The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-07-23
THE SIGNIFICANCE Of the AGRICULTURAL TAX

policy Of cooperation in the event of will
raise small industry and facilitate, in indefinite
period, its transition to large production on tho
basis of voluntary combination
THE TRANSITION TO SOCIALISM.
Let us take third form of State Capitalism. The
State invites the capitalist as a merchant and pays
him definite commission for selling State products
and for buying the products Of small industry There
is a fourth form: the State leases factory or an
industry or section Of forest or land to capitalist
in this case, the lease agreement is more like
cession agreement. The question is whether we can
recognize these types of capitalism? In order to
answer the question we must remember the COM
petent parts of all, without exception, Of those
various strata Of society which / enumerated in my
article Of May s. 1918. "We" the vanguard, the ad-
vanced detachment of the proletariat, are passing
directly to socialism, but the forward detachments
are only small section of the proletariat, which
in its turn, is only small section Of the whole mass
of the population. In order that I'VE" may success
fully solve the problem of our direct transition to
socialism, must understand what indirect paths
and methods must adopt for the transition from
pre-capitalist relations to socialism This is the crux
of the question.
Is it possible to realize direct transition from
this state Of pre-captaist relations prevailing in
Russia to socialism? Yes it is possible to certain
degree, but any on one condition. which we know
than,s to the complexion Of tremendous scientific
labor. That condition is: electrificati0n. But we
know very well that this "one' condition demands
at least tens of years of work, and we can only
reduce this period there has been victory of the
proetarian revolution in such countries as England
Germany, and America.
For the years Immediately ahead of us, we shall
have to think of indirect links capable of facilitating
the transition from patriarchism and small industry
to socialism. "We" are still too fond of saying
Capitalism is evil socialism is blessing" but
such an argument is incorrect because it leaves out
of consideration all the existing social economic
strata, and takes in only two of them
Capitalism is an evil in comparison with social
ism, but capitalism is blessing in comparison with
medaevalism, with small industry, with fettered
small producers thrown to the mercy Of bureau-
cracy To the extent that we are as yet unable to
realize the direct transition from small production
to socialism, to that extent is capitalism to certain
extent inevitable an elemental product of small
production and exchange, and to that extent must
we make use of capitalism (particularly in directing
it along the path of State Captasm) as an indirect
link between small production and socialism, as a
| means, a path method of raising the productive
forces of the country.
One must be able fearessly to recognize an evil
in order the more firmly to combat it, The newt
ability of the postponement of the establishment of
large industry, and she impossibiity Of sProhibit-
ing the exchange Of the products of industry and
agriculture having revealed themselves, we must
depend upon what is accessible to us, the es-
tablishment of small industry. We must set to work
from this side and prop up this part of our struc-
ture, almost ruined by the war and the blockade We
must adopt all measures at all COSTS to develop
exchange, and not fear capitalism, for the limits
Tor capitalism have been rendered sufficiently mar.
row. and sufficiently moderate by the expropria-
tion OF the landlords and the bourgeoise economical
ly and the existence of Labor Peasant Govern
ment. This is the fundamental idea Of the Agri-
J cultural Tax, this is its economic significance.