To The Workers Of The World
To The Workers Of The World
Once more we appeal to you, workers of the world! In the name of revolutionary solidarity and humanity we call upon you to take a stand against the unheard-of barbarities of the Communist Government of Russia. Only your powerful intercession can save the lives, the honor and the human dignity of the Russian revolutionists.
Russia, bled almost to death by war and hunger, now lies prostrate at the feet of despotism that pretends to be a government of and for the proletariat. The Russia of the workers, revolutionary Russia, is helpless. Without your fraternal help, workers of the world, the oppressed and persecuted there cannot defend their rights and liberties.
We lack the power to describe to you the horrors being perpetrated in the prisons of the Bolsheviki. Let the letter recently received from the Archangel concentration camp, the authenticity of which is above doubt, speak to you.
LETTER FROM ARCHANGEL[1]
On January 28, 1922, a group of Anarchists in the Kisselnaya Prison, in Moscow, declared a hunger strike. They demanded either to be given an open trial or to be permitted to leave the country. On the third day of the strike, on January 30, these Anarchists were transferred to another prison, on which occasion they were subjected to physical violence. Three of their number (G. K. Askareff, the Secretary of the Russian Section of the Anarcho-Universalists and editor of their journal, the "Universal"; S. A. Stitzenko and M. V. Simtchin) sentenced to two years concentration camp in Severo-Dvinsk, were taken to Archangel, together with 17 other Anarchists who did not participate in the hunger strike and who had been sentenced to the concentration camp and exile in Archangel. Askareff, Stitzenko and Simtchin declared that they would continue their hunger strike, which they did. The guards accompanying them telegraphed several times en route to the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (the Veh-Tcheka), informing the latter of the situation, Arriving in Archangel the prisoners were sent to the headquarters of the Tcheka of the Province (Gub-Tcheka) where an examination of the accompanying official papers disclosed the fact that there had been filed two sentences against each of the three hunger strikers (Askareff, Stitzenko and Simtchin). The Veh-Tcheka had sentenced them to the concentration camp in Severo-Dvinsk, while the M-Tcheka (the Moscow Tcheka) had at the same time ordered them to be sent to the Archangel camp. It was already the ninth day of the hunger strike and the men could hardly stand on their feet. They were thrown into a sleigh, with the thermometer showing 25° frost, and sent to the "distribution point" (which is also the concentration camp) and there left for hours in the cold. For some reason the Distribution Point refused to receive them, and they were ordered back to the Gub-Tcheka, where they were again left out in the cold (mo less than half an hour). Then they were sent to the hospital. Within a few hours, upon the refusal of the men to accept medical aid, they were again put in the sleigh and returned to the Gub-Tcheka. The next day they were taken in the same sleigh to the concentration camp and there placed in the general barracks. Within two days they were again transferred to the concentration camp hospital.
On the sixteenth day of the hunger strike Simtchin was attacked by convulsions. The Commandant came then and stated that he had received a telegram from the Superintendent of the Veh-Tcheka concentration camps, a certain Katznelson, of Moscow. In his telegram Katznelson offered the men to terminate their hunger strike till his arrival, in view of the fact that he had been given authority to settle the whole matter to everybody's satisfaction. The men consented conditionally, but demanded that the Camp Administration put Katznelson's offer in writing. It took from the evening till 1 P.M. of the next day before the paper was prepared: on February 13, on the seventeenth day of the hunger strike, the latter was terminated. The medical staff of the hospital exerted themselves in a touching manner in behalf of the men, gave them the best of care, and soon they began to improve.
When Superintendent Katznelson arrived he did not show himself to the prisoners, and when called upon by them he pretended to know nothing of the matter. Upon being faced with the official "paper" he declared that he would make telegraphic inquiry of the Veh-Tcheka. Convinced of the uselessness of all these excuses, Askareff and the others began their second hunger strike on March 3, which proved of terrible effect upon their constitutions not yet recovered from the first hunger strike. Already on the first day all of them had a high temperature. On the third day Stitzenko showed a temperature of 40°[2], and he became deaf. On the fourth day Askareff also had a temperature of 40°; he suffered convulsions, turned blue and cold, and for a time seemed almost dead. The prison administration, becoming alarmed, ordered the medical staff to list Askareff among the contagious cases, so that in case of his death it could be officially reported that he died not from hunger but from some contagious disease, in all probability typhus.
About this time there was received a telegram from the Veh-Tcheka to the effect that the sentences of Askareff and the others had been set aside, that they were to be put on trial and should therefore be sent to Moscow. The hunger strike was then of course terminated. After having somewhat recuperated in the hospital, the prisoners were transferred to Moscow where they were placed in the "inner prison" (of the Tcheka). Upon their threat to begin a new hunger strike they were transferred on April 1. to the Kisselnaya prison from which they had been removed two months previously.
