Times Leader1930

A Goloshes queue in Leningrad.

‘We [The Times] publish pictures depicting conditions at the present time under the Soviet régime. In a series of articles, a Correspondent indicates the growing gulf between the ‘rulers’ (the active Communist) and the ‘ruled’ and the profound discontent of the ‘non-active’ inhabitants.’

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Visitors to Tsarist Russia often returned to England impressed with the apparent loyalty of the whole population to the Emperor and entirely unaware of the rapidly growing discontent which was seething beneath the surface. Today history is repeating itself. Groups of tourists, biased from the very beginning in favour of the "workers’ paradise," are being shown by competent and charming guides the facade of Soviet Russia and leave the country enthusiastic over the success of the Socialistic experiment. Not possessing the slightest knowledge of the language, and meeting few people other than active Communists, they leap to the conclusion that the majority of that they meet are ardent supporters of the present regime. The politeness of Communist Officials, and their willingness to spare no trouble in impressing their guests, disarm criticism and leave the foreign delegations blissfully ignorant of the hunger, discontent, opposition, and hatred which in the last few months have been steadily growing in intensity and are spreading through all parts of the Soviet Union and through all sections of the community.

Few observers of the Soviet Russia are worthy of credence unless they can understand and speak Russian, unless they have carefully studied the Bolshevist Press, and have had contacts not only with that numerically insignificant section the Communist Party, but also with peasants, miners, nobles, restaurant workers, private traders, priests, Civil servants, and engineers. In estimating the importance of the opinion expressed by Russians the character and position of the speakers should be taken into consideration on the presumption that a miner escaping from the Donetz Basin, where there has been a serious breakdown in food supplies, is far more likely to exaggerate the gravity of the situation than a well-paid specialist working in the electrical industry, which is making great progress. The following estimate of the state of affairs in Russia has been made on these methods during a recent visit to the Soviet Union, and the conversations quoted in the following articles were written down at the earliest possible moment after the Russian had left the writer’s presence.

In a vast country under the "dictatorship of the proletariat" where the ballot box plays little part, it is difficult to draw a conclusion as to the exact amount of support which the regime has from the population, especially when that support varies according to such consideration as the quantity of meat or grain received in a certain town or the price of butter in a certain market. The population seems, however, to be divided into two sections, the "non-active," that is "the ruled" composed of more than 90 percent of the total. Whereas most of the "active" section, consisting of the members of the Party and of youth organisations, are filled with an enthusiasm, unknown in any other group of people save perhaps the National Socialists of Germany, the Fascist and the Salvation Army, the "non-active" 90 percent are thoroughly disillusioned, have lost faith in the Five-Years Plan and dread the return in the coming winter of the conditions which reigned in 1918 and 1919.

Most of the active minority are young in age and young in spirit. Many of them who are now 20 were only seven years old when the October Revolution broke out, and have no conception of life in a capitalist country. Having passed through the Communist training grounds of the Pioneers (the Communist Boy Scouts) and the Pioneers (the League of Communist Youth), they have had Leninism stamped upon them and have been educated to believe in the inevitability of the world revolution and of the forthcoming war which they are taught, the capitalists will wage war on Soviet Russia. Many are impatient with what they consider the slow progress of socialisation in Russia. As a working woman said: "The old people think that the Five-Years Plan is going too quickly, but for the young people it is not going quickly enough." The millennium must come at once and every remnant of capitalism must disappear. The Party, in their view, must not be guilty of any leniency either towards the class enemies at home or towards the Imperialist abroad. A conversation with among Red Army commander will best illustrate the attitude of the rulers of Russia: "We must be strong and show no mercy. We are not a tender-hearted set of people. We must not hesitate, for example, to crush the kulaks and send them to cut wood in the forests of the north."

The active minority firmly believes that ultimately Communism will be victorious. To attain this victory in Russia their method is the Five-Years Plan (October 1, 1928 to September 30^th 1933), which has a threefold object – rapid industrialisation, complete collectivisation of agriculture, and the elimination of all capitalist elements in the country. The State Planning Commission, in collaboration with the whole country, prepares a vast plan for the whole country, for each district and for each factory. Thus the economic system is highly centralised and the means of production in industry are already almost entirely in the hands of the State. The whole energies of the ruling body are concentrated upon the execution of the Five-Years Plan, and all national activities, from education to art, are subordinated to one object, the rapid and complete socialisation of the Soviet Union.

