Maxim Litvinoff on Soviet Russia

by Maxim Maximovich Litvinov

PRICE ONE PENNY.

MAXIM LITVINOFF
ON SOVIET RUSSIA.

Extracts from two letters on the situation in Russia, addressed by M. Litvinoff, former Russian plenipotentiary in London, to an American correspondent at the end of January and the middle of December last. The January letter being of a more recent date is printed first:—

I.

. . . . Since my last letter a good deal has changed. The authority of the Soviets has extended in every direction. The Lettish Communists have firmly established themselves in Lettia, the Lithuanian Communists have occupied the greater part of Lithuania, and the Ukrainian Communists have captured almost all the big towns with the exception of Kieff, such as Kharkoff, Poltaya, Ekaterinoslaff, Tchernigoff, etc. The Petliurians are impotent and may sell themselves at any moment to the Entente just as they previously sold themselves to Germany. The Esthonians alone have had bad luck. They did not possess sufficient forces to retain the districts which they had recaptured, while the Russian Soviets refrained from sending troops there in order not to provoke Finland to war. Measures, however, have been taken to prevent the Esthonian and Finnish White Guards from proceeding beyond the present front. In the East, after the capture of Orenburg and Ufa, we are expecting the fall of Zlatoust. The defeat at Perm, which has been much exaggerated abroad, was scarcely noticed in Russia. There, as in Esthonia, it was a case of treachery on the part of the commanders. In the South, General Krasnoff is idling his time away. It is said that his army has melted away. In Siberia the workers and peasants do not cease to rebel.

The committee of the Constituent Assembly proposed to the Soviet Government an alliance for joint action against Koltchak. Tchernoff, who had fled from Koltchak to Ufa, has received permission to return to Moscow. The Mensheviki, too, have re-emerged, but continue to chant their dirges. A new conspiracy of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries has been detected, but of a local character. Lenin is trying to unite all the Socialist parties which recognise the Soviet régime, but down below, among the masses, the Mensheviki and Socialist-Revolutionaries inspire great distrust.

The army continues to grow, and in a couple of months will amount to several millions.

Thanks ta imports from the Ukraine, the food situation at Moscow has lost its acuteness, but there is little fuel, and the people are suffering exceedingly from cold. At Petrograd even the food situation is very bad. The reports about disturbances are lies.

We are ready to make peace with the Allies and make them financial concessions. We accept, in principle, the proposal.of the Paris Conference, but we insist upon a more central spot for the gathering.

The Allied blockade is condemning the country to starvation and cold. The Scandinavian countries have broken with us very unwillingly, yielding to the pressure of the Allies who presented them with an ultimatum. Owing to this rupture, we are unable to import from Denmark vegetable seeds to the amount of 40,000,000 roubles which we had bought there and paid for in cash. We cannot import agricultural implements and machines from Sweden; and the British have forbidden them to export even paper to Russia. A large quantity of flax bought by the Swedes if Russia and conveyed from Petrograd in Russian bottoms was seized by the British at Reval and taken to British ports. We are being strangled and deprived of the possibility of bettering the internal conditions, and yet it is we who are made responsible for the consequences. Neutral countries are being forced to boycott us, and then the fact is used as proof of our wickedness. . . . .

II.

. . . . The decisive factors in the situation at present are: (1) the complete collapse of the counter-revolution and the disappearance of opposition inside the country, and (2) the formation of a large, efficient, and well-disciplined new army. Whatever view one may take of the activity of the Extraordinary Commissions (for Fighting the Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Sabotage), they are entitled to the- credit of having succeeded, within a short time, in clearing Russia of all the most active counter-revolutionary and conspiring elements. This has been achieved not so much by physical extermination, as by the intimidation of the bourgeoisie. The big capitalists, monarchists, and Socialist-Revolutionaries of the Right, choosing the better part of valour, have, for the most part, sought safety in flight choosing the Ukraine, Finland, and foreign countries as the fields for their intrigues. In Russia itself, apart from small riots which sporadically break out in isolated villages in connection with the mobilisation, or under the influence of the agitation of reactionaries from outside, there have of late been no conspiracies and no rebellions. These have been speedily and peaceably coped with for the most part. The most important revolt during the last three months was the action of some 500 sailors in Petrograd, but that bore more the character of a protest demonstration. The ringleaders were shot at the instance of the demonstrators themselves.

