Russian Dictatorship Described by Walter Citrine
Russian Dictatorship Described by Walter Citrine Lord and Lady Passfield Report Mo Dictatorship in Russia |«nKSA "and Beatrice Webb ¦ {Lord and Lady Passfield), Mjk in therr own words...
...The decisions are absolutely binding on the party member, "whether in his public capacity as a people's Commissar, member' of a trust or combine, director of works manager—or in his private capacity as a citizen...
...What we were asked to believe eighteen years ago, namely that the dictatorship and terrorism in Russia were only "transitory," has turned out to be more and more permanent...
...What the Webbs set out to prove is that the Constitution is democratic...
...is, fast sense, actually leas of an aatracy than many a Parliamenjary Cabinet...
...Not even the full Central Committee of seventy members assorts the real authority...
...the widespread arrests and summary executions...
...Bat of late the united front has developed some Assistant Communists within our ranks bent on mischief as ptfesib^' ^^^"^fljpj has Vacua eotatiHilHIjJBstojwMWfc together with his satellites...
...The' plan tentatively agreed to ostensibly gives the Socialists e continuation of their political control in the Milwaukee field, but it also permits the Progressives to develop s dual system of ward organizations in Milwaukee which in the hands of old party politicians can be easily recruited so a< to get control, through force of numbers, with the right to make their own nominations — gentlemen's agreements or no gentleman's agreements...
...Will this new civilization, with its abandonment of the incentive of profit-making, its extinction of unemployment, its planned production for community consumption and the consequent liquidation of the landlord and the capitalist, spread to other countries...
...Our reply is: 'Yes, it will...
...the Soviet system...
...The fact that the "social purpose and aim* of the Soviet regime may differ from those of the fascist jratsms is of no ¦oaiikqpea whatever...
...The first volume is concerned with the constitution as a whole, while the second deals with, social trends in Soviet Communism...
...It is shown that the Central Committee of the party, despite the complete absence of legal authority, publishes decrees...
...For most readers the point will be not so much as to whether the legal and constitutional powers of the Communist Party permit it to act as a dictatorship, but whether in, fact it does so...
...Workers' and farmers' unions are arranging demonstrations fo...
...There was also a suburban preacher, who for8 ^^^a^F^11 * send Mrs.^^^^M^^^^on^P^i country '*Jwm^lf|HM tour, the party to get some of the proceeds...
...Strike, 'the^expafure' of individual workers to' public dishonor and shame for esreJeaapept, hff work, ] absenteeisnt, andf so an, mXtiftm^h referred to, escape censure...
...that it becomes the concern of all true Socialists, no matter in what state they reside...
...Simple Explanation They regard the trade unions as voluntary and independent organisations...
...There is not a single instance in the whole of history of dictatorship leading to liberty...
...The encyclopedic character of the book defies adequate review as scarcely any phase of Soviet activities is left untouched...
...We reprint here his review of the Webb book in which Citrine gives an account of his own observations in Russia...
...The Indiana affair did not look so very good, either...
...Once published, these decrees become enforceable throughout the land...
...draft the platform, at least at first...
...Moreover, the principal decisions are first taken by the "Politbureau" and then applied by the trade unions...
...New York Bolt Is Concern Of Whole Party, Says Heath By Frederic Heath Fred Heath, editor and artist, is one of th* founders of the 1 resent Socialist Party...
...A regime which {justifies She methods of Mussolini and Hitkr serves only te encourage fascism sad...
...the maintenance of a strict censorship of all public writings...
...The Sidney Webb gjytrisl pattern," declare, "shows even, an exagSgai devotion to collegiate de«yrom one end of the hierarchy stM other, the members of every, (gxil or committee, including its: aeaeent, can always be 'recalled' fjtguit notice by a resolution, powd by the body (or at a meetjj4 tbe electorate) to which they jft their office...
...has been for decades, a member of the Milwaukee .County Board of Supervisor...
...The absence of freedom of speech and press and the right of public meeting...
...The Soviet Union," they add, "has quite obviously grown richer in the vary years in which moot, if not all, other countries have grown poorer...
...The only consequence of dictatorship can be more dictatorship...
...We will have to get back to State autonomy if we have the present notional board on ottr backs much longer:' It is a decided flaw in our Constitution that it permits half-baked scholastics to enter bur ranks one day and allows them to be boosted to tbe N.E.C...