One of the main weapons in the hands of the active section of the population is, of course, propaganda, from which one cannot escape wherever one may go. In the train one reads in large letters: "Let us reply to the furious arming of the capitalists by carrying out the Five-Years Plan in four years. Across the streets large red and white banners are stretched upon which are inscribed: "The capitalist of the West are preparing war on the Soviet Union," or "Let us destroy illiteracy." Sitting in any co-operative restaurant one sees on all sides pictures of Lenin, Stalin and Kalinin, and such appeals as: "On May 1^st remember the oppressed workers of the capitalist countries." In a factory, besides excellent posters on health and accidents, there are such notices on health and accidents as: God and the drunkard are the enemies of the Five-Years Plan," or "All, all all, come to a meeting on August 1^st to hear a report of a comrade of the Third International who has come from Germany and other countries." Outside the Tretyakovskaya Art Gallery in Moscow the following slogan strikes the visitor: "Art is a weapon of class warfare." Upon the House Of Soviets the following words are written upon a banner: "To Capitalism, the international revolutionary movement brings not peace but the sword." Finally, upon the china in the Hotel Metropole, mainly frequented by foreigners, are the words, "Workers of the world, unite."

Besides posters, there are other more effective propaganda methods. The theatre is an implement for the socialisation of the country. The film industry, of whose success the U.S.S.R. is justly proud, has as its aim the spreading of Communism. The museums, which are artistically arranged and admirably kept, all teach one lesson, the evil of Capitalism and the glories of the revolution. Even such a minor institution as a shooting range must have its political use; thus the targets are the Tsar, a priest, a kulak (a peasant owning more than three cows), a Chinaman, and a drunkard.

To speed up production and to carry out the Five-Years Plan, two important methods are the shock brigade and socialist competition. The shock brigades are groups of energetic and enthusiastic Communists who offer their services free of charge to the State and who rally the other workers to carry out or to exceed the plan of the factory or mine. Many thousands have been sent out to the villages, where they arouse the enmity of the peasants by their vigour and ruthlessness in forcing the households too rapidly into collective farms. Socialist competition, by which factories or workshops enter upon a contract to race each other in production, has come to play the same part among Communist workers as football rivals in Great Britain.

How far have these attempts to convert Russia into an industrialised country succeeded? In some branches of industries the boast of the Communists are fully justified. The power development of the electrified industry are tremendous and the quality of the materials used and of the products is far better than in other industries. The telephone system, for example, works well. The increased sales of Russian oil testify to the development of the Baku district. Aviation is progressing rapidly and a Trans-Siberian air route is being planned which will bring London, within a few days of Japan and thus revolutionise the postal services. New factories, mines and furnaces are being constructed everywhere. The State Publishing Company has created a network of bookshops throughout the country with vast sales of books at low prices.

There are many things, however, which the Soviet figures do not show. Statistics conceal the poor materials used in many of the factories, such as the Putilov tractor factory, the bad quality of the boots and clothes and other goods produced, the correct way in which some of the figures are compiled and the failure to provide some factories with raw materials, with transport facilities or with engineers. Much expensive imported machinery is ruined by being treated with recklessness. Moreover, there is a great wastage of brainpower, since a man’s political keenness is often more important than his business ability and an expert may lose his post because of his bourgeois parents. To counter balance many of these drawbacks are unbounded faith, energy, vigour, and ruthlessness of the Communists.

In spite of the success attained in some branches of Soviet Industry, Russia remains a poor and discontented country. In the last few months, the Five-Years Plan has met with a check and in many districts, especially the Donetz Basin, there have been many breakdowns. Food difficulties arising from the slaughter of animals which followed the violent collectivisation campaign in January and February, and from the Soviet policy of exporting foodstuffs to obtain credit at all costs, are already putting a brake on the progress of industrialisation, as is proved by the decision to postpone the beginning of the Third Year of the Plan from October to January. This winter the difficulties confronting the Five-Years Plan will be greater than ever for thousand of workers are already returning from the towns to the villages and many will be too weak to work.

The optimism of the active Communists and their belief that Russia will in one or two years time be prosperous cannot be justified. Far nearer to the truth are the views of the rank and file, of he non-active workers and peasants. The next article will show by quotations from actual conversations how great is the gulf between the rulers and the ruled and how widely their expectations of the future differ.

The previous article described the aims and methods of the Communist minority and the views of the active workers on their achievements. The conversations recorded below will show the growing gulf between the "rulers" and the " ruled " and the profound discontent of the "non-active" inhabitants. There is, however, a section of the population, which belongs partly to the "active" and partly to the "non-active" sections. These are the highly-skilled artisans, the engineers and the mechanics, who are well paid, who are eagerly sought after, and among whom there is no unemployment. They are so indispensable to the execution of the Five-Years Plan that they receive wages varying from 150 roubles (nominally about £15) a month to 250 or 300 roubles (£25 or £35) and more. They are able, therefore, to obtain food beyond their rations from the private traders, who sell at a higher price than the cooperative shops. Thus unless they have a bourgeois past - they are happy compared with the unskilled worker, who may receive 80 to 100 roubles (nominally £8 to £10) a month, but often less. To this intermediate section ef the population belong also those who enjoy the advantages of the Rest Houses and Sanatoria provided by the State.

