Ten Days That Shook the World - John Reed (some good books to read TXT) 📗

a Russian delegate, yet opposed to the foreign policy of his Government, would be so strange that people would say, �What�s that gentleman carrying, and what shall we talk to him about?� As for the nakaz, Miliukov said that he himself was a pacifist; that he believed in the creation of an International Arbitration Board, and the necessity for a limitation of armaments, and parliamentary control over secret diplomacy, which did not mean the abolition of secret diplomacy.

As for the Socialist ideas in the nakaz, which he called �Stockholm ideas��peace without victory, the right of self-determination of peoples, and renunciation of the economic war�

�The German successes are directly proportionate to the successes of those who call themselves the revolutionary democracy. I do not wish to say, �to the successes of the Revolution,� because I believe that the defeats of the revolutionary democracy are victories for the Revolution�.

�The influence of the Soviet leaders abroad is not unimportant. One had only to listen to the speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to be convinced that, in this hall, the influence of the revolutionary democracy on foreign policy is so strong, that the Minister does not dare to speak face to face with it about the honour and dignity of Russia!

�We can see, in the nakaz of the Soviets, that the ideas of the Stockholm Manifesto have been elaborated in two direction�that of Utopianism, and that of German interests�.

Interrupted by the angry cries of the Left, and rebuked by the President, Miliukov insisted that the proposition of peace concluded by popular assemblies, not by diplomats, and the proposal to undertake peace negotiations as soon as the enemy had renounced annexations, were pro-German. Recently Kuhlman said that a personal declaration bound only him who made it�. �Anyway, we will imitate the Germans before we will imitate the Soviet of Workers� and Soldiers� Deputies�.�

The sections treating of the independence of Lithuania and Livonia were symptoms of nationalist agitation in different parts of Russia, supported, said Miliukov, by German money�. Amid bedlam from the Left, he contrasted the clauses of the nakaz concerning Alsace-Lorraine, Rumania, and Serbia, with those treating of the nationalities in Germany and Austria. The nakaz embraced the German and Austrian point of view, said Miliukov.

Passing to Terestchenko�s speech, he contemptuously accused him of being afraid to speak the thought in his mind, and even afraid to think in terms of the greatness of Russia. The Dardanelles must belong to Russia�.

�You are continually saying that the soldier does not know why he is fighting, and that when he does know, he�ll fight�. It is true that the soldier doesn�t know why he is fighting, but now you have told him that there is no reason for him to fight, that we have no national interests, and that we are fighting for alien ends�.�

Paying tribute to the Allies, who, he said, with the assistance of America, �will yet save the cause of humanity,� he ended:

�Long live the light of humanity, the advanced democracies of the West, who for a long time have been travelling the way we now only begin to enter, with ill-assured and hesitating steps! Long live our brave Allies!�

13.

INTERVIEW WITH KERENSKY

The Associated Press man tried his hand. �Mr. Kerensky,� he began, �in England and France people are disappointed with the Revolution���

�Yes, I know,� interrupted Kerensky, quizzically. �Abroad the Revolution is no longer fashionable!�

�What is your explanation of why the Russians have stopped fighting?�

�That is a foolish question to ask.� Kerensky was annoyed. �Russia entered the war first of all the Allies, and for a long time she bore the whole brunt of it. Her losses have been inconceivably greater than those of all the other nations put together. Russia has now the right to demand of the Allies that they bring greater force of arms to bear.� He stopped for a moment and stared at his interlocutor. �You are asking why the Russians have stopped fighting, and the Russians are asking where is the British fleet�with German battleships in the Gulf of Riga?� Again he ceased suddenly, and as suddenly burst out. �The Russian Revolution hasn�t failed and the revolutionary Army hasn�t failed. It is not the Revolution which caused disorganisation in the army�that disorganisation was accomplished years ago, by the old regime. Why aren�t the Russians fighting? I will tell you. Because the masses of the people are economically exhausted,�and because they are disillusioned with the Allies!�

The interview of which this is an excerpt was cabled to the United States, and in a few days sent back by the American State Department, with a demand that it be �altered.� This Kerensky refused to do; but it was done by his secretary, Dr. David Soskice�and, thus purged of all offensive references to the Allies, was given to the press of the world�.

 

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III

1.

RESOLUTION OF THE FACTORYSHOP COMMITTEES

Workers� Control

1. (See Ppage 43) 2. The organisation of Workers� Control is a manifestation of the same healthy activity in the sphere of industrial production, as are party organisations in the sphere of politics, trade unions in employment, Cooperatives in the domain of consumption, and literary clubs in the sphere of culture.

3. The working-class has much more interest in the proper and uninterrupted operation of factories� than the capitalist class. Workers� Control is a better security in this respect for the interests of modern society, of the whole people, than the arbitrary will of the owners, who are guided only by their selfish desire for material profits or political privileges. Therefore Workers� Control is demanded by the proletariat not only in their own interest, but in the interest of the whole country, and should be supported by the revolutionary peasantry as well as the revolutionary Army.

