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“THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY”
“THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY”
Books by JOHN SPARGO “THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY” RUSSIA AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BOLSHEVISM BOLSHEVISM AMERICANISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY SOCIAL DEMOCRACY EXPLAINED HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK Established 1817 “THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY” A Critical Examination of The Actual Workings of Bolshevism In Russia BY JOHN SPARGO AUTHOR OF “BOLSHEVISM” “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BOLSHEVISM” “RUSSIA AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM” “SOCIAL DEMOCRACY EXPLAINED” HARPER & BRO
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To The MISGUIDED, THE MISTAKEN, AND THE MISINFORMED Who Have Hailed Bolshevism in Russia as the Advent of A NEW FREEDOM
To The MISGUIDED, THE MISTAKEN, AND THE MISINFORMED Who Have Hailed Bolshevism in Russia as the Advent of A NEW FREEDOM
I Submit a Part of the Indisputable Evidence Upon Which, as a Socialist, Who Believes in Democracy in Government and Industry—and in the Generous Individualism Which Communism of Opportunity Alone Can Give—I Base My Condemnation of Bolshevism as a Mad Attempt, by a Brutal and Degrading Tyranny, to Carry Out an Impossible Program...
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NOTE
NOTE
My thanks are due to many friends, in this country and in Europe, for their kindly co-operation, assistance, and advice. I do not name them all—partly because many of them have requested me not to do so. I must, however, express my thanks to Mr. Henry L. Slobodin of New York, for kindly placing his materials at my disposal; Dr. S. Ingerman of New York, for his valuable assistance; Mr. Jerome Landfield of New York, for most valuable suggestions; Prof. V. I. Issaiev of London, for personal courtes
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PREFACE
PREFACE
Like the immortal Topsy, this book may be said to have “just growed.” In it I have simply assembled in something like an orderly arrangement a vast amount of carefully investigated evidence concerning the Bolshevist system and its workings—evidence which, in my judgment, must compel every honest believer in freedom and democracy to condemn Bolshevism as a vicious and dangerous form of reaction, subversive of every form of progress and every agency of civilization and enlightenment. I do not disc
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I WHY HAVE THE BOLSHEVIKI RETAINED POWER?
I WHY HAVE THE BOLSHEVIKI RETAINED POWER?
The Bolsheviki are in control of Russia. Never, at any time since their usurpation of power in November, 1917, have Lenin and Trotsky and their associates been so free from organized internal opposition as they are now, after a lapse of more than two and a quarter years. This is the central fact in the Russian problem. While it is true that Bolshevist rule is obviously tottering toward its fall, it is equally true that the anti-Bolshevist forces of Russia have been scattered like chaff before th
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II THE SOVIETS
II THE SOVIETS
The first articulate cry of Bolshevism in Russia after the overthrow of the monarchy was the demand “All power to the Soviets!” which the Bolshevist leaders raised in the summer of 1917 when the Provisional Government was bravely struggling to consolidate the democratic gains of the March Revolution. The Bolsheviki were inspired by that anti-statism which one finds in the literature of early Marxian Socialism. It was not the individualistic antagonism to the state of the anarchist, though easily
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No. 994. Town of Melenki (Prov. of Vladimir) Feb. 25, 1919
No. 994. Town of Melenki (Prov. of Vladimir) Feb. 25, 1919
Surely there never was a greater travesty of representative government than this—not even under czarism! This is worse than anything that obtained in the old “rotten boroughs” of England before the great Reform Act. Yet our “Liberals” and “Radicals” hail this vicious reactionary despotism with gladness. If it be thought that the judgment of the present writer is too harsh, he is quite content to rest upon the judgment pronounced by such a sympathizer as Mr. Isaac Don Levine has shown himself to
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Article IV
Article IV
64. The right to vote and to be elected to the Soviets is enjoyed by the following citizens of both sexes, irrespective of religion, nationality, domicile, etc., of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic, who shall have completed their eighteenth year by the day of election: ( a ) All who have acquired the means of livelihood through labor that is productive and useful to society, and also persons engaged in housekeeping which enables the former to do productive work, i.e. , laborers and
