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DOCUMENTS
OF
SOVIET HISTORY
EDITED BY
REX A. WADE
VOLUME 2
TRIUMPH AND RETREAT
1920—1922
☆
Academic International Press
!993
DOCUMENTS OF SOVIET HISTORY. VOLUME 2. TRIUMPH
AND RETREAT, 1920-1922. Edited by Rex A. Wade
Copyright © 1993 by Academic International Press
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ISBN: 0-87569-170-6
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CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1 THE YEAR 1920
The Military Situation at the Opening of 1920. 2 January 1920 1
Establishment of the First Labor Army. 15 January 1920 6
Order to the Third Red Army—First Labor Army. 15 January 1920 9
The Manpower Crisis and Compulsory Labor. 22 January 1920 11
Declaration of the Council of People’s Commissars to the Polish
Government and the Polish Nation. 28 January 1920 15
Compulsory Labor. 29 January 1920 16
Solving the Transportation Problem. 1 February 1920 18
Election Rules, Moscow Soviet. 9 February 1920 18
One Man Versus Collegial Management. 31 March 1920 20
Trade Union Democracy. 31 March 1920 24
The Party and the Trade Unions. 1 April 1920 27
Mobilization of Workers—The Mine Workers. 16 April 1920 31
“Left-Wing” Communism —An Infantile Disorder. April 1920 32
Food Policy of the Soviet Government. Spring 1920 59
A Proposed League of Nations Commission of Inquiry to Russia
and the Soviet Response. May 1920 69
Georgian Independence. 7 May 1920 71
Reorganization of the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities.
19 May 1920 76
War with Poland: Theses of the Russian Communist Party.
23 May 1920 76
Trotsky, Terror and Communism. 29 May 1920 79
The Village of Ozcro. Early Summer 1920 90
Zinoviev on the World Revolution: Opening Address to the Second
Congress of the Comintern. 19 July 1920 96
The Role of the Communist Party in the Proletarian Revolution: Theses
Adopted by the Second Congress of the Comintern. 24 July 1920 101
CONTENTS
Bukharin on Women under the Soviet System. 31 July 1920 107
Statutes of the Communist International. 4 August 1920 109
Conditions of Admission to the Communist International. 4 August 1920 113
The Tasks of the Komsomol. 2 October 1920 117
Lunacharsky Reports on the Work of the Commissariat of Education.
5 October 1920 126
Proletcult. 5-11 October 1920 131
Proletcult and the Party — I. 8 October 1920 134
Stalin on the Government’s Nationality Policy. 10 October 1920 135
Mass Spectacles: “The Storming of the Winter Palace.”
7 November 1920 140
Decline of Industrial Output. 14 November 1920 142
The Decree on Abortion. 18 November 1920 144
Trotsky on the End of Wars. 30 November 1920 145
Lunacharsky and Slavinsky on the Arts and Their Role.
30 November 1920 147
Proletcult and the Party — II. 1 December 1920 149
Sovietization of Armenia. 2 December 1920 151
Alliance and Semi-Unification of the Russian and Ukrainian Republics.
12 December 1920 152
“Communism is Soviet Power Plus the Electrification of the Whole
Country.” 22 December 1920 154
Theater and the Arts—A Report on Their Development Under
War Communism. 31 December 1920 157
“Out of School” Education—A Report. 31 December 1920 160
2 THE YEAR 1921
Lenin Authorizes the Invasion of Georgia. 14 February 1921 163
The Establishment of Gosplan. 22 February 1921 164
The Workers’ Opposition. February-March 1921 165
Peasant Revolt: The Tambov or Antonov Rebellion. Late Winter-Early
Spring 1921 194
Semashko on Public Health Under Soviet Power. [March] 1921 199
Resolution of the Kronstadt Sailors. 1 March 1921 202
Kronstadt: Soviet Ultimatums. 5 March 1921 203
Kronstadt: “What Arc We Fighting For.” 8 March 1921 204
CONTENTS
The Trade Union Controversy at the Tenth Party Congress.
14 March 1921 206
Lenin Explains the Tax in Kind and the New Policy. 15 March 1921 218
On Party Unity—The Tenth Party Congress. 16 March 1921 226
Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement. 16 March 1921 229
Joffe’s Comments on the Significance of the Peace Treaty with Poland.
18 March 1921 233
Soviet-American Relations. 20, 25 March 1921 235
The New Economic Policy —The Agricultural Tax in Kind.
21 March 1921 237
Lenin on NEP. 27, 28 May 1921 238
Expulsion and Admission of Parties to the Comintern: Report of the
Executive Committee. 9 June 1921 241
The International Situation and the Comintern. 4 July 1921 243
Work Among Women and the Role of Women in the Party: Theses of
the Comintern. 8 July 1921 253
The Red International of Trade Unions: Theses of the Comintern.
12 July 1921 265
The Famine: Gorky’s Appeal. 13 July 1921 274
Soviet Protest at Being Excluded from the Washington Conference.
