The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-12-04

because the later are unable TO keep pace WIN
the development Of the collective system and
with the requirements of the peasants in re-
gard to machinery and tractors.
The quarrel in regard to the "highroad" of
Socialist development in the rural districts is
a scholastic quarrel, quarrel of young petty
bourgeois liberals of the type of Eichenwald
and SlepkOw. 1t is obvious that, so long as
there was no mass movement for collective
farming, the primary forms of Socialist devel-
opment, the cooperatives and associations of
supply and sale, constituted the "highroad;"
when, however, the more advanced form, that
of collective farms, appeared, it automatically
took their place as the main channel of Social
ization. The highroad of Socialist development
in the rural districts is the cooperative plan of
Lenin, comprehending all forms of agricultural
cooperation, from the simplest to the most
elaborate. To set off the collective system
against the cooperative would mean to make
a mockery of Lenin and impute to him the
ignorance of his critics.
Now even the blind must see that without an
attack on the capitalist elements in the rural
districts and without the development of the
collective and Soviet farm movement, we should
have neither any decisive achievements to
show for the current year in regard to grain
provisioning nor yet those dozens of millions
of pools of grain which are already in the hands
of the State. Indeed, it may rather be affirmed
that, thanks to the development of the collec-
tive and Soviet farm movement, we are at
length emancpating ourselves from the grain
crisis, if we have not already done so. And
if the development of the collective farms and
Soviet farms proceeds at quicker rate, there
can be no doubt but that in a matter of five
years or so, our country will be one of the
greatest, if not indeed the very greatest, of the
grain-producing countries of the world.
The new and decisive thing about the present
collective farm movement is the fact that the
peasants are joining the collective systems, not
in individual groups, as was formerly the case,
but in entire villages, neighborhoods, or even
districts, at a time This means that the middle
peasants too, are joining the movement. This
constitutes the nucleus of that radical change
in the development of agriculture which must
be looked upon as the most important achieve
ment of the last twelvemonth. The menshevist
conception of Trotsky and his adherents, to the
effect that the working class and the main
mass Of the peasantry are not able to carry
out the task of Socialist construction has brok-
en- down and proved fallacious as the Trotsky-
lists { selves must now know. Now it is
apparent to all that those who do not believe
in the FiveYear Plan of Socialist construction
or in the possibility of the construction of So
clalism in our country, are also not entitled to
accl' the Plan. The last hope of the capital
'ts of ell countries for the restoration of cap
- and of the 'sacr principle # private
property" in the Soviet Union, has been frus-
tratca and brought to naught. The peasants,
considered by the capitalists as manure for the
ground Co.,. en-, are all hands abandon
ing the famous banner of ''prvate property"
and placing themselves on the basis Of collect
ivism and Socialism. The last hope of restoring
capitalism is vanishing
This fact explains the desperate attempts of
the c , ast elc-: ents of our country to mo5il-
ize all the forces of the old world against the
advance of Socialism, Attempts which only lead
to the aggravation of the class struggle. The
capitalists find it impossible to Stomach" So
clalism. Hence the furious outcry against Boil
shevsm raised by the various watchdogs of
capitalism such Strive, Hessen, Milukov.
ker "1sky, Dan. and Abramovitch 1t is indeed
no trifle that the last hope of restoring capital
ism should be disappearing for ever. Lenn said
that if the peasants could be supplied with a
hundred thousand tractors, the middle peasants
would join the cause of Communism The past
year has shown that the Party is successfully
advancing on this objective. 1t is well known
that in the spring of 1880 we shall have more
than $4,000 tractors, one year later more than
100000 and two years after that 100000.
What few years ago was looked upon as
fantastic" can now be realized and even sur
passed mat is the reason why the middle
peasants have turned to Communism.
All this shows that we are going full-steam
ahead to Socialism on the path of industrializa-
Iion and are leaving our century-old backward
ness behind us. We shall become n,etal-pro
duclng country, country of automobiles and
tractors. Then let the capitalists, who boast of
their civilization" try to catch us up. Then
we shall see which countries are backward and