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Article III Construction of the Soviet Power A. Organization of the Central Power
Article III Construction of the Soviet Power A. Organization of the Central Power
24. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets is the supreme power of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. 25. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets is composed of representatives of urban Soviets (one delegate for 25,000 voters), and of representatives of the provincial ( Gubernia ) congresses of Soviets (one delegate for 125,000 inhabitants). Note 1 : In case the Provincial Congress is not called before the All-Russian Congress is convoked, delegates for the latter are sent directly from the
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B. Organization of Local Soviets
B. Organization of Local Soviets
53. Congresses of Soviets are composed as follows: ( a ) Regional: of representatives of the urban and county Soviets, one representative for 25,000 inhabitants of the county, and one representative for 5,000 voters of the cities—but not more than 500 representatives for the entire region—or of representatives of the provincial Congresses, chosen on the same basis, if such a Congress meets before the regional Congress. ( b ) Provincial ( Gubernia ): of representatives of urban and rural ( Volost
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From Voter to National Government—Russia and U. S. A.6
From Voter to National Government—Russia and U. S. A.6
6 In all the Soviets, from County Soviets onward, city voters have a larger vote in proportion to numbers than rural voters. (See text.) It will be seen that at every step, from the county Soviet to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, elaborate care has been taken to make certain that the representatives of the city workers are not outnumbered by peasants’ representatives. The peasants, who make up 85 per cent. of the population, are systematically discriminated against. (6) We are not yet at t
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V THE PEASANTS AND THE LAND
V THE PEASANTS AND THE LAND
At the time of the Revolution the peasantry comprised 85 per cent. of the population. The industrial wage-earning class—the proletariat—comprised, according to the most generous estimate, not more than 3 to 4 per cent. That part of the proletariat which was actively interested in the revolutionary social change was represented by the Social Democratic Party, which was split into factions as follows: on the right the moderate “defensist” Mensheviki; on the left the radical “defeatist” Bolsheviki;
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VI THE BOLSHEVIKI AND THE PEASANTS
VI THE BOLSHEVIKI AND THE PEASANTS
In the fierce fratricidal conflict between the Bolsheviki and the democratic anti-Bolshevist elements so much bitterness has been engendered that anything approaching calm, dispassionate discussion and judgment has been impossible for Russians, whether as residents in Russia, engaged in the struggle, or as émigrés , impotent to do more than indulge in the expression of their emotions, practically all Russians everywhere have been—and still are—too intensely partizan to be just or fair-minded. An
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Arrest of Right Socialists-Revolutionaries
Arrest of Right Socialists-Revolutionaries
At the present moment the ward extraordinary commissioners are making mass arrests of Right Socialists-Revolutionaries, since it has become clear that this party is responsible for the recent acts of terrorism (attempt on life of Comrade Lenin and the murder of Uritzky), which were carried out according to a definitely elaborated program....
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Arrest of a Priest
Arrest of a Priest
For an anti-Soviet sermon preached from the church pulpit, the Priest Molot has been arrested and turned over to the counter-revolutionary section of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission....
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Struggle Against Counter-Revolutionaries
Struggle Against Counter-Revolutionaries
We have received the following telegram from the president of the Front Extraordinary Commission, Comrade Latsis: “The Extraordinary Commission of the Front had shot in the district of Ardatov, for anti-Soviet agitation, 4 peasants, and sent to a concentration camp 32 officers. “At Arzamas were shot three champions of the Tsarist régime, and one peasant-exploiter, and 14 officers were sent to the concentration camp for anti-Soviet agitation.”...
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House Committee Fined
House Committee Fined
For failure to execute the orders of the dwelling section of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, the house committee at 42, Pokrovka, has been fined 20,000 rubles. This fine is a punishment for failure to remove from the house register the name of the well-known Cadet Astrov, who disappeared three months ago. All the movable property of Astrov has been confiscated....