The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who, up to the time of the German Revolution, had been indulging in lachrymose plaints about the "Brest noose," have now calmed down and for the most part fused with the Communist party in virtue of a decision of their central committee. The Menshevik Central Committee is appealing for the support of the Soviet Government and for a fight against the counter-revolution, though it repeats, to save appearances, the helpless twaddle about the Constituent Assembly. Even the Jewish Bund is, individually and collectively, migrating into our camp. Of the Internationalists and the "Novaya Zhizn" group scarcely anything need be said. They have for a long time past been working conscientiously in Soviet institutions. Gorki and Andreyeva [his wife] have. unreservedly joined us, confining their criticisms to the little details of the big machine.

Among the workers the influence of the Communist Party is no longer disputed with the exception of one or two factories in Petrograd and in a few provincial towns, where the Mensheviki have entrenched themselves. At the All-Russian Congress of Soviets in November, which was attended by more than a thousand delegates, the combined opposition only commanded about a dozen votes, and even those were silent.

As for the villagers, their frame of mind is best illustrated by the recent congress of the Poverty Committees of the Union of Northern Communes, which was attended, beyond expectation, by no fewer than 16,000 delegates. A suggestion to form a model regiment of 4,000 from among the members of the congress was met by the immediate offer to enrol on the part of 6,000 delegates. Altogether, the formation of the Poverty Committees in the villages has proved a successful measure. These committees are waging a successful battle with the village vultures and the rich who had contrived to entrench themselves in the village Soviets of the old type. But the rich peasants, too, are hostile, not so much to the Soviet Government as to the collection of taxes.

Mobilisation is proceeding almost everywhere pretty successfully. The peasants gather at the various centres without any compulsion whatsoever. The idea of the necessity of actively protecting the People's Government is striking deep roots. Trotsky has, indeed, succeeded in realising his favourite idea of creating a revolutionary army. The elements of the old, utterly demoralised army have been almost entirely eliminated and replaced by fresh young men from factories and villages. In point of training and marching our soldiers are the equals of those of any army in the world. They are faultlessly clothed and shod, and strict revolutionary discipline has been introduced, It is only natural that all units are not of the same high standard. Special distinction attaches to the regiments composed of Petrograd workers. Model regiments are formed of members of the town and village Soviets. Enormous numbers of party workers have been sent to the front as political commissaries and agitators, and thanks to their efforts our soldiers perform most daring exploits and most marvellous feats of as courage. The old officers, still constitute the weak spot in our army, since they betray us and go over to the enemy on every favourable opportunity, but they are being gradually replaced by officers of new formation, who come from the ranks of the proletariat and have passed through the new revolutionary military schools.

War material is obtained, for the most part, from the old stocks, but the munition factories are also working, and recently we also captured in the Urals the Votkinsky and Izhevsky small arms factories. The equipment and supply of the army has been entrusted to Krassin, former manager of the Siemens-Schuckert Works, an old party worker and experienced and energetic organiser, who has gradually gathered round him the best engineering experts of the country. Altogether, step by step, the entire intelligentsia and the lower middle class are being drawn into the work of the Soviets. But together with them considerable numbers of bad and unsuitable elements have found their way into the machinery of the Soviets, who are performing their duties carelessly and in a very reprehensible manner. It is these elements who often render themselves guilty of corruption, and pay for this with their lives at the hands of the Extraordinary Commissions who are particularly severe on such criminals. Many of the executions have had for their victims those convicted of having taken bribes. No doubt, terroristic excesses have been committed by the Extraordinary Commissions themselves, but it scarcely needs be said that the reports and the figures of the Red Terror circulated abroad have been criminally inflated. At present the authority of the Extraordinary Commissions has been considerably cut down, and their activity has been placed under proper control.

