Bulletin of the IV Congress of the Communist International #21 Dec 2, 1922

:n\ OF ink i\ CONGRESS

: :>lt,Y of
lot'lll Of I 111*

; s.

ution will l)o clib-
vnio.-i with this in view
la rr: Tho Presidium pro-
■ ion without dis-
c resolution is carried unan-

a { io n n Tho Exe c utio n s
j is So u ( h Africa.

h Congress of the Communist

; has received the news that

South African Government of General

.is has executed lour workers for ha-

vuded themselves during the mine

workers' strike against the violence of

■ . •! mucin of Lackeys in the service

and diamond mining capital.

rade Sullivan in his speech at the.
Plenum on November 12th (see Bulletin
■V 7, English edition, page 3), made a
strongly warned attack againts the organ

the Workeis Party— "The Worker"—
quoting a passage of an article in that

ier, and took upon himself to present
the article in question to the American
Commission. After reading the article,
the Commission declares that the passage.
in question, taken in conjunction with the

The Congress denounces
African Government which \ u '

of -General Smuts wU ). t \ u , "' Hi,
fessed a liberal, pacifist c M , ! ' u /'>
in reality it docs not hositn W'' 1 '-
in order to suppress the wo ,., 1 ? :
movement. M,ul ^g ,M

The Fourth Congress sen, l • ,
greetings to the South African !"
It is convinced that not only \.
not give up their fight, but thi+ y *S
contrary they will learn how to H,!
native workers too into the t ^1
against South African Capital ki!*
thereby ensure common and Jmn a,1( l
ry. In this struggle the South A ff*S
workers may rely upon the hem S J
Communist International, W hich 1
upon them as on e of its outposts. s
The session closed at 4,10 p. j\j

WORKERS OF THE WORLD. UNTO

context, has quite an opposite meaning to that
attached to it by Comrade Sullivan. The
Commission furthermore mostemphaticallv'
condemns the manner in which an orpaa
which has rendered the greatest servii
in the spreading of Communist ideas in
America — lias been treated by Comrade
Sullivan.

The American commission.

Published by the Press Bureau of the Fourth Congress of the Comintern. Mosco^____.

Number of copies printed.

20th Government Printe^^^dl^olelada^T'

ULLETI

CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST

L

Moscow.

December 2nd, 1922.

Twenty First Session.

November 24th.
Chairman: Comrade KoIarofF.

Contents:
.Report on the Agrarian Question*. By Comrade Varga.
Speakers: Varga, Renaud Joan, Teodorvitch, Joss, Rieux, Pauker.

K o 1 a r o i ; f : I rl eclare th e session open.
The order of the clay is Agrarian question.
Comrade Varga has the floor.

Vargg: Hungary— The Agrarian que-
stion was , thoroughly discussed at the
Second. Congress ot the Communist Inter-
national. We adopted theses which even
now form the basis of our work. The
program, of action proposed by the agra-
rian Commission is not a change from
these theses, but are complementary to
them. These additions are made neces-
sary by the historical changes which
have taken place in the last two years.

At the Second Congress we were all
convinced that the revolution would rap-
my spread Westward. It was the peri-
od of the victorious advance of the Rus-
sian army in Poland, of the spread of
we Communist movement in all Europe;
5><i under the impression of an imminent

sec i ??' the theses formulated b y the

| or Congress were prepared especially
,* an immediate conquest of power. To-

queV Ve F See that tlle time for the con "
is nrf power in tne European countries

fo» th* Illctsse s into our ranks and eniarg-
T h f .fttiies of the Communist Party.

IfeJt B i t is the basis of tho United

ancl of the present program of

agrarian action. To secure the success of
our movement, to set up the dictatorship
of the proletariat, we mast gain the
active help of the large masses of the
peasant population and neutralise ano-
ther section of it. We must realise that
we were not the only ones who have
learned from the Russian revolution, —
the bourgeoisie has also learned much.
The Russian dictatorship has shown the
bourgeoisie the magnitude of the danger
which menaces it. It no longer believes
that the dictatorship of the proletariat
is a passing phase, and it guards against
this. There is no longer any possibility
of the overthrow of the bourgeoisie by
a small revolutionary group.

It our goal, then, is to win over a
certain section of the peasantry and to
neutralise another, the first thing we
have to do is to determine the methods
of our work. This method can be none
other than to participate in the struggles
of that section of the peasantry. The
winning over of these groups eaim<
accomplished by the mere drawing up of
a program. In general, these groups di-
strust the Communist Party. It is not
sufficient to draw up a good program to
approach them; it isabsoituely necessary
to convince them of our interest in then-
welfare and to destroy Their distrust ot

1U u.i'TiN OF fill'*. IV CONGRESS

the Communist Parly by participating in

, , dailv struirjrK*. I'Vr that purpose it

■rv primarily to win over the

, ;;U , proletariat, the poor peasantry,

that is such peasants as do not posses

sufficient land to provide them with n

BviDJ? but are partly dependent on wage

labour. The second group to win over, is

h^ poorer section of the small peasantry.

To win them over, it is first necessary

to remove them from the intellectual

the agrarian proletariat, :

them in charge of this wr- 1 n

work.

This work of participating 'i n «.
struggles of the various sectioS* K
agrarian workers also present 0f W
objective difficulties. The greatest ^
is 'the vagueness of the class rV-H
of this section of the pomihn s '°'n
sees clearly that this man is an 0tl "
rial worker, this one an artisan tw^ 1
a manufacturer, and the passao-p' ?t °ty

E COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL

station,

| is

rewlutioiT^Ker^o^^P^^y' busi " ess +1 a ? on adjunct tofc73*
— Sly an 5 d co-oplratively, and the work ha he man nature s eS

a large wharf of a machine shop.

I , quite apparent that this would be
Sulcus because it would destroy pro.

II . [„ agriculture on the other hand
? nhief means oi production, the land
P \ e divided up without any notice-
n fi diminution of production. Landed

iatps can be diminished or increased
ft sale or purchase and may be divided

n bY legacy- This easy division of the
means of production is the cause of the
j! in ' division of classes among the pea-

^Another great difficulty lies in the
different conditions prevailing in the
various districts in various Gentries.
While the problems of the industrial
proletariat, the conditions on which it

Serbia Itself, is a

o connect up we imem>i& vx mo ^u^ -— ~ .1-. - 1V1V "" ""^"s "ie am

.aasantry with ours and remove them nan population. The change from an all
i-orn the influence of the large land- lute landless and propertyless agrarian

owners. This task is exceedingly diffi-
cult These difficulties arise primarily
from the nature of the European Com-
munists Parties.

Most of these parties lack sufficient
strength to carry out such a campaign.
Many parties are not even strong enough
to influence the industrial proletariat.
They have not sufficient men to carry
on the propaganda among the peasant
population, and as result we have the
situation that the Communist Party is
altogether cut off from the peasantry.

I will give you an example. I asked
the following questions of the comrades
representing the Rumanian Delegation in
the Agrarian Commission:

What were the political consequences
of the division of land among the Ruma-
nian peasants?

He had to answer that he did not

proletarian to a poor peasant, then to
small peasant, then to a middle peasant
and to a rich peasant is frequent. ■ There
is a constant passage from one class into

small country we havethi
"focal and social types <■■
jJJ* This makes on? prop.,

'; "■'■>' we have three dillerer,. . ,,„.

s ■ T W "V ;i] fc yP es Rxfs «°g side by
sine ) This makes our propaganda in v±

propaganda in the

s3K 8 C 8 th be ^ (|il ^nt'inoM
. ' "a from t.ho,e m Bosnia, or caoitalist-
ically developer! Croatia and Rr f ,1

gary.

developed Croat^Tnd SouTh Hun-

The second great difference arises in
the -land problem. There are countries

fi^are very much thesamein aUcoun"-" n oth r % L^li? ^f^' u WMle
tries. Agriculture presents profound dii- lv r ! r P ? b,Wn plays absolu -

£ence, g We may distinguislf three main ^c^^JT^^^X*

sections of Germany and Italy

lmnni'fnnt /•,n,.n+: • ,i . "«

lnL ? vi lm P ortant ^estion i
land while m America or Canada this
poblem does not exist because there is
plenty of land. The same applies to France
where the population increases slowly

(HIP mi inn onr] n V. _ 1 c . » .. ¥ '

types. First, the colonial country with an
oppressed native peasantry. I 'am refer-
ring to Egypt and India where the situa-
tion is as follows: The peasant is oppres-

the other Neltncr> ^ ^miUmn SHa^^f

a constant one. Por instance, by a change dal landowners of that territory, with the the w ,!, ?£?♦ tv, ■ P easants fel1 in

of methods of land cultivation, the smi great princes, the allies of British imper- teee oThnd ?t fi^ ere 1S f + - aCUt T e shor '

peasant may become an employer; on thjlis/ In those districts the st uggle gafia where a iovSS'Tu^ B f

other hand outside circumstances nqHainst imperialism is at the same tfme the absence "uvZ^L w 1 eX] f^'

force him for a time to become a wage tie struggle of the oppressed neasant a HpmS ?Ji J g l a ? d ^ oldingsmakes

worker. So we see that the division Vrftoi hlS own feu dallo^d thfsSS As ym see ] ^ere alt'te 'iL'd^ S6leSS '

classes is neither constant nor clear. gle for national liberation is also a struf- exceed nllv ^ZtfT^rh^tZ"^

