ants in alliance with frank counter-revolutionaries

on the Don

with Kaladin and Kornilov, on the Ural with Dutov, in Siberia with Semenov, Horvat, and Kolchak, and, finally, quite recently with the Czecho-Slovaks and the reactionaries who have joined the latter;

Therefore, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets resolves to exclude from its membership representatives of the parties of Socialist-Revolutionaries (Right and Center), Russian Social-Democratic Workmen's Party (Mensheviks), and also to propose to all Soviets of Workmen's, Soldiers', Peasants', and Cossacks' Deputies to remove the representatives of these fractions from their midst.

(Signed) PRESIDENT OF ALL-RUSSIAN CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Y. SVERDLOV

Secretary-V. AVANESOV

(Collection of Laws and Ordinances, 536.)

3

SIXTH ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS of Soviets, NOVEMBER 6–9, 1918 [Official Stenographic Report, published by All-Russian Central Executive Committee]

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

The protocols of the three sittings give an outline of the work of the session.

Then follow stenographic reports of the speeches. The speeches were by Sverdlov, Lenin, Avanesov, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Kursky, Steklov, Pozern, and practically no others. The stenographic report would seem to indicate that there were no debates.

Then follow 80 pages of “telegrams of greeting" from various executive committees and individuals, including foreigners like Liebknecht.

List of members of the Congress arranged by provinces in alphabetical order, indicating number of "mandates" and party affiliation. A "mandate" would seem to indicate a Soviet organization or a Soviet. The number of mandates indicated ranges from 23 to 1,000.

Two tables in back of book indicate further details as to party

affiliation and by whom delegated. The most outstanding facts are the following:

Nine hundred and fourteen delegates had a decisive voice. Of these 829 were Communists, 71 sympathizers with communists, 2 Revolutionary-Communists, 2 Populist-Communists, I Maximalist, 6 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 3 non-party. Of these 368 were delegated by district Soviets and organizations, and 216 by urban, while only 26 by cantonal. It is estimated that these represented a population of 109,768,125, of whom 59,306,132 were electors.

Three hundred and seventeen delegates have a consultative voice. Of these 239 are Communists, 60 sympathizers with Communists, I Revolutionary-Communist, 3 Populist-Communists, 3 Socialist-Revolutionary-Internationalists, 1 Maximalist, 1 Socialist-Revolutionary, 3 Anarchists, I Menshevik, 4 non-party, and I Jewish Social-Democratic Workmen's Party. These are stated as representing a population of 45,239,781, of whom 8,558,939 are electors.

A third table combines the other two and indicates as total population represented 148,662,141. (Addition of figures of the two tables.)

SEVENTH ALL-RUSSIAN Congress (Fourth Day, DECEMBER 10) [Economic Life, December 10, 1919]

The last plenary sitting of the Congress begins with a report of the Mandate Commission.

According to this report, accepted by the Congress, there were present at the Congress 1,366 delegates, of which number 1,002 had votes, and 364 advisory voices. The Communists had 970 votes and 308 advisory voices; non-party delegates had 35 and 26. The remaining places were distributed in small numbers to various parties.

The Congress then adopts without debate resolutions proposed by the committees on food supply, fuel, and Soviet construction. Comrade Enukidze reads the list of members of the new AllRussian Central Executive Committee as proposed by the fraction of Communists. The list is adopted by the Congress unanimously. Among those elected are: Lenin, Trotsky, Kalinin, Rykov, Chubar, Larin, Miliutin, Nogin, Krasin, and others.

Besides representatives of Communists, a few places in the AllRussian Central Executive Committee were given to Revolutionary Communists and Maximalists.

5

EXTRACTS FROM ARTICLE BY M. VLADIMIRSKY

[Izvestia of November 6, 1919]

The material about the distribution of the members of these congresses according to parties has also been systematized, and although incomplete gives, however, a general picture of the main creative forces of Soviet Russia. All these congresses are divided up according to three periods: from October, 1917, up to July, 1918, is the first period of Soviet construction, from July, 1918, up to January, 1919, second period, when the Soviet work was conducted exclusively by the power of the Russian Communist Party, and the third period from January this year, when in the work of Soviet construction broad non-partisan masses participated.

