The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-01-29
The Capture of the Unions and the Army.

The Capture of the Unions and the Army.
The governing bodies of the trade unions have been
gradually captured by the Communists. in most cases
by peaceful means. The facts seem to be that MANY
OF the workmen who formerly belonged to the Men
sheyiks or Social Rcvoluonares, have gone over &
the Communists Two unions, which had special econ.
omlc reasons for discomfort, the printers and the
chemical workers, were drastcay dealt with this wear
and their mainly 'Menshevik" executives dissolved
Inc cooperative organization has been taken in hand
by similar methods and its central covering organza
ton is now dominated by Communists Both are now
IN effect official organizations, which represent the
whole body OF citizens producers and as consumers
Finally the army will, or later be differed
solely by Communists The professional Officers of the
old regime on whom at first Trotsk had to rely fol
the creation of thelRed Army have grown with each
campaign less indispensable, as men were promoted
from the ranks and trained in the red cadet battalions
Entry into the military schools, Trotsky announced
IN recent speech, is confined exclusively to Com.
munsts That means that long as the men obev their
Officers, the army will be Trustworthy tool of the
party. 1t also means, that though the army NAV be
used FOR aggressive revolutionary designs upon neigh
boring states, it could not conceivably be induced 70
support military dictatorship For all these youno
proletaran officers party discipline means more tban
military discipline
Such democracy as there is in Russia exists within
the Communist party and not outside it. # is Grave
mistake to suppose that Lenin rules it as an autocrat
Every new departure in Russian policy whether IN.
terna or external is debated at the elected Congresses
OIL the party and its elected executive is the real con
trolling power, whose sanction is required even for
decisions Thn inn, +ol,lo
often sharply marked in the party and among IFS lend
ers Tchchirin and Radek are now the abest moderat
es, While Zinovieff and Bucharn lead the Left Ioni
'"'eS' anu hoids the party together. The official
press is by no means tame, and writers of the Left
''n supply the lack of an opposition. Controversies
o'"'oh ieauing Communists in the press are not in.
nequent. inc vote OF the Party Congress, however.
al ueoa'e ana the minority submits absolutely
Vo'ngs Oh the party are always held before the sit
ol tne national and provincial sovies and all
IMPORTANT decslons are taken in advance with the ro
Suit that the party appears in public as solid block
voting as man.
itn '"e ooVlets, the trade mions the cooperatives
ana the army under its. control the Communist Marty
commands the whole organized life in Russia Behind
eSe open organs of the dictatorship there works tb
IofhdaDie apparatus of the Terror managed bv tbe
extraordinary Commission In its early davs tbo
octatorship was mild 1t is true that leading opponent
were paced under preventive arrest but apart from
some murders, there at first no authorized exo
uons' indeed, among those arrested were severa oe
inc generals who have since led the "Whitc, arm;s
Ihey were released and repaid this clemenev II; Tho
man business of the Extraordinary Commission yv,.
W frst to cope with the anarchy and Insecurity bie
naa peeh inherited from the Kerensky regime n
rounded up robbers and brigand and shot them NTH
essy' The real political "Terror' began only in tbo
moment of panic which followed the attempt to assassin
ate Lenin in the autumn of 1918. Some of ,be moro
sophisticated Left Wing Communists consciously wisbel
TO repeat the excesses of 1793 and the conditions of
'ne tme-the hostile coalition of foreign Powers thc
iilance between the native opposition and the external
zoe the use OF money by the enemy Powers to foment
'ernai conspiracy and disconteutall reproduced the
atmosphere of the French Terror.
aeoo Executed by the Extraordinary Commission.
one must concedc that efficient political policc
was necessary to cope with the plots which are in.
eVitable IN any Civil War An insecure government
moreover is driven to an excessive use of the death
penalty for the simple that Imprisonment does
not deter when the opposition believes that counter
revolution which will release all prisoners. Is imminent
lhe Extraordinary Commission, which, of course exam
ines its prisoners, but allows no regular omen trial
admits to shooting $500 persons up to May of this
year. without an accurate classification Il Is hard 10