The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-11-07

member of the army who was illit-
crate.
Famine Stalks.
A DDED to the throes Of the civil
a war the revolution was faced with
a devastating famine in 1922. Grim
death stalked thru the Volga region
and millions persisted before relief
could arrive. The recurring droughts
that have frequently thruout written
history depleted the population of this
region caused the almost total failure
Of crops. Here was new enemy con-
fronting the revolution. But the re-
serve forces of the revolution, the pro-
letariat of other lands, rallied to the
famine relief work and helped make
it possible for the Soviet government
to survive even that calamity.
Russia was faced with still another
problem, the difficult task of reviving
the economy of the nation. At the
outbreak of the revolution it was
hoped-and all signs indicated the
probability Of aid from other coun-
tries thru revolution-that the work
ers of other nations would be able
to furnish the machinery and technic-
kal instruments necessary for the in
dustrial revival But the tempo of the
movement slowed down, and in order
to obtain necessary equipment an eco
n0rnio rafroaf ufr,iIor m fba r,,fIi&a -
retreat at Brest, was necessary. With
the same superior craftsmanship that
motivated his stand on the question of
Brest, Lenin boldly enunciated the
new economic policy IN. e. P.) Some
super-leftists, calling themselves Com
munists, charged that this retreat was
a betrayal of the revolution. But the
Bolsheviks pointed to the fact that it
was possible to permit foreign capital
to enter and participate in the de-
velopment of the country if the po-
Ilitical power to determine the limits
Of this participation remained in the
hands of the proletariat.
1t was a necessary retreat and altho
It involved dangers, those dangers
were not so great that the revolution
was endangered. The power of the
revolution embodied in the Red Army
made unthinkable a return to the old
conditions. The years since the enun-
citation of that policy have proved its
correctness and vindicted again the
diplomacy of the revolution.
4
pUT the defeat of the allied aspira-
- tions to crush by force the power
of the revolution, did not destroy
their hope of crushing it by other
methods. The new economic policy
and the famine were viewed as oppor-
tunities for obtaining thru the Shiny
diplomacy of Europe, the victory they
could never hope to obtain by force
of arms.
Numerous efforts were made to in
volve Russia in a diplomatic net that
would open wide the gates for CAPT
talist penetration. The most ambi-
tious of these projects was the Genoa
conference in 1922.
Britain, France and Italy arranged
the conference to which It invited So
Wet Russia and the United States.
Charles Evans Hughes, the bungling
secretary Of state OF the Harding
cabinet, proposed cutting down the
Red Army before entering such con-
ference. This suggestion met with the
contempt IL richly deserved. Hughes
and his supporters did not seem to
realize that 1t was the existence of
the Red Army that made necessary
the Genoa conference The endeavor
to throttle Russia by military force
had failed so under the guise Of ire
constructing Europe" the allies hoped
they could force wide open the door
to the vast resources of Russia, al
ready slightly opened to admit the
functioning Of the N. e. p.
When their motives were known,
Lenin rudely slammed the door in
their faces. On his first public ap-
pearance on his return from vaca-
ton where he had gone TO recuperate
from seige of illness, Lenin, In a
speech before the Congress OF Metal
Workers in Moscow, said: Soviet
Russia's economic retreat has ended,