19 July 1921 275
The Famine: Hoover’s Response to Gorky’s Appeal. 23 July 1921 277
Soviet Acceptance of the A.R.A. Offer of Famine Relief. 28 July 1921 278
The Famine: The A.R.A.—Soviet Agreement. 20 August 1921 278
Alexandra Kollontai, ‘The Fight Against Prostitution.” August 1921 282
American Descriptions of the Volga Famine. September-November 1921 295
Soviet Note on Debts and International Relations. 28 October 1921 301
Women in Soviet Russia —A Report. Fall 1921 303
The Agitation and Propaganda Department. 22 November 1921 313
Comintern Theses on the United Front. 18 December 1921 316
Reports on the Economy to the Ninth Congress of Soviets.
23-28 December 1921 323
3 THE YEAR 1922
Chicherin Accepts the Invitation to the Genoa Conference. 8 January 1922 327
The Council of Labor and Defense. 15 January 1922 328
Lenin on Cinema—The Most Important of the Arts. 17 January 1922 332
CONTENTS
Reorganization of the Secret Police: Abolition of the Cheka and
Formation of the GPU. 8 February 1922 333
Lenin on NEP: Its Role and Future. 27 March 1922 334
Appointment of Stalin as General Secretary. 3 April 1922 359
Chicherin’s Statement of the Soviet Position at the Opening
of the Genoa Conference. 10 April 1922 360
Treaty of Rapallo. 16 April 1922 362
Soviet Delegation at Genoa: Memorandum on Debts and Economic Issues.
20 April 1922 364
The Question of a Military Convention along with the Treaty of Rapallo.
29 April 1922 372
The New Agrarian Land Law—An Explanation. 12 May 1922 373
Kursky Explains the New Law on Property. 13 May 1922 375
Kursky on Soviet Law and the New Criminal Code. 14-15 May 1922 377
NEP—The Law on Land Tenure and Use. 22 May 1922 379
NEP—The Right of Private Property in Commerce and Industry.
22 May 1922 383
Trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries. 27 May 1922 385
Glavit—Establishment of the Censorship Office. 6 June 1922 388
Declaration of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia
(AKhRR). June 1922 391
Instructions for Registering Associations and Societies. 10 August 1922 392
The New Peasant Woman: Mary the Bolshevist. 15 September 1922 393
Foreign Trade Monopoly. 16 October 1922 397
The Code of Labor Laws. 30 October 1922 398
Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of the Revolution — I.
7 November 1922 417
Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of the Revolution — II.
7 November 1922 419
Soviet Courts and Judicial Institutions. 11 November 1922 420
The Civil Code. 11 November 1922 432
Good and Bad Factory Managers. November-December 1922 433
Lenin Evaluates the Party and Its Leaders. 23 December 1922-
4 January 1923 437
Lenin on the Nationality Question and Formation of the USSR.
30-31 December 1922 440
CONTENTS
Formation of the USSR: Declaration of Union and Treaty of Union.
30 December 1922 444
Documents by Main Topics 449
Glossary 454
Sources Cited 457
Acknowledgements 459
Permissions 459
Indexes
Index of Personal Names 460
Index of Subjects 462
Index of Institutions 464
Index of Geographic and Place Names 467
PREFACE
Researchers who need documentary materials on the history of the Soviet Union
previously have not had a single source to which they can turn. They—scholars,
students, journalists, government employees, others —have had to hunt through a
large number of diverse works, usually specialized by time period, topic or the
organization which produced them. To do this successfully often requires consid-
erable prior knowledge of the subject and about the documents) needed, more than
most users would have. Even then many sources, especially for the period before
World War II, can be found only in the largest and most specialized libraries and
thus are not available to most potential users. If found, many of the documents are
incomplete, while others lack the contextual information needed by most readers
today. Some important documents, of course, are available only in Russian.
This collection brings together the major documents of Soviet history in a multi-
volume set which will cover the period from 1917 to the 1990s. It seeks to select
the most important documents, those which best explain the development and
policies of the Soviet Union. This includes not only those pertaining to politics, but
also those concerning culture and the arts, education, the family, international rela-
tions, economics, and other aspects of Soviet society and history. A distinct effort
has been made to go beyond government and party pronouncements, which all too
often are the sole content of document collections. At the same time it must be
recognized that such materials are an exceptionally important part of the documen-
tary record and must be heavily represented. Given the nature of the Soviet sys-
tem, certain leaders loom especially large and authoritative in some periods and
their writings and statements are therefore heavily represented in the respective
volumes. Both opposition and unofficial voices also play a role at times, and they
too are represented.
Only contemporary documents are used, that is, those originating at the time.
Memoirs and other retrospective writings, including “diaries” which have been
rewritten, are not included. In making the selections for this collection I have at-
tempted to select documents that (1) have long run significance for understand-ing
the Soviet Union in that they set forth fundamental policies and principles, (2)
mark important events of Soviet history and development, (3) illustrate the debates
on major issues, or (4) suggest the temper of the times. Given these objectives,
selection generally ignores whether a document is well-known or rare, although
in some instances the latter characteristic can tip the balance in favor of inclusion.
I acknowledge that no two people would make exactly the same selection out of
