part 23 authoritarian and totalitarian experiments … of the...part 23 authoritarian and...

PART 23AAuutthhoorriittaarriiaann aanndd TToottaalliittaarriiaann EExxppeerriimmeennttss iinn EEuurrooppee

231 The Bolshevik Seizure of Power (NovemberndashDecember 1917)

World War I proved especially disastrous for Russia The army suffered tremendous losses against aGerman onslaught of superior force and preparation Misery famine and disease descended on theRussian people and thousands were dislocated and wandered aimlessly as refugees Tsar Nicholas IIfeared a general uprising and finally decided to abdicate his throne in March 1917

A temporary body called the Provisional Government was installed to maintain stability in the countryuntil a representative Constituent Assembly could be elected by the Russian people The PetrogradSoviet an elected council of workers and soldiers immediately threatened the authority of the Provi-sional Government The Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Ulyanov better known as Lenin (1870ndash1924)arrived from Switzerland to reassert his leadership of the Bolshevik party and in November 1917 per-suaded his faction that the time was ripe for a coup The first selection is Leninrsquos speech after his suc-cessful storming of the tsarrsquos Winter Palace in Petrograd Note the critical editorial from the newspaperIzvestia on November 8 It was the last before the Bolsheviks censored the press Leninrsquos seizure ofpower also included the establishment of a secret police (Cheka) an institution that had been used (inanother form) by the autocratic tsar to eliminate opposition

SSPPEEEECCHH AAFFTTEERR TTHHEE OOVVEERRTTHHRROOWW OOFF TTHHEE PPRROOVVIISSIIOONNAALL GGOOVVEERRNNMMEENNTTVV II LLEENNIINN

Source ldquoSpeech after the Overthrow of the Provisional Governmentrdquo is from Frank A Golder ed Docu-ments of Russian History (1914ndash1917) trans Emanuel Aronsberg (New York The Century Company1927) pp 618ndash619

Comrades the workmenrsquos and peasantrsquos revolution the need of which the Bolsheviks have emphasized many times hascome to pass

What is the significance of this revolution Its significance is in the first place that we shall have a soviet gov-ernment without the participation of bourgeoisie of any kind The oppressed masses will of themselves form a governmentThe old state machinery will be smashed into bits and in its place will be created a new machinery of government by thesoviet organizations From now on there is a new page in the history of Russia and the present third Russian revolutionshall in its final result lead to the victory of Socialism

One of our immediate tasks is to put an end to the war at once But in order to end the war which is closely boundup with the present capitalistic system it is necessary to overthrow capitalism itself In this work we shall have the aid ofthe world labor movement which has already begun to develop in Italy England and Germany

A just and immediate offer of peace by us to the international democracy will find everywhere a warm responseamong the international proletariat masses In order to secure the confidence of the proletariat it is necessary to publish atonce all secret treaties

In the interior of Russia a very large part of the peasantry has said Enough playing with the capitalists we willgo with the workers We shall secure the confidence of the peasants by one decree which will wipe out the private prop-erty of the landowners The peasants will understand that their only salvation is in union with the workers

We will establish a real labor control on productionWe have now learned to work together in a friendly manner as is evident from this revolution We have the force

of mass organization which has conquered all and which will lead the proletariat to world revolutionWe should now occupy ourselves in Russia in building up a proletarian socialist stateLong live the world-wide socialistic revolution

511

Part 23 Authoritarian and Totalitarian Experiments in Europe

ldquoldquoLLIITTTTLLEE GGOOOODD IISS TTOO BBEE EEXXPPEECCTTEEDDrdquordquo ((NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 88 11991177))IIZZVVEESSTTIIAA

Source ldquolsquoLittle Good Is to Be Expectedrsquordquo is from Frank A Golder ed Documents of Russian History(1914ndash1917) trans Emanuel Aronsberg (New York The Century Company 1927) p 619

Yesterday we said that the Bolshevik uprising is a made adventure and today when their attempt is crowned with successwe are of the same mind We repeat that which is before us is not a transfer of power to the Soviets but a seizure of powerby one partymdashthe Bolsheviks Yesterday we said that a successful attempt meant the breaking up of the greatest of the rev-olutionmdashthe Constituent Assembly Today we add that it means also the breaking up of the Congress of Soviets and per-haps the whole soviet organization They can call themselves what they please the fact remains that the Bolsheviks alonetook part in the uprising All the other socialistic and democratic parties protest against it

How the situation may develop we do not know but little good is to be expected We are quite confident that theBolsheviks cannot organize a state government As yesterday so today we repeat that what is happening will react worstof all on the question of peace

CCEENNSSOORRSSHHIIPP OOFF TTHHEE PPRREESSSS ((NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 99 11991177))VV II LLEENNIINN

Source ldquoCensorship of the Pressrdquo is from Martin McCauley ed The Russian Revolution and the SovietState (New York Barnes amp Noble 1975) pp 190ndash191 Permission granted by Barnes amp Noble BooksTotowa New Jersey

