In spite of these changes, much of the old structure of Russia remained. It is no easy matter to socialize a huge country suddenly, and it is possible that the process of change in Russia might have taken many long years if matters had not been forced by events. Just as the peasants had driven out the landlords, the workers in many instances, angry with their old bosses, drove them out and took possession of the factories. The Soviet could not possibly give back the factories to the old capitalistic owners, and so it took possession of them. In some cases these owners, during the civil war that followed, tried to damage the plants of the factories, and again the Soviet Government intervened and took possession of these factories to protect them. In this way the socialization of the means of production, that is, a kind of State socialism, or State ownership of the factories, etc.—went on much more rapidly than it might have done under normal conditions.
Life was not very different in Russia during the first nine months of Soviet rule. The Bolsheviks tolerated criticism and even abuse, and anti-Bolshevik papers continued to appear. The population generally was starving, but the rich still had plenty of money for ostentation and luxury. The night cabarets were crowded, and racing and other sports went on. The richer bourgeoisie was very much in evidence in the great towns, openly rejoicing at the expected downfall of the Soviet Government. These people, who were so patriotically keen on carrying on the war against Germany, now actually celebrated the advance of the Germans on Petrograd. They were quite cheerful at the prospect of German armies occupying their capital city. The dislike of social revolution was far greater for them than the fear of alien domination. This is almost always so, especially when classes are concerned.
Life was thus more or less normal, and there was certainly no Bolshevik terror at this stage. The famous Moscow ballet continued from day to day before crowded houses. The Soviet Government had moved to Moscow when Petrograd was threatened by the Germans, and Moscow has been their capital ever since. The ambassadors of the Allies were still in Russia. They had run away from Petrograd when there was danger of the city falling into German hands, and established themselves in safety in Vologda, a small country town far from all activities. There they sat together in a continuous state of perturbation and excitement at the wild rumours that reached them. They would make anxious and frequent inquiries from Trotsky whether the rumours were true. Trotsky grew rather tired of this nervous agitation of these old diplomats, and he offered to write “a bromide prescription to calm the nerves of their Excellencies of Vologda”! Doctors give bromide to soothe the nerves of hysterical and excitable people.
Life seemed to go on normally on the surface, but below this apparent calm were many currents and cross-currents. No one, not even they themselves, expected the Bolsheviks to survive for long. Every one was intriguing. The Germans had set up a puppet State in the Ukraine in South Russia, and in spite of the peace, always seemed to threaten the Soviet. The Allies, of course, hated the Germans, but they hated the Bolsheviks even more. President Wilson of America had indeed sent a cordial greeting to the Soviet Congress early in 1918; he seems to have repented and changed his mind later. So the Allies privately subsidized and helped counter-revolutionary activities, and even took a secret share in them. Moscow buzzed with foreign spies. The chief agent of the British secret service, known as the master spy of Britain, was sent there to create trouble for the Soviet Government. The dispossessed aristocrats and bourgeoisie were continually fomenting counter-revolution with the help of money from the Allies.
So matters stood about the middle of the year 1918. The life of the Soviet seemed to hang by a slender thread.
152
The Soviets Win through
April 11, 1933
The month of July 1918 saw startling developments in the situation in Russia. The net round the Bolsheviks was gradually closing in upon them. The Germans threatened from the Ukraine in the south, and a large number of old Czechoslovakian prisoners of war in Russia were encouraged by the Allies to march on Moscow. All over the western front in France the Great War was still going on, but in Soviet Russia the strange spectacle was seen of both the Allies and the German Powers working independently in a common enterprise—the crushing of the Bolsheviks. Again we see how much greater is the force of class hatred than that of national hatred, and national hatred is poisonous and bitter enough. War was not officially declared against Russia by these Powers; they found many other ways of harassing the Soviet, notably by encouraging the counter-revolutionary leaders and helping them with arms and money. Several old Tsarist generals now took the field against the Soviet.
The Tsar and his family were being kept as prisoners in East Russia near the Ural mountains in the charge of the local soviet there. The advance of the Czech troops in this region frightened this local soviet, and they were alarmed at the possibility of the ex-Tsar being rescued and becoming a great centre of counter-revolution. So they took the law into their own hands and executed the whole family. It appears that the Central Committee of the Soviet was not responsible for this, and Lenin was opposed to the execution of the ex-Tsar on grounds of international policy, and of his family on humanitarian grounds. The deed having been done, however, the Central Government justified it. Probably this upset the Allied Governments all the more and made them still more aggressive.
August saw a worsening of the situation, and two events brought anger, despair, and terror in their train. One of these was an attempt on Lenin’s life, and the other was the landing of an Allied force at Archangel in North Russia. There was wild excitement in Moscow, and the end of the Soviet’s existence seemed to be very near. Moscow itself was practically surrounded by enemies—Germans, Czechs, and the counter-revolutionary forces. Only a few districts round Moscow were under Soviet rule, and the landing of an Allied army seemed to make the end certain. The Bolsheviks did not have much of an army; it was barely five months since the Brest-Litovsk peace, and most of the old army had melted away to the fields. Moscow itself was full of conspiracies, and the bourgeoisie was openly rejoicing at the approaching fall of the Soviets.