...Political and social systems are judged not by what they profess to seek but by what they actually are...
...Ho one has recognized more fully ua the Webbs the need in such ¦ork for investigation of original Bterial at the source, aided by killed and entirely . impartial asatance, as well as ae meticulous kecking of statements by personal KaTt She most visitors who "have ried to penetrate the barrage of kmet pro pagan da, have been ham - wed by the absence of familiarity fit tha Russian language' and oj6 i»t intimate knowledge of the ¦Hal the people which can only Lyjjnad by long residence, l&e book is extremely readable, well indexed and furnished with a series of appendices which are most useful...
...Bnt the Socialists mm to...
...For many year* Heath edited the Social Democratic Herald, one of...
...But it is playing with,fire, at best, and we can only hope for the best...
...The dads ranch in Chicago does not seem to We done anything to correct this, The truth iS that the present national committee has not made much of a lit with the Socialists wlio are informed as to Its conduct...
...Ours is, or ought to be, s working class party...
...It is felt that some of the dan;gerj| indicated can be met by jmfaer parleying, provided a hasty referendum does not shut off the Let us hope that the good faith on the other side, that the optimists are so sanguine of, really exists...
...CALLES IS BACKr IN MEXICO MEXICO CITY...
...Together with Eugene fy...
...litrine Disputes Findings n the Webfcs on Russia By Sir Walter Citrine trip/Lent, International Federate of Trade Unions...
...and the conclusion ;afeo that Norman Thomas has ?betted the attacks, if he has not inspired them, seems mescapabKAnd there has been something mighty mean in the deliberate attempt to give the New York party administration a had name throughSsPfta | aafinw'^^^BsHsTsH [also indications as to - just what individual is to blame...
...Our own conclusion is that, if I pbumry or dictatorship is OfOt government without prior' owuwion or debate, either by pub¦ opinion or in private session, O Government of the U.S.S.R...
...written by the president of the International Federation of Trade Unions and General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress- and, second, because, Citrine has just returned from a trip to Soviet Russia, where he was the guest of the Soviet Government...
...British Trade* Union Congress ' THROUGHOUT its twelve hun* ored pages, this well-written k»k is courageously sad chal¦MBgiy controversial...
...They do not even accept Stalin's definition that the "dictatorship of the proletariat is substantially the dictatorship of the party.'* They contend that the Communist Party can only "persuade.'' This sentiment indicates the standpoint from which they have examined...
...They make insufficient distinction between the system on paper and its actual working in practice...
...Its authority is practically exercised by the President, General Secretary (Stalin) and three Assistant Secretaries, and the two influential committees it elects.'Of these committees the most important is the "Politbureau," which consists of about s dozen members...
...President Cardenes on Sunday and to express their opposition to the return of General Calles to Mexico after his self-imposed exile...
...Soviet Russia wil' never advance to Socialism until the Communist dictatorship gives way to democracy...
...Yet they afford ample material to prove that every important trade union official is a Communist who, as we have seen, mast carry oat the dictates of the party irrespective of the wishes of his members...
...We are told that it is in this committee that the real power exists...
...1 » • • To all of which The New Leader desires to add, the following: A regime like that described by...
...the elimination from every poet of influence in the realm of education of all but trustworthy adherents of the regime leave the authors unmoved...
...the most effective propaganda paper* ever published in this country, one that played an" important part in organizing Milwaukee for the first great Socialist victories at 1910...
...Secretary...
...This is not surprising...
...Ample material is found in the book itself for the evidence necessary to establish a quite contrary conclusion to that which the Webbs have reached...
...oWrcdU Socialism...
...What they succeed in proving is that, in its actual operation, tha real power is exercised by a handful of men without say constitutional authority whatever...
...Authors" AaswriHAT"" The authors attest that no decision is ever taken by the government without "directives'' from the party, and they show how little control the party as a whole has over these directives...
...The only way to liberty is liberty, and Socialism without liberty is impossible...
...the complete suppression of all political parties other than the Communist Party...
...In the London Daily Herald of November 88, organ of the British Labor Party, Sir Walter Citrine publishes a review of the book...
...Federation We here in Milwaukee just now are in a state of uncertainty, if not apprehension, in connection with, the attempt to set up a federation' with the LaFollette Progressives, and the unions, on Farmer-Labor lines...
