# Reports on the Ruin
Source: PSS, Volume 32

The looming catastrophe is the central and most pressing issue of our time. We must gather the most accurate possible data concerning it. Below are some instructive quotations from the newspapers of our adversaries—those united in the ranks of the Populists and the Mensheviks (“Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet,” No. 70, May 19).

“An impending disaster of mass unemployment is upon us. The resistance of united capitalists to workers’ demands is intensifying. Capitalists are resorting to a peculiar form of Italian-style strike action and to covert lockouts.”

And further:

“…the capitalists are doing nothing to help the state emerge from its economic difficulties…

…clinging tenaciously to their profits, the capitalists are, in fact, the true disruptors and counterrevolutionaries. But the revolution neither wishes nor ought to perish. If the capitalists do not voluntarily come forward to meet it halfway, then the revolution must lay its hand upon them.”

Is there any more eloquent way to put it? The situation, then, is indeed at its most critical. “The revolution must ‘lay its hand upon the capitalists’”—what kind of revolution? Which class? And how exactly is one to “lay one’s hand” upon them?

Here are the responses offered by the speakers at the Executive Committee meeting on May 16:

“A number of speakers have laid bare the grim picture of widespread devastation in the country’s economic life… the bourgeois organs of the press… remain silent about the true causes of this calamity: war and the self‑interested conduct of the bourgeoisie.”

From the report of the Menshevik ministerialist Cherevanin:

“The economic ruin we are experiencing is so severe that no mere palliative measures, no isolated, specific initiatives, can salvage the situation. What is needed is a comprehensive plan—a general framework for state regulation of all economic activity…

To concretely implement our plan, it is essential to establish a special economic council within the Ministry.”

A mountain brought forth a mouse. Instead of “a revolution that lays its hand upon the capitalists,” we are presented with a thoroughly bureaucratic recipe.

From Avilov’s report:

“The primary cause of today’s economic collapse lies in the acute shortage of vital industrial products…

…For many categories of workers, as the cost of living continues to rise, conditions are verging on chronic hunger…

…Entrepreneurs who reap enormous profits refuse to make concessions to workers unless they, in turn, see prices for their own goods rise…

…The only viable way out of this predicament is to impose price controls on commodities. Yet such price controls can be effectively implemented in practice only if all distribution of goods is carried out according to the directives of public authority.

Under this system of compulsory distribution at regulated prices, it is imperative to exercise control over production itself, for otherwise production may shrink—or even come to a complete halt…

…At the same time, the state must bring under its control those sources that supply industry with both working capital and fixed assets—the credit institutions.”

In his account, Comrade Avilov seems to have forgotten that “the state” is a machine that the working class and the capitalists tug in opposite directions. Which class is now capable of exercising state power?

From Bazarov’s report:

“Fixed prices are, in effect, merely a facade; state monopolies exist only on paper; the regulation of coal and metal supplies to factories has not only failed to direct production in the interests of the state, but has been unable even to tame the market’s anarchic tendencies, unable to curb the rampant speculation of middlemen and resellers.

What is needed is the compulsory state-based trustification of industry.

Only by calling upon enterprise administrations and capitalists to serve in compulsory state employment can we take truly effective measures to combat the very anarchy that industrialists deliberately introduce into the production process.”

The state of the capitalists—those who consciously sow chaos—must call upon capitalists to serve in compulsory state employment—that is tantamount to forgetting the question of class struggle.

From G. V. Shuba’s report:

“Despite our relentless demands over the past two months, the overarching question—namely, the question of organizing the national economy and labor—has made no progress whatsoever. The result is stagnation. The situation today is as follows: we have managed, through struggle, to pass a series of measures and laws; we already have a law on grain monopoly… But all of this remains little more than ink on paper…

…We have achieved a principled resolution on the municipalization of agricultural machinery. Yet we cannot implement this, because there are either no machines at all—or almost none. Moreover, the agricultural machinery plants are producing items that are utterly insignificant for the needs of the army. But beyond the need to regulate the entire economic life of the country, we must finally dismantle and completely restructure the entire executive apparatus of state power…”

Now we are getting closer to the heart of the matter—closer to the essence! “To dismantle and restructure the entire executive apparatus of state power”—that is the truth. But is it not clear that the question of the state’s administrative apparatus is but one small part of the larger question: which class holds power in its hands?

From Kukovetsky’s report:

“The financial condition of the country is in the direst of states. We are rapidly heading toward financial bankruptcy…

Purely financial measures will not suffice…

We must take steps toward the compulsory distribution of loans—and if that does not yield the desired results, then we must move to compulsory borrowing.

The second measure is the mandatory regulation of industry, the imposition of fixed prices on goods.”

“Compulsion” is a good thing—but the whole question hinges on which class will compel, and which class must be compelled?

From Groman’s report:

“Everything that is being done in all countries today can be characterized as a process of disintegration within the national economic organism. Everywhere, this process is opposed by a unifying, organizing principle. In every instance, the state has embarked upon the task of organizing the economy and labor…

Neither the government nor the country yet possesses a central authority capable of regulating the nation’s economic life—there is, so to speak, no ‘economic brain.’ Such an organ must be created… A powerful executive body must be established. An economic council needs to be formed…”

The new bureaucratic institution—this is what Groman’s line of thought ultimately boils down to! How lamentable.

Everyone acknowledges that an unprecedented catastrophe is inevitable. Yet they fail to grasp the most crucial point: only the revolutionary class is capable of leading the country out of this abyss.

‘Pravda,’ No. 67, June 9 (May 27), 1917

Printed according to the text of the newspaper ‘Pravda.’