Soviet Russia 1918–19
Such was the terrible plight of the nine-month-old Soviet Republic. Despair seized the Bolsheviks and fear, and as they were going to die anyhow, they decided to die fighting. As the young French Republic had done a century and a quarter earlier, like a wild animal at bay, they turned on their enemies. There was to be no more tolerance, no mercy. The whole country was put under martial law, and early in September the Central Soviet Committee announced the Red Terror. “Death to all traitors, merciless war on the foreign invaders.” They would fight with their backs to the wall both the enemy within and the enemy without. It was the Soviet against the world and against its own reactionaries. A period of what is called “militant communism” also began, and the whole country was turned into a kind of besieged camp. Every effort was made to build up the Red Army, and Trotsky was put in charge of this.
This was about the time, September and October 1918, when the German war-machine in the west was cracking up and there was talk of an armistice. President Wilson had laid down his Fourteen Points, which were supposed to embody the aims of the Allies. One of these points, it is interesting to remember, was that all Russian territory was to be evacuated and Russia was to be given full opportunity for self-development with the aid of the Powers. A singular commentary on this was being provided by the Allied intervention in Russia and their landing of forces there. The Bolshevik Government sent a note to President Wilson pungently criticizing his Fourteen Points. In the course of this note they said: “You demand the independence of Poland, Serbia, Belgium, and freedom for the people of Austro-Hungary . . . But, strangely, we do not notice in your demands any mention of freedom for Ireland, Egypt, India, or even the Philippine Islands.”
Peace was made between the Allies and the German Powers on November 11, 1918, when the armistice was signed. But in Russia civil war raged throughout 1919 and 1920. Single-h
anded, the Soviets fought a host of enemies. At one time the Red Army was attacked on seventeen different fronts. England, America, France, Japan, Italy, Serbia, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, the Baltic States, Poland, and a host of counter-revolutionary Russian generals were all opposing the Soviet, and the fighting extended from eastern Siberia to the Baltic and the Crimea. Repeatedly, the end of the Soviet seemed near, Moscow itself was threatened, Petrograd was on the point of falling to the enemy, but it surmounted every crisis, and with each success grew in self-confidence and strength.
One of the counter-revolutionary leaders was Admiral Kolchak. He described himself as the ruler of Russia, and the Allies actually recognized him as such and helped him greatly. The way he behaved in Siberia is shown by an ally of his, General Graves, who commanded the United States army supporting Kolchak. This American general says: “There were horrible murders committed, but they were not committed by the Bolsheviks, as the world believes. I am well on the side of safety when I say that the anti-Bolsheviks killed one hundred people in Eastern Siberia to every one killed by the Bolsheviks.”
It will interest you to know on what knowledge eminent statesmen conduct the affairs of great nations and make war and peace. Lloyd George, who was the British Prime Minister at the time, and perhaps the most powerful man in Europe, speaking about Russia in the British House of Commons, referred to Kolchak and other generals there. In the same breath he referred to “General Kharkov”. Kharkov, instead of being a general, happens to be an important city, the capital of Ukraine! This ignorance of elementary geography, however, did not prevent these statesmen from cutting up Europe into bits and making a new map of it.
The Allies also blockaded Russia, and so effective was this that for the whole of 1919 Russia could neither buy nor sell anything abroad.
In spite of all these stupendous difficulties and numerous and powerful enemies, Soviet Russia survived and triumphed. This was one of the most astonishing feats in history. How did they manage it? There is no doubt that if the Allied Powers had been united and bent on crushing the Bolsheviks, they could have done so in the early days. Having disposed of Germany, they had vast armies to play with. But it was not so easy to use these armies anywhere, and especially against the Soviets. They were all war-weary, and another demand on them for foreign warfare would have met with refusal. There was also a great deal of sympathy among the workers for the new Russia, and the Allied governments were afraid of having to face trouble at home if they declared open war against the Soviets. As it was, Europe seemed to be on the verge of revolt. And thirdly, there was the mutual rivalry of the Allied Powers. With the coming of peace they started bickering and quarrelling among themselves. All this prevented a determined attempt on their part to put an end to the Bolsheviks. They tried to bring this about indirectly as far as possible by getting others to fight for them and supplying them with money, arms, and expert advice. They felt sure that the Soviets could not last.
All this, no doubt, helped the Soviets and gave them time to strengthen themselves. But it would be unfair to them to imagine that their victory was due to outside circumstances. Essentially, it was a victory of the self-confidence, the faith, the self-sacrifice, and the unflinching determination of the Russian people. And the wonder of it is that these people were everywhere supposed, and rightly supposed, to be lazy and ignorant, demoralized and incapable of any great effort. Freedom is a habit, and if we are deprived of it for long, we are apt to forget it. These ignorant Russian peasants and workers had had little enough occasion to practise this habit. Yet the quality of the leadership of Russia was such in those days that it converted this poor human material into a strong, organized nation, full of faith in its mission and confidence in itself. The Kolchaks and others of that kind were defeated not only because of the ability and determination of the Bolshevik leaders, but also because the Russian peasant refused to put up with them. For him they were the representatives of the old order come to take away his newly won land and other privileges, and he decided to defend these to the death.