The food supply has greatly improved, but is still defective, partly on account of the difficulties of transport, but also in part owing to the dishonesty of the above-mentioned elements. Bread, however, is supplied to the towns pretty regularly, while other articles of consumption, such as tea, sugar, butter, etc., are distributed only now and then, when sufficient quantities reach the towns. In the corn-growing provinces, the number of which has of late considerably increased, thanks to the clearing-out of the Czecho-Slovaks from the Volga, the peasants supply the elevators with sufficient quantities of grain, but the further transport to the capitals still leaves much to be desired. Illicit self-provisioning has been suppressed, yet the rich bourgeoisie still contrives to obtain absolutely everything for money. All the restaurants have been closed, and in their place public kitchens have been opened where the population can get coupon dinners, far from luxurious and not always satisfying. Their number is still insufficient, and queues, unfortunately, are not of rare occurrence. The shops, too, are almost all closed or nationalised, and all articles, as well as foodstuffs, are distributed by the food committees among the district centres, whence they are delivered to the house committees. Prices are fixed for everything, and are, comparatively speaking, not high. Bread, for instance, is sold at Moscow at 60 kopecks (1s. 3d. at pre-war rates) a pound, while the bourgeoisie pays, by buying from illegal traders, 10 roubles (£1 at pre-war rates) a pound. The same ratio between the fixed and free prices holds good in the case of all other articles. It is clear that the more ruthlessly illicit trading and illicit self-provisioning are suppressed the more products will be available for the public stores to distribute among the people at reasonable prices. I had occasion—involuntarily—to spend a day and a night at Helsingfors, and to convince myself that there, under the White Guard régime, the food situation is worse than in the Sovetia. There, it is true, the restaurants and shops are open and products at high prices are more accessible to the bourgeoisie; but, on the other hand, the poorer classes obtain much smaller and less regular supplies for their coupons.

In all, the Commissariats' new constructive work is being carried on feverishly, but, naturally, the practical administration is considerably behind the legislation. Perfect public order reigns in both capitals, and all reports of brigandage and murder in the streets are absolute fabrications. In Moscow the streets are full of people up to midnight. Not only the common inhabitants, but also the People;s Commissioners go about in the fight without any escort and without fear of attack.

Lenin has quite recovered from his illness, which Has left absolutely no trace behind it, though the bullets have not yet been extracted. He speaks at meetings, even open-air meetings, as before.

Moscow is absolutely calm. In the processions in connection with the celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution almost the entire population took part. Even the bourgeoisie exhibits no sign of hostility or mischief-making. If it had not been for the secret hopes of the overthrow of the Soviets by the Allied armies, the bourgeoisie would have already reconciled itself to the new régime, and would have adapted itself to it. What is causing complaints is not the régime itself, but the corruption of individual officials, of which I spoke before. This, indeed, is our chief evil at present. It is the legacy of the Tsar's régime, intensified by the war and the increased cost of living caused by it. As such, it is no longer a specific Russian evil, but is well-nigh international, being rife in all countries of Western Europe, especially in Germany. Of course, this and other defects of the new régime can arid will be eliminated, and, in spite of the gigantic difficulties in their way, the Soviets have, in the course of twelve months, carried out constructive work of colossal dimensions. The activity of the Commissariat of Public Instruction is evoking the admiration even of the bourgeoisie, more particularly the provision of hot breakfasts for all children in the schools. The theatres are working as before, and even the former Court actors and actresses have remained at their posts, being highly satisfied with the large measure of autonomy granted to them.

Factories can only be restarted according as raw material and fuel become available. The economic reconstruction is hampered, to a large extent, by the militarisation of the country. Having created a large army and carrying on a war at so many fronts, we are obliged, in a measure, to restore to its place of honour the old principle, "Everything for the war," Instead of using the available rolling stock for the conveyance of raw material and foodstuffs we are obliged to employ it for the transport of troops, food, and war material to the fronts. If you add to this the severe blockade by the Allies, who do not allow even neutral countries to supply us with the means of production, which they are prepared to exchange for our surplus stocks of raw material, you will understand that it is not the weakness of the Soviet régime, but our desire to restore healthy economic conditions in Russia, which has prompted our offer of peace to the Allies. . . .

We are going to repeat it once again, and, if it is refused, there will be nothing left for us to do but to throw upon the Allied Governments the responsibility for the colossal bloodshed and the devastation of Russia which will inevitably result from their further intervention. Knowing as I do the feeling of the masses, I can confidently predict that in case the Allies or the White Guards, supported by them, should attempt to advance against Central Russia, they will not find any bourgeoisie left there: it will be exterminated to a man. Even now the Government finds it very difficult to restrain the popular wrath against the foreign and native bourgeoisie—the wrath caused by the rupture of diplomatic relations by the neutral Powers which have decided on this step mainly under the pressure of the Allied ultimata. However, the Soviet régime places its chief hope upon the working class in the Allied countries, which, it expects, will ultimately realise the real aims atid objects of the intervention, which has now lost its former pretext of fighting the Germans. . . . .

 

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Published by the People's Russian Information Bureau, 152 Fleet Street, London, E.C.4,
and Printed by the National Labour Press, 8 and 9 Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C.4.