I would like also to point out t e gle for the liberation of the peasant S Sffi po re ?peasLt^ s theTatp'

quantitative difference which exists from their old social bondage. gueness an^d theTnS

between industry and + agriculture I- A second type is formed g b y the conn- fSn. Mc^KnM ds^tt?

respect to the size of the middle d» nes where considerable relics of feudal- political role- They ossilate from one side

rn thA P.itips we. can uractically lew sm still exist. wh*™ f.hp hnnr^nio ™™_ & Jh„ "*i™ ! + i£ e t ? s ^__ e .. ro . m . 1 ? ne - s f? e

the petty shop-keepers, the peuy _^j ^ leiics ot feudalism
facturers etc. In certain countries -^ ™ny and they increase as we go
the other hand, tha agrarian proletary Ward to Poland, to the Balkans, to
He had to answer that He did not is very small, and the small and wm mi% to Asia Minor.
know. I do not wish thereby to cast any peasantry constitutes the great maj 1 . pitalitf type is found in P^ely ca-

reproach upon the Rumanian Party. We of the population. This forces us to* . «^i .countries as in America, where

know under what difficult conditions it this rural middle class greater ] ^ ,'; duction a 1S i a brailch of ca P italist P ro "

irban middle clj . j ^ion, as also jn the BTli[sh cc -

say a few word J;, panada and Australia and in Bi
of this vague Vinin d J lere the elation is the sa
jricultnre. The . s , * ust r y : exploiters and exploited.

has had to work during recent times.
I only wish to point out that in many
countries the Communist Party is not
sufficiently strong to carry on any inten-
sive propganda in the agrarian districts.
The solution of this difficulty is not that
we should give up all agitation in the
agrarian districts, but rather that we
train leaders, agitators, Party workers
from among the peasant population, from

they feel nearer to the proleta-
riat, in times of prosperity they feel near-
er to the large 1 peasantry. They are a
varying element that must be energeti-
cally dealt with, with tactics varying with
ihe conditions of the moment.
In this connection, I must point to the

xms rural miuuiu ^wm fe" .; llfl p i flSSl ; auction sc , .*" iJ v ^ vapiuanou ^iw- xn wuo ^j

than we do to the urban middle uu \ ^ u as also m the British colonies changes which have taken place in the
I would like to say a few woi . ^ nada and Australia and in England class situation and in the political views

the economic cause
sion of classes in agi
of
of

same as
Ju go-

easily divisible, it can ue y* .-- , c ™. «* uosnia anTir wvi - Y tt ^ l l Ui J l 1 cu *^vuo
producing a noticeabledeclin^n^Si,^ iv e practi^^^T^ + the ?? SantS
The industrial worker could »^>i^Iati 0n t XVni^^ 6 . ?/ e fr/ 3
nf ^^^o- im a railroad, ant ^ ° l he lr old Turkish feudal lords;

up

of the peasant population as a result of
the war. Briefly it is as follows. During
the war, the division of the national
income was in favour of agriculture and
as a result, those classes of the peasantry
which formerly stood nearer to the pro-
letariat now feel a community of inte-
rests with the large peasantry. What

1*

BTJLLKTIN OF THE IV CONGRESS

1 W ish to say is that a dividing- line

has been pressed lower down (he social

scalp that the muss which we could wm

over 'for the world revolution has become

somewhat reduced as a result of the war.

On the other hand, the war has sharpened

the division between those elements

BLCcessable to our propaganda and those

no t accessable. The peasantry grew rich

during the war 1 because the price ot food

stuffs increased much more than of any

other product. This brought wealth to

those classes of the peasantry who could

bring 'mods to the market. But those

who had to live partly as wage workers,

became poor during the war and the

contrast increased somewhat, though

naturally not as rapidly and sharply as

in industry.

I wish to add that the situation has
grown even worse during the last one or
two years. I only need to recall the great
agrarian crisis in America and in Argen-
tine as a result of which the prices of
industrial products rose, and the peasant
no longer had the advantage of being
able to sell his food products dear and
buy his manufactured cheap goods. This
new aggravation in the conditions of the
peasantry manifests itself in the growing
indebtedness of the peasantry in the
various countries.

Comrades, this instability of the posi-
tion of the bourgeois agrarian classes
makes it a matter of course that wherever
there exists a real agrarian proletariat,
this proletariat must become the main
factor of the revolutionary movement.
The landless agrarian proletariat must
become our trusted and reliable comrades
in all the phases of the class struggle
conducted hy our Party. This comrades,
has been distinctly stated in our program.
I would like to point out that a wholly
uncomprehensible mistake, I might almost
say a falsification has crept into the
French translation of the theses. Para-
graph 6. of the German text reads quite
clearly:

"This is a most important factor for
the revolutionary movement".

For some unexplainable reason, the
French text reads: "One of the most
important factors".

I would therefore, ask the comrade
who has charge of the translation to
point out clearly -that the German text

Is the only final and author!™

W can we approach the aepSr* <%
Ictariat? I do not believe u 1 > T)

TIo

GVp t'k

speech is necessary on this rnatfc*

fcfs

can achieve this by support^ %
immediate demands us wage wm g { 1
• as, by supporter*
the increase of
nent of their wot
tension of soci
>re, we should
lead them, ass(
he fig T hts of the industrial proleta'

proletarians, by supporting them'
fight for the increase of their \L Qt N
the betterment of their working C oV!?" s k
for the extension of social reform ^

-9l^^Lj^^m^mTE mm0NAL

nntries where the proletariat revo-
J c ° is impossible without the active
i utI °nrt of these classes. I might say that
sUp i tlie exception of England there is

Furthermore, we should unite

this fight

'ms
,, lead them, associate 't& f '^

~J of the industrial profit

order to prove to the agricultural^.' 1
class that the Communist Party \ %
real Party of the proletariat, { £ I
believe that I need say any m 0re 3
is all contained in the program. ' j
I now pass to our work anion? 1
semi-peasant classes, and 1 would jLi
point to the dangers which we are lib?
to meet in this work. The danger coal
from both left and right. The dang!
from the right is that in those. -

|fte European country where the
n °+ntorship of the proletariat can main-
dl itself if the bourgeoisie, the rich

tain

Lntry, tne middle and small peasant
Ws are opposed to it. Thus, I consider
' c ip fear of the collaboration of the
Scants, the doubts about the possibility

county

where there is a numerous semi-pel
and small" peasant population, our pro
ganda may become a purely peasant pro
paganda with no difference in princij
between the agitation of the Comiminii
Party and that of a radical peasant party
I would like to point out two facts i
this connection. First, in France, whi
the method of agitation of comrai
Renauld Jean presents a certain
in this direction; the interests of thert!
agricultural proletariat is likely tot'*
neglected for the sake of the semi-al-
small peasants. The same danger Iib*
in the report of the American Delegatif
where the demand is made for a mining
price for agricultural products, so-caij
staples to be fixed by the goyrnnj
which is in direct opposition not on f
the interests of the peasant popuj
but also to those of the industrial ft
riat as consumers. These are the d
from, the right.

Revolutionising the wide peasant masses
c a political mistake just as great as
?L neglect of the interests of the rural
workers. The matter is quite clear, only
he rural proletariat will give us reliable
and permanent fighting forces. But, as
soon as the revolutionary movement has
been initiated, the widest possible sections
of the working rural population must be
drawn into it. If this is not done, it will
-be impossible in many countries for the
workers to assume power, and in our
countries it will be impossible to maintain
the proletariat dictatorship without their
active support.