Towering above all others, and exercising an unchallenged supremacy, was Lenin. To the Russian people he became like a demi-god, the symbol of hope and faith, the wise one who knew a way out of every difficulty and whom nothing ruffled or perturbed. Next to him in those days (for he is discredited in Russia now) came Trotsky, a writer and an orator, without any previous military experience, who now set about building up a great army in the midst of civil war and blockade. Trotsky was recklessly brave, and frequently risked his life in fighting. There was no pity in him if others showed lack of courage or want of discipline. At a critical moment in the civil war he issued this order:
I give warning that if any unit retreats without orders, the first to be shot down will be the commissary of the unit, and next the commander. Brave and gallant soldiers will be appointed in their places. Cowards, dastards and traitors will not escape the bullet. This I solemnly promise in the presence of the entire Red Army.
And he kept his word.
Another army order issued by Trotsky in October 1919 is interesting as it shows how the Bolsheviks always tried to distinguish between the people and the capitalist governments, and never took up a purely national attitude. “But even today,” the order runs,
when we are engaged in a bitter fight with Yudenich, the hireling of England, I demand that you never forget that there are two Englands. Besides the England of profits, of violence, bribery and blood-thirstiness, there is the England of labour, of spiritual power, of high ideals of international solidarity. It is the base and dishonest England of the Stock Exchange manipulators that is fighting us. The England of labour and the people is with us.
Something of the doggedness with which the Red Army was made to fight can be seen in the decision to defend Petrograd when it was on the point of falling to Yudenich. The decree of the Council of Defence was: “To defend Petrograd to the last ounce of blood, to refuse to yield a foot, and to carry the struggle into the streets of the city”.
Maxim Gorki, the great Russian writer, tells us that Lenin once said of Trotsky: “Well, show me another man who would be able, within a year, to organize an almost exemplary army and moreover to win the respect of the military specialists. We have such a man. We have everything. And miracles are still going to happen.”
This Red Army grew by leaps and bounds. In December 1917, soon after the Bolsheviks had seized power, the strength of the army was 435,000. After Brest-Litovsk much of this must have melted away and had to be built up afresh. By the middle of 1919 the strength was 1,500,000. A year later it had risen to the prodigious total of 5,300,000.
By the end of 1919 the Soviets had definitely got the better of their opponents in the civil war. For another year, however, the war continued, and there were many anxious moments. In 1920 the new State of Poland (freshly formed after the German defeat) fell out with Russia, and there was war between them. All these wars were practically over by the end of 1920, and Russia at last had some peace.
Meanwhile internal difficulties had grown. War and blockade and disease and famine had reduced the country to a miserable condition. Production had gone down greatly, for farmers cannot till the fields or workers run the factories when rival armies are constantly marching over them. War-communism had pulled the country through somehow, but everybody had to go on tightening his belt, till this process became very difficult to bear. The farmers were not interested in producing much, because they said that the State would take away, under the militant communism then prevailing, all the extra stuff that they produced, so why should they take the trouble? A very difficult and dangerous situation was arising. There was even a revolt of the sailors at Kronstadt near Petrograd, and strikes in Petrograd (or Leningrad) itself.
Lenin, with his genius for adapting fundamentals to existing conditions, immediately took action. He put an end to war-communism, and introduced a new policy called the New Economic Policy, or NEP for short (from the first letters). This gave
greater freedom to the peasant to produce and sell his stuff, and it also permitted some private trading. It was a break-away to some extent from strict communistic principles, but Lenin justified it as a temporary measure. It certainly brought great relief to the people. But soon Russia had to face another terrible calamity. This was a famine due to a great drought and consequent failure of the crops over vast areas of south-east Russia. It was a dreadful famine, one of the greatest that has been known, and millions of people perished in it. Coming as it did after many years of war and civil war and blockade and economic breakdown, and before the Soviet Government had time to settle down to peace activities, it might well have broken down the whole structure of government. However, the Soviet survived it, as it had done its previous calamities. There was a conference of representatives of European governments to consider what help they should give for famine relief. They declared that they would give no help till the Soviet Government promised to pay the old Tsarist debts, which it had repudiated. The money-lender was stronger than the humanitarian, and even a heartrending appeal from Russian mothers for their dying children went unheeded. But the United States of America made no conditions and gave much help.
When England and other European countries refused to help in the Russian famine, they were not otherwise boycotting the Soviet. Early in 1921 an Anglo-Russian trade treaty had been signed, and many other countries had followed this example and signed trade treaties with the Soviet.
With eastern countries like China, Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan, the Soviet adopted a very generous policy. They gave up old Tsarist privileges and tried to be very friendly. This was in accordance with their principles of freedom for all subject and exploited peoples, but a more important motive for them was to strengthen their own position. The imperialist Powers, like England, were often put in a false position by this generosity of Soviet Russia, and the eastern countries made comparisons which were not to the advantage of England and the other Powers.
Glimpses of World History Page 97