The views of the majority of the workers on living conditions under the Five-Years Plan can be gathered from the following conversations with workers. An employee of an agricultural implement factory said:" Everything is had now and we cannot get anything at all. We cannot get boots and we cannot get clothes. Workers in my factory get 80 to 100 roubles nominally £8 to £10] a month, and 120 roubles [£12] is the lowest figure on which one can live. We cannot obtain enough food and many are too weak to work. Eight hours is my day, but many seasonal workers do ten and twelve hours." One of many thousands of miners, whose flight from the hunger and the housing shortage of the Donetz Basin the writer witnessed, expressed his opinion of what the Five-Years Plan was doing for Russia in the following words: "Everybody is going away from the Donetz Basin, because there is no food there. There is nothing in Russia. The situation is terrible. All that the Communists do for us is to promise us that when the Five-Year’s Plan is over we shall all be prosperous. My life is like a flower; it will soon wither away. I want to eat and live now. What does it matter to me what will happen in a hundred years?"

Another miner who was travelling hundred the same compartment nodded approval and said: "A year or two ago we could got enough to eat, but now nothing at all. Now they are sending all our grain abroad and building factories. Why cannot they give us food and boots and clothing? I get 80 roubles a month. How can I live? The Five-Years Plan will not succeed. The Communists will not last very long, for we cannot stick it any longer. You see if there will not be a revolution." Nor was this miner the only Russian who was so angry with present conditions as to speak of an uprising, for other citizens, especially in the south, spoke of revolution.

Women are equally discontented with living conditions. A woman worker said: "Times are bad. From 1922 until last year everything was satisfactory, but now things have become unbearable. With the money I receive for my eight-hour day’s work I can only buy a small plateful of potatoes and tomatoes or a tiny portion of fish. I earn 52 roubles (nominally about £5 a month). How can I live?" Lack of faith in the future of the Plan and disillusionment characterized the conversation of most non-active workers.

Bitter hatred of Communists and of the privileges they enjoy was often expressed. During a journey in the South a train passed ours and in were two cleanly dressed men travelling first-class. A workingwoman (a cook) who was in our compartment shouted: "There’s a party man and there’s another. They are both travelling soft [first-class]. They get everything and we have to starve." With this there was general agreement among the people the compartment. "The Communists get the best rooms and we get none at all. They just send somebody off to the prisons of Solovki and take their room," said a miner on another journey.

Stalin shares the unpopularity of his Party and most Russians evaded a reply to any question about him saying: "If Lenin had only lived, then all would have been well." An anecdote told with a warning that to repeat it would render anyone guilty of a counter-revolutionary act, illustrates the general attitude towards the dictator. Stalin has a dream in which Lenin appears and says to him: "Good-day Stalin. How is Russia?" Stalin replies, "We are getting on splendidly. Our achievements under the Five-Years Plan are wonderful." Lenin asks’ "But what are you going to do when the Five-years Plan is over?" Stalin answers: "Oh, then we shall have another Five-Years Plan." Finally Lenin crushes Stalin by saying: By that time everyone in Russia will have died and have joined me and you will be the only man left to carry out your third Five-Years Plan."

Rykov and Tomsky are despised for their weakness in the 6^th Congress of the Communist Party, when they showed abject humility before Stalin. One often hears praise, however of the right wing moderate Bukharin. The remark is frequently made: "Bukharin is not done for yet."

Nor do the methods used by the Party meet with the approval of the masses. The Communists have committed a tactical blinder in over-indulging in propaganda. "We do not read the notices because we know already what is written on them," was the remark of a teacher. A miner expressed himself in more vigorous terms: "I do not believe a word they say in the papers or on the placards. They are all lies, lies, lies. Nobody reads the posters, we are so tired of them."

The action of the State Political Police in exiling peasants, members of the intelligentsia, the priests and bourgeois, to Solovki, to the Urals and to Siberia, is condemned by the majority of the non-active inhabitants, for the sympathy of the average Russian is still, as in Tsarist days, with the under-dog, with the sufferer. Fear of the secret police closed the mouths of some fellow travellers. On being asked several questions, one skilled worker became silent and said: "I am afraid of talking to you. A lot of foreigners, Latvians and others, belong to the Ogpu (the State Political Police). There are spies – most of the Komsomoltsi (Young Communists), for example - who report you. You may be a spy."