In the trying critical period of the revolution and the days that immediately followed it the Provisional RevolutionaryCommittee was compelled to take a number of measures against the counter-revolutionary press of different shades

Immediately outcries were heard from all sides that the new socialist power had violated a fundamental princi-ple of its programme by encroaching upon the freedom of the press

The Workersrsquo and Peasantsrsquo Government calls the attention of the population to the fact that what this liberalfacade actually conceals is freedom for the propertied classes having taken hold of the lionrsquos share of the entire press topoison unhindered the minds and obscure the consciousness of the masses

Every one knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful weapons of the bourgeoisie Especially atthe crucial moment when the new power the power of workers and peasants is only affirming itself it was impossible toleave this weapon wholly in the hands of the enemy for in such moments it is no less dangerous than bombs andmachine-guns That is why temporary extraordinary measures were taken to stem the torrent of filth and slander in whichthe yellow and green press would be only too glad to drown the recent victory of the people

As soon as the new order becomes consolidated all administrative pressure on the press will be terminated andit will be granted complete freedom within the bounds of legal responsibility in keeping with a law that will be broadestand most progressive in this respect

However being aware that a restriction of the press even at critical moments is permissible only within thelimits of what is absolutely necessary the Council of Peoplersquos Commissars resolves

GGeenneerraall PPrroovviissiioonnss oonn tthhee PPrreessss

1 Only those publications can be suppressed which (1) call for open resistance or insubordination to the Workersrsquo andPeasantsrsquo Government (2) sow sedition through demonstrably slanderous distortion of facts (3) instigate actions ofan obviously criminal ie criminally punishable nature

2 Publications can be proscribed temporarily or permanently only by decision of the Council of Peoplersquos Commissars

3 The present ordinance is of a temporary nature and will be repealed by a special decree as soon as normal conditionsof social life set in

Chairman of the Council of Peoplersquos CommissarsVLADIMIR ULYANOV (LENIN)

512


EESSTTAABBLLIISSHHMMEENNTT OOFF TTHHEE SSEECCRREETT PPOOLLIICCEE ((DDEECCEEMMBBEERR 2200 11991177))VV II LLEENNIINN

Source ldquoEstablishment of the Secret Policerdquo is from Martin McCauley ed The Russian Revolution andthe Soviet State (New York Barnes amp Noble 1975) pp 181ndash182 Permission granted by Barnes amp NobleBooks Totowa New Jersey

The Commission is to be called the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Struggle with Counter-Revolution andSabotage and is to be attached to the Council of Peoplersquos Commissars

The duties of the Commission are to be as follows

1 To investigate and nullify all acts of counter-revolution and sabotage throughout Russia irrespective of origin

2 To bring before the Revolutionary Tribunal all counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs and to work out measures tocombat them

3 The Commission is to conduct the preliminary investigation only sufficient to suppress (the counter-revolutionaryact) The Commission is to be divided into sections (1) the information (section) (2) the organization section (incharge of organizing the struggle with counter-revolution throughout Russia) with branches and (3) the fightingsection

The Commission shall be set up finally tomorrow Then the fighting section of the All-Russian Commission shallstart its activities The Commission shall keep an eye on the press saboteurs right Socialist Revolutionaries and strikersMeasures to be taken are confiscation imprisonment confiscation of cards publication of the names of the enemies of thepeople etc

Chairman of the Council of Peoplersquos CommissarsV ULYANOV (LENIN)

Questions1 What measures did Lenin take to protect the position of the Bolsheviks once they had achieved

power How does Lenin justify censorship of the press Do fallacies or inconsistencies exist in hisargument Note especially the vocabulary For example how is the phrase ldquoworkmens andpeasants revolutionrdquo used How was the Izvestia newspaper editorial dangerous to the Bolshevikrevolution

2 What are the duties of the secret police What elements of society was this organization directedagainst The tsar also had an active secret police that protected against ldquoenemies of themonarchyrdquo What is the difference between ldquoenemies of the monarchyrdquo and ldquoenemies of thepeoplerdquo Is a secret police therefore a necessary instrument for maintaining power regardless ofpolitical philosophy

513


232 Nadezhda K Krupskaya ldquoWhat a Communist Ought to Be Likerdquo

Nadezhda Konstantinova Krupskaya (1869ndash1939) a Russian social worker who married Lenin in 1898aided Lenin in his revolutionary program as long as he lived and supported Bolshevik programs as hislegacy after he died From 1900 to 1917 she served as the secretary of the Bolshevik wing of the SocialDemocratic Party in Russia which after the Revolution became the Communist Party of the USSR (It waslater as ldquoGeneralrdquo Secretary of the Communist Partyrsquos Central Committee that Stalin ruled the SovietUnion Krupskayarsquos long secretaryship was of a more conventional nature) Stalinrsquos rude treatment ofKrupskaya not long before her husbandrsquos death provoked the stroke-weakened Lenin into a rebuke of thefuture dictator but Krupskaya had no inclination to publicize their differences and subsequently treatedStalin as Leninrsquos more or less rightful successor In the following selection she elaborates on Leninrsquos dis-cussion of Communist ethics and morality