The members of the Communist Party together with the sympathizers form the principal group of the members of the congresses in all the three periods. In the first period they constituted somewhat more than a half of the members of the congresses. The fourth part of the members were represented by other political parties, principally the Left Social-Revolutionists, 21 per cent of all the members. The number of Right SocialRevolutionists was insignificant, only 1.2 per cent. Still fewer were the representatives of the Mensheviks, 0.9 per cent. The rest, one-fifth, consisted of members not belonging to any party. In the second period the Left Social-Revolutionists after the July adventure amounted to almost nothing, approximately 3 per cent, and the Communist Party with sympathizers constituted more than four-fifths of all the members of the congresses, having grown stronger not only at the expense of other political parties, but also at the expense of non-party. In the village the process of class subdivision goes deeper and sharper. In the towns the non-party join the Communist Party. In the third period the influence of other parties grows still weaker notwithstanding the fact that among them appeared the Maximalists and Revolutionary Communists. On the congresses appear representatives of broad party

less masses of middle peasants, especially on the district congresses. Thus the Soviet construction was carried on all the time undertheinfluence and leadership of the Russian Communist Party.

In provincial executive committees the Communist Party is represented by an overwhelming majority, 88 per cent of the total, who together with the sympathizers constitute 92 per cent of all the members of the executive committees. In the district the non-party members constitute a somewhat larger number, being 18.6 per cent (at the last district congresses representatives of the middle peasantry were elected to executive committees), and here the number of sympathizers is somewhat larger, constituting II per cent. However, the Communists constitute the principal bulk of workers, 69 per cent. The town executive committees take the middle place between these two groups, having four-fifths of Communists and sympathizers and one-fifth of non-party members.

Four-fifths of the members of the executive committees belong to the laboring masses having received scanty education in the schools for beginners or by educating themselves (in prisons). People with higher education—the intelligentsia-constitute a small number, 4 per cent. Members with medium or middle school education constitute 15 per cent. These are various kinds of officials, technicians, from the factories, etc. In the district executive committees the predominance of the people with lower education is expressed especially strongly, and on the contrary in the provincial executive committees is noticeable a participation of people with higher education. There is no need to go here into details-the picture is clear. In Soviet Russia, where the whole belongs to the laboring people, four-fifths of the workers managing the state apparatus consist of workmen and peasants.

The conclusions are clear, the developing Soviet construction is carried out by the laboring masses themselves, under the leadership of the Russian Communist Party by its most experienced and elder members, who had worked for many years in the "underground" revolutionary movement.

6

COMPOSITION OF PETROGRAD SOVIET

[Petrograd Pravda, November 25, 1919. Extracts]

(NOTE. This is the first detailed analysis of the composition

of a local Soviet that has been found. It is the analysis of the Petrograd Soviet which was elected in July, 1919. Attention is called in the first paragraph to the difficulties prevailing at that moment, in view of hunger, disorganization of industry, and military situation. It is stated, for example, "Hundreds and thousands of supporters of the Soviet authority had gone to ward off the impudent attack on Soviet Russia. Old proletarians, experienced in revolutionary struggle, in the Petrograd factories were practically non-present. In our ranks there was even doubt as to whether we were not making a mistake in organizing reelections at such a difficult moment.")

The investigation of the composition of the Petrograd Soviet has confirmed once more clearly that the Red Petrograd proletarians in the difficult and confused moments of class struggle do not hesitate or weaken, but simply work harder to bring to complete victory the struggle that has been started, the victory of the Communist International. The Petrograd Soviet is composed of 1,836 members; of these, 1,529 men and 307 women. In the election of these members took part up to 300,000 proletarians, organized in trade unions, voting in 1,060 election meetings. Of the total membership, there are 1,052 Communists (members of the Russian Communist Party), 49 candidates of the R. C. P., 148 sympathizers of the R. C. P., 338 non-party, one Left Socialist-Revolutionary; 248 members did not indicate membership in any political party.

The majority (746) are between the ages of 21-30. Forty-five are between the ages of 18-20, 377 between ages 31-40, 248 between 41-50, and 48 above 51. One thousand two hundred and ninety-seven members have families.

The members of the Soviet receive payment for labor, principally from Soviet institutions: From the party, 26; from a union, 110; from factories, 284; from Soviet institutions, 577; from military institutions, 270; from Red Army, 56; from water transportation, 66; from railways, 85; from street railways, 16; from militia, 30; from hospitals, 32; from printing shops, 16; not indicated, 240.

The above figures show that 266 members were reelected, while 1,570 members were elected for the first time.

In conclusion, we may point out that according to the material on hand it is established that the majority of the non-party mem