...There is MR a chapter which will not Hike criticism, both as to the Hi accuracy of its t acts and, ¦re particularly, as to the interTie magnitude of the task has Hde it impossible for the authors IrMiow {he excellent precepts' itiek they themselves have laid pra for social investigation...
...The review, reprinted here, is valuable for two reasons: first, because it is...
...Russian Dictatorship Described by Walter Citrine Lord and Lady Passfield Report Mo Dictatorship in Russia |«nKSA "and Beatrice Webb ¦ {Lord and Lady Passfield), Mjk in therr own words "nearing Ejr ninth decade," have written Kjtensive survey of the Soviet M) work, in two volumes, runLgto more than lio^tf under a^ ^ Worship...
...A referendum may be rushed through to cinch it unless the comrades begin to realize that the terms thus far arranged are full of pitfalls...
...For them the supreme consideration is whether it is mechanically more efficient to have an authoriMM^^ ^J^mlc^ ma-" ajf fftjar, as watt aa these of the Soviet, although the Webbs make crystal-clear the complete difference Of social purpose and aim of the Soviet asm fascist systems...
...The res ton is timpio When, in 1929, the president of the AllRussian Council of Trade Unions, Tomsky, Mad to assert, So seme extent, the independence of the unions, he was summarily removed from his post and expelled from the party...
...Heath is, and...
...the next...
...Deb*, Victor L. Berger and, other* Heath served on the National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party founded by Deb* in 1898 until it woe merged with, other element* into the present Socialist Party in 1901...
...As her one idea these days hi to t? un'iud f^"Jmrs*Berr^ut money, so that the rea^ reason for sent the oartv on the united front question, with the party's sanction...
...the existence of a secret police...
...the throwing of political opponents into prisons and concentration camps...
...Caution will be necessary lest the federation becomes an absorption instead of a partnership...
...Unlike other "guests", however, Citrine looked at Soviet Russia with the eye of an experienced trade union leader and Socialist...
...The economic and material gains resulting from the widespread system of planning, the advantages which hare accrued to the workers in the form of the shorter working day, the establishment of health and recreational centers are portrayed in a thoroughly objective fashion...
...They say that some of these are oat even signed by the government, but only by Stalin, who holds aa genramiat post...
...We have managed to get along well enough with regard to the Communist activity here in Milwaukee, evert from the start when they tried to wreck us, "following the war and the triumph of the Bolshevik} in Russia...
...The Politico...
...Considerable space Is devoted to a consideration of the meaning of freedom...
...the remotest rela-, tion to Socialism...
...Old political hacks, who have been put in the shade by the Socialists, would find the LaFollette branches an easy backdoor approach to public office, and they Should be vuling to stand on any kind of a platform in order to get The Socialists are to give up tbeh- naioe and their place on the ballot, while the progressives are to retain their column for the federation's use...
...The Webbs come to the somewhat remarkable conclusion that the Soviet system is not a dictatorship...
...Milwaukee, Wis...
...Altogether, the advent of the Soviets is rightly regarded as an epoch in the history of civilization...
...General Plu"*tarc...
...If a Communist wants to retain his membership and his post, he must obey...
...Comrade Citrine shows clearly that the Soviet system is the opposite of what Socialists have always pictured a Socialist regime to be...
...But how, when, where or with what modifications and whether through violent revolution or by peaceful penetration or even by conscious imitation, are questions wa cannot answer...
...THE SYSTEM DESCRIBED BY COMRADE CITRINE IS A DENIAL AND CARICATURE OF SOCIALISM...
...Ellas Calles, his son-in'aw, Ferdinand Torreblanca, and many other supporters of Calles have been expelled from the national Revolutionary Party...
...It is significant that the dictatorial character of the Soviet regime, so skin to fascism, has been increasingly emphasised with the years...
...It is expected that Calles will not remain long in Mexico...
...WhBe^TSew^ork seeijis^have been the leading point of attack from the Bolsheviks,' the United front humbug has not been asleep elsewhere...
...No dictatorship has ever abdicated voluntarily...
...The wholesale enforcement of piece work, coupled with speeding, up, the absence pf the right to...
...The deI :;fructive tactics . there, made worse by the peculiar conduct [at' nat may be caBed the dnde majority on the National Executive Committee, goes from bad to worse...
...This innovation clearly vitiates a good deal of the written Constitution...
...PpE s^e^u^jtnmble ill New York Ibas opwlgeoe % ijv...
Vol. 18 • December 1935 • No. 51