Source From Bolshevik Visions First Phase of the Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia ed and transWilliam G Rosenberg (Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press 1992) Copyright copy 1992 University ofMichigan Press Reprinted with permission Krupskaya Leninrsquos wife and closest friend played an activerole in educational and cultural matters at the time of the revolution and for a brief period was DeputyCommissar of Education

A communist is first and foremost a person involved in society with strongly developed social instincts who desires thatall people should live well and be happy

Communists can come from all classes of society but most of all they are workers by birth Why Because theconditions of workersrsquo lives are such as to nurture in them social instincts collective labor the success of which dependson the separate efforts of each the same conditions of labor common experiences the common struggle for humane con-ditions of existence All this brings workers closer together and unites them with the bonds of class solidarity Let us takethe capitalist class The conditions of life for this class are completely different Competition forces each capitalist to seeanother capitalist primarily as an opponent who has to be tripped up In the worker the capitalist sees only ldquoworkerrsquoshandsrdquo which must labor for the creation of his the capitalistrsquos profits Of course the common struggle against the work-ing class unites capitalists but that internal unity that formation into a collective which we see among workersmdashtheyhave nothing to divide among themselvesmdashdoes not exist in the capitalist class where solidarity is corroded by competi-tion That is why in the working class the person with well-developed social instincts is the rule while among the capitalistssuch a person is the exception

Social instinct means a great many things Often it offers a clue for finding a way out of a situation for choos-ing the correct path That is why during the purge of the RKP [Russian Communist Party] attention was paid to whetherthis or that member of the party had been born in a working family or not He who comes from a workerrsquos background willmore easily straighten himself out The Russian intelligentsia seeing how easily a worker thanks to this class instinct com-prehends that which an intellectual for example perceives only with great difficulty was inclined in the end of thenineties and in the first half of the first decade of the twentieth century (1896ndash1903) to exaggerate the significance of classinstinct Rabochaya Myslrsquo [Workersrsquo Thought] one of the underground Social Democratic newspapers even came to theconclusion that no one other than people from workingman backgrounds could be accepted as socialists Since Marx andEngels were not workers Rabochaya Myslrsquo wrote ldquoWe donrsquot need Marx and Engelsrdquo

Class instinct which among workers coincides with a social one is a necessary condition for being a communistNecessary but not sufficient

A communist must also know quite a lot First he must understand what is happening around him and must gainan understanding of the existing system When the workersrsquo movement began to develop in Russia Social Democratswere concerned from the very first with the widespread distribution of such pamphlets as Dikshteinrsquos ldquoWho Lives byWhatrdquo ldquoWorkerrsquos Dayrdquo etc But it is not enough to understand the mechanics of the capitalist system The communist mustalso study the laws of the development of human society He must know the history of the development of economicforms of the development of property of division into classes of the development of state forms He must understand theirinterdependence and know how religious and moral notions will develop out of a particular social structure Understand-ing the laws of the development of human society the communist must clearly picture to himself where social developmentis heading Communism must be seen by him as not only a desired system where the happiness of some will not be basedon the misfortune of others he must further understand that communism is that very system toward which mankind ismoving and that communists must clear a path to this system and promote its speedy coming

In workersrsquo circles at the dawn of the workersrsquo movement in Russia commonly studied courses were on the onehand political economy which had the aim of explaining the structure of contemporary society and the history of culture(the history of culture was usually opposed to the regular exposition of history which often presented just a set of hetero-

514


geneous historical data) That is why in the circles of those days they read the first volume of Marxrsquos Capital and FEngelsrsquo The Origins of the Family Property and State

In 1919 in one of the villages of Nizhny Novgorod province in the village of Rabotki I happened to comeacross this phenomenon Teachers told me that in the intermediate school they taught political economy and the history ofculture that the students unanimously demanded the introduction of these subjects into the curriculum of the intermediateschool

Where could such a desire and such a definitely formulated one have come from among peasant youth in aVolga village whose population was occupied exclusively with Volga river trades and agriculture Obviously interest inpolitical economy and the history of culture was brought into Rabotki by some worker who at one time had attendedsome circle and who explained to the children what they needed to know

However at the present moment the Russian communist must know not only that The October Revolution openedfor Russia an opportunity for widespread building in the direction of communism But in order to utilize these possibili-ties it is necessary to know what one can do at the moment in order to make at least one first step toward communism andwhat one cannot and it is necessary to know how to build a new life It is necessary first and foremost to know thoroughlythat sphere of work which you have undertaken and then to master the method of a communist approach to the matter Letus take an example In order to organize correctly medical affairs in the country it is first necessary to know the situationitself secondly how it was organized earlier in Russia and is currently organized in other states and thirdly how toapproach the problem in a communist manner namely to conduct agitation among wide strata of workers to interestthem to attract them to work to create with their efforts a powerful organization in regard to medical affairs It is neces-sary not only to know how to do all this but to be able to do it Thus it follows that a communist must know not only whatcommunism is and why it is inevitable but also know his own affairs well and be able to approach the masses influencethem and convince them