The story of the other 17 transferred Anarchists is as follows. In Archangel they were sent at night from the railroad station to the Gub-Tcheka, arriving there tired, half frozen and hungry. The Commandant of the Gub-Tcheka wanted to send seven of their number away immediately, to some unknown place. The prisoners declared that they would refuse to be moved till morning. The Commandant drew his revolver and threatened their lives, but that proved of no avail. The prisoners refused to give their names, and the Commandant could therefore not select the seven men he needed. In the morning all the seventeen were taken to the concentration camp, where they were divided into three groups and placed in separate barracks.
The Archangel concentration camp consists of 20 barracks, six of which are occupied by prisoners. The barracks are long buildings, each about 20 sazhen[3] long, containing two rows of double benches placed one on top of the other. In these barracks there are crowded in up to five hundred persons, but just now the barracks contain (owing to reduced "loading") 100 to 150 men each. They all lie on the bare boards: there are no mattresses, pillows or blankets. The place is alive with vermin: the first thing that struck the new arrivals was the sight of scores of naked prisoners carefully picking lice off their underwear. Dirt, cockroaches and lice constantly fall from the upper benches on the lower, right on the sleepers below. On the whole, the upper places are to be preferred, also because it is warmer there, although the barracks are generally tolerably well heated and the inmates do not complain of cold.
Every new arrival is subjected to a thorough search, being completely undressed, examined all over, and so on. All the belongings of the prisoners, such as underwear, clothing, money, little mirrors, etc., are taken from them, to be turned over to the stock room. They are permitted to keep only one change of underwear. Those who have, for instance, both shoes and felt boots, or an overcoat and a fur half-coat, may retain only one of the things. Even the apparel with which the Veh-Tcheka had supplied the Anarchists were here taken away from them in spite of all their protests. The things are supposed to go to the stock room. But between 2 and 3 o'clock on the same night the Anarchists heard a group of overseers go to the stock room and there begin to sort the things. The Anarchists raised a cry, and the keepers retreated in confusion, explaining that they intended only to examine the things again. . . . .
The population of the camp is made up of Kronstadt and Tambovy prisoners, Wrangel and Savinkov men, and a considerable number of Tchekists come to grief. The remarkable peculiarity of the camp consists in the fact that the prisoners serve as their own guards, manage all the affairs of the institution and keep up a most cruel régime. There is no paid staff in the camp. All the positions, comprising those of keepers, overseers, clerks, employees of the general administration, of the hospital, the educational department, and including even the "acting Commandant", are filled by prisoners, mostly from the number of the Tchekists. The members of the administration have feathered their bed so well there that some of them prefer to retain their positions after completing their sentences or receiving a pardon. That was the case with Oyia (educated as a jurist, formerly Chief of the Tambov Gub-Tcheka, sentenced to be shot for colossal thefts of diamonds and other robberies, his sentence later changed to 25 years' service in the camp), the Acting Commandant, the engineer Nosatchenko and others.
That such a régime can be maintained is due to the presence of the many Tcheka men and to the moral degradation and corruption which the great majority of the prisoners have fallen into—more correctly, have been forced into. Comparatively most decent have remained the Kronstadt men, but of their original number of 5,000 sent to the Archangel camp there have remained, it is said, after one year only 1,500 persons. And yet they were a young and exceptionally strong and healthy race. The inmates of the camp have lost almost all semblance of humanity. They are absorbed by the one thought of self-preservation by means of gaining the good will of the authorities and thus securing the position of an overseer or some good work. The surest and quickest way of "standing in" with the administration is to turn spy. As a result, all of them—prisoners, overseers and the higher officials—are busy spying on each other. On the average there are (the Bolsheviki keep statistics on every subject) twenty reports of spies every day. Nothing, not a single word spoken, is hidden from the authorities. There is no attempt in the camp at organisation, mutual help, solidarity or united struggle. The female prisoners—formerly of the aristocracy and the intelligentsia—give themselves to any overseer at his first demand, without protest or resistance.
According to the inmates, the régime of the camp has become incomparably more tolerable, the punishments fewer and the treatment more decent after the prison had been investigated by a Commission appointed at the instigation of the Red Cross. Yet the following fact throws light on the character of the existing discipline. When the Anarchists arrived, the peasant Glebov, of Vologda, who know them and who had been imprisoned together with them before, tried to attract their attention by knocking on his window and shouting. For this he was put into the punishment cell for two weeks and afterwards sent to Kholmogori to hard labor.
In the morning all the prisoners must line up for the count and at the given signal sing the "International". Before the investigation the singing of the "International" was obligatory, but now the prisoners are not forced to sing. Yet failure to sing is considered evidence of unrepentance and counter-revolutionary obstinacy. After the song the prisoners are formed into groups of ten for work within the camp. These are selected from the healthy and clad inmates. Many go about in such rags that even the authorities do not consider it possible to send them out into the frost. Refusal to work is punished with the dark cell.
