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.

N. Osinsky (V. V. Obolensky) - Central Committee of the RCP (b)

May 11, 1921

In the Central Committee of the RCP.

During a two-week trip to the Tula, Oryol, Kursk and Voronezh provinces, I had to make sure that the new policy in the countryside, connected with the replacement of the surplus appropriation with a tax in kind, was not sufficiently assimilated in places. The very essence of the new course has not been assimilated sufficiently. Some believe that we are embarking on the path of returning to bourgeois relations, while others, on the contrary, think that an ostentatious political move is being made (for example, a senior official of the Yelets district organization asked me, smiling, in confidence: “Will the surplus appraisal be restored in the fall”) . The practical conclusions arising from the new policy have not been assimilated either, initiative and construction of a new type is not being manifested, in particular in cooperative construction and in the development of local turnover. Two senior officials of the Tula organization expressed, for example, there is open doubt that our organizations can cope with such a task and develop an appropriate initiative. In Yelets Uyezd, Oryol Gubernia, one had to face a vivid manifestation of the "food-kombedov" point of view on the peasantry, with a view of the peasant as a natural saboteur in relation to the Soviet government and with a tendency to rely in the countryside only on the poor against the peasantry in general.

The 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party, which concentrated on summing up the results of the preceding period of Party life, obviously did not give the local comrades sufficient material to assimilate the new course of policy and, most importantly, did not give them an impetus to work in a new direction .

In view of the foregoing, it seems necessary to convene an all-Russian party conference as soon as possible in order to explain in detail and clearly the essence of the new policy and the tasks associated with it. Such a conference could be timed to coincide with May 25, 2 - the time of the convocation of the III session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The main issue on the agenda of this conference should be: "the replacement of the surplus appraisal by a tax in kind and our work in the countryside."

I hereby propose to the Central Committee to adopt a corresponding resolution.

With communist greetings Osinsky.

May 11, 1921

RTSHIDNI; F. 5. Op. 2. D. 244. L. 1.

Notes:

The 10th Congress of the RCP(b) was held in Moscow from March 8 to March 16, 1921. At the congress, Lenin substantiated the need for the NEP and outlined the general outlines of the new policy. However, no specific reform plan was put forward. This happened later, at the level of practical searches and solutions.

The 20th All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b) was held from May 26 to May 28, 1921. On May 26, Lenin delivered a report on the food tax at the conference. As a result of the conference, a resolution "On economic policy" was adopted.