In his personal life a communist must always conduct himself in the interests of communism What does thismean It means for example that however nice it might be to stay in a familiar comfortable home environment that iffor the sake of the cause for the success of the communist cause it is necessary to abandon everything and expose one-self to danger the communist will do this It means that however difficult and responsible the task the communist is calledupon to perform he will take it upon himself and try to carry it out to the best of his strength and skill whether it is at thefront during the confiscation of valuables etc It means that the communist puts his personal interests aside subordinatesthem to the common interest It means that the communist is not indifferent to what is happening around him and that heactively struggles with that which is harmful to the interests of the toiling masses and that he on the other hand activelydefends these interests and makes them his own

Who was discarded during the purging of the party (a) the self-seekers and their adherents that is those who puttheir personal interests above the communist cause (b) those who were indifferent to communism who did nothing to helpit make headway who stood far from the masses and made no efforts to draw closer to them (c) those who did not enjoythe respect and love of the masses (d) those who were distinguished by a coarse manner conceit insincerity and other suchcharacteristics

Thus in order to be a communist (1) it is necessary to know what is bad about the capitalist system wheresocial development is heading and how to promote the speediest coming of the communist system (2) it is necessary toknow how to apply onersquos knowledge to the cause and (3) it is necessary to be spiritually and physically devoted to theinterests of the working masses and to communism

Questions1 Why does Krupskaya find well-developed social instincts to characterize most workers most of the

time but to be rare among capitalists2 What are some of the areas in which Communists should acquire extensive knowledge3 What are some aspects of a Communistrsquos personal life according to Krupskaya

515


233 John Scott Behind the Urals

In 1932 John Scott (1912ndash1976) a twenty-year-old American college student left the United States towork as a welder in the Soviet Union Disturbed by the conditions of the American depression Scotthoped that the Russian Revolution of 1917 had destroyed social inequality and injustice and that abetter society was being created Soviet reality turned out to be quite different from his expectationsbut Scott remained in the Soviet Union for five years and eventually returned to the United States witha Russian wife In Behind the Urals he offers a vivid description of life in Magnitogorsk Russiarsquos newcity of steel located on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains These were the years of the firstFive-Year Plan whose two major goals were industrialization and collectivization of the countrysideScott lived and worked in the harsh freezing conditions along with Soviet workersmdashsome of whom hadbeen sent there as punishment for being rich peasants (kulaks) He vividly describes the chronic short-ages of everything from bread to welding rods the frequent often fatal accidents of inexperiencedunderfed workers and the ever-present bureaucratic red tape Yet Scott also was a witness to the hopeoptimism and commitment of many of these people who believed that their personal sacrifices wouldbenefit all humankind This work offers a detached and penetrating documentation of the tensionsproblems and heroic tasks confronting the men and women engaged in attempting to erect the firstCommunist society

Source From John Scott Behind the Urals An American Worker in Russiarsquos City of Steel (BloomingtonIndiana University Press 1973) pp 9ndash10 15ndash21 passim

The big whistle on the power house sounded a long deep hollow six orsquoclock All over the scattered city-camp of Magni-togorsk workers rolled out of their beds or bunks and dressed in preparation for their dayrsquos work

I climbed out of bed and turned on the light I could see my breath across the room as I woke my roommateKolya Kolya never heard the whistle Every morning I had to pound his shoulder for several seconds to arouse him

We pushed our coarse brown army blankets over the beds and dressed as quickly as we couldmdashI had good Amer-ican long woolen underwear fortunately Kolya wore only cotton shorts and a jersey We both donned army shirts paddedand quilted cotton pants similar jackets heavy scarves and then ragged sheepskin coats We thrust our feet into good Russ-ian ldquovalinkisrdquomdashfelt boots coming up to the knee We did not eat anything We had nothing on hand except tea and a fewpotatoes and there was no time to light a fire in our little home-made iron stove We locked up and set out for the mill

It was January 1933 The temperature was in the neighborhood of thirty-five below A light powdery snow cov-ered the low spots on the ground The high spots were bare and hard as iron A few stars cracked in the sky and some elec-tric lights twinkled on the blast furnaces Otherwise the world was bleak and cold and almost pitch-dark

It was two miles to the blast furnaces over rough ground There was no wind so our noses did not freeze I wasalways glad when there was no wind in the morning It was my first winter in Russia and I was not used to the cold