The prisoners receive tea three times a day, with three ounces of sugar. Dinner consists of soup made of some fish, while for supper is given kasha (gruel) of wheat or rice, prepared with fat (imported). The products are of good quality; the food is not only eatable but palatable, but there is not enough of it. Till the investigation the daily bread ration consisted of one pound per person; now it has been increased to a pound and a half.
Besides working within the camp, the prisoners are also employed in the camp shops, in which case they are quartered in the shop lodging houses. They are also sent to the city: to the port and to the various institutions. Those working in the shops and in the city receive half a pound of bread above their regular ration, as well as a fourth part of their earnings (the other three parts are divided equally in favor of the famine relief, the camp educational department and the prisoners' fund, for the time of liberation. In view of the falling valuta, this fund is practically a mere fiction). A score of prisoners live in the city in private apartments, and report only for registration. This, of course, is a dream to be attained only by the few elect. There are neither books nor papers; letters arrive seldom, and there are no aid societies.
Soon after their arrival the Anarchists declared a hunger strike, on the ground of the following demands: to be placed together in a separate wing, to have their elected starosta (official spokesman of the group) recognised by the authorities (in the camp the starosta is appointed by the administration), to receive books, papers and personal apparel; permission to associate with the women Anarchists, and some other lesser demands. The hunger strike lasted eight days. The authorities did nothing except to place armed guards beside the hunger strikers. After awhile word came from the Veh-Tcheka that the demands of the strikers concerned the internal management and therefore the matter was to be taken up by the local administration. Assistant Superintendent Lebedensky agreed to satisfy almost all the demands of the strikers excepting their right of association with the women. That question Lebedinsky left to the decision of Katznelson who was soon to arrive and who was expected to legalise the newly gained rights. When Katznelson arrived he refused to enlarge the privileges of the Anarchists and declared that he would not issue the legalising order, on the ground that the Anarchists were to be sent to Kholmogori, their presence in the Archangel camp being only temporary. Similarly Katznelson refused to release from the camp the Anarchists (Afanassiev, Kisselev, Altshuler and others) who had been senteuced not to the camp but to exile. (Incidentally, there are generally cases where those sent to Archangel for exile, with definite instructions to that effect, are imprisoned in the camp).
Thus the eight-day hunger strike proved of no avail, and the Anarchists faced the question what to undertake in the situation. Then the women Anarchists forced their way into the kamera (large cell) of their male comrades in order to consider joint action in the matter. The authorities sent for the guards who used violence to pull the women out of the cell, Spontaneously there began a new hunger strike, the men immediately throwing their bread and other food out of the cell, as a protest against the brutality toward the women. Within a few days the women were at night transferred to another prison—the House of Correction. The circumstances of the transfer were such that the women felt convinced they were being taken to execution. They threw off their upper clothing in order that the executioners might not possess themselves of it. Five of the hunger striking men were taken from their cell at night, subjected to violence and sent on a cart to Kholmogori. These five were: Karasik, Lukin, Tarasiuk, Silayev, and Mokhov. They continued their hunger strike during the transfer and upon their arrival at the new place. The women grew so weak from the second hunger strike that on the fifth day they were transferred to the camp. Soon Katznelson appeared there and declared that all the Anarchists, both the men and the women, would be sent to Kholmogori and that there they would be placed in a separate wing with full autonomy and all their demands satisfied. The women consented. Then Katznelson suggested that they send one of their number as a delegate to terminate the hunger strike at Kholmogori, because—as he correctly assumed—the prisoners there would give no credence to the communication of the authorities. The hunger strike was stopped on the sixth or seventh day, but the woman delegate was not called for and the administration acted very ambiguously. Then the women began the third hunger strike. They (with the exception of L. Altshuler who fell sick as a result of long hunger) together with the remaining men were transferred to Kholmogori. No news has since been received from there.
This letter needs no comment. . . .
Workers of Europe and America, we are powerless in this situation. Only YOU can help and save these tortured victims, these men and women martyred for their devotion to the Revolution.
We know, comrades, that you also have a hard struggle against the reaction in your own country. We know what great sacrifices you are making in the fight against capitalistic imperialism. Yet we feel sure that you will not withhold your sympathy and solidarity from these victims of Communist reaction,—a reaction more brutal and degraded because it is carried on by alleged Socialists and in the name of the proletariat.
In this spirit we appeal to you, comrades. Not sporadic protests, but world-wide INTERCESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PROLETARIAT can save the lives, the honor and the dignity of the Russian revolutionists.
With fraternal greetings.
ALEXANDER BERKMAN. EMMA GOLDMAN. G. MAXIMOFF. MARK MRATCHNY.
RUDOLF ROCKER. A. SHAPIRO. A. SOUCHY. VLADIMIR.
VOLIN. E. YARTCHUK.
August, 1922
Address all communications to:
F. Kater, Kopernikusstr. 25 II, Berlin O. 34.
This work was published in 1922 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 102 years or less since publication.
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