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The Arrest of Speculators
The Arrest of Speculators
On September 3d members of the Section to Combat Speculation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission arrested Citizen Pitkevich, who was trying to buy 125 food-cards at 20 rubles each. A search was made in the apartment of Pitkevich, which revealed a store of such cards bearing official stamps. This section also arrested a certain Bosh, who was speculating in cocaine brought from Pskov. On September 5, 1918, the Council of the People’s Commissaries ordered that the names of persons shot by o
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VIII INDUSTRY UNDER SOVIET CONTROL
VIII INDUSTRY UNDER SOVIET CONTROL
For the student of the evolution of Bolshevism in Russia there is, perhaps, no task more difficult than to unravel the tangled skein of the history of the first few weeks after the coup d’état . Whoever attempts to set forth the development of events during those weeks in an ordered and consecutive narrative, and to present an accurate, yet intelligible, account of the conditions that prevailed, must toil patiently through a bewildering snarled mass of conflicting testimony, charges and counter-
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IX THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY—I
IX THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY—I
To judge fairly and wisely the success or failure of an economic and political policy so fundamental and far-reaching as the nationalization of industry we must discard theories altogether and rely wholly upon facts. Nothing could be easier than to formulate theoretical arguments of great plausibility and force, either in support of the state ownership of industries and their direction by state agencies or in opposition to such a policy. Interesting such theorizing may be, but nothing can be con
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X THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY—II
X THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY—II
The second phase of nationalization may be characterized as the adoption by a political state of the purest capitalist methods. Krassin was not a Bolshevik or a Socialist of any kind, so far as can be learned. He severed his rather nominal connection with the Socialist movement in 1906, it is said, and, thoroughly disillusioned, devoted himself to his profession and to the management of the Petrograd establishment of the great German firm of Siemens-Schuckart. He is said to have maintained very
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Obligatory Regulation No. 27
Obligatory Regulation No. 27
Every house committee in the city of Petrograd and other towns included in the Union of Communes of the Northern Region is under obligation to subscribe to, paying for same, one copy of the newspaper, the Severnaya Communa , the official organ of the Soviets of the Northern Region. The newspaper should be given to every resident in the house on the first demand. Chairman of the Union of the Communes of the Northern region, Gr. Zinoviev. Commissary of printing, N. Kuzmin. The Severnaya Communa ,
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The Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press
The Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press
1. Under the Revolutionary Tribunal is created a Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press. This Tribunal will have jurisdiction of crimes and offenses against the people committed by means of the press. 2. Crimes and offenses by means of the press are the publication and circulation of any false or perverted reports and information about events of public life, in so far as they constitute an attempt upon the rights and interests of the revolutionary people. 3. The Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press
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Decree Regulating Right of Public Associations and Meetings
Decree Regulating Right of Public Associations and Meetings
(1) All societies, unions, and associations—political, economic, artistic, religious, etc.—formed on the territory of the Union of the Commune of the Northern Region must be registered at the corresponding Soviets or Committees of the Village Poor. (2) The constitution of the union or society, a list of founders and members of the committee, with names and addresses, and a list of all members, with their names and addresses, must be submitted at registration. (3) All books, minutes, etc., must a
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XII “THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT”
XII “THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT”
In a pamphlet entitled Two Tactics , published in Geneva, in 1905, at the time of the first Russian Revolution, Lenin wrote: Whoever wants to try any path to Socialism other than political democracy will inevitably come to absurd and reactionary conclusions, both in an economic and a political sense . If some workmen ask us, “Why not achieve the maximum program?” we shall answer them by pointing out how alien to Socialism the democratic masses are, how undeveloped are the class contradictions, h
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Article I On Compulsory Labor
Article I On Compulsory Labor
1. All citizens of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, with the exceptions stated in Section 2 and 3, shall be subject to compulsory labor. 2. The following persons shall be exempt from compulsory labor: ( a ) Persons under 16 years of age; ( b ) All persons over 50 years; ( c ) Persons who have become incapacitated by injury or illness. 3. Temporarily exempt from compulsory labor are: ( a ) Persons who are temporarily incapacitated owing to illness or injury, for a period necessary
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Decree of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Council of Defense on the First Revolutionary Labor Army
Decree of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Council of Defense on the First Revolutionary Labor Army
1. The Third Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army is to be utilized for labor purposes. This army is to be considered as a complete organization; its apparatus is neither to be disorganized nor split up, and it is to be known under the name of the First Revolutionary Labor Army. 2. The utilization of the Third Red Army for labor purposes is a temporary measure. The period is to be determined by a special regulation of the Council of Defense in accordance with the military situation as well as with th
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I Decree Regarding Grain Control
I Decree Regarding Grain Control