By the time the seven orsquoclock whistle blew the shanty was jammed full of riggers welders cutters and theirhelpers It was a varied gang Russians Ukrainians Tartars Mongols Jews mostly young and almost all peasants of yes-terday though a few like Ivanov had long industrial experience There was Popov for instance He had been a welder forten years and had worked in half a dozen cities On the other hand Khaibulin the Tartar had never seen a staircase a loco-motive or an electric light until he had come to Magnitogorsk a year before His ancestors for centuries had raised stockon the flat plains of Kazakhstan They had been dimly conscious of the Czarist government they had had to pay taxesReports of the Kirghiz insurrection in 1916 had reached them They had heard stories of the October Revolution they evensaw the Red Army come and drive out a few rich landlords They had attended meetings of the Soviet without under-standing very clearly what it was all about but through all this their lives had gone on more or less as before NowShaimat Khaibulin was building a blast furnace bigger than any in Europe He had learned to read and was attending anevening school learning the trade of electrician He had learned to speak Russian he read newspapers His life had changedmore in a year than that of his antecedents since the time of Tamerlane

I took my mask and electrodes and started out for No 3 On the way I met Shabkov the ex-kulak a great huskyyouth with a red face a jovial voice and two fingers missing from his left hand

ldquoWell Jack how goes itrdquo he said slapping me on the back My Russian was still pretty bad but I could carryon a simple conversation and understood almost everything that was said

ldquoBadlyrdquo I said ldquoAll our equipment freezes The boys spend half their time warming their handsrdquoldquoNichevo that doesnrsquot matterrdquo said the disfranchised riggerrsquos brigadier ldquoIf you lived where I do in a tent you

wouldnrsquot think it so cold hererdquo

516


ldquoI know you guys have it toughrdquo said Popov who had joined us ldquoThatrsquos what you get for being kulaksrdquoShabkov smiled broadly ldquoListen I donrsquot want to go into a political discussion but a lot of the people living

down in the special section of town are no more kulaks than yourdquoPopov laughed ldquoI wouldnrsquot be surprised Tell me though how did they decide who was to be dekulakizedrdquoldquoAhrdquo said Shabkov ldquothatrsquos a hell of a question to ask a guy thatrsquos trying to expiate his crimes in honest labor Just

between the three of us though the poor peasants of the village get together in a meeting and decide lsquoSo-and-so has sixhorses we couldnrsquot very well get along without those in the collective farm besides he hired a man last year to help onthe harvestrsquo They notify the GPU and there you are So-and-so gets five years They confiscate his property and give itto the new collective farm Sometimes they ship the whole family out When they came to ship us out my brother got arifle and fired several shots at the GPU officers They fired back My brother was killed All of which naturally didnrsquotmake it any better for us We all got five years and in different places I heard my father died in December but Irsquom notsurerdquo

Popov and I set about welding up a section of the bleeder pipe on the blast furnace He gave me a break and tookthe outside for the first hour Then we changed around From the high scaffolding nearly a hundred feet above the groundI could see Kolya making the rounds of his thirty-odd welders helping them when they were in trouble swearing at themwhen they spent too much time warming their hands People swore at Kolya a good deal too because the scaffolds wereunsafe or the wages bad

It was just about nine-fifteen when I finished one side of the pipe and went around to start the other The scaffoldwas coated with about an inch of ice like everything else around the furnaces The vapor rising from the large hot-watercooling basin condensed on everything and formed a layer of ice But besides being slippery it was very insecure swungdown on wires without any guys to steady it It swayed and shook as I walked on it I always made a point of hanging onto something when I could I was just going to start welding when I heard someone sing out and something swisheddown past me It was a rigger who had been working up on the very top

He bounced off the bleeder pipe which probably saved his life Instead of falling all the way to the ground helanded on the main platform about fifteen feet below me By the time I got down to him blood was coming out of hismouth in gushes He tried to yell but could not There were no foremen around and the half-dozen riggers that had runup did not know what to do By virtue of being a foreigner I had a certain amount of authority so I stepped in and saidhe might bleed to death if we waited for a stretcher and three of us took him and carried him down to the first-aid stationAbout halfway there the bleeding let up and he began to yell every step we took

I was badly shaken when we got there but the two young riggers were trembling like leaves We took him intothe little wooden building and a nurse with a heavy shawl over her white gown showed us where to put him ldquoI expect thedoctor any minuterdquo she said ldquogood thing too I wouldnrsquot know what the hell to do with himrdquo

The rigger was gurgling and groaning His eyes were wide open and he seemed conscious but he did not say any-thing ldquoWe should undress him but it is so cold in here that I am afraid tordquo said the nurse Just then the doctor came inI knew him He had dressed my foot once when a piece of pig iron fell on it He took his immense sheepskin off andwashed his hands ldquoFallrdquo he asked nodding at the rigger

ldquoYesrdquo I saidldquoHow long agordquoldquoAbout ten minutesrdquoldquoWhatrsquos thatrdquo asked the doctor looking at the nurse and indicating the corner of the room with his foot I looked

and for the first time noticed a pair of ragged valinkis sticking out from under a very dirty blanket on the floorldquoGirder fell on his headrdquo said the nurseldquoWellrdquo said the doctor rolling up his sleeves ldquoletrsquos see what we can do for this fellowrdquo He moved over toward

the rigger who was lying quietly now and looking at the old bearded doctor with watery blue eyes I turned to go but thedoctor stopped me

ldquoOn your way out please telephone the factory board of health and tell them I simply must have more heat in thisplacerdquo he said

