The Practice and Theory of BolshevismRussell, Bertrand
Religion
The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
Russell, Bertrand
Communism -- Soviet Union -- History; Soviet Union -- Social conditions
Being of opinion that without a scientific organization of
industry, even the widest application of compulsory labour
service, as the great labour heroism of the working class,
will not only fail to secure the establishment of a powerful
socialist production, but will also fail to assist the country
to free itself from the clutches of poverty--the Congress
considers it imperative to register all able specialists of
the various departments of public economy and widely to
utilize them for the purpose of industrial organization.
The Congress considers the elucidation for the wide masses of
the workers of the tremendous character of the economic
problems of the country to be one of the chief problems of
industrial and general political agitation and propaganda; and
of equal importance to this, technical education, and
administrative and scientific technical experience. The
Congress makes it obligatory on all the members of the party
mercilessly to fight that particular obnoxious form, the
ignorant conceit which deems the working class capable of
solving all problems without the assistance _in the most
responsible cases_ of specialists of the bourgeois school, the
management. Demagogic elements who speculate on this kind of
prejudice in the more backward section of our working classes,
can have no place in the ranks of the party of Scientific
Socialism.
But Russia alone is unable to supply the amount of skill required, and
is very deficient in technical instructors, as well as in skilled
workmen. One was told, over and over again, that the first step in
improvement would be the obtaining of spare parts for locomotives. It
seems strange that these could not be manufactured in Russia. To some
extent they can be, and we were shown locomotives which had been
repaired on Communist Saturdays. But in the main the machinery for
making spare parts is lacking and the skill required for its
manufacture does not exist. Thus dependence on the outside world
persists, and the blockade continues to do its deadly work of
spreading hunger, demoralization and despair.
The food question is intimately bound up with the question of
industry. There is a vicious circle, for not only does the absence of
manufactured goods cause a food shortage in the towns, but the food
shortage, in turn, diminishes the strength of the workers and makes
them less able to produce goods. I cannot but think that there has
been some mismanagement as regards the food question. For example, in
Petrograd many workers have allotments and often work in them for
eight hours after an eight hours' day in their regular employment. But
the food produced in the allotments is taken for general consumption,
not left to each individual producer. This is in accordance with
Communist theory, but of course greatly diminishes the incentive to
work, and increases the red tape and administrative machinery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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