THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN RUSSIA AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL AND TO THE RUSSIAN SOVIETS

PART I

[EDITOR'S NOTE. The first portion of the State Department's Memorandum on The Bolshevist or Communist Party in Russia and Its Relations to the Third or Communist International and to the Russian Soviets, with the appendices pertaining thereto, appears in this issue of International Conciliation. The remaining portion, including appendices, will be published as Part II in the February issue. The State Department document referred to in the text, Memorandum on Certain Aspects of the Bolshevist Movement in Russia, was published in International Conciliation in March and April, 1920.]

MARCH 20, 1920

Memorandum for the Under Secretary of State:

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a memorandum prepared in the Division of Russian Affairs on the subject of the so-called Bolshevist or Communist Party in Russia and its relations to the Russian Soviets and to the Third International. The material presented is from original sources, including the utterances of the Bolsheviks themselves, extracts from their party organs, and extracts from the official press and wireless messages of the Soviets and the publications of the Third International. A knowledge of the facts which the memorandum discloses is essential to an understanding of the Russian situation, especially in its international bearings, and I believe that it would be in the public interest to publish the memorandum and distribute it as widely as practicable.

The memorandum shows that the Russian Communist Party is a highly centralized and disciplined party, membership in which is carefully restricted. It dominates the Soviets, especially the central Soviet institutions, such as the Central Executive Committee and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The leaders of the party occupy the highest official positions in Soviet institutions, both civil and military. The party, as such, performs administrative functions. Its press is closely associated with the official Soviet press.

The Communist Party is a member of the Third or Communist International, having in fact organized it, and the leaders in the party are also the chief executive officers of this world revolutionary bureau. The leaders of the Third International are also officials of the Soviet institutions. The propaganda literature of the International is printed in the Soviet printing establishments and included in the official organs of the Soviets.

The inter-relation of the Bolsheviks, the Russian Soviets, and the Third International is such, in fact, that while the three may be distinguished theoretically, in practice they represent a single movement, backed by the administrative machinery and the resources of Soviet Russia. This is important, especially from an international viewpoint, because the aim of the Communist or Bolshevist Party is worldwide revolution and the purpose of the Third International is to propagate revolution and communism throughout the world.

Therefore, while the Soviet institutions, as such, may agree to abstain from subversive propaganda abroad, neither the Russian Communist Party nor the Third International would be bound thereby.

Very respectfully,

(Signed) D. C. POOLE, Chief, Division of Russian Affairs

I

THE ORIGIN OF THE PARTY

The "Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)" is the outgrowth of an extreme radical fraction of the “Russian SocialDemocrat Workmen's Party" founded in 1897. The split took place in 1903 at a congress held abroad at which the radical delegates were in the majority. For this reason this fraction came to be known as the Bolsheviks, which meant simply those of the majority, that is, the majority at this particular congress. Until the summer of 1917 the official title of this fraction was "Russian Social-Democrat Workmen's Party (Bolsheviks)." At that time the leaders of this group, now organized as a distinct party, were already discussing the formal adoption of the name "Communist" (Lenin, "First Letter on Tactics," May, 1917). They continued, however, to use the name "Bolshevik," by which they had come popularly to be known abroad as well as in Russia. In official documents and writings the term "Bolshevik" was used as late as July, 1918 (Official Stenographic Report, with tables, of Fifth All-Russian Congress). Since about that date there has been a tendency to substitute the word "Communist" in official documents and writings, though the word "Bolshevik" has generally been added in parentheses as indicated above. (See Call to Third or Communist International, "Certain Aspects of the Bolshevist Movement in Russia.")1

II

THE BOLSHEVIKS IN THE SOVIETS

During the revolution of 1905 the Bolsheviks represented the radical minority in the workmen's councils of that period. The Russian word for council is "soviet." They opposed bitterly the more moderate fraction of the Russian SocialDemocrats, the Mensheviks.

1 International Conciliation, March, 1920.

The Social-Democrats as a party boycotted the elections to the first Duma in 1906, but individual Social-Democrats were elected to this first Russian parliament, particularly from the Caucasus.

During 1906 the Mensheviks secured the majority in the party councils and Russian Social-Democrats participated more actively in the elections to the second Duma, securing a large number of seats. The explanation given for the dissolution of the second Duma was its refusal to unseat 55 SocialDemocratic members whom the government charged with revolutionary conspiracy. There was, nevertheless, a small group of Social-Democrats in both the third and fourth Dumas. Among these there were members who, though not specifically elected as such, were generally recognized as adherents of the Bolshevist fraction of the party. It was, for example, these individual Bolshevist members within the Social-Democratic group of the fourth Duma that came out in public condemnation of the war at the special session of the Duma called in August, 1914.

In the Petrograd Soviet of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies, organized during the first days of the revolution of 1917, party alignment at the beginning was not particularly emphasized. Very shortly, however, particularly after Lenin's arrival, a sharp differentiation took place, and the Bolsheviks, as a separate party, became the most energetic and compact, though minority, group in the Petrograd Soviet.

In the first All-Russian Congress of Soviets the Bolsheviks had a minority and therefore a minority on the first AllRussian Central Executive Committee of Soviets elected by that Congress. During the summer of 1917 frequent conflict developed between the Petrograd Soviet and the AllRussian Central Executive Committee, for the former was more radical than the latter, containing a larger percentage of Bolsheviks. By September, 1917, the Bolsheviks had obtained a clear majority in the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky being elected its president.

Against the wish of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Petrograd Soviet sent out a call for a Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which was announced for November 7. It was on the eve of the opening of this Congress that the Bolsheviks executed their coup d'état. In this Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks had a majority. In view of the refusal of the more moderate Socialist parties, particularly the Mensheviks, to accept the Bolshevist coup d'état, the Central Executive Committee selected by the second Congress was composed largely of Bolsheviks, as was the first Council of People's Commissaries, although a few Left Socialist-Revolutionaries were given places on the Executive Committee and on the Council.

No analysis of the Third and Fourth All-Russian Congresses of Soviets of January and March, 1918, are at hand. At the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets of July, 1918, the Bolsheviks had a majority, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries having about 30 per cent of the total membership and other parties being represented in very small numbers (Summary of Stenographic Report of Congress, Appendix 1). It was at this Congress that Socialist-Revolutionaries of the Right and Center, and the Mensheviks-all anti-Bolshevist but Socialist parties were excluded from the Central Executive Committee and all local Soviets were urged to do the same (Decree, Appendix 2).

The Sixth All-Russian Congress, held in November, 1918, showed an overwhelming majority for the Bolsheviks; in fact, one can say that they were the only party really represented, having 900 (including 71 sympathizers) out of 914 members (Summary of Stenographic Report, Appendix 3). In the Seventh Congress, held more than 13 months later, in December, 1919, the Bolsheviks were equally dominant, having 970 out of 1,002 members (Appendix 4).

The Bolsheviks have been less completely in control of local Soviets. However, an analysis made by the Bolsheviks themselves shows the gradual elimination of all other parties, and particularly of so-called non-party members, the explana