I did the best I could over the telephone in my bad Russian but all I could get was ldquoComrade we are sorry butthere is no coalrdquo

517


I was making my way unsteadily back to the bleeder pipe on No 3 when Kolya hailed me ldquoDonrsquot bother to goup for a while the brushes burnt out on the machine you were working on They wonrsquot be fixed for half an hour or sordquo Iwent toward the office with Kolya and told him about the rigger I was incensed and talked about some thorough checkupon scaffoldings Kolya could not get interested He pointed out there was not enough planking for good scaffolds that theriggers were mostly plowboys who had no idea of being careful and that at thirty-five below without any breakfast in youyou did not pay as much attention as you should

ldquoSure people will fall But wersquore building blast furnaces all the same arenrsquot werdquo and he waved his hand towardNo 2 from which the red glow of flowing pig iron was emanating He saw I was not satisfied ldquoThis somewhat sissifiedforeigner will have to be eased along a littlerdquo he probably said to himself He slapped me on the back ldquoCome on in theoffice We are going to have a technical conference Yoursquoll be interestedrdquo

Questions1 According to John Scottrsquos observations what were some of the social problems encountered in

trying to meet the goals for industrialization set by the first Five-Year Plan2 In the process of collectivization how did the peasants and the Communist Party decide who were

the rich peasants What was their fate

518


234 Nadezhda Mandelstam Hope Against Hope

In the 1930s Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899ndash1980) experienced the Soviet terror Her husband Osip Man-delstam (1891ndash1938) recognized today as the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century was per-secuted because he portrayed Stalin as a tyrant in one of his poems He was sentenced in 1938 to fiveyears of hard labor in a camp in Vladivostok but he died within the first year Nadezhda first learned thather husband had died when a package she had sent him was returned and she was told that theaddressee was dead

Source Excerpted from Hope Against Hope A Memoir by Nadezhda Mandelstam pp 297ndash98 304ndash05316ndash17 369ndash71 Translated from the Russian by Max Hayward with introduction by Clarence BrownCopyright copy 1970 Atheneum Publishers English translation copyright copy 1970 Atheneum Publishers Intro-duction copyright copy 1970 Atheneum Publishers Reprinted with the permission of Scribner a Division ofSimon amp Schuster

When I used to read about the French Revolution as a child I often wondered whether it was possible to survive during areign of terror I now know beyond doubt that it is impossible Anybody who breathes the air of terror is doomed even ifnominally he manages to save his life Everybody is a victimmdashnot only those who die but also all the killers ideologistsaccomplices and sycophants who close their eyes or wash their handsmdasheven if they are secretly consumed with remorseat night Every section of the population has been through the terrible sickness caused by terror and none has so far recov-ered or become fit again for normal civic life It is an illness that is passed on to the next generation so that the sons payfor the sins of the fathers and perhaps only the grandchildren begin to get over itmdashor at least it takes on a different formwith them

Who was it who dared say that we have no ldquolost generationrdquo here The fact that he could utter such a monstrousuntruth is also a consequence of terror One generation after another was ldquolostrdquo here but it was a completely differentprocess from what may have happened in the West Here people just tried to go on working struggling to maintain them-selves hoping for salvation and thinking only about their immediate concerns In such times your daily round is like adrug The more you have to do the better If you can immerse yourself in your work the years fly by more quickly leav-ing only a gray blur in the memory Among the people of my generation only a very few have kept clear minds andmemories In Mrsquos generation everybody was stricken by a kind of sclerosis at an early stage

True as this is however I never cease to marvel at our hardiness After Stalinrsquos death my brother Evgeni said tome ldquoWe still do not realize what we have been throughrdquo Not long ago as I was traveling in an overcrowded bus an oldwoman pushed up against me and I found my arm was bearing the whole weight of her body ldquoThat must be killing yourdquoshe said suddenly ldquoNordquo I replied ldquowersquore as tough as the devilrdquo ldquoAs tough as the devilrdquo she said and laughed Some-body nearby also laughingly repeated the phrase and soon the whole bus was saying it after us But then the bus stoppedand everybody started to push toward the exit jostling each other in the usual way The little moment of good humor wasover