We are now concerned with the que-
stion of how to approach the various
^sections of the peasantry. Our program
of action deals with the dependence of
the peasantry on capitalism in its various
forms. The dependence on loan and usurer
capital, the dependence on speculative
capital which buys the produce of the
small peasants at low prices in order
to sell it at high prices to the town
population, tie dependence on industrial
capital which through monopoly artifi-
cially raises the prices of manufactured
&°ods, the dependence on transport capital,
Wi as in the case of America for

om me ngnu ^ c ?m

On the other hand, I also see ^
tngers from the left. Certain i c ^

example 50% of the net proceeds from
ne sale is frequently absorbed by the

dangers JLLuin lug u-ib. VV -
seem to entertain an actually
peasantrv, a sectarian insiste " i e t#>
idea that only the true pi° ,1
industrial and agricultural cay
active fighters tor the revo u W
which the poor and small peas* ^ „i
have no interest. I believe tm^
big mistake, for there is a g™

jost oi transport. Perhaps there are com-
intT f reseilt here who have read the
tKn g novel °y Norris whicn contains
rafii lowin S information: In America the
everv Com Pames change their tariffs
fellow Wep k° r ever y fort uig"ht. If a poor
febfeJo • ° W01 'ked himself up from a
| ven T l t0 a smail h °P § T0Wer b ^ dint

he fiYA +i WOI "k* asks the manager how
hn fiV }^ tarif fe, he will get the reply:

iar^Th as high as the traffic wil1
Nges ^ey take everything beyond

am of the opinion that our chief work

d 1 ?« 1 m ST1 PP° rtin g the various
Saw the P essant Popuplation in their
sti ugg e against capitalism. This also offers

l 80 n lOn ° f the difficult P r ohlem of
puce. Of course, we must not say "Yes,
the peasants must receive high prices for
se r o P m U< ' bUtwe musfmake
??r1nrVm e * ue A tion of prices in
Older to draw the peasantry into
the struggle against capitalism
ZlTt Say: U 9*V^sm must be coot
peiled to provide the peasantry with
cheap means of production, cheap mac

to n enI>i art ^ iCial fertiliser etc " in ^der
W^? G » e ™ t0 sel1 their Produce at
low prices." We must not say that we
want to fix a definite price, but that the
capitalists should provide the peasantry
With all manufactured goods which they
need for their production at low prices
But, comrades, the chief factor of our
work must be our attitude on the land
question, for, land-hunger is the most
active factor of all revolutionary movements
m the rural districts. The question is put
quite clearly; should or should not the Com-
munist Party support the movement of the
poor peasantry for the acquistion of more
land within the capitalist system? Should
it oppose this movement or should it
declare itself in favour of it? No evasion
of this question is admissible. In most
countries this question is put so pointedly
that the Communist Party must say
either yes or no. And 1 say, comrades,
that the Communist Party must come
forward with a definite yes. The Com-
munist Party must give active support to
all the efforts of the working peasantry
to obtain more land. Our tactics must
consist in putting our revolutionary
solution of the agrarian question
against the bourgeois agrarian reforms
and direct the activity of these stiata of
the population in our favour. The land-
poor peasants such as the small and
partial lease holders demand a reduction
in rent. The Communist Party cannot
put itself in opposition to this. It must
say that it is for it, but at the same
time it is obliged to tell the peasantry
that this is not a solution of the problem,
and that the only solution is the expro-
priation, the revolutionary confiscation ol
the land which it is now leasinj
poor peasants want to p u r c h a s e 1 a n d.
and demand that the State should gi

B ULLEOT_0^

The Corn-
that it is

it to them at a low price

* un i St f SfVinus say' that it is for
agai^t his. It ^ y them have

ISld free of charge. It must say
Sat iUs willing to fight with them now
^ order to et them have it cheaply, but
, t the same time it will continue to
Sruggle unm they receive the land and

^ht^^ otlfSis way that
J™" ' into close/contact with these

and unite tlieir actions and revolution ary
moments with the revolutionary move-
men tSurban proletariat ThetoUowii«
tnment may be advanced against this
ofcv The bourgeois government seeing
that fthe movement has become really
rev lutionan' nmy attempt to check it by
Slul^and to the leading and the
most active elements of the Pantry
as has already, happened ^ all the
countries surrounding Russia such as
Finland, Latvia, and Esthoma (in Poland
i has been promised, but not yet carried
ut) and in Rumania. A reporter ol the
loo-lish journal "The Economist' makes
the following plain statement about Ru-
mania in its issue of October 21, 1922.

"It is selfevident that it was fear and
economic considerations that led to agra-
rian reforms in Rumania. In fact, these
reforms were the price which the ruling
classes paid, to protect the country
against Bolshevism."

This is clear and to the point, There-
fore, it might be said perhaps, that this
being so there is no reason for us to
support movements which at a given
moment can have an anti-revolutionary
"feet. But, I must reiterate that this
uestion presents itself in such a way
uhat the Communist Party can only answer
it with yes or no. In these countries it
cannot say no, it must say yes, even at the
risk ot a partial setback. An ideal revo-
lutionary movement would, of course, be
for the struggle of the workers and
the revolutionary movement of
t . I j . e p o o r peasants to run paral-
lel until the time when the in-
dustrial proletariat will have
a sumed power in the cities

simultaneously with the „
cultural proletariat and ?!>■
poor peasants seizing the ], hfi<
In this case, the rural population t?H
receive the land from the pr i e »
dictatorship, just as it happened in ^?

OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL'

f land the confiscation of all
riatioa f nrodu ction connected with the
m%f, Free transference of this land

wnere, nuu ^ " u -f7^ uui, tn e rpi '
lutionary proletariat having com e T n f
power, distributed the land: This *2S
be an ideal development. But, ^ ^
not the only Party in the fiela, S
bourgeoisie is also fighting, and it i
the opportunity to give the land to t£
peasants sooner than we can, thus checks
the general revolutionary movement
Should the bourgeoisie do this, J
shall have to begin anew. We m
immediately take advantage of all %
shortcomings of a bourgeois agrarian
reform. We must be quick in pointino
out that the limitations of bourgeois if.
form cannot give anything to the. laud,
less proletarian, for, it either sells fa
land or provides the money for land pr
chase. It cannot give land to people \v,„.
have no means ot production, no cattle,
no seed, no machinery no stabling etc,
In Yuo-o-Slavia, an attempt was madeta

Mie& n V« free transference oi tins umu
V d ' ffhe whole inventory to the land-
afld ot il+nrians and poor peasants. In
lis P^^n over the neutral middle
order ™ we mus t emphasise the fact
P??£ Proletarian revolution does away
W { Ltcra^es and that everyone who
* ith ?n leased a pisce of land, would
lllthe rfrpe of charge for his own use.
g et £.?:* n ot relax in our endeavours to

^fthe'fore^tlie difference" between
bring t0 ' '

We

to lease out or sell the land which
had received.

To recapitulate: we must acce
the risk of bourgeois agranj
reforms, and in the event of m
reforms being introduced, our m
must be-to take advantage ot a .
shortcoming of these bourgeois tgitfg
reforms. h ^

The social consequences ot suu»
geois reforms is as follows:
~ They temporarily check tnt .
tionary movement, creating a n W
section of big peasants who are n .
union with the capitalists- un u
hand they render the ant ^ ul sallt n#

brin? o°pois agrarian reform and
^proletarian agrarian revol-

U Vn°cdnclusion, I wish to say a few
JSls about the organisational measures
Intained in our program of action. Com-
5It it is of course our task to organise
Se rural proletariat into trade unions
wherever this was not done already and
!ko to form communist nuclei m these
IScultural unions in order to bring
them under our influence, I must also
Mint out that it is in our interests to
develop the agricultural unions into
industrial federations, in order to organise
. within them all those industrial workers

Party represents the interest of all
the workers in the country not only
in their program, but also in their
actions. We must always try to connect
the struggle of the rural proletariat, the
fight of the agricultural and the poor
peasant with that of the industrial pro-
letariat by reciprocal support. This is no
mere fantasy. In Germany, for instance,
the poor peasants supported the strike
of the metal workers in South Germany
with fairly considerable gifts of food
products; and there are surely cases
when the industrial proletariat can help
the poor peasants in their struggle. We
must attempt whenever possible to unite
these two movements which have been
going on independently all the time, as
for instance, by the creation of rural
councils on the large land holdings, and
of small peasants' councils wherever a
strong Factory Councils movement exists
in order to create a common councils
movement in agriculture and industry.
Naturally, I cannot cite all possible
cases all I can do is to refer to some

In Yugo-Slavia, an attempt was muie — u u indust nal workers

give land to the poor ex-soldiers in t k^*™ ^permanently employed within
Sewly annexed Hungarian territory jnj P^° ^JJural system, such as lock-
the result that these men were emp S Wacksmiths, woodworkers, bull-

smiths, blacksmiths, woodworkers, buil-
ders and machinics on the large estates.
Thus, these trade unions will afford us
greater support. .

On the other hand, it is to be desired
that Communists living in the country
enter the yellow, the bourgeois, the las-
cist, the counter-revolutionary trade unions
in the country, form communist factions
within them and work to destroy them
by showing that these trade unions do
not accomplish their purpose, that they
conduct no fight against the employers.
In the same way, the communists must
enter the vari'ors organisations ot the
small peasants, agricultural and co-oper-

,, v der the am^- jU?e, form factions there also and bring

ween the rich and the poor peasant t organisations under the leadership

route owing to the fact tha t the ^ jfthe Communist Party. It is self evident
obtarne" 1 ^ land on oondiU^jJ aUhe Communist .Party should^temp
made them the debtors ol

examples.

Comrades, I am coming to the end ot
my speech. Tne program of action
which is now before you and has been
adopted unanimously by the commission
does not imply that there were no dif-
ferences of opinion on the matter among
the various delegations There were such,
due to the very difficulty of the problem
and the confusion of rural conditions.
One of the comrades, I believe it was a
Polish comrade used the very happy
expression that the agrarian problem
wal an omnibus into which every .one
could climb. This is exacty what it is
It cannot be otherwise, for the very
"that there is no clear a^ sharp
division of classes in agriculture, wc
must build up our program so that
whue insisting 'upon the priority of he
rural proletarian it will give the ^possi
hility to all working c bsses in ^ agu-

s

BULtETIN OF, THE tV CONGRESS

Crtiestion ,; ' ! their respective rountries.
It appears thai communist work in the
rural districts presents certain special
difficulties Hut in building: up a revo-
lutionary movement it is impossible to
a ve out ol account the peasants at
[east in countries like France where
nearly one hall' ol the population live
from working the land, for this would
mean to relinquish the revolution.

