MOSCOW'S ATTITUDE 159
did he conduct himself? Had he contributed any valuable
addition to Bolshevist successes? Had he failed^ or had he
actually diminished these successes through slackness, irre-
solution or weakness?
In such circumstances it is not surprising that a man like the
Commissary for Agriculture, Jakovliev, whose position was
already undermined at that time, should have ended his speech
with the words: "Our cause is headed by the great leader,
Stalin. Like Lenin he carries1 the Soviet State past every
difficulty to the Socialist world order: he prevents any Com-
munist from indulging in overweening ambitions. And, like
Lenin, he forges the Communist Party into the strongest
instrument of our advancing movement. In this we must see
the surest warrant for the overcoming of all hazards.5' Yet even
these words of praise failed to restore Jakovliev's shaken
position, and he was soon afterwards removed from his office.
It is even more interesting to see how one of Trotsky's
chief adherents, Rakovsky, extols Stalin's personality in his
letter of recantation. This document, published in Izvestia^
says: "Stalin embodies uncompromising Bolshevist ideology,
organized discipline and harmony between Communist words
and deeds. Together with the entire Communist party and
thf working class I repeat that only a leader possessing the
uncompromising ideology, political vision and iron will of a
Stalin could enable the land of the Soviets to solve the vast
difficulties of Socialist reconstruction."
It may be admitted that Rakovsky is right to this extent—
that nobody except Stalin would have had the courage and
resolution to hold fast to his ideas and methods in his struggle
with economic problems, even at the cost of sacrificing millions
of innocent persons. It may> too, be assumed that the words
of another delegate at the Moscow Communist Congress,
Khataevitch, the representative of Dnepropetrovsk, expressed
the views of many important people well aware of the critical
economic position of the country. The delegate said: **In this