Date: 1917
Source: ru:PSS/v32

We are compelled to sound the alarm daily. All manner of foolish individuals have accused us of “rushing” to transfer all state power into the hands of the Soviets of Soldiers’, Workers’, and Peasants’ Deputies—arguing that it would be far more dignified, far more prudent, to “wait patiently” for the duly convened Constituent Assembly.

Now even the most obtuse among these petty-bourgeois fools can see that life does not wait; it is not we who are “rushing”—it is ruin itself that is in a desperate hurry.

Petty-bourgeois cowardice, embodied in the parties of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, has decided: let us leave matters in the hands of the capitalists for now—perhaps ruin will “wait” until the Constituent Assembly!

The facts speak for themselves every single day: ruin, it seems, will not wait for the Constituent Assembly; rather, collapse will strike long before then.

Take, for example, the facts published just today. The Economic Department of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers’ and Workers’ Deputies resolved to “bring to the attention of the Provisional Government” that “the metallurgical industry in the Moscow District (covering 15 gubernias) is in a critically dire state”; that “the management of the Guzhon factories is openly disrupting production, deliberately driving enterprises toward shutdown”; and that therefore “state authority” (which the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks had, in fact, left firmly in the hands of the Guzhon faction—the party of counterrevolutionary capitalist lockout merchants)—“must assume direct control over the factory… and provide working capital.”

Urgent working capital is needed in the amount of up to 5 million rubles.

The meeting of the Economic Department and the delegation from the Supply Department of the Moscow Soviet of Workers’ Deputies “draws the attention of the Provisional Government” (poor, innocent, childishly naive Provisional Government! It did not know this! It is blameless! It will learn—and be persuaded, be brought to conscience—by Danas and Cherevanins, by Avksentievs and Chernovs!) “to the fact that the Moscow Factory Council and the temporary bureau of the Supply Committee for the Moscow District have already been forced to avert the shutdown of the Kolomna Locomotive Works, as well as the Sormovo and Bryansk plants in Bezhetsk[22]. Nevertheless, the Sormovo plant is currently idle due to a workers’ strike, and any day now the remaining factories may also come to a halt…”

Catastrophe does not wait—it advances with terrifying speed. Regarding the Donets Basin, A. Sandomirsky, thoroughly informed about the facts—and no doubt quite well grounded in his understanding—writes today in Novaya Zhizn:

“The vicious cycle continues to widen: no coal, no metal, no locomotives or rolling stock, production halted—all of this is spiraling out of control. Meanwhile, coal burns away, metal accumulates in the factories—yet where it is needed, it cannot be obtained.”

The government, backed by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, is actively obstructing the fight against ruin: A. Sandomirsky reports as a matter of fact that Palchinsky, the Comrade Minister of Trade—indeed, a colleague of Tsereteli and Chernov—upon the complaint of industrialists, has actually banned (!!) “unauthorized” (!!) inspection commissions in response to the Donets Committee’s inquiry regarding metal supplies.

Just think: what kind of madhouse is this turning into? The country is perishing; the people stand on the brink of famine and collapse; there is a shortage of coal and iron—even though both could easily be procured. The Donets Committee, through the Soviets of Soldiers’ and Workers’ Deputies, has launched a survey on metal availability—seeking iron for the people. Yet Palchinsky, the minister who serves the interests of industrialists, who serves the capitalists, in league with Tsereteli and Chernov, bans the survey. And the crisis only deepens; catastrophe looms ever closer.

Where, then, are the funds going to come from? Is it not clear that while it is easy enough to “demand” 5 million for a single factory, one must also recognize that far more funds will be required for all factories combined?

Is it not clear that without the measure we have been calling for and preaching since early April—without the consolidation of all banks into a single institution, without effective oversight of that institution, without the abolition of commercial secrecy—there is simply no way to secure the necessary financing?

The Guzhons and other capitalists, with the active support of Palchinsky, are deliberately (and this word comes from the Economic Department) driving enterprises toward shutdown. The government stands by their side. Tsereteli and Chernov are little more than mere ornaments—or mere pawns.

Is it not time, gentlemen, to finally understand that the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties, as parties, will ultimately be held accountable to the people for this catastrophe?

“Pravda,” No. 95, July 13 (June 30), 1917

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Pravda.”