When life becomes absolutely intolerable you begin to think the horror will never end In Kiev during the bom-bardment I understood that even the unbearable can come to an end but I was not yet fully aware that it often does so onlyat death As regards the Stalinist terror we always knew that it might wax or wane but that it might endmdashthis we couldnever imagine What reason was there for it to end Everybody seemed intent on his daily round and went smilingly aboutthe business of carrying out his instructions It was essential to smilemdashif you didnrsquot it meant you were afraid or discon-tented This nobody could afford to admitmdashif you were afraid then you must have a bad conscience Everybody whoworked for the Statemdashand in this country even the humblest stall-keeper is a bureaucratmdashhad to strut around wearing acheerful expression as though to say ldquoWhatrsquos going on is no concern of mine I have very important work to do and Irsquomterribly busy I am trying to do my best for the State so do not get in my way My conscience is clearmdashif whatrsquos-his-namehas been arrested there must be good reasonrdquo The mask was taken off only at home and then not alwaysmdasheven from your children you had to conceal how horror-struck you were otherwise God save you they might letsomething slip in school Some people had adapted to the terror so well that they knew how to profit from itmdashtherewas nothing out of the ordinary about denouncing a neighbor to get his apartment or his job But while wearing yoursmiling mask it was important not to laughmdashthis could look suspicious to the neighbors and make them think you wereindulging in sacrilegious mockery We have lost the capacity to be spontaneously cheerful and it will never come back tous

519


I think he exaggerated the extent to which our secret police went in for ordinary detective work They were notin the least bit interested in real factsmdashall they wanted were lists of people to arrest and these they got from their networkof informers and the volunteers who brought them denunciations To meet their quotas all they needed were names ofpeople not details about their comings and goings During interrogations they always as a matter of routine collected ldquoevi-dencerdquo against people whom they had no intention of arrestingmdashjust in case it was ever needed I have heard of a womanwho heroically went through torture rather than give ldquoevidencerdquo against Molotov A man was asked for evidence againstLiuba Ehrenburg whom he had never even met He managed to send word about this from the forced-labor camp andLiuba was warnedmdashapparently Akhmatova passed on the message to her Liuba could not believe it ldquoWhat Spasski Idonrsquot know himrdquo She was still naiumlve in those days but later she understood everything

In the torture chambers of the Lubianka they were constantly adding to the dossiers of Ehrenburg SholokhovAlexei Tolstoi and others whom they had no intention of touching Dozens if not hundreds of people were sent to campson a charge of being involved in a ldquoconspiracyrdquo headed by Tikhonov and Fadeyev Among them was Spasski Wild inven-tions and monstrous accusations had become an end in themselves and officials of the secret police applied all their inge-nuity to them as though reveling in the total arbitrariness of their power Their basic principle was just what Furmanov hadtold us at the end of the twenties ldquoGive us a man and wersquoll make a caserdquo On the day we had spent at Stenichrsquos apartmenthis name was almost certainly already on a list of persons due to be arrestedmdashhis telephone number would have been foundin Dikirsquos address book and no further information about him was needed

The principles and aims of mass terror have nothing in common with ordinary police work or with security Theonly purpose of terror is intimidation To plunge the whole country into a state of chronic fear the number of victims mustbe raised to astronomical levels and on every floor of every building there must always be several apartments from whichthe tenants have suddenly been taken away The remaining inhabitants will be model citizens for the rest of their livesmdashthis will be true for every street and every city through which the broom has swept The only essential thing for those whorule by terror is not to overlook the new generations growing up without faith in their elders and to keep on repeating theprocess in systematic fashion Stalin ruled for a long time and saw to it that the waves of terror recurred from time to timealways on an even greater scale than before But the champions of terror invariably leave one thing out of accountmdashnamely that they canrsquot kill everyone and among their cowed half-demented subjects there are always witnesses who sur-vive to tell the tale

The only link with a person in prison was the window through which one handed parcels and money to be for-warded to him by the authorities Once a month after waiting three or four hours in line (the number of arrests was by nowfalling off so this was not very long) I went up to the window and gave my name The clerk behind the window thumbedthrough his listmdashI went on days when he dealt with the letter ldquoMrdquomdashand asked me for my first name and initial As soonas I replied a hand stretched out of the window and I put my identity papers and some money into it The hand thenreturned my papers with a receipt and I went away Everybody envied me because I at least knew that my husband wasalive and where he was It happened only too often that the man behind the window barked ldquoNo record Nextrdquo Allquestions were uselessmdashthe official would simply shut his window in your face and one of the uniformed guards wouldcome up to you Order was immediately restored and the next in line moved up to the window If anybody ever tried tolinger the guard found ready allies among the other people waiting

There was generally no conversation in the line This was the chief prison in the Soviet Union and the people whocame here were a select respectable and well-disciplined crowd There were never any untoward events unless it was aminor case of someone asking a questionmdashbut persons guilty of such misconduct would speedily retreat in embarrassmentThe only incident I saw was when two little girls in neatly starched dresses once came in Their mother had been arrestedthe previous night They were let through out of turn and nobody asked what letter their name began with All the womenwaiting there were no doubt moved by pity at the thought that their own children might soon be coming here in the sameway Somebody lifted up the elder of the two because she was too small to reach the window and she shouted through itldquoWherersquos my mummyrdquo and ldquoWe wonrsquot go to the orphanage We wonrsquot go homerdquo They just managed to say that theirfather was in the army before the window was slammed shut This could have been the actual case or it could have meantthat he had been in the secret police The children of Chekists were always taught to say that their father was ldquoin thearmyrdquomdashthis was to protect them from the curiosity of their schoolmates who the parents explained might be less friendlyotherwise Before going abroad on duty Chekists also made their children learn the new name under which they would beliving there The little girls in the starched dresses probably lived in a government buildingmdashthey told the people wait-ing in line that other children had been taken away to orphanages but that they wanted to go to their grandmother in theUkraine Before they could say any more a soldier came out of a side door and led them away The window opened againand everything returned to normal As they were being led away one woman called them ldquosilly little girlsrdquo and anothersaid ldquoWe must send ours away before itrsquos too laterdquo

