The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-13

lage, then the middle peasantry Is
and must be the firm ally of the
proletariat. 1t must not be forgot
ten that. :. the middle peas
antry have become exceedingly
strong and that they now form the
main mass Of the peasantry. With
out having these masses as our firm
allies, merely by maintaining them
neutral, now, after the consolidation
of the proIetarian dictatorship, il
will be impossible to build up social
ISM"
The Wrong Line of the Opposition.
THE opposition at the congress, the
4 tendency represented by the Lenin-
graders, while it did not openly de-
fend it at the congress, stood for the
view that the main task was rather
to neutraIize the middle peasantry.
This question was also associated with
the attitude towards the "kulak "-or
rich peasant. The opposition main
tanned that there had been serious
underestimation of the "kulak" dam
ger, especially in view of the unde-
Unable growth in number and econo-
mic and, to an extent also in politi-
cal power, of the "kulak" elements.
The dangerous access of strength to
the ''kulaks" could not be denied,
said the majority of the congress in
the political resolution, but this very
90 ~ eboxr,e hour avoaadin0Iu dopuaro,1c
was the mistaken policy of the oppo-
sftion, the policy of naturalization, for
only thru a firm alliance with the bulk
of the village, the middle peasantry,
can the "kulak" danger be met and
the socilist elements in the Soviet
economy find their support in the vii
lage. Moreover, in the present stu
alton within the Soviet Union and in
ternationally the danger coming from
the tendeZcy to underestimate the
role of the middle peasantry is far
greater in it's implications than the
danger of the other trend that does
not properly estimate the "kulak"
danger. 1nits resolution the congress
says:
"The party congress emphatically
condemns the deviation which con-
sists in Understanding the village
1.-THE "kuIak" danoer.-W. H.).
But the party congress at the same
time likewise emphatically con-
dennis the attempt to obscure the
fundamental question of Commun-
list policy in the village, the ques-
ion of the struggle for the middle
peasants as the central figure of
agriculture. The party con-
gress especially emphasizes the ne
cessity of a struggle against this
last named deviation"
The Peasantry and Socialist construe-
tion-Co-operation.
THE whole question of the peasant
4 ry is intimately connected with the
previous problem of building social
ism in Russia and this proves the in
ner unity of the multiple issues in
the controversy. For il a country
/ like Russia the building of socialism
can only be possible if the large mass
es of the toilers are drawn into this
constructive work along roads and
thru methods dictated by their class
position and their resulting traditions,
beliefs, and prejudices. 1t is here
that the question of the role Of coop
GRAFTON arises and is closely linked
up with the questions of the peasantry
and socialist construction.
"For the chief means of the con-
struction of socialism in the village
consists in the growing economic
leadership on the part of the social
list state industry in the state credit
institutions and in other dominat-
ing positions which are in the hands
Of the proIetarIat, in drawing the
main masses Of the peasantry into
cooperative organization and in Sc
curing the socialist development Of
this organization by making use Of,