Daniels Robert V. - A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev

From Lenin to Gorbachev

Edited, with introduction, notes,
and original translations by

Robert V. Daniels

University of Vermont Press

Burlington, Vermont

Published by University Press of New England

Hanover and London

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT PRESS

Published by University Press of New England,

One Court Street, Lebanon, NH 03766

www.upne.com

1993 by the Trustees of the University of Vermont

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CIP data appear at the end of the book

ISBN-13: 987-0-87451-616-6

ISBN-10: 0-87451-616-1

ISBN-13: 978-1-61168-058-4 (e-book)

It would naturally be impossible in one volume of documentary materials to cover a subject as broad and complex as Communism from every point of view. The careful description of political institutions, events and everyday life as they have proceeded over the years under Communism would require whole shelves of source materials. The present work has been deliberately focused on the subject of Communist thought and doctrine, for reason of its commanding importance, its relative uniformity within the Communist scheme of things, and the appropriateness of the documentary approach to its elucidation. We will be primarily concerned with the evolution of top-level guiding ideas, policies and intentions among the Communists. Statements of deviators of all sorts are included along with the official line of those in powerwe may regard anyone who claims descent from Lenin as equally meriting the label Communist. Through the pronouncements of its leading figures, both those who have ruled and those who have fallen from grace, we may arrive at a reasonably approximate picture of what Communism actually is, historically considered.

The problems of selecting materials for a purpose such as this never permit a fully satisfactory solution. I have attempted a fair digest and representative choice of statements expressing all the main concepts and currents in Communism. Many readers, however, will find that their areas of interest are underrepresented. This failing is the price that must be paid in an effort to survey the entire Communist movement in one documentary volume, and meet the needs of the student, the general reader, and the scholar who is not a specialist in this field.

The present work would never have materialized without the assistance of many people who helped in its preparation or who paved the way with their own studies. I am indebted to the many publishers who kindly permitted me to reprint selections of previously translated material (individually acknowledged under each item). Certain documentary collections which have been particularly helpful deserve special mentionthe pioneering Documentary History of Chinese Communism, by Conrad Brandt, Benjamin Schwartz and John K. Fairbank (Harvard University Press, 1952); the Materials for the Study of the Soviet System, by James H. Meisel and Edward S. Kozera (The George Wahr Publishing Co., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1950), which brings together a wide selection of previously translated Soviet documents; the documentary compilations prepared by the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress; the various collections of Soviet documents published by the Stanford University Press; and the English editions of the selected works of Lenin and Stalin, published by the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. The Harvard University Library has kindly permitted me to include my translations from a number of hitherto unpublished documents in the Trotsky Archive. For their suggestions regarding documents on Far Eastern Communism I am indebted to Professors Justus M. van der Kroef and George T. Little, and to Professor Little and Professor Lewis S. Feuer I am grateful for many helpful criticisms. To Mr. Nathan Glazer I wish to express my appreciation for initially encouraging me to undertake this project, and for his editorial assistance since that time. Mrs. Joyce McLaughlin of the Inter-Library Loan Department of the University of Vermont Library rendered me invaluable service in locating and obtaining many scarce but important publications. The vast work of transcribing and assembling the documentary materials was ably done by Mrs. Madeline Chaplin, Mrs. Jean Falls, Mrs. Phyllis Reservitz, Mrs. Roberta Stetson, and my wife, Alice Daniels.

Since the publication of the original edition of this work more than two decades ago the subject of Communism has expanded in years, in territory, and in complexity. In the present revision I have endeavored to respond to these changes by abridging the pre-1960 material of the first edition and adding new selections to reflect recent developments in the various Communist parties both inside and outside the Soviet Union. To facilitate the interest of users in focusing either on internal Soviet history or on the evolution of Soviet foreign policy and Communist movements outside the USSR, the new edition has been organized into two volumes, each devoted to one of these aspects of Communism and proceeding chronologically. Both original material and the post-1960 additions have been divided accordingly, and the portion of the 1960 introduction pertaining to external issues has been placed in volume 2.

With the increasing scope and diversity of the subject of Communism it has become more difficult than ever to achieve a totally satisfactory and representative selection of documents within a reasonable compass. To comply with spatial limitations, items in the original edition have been culled where their retrospective importance is not crucial in mapping the development of the Communist movement. A few new pre-1960 items have been added. Post-1960 material has been selected with emphasis on illustrating the main internal developments in the Soviet Union, the most significant events in Soviet foreign relations and the chief variants among Communist movements outside the Soviet Union. As in the original edition, statements representing the views of dissenters within Communist countries are included together with the official views of the leadership. Though many points of particular interest inevitably remain unrepresented, I hope the reader will find that the overall usefulness of this collection has been substantially enhanced.

For their support in the initiation of this revised edition I am indebted to Mr. Thomas McFarland, Director of the University Press of New England, Professor Henry Steffens of the Editorial Board of the Press and Dean Robert Lawson of the Graduate College of the University of Vermont. In the compilation of new material for this edition I have been greatly aided by the vast resources of Soviet documentation made available since the 1950s by the Current Digest of the Soviet Press and its companion series, Current Soviet Policies. I wish to thank Professor Stephen Cohen and Mr. Orest Pelech of Princeton University for locating for me the hitherto unpublished Secret Speech by Suslov in 1964. I am grateful to Mrs. Carolyn Perry, Mrs. Penni Bearden, Mrs. Susan Lacy, and Mrs. Claire Sheppard for their able assistance in preparing new portions of the manuscript.