520


These little girls were exceptional Children who came and stood in line were usually as restrained and silent asgrown-ups It was generally their fathers who were arrested firstmdashparticularly if they were military peoplemdashand theywould then be carefully instructed by their mothers on how to behave when they were left completely alone Many of themmanaged to keep out of the orphanages but that depended mainly on their parentsrsquo statusmdashthe higher it had been the lesschance the children had of being looked after by relatives It was astonishing that life continued at all and that people stillbrought children into the world and had families How could they do this knowing what went on in front of the windowin the building on Sophia Embankment

Questions1 What was the justification given in Stalinrsquos Russia for the arrest imprisonment and execution of

ldquoenemies of the staterdquo2 How did those who had not been arrested behave during Stalinrsquos terror3 What are the long-term consequences for the Soviet Union of Stalinrsquos mass murders

521


ldquoldquoLLIITTTTLLEE GGOOOODD IISS TTOO BBEE EEXXPPEECCTTEEDDrdquordquo ((NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 88 11991177))IIZZVVEESSTTIIAA

Source ldquolsquoLittle Good Is to Be Expectedrsquordquo is from Frank A Golder ed Documents of Russian History(1914ndash1917) trans Emanuel Aronsberg (New York The Century Company 1927) p 619

Yesterday we said that the Bolshevik uprising is a made adventure and today when their attempt is crowned with successwe are of the same mind We repeat that which is before us is not a transfer of power to the Soviets but a seizure of powerby one partymdashthe Bolsheviks Yesterday we said that a successful attempt meant the breaking up of the greatest of the rev-olutionmdashthe Constituent Assembly Today we add that it means also the breaking up of the Congress of Soviets and per-haps the whole soviet organization They can call themselves what they please the fact remains that the Bolsheviks alonetook part in the uprising All the other socialistic and democratic parties protest against it

How the situation may develop we do not know but little good is to be expected We are quite confident that theBolsheviks cannot organize a state government As yesterday so today we repeat that what is happening will react worstof all on the question of peace

CCEENNSSOORRSSHHIIPP OOFF TTHHEE PPRREESSSS ((NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 99 11991177))VV II LLEENNIINN

Source ldquoCensorship of the Pressrdquo is from Martin McCauley ed The Russian Revolution and the SovietState (New York Barnes amp Noble 1975) pp 190ndash191 Permission granted by Barnes amp Noble BooksTotowa New Jersey

In the trying critical period of the revolution and the days that immediately followed it the Provisional RevolutionaryCommittee was compelled to take a number of measures against the counter-revolutionary press of different shades

Immediately outcries were heard from all sides that the new socialist power had violated a fundamental princi-ple of its programme by encroaching upon the freedom of the press

The Workersrsquo and Peasantsrsquo Government calls the attention of the population to the fact that what this liberalfacade actually conceals is freedom for the propertied classes having taken hold of the lionrsquos share of the entire press topoison unhindered the minds and obscure the consciousness of the masses

Every one knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful weapons of the bourgeoisie Especially atthe crucial moment when the new power the power of workers and peasants is only affirming itself it was impossible toleave this weapon wholly in the hands of the enemy for in such moments it is no less dangerous than bombs andmachine-guns That is why temporary extraordinary measures were taken to stem the torrent of filth and slander in whichthe yellow and green press would be only too glad to drown the recent victory of the people

As soon as the new order becomes consolidated all administrative pressure on the press will be terminated andit will be granted complete freedom within the bounds of legal responsibility in keeping with a law that will be broadestand most progressive in this respect

However being aware that a restriction of the press even at critical moments is permissible only within thelimits of what is absolutely necessary the Council of Peoplersquos Commissars resolves

GGeenneerraall PPrroovviissiioonnss oonn tthhee PPrreessss

1 Only those publications can be suppressed which (1) call for open resistance or insubordination to the Workersrsquo andPeasantsrsquo Government (2) sow sedition through demonstrably slanderous distortion of facts (3) instigate actions ofan obviously criminal ie criminally punishable nature

2 Publications can be proscribed temporarily or permanently only by decision of the Council of Peoplersquos Commissars

3 The present ordinance is of a temporary nature and will be repealed by a special decree as soon as normal conditionsof social life set in

Chairman of the Council of Peoplersquos CommissarsVLADIMIR ULYANOV (LENIN)

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519







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