# Speech Delivered at a Rally in the People’s House in Petrograd, March 13, 1919{17}. Newspaper Report
Source: PSS, Volume 38

The central question that concerns most of you, Comrade Lenin says, is this: How are things progressing with regard to food supplies, and what measures has the Council of People’s Commissars taken in this crucial area? Allow me to briefly outline these efforts for you. We have entered a severe, famine‑ridden half‑year—during which all our external and internal enemies, including both the Right and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks—aware of just how dire conditions are for the population—have sought to exploit this situation, attempting to overthrow Soviet power and thereby, consciously or unconsciously, restore power to the landlords and capitalists. We have entered a period in which grain procurement has outpaced grain delivery, and the establishment of Soviet authority in Ukraine{18} gives us reason to hope that, in the coming half‑year, we will manage the food supply more effectively than we did last year—though we are certain to endure a half‑year even more difficult than the one that has just passed. A major advantage for us is the decisive shift in favor of Soviet power among significant sections of the peasant masses. Wherever the Czechoslovak troops have been—beyond the Volga and in the Ufimskaya Governorate—the mood among even the relatively well‑to‑do peasants has undergone a profound transformation in favor of the Soviets, for the Czechoslovaks have delivered a harsh, tangible lesson. Just a few days ago, a delegation of peasants from five volosts in the Sarapulsky Uyezd—those very same volosts that had, only recently, managed to send forty thousand poods of grain to Moscow and Petrograd—came to see me. When I asked this delegation about the peasants’ attitude toward Soviet power, they replied: “Yes, the Czechoslovaks have taught us a lesson—and now no one will turn us away from Soviet power.” But even in other regions, in the Pre-Ural area—where, incidentally, vast grain reserves are still held—peasants are now firmly on the side of Soviet power. There was a time when, under the influence of the Mensheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries—indeed, as we know, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Muravyov nearly opened our front to the Czechoslovaks—the peasants in these localities were opposed to the Soviets. Yet the outrages committed by officers of the Czechoslovak Army, their brutal treatment of the civilian population, their relentless drive to restore the full panoply of tsarist and landlord rule—all of this has served to enlighten the peasantry. Today, in all these governorates, a vibrant Soviet movement is underway—a movement of which those here in the major urban centers have scarcely any conception; for here, in the great centers, the people have already grown weary from prolonged hunger, while there, where grain reserves are comparatively abundant, questions of sustenance recede into the background.

I now turn to the details. In Ufa Governorate, grain reserves have reached 60 million poods, and grain procurement is proceeding at a rapid pace. Yet we have encountered colossal difficulties in transportation. On the railway lines Kazan–Sarapul and Volga–Bugulma alone, as much as 10 million poods of grain have already been harvested. But we are unable to transport it, for we are confronted with a severe shortage of locomotives, rolling stock, fuel, and an utterly exhausted locomotive fleet. To enhance the freight-carrying capacity of our railways, we were compelled to adopt a highly decisive measure: from March 18 to April 10, passenger train service will be suspended throughout Russia. Before we decided on this step, we had discussed it three times with our comrades in the railway industry and with leading experts in railway affairs. Only after thoroughly examining this measure and carefully calculating its potential outcomes did we proceed with this undertaking. The calculations revealed that the suspension of passenger traffic would free up 220 locomotives—though weak, they are nonetheless capable of transporting 3.5 million poods of grain. If we consider the data on grain transported by peddlers—there were weeks when we were forced to permit free carriage—we find that, over the same three-week period, peddlers could deliver no more than 200,000 poods. This calculation settled the matter. Of course, there will be kulaks, speculators, and even individual workers who will raise a clamor over this decision, claiming that we are taking away their last chance to transport even a single pood of grain; we know that Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks will exploit the famine, stirring up popular resentment against Soviet power. But here—as in all difficult situations—we rely solely on the consciousness and self‑awareness of the advanced working masses. It is better to endure hardship, better to confront the hostile agitation of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks—but we must face dangers squarely and declare openly: “We will not emerge from our food shortages unless we adopt the most resolute measures, unless we devote every possible effort to exporting grain.” In many places, grain destined for export is piled up near the stations, right on the ground, and during the spring floods it will be washed away and carried off. We must move quickly to load and ship it. In taking such a decisive measure, we have taken into account all attendant circumstances. We know that before Easter, rail traffic tends to increase, and therefore passenger service will be restored by Easter. We know that suburban rail service is absolutely essential for workers, and so it will continue even now. We have dispatched to the field our most energetic and experienced comrades; Comrade Bryukhanov, Deputy People’s Commissar for Food Supply, who knows Ufa Governorate inside and out, has been sent there. He will be assisted by comrades from the military authorities, since the front line lies not far from that region. Comrades from the military department have also been assigned to the Kazan–Sarapul railway line. They have been tasked with mobilizing the local peasantry and exerting every possible effort to transport grain—even if only as far as Kazan—thereby saving the grain and ensuring its delivery to the capital cities and non‑agricultural regions. This is what we rely on as our hope for overcoming hunger. The calculations of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, who seek to profit from the people’s suffering, will once again be shattered.

