The daily worker., 1928-11-12
By ALBERT RHYS WILLIAMS.

FUNDAMENTAL to any under
standing of the real situation in
Russia is the fact that Communist
Party policies are not determined by
few score leaders, but by the hun
dreds of thousands of the members;
that the course of the revolution is
controlled by. the rank and file, long
and intensely trained in political
thought and action. In them resides
vast revolutionary intelligence that
is not to be fooled by the resounding
phrases of journalists and orators:
revolutionary will that is not to be
thwarted by the intrigues of politi-
clans or intimidated by bureaucrats.
In every struggle they manage to
get to the root of the issues, to make
their voice articulate and their will
effective.
But in 'The Real Situation in Rus
sia," not only do the author, Trotz-
ky, and the translator, Max East
man, ignore these facts but the pub
fishers are moved to announce that
"all the documents in this book were
suppressed and outlawed by the
Stain regime and came out of Rus
sia underground"
Not True.
Very Turing to the reader, only it
doesn't happen to be true. Long ago
various sections of the book were
published in the Russian press, par
ticularly in the Pravda, official or
gan of the Communist Party with a
circulation of over 100000 penetrat-
ing into the farthest steppes and
forests of the Soviet lands. The
first part of the book was printed
in the Pravda of November 2, 1927.
The substance of some of the second
part in the issue of November II.
The Joffe letter, in it's original form,
appears in the magazine Bolshevik.
If the reader wants it in English,
let him ask at the public library for
Inprecor, and in Inprecor of De-
cember II, 1927, he will find the
counter-theses on work in the vii
lage and other opposition documents
to the extent of 10000 words. In
them the central committee of the
party is accused of "cheap sneers,"
revenge" "kotowing to the kulak"
(rich peasant), bourgeois lying"
And all this, translated into three
languages, is printed by the central
committee and distributed through
out the world. Surely an original
method of suppressing and outlaw
ing documents!
This exiling is depicted in highly
sensational manner, and according
to Mr.. Eastman not only Trotzky
but "his friends were violently drag
ged out of their homes, shipped into
desert :" Very lurid, but that is
not the way it happened to Trotz-
ky's friend, Feodorov (page 2O4) in
whose home | lived in Moscow. AS
an active oppositionist he was slated
for exile and the G. P. U. proposed
that he join Trotzky at Alma Alta.
Feodorov protested that he didn't
like the climate. A few days later,
and over the telephone, the G. P. u.
asked: "How about going to Amer
ica? We can fix up job for you
in the Amtorg therew Feodorov's
wife was in raptures. But not Feo-
dorov. His was most exacting
taste in places of exile. Courteous
ly but firmly he objected. SO while
the G. P. U. racked its brains in an
effort to please their fastidious
client, Feodorov went on visit to
Leningrad, then to Zinoviev and
Kamenev in exile, some sixty miles
from Moscow, carrying rugs and
curtains for their barely furnished
quarters. Finally after a month of
pourparlers a satisfactory place
was found for Feodorov-the CITY of
Kharkov with position as manager
of chemical factory. His departure
was celebrated by Some fifty oppo-
sitionists in his home, in an evening
of fun and fellowship. They joked
about the vacation" the party was
now giving them. the first in twantv