That having due regard to the causes of economic disorganization antecedent to the rise of the Bolsheviks to power, the attempts of the Bolsheviks to realize the class war in the towns by a precipitate nationalization of industry and in the villages by the establishment of the dictatorship of the village poor were the principal contributory causes of the gradual separation of town from city.
The practical efforts of Bolshevism up to the present time, so far as they affect production, have been a disastrous failure. The magnitude of the industrial collapse in Russia and the consequent cessation of exchange of products between town and country are the factors that have forced themselves particularly on our attention. We know of no similar instance of a collapse so complete, so sudden and so far-reaching, although a similar tendency is to be observed in Central Europe, and more especially in those countries which formerly composed the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Want existed in Paris during the revolutionary period, but it was submitted to for the sake of the political liberty sought by the people, and there was no general economic débâcle such as has occurred in Russia.
The White Paper also points out that the financial policy of the Soviets is leading rapidly to inevitable bankruptcy. In 1918 and 1919 expenditure was three and two and one-half times income. In 1920 expenditure was seven and one-half times income. The report continues:
In spite therefore of wholesale confiscation of property and repudiation of debt the three years of Soviet rule have resulted in a deficit of enormous size and rapidly increasing magnitude. These deficits are being met by issues of paper which, month by month, become of less value. That the present state of things cannot continue is certain.