4. Considering the hostile attitude of the majority of the capitalist class toward the Revolution, experience shows that proper distribution of raw materials and fuel, as well as the most efficient management of factories, is impossible without Workers� Control.

5. Only Workers� Control over capitalist enterprises, cultivating the workers� conscious attitude toward work, and making clear its social meaning, can create conditions favourable to the development of a firm self-discipline in labour, and the development of all labour�s possible productivity.

6. The impending transformation of industry from a war to a peace basis, and the redistribution of labour all over the country, as well as among the different factories, can be accomplished without great disturbances only by means of the democratic self-government of the workers themselves�. Therefore the realisation of Workers� Control is an indispensable preliminary to the demobilisation of industry.

7. In accordance with the slogan proclaimed by the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviki), Workers� Control on a national scale, in order to bring results, must extend to all capitalist concerns, and not be organised accidentally, without system; it must be well-planned, and not separated from the industrial life of the country as a whole.

8. The economic life of the country�agriculture, industry, commerce and transport�must be subjected to one unified plan, constructed so as to satisfy the individual and social requirements of the wide masses of the people; it must be approved by their elected representatives, and carried out under the direction of these representatives by means of national and local organisations.

9. That part of the plan which deals with land-labour must be carried out under supervision of the peasants� and land-workers� organisations; that relating to industry, trade and transport operated by wage-earners, by means of Workers� Control; the natural organs of Workers� Control inside the industrial plant will be the Factory-Shop and similar Committees; and in the labour market, the Trade Unions.

10. The collective wage agreements arranged by the Trade Unions for the majority of workers in any branch of labour, must be binding on all the owners of plants employing this kind of labour in the given district.

11. Employment bureaus must be placed under the control and management of the Trade Unions, as class organisations acting within the limits of the whole industrial plan, and in accordance with it.

12. Trade Unions must have the right, upon their own initiative, to begin legal action against all employers who violate labour contracts or labour legislation, and also in behalf of any individual worker in any branch of labour.

13. On all questions relating to Workers� Control over production, distribution and employment, the Trade Unions must confer with the workers of individual establishments through their Factory-Shop Committees.

14. Matters of employment and discharge, vacations, wage scales, refusal of work, degree of productivity and skill, reasons for abrogating agreements, disputes with the administration, and similar problems of the internal life of the factory, must be settled exclusively according to the findings of the Factory-Shop Committee, which has the right to exclude from participation in the discussion any members of the factory administration.

15. The Factory-Shop Committee forms a commission to control the supplying of the factory with raw materials, fuel, orders, labour power and technical staff (including equipment), and all other supplies and arrangements, and also to assure the factory�s adherence to the general industrial plan. The factory administration is obliged to surrender to the organs of Workers� Control, for their aid and information, all data concerning the business; to make it possible to verify this data, and to produce the books of the company upon demand of the Factory-Shop Committee.

16. Any illegal acts on the part of the administration discovered by the Factory-Shop Committees, or any suspicion of such illegal acts, which cannot be investigated or remedied by the workers alone, shall be referred to the district central organisation of Factory-Shop Committees charged with the particular branch of labour involved, which shall discuss the matter with the institutions charged with the execution of the general industrial plan, and find means to deal with the matter, even to the extent of confiscating the factory.

17. The union of the Factory-Shop Committees of different concerns must be accomplished on the basis of the different trades, in order to facilitate control over the whole branch of industry, so as to come within the general industrial plan; and so as to create an effective plan of distribution among the different factories of orders, raw materials, fuel, technical and labour power; and also to facilitate cooperation with the Trade Unions, which are organised by trades.

18. The central city councils of Trade Unions and Factory-Shop Committees represent the proletariat in the corresponding provincial and local institutions formed to elaborate and carry out the general industrial plan, and to organise economic relations between the towns and the villages (workers and peasants). They also possess final authority for the management of Factory-Shop Committees and Trade Unions, so far as Workers� Control in their district is concerned, and they shall issue obligatory regulations concerning workers� discipline in the routine of production�which regulations, however, must be approved by vote of the workers themselves.

2.

THE BOURGEOIS PRESS ON THE BOLSHEVIKI

Russkaya Volia, October 28. �The decisive moment approaches�. It is decisive for the Bolsheviki. Either they will give us� a second edition of the events of July 16-18, or they will have to admit that with their plans and intentions, with their impertinent policy of wishing to separate themselves from everything consciously national, they have been definitely defeated�.

�What are the chances of Bolshevik success?

�It is difficult to answer that question, for their principal support is the� ignorance of the popular masses. They speculate on it, they work upon it by a demagogy which nothing can stop�.

�The Government must play its part in this affair. Supporting itself morally by the Council of the Republic, the Government must take a clearly-defined attitude toward the Bolsheviki�.

�And if the Bolsheviki provoke an insurrection against the legal power, and thus facilitate the German invasion, they