The disastrous undermining of the country’s food-supply, the serious heritage of the four years’ war, continues to extend more and more, and to be more and more acute. While the consuming provincial governments are starving, in the producing governments there are at the present moment, as before, large reserves of grain of the harvests of 1916 and 1917 not yet even threshed. This grain is in the hands of tight-fisted village dealers and profiteers, of the village bourgeoisie. Well fed and well p
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Part I
Part I
1. The Central Administration of Nationalized Undertakings, of whatever branch of industry, assigns for each large nationalized undertaking technical and administrative directors, in whose hands are placed the actual administration and direction of the entire activity of the undertaking. They are responsible to the Central Administration and the Commissioner appointed by it. 2. The technical director appoints technical employees and gives all orders regarding the technical administration of the
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Part II
Part II
17. A Central Administration [Principal Committee] for each nationalized branch of industry is to be established in connection with the Supreme Council of the National Economy, to be composed one-third of representatives of workmen and employees of a given industrial branch; one-third of representatives of the general proletariat, general governmental, political, and economic organizations and institutions (Supreme Council of National Economy, the People’s Commissioners, All-Russian Council of P
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Part III
Part III
25. Upon the introduction of nationalization into any industrial branch, or into any individual enterprise, the corresponding Central Administration (or the temporary Central Administration appointed with its rights) takes under its management the nationalized enterprises, each separately, and preserves the large ones as separate administrative units, annexing to them the smaller ones. 26. Until the nationalized enterprises have been taken over by the Central Administration (or principal commiss
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(Official Text)
(Official Text)
I. Agencies of Workers’ Control in Each Enterprise. I. Control in each enterprise is organized either by the Shop or Factory Committee, or by the General Assembly of workers and employees of the enterprise, who elect a Special Commission of Control. II. The Shop or Factory Committee may be included in its entirety in the Control Commission, to which may be elected also technical experts and other employees of the enterprise. In large-scale enterprises, participation of the employees in the Contr
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A DIPLOMAT’S WIFE IN MEXICO By Edith O’Shaughnessy
A DIPLOMAT’S WIFE IN MEXICO By Edith O’Shaughnessy
Intimate personal experiences at Mexico City and Vera Cruz during those dramatic months in 1913 and 1914, when Nelson O’Shaughnessy was American Chargé d’Affaires. Illustrated. Octavo...
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THE SUNNY SIDE OF DIPLOMATIC LIFE By Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone
THE SUNNY SIDE OF DIPLOMATIC LIFE By Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone
As the wife of a Danish diplomat she has many gossipy bits to relate of life in Washington, Rome, Denmark, Paris and Berlin....
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IN THE COURTS OF MEMORY By Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone
IN THE COURTS OF MEMORY By Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone
An American woman with eyes and ears would have had much to see and hear at the court of Napoleon III. It is exactly this fascinating story that is told in this book....
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THE STORY OF A PIONEER By Anna Howard Shaw; with the collaboration of Elizabeth Jordan
THE STORY OF A PIONEER By Anna Howard Shaw; with the collaboration of Elizabeth Jordan
Frontierswoman, school-teacher, preacher, lecturer, minister, physician, worker among the poor—and President of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association—Dr. Anna Shaw tells her life history in an astonishing human document. Illustrated. Crown 8vo...
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MARK TWAIN: A Biography By Albert Bigelow Paine
MARK TWAIN: A Biography By Albert Bigelow Paine
The personal and literary life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Three volumes in a box. Octavo HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK Established 1817 LONDON...
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PRINCIPLES OF LABOR LEGISLATION By John R. Commons, LL.D.
PRINCIPLES OF LABOR LEGISLATION By John R. Commons, LL.D.
Professor of Political Economy, University of Wisconsin Former Member Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, and United States Commission on Industrial Relations, and...
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John B. Andrews, Ph.D. Secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation Editor of the “American Labor Legislation Review”
John B. Andrews, Ph.D. Secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation Editor of the “American Labor Legislation Review”
“ The best American text book in its particular field. ”— Prof. JAMES FORD, of Harvard University. Crown 8vo, Cloth...
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PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT By Frank J. Goodnow, LL.D. President Johns Hopkins University
PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT By Frank J. Goodnow, LL.D. President Johns Hopkins University
The President of the Johns Hopkins University is an authority of international reputation. It will be remembered that he was invited to China by the Government to draw up a constitution. This book is not only a comprehensive statement of the subject, but it is clearly and interestingly written. HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK Established 1817 LONDON BOOKS ON TRAVEL By William Dean Howells...
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ROMAN HOLIDAYS, AND OTHERS Illustrated LONDON FILMS Illustrated CERTAIN DELIGHTFUL ENGLISH TOWNS Illustrated SEVEN ENGLISH CITIES Illustrated FAMILIAR SPANISH TRAVELS Illustrated A LITTLE SWISS SOJOURN Illustrated MY YEAR IN A LOG CABIN Illustrated
ROMAN HOLIDAYS, AND OTHERS Illustrated LONDON FILMS Illustrated CERTAIN DELIGHTFUL ENGLISH TOWNS Illustrated SEVEN ENGLISH CITIES Illustrated FAMILIAR SPANISH TRAVELS Illustrated A LITTLE SWISS SOJOURN Illustrated MY YEAR IN A LOG CABIN Illustrated
HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK Established 1817 LONDON...
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