Therefore, the Communist International
should consider work among the peasants
— propaganda, agitation, extension of
Party membership— as one of its essential
tasks. The French Communist Party re-
alised (his ever since its foundation.
The Tarty Congress at Marseilles last
vear discussed and adopted an Agrarian
Programme which had already received
the approval of the Executive.

The principal characteristic of this
programme was that it neglected the
formulation of immediate aims and
applied itself solely to an outline of
agrarian arganisation after the conquest
of power. Why was this done? I know
that this conception of an Agrarian Pro-
gramme astonished a number of repre-
sentatives of other sections of the Inter-
national. But it is the only one which really
corresponds to the present state of mind
of the French peasant.

During the last few months, in pre-
paring the report requested by the
Executive, I have conducted investigations
in all our federations. As I wrote a few
days ago in the "Bolshevik", most of
our militant comrades ' in the country
reported an indisputable change in
the mentality of the French peasant, even
in such parts of the country as Britany
which has always been a centre of social
conservatism. The trying experience of
the war period has considerably modified
the former political illusions of our rural
population. It is true that in 1919, when
the general election took place, the majo-
rity of them declared themselves in fa-
vour of the capitalist system and its
representatives. But at the present time
they are in a distinct state of resentment.
The majority of the French peasants
have become conscious of the fact that
our present political and economic insti-
tutions are effected by a grave crisis. A
fe number of them accept the proba-

bility ol' revelation without

Often Willi sympathy.

This fact, based not merely on
experience, but also on the renoi?^

ived from a great number of L I , -<
rations, explains the position hi H.

i tfeci.

tuki'i!

A

j Kronen rarxy m trie question** ^
rarian Programme. While in S01 ' 0I m
countries, the agricultural worker ^
lead to the ideas of revolution only th^
the stake of minor demands s2^
working conditions taxation \ Vn u "*
etc., the French peasants, for ?ea "S
which we are about to discuss, aw SS
dispense with these

_ 0F TI1K ,:(ni INTERNATIONAL

bourgeoisie. But the rest have oner
M f a iicn into poverty at the end oi

rtnTrnany of these landless peasants
there? I hesitate even to make a gues.

are

prelim

■inarv

ed to
stages.

The agrarian question in France i,*
sents -another peculiarity. It i s po ^y r
to win over to Communism, not m er J
the agricultular proletariat, but also tfi
well-to-do peasants who own their »
houses and machinery.

It is true, that the landless peasants
have a special incentive to organise for

Statistics are

made
them than
rate, in

more to serve those
to serve fche truth.
1906 the number of
Irictiltural wage earners was estimated
t 1 300,000. At the end of the war, how
Innvof these remained? Perhaps 1 ,000,000
7800 000. If one adds to this total the
hundreds of thousands of Small farmers
an d tenants the number of agricultural
workers would be for 1920 about 3,700,000
We see then that the agricultural prole-
tariat forms one third of the total rural
population. To about one third of the
French peasantry the question of private
property presents itself in the same way
as it does to the city proletariat,

We must now consider the peasant
proprietors. One might at first imagine
that, having the ownerhip of the means

the overthrow of the present system, of production, they would not be intere-

stedm the revolution which is to accomp-
lish what they have already accomplished
for themselves. One might even think
sat they would fear it because of conser-
ve propaganda; and that thev are
fatally condemned to become the "auxi-
liaries of counter-revolution. Yet there
are enough serious reasons for hostility
on their part against the present system
ra permit us to hope that we may win
] arger part of them to Communism.

taking the same attitude as the wage ear-
ners in industry and commerce. Dispo-
ssessed of tools, land, cattle and tin
buildings necessary both for living and
working, they are proletarians in the
same sense as their comrades of the
factory and shop, notwithstanding all tie
exaggerated notions spread by the bour-
geoisie concerning the wealth of the
peasants.

Althongh the war has raised the wages
received by the agricultural workers,
they
all
The

year including food and lodging, except »i i DUy articles which are indispensible
at Brie and Beauce, wherc^ . their ja£ s g^^hving and their work, they are

workings of large scale

the

They own* their"

own fields which since

% articles which
ieir living
7e usually 3000 francs. Since the p* .;. ^ected to the
ints of the present day do n< t prac ff ahsrn. The

ar

sants of the present day ..

the economies of their grandparents,

wish to dress decently and to have *»

amusement occasionally, they h^ e ^ country. Durin

little left to save. At the end of the Pj 5.000 1f f £ laced

tenant farmers and small peasant p rwJ _ lo.uoo.

the'irT 111 " ine comrnercia l powers fix

; auxini,i Ce i" Tllese Peasant proprietors are

the onn^„ ou t the financial condition of

g the last few years,

000 ~ 1 ^^cea savings amounting to

h\tLi : 00( ?' or 15-000 francs each in

prietors find themselves in an eg ' , m, 0n nent bonds, and look with horror
poor state. Those who were not niob% p Tll uks gIwth of the National Debt .
or those wbo left behind them on ^ <u a fatal eatastrophy. Yoa will
farm a wife, children, or old 1^ li stSi ^ tins i s the attitude of capita-
capable of working the land, nave capital- t \ J^y are bLlt Yev X modest
able to make sufficient axjcumjlatioi ^ ^ ^ whose savings are sufficient
permit them in many cases toiree , *%to rin r u *' e . their existence, in case of

I1S > epizoty or prolonged illness.

^des, what matters it to ns what
° a " 8es revolt? The essential
make the spirit of revoll

tiling is to
•reals out and

selves from the exploitation ol u*

S?1555 'I 1 ' [t *' transformfng^tSS

or 50 millions of men into the battlefield
constitutes a new fact which one could
not have foreseen threj* quarters of a
century ago. At that time, as to-day the
capitalist system despoiled the working
class of their tools and thus enslaved
them. But when the search for new sea
routes, the conquest of countries produ-
cing raw material and the means of
marine and land communication provoked
an armed conflict, only a few hundred
thousand men were involved. Xow-a-davs
the slaughter engulfs all ablebodied men,
and the developments of imperialism',
together with increasing scarcity of
certain raw material, increases the proba-
bility of war.

Now, to the peasant, war is the most
feared method of expropriation. In France,,
as in all other countries engaged in war^
the capitalists took 5 or 6 years of the'
lives of thousands of men. There were
thousands of wounded and invalids; and
a million and a half families were depri-
ved of their support.

Bordiga. During the war nobody
noticed this state of mind in France.
Everybody was patriotic, even the pea-
sants of whose anti-militarism you are
telling us now.

Renaud-Jean. I explain this fact
by the lamentable failure of the Second
International in 1914. Like everyone else,
the peasants were intoxicated by the
patriotic propaganda of the capitalist
newspapers. They were affected, like
everyone, else, by the influence of the
money which the Government so reckles-
sly expended in our country.

"But if they had felt in the leaders or
the International, whose duty it was to
call for a revolt, any real support, these
peasants would have followed an a
war movement and would have brought
a revolution.
If these peasants marched with

'■■

to

;

I
-

land

■ - ■

I

.. .-■.-:

i a s

small

;
his pi

in the polii

rs haw

he reactionary polity
t ass oi the small peasants,
the beginning of the centu
licals. In many pl;\.
has been going on between the Fr.^
Junkers and the peasants for the
municipalities. The Junk
been driven out of the mui
their former tenants who i

small proprietors. But the a
it, once installed in m
ee, has preserved the admit
methods of those whom he has
Radicalism is only one of the ma

udi the bourgeoisie assume in
keep the people engaged in petty pd
te3 and distract them from 1

It is true that the majority o
tdowners even before the
ly freed themselves rem
Raence of the large landlord

the war, the National
me d of a combination o
anti-clerical parties, clern
•ate and reaetionar;
proved that there is no r«-a!
u one and the other. J
■it the in!'
the bourg<
u red of the small peas
, d during
, revolution
i rms its task P

i

•mi up, for varying
iltural proh ■•

in France may I
[•evolution. Therefore th
should conduct a
them, it should seek to
ii all kinds of land workers and to
ct them with the city proletai
re are only two convinced enemies
M our cause in 'the country districts: the
landowners who are the d*
of the feudal landlords, and the
farmers who employ num<
earners and engage in industrial
ilture. But, beiore entering upon a
snuggle leading to revolution, the

wish to know, not in detail, but

(3 broad outline what that revolution

will do for them and with them.

1 believe that the Communist ;

lal does not sufficiently realise how

it is to show that there is not so

-rence between the city and

ultural proletariat,
industrial v

industrial proletariat

:s unreserved adJ
" revolution, wishes to ki
is only a month a
I Beli eretary of the Miners'

dion, said to the committee of the

frfcon in rep

1 is its principal cause in a doubt
nature of the so ffhicn

'place it.

