The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-27
DebS and the
uSSian
Revolution
BY ALEXANDER TRAcHTENBERG

@AA@eA@s~AAATAN AAAs A3NAANAA "a ~
IN Debs the Russian Revolution
found an immediate and SYM
pathetic response. It must be noted,
however, that although he con-
sidered the October Revolution "ths
greatest in point OF historic Signi-
ficance and far-reaching influence
in the annals Of the race" he did
not grasp its full meaning to the
world revolutionary movement Of
workers. Debs sensed the difference
between the compromising Mem
sheviks who supported Kerensky
and all he stood for and the in
domitable Bolsheviks, who forged
ahead toward the proletarian re-
volution.
In addressing himself to the
Russian Bolsheviks on the First
Anniversary of the November
Revolution in 1918 he wrote: 'TThe
achieved glory of your revolutionary
triumph is that you have preserved
inviolate the fundamental principles
of international Socialism and re-
fused to compromise. 1t will be
to your everlasting honor that you
would rather have seen the Re-
volution perish and the Soviet with
it than to prostitute either one by
betraying the worker to alleged
progressive reforms, which would
mean to them an extension of their
servitude under fresh aggrega-
ton Of exploiters and parasites"
When the name Bolshevik was
spoken with derision among his
party friends, Debs declared pub
licly: Il am Bolshevik from the
crown of my head to the tips of my
toes" To the jury he defiantly
declared: "I have been accused of
expressing sympathy with the Boil
sheviks of Russia. plead guilty 10
the charge.
NOT CLEAR ON SEVERAL
BASIC QUESTIONS
Debs was not clear on proletarian
dictatorship as he was not clear on
several fundamental problems, es-
pecially on the concept of the state
as taught by Marx and Lenin. He
spoke about the unfortunate
phrase" and stated that dictator
ship is autocracy" But he imme-
diately explained that there is no
autocracy in the rule of the
masses" The experienced revolu-
ZIONIST in him, even if only by in
stinct, led him also to the conclu-
sion that during the transition
period the revolution must protect
itself" To those of the Socialist
leaders who were 'for" the Rus
sian Revolution but did not like
certain features of it," Debs openly
declared, in speaking to the S. P.
committee which came to Atlanta
Penitentiary to notify him of his
nomination for the presidency in
1920: "I heartily support the
Russian Revolution without reser-
vations."
The S. P. has indeed very serious
reservations regarding the Russian
Revolution. Speaking at a public
S. P function under the auspices
of it's central organ, Morris Hill
quit declared for his party that
the establishment of the Soviet
Government was the greatest cal
an1ity for the workers of the world.
To be sure, the establishment fiji
teen years ago of workers and
peasants Soviets which gave the
factories. to the workers and the
land to the peasants was the great
est calamity to the capitalists and
landowners and their henchmen
in the labor movement. The So
cialist Party in the United States
and its brother parties of the Sec
ond International translate their
reservations into open conspiracies
with the tsarist emigres and the
imperialist power to overthrow the
first workers republic-the Soviet
sixth of the earth's surface.
In 1920, when the remaining Left
Wing elements were leaving the
Socialist Party to aid in building
a mass Communist Party, the S. P.
leaders were still trying to appear
cleft" before these elements in the
party. Hillquit even served as
legal advisor of the official Soviet
Bureau headed by Ludwig Mar
tens. At that time (Sept. %, 1920,
he hypocritically declared: MY
sympathies are wholly with the
government of the Russian work.
ers and peasants" (Ten years
later, Hillquit agreed to serve as
legal adviser of the Russian White
Guard interests, who were suing in
American courts for restitution of
oil properties nationalized by the
Soviet Government. Hillquit is a
lawyer, and, as he explained, it
was only a business transaction"
for does not the S. P. stand for
Russian recognition?
TRY TO COVER UP