RUSSIAN COMMUNISM.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17157, 28 May 1921, Page 11

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM.

I.L.P. REPUDIATES LENIN. SOVIET LEADERS' CHANGE OF FRONT. (PI'.OJI OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) ' LONDON. April 7. At a conference of the Independent Labour Party, at Southport, it was decided on a card vote, by a large majority, not to accept the conditions laid down for affiliation to the Moscow Communist International. The voting was: For acceptance and affiliation, 97; against affiliation, 521. The total votes in the conference was 635. On the result being announced it was stated that the Left Wing group, which was'thus defeated, would meet later to consider its attitude towards the party. The debate on- the International was opened by the Bradford Branch,* which submitted the following resolution: — "That this Conference, having considered the reply given to the I.L.P. questions by tho Executive of tl\e Third International, declares that the twentyone conditions imposed .by Moscow cannot be accepted. It rejects the idea that this country must follow Russian and it is opposed to a policy which' is deliberately designed to create such conditions here." 'Hie reply of Moscow, said the Bradford representative, was most unsatisfactory. It stated the workers must be prepared, not for an easy Parliamentary victory, but for a victory by heavy civil war. His difficulty was to understand ilie attitude of those who accepted the principles of the I.L.P. in believing that by civil war they could achieve the aims andr objects.of Socialism. In no circumstances would he advocate the taking tip of arms until they had educated the majority of this country to. demand'the things they desired. The mistakes Lenin had undoubtedly made in his Governmental experiment might extend to the Interaational situation. They would have been glad if he had succeeded by other methods than those he had adopted. The situation, at present was such that, in the light of their, principles, they could- not accept affiliation to the Third International. "When we have educated the workers to our point of view," said Mr Paling, "violence and bloodshed will no longer be necessary. All that will then be required will bo a revolution in thought, which will be far better than, a revolution accomplished by any other means." (Cheers.) Mrs Helen Crawford, the Glasgow delegate, eeconded an. amendment m favour of accepting the twenty-one conditions of affiliation to the Third inter r national. She believed, she said, the twenty-one points of Moscow were based upon a scientific foundation, and were leading the workers in the right direction The Third International believed that force would be forced upon the working people. Mr Eamsay Macdonald's Views. Mr Ramsay Macdonald thought - that the adherents of the Left Wing had been officially instructed from Moscqw to remain inside the Independent Labour Party in order digrapt it until they got a majority for the JJnra International. Did they thank if there were a revolution now they wouldte ruled by pacific democratic' Not a hit of it. Revolutions were not •run under those. conditions. It was impossible to be logical during a revolution. To recreate society by force , must mean submission to a dictatorship. He prophesied that those, who were; jiow so eager to join the Tliird International would soon be disillusioned. "All this, said Mr Macdonald, "is only good heady propaganda. ■ You must separate yourselves from the old' fogies', like myself and Snowden, and put our names on a proscribed list and eay_ the time has come for ns t-o sleep with our fathers and be forgotten." (Laugjhter.) He appealed to the Conference for such an ! overwhelming vote against the Moscow affiliation as would finally settle the question so far as their party was concerned. Lenin's Confession. Lenin's speech at tho Tenth Communist Congress, held at Moscow, is very significant (Bays a correspondent) of the "Daily Telegraph"). The Red dictator makes tho following remarkable admissions: — 1. The Communist party has to real-, ise the enormous difficulty of maintaining the dictatorship of the proletariat in a country like Russia, which ia preclominatly the land of small peasant pro r prietors. 2. The great problem with which the Soviet Government is faced is the necessity of arranging for an understanding between the workmen and the peasants. 3. To placate the. peasants the Soviet 1 Government foresees the necessity of reestablishing the principle of free trade in tho interior. This on condition that the peasants consent to surrender in lieu of taxes a certain percentage of their produce. . 4. Agreements with foreign bourgeois States cannot be evaded. The question of concessions to foreign capitalists will nave to be decided. 5. The world revolutionary movement is developing, but exceedingly slowly. There is no hope of a speedy victory in that direction 6. The peasants no longer apprehend any danger to their, proprietary rights from White generals. This makes them feel independent of the Moscow Government and its armed forces. The loss by Lenin and by his compeers of all their pristine faith in the world revolution can be proved also by tho change of front in.the policy of their representatives abroad. It is a curious fact, which has not yet been fully recognised, that this policy has of late wen utterly cluinged. Instead or tlio overthrow ct' all hour-

geoise Governments immediately, ami al, any price, the intention soems rather to be to make up to them individually, and to sow tiie seeds of dissensiou in their midst. Lenin seoms to nurso the preposterous hope that it will be possible to arm one nation against another, and, by gradual stages, to induce them to take up weapons one against tho other; this with the evident intent that tho Bolshevik.fisherman will meantime catch sonie profitable booty for himself. A complete change of tactics has been decided upon by the Bolsheviks. They do not desire any longer to try to cause revolution abroad, but they will do all in their power to stimulate international jealousies and rivalries, with the object of bringing about fresh wars.