Las! year w< atienuru « deptf cPj it; .

union movement in misunderstanding

the South-West, it ^ ;- < : - on this point

h wthismovem
ticalar nattr.- \

on tins p

ternational and th<

■

will ■
worl

desires. Th<

I

■

BULLETIN OF, THE IV_CONaRESS

capitalist form of land expl oit + .
big estates could not attract ca^H °o
investment in agriculture, on +t ^
hand, and the labour power of +h7 0tl *
kers on the other. _ Finally. mf Z?*>

hankers and usurers capital i n uM
such a system of relations in agrwW
which closely resemble our ^

as regarua uu mr j^uiuiase 01 tne T> rnrl 1
of the home worker and the payment?
his labour. The most exact descrinti
of agriculture could bo given in the S
of Marx, used by him in describing q3

man

;, : ...! conditions in the .
that it suffered not only from the <W
lopment ot capitalism, but f rom j
insufficient development

economic and financial crises. Thus the
Revolution which ten years ago appeared
Uv oil, after a considerable number of
years or centuries perhaps, is now con-
siderably nearer to us. To endeavour to
determine its general outlines is not to

loev of the peasant, will be practically
the same as to-day. In such a short
period industry itself will not have under-
gone a notable change. How much more,
therefore will this be the case m agri-
culture, where any considerable change
takes a much longer time

Comrades, I have briefly sketched the
special characteristics of the French
agrarian problem. It is possible to win
over a large ,. number of the peasants to
the Revolution within a short space of
time, be they wage-earners, small land-
owners, or tenants. Disabused of their
faith in universal suffrage and parha-
mentarianism by three-quarters oi a
century of experience, they hardly believe
any longer in reforms and in the de-
clarations of the different political parties.
In order to head them to Communism,
however, it be necessary to show them
that they will enjoy an improved existence
after the struggle will have been won.

It is after an examination of peasant
psychology and of the. material conditions
of French agriculture — analysed in the
report transmitted to the commission ap-

-r^tT-if /a/3 Ktt ififl Rvann+ii'd th«.i+ +Via fiVonr-tl

I of such forms that have already
s ur^ iv ar( } in Western Europe. Such are
|jsa#P Q .f[ Id system, scattered fields,
m tW Hernating fields, some near the pea-
! sJ a iHl w oine steads, and some at considerable
p ts ]1 from them, which have disappe-
diS ain Western Europe long ago, because
^ i vloDinent of capitalism has forced
the de p as .( nt to adapt himself to the
the ?ements of the market, thus abolish -
re all tliese burdensome surivals of
S^'aevalism. In Russia these survivals
rJst to the present day. At the time
p f the 1917 Revolution, only one-Sixth of

of capital^
Thus, among the principal fundament
contradictions of the capitalist mode of
production the chief one is: a disturbance
of the equilibrium between agricnid
and industry on a world scale, the ma-
ximum concentration of industrial capital,
which already tends to break through ti
shell of private property: and on tbt
other hand, a process of disintegrate

OF THE COMMUNIST I NTERNATIONAL

!L liussian peasantry escaped the burden
5 +hp agrarian crisis by concentrating in
Lr ^nds over a half of the entire
Irieulture of the country while the
Sinming five-sixths writhed m the throes
h the agrarian crisis. The weak develop-
ment of the urban industries did not
Late facilities for the absorption of the
surplus of population, nor create the
demand for the produots of peasant
agriculture to stimulate incensified culti-
vation, that is the passing from crop
raising to cattle breeding.

The success ol" our revolution was
greatly due to the fact that the move-

and retrogression whi'h we "Wi-voiti meut * oi Ul(1 mi | u , lna i proletariat of
agriculture, with the exception of course, j^ cities was splendidly backed by a
■that .certain elemen is «.! agriculture, a grarul a <r,. ar i a n movement: on the

grant

othe

ijjctoriou

agrarian movement; on the

laud the agrarian movement was

in Russia because it was sup-

U1UUU WUL vij lih J" ...!■..

!i'iir:si>!iii-:'!i iMiH ■ c brain out of his head, and ^J 1 ' ^® 1 1

pointed by the Executive— that the French into the melting pot ol capitalism,

Communist Party has drawn up an a gr a- modern alchemist". . |

rian programme which, like that which Turning to conditions in u '^j\ :

you are about to adopt, seems to answer find that the characteristic ipb i .^

™'""^ni /-ir.-r^o-^rio «-p nnmTmnnkw agriculture have n i a 1 1 i 1 f'st-t!a

the form of capitalist ownership
large peasant farming, have ai

themselevs to the caj)italisi oi p 0rted 1)V tho or <,- <in iscd proletariat led
economy. Thus. Marx gave the ri^ by the Communis! Pari \ . The revolution
characteristic. of tic pedantry \vli' , i'j' atone blow solved the I'undamental pro-
said that bourgeois society sue ,.,„. r.v n,. ,.;n r A „ \ rnMW (hnt. in

blood out <.f the peasants' heart, 1017

the principal demands of communist
agrarian policy.

T e o d o r o v i t c h (Russia): Com rades,
the fact of the almost universal survival
ot peasant farming this relic of the
Middle A^c^, may be explained on the
whole by three principal factors. Firstly,
the law of absolute rent based on the
private monopoly of land was a stimulus
to the maintenance of the system of
peasant farming, harming was the only
Bjethod which permitted the landowner
■ receive not only rent as such, but also
pf.it of the profits of the peasant farml-
and CVf'IJ r.'irt ,.(' n".ifrf>L' Qxi/'firwl lir Hi

here with particular' pn>nimeii ^
clearness. In the beginning (

on

tile. ,

the consequent decline oi

the

we

village. Yen know that in
were even the first to carry out

■ uationalisation of I he hunt, exactly
JJ years after the Lusanne Congress .-of
^e First International in 1867, which had
^claimed this idea. We confiscated the

. ml horn the squires, from the monaster
F es < the imperial estates and the crown
l;i ' Kls . and handed ever to the peasantry

™ ol' laud valued at 5 billion gold

c. A i i l . ■ . .. .iiinlll li>il

gold roubles. This was how we succeeded,
not only in neutralising the peasantry,
but also in getting its active support "to
the revolutionary conquests of the Re-
public. By the united efforts of the pro-
letariat and the peasantry, all the attacks
of the counter-revolutionary bands orga-
nised by landowners and capitalists were
beaten back. Realising that the conquest
of power will make it possible to create
conditions enabling the workers and pea-
sants to work for themselves instead of
working for the exploiters, our Party
a^ted as it did in the full knowledge that
we were to have a temporary decline ef
production. We knew that our peasantry,
owing to its backwardness, would not
adopt the method of large scale capital-
ist farming on the confiscated large esta-
tes, but will rath°r proceed to parcel out
the land. Indeed, we witnessed a scene
which cannot be characterised otherwise
than was done by a certain Russian scien-
tist, who describes it as the transformation
of the 'land into a molten state. It resulted
in a peculiar cutting up of the land into
very small lots. Statistical data indicate
that in Russia at the present time the
number of farms exceeding S desiatins of
cultivated land does not exceed 2 to 4 per
cent. On the other hand the group of
the totaly landless peasants has been
greatly diminished. In the Central,
Western and Eastern provinces we have
an average farm area that does not
exceed 4 desiatins per homestead and
the Southern provinces not over S desia-
tins. Thus the land represents a picture
resembling a honeycomb: petty producers,
who already at the time of the French

-»"« ui muu va.v.

rubles. At the same time we annulled

peasant mortgages which (without

laUfundia of "the m>bilHY- l %'\ lliin^'^y^^alli mounted"' to 'l -

century we find in the Ivu>^< M <
the survivals oi feUdalisni in l
of the
ded

kl!Hl ^rthTOkrii^: 1 C M and the

,,' ■ J7 ls «x) amounted to 200 million gold
haudic^J, , ^ble S por amuim _ KinaUy wc handec

J,' 1111 gold roubles. We relieved the pea-
' p rom paying rent, which (without

S to the peasantry iive'^s'tock and eq-
"■ over 300 million

wie consequent aeouuc «■ ••• st *- >> Yn t()

petty home industries. 1 bus ()il I ^ Ui pm ( -*-*-.

the paths along which ^fj^ ,it^« tlui v alU(

'i proms oi me peasant larmer whole develops, [hit the . . Venture "'

&art of wages. Secondly, the economy has yet a peculiar

■■■HhHHHHH

«aly -

This parcelling out ot the land lias i
suited in curtailed production of graia.
\t the same time a situation was
no-ht about which made the proletariat
feel the power of the peasantry as The
owner of the means of subsistence It
was the period of the revolution when
the country was in a precarious
condition, as a result of the impel
was and the civil war imposed
outside. The difficult food situation
polled us to resort to the food levj
which the peasantry reacted in a
liar fashion, i.e. by reducing thi

