The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-04-12

StIn pear scars from cZarlSt and
landlords whips and ramroads q. . :"
Manifesto of Congress Of Col
lective Farmers,
At the congress Of collective farm
ers In Moscow 1 spoke to 8 number
Of those SCARED Soviet farmers, and
I found many of them with scars
upon their hearts as we'll.
There was a middle-aged peasant
woman from the Lower Volga> region
whose husband had been buried alive
by one OF the landlords White Guard
bands during the Civil War
A man from the Northern Caucasus
region told me of his wife and two
children who had died in a famine.
The bride Of another one Of the
delegates from the Northern Cauca-
sus had been violated by white cos
sack officer who then turned her over
to his men. She went mad then
hanged herself.
Before the Revolution and the Civil
War, in the good old days" of Gar
ism and the rule of the landlords,
the poor peasants Of Russia were the
helpless prey of the landed nobility,
Of the Czarist officialdom and the
village kulakS,-the unholy trinity of
the Russian countryside.
The relation between the Czarist
government and the peasantry was q
simple one: it was the relation Of the
robber and the robbed. The essential
eature of the agrarian policy of the
Czarist Empire was the robbing of
the peasants, making them pay
enormous taxes, Conf1scsting their
last COW for non-payment OF state
levies, binding them as virtual serfs
to the landlord or the ku1ak, con-
scr1pting them for service in the ar
my, where they were called grey
beasts" and treated as such.
1t is only when we contrast the
agrarian policy of the Soviet govern
ment with that Of the Czarist regime
that we can fully appreciate the full
meaning of the October revolution.
While the Revolution freed the peas
antry from the yoke OF the landlord
and established the political basis for
the emancipation of the peasant mas
ses, it did not at first completely free
the peasant from the rule Of the viii
lage parasite and expIoiter, the kuIak,
whose continued existence as a class
made for continued poverty and
pauperization of the peasants.
In this respect, the last three or
four years marked the 'Iast decisive
fight" for the emancipation of the
peasantry from the rule Of the kulak
and hence-from poverty.
Firm Basis Laid.
With the Inauguration OF the policy
OF wholesale collectivization, with the
development Of large-scale farming.
with the introduction of modern agri-
cultural machinery and scientific
methods Of farming,-a firm economic
basis has at last been established for
the lasting prosperity Of the Soviet
countryside.
Even though the majority of the
collective farms do not as yet work
smoothly and efficiently, the con-
trast with the past is entirely in
favor Of the new regime, and every
attempt to restore the old order would
be resisted by the peasantry to their
last gasp of breath.
But the Soviet farmers are quite
willing to match their policy not only
against the old Russian regime but
also against present-day farming
policies Of capitalist countries. Soy
let leaders and rank and fllers alike
gladly go in for such a comparison:
they can well afford 1t. The Mani
testo issued by the crack Soviet
farmers OF the Collective Farmers
Congress speaks out plainly on this
subject:
"Comrade coihozniks! Has there
ever been anywhere another such
party, as the Bolshevik Party,
another such government as the
Soviet government, that would take
such care Of the toiling peasants?
Look at what It is Goirg, how the
poor and middle peasants live
abroad, beyond the torders of our
Soviet land.
I'VE are not speaking of such
backward countries as China, for
example, where the peasants are
abused both by their own and for
eign landlords and generals, where
the peasants work with the aid Of
primitive implements, wasting their
strength in torturous, exhausting
toll; die by the thousands OF starva-
tior; where taxes arc extorted from
the peasants for tens OF years in
advance.
I'VE shall take the Western coun-
tries of Europe and America, where
tractors and combines, and auto
mobiles and various other machines
are produced. How do the tciilng
PEASANTS lfve there: It IL the fourth
year that the crisis h raging In the
csrsts1ts* sc-ntzses. Tbs cssese es