The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-21


do you think we do not see
that all around us people are en-
riching themselves ard making
merry at our expense? Do you
think we do not understand Why
we are valued so cheaply and where
the fruits Of our intolerable labor
go? Why are the others able to live
luxuriously, without toilP Whence
come their riches? The working
people, although living in primitive
conditions and until now without
education, regard this as a tempo
rary evil; and they think the same
about political power which has
been temporarily usurped by force"
THE WAY OUT.
What was the way out? P. Alex
eyev declared that first Of all it
was necessary to overthrow the
autocracy, which was on the side
Of the capitalists. Considering that
the ideas of Bakunin, who repudi-
ated the struggle for political liber-
ties, predominated at that time, the
idea expressed by AleXeyev was a
bold innovation.
1.-THE Russian working people"
he said in conclusion, "can rely
only upon itself; it can expect help
from no one except the young in
tellectuals (the President in
tsrrupts-"Be silent~. Only they
are willing to march irlseparably
with US until the muscular arms
OF millions of working people are
raised. (the President shouts:
"Be silently. Alexeyev, raising his
voice: q. and the yoke OF despot-
ism which is upheld by soldiers
bayonets, will be reduced TO dust
According to a lawyer who was
present at the trial, Alexeyev's
speechc produced such a powerful
impression on the public and even
on his guards that they were all
durnbfounded. "If," said the at
torney, "Alexeyev had faced about
and left the dock, nobody would
have stopped him, so astonished
were they all" -
Peter Alexeyev's speech for many
decades was circulated in tilous-
ands Of copies as a fine agitational
pamphlet.
ATTACK AT TRIAL.
From the revolutionists Of the 70's
the Bolsheviks inherited revolu-
tiol1ary courage and determination.
Like them, the Bolsheviks, when on
trial, did not defend" themselves,
but attacked But in addition they
introduced something new, that
reflected the complicated condi-
lions Of the political life Of Russia
Of the twentieth century 1t was
sufficient to hurl biting criticism
against the political regime and
the exploitation Of Russian capt.
talisnl. 1t was essential at the trial
to unfold the program and tactics
Of the Bolshevils, and to distin-
guish them from the programs and
tactics Of the other Illegal revo-
lutionary parties. The Public Pro-
seeutor in his Indictment swept all
Parties into one heap from the
point Of view of the statutes of the
criminal code which provided pen
altieS for those who strive to oven
throw, in the more or less distant
future, the existing order" From
the point Of view of the prosecutor,
the Bolsheviks, the Socialist Revo-
lutionaries and the Mensheviks
we're all criminals" some more
dangerous, others less, the differ.
ence being only in degree, SO to
speak. Under these circumstances
the Bolshevik's task In court was a
complicated one His speech at the
trial had to be a political speech,
in which he had to trace very clear
ly the program, the tactics and
current political tasks of the Party.
The Bolshevik on trial was not so
much expected to make fine
grafton as to formulate the Party
position.
This is precisely the main trait
revealed by the BolSheviks who had
to stand trial on the eve of the first
revolution. AS an example we win
quote excerpts from two speeches,
which most clearly illustrate these
traits; the speech of Leon Gold
mail WIZ hdo dlI6oItu LII COllllGC~
ton with the Kishenev illegal
printing plant of the newspaper
'1skra, and the speech OF Bogdan
Knunyantz, arrested in connection
with the work of the Moscow Com
mittee of the Bolsheviks (l914).
IN 1901, in Kishenev, the Okhrana
seized the underground printing
plant of the Social Democratic
group Iskra, from the left wing of
which later developed the Bolslevik
Party. In connection with this raid
a group of Social Democrats, un-
der the leadership of Leon Gold
man, we're arrested. After two
years of preliminary investigation,
during which the accused we're kept
in solitary confinement, the case
was brought up in the circuit court
with the Representatives OF the
estates" of course behind closed
doors.
In the old stereotyped form, the
Indictment charged. the criminals"
with Indictment to riot against the
supreme powers and 1t was from