0K 35 COMMUNIS! I NTEB NATIONAL

cultivation. Reducing Mm aron by :i0 per

i ,i willi iMt\ I ho peusan

t, v mi the same time began to sow

■ , . \ ,ins, \\ hilo ryi> took t!m place

,,, wheat and oats the place of barley.

tntrv confined itselt to the

p , v , i . ,ori'od. The peasantry reduced

the cultivation of vegetable libre plants

; neglected the cultivation of seed. It
Is true that it was not all the result of
deliberate calculation, but rather to the
destruction of the productive forces of
the countryside by the imperialist war,
by the civil war, bad harvest, etc. Never-
theless, the fact ought to be stated, that
the peasantry did resent uneducated and
backward it could not grasp the magnitude

the proletarian ideals. The situation
was precarious, with the land parcelled
up, with production on a, decline, and
with the peasantry breathing discontent
against proletarian struggle. It was at
this stage that the proletariat, led by the
Communist Party, resolved to revise the
principles of its policy and to create the
new form of the alliance between the
proletariat and the peasantry. During the
years of so-called "military communism"
we expected to obtain from the peasan-
ts, by the method of the food levy, the
necessary surplus of foodstuffs and raw
materials for the re-construction and
expansion of our industry, which in its
turn was to distribute its products among
the rural population on a systematic
plan. It meant that the village was to
advance a peculiar form of credit to the
city. But the peasantry definitely refused
this form of an alliance, and the historic
experience gained from these great events
has caused the Party boldly and deliber-
ately to change its policy towards it.
This resulted in the proclamation of the
new economic policy, based on the prin-
ciple of admitting capitalistic forms of
exchange in the village. The situation
was fully summed up by Comrade Lenin
when he* said: "Capitalism is an evil
when compared with Socialism. But Ca-
pitalism is a blessing and a step forward
when compared with Medievalism", Since
the Russian village was permeated by
the most glaring of medieevalism, the
admission" of capitalistic production in
the village meant the creation of facili-
ities for combatting these survivals.

v, after two years' operation of the

new economic policy, we

rise some of the results, I base ^ u ^

k a ve enumerated are thedirect

.i' -1 "', 1 ,''* [ I he now economic policy.

nary of the h lost, si.itisLi« ;il l S % I ^^ne'ulfuro is in an advantageous

he latest bud^t investigation %1 ^P, o. account of the overthrow of

wo notice an equalisation nf: *V| 'kdorsinp «.f 11m exploiters, Then

r e total absence of the artifb
K* factors of economic exploitation.
ci al X e other hand, the co - opera-
1" Activities of the population are
Ffroled by the workers and peasants'
KJimftnt, which means that our co-
has been emancipated from

01 an wo uwi.ni- .in finuuiKulion nf
Until the arrival of NEP, ,. " Ml
cultures became worthless as J/ 11 ' ' l ' , ' l - ,:
with rye, and Russia became a W^
rye country; now we witness the tei!i ta1)le
of equalisation of prices, which is J 1 ^
of colossal importance by creatiif l
foundation for the intensification of 8 ^
culture. Intensification in its turn J 1 '
the fundamental problem of our n,"? s
economy during the transition period? 1
wards socialism. The second temu
observed as a result of the new econor?
policy, may be characterised as the s w
ing down of the process of reducing
the areas under cultivation, Another ten
dency is the discontinuance of the exodus
of population from the city to the villa.
ge; on the contrary, we see the first
symptoms of the town again attracting
the surplus population from the villages,
Another tendency is the development oi
small-holding. Already in 1917, ivhei
promulgating our land laws, we proclai-
med the principle, of complete treedon
of choice as to the forms of land tenure,
Nevertheless, the peasantry went in for
land re-distribution, and there was no
sign of any tendency to the break up i
the old village commune. Now this ten-
dency becomes fully manifest, and it may
be said to be closely related to the pro-
cess of intensification, of which I hail
already spoken. It stands to reason w
the petty proprietors will prefer ■ thatft J
of agriculture which is the most ilexij 1 •
and which will give him the gre
possibility of manipulating his pi iou ■
in the market. Such a form of agnw
tare, is that of small-holdings, ana
of communal land tenure. ff eB .

Finally, we see a tendency ot am

tiation among the various g r ^ u P s are de-
peasantry. Under conditions thaw
termined by the fluctuations ot tog |

°" "activities of the population" are
Ptroled by

nfration tic

!i bondage of bourgeois ideology p.-e-
fling in capitalist countries, where
Ifoneration is used as a weapon to
fnltify the class struggle. In our country
• t is a form of socialist construction.
\\\ these economic and political factors
entitle us to the confident hope that
this process of banishing the survivals
of niediavalism in our country will be a
painless one. From this standpoint we
may fully agree with comrade Lenin
|io declared at this Congress that the
peasantry on the whole are contented.

In conclusion, let me quote to you the
famous saying of La Bruyere about the
French peasantry: "There is a race of
beings, of human appearance, males and

( females, dirty, over-worked and sunburnt.
*~iey dig the soil, and when they rise
up, one can distinguish in them the
features of the human face." I would
like to lay symbolic stress on the words:
"When they rise up", because it seems
to me of particular reference to our own
Russian peasantry. Yes, when the pea-
sants rise we see the human face in
them, and the peasants can rise under
the proletarian dictatorship. Only the

[ proletarian dictatorship with its natio-
nalisation of the land can create those
conditions under which the peasantry
ca n rise not only in the. physical sense
Mentioned by La Bruyere, but also in

B 5 16 Political and social sense of that
Wo T ]> d. (Cheers).

Jos s (England). -Comrades, the quest-
£ n the agrarian problem in relation
: ^gland has two aspects. One aspect

ph.

c-—...^ jmo t.wu aspects.
i 8 Jae National aspect; and the other
ftK is international in character. He

ket, we have to take a certain

For instance, our decree against ^m

mortgaging of harvests, ^° w l,ij

that we are determined to G ^ & M

guide this elemental process, v s j.

the development of extreme dl , ^ that in England during the past

exploitation on the one If^y

backwardness on the other. Jv

find *i miernauonaJ. in cnarauwu. ..«
I SI • at 0llr Problem in relation to the
bianan as t • Eng iand is an extre-
2S y i lfficult matter," because of the
too\ at in England during the past
I J e ars the development of the mdu-

' lil;i1 resources have gone on at the
expense of the development of agriculture
loday 80'/o of our people are engaged
'» Industrial pi n ujt, and only u matter
Jl 20 9 / are engaged in agriculture and
the producing of food. Therefore, we find
that the problem to day in relation to
the possibility of the proletarian revo-
lution in England we will either have
to develop the resources inside our own
country or else we will have to become
greatly interested in the agrarian deve-
lopment of other countries.

Now we find that not only amongst
our own people in the Communist move-
ment, but also in the working class in
Scotland, one of the commonest questions
which is hurled at the Communist
speaker is the question — after you have
had the industrial revolution, how are
you going to provide food as far as your
people are concerned— They refer you to
the fact of the ratio of the industrial to
agricultural workers. We have elements
in England, and in different parts of
Scotland where we have a great demand
on the part of the workers, who formerly
were agricultural workers, and who in
the development of industry have gravi-
tated towards the towns, and now with
the breakdown of the industrial organi-
sation in Great Britain during the
past ten or eleven years, these workers
are voicing an increasing demand to
be resettled on the land. In the Northern
Part of Britain, in Scotland, which has
merely become a sportsground for the
rich people, the capitalist class, this land
of fertile valleys which formerly main-
tained large numbers of the population
is now devoted to grouse, to deer, to
anything but men. And as a result there
is a tendency which is expressing itself
in the revolt against the authorities in
the Northern part of Britain for the pur-
pose of getting the land. Many of these
workers who were soldiers during the
period of the War and who were told
that after the war there would be a land
fit for heroes, have as a result oi the
non-fulfilment of these promises seized
the land in these areas In those parti-
cular areas in which the agricultural,
workers are, the task as far as the Com-
munist Party is concerned is either for
the development of the resources na

H

BIT] I i'!'!\ OF TUB IV CONGRESS

n oi smallholdings

dher important factor
ti otl (o the agrarian problem. We
ivt- in l''ng!and !iit v same dili'e-
.. von have in the Continental
j Our peasant population is
extremely limited, the majority of the
workers are agricultural
iroletariai They stand on the same basis
the industrial proletariat, they act in
common through the Trade union move-
ment, and vote* 1 their demands through
it, and therefore the linking up of the
industrial and agricultural proletariat is
a simple miner as far as England is
concerned. There is a new factor which
has been created, that is in the basic
Industry in general in England we have
at the present moment about 2 million
mployed workers and in adition we
have the workers in the basic industries
in Coal, Iron, Steel and agriculture who,
because of the economic breakdown have
i pressed down to about 60% of the
-war level. You find that the cost of
living in England to-day is 80% above
pre-war level. The wages of the Coal
Miners, Iron and steel workers and agri-
cultural laborers have been reduced from
-20° 6 to 30% below the pre-war levil,
demonstrating that they are about 60%
worse off. And we also find the bour-
geoisie beginning to understsnd .that here
is a problem that they must tackle. The
deputy chairman of Lloyds Bank, one of
those massive organisations which control
industrial capitalism in England said:
when looking up the figures of the census
of 1921, which showed the ratio of the
industrial population said that if England
<lid not get back the trade she had in
1913 there was only room in Britain for
a matter of 15,000,000 people, demon-
strating quite clearly that the gradual
severances of those countries which supply
England with food at present— America
Canada, and India— that the increasing
dependence of Britain on these countries
and the increasing tendency on the part
oi the colonies and America to drift apart
as far as England is conserned, is a
: liar problem for the Communist

f Great Britain. It is because of
tor that we insist in the agricul-
:©blem, not only of maintaining
e relationship with the agricul