The present food shortage was attributed by most Russians to two causes – the agricultural revolution begun last year and the absence of a free market. A caretaker and his wife explained: "It is all the fault of this collectivisation, which the peasants hate. There is no meat, nothing at all. What we want is a free market." Upon this, the most vital problem of all, it is better, however, to let the peasants speak for themselves.

While there is no reason to believe that the poor peasants support their Communist benefactors the point of view of the average peasant was well expressed in the following conversations, one with two members of a collective farm and the other with a Cossack individual farmer. "Its a dog’s life," agreed the two collective members. "It would be better to live under the earth than to live now. They force us to join collective farms. The very best people, those who worked day and night, were sent to the Urals and Siberia, and their houses were taken one cow. What is the use of living?"

The Cossack individual farmer also complained bitterly of the Communist policy. "It is hard to live. Just because we have our own holdings they make life a burden for us. I come here to the big town and I go to a shop to buy something. They say: "Show us your collective farm card". I reply: "But I have no collective farm card". They say: "Then we cannot sell you anything." So in time I shall have to give up my land. Otherwise I shall not be able to buy a single thing and perhaps they will just take my house away and send me to Siberia. In my Cossack station in February they took 40 of the best and most hardworking peasants away with their women and children and sent them in freezing trains to Urals."

The conversation quoted above, upon which no comment is necessary, are not chosen on account of the opposition they express to the Soviet regime, but because they are typical of views heard in many parts of Russia. They prove that the Communist Government has to face ever-growing opposition and hatred within the country. The openness with which many Russians expressed their dissatisfaction is another striking testimony to the extent to which public opinion has been roused. What influence the state of affairs in the country is likely to have on the trend of Soviet policy will be shown in the next article.

In spite of widespread discontent, the government seems relatively stable for there is no organized opposition. Any attempt at forming a policy opposed to the general line of the party is immediately nipped in the bud. The O.G.P.U. (the State Political Police) is a strong body, with powers of life and death, which can ruthlessly and immediately suppress any counter-revolutionary movement. Never the less, peasant risings are possible, but these are not likely to affect seriously the position of the Government because they can be instantly crushed. Nor will the riots, which will probably take place this winter, bring about the downfall of the Soviet power, for they will be suppressed with equal thoroughness.

Since the Red Army is a class army, strongly impregnated with Communist doctrines it will probably continue to support the Government and ensure the continuance of the regime. Everyone who, is not of proletarian origin is debarred from a military career, and politics is an important part of tine soldier’s training. There have, however, been signs of disaffection among the peasant soldiers who form the majority of the troops. When in the first few months of this year the country was being collectivized by force, rifles were smuggled by soldiers to their friends in the villages. It was the attitude of the Army that made Stalin change his tactics very suddenly in the beginning of March and condemn the excesses local Communist authorities towards the peasants. A revolt is improbable, but there always is the possibility, so my informant seemed to think, of a Red military leader such as the adventurer Blucher loved by the troops and popular in Russia, obtaining control of the Army and throwing out the unpopular Stalin.

A vital question for the Communist leaders is the supply of the army with food, and solution of this problem has been found in the formation of vast State farms in Siberia, the Volga district, the uncultivated steppes of North Caucasia and elsewhere. These " Sovkhozi,’’ which are run by the most modern machinery and are schools for the training of agricultural mechanics, cover a total area of over 2,400.000 acres, and are stations for agricultural experiments as well as for production. In 1931 it is estimated that 123 vast farms will produce 4,000,000 tons of grain, and in the following year the production of the State farms is to reach 8,000,000 tons. The workers on these farms are paid labourers. By these " "grain factories," as they are called, the Government is guaranteed a stable supply of grain, and, if the Soviet plans for building ‘‘pig and cattle factories" succeed, there will be a regular source of meat for the army and for the important factories.

Another stabilizing influence in the Soviet Union is the great interest taken in engineering and mechanics. The attention of a large number of Russians is being attracted from counter-revolutionary activities to machines. To be an engineer is the ambition of Russian youth, and their education is being run on technical lines.

