The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-25
REPLY TO THE COMRADES
ON THE COLLECTIVE FARMS


lective farms consists in the struggle for the
seed, for the greatest possible extension OF
the area of cultivation, for the correct organ
ization of the sowing campaign.
All the other tasks of the collective farms
must be adapted to the tasks Of the seed cam
paign. All the other work on the collective
farms must be subjected to the.work in the
organization of the sowing. This means that
the tenacty of the collective farms and its non
Party active cadres, the capacity Of the leaders
of the collective FARMS and its Bolshevist nu-
cleus will be tested not by brilliant resolutions
and eloquent speeches of greeting, but by live
work in the correct organization OF sowing.
In order honestly to fulfill this practical
task, the attention of the functonaries of the
collective farms must be directed to the eco
nomic question of building up collective farms,
to the question of the inner development of
the collective farms.
Up to quite recently the chase after high
figures of collectivization occupied the chief
attention of the collective farm functionaries,
while at the same time they would not see any
distinction between real and paper collec-
Invitation. There must now be stop to this
obsesson with figures; the attention of the
functionaries must now be concentrated upon
consolidating the collective farms upon the or
ganzational extension of the collective farms,
upon organizing the practical work in the col
lective farms.
Up to quite recently the attention of the
collective farm functionaries was concentrated
on the big collective economic units, on the or
ganization of the so-called "Gigants," while
not infrequently the Gigants degenerated into
clumsy bureaucratic institutions void of any
economic roots in the villages. The work for
the appearance consequently swallowed up the
actual work.
The attention of the functionaries must now
be directed to the organizational economic
work of the collective farms in the villages.
If this work shows the necessary results, then
the "Gigants" will develop of themselves
Until recently little attention was devoted
to drawing the middle peasants into leading
work on the collective farms. Meanwhile
among the middle peasants there are excellent
farmers who could become excellent managers.
This shortcoming in our work must now be
liquidated. The task now is to draw the best
people from the circles Of the middle peasants
into leading work on the collective FARMS and
to render it possible for them to develop their
capacities in this respect.
Up to recently too little attention was de-
voted to work among the peasant women. The
past period has shown that work among the
peasant women was the weakest part of our
work. This shortcoming must now be decided
ly liquidated, once and for all.
Until recently the Communists OF a number
of districts proceeded from the standpoint that
they could solve by their own forces all the
tasks of collective economic construction They
therefore did not give sufficient attention to
drawing non-Party elements into responsible
work on the collective farms, to promoting
broad cadre of non-Party elements on the col
lectve farms. The history of our Party showed
and the past period of collective economic con-
struction has once again confirmed, that such
an attitude is fundamentally incorrect. If the
Communists shut themselves up in their shells,
separate themselves from the non-Party ele-
ments. they will ruin the whole business. If
the Communists have succeeded in achieving
fame in the fight for socialism, this is due,
among other things, to the fact. that the Com
munists have understood how to attract the
best people from the circle of non4Party ele-
ments that they have understood how to draw
new forces from the broadest strata of the
Party elements; that they have understood
how to surround their party with broad
stratum of active non-Party workers. This
shortcoming in work among the non-Party
elements must now be decidedly nqudated once
and for all.
To remedy these faults in our work. to liqui-
date them thoroughly, means to divert the col
lective farms. onto the paths Of economic work.
Therefore. Q correct organization of the SOW
ing, that is the task. (2) Concentration of at
tention on the economic questions Of the col
lective farm movement that is the means which
is necessary for the solution of this task
(To be continued)