I oral proletariat of En-!;,,,,

developing to the ful'
resources which are n,

_of the commm internahonai;

r favourable situation than

•i-..^ As long as the small

conditions of

" st ••xC'^Jrte workers. As long a

Isc
lit

England is concerned, and alt ar J W*°t\\\ only be able to neutralise
ofll,M ' !nuul oJ ^ning our ooml? ft *L ironiising them the revolution
the agrarian workers on the Intern 'V ? take their land, but in no case
Held. And while Prof; Varga 5 J # D ° Vnoe that they will become revo-
„s that no country i n Europe w!i M 4** ind participate in the revolu-
exception of England, can have , h %ioH»# t r n<rgie for power as the workers
ution without the peasant pro|p?% Bry Jw and city. Comrade Renaud
so we are laced with the probU^ c ° u ![, claims that he would be able
when we do have the revolution Vo,T? « the peasants along the path of
to have the necessary means of rets^Wnn by means of anti-militarist
it, and the retaining of that pro{ >' olllt Sa

revolution in England wtll be d ep Sffl believe this to be true. I be-
upon the succes of the Communist 5 ! tint comrade Renaud Jean does, not
in relation to their agrarian problem, fe Se the 'necessity of civil war, of
only nationally, but internationally ^fd conflict, without which the working
w ™ : 'EL will not be able to overthrow the

Rieux I dp not argee with the e %s f, ois ie and conquer power.
of comrade Renaud Jean. Or at lKconie before the pessants and speak
with that part concerning the CuJJLuallv against militarism, to sow
nist and the revolutionary capacity , JL them the hatred of the uniform,
the French peasant. Comrade l m ? th ° amy w m expose us to serious
Jean wishes us to believe that the Frene \ m v we must not forget that we will
pessants are revolutionary, which is u ^ an army to conquer power and
true, or that they are near to becomifad it when we have conquered it. A
revolutionary and would become ^ eer tain confusion is thereby aroused; and
rapidly under an anti-militarist p^ confusion finds its echo in the
ganda — which is dangerous. , | rench Communist Party in our Commu-
In France there are large landed pr&t meetings. There are many people
pnetors who are our irreconcilable clis .ho say: This is just plain militarism, we
enemies, agricultural workers, that i hall still remain soldiers, shall still remain
landed peasants, and small land own ralets. These comrades declare that they
The wage workers, the rural proletaru | a y accept the use of violence at a given
have common interests with the industi* moment, the use of armed force, but
proletariat. The role of the Trade Unio nder the pretext of the horrors of war
organisations such as the C.Gr.T.U. ispd this abstract theory of militarism,
set agricultural Trade/ Unions a^fe refuse to prepare this army which
rally the wage workers of country | is necessary, and to organise this violence
city for the common struggle. As t0 Mch is ineviteble.
small land owners I do not believe % Renaud Jean. How would you want
comrade Renaud Jean lias told «tf J w organise an army in France now,
the truth when he stated that tliemy outside of the governmental army,
not a. privileged situation as comp «ieux (Contd). This question has no
with that of the rural and urban wou ■ Pe e ln the present discussion. But
Renaud Jean. I did not say ^ertheless I can say that we can
and you know it. ,_ r a p 7f}^ [s °y making propaganda among

Rieux (Contd). During the ^J'flfc^tyers by establishing nuclei in the
landed peasants made a c° n ^. tf' i L .

amount of money. We tried to f ^ Rj7 autl Jean. Well, we agree then?
them in our propaganda that the a eux (Contd). By supporting the

which they have earned is o^lU^Y?? 8, ot oar y° uth > as we h ,
money without any real vala ; , ;by ^trying to conquer 'the army, not
peasants answered us by saj ^ F .^ J ing that we must have no more
since this paper money can bej£ ^ ^ ut th t have this force

trndino- *r5\ TMir./»ii a ain(r. it ere* 1 * «^e it a t the disposal of the pro

trading and purchasing, it

h'- tan at (Applause). Comrade Renaud Jean
1 : - fcaat the peasant more forcefully
opposes the expropriation of life than
"^expropriation of the Land; I will repeat
what comrade Bordiga has already said:
L>nnng the war, the French pea a
well as all other peasants agreed to send
tneir sons to death; they allowed them-
selves to be robbed of their children, btit
not <jf their money; while they have given
their children without compensation, they
only lent their money upon interest.

1 believe that we must strive especially
to draw to our side the rural wage wor-
kers (by 'fighting for their interests in
the question of wages, of housing); they
possess nothing, and we should give
them as a slogan the possession of the
land upon which they work. Our second
task is to neutralise the small land,
owners; but above all we must apply alt
our strength for the conquest of power.
To conquer power we must set into action
the working masses of city and country.
Let us pass to the constructive pro-
gramme; the Russian comrades have
proved us by their change of policy,
that we could adopt no permament pro-
grammes and that events themselves
would show us the possibilities of con-
struction in each country on the morrow
of the conquest of power.

Comrade. Trotzky himself said, that
there was a period when the economic
life of the country, when the interests
of the agricultural workers were subordi-
nated to the necessities of the civil war,
to the defence of the proletarian power.
We must not attach too much impor-
tance, and especially not have too much
faith in the legend that the French
peasants are revolutionary. Why have
they not supported the city workers in
their struggles and why have they not
rid themselves of their own capitalism.

The French are not revolutionary, they
are conservative. As Comrade Trotzky
justly said, the French peasants are
petty-bourgeois, and we will be able to
realise the Social Revolution in France
onlv by dividing the peasantry, by draw-
InoT the agricultural workers into our
camp and imposing upon the others the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat (Applause.)
R e n a u d J e a n : You should print your
speech and distribute among the peasants
of the Gironde !

C h a i r m a n M a r is h 1 e v sk y : I now
sail upon Comrade Paukor of Rumania to
address you.

P a u k e r (Rumania) : Comrades, we
agree only with the Theses in general.
] '"believe thai we owe Comrade Varga
an explanation as he complained that
fehe Rumanian Delegation had replied to
the questionnaire as to what influence
agrarian reform had on the peasantry in
Rumania with a mere 'we don't know.'

Well, comrades, 1 am obliged to con-
firm Comrade Varga's statement. It is
perhaps sad, but it is true that we do
not know, that is to say, that we do not
knew enough about it to let the Interna-
tional have sufficient material for the
creation of a programme of action, based
not only on theory, hut on practical ex-
perience. In this sense we must say
that we do not know. But one should
bear in mind that the Rumanian Com-
munist Party, in spite of the praise which
it has received here and in the commis-
sions, does not actually exist as an active
organisation, but is only in the initial
stages of its formation, which are far
from being very easy.

Moreover, I do not think that one need
be ashamed to acknowledge the factthatone
does not know something. Forinstanee, we
have asked Comrade Varga a plain question,
whether he thought than an intensively
industrialised big agricultural concern is
more productive" than a small peasant
concern. Comrade Varga's reply was: I
do not know. This shows that the question
of agricultural production and of the rural
movement is not exactly well known in
the International and in organisations
which are stronger and better organised
than the Rumanian Communist Party.

The mistakes which were committed
in the p«st by the Rumanian Socialist
Party, its betrayal arid reaction are res-
ponsible for the fact that the Rumanian
organisation is only very small and in
its initial stages, which prevents it from
going into the rural districts and -get a
foothold there fighting against reaction
and Rumanian gendarmerie.