An overthrow in the sense of a complete change of the regime seems therefore, impossible. Chaos appears to be time only alternative to the present Government for there is no other group outside the Party to take control. It is probable, however that within the Party itself there will be changes. The Right Wing " Opportunists " will make themselves felt this winter, for, in spite of the humiliation of their leaders Rykov and Tomsky in the 16th Congress of the Party in June and July last, they are still strong among the rank and file and their other leader, Bukharin, is a power to he reckoned with. It would be unwise, however, to underestimate the skill in intrigue of a man like Stalin, who was too strong for Trotsky the Right Oppositionists nevertheless will have the support of a large proportion of the both active and non-active. Although they appeared to be crushed in the 16^th Congress their ranks will be strengthened by the sufferings which Russia will undergo this winter. Indeed, the hardships of the next months might even make the Kremlin realise that a more moderate policy must be adopted, that trade must be more free, that the peasants must not be forced into collective farms, and that goods must not be exported at the price of hunger at home. In spite of this possibility there is no prospect of any slow evolution towards Capitalism, such as was expected when the New Economic Policy was inaugurated.

Much will depend on external events, both commercial and diplomatic. The probable reaction of the capitalist countries to Soviet dumping is too involved a question to be considered here, but concerted action against Russian cheap imports would certainly hinder the execution of the Five-Years Plan. The Soviet policy of obtaining credits at all costs to buy machines and build factories, with a view to making the country self-supporting is partly guided by the fear of an ultimate attack by capitalist countries. The idea that the anti-Soviet war is as inevitable as the world revolution is typically expressed in the following conversation with a Red Army commander: "War is bound to come. It is inevitable. The British may not make war against us, but they will certainly get other peoples like the Poles or the Chinese to do it."

At present Soviet foreign policy is emphatically one of peace. There is no desire for war and a fervent wish for time to carry out the Five-Years Plan. Whereas a peaceful Soviet foreign policy can be predicted for the next two, three, or even four yeas after, it is hard to be confident about the years after. First, one hears on all sides, and the Communists do not conceal it, that the war industry is developing rapidly. The Soviet demand for nickel, which is presumably for the, making of bullet envelopes and armour plating is greater than Britain’s. Secondly, Communism has for the Red Army and for the party the force of a religion, and when one has always been taught that the millennium is close at hand one tends to be impatient at the slowness with which history moves. Nor is the feeling engendered among the young towards the Imperialists likely to increase the friendliness towards Great Britain. "You wait; the world revolution will come although men like Cook have proved traitors to the working class," exclaimed a Communist in a private talk. "One day the unemployed of Manchester and of London will not think of sport, but of revolution, and at the same time the British will have trouble with their colonies."

This thesis supported by some Communists is that war will come in 1935. By that year, it is claimed, the Five-Years Plan will have lead to such prosperity that the Soviet Union will be able not only to supply her own people with goods but also to export in such quantities as to be a serious rival to Great Britain and America. The leading capitalist countries of the world will therefore unite to attempt to crush the conflicting systems side by side is impossible. Communism will ultimately triumph, for, they maintain the present period in world history is that of the disorganisation of capitalism.

Moreover the Soviet war propaganda in the form of placards and publications is intense and is having an effect upon the youth of the country. Among the magazines which have a wide circulation are the Red Army Soldier, Aviation and Chemistry and The Aeroplane. The Osoaviakhim, the Society for Air Membership and Chemical Warfare has an extensive membership, and its activities range lectures on poison gas to training in the use of rifles and machine guns for women and girls as well as for men and boys.

The fear entertained by some Communists that a war will lead to an immediate rising against the regime appears unfounded. A bitter opponent of Communism stated: "I hate the Bolshevists, but if Russia were at war, whether the Bolshevists were in power or not, I should fight at once and so would every good Russian." Indeed, war rumours are often a means of rallying the nationalism of the Russians to the support of the government and turning away the attention of the masses from the deficiencies in home policy, for this is the Achilles’ heel of the Communist regime.

It is in home policy therefore, that the final test of communism will come and more especially in agrarian policy. Collective farming has been helped this year by an excellent harvest, and although the boast of the Communists: "Within three years there will not be a single individual peasant left," is laughed at by those who know the Russian countryside, it would be unwise to underestimate the energy of the authorities, the advantages which are offered to the members of collective farms, and the deprivations which the individual farmers are made to suffer. Large-scale agriculture, although hated by the vast majority of peasants, may in time increase production all round. More food will mean better work in the factories and although, the Five-Years Plan is now tottering, and although a series of bad harvests might change the whole situation, there still remains a chance that, provided collective farms succeed, there will after two, three, or four years be some improvement in the workers lot. But weaknesses of Communism – bitter class hatred, the persecution of individual thought and of freedom, the crushing of the bourgeoisie and of the intelligentsia and the subordination of art, drama, literature and even music to political aims.

"We are building not for tomorrow but for a century." Exclaimed a Bolshevist. The next 10 years will show whether Communism as applied in Russia is able to give a satisfactory standard of living to 150 millions of people. But all the proofs lie, if anywhere in the future.