born, fought for its dominance, and strengthened.

According to the report of the Central Control Commission.

The XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks fully approves the activities of the Central Control Commission and approves the proposals made by it on the work of the Central Control Commission and the RCI.

The congress states that as a result of the work of the Central Control Commission and the RCI, a number of improvements will be achieved in our state apparatus.

The Congress especially approves of the work of the Central Control Commission in combating the contamination of the Party by alien and decaying elements, in particular, the Congress recognizes the correctness of the check of unproductive cells carried out by the Central Control Commission.

The Congress approves the position taken by the Central Control Commission on the question of preserving the unity of the Party and supporting the Leninist line of the Central Committee.

The Congress instructs the new composition of the Central Control Commission to fight even more resolutely against ideological vacillations and attempts to violate the Party's united will and discipline and to take all measures to ensure the consistent and unswerving implementation of the decisions adopted by the Fourteenth Congress.

On the work of the Central Control Commission and RCI.

Communication with the masses and intra-party democracy.

I. From the whole construction of the plan comrade. Lenin's reorganization of the Central Control Commission and the RKI clearly follows the need to involve broad masses of workers and peasants in the work to improve the state apparatus. Without attracting the attention of these masses to their work, without involving them in improving the state apparatus, without recruiting people from these masses to replace the old incorrigible bureaucracy, there can be no talk of great achievements in the work of the Central Control Commission and the RKI.

The enormous growth in the political activity of the working class and the strata of the peasantry close to it, which has recently manifested itself, creates a favorable environment for the involvement of these masses in state building. The main mass organizations with which close ties must at all costs be established by the Central Control Commission and its bodies are trade unions, industrial conferences and economic commissions in Soviet institutions, delegate meetings of women workers, youth organizations, council sections, etc. Public initiative should be deployed much wider. The Central Control Commission and its organs should not only encourage the creation of all kinds of free societies and circles among workers and peasants (for example, circles and societies of technical education, agronomy, inventions, radio, "friends of the book", etc.), but by contacting them, keep an eye on what new forces are emerging here in different industries, move them forward gradually, as their qualifications grow, involving them in the work of the state apparatus.

It is quite obvious that this growing initiative of the masses in the soviets, in the cooperatives, in the trade unions, in the initiative voluntary societies dictates, first of all, the need for the maximum development of the initiative of Party members in all organizations and the actual implementation of the principles of internal party democracy. Only under this condition will the Party organizations be able to really direct the growing activity of the masses in all spheres. And the task of the Central Control Commission and its organs should be to encourage this initiative of party members, encourage the initiative of individual party organizations. In particular, in their work to combat painful phenomena in the party, the Central Control Commission and its bodies should pay special attention to the fight against violators of internal party democracy, bringing to justice the guilty officials.

Having closely connected with grassroots party and public organizations, awakening their initiative and activity, pushing them on the path of living creativity, the 11KK and its bodies should be able to take into account this local experience coming from the bottom, and use their ties with these organizations of the working class and peasantry for a broad work on the selection of workers, on the promotion of new, young creative forces. In particular, with the above goals, the Central Control Commission and its organs should speak more actively to the masses, making reports on their work at the bottom.

Selection of workers.

II. The work of selecting workers for state and economic bodies remains, as before, the most important task of the Party in the direction of the state and the economy. The bodies of the KK and RCI have so far worked in this direction, mainly by cleansing the state apparatus of unusable elements. However, the examination of the state apparatus, the connection of the RCI bodies with the production commissions of factory committees and with the economic commissions of the institutions, the participation of the RCI bodies in regulating the issue of nomination - all this gives the CC and RCI bodies the opportunity to assist party bodies in fulfilling the task of selecting workers also by selecting of them who in their activities have found appropriate preparedness, conscientiousness in work, appropriate knowledge, etc.

Because of this, the task of the Central Control Commission and the RKI in the future, to a greater extent than it has been up to now, should be active assistance to the relevant Party and Soviet bodies in the selection of workers in economic and state areas.

Promotion.

III. Attaching great importance to nomination in the matter of improving the state apparatus and bringing it closer to actually serving the needs of workers and peasants, the Congress instructs the KK-RCI bodies to provide active assistance to the relevant party committees in regulating this issue in all institutions, as well as taking into account the work experience of nominees from workers and peasants.

The Central Control Commission - RCI should organize its work in such a way that, by conducting an examination and study of the state apparatus, it becomes more and more a real school that trains state workers from the workers and peasants involved in the work of the RC and RCI. To this end, in addition to involving members of the KK and workers and peasants in the work, the organs of the KK - RKI should maximize the involvement in their own work of promoted workers from workers and peasants, students of universities, technical schools and workers 'faculties, as well as workers and peasants' youth.

Fighting bureaucracy.

IV. Despite some achievements in organizing the state apparatus, bureaucracy, a callous attitude to business, red tape, etc., are still its ineradicable evil. V.I. Lenin pointed to the restructuring of the state apparatus on the basis of the scientific organization of labor as the only correct and radical path the eradication of these vestiges of the past that have survived in the state apparatus even after its transfer to the leadership of the working class. While working in this direction, the Central Control Commission - RKI and its bodies should not stop for a moment the daily struggle against the ugly manifestations of bureaucracy, red tape, etc., revealed by the investigations carried out or by the complaints filed by workers and peasants.