It is for this reason, and not as Com-
rade Varga has wrongly stated, because
not sufficient attention was paid to the
peasant question, that we were obliged
to say that we did not know.
Comrades, there are a few questions

Which were '
programme of

not

include,!
action, but whiVi
theless are rather important V ^
wish to dwell on this at gr^t ^
Comrade Varga stated that e^a Si
the Anglo-Saxon countries 2 lall J'|
of transport and of railways w?^
in private hands, are ofparticuh Ucha '
tance owing to the fact that the — ^
capitalists are clever enough to
the peasants of part of their ear
regulating the railway tariffs aSl
to the rise and fall of the corn Si ;
There is a similar situation in hS
The Rumanian bourgeoisie reckon! ,%
the, fact that the Rumanian Z«i
export most of their produce, \\ m 2.
being a corn exporting country. The iS
and fall of the export duties on e
which the Rumanian bourgeoisie exact
These duties are not by any means a'si
per centage of the total %ain, but
frequently as high as 100% of the pi
of corn, as is the case at present. On I
other hand, Comrade Varga, and, I belief
the Commission also are of the opioil
that we cannot act against this state
things, because these are State Mm
and because capitalist society cai$
exist without them. If this tax m
abolished, another would take its plat!
But I believe that we would oppose m
other tax, especially if it amount^
100% of the total gain. Therefore,^
point in the programme of action
to lack logic. . ,

As to the question of the rural pi
sand a in general, I believe that oui o
Seption may be correct, althoghweWj
not had as yet practical experience,,-
must certainly pay more attention y
question, because we can exist a w *
and as a revolutionary movement u ;
we know how to .approach l tn ^
population. Therefore, the m ' ta >
stion.for us is to find out w ucn #
of the rural working PoPj^Soitf 5
•nable to revolutionism f nd ;' nU ve?'
neutralisation, and on this pw de jr.
it impossible >to agree with Go *
naud Jean. In fact, I believe ^
must be some misunderstand^*
point. What Comrade 1^"^ qii^
us here about the details of* # j
is quite correct. It is possible ilit3 r|
thepeasantry through an* »ffi
and to get the small peas*

v^r J.niL

ll^MTOIBTjNTERNATIONAL

iMll U s by promising them that the
■evolution will not deprive them of their
land, lint in plain German this means-
neutralising the peasantry. The peasants
«ri).l not take the revolution by the throat
they will not oppose it if they can say
to themselves that they have nothing to
lose by it. But neither will they take the
bourgeoisie by the throat, which means
that they will not be an active element
previous or during the revolution, that
they will not be among the barricade
fighters. I mean of course the peasants
who have enough land to keep themselves
an d their families. This section of the
peasantry will certainly be won over by
methods advocated and applied by Com-
rade Renaud Jean. They will be won
•.over in the sense that they will not
oppose the revolution at the moment of
the struggle for power. But the peasants
who have not enough land to keep them-
'selves and their families, and who must
therefore be wage earners, can be won
over by us, if not now, at least in a few
years time. They will take an active part
in the revolutionary struggle, although
we cannot of course expect on their part
the revolutionary activity which we expect
■ from the industrial proletariat and from
the rural proletariat proper.
The question may also be put in such a
way that after all, it is only a matter
of detail whether we say in the program,
that we must revolutionise the peasantry
or whether we say only that we expect
fo be able to neutralise it. As a matter
of fact this is by no means the case.
Comrade Renaud Jean used a fatal phrase
which he always repeats in private con-
versation, m says that he has had much
ftore success with Communist propaganda
among the peasants than among the rural
Proletariat. I have always answered him
™at I could imagine a kind of communism
with which we would have much more
success among the large landed proprie-
tors and industrial capitalists than among
th « Proletariat. J

this proves that the way we have been
giving on our propaganda in certain
^ctmns of France is false.. We must
and \ \i ilmi this question be cleared up
seeti we determine exactly which

lisp of tIle peasantry we can neutra-
SeeHn and h y w hat means, and which
10n we can draw into the revolution-

the n r f* '• A r s,Im]ar % ^ demands in
andS ar " ?V Kjtion for the industrial
mJT P roletanat would of course be
most welcome,

q Now comrades, as to the Rumanian
question proper*

nHn^!!r :llia n WeoW(i y miceftai » er-
?b 1 wi,, Jn i thLS conne ction and with
r h , dos ?'y e P ee ch. The Ruma-
nian bourgeoisie has Wn able to carry
on its project of agrarian reform, while, ft
has not been prevented from carrying it

t^ the ,!! tbreak of the social Evo-
lution, and the conquest of power by the
Proletariat and thepeasantry.lt is a ^wel
known fact that Rumania is the classical
land of the peasant uprisings. We have
peasant uprisings every ten years. The last
one broke out in the year 1907. The period
between 1907 and the beginning of the war
was a period of struggle between that po-
sition of the bourgeoisie which was trying
to neutralise the peasantry, and the large
land owners who wanted to perpetuate the
old system of feudal exploitation. Rumania
had been sufficently feudalised to insure
the rule of the feudal lords until the
outbreack of the Russian revolution. The
Russian revolution was the decisive factor
which helped the peasantry to wrench
the land from the hands of its feudal
lords. The way it happened corresponds
in general to the description in paragraph
9. of our program of action, i. e. as a
general rule it was the rich peasants and
those who gave their political support to
such as the village mayors or similar
influential personades, who got the land.
The few poor peasants who did obtain any
land rapidly fell under the yoke of the
banks because they did not have suffi-
cient money, sufficient machinery or suf-
ficient cattle to cultivate the land, and
were therefore forced to ask for credit
from the banks which exploited them
shamelessly. It is noteworthy that even
the law of expropriation passed by the
bourgeoisie left sufficient loopholes and
evasions to sabotage the expropriation.
The peasants were allowed to sell the
land which of course, worked in favour
of the large peasantry. Furthermore, the
land remaining in the hands of the bourge-
oisie, not to mention forests or vineyards,
still 'represents more than half of the land
expropriated, at least as far as old Rumaina
is concerned. Therefore, the slogan of expro-

■

BULLETIN OK THIS W <

,v

DrUtion i S still capable of attracting and
KwluUonlsing the peasant mass,.. Tins
J whv we hope that if the Communist
Party understands how to extend and
advance this slogan, it will be so suc-
cessful as to merit the praises ol comrade
Varga and of the International. (Applause).

C h a i r m a n M a r k h 1 e v s k i: Com-
rades before we begin with the trans-
lation's, 1 would like to inform you ol
the commissions which are to meet today:

At 7 o'clock, meeting of the Presidium
to the Lower hall;

French

At 7180, meeting ol the i ,:■„. i,
mission in the dining room; M1 ^

At 6.80, meeting ol' the commission *
Workers' Relief in the Hall. ° nf °f

At 6 o'clock, meeting of th Czech*
Slovak commission, likewise in this Hall

Tomorrow's session begins promptly h

eleven o'clock a. m.; at the same time J

-ie large Italian coming

ce. Both tractions are hereto

notified. iTlie meeting of the commission

meeting of the lai
will take place. Bo

will take place in the lower hall at ele-
ven o'clock sharp.
The session closed at 4.0 P.M.

v'

Twenty-Second Session.

November 25, 1922.
Chairmen: Comrades Neurath, Kolaroff.

Contents:

Discussion of the Agrarian Question (conclusion). Appointment of Editorial Commission on the Agrarian
' Question. Report on the \outh Movement -comrades Schealler. Report on the Negro QnestL-wSl

Billings, Mac Kay.

Speakers: Koszewa, Katayama, Scheuller, Billings, Mac Kay.

Chairman Neurath: I declare the
session open. We will continue the dicus-

^ion of the agrarian question. I, will call

"n comrade Kosozewa.
posozewa: Comrades, I wish to
fliscuss the, agrarian question from a
social standpoint. I wish to draw the
attention of the Congress to the dispro-
portion between what we say —particular] y
i-ween what the most eminent and
petratmg spirits of our International
wye to say on the importance of the
|BF .population during the revolutionary

popul
K^-, and the
f^ of our
cms question.

ft "« *«.— J

leoretical and practical
Communist Tarty upon

, ^jnin told us at the S

I Salt ntei ™tional that .
time n P ro /'-»uncl problem of the present
St th'« t??-?* fevei T revolution,— not only

econd Congress
the most essen-

Piaffes?. Solution,

of every

m o f

up L evo 1 lutionai 'y alliance

TbseL " cers arid ^e peasants.

t h ^olution-i s t h e p r o b 1 e m
the ^^utionary alliance of
Piese

^ response in out

inn

Published Ly the Press Bureau of the Fourth Congress ot the Comititern^Moscow»__
aOth Government Printery „The Red Proletarian." Number of copies pr ]B

4 :

did not meet with

At uC ^ es P°nse in our international.

in Dt-oln ^ on ffress of the Spartacus Bund

PterS.f 191s - Rosa Luxemburg cha-

- u| lo\ V m (1 the German Revolution in the

*t» banner; "It was above all a

political revolution, while it should have
been essentially economic. At all events
it was a city revolution. The pillages
have not yet been touched. If we earnest-
ly desire to attain a socialist revolution,
• we should fix our attention on the
villages as much as on the industrial
centres, and in this respect we have not
yet got any further than the beginning
of the beginning". Since then four years
have elapsed, four years of the most
terrific experiences known in the world's
history, Comrade Varga was right when
he pointed out here all the complex
reasons, all the difficulties that confront
us every time we go to deal with the
agrarian question.

As a matter of fact, we gave here a
motley variety of conditions, and are
confronted with a number of diversified
problems, and great technical obstacle
making our. activity in the villages rather
difficult. All this is quite true, but there
is yet another thing, another factor which
hampers our work. From a political
standpoint the question is quite clear
within our International, but it is not
yet so to speak, organically incopo-
rated in our political doctrine.
Comrade Zinoviev said in his report