With the aim of this constant struggle against the main shortcomings of the state apparatus, it is necessary, in particular, for the local bodies of the KK - RCI to pay special attention to the work on receiving and analyzing complaints and statements of workers and peasants. For the same purposes, the ties of the KK - RCI bodies with Rabselkorovskie (organizations for using press correspondence in the fight against the shortcomings of the state apparatus) should be strengthened.

Work in the field of rationalizing the apparatus.

V. 1) The building of socialism in our country poses, at the end of the restoration period, before the party and the state the task of such leadership of the state and economic apparatus, which would ensure the fastest possible development of productive forces and the transition of industry and agriculture to a new technical base. Along with measures of economic regulation, the party and the state must, in order to achieve this goal and to maximize the rate of development, take the lead and take over the leadership of the technical and organizational rationalization of the state and economic apparatus. This process of rationalization is a long-term process of continuous improvements in the organization and technique of performing all the work of an institution and an enterprise, based on a thorough study of the work, and taking into account all experience in this area.

This process of rationalizing management and economy must involve all the creative forces of the working class and all workers appointed by the Party and the state to direct the respective parts of the state administration.

Practical rationalization measures will be successful and will really degenerate our technology and the organization of economy and management only if they are carried out by the leaders of the respective parts of the state apparatus themselves, with the active assistance of the broad masses of workers.

2) In view of this, the most perfect form of rationalization is the creation in institutions and economic agencies of special subsidiary bodies (rationalization departments, TNB, organizing bureau and institutions, etc.), the task of which should be to study the technique of organizing and operating the apparatus and making - on the basis of this studying and taking into account the data and experience of similar institutions of the USSR and the capitalist countries - measures that can increase the productivity of enterprises, raise labor productivity, simplify and reduce the cost of the state apparatus, and bring it closer to the masses.

3) In this regard, the role of the Central Control Commission - RKI should be significantly strengthened and increased, due to the tasks assigned to it by the party and the state, as a body of general regulation and management of work on rationalization in all its types and on the iBcex parts of state management and economy a body that assists institutions and enterprises in practical reorganization, and as a research center that develops rational systems for building various parts and functions of institutions and enterprises.

4) Management of work on rationalization of management and economy should not take on a bureaucratic-centralized character. In no case should there be such a situation that the Central Control Commission and the RCI consider themselves as an ordinary department, centralizing in their hands all the work in this area and in the department that controls all work on rationalization in all departments, in all institutions and in all enterprises. This would be a new planting of bureaucracy, fettering the initiative and initiative of state bodies, which have already been awakened by the broadest upsurge in economic construction experienced by the country. It is necessary to avoid imposing rationalization measures on one or another leader, since without voluntary desire, without understanding the significance of this or that rationalization measure, there can be not any noticeable achievements in the field of correct and scientific organization of economy and management.

The NK RCI should carry out its work on the general management of the rationalization of the state apparatus as the actual accumulation of relevant experience and knowledge in the People's Commissariat itself, expand it only to the extent of the actual organizational capacity of productive management of work, paying main attention to encouraging the initiative and self-activity of the leaders of certain parts of the state or the economic apparatus, to initiate this initiative and initiative where it does not exist, to verify the work of one or another body of self-rationalization of departments and institutions, in order to prevent unnecessary and ineffective spending of public funds under the flag of rationalization.

5) The main task of the Central Control Commission and the RCI in this “area, of course, should be to encourage and assist the successfully working bodies of departmental rationalization and institutes for the scientific organization of labor, and finally, those healthy rationalization cadres who, no doubt, are increasingly the mass is provided by our Soviet public.

But already now it can be stated with complete evidence that sometimes the worst elements of our bureaucratic apparatus tend to hide behind the protective color of rationalization work. Even now there is a danger that these worst elements of the state apparatus will discredit the very idea of rationalization.

Therefore, the task of the Central Control Commission and the RKI should be a decisive struggle against these veiled aspirations to drag the old bureaucratic, bureaucratic principles into the vital work of reorganizing the state apparatus. This struggle should take place both with the bodies of departmental rationalization, which work without a competent comprehensive study of the work process and on obviously unscientific grounds, and with similar pseudoscientific research institutes.

Finally, attention should also be paid to the proliferating so-called Not's literature, which often has absolutely nothing in common with the actual scientific organization of labor, speculating only on the interest aroused in broad strata in the scientific organization and rationalization of the state apparatus.

6) Among the work on assisting roc - and hoe bodies in the practical rationalization of the Central Control Commission - RCT should pay special attention to the transfer of a good example achieved in the field of organization or technology by one or another economic or administrative body to other homogeneous bodies.

7) In order to unite all rationalization forces working in various areas of management and economy, to develop general principles and methods of this work, in order to collectively check the work of already existing bodies for rationalizing and selecting the healthiest of them - the Congress considers it necessary to instruct Central Control Commission - RCI convocation of the III All-Union Conference on the Scientific Organization of Labor in the coming year.

Verification of execution and control over the activities of the state apparatus.

V. The most important tasks of the Central Control Commission - RCI should continue to check the implementation of the decisions and directives of the party and the state and control over the activities of the key parts of the state apparatus. Moreover, in this work, the Central Control Commission - RCI should act on the one hand, as a direct body for verification and control, and, on the other hand, as an organizer of such forms of harassment by individual state sectors, which would provide the governing bodies of the relevant departments with a constant systematic verification of the implementation of the adopted resolutions by all subordinate bodies and officials. The XIV Congress of the Party sets before the Central Control Commission - RCI for the next year, as the most important task, the development of measures that provide an opportunity for the leading state and economic bodies of timely operational accounting and verification of implementation "