Unlike last year, when the Czechoslovaks pressed upon us, seizing our most fertile grain‑producing lands, we now possess two new sources of grain—sources that our food administrators could not have counted on last autumn when they were drawing up their year‑long supply plans: Ukraine and the Don. Last autumn, the Germans still held Ukraine under their control. German imperialists had promised to ship 60 million poods of grain from Ukraine to Germany, using this influx of food to eradicate the seeds of Bolshevism among the German masses. But in practice, the outcome was entirely different: instead of 60 million poods of grain, the Germans brought in from Ukraine but 9 million poods. Yet along with that grain, they imported into Germany the very Bolshevism that would later sprout so luxuriantly there. Today, in Germany, Bolshevism is raging in the streets of Berlin, locked in fierce struggle with social traitors who are drenching Berlin in workers’ blood. We know that the German social traitors will be defeated just as Kerensky was defeated among us. (Applause.)

But beyond Ukraine, we also have the Don. The Cossacks under Krasnov had long relied on foreign gold—first German, then Anglo-French—to sustain themselves. Yet even this did not save them. Our victory over the Cossacks is assured. At present, we hold in our hands the Tsaritsyn–Likhaya line—the very line that connects our grain reserves with our coal reserves. Thus, we possess two major sources of supply: Ukraine and the Don. In Ukraine, we are dealing with a fraternal Soviet republic with which we enjoy the finest of relations. This republic approaches the question of aiding us not from a mercantile or speculative standpoint, but solely driven by a fervent desire to help the starving North. The first socialist duty of every citizen of Ukraine is to aid the North. Yet even in Ukraine, we encounter immense difficulties. The Council of People’s Commissars repeatedly summoned Comrade Rakovsky for negotiations and dispatched comrades from military circles to Ukraine. It turns out that, organizationally speaking, conditions in Ukraine are now even worse than they were here after the October Revolution. Back then, we inherited from Kerensky a well‑established food administration. Of course, the food officials engaged in sabotage and came to Smolny not to work with us, but to haggle and bargain. Yet we broke the resistance of these factions and ultimately compelled them to do their duty. In Ukraine, there is absolutely no food administration whatsoever. The Germans had done nothing but plunder—robbing as long as they had the power in their hands—and naturally, no organization, no apparatus remained in their wake. Ukraine lacks both food workers and those large urban centers from which such workers could be drawn. The Donetsk Basin has been subjected to devastation beyond anything we can imagine. Even today, Cossack bands roam deep within the Donetsk Basin, mercilessly preying upon the local population. From every corner of Ukraine rises the cry: “We need workers!” We have established a food bureau in Ukraine, staffed by representatives of the trade union movement. We are transferring more experienced food workers from Voronezh and Tambov provinces to Ukraine and recruiting the most advanced urban proletarians into our food organizations. But despite all this, Ukraine has no grain stockpiles, no procurement agencies; the peasants harbor deep distrust of paper money, and we have no goods to offer in exchange. Under these adverse conditions, we tasked our Ukrainian comrades with shipping 50 million poods of grain to Russia by June 1, 1919. I believe that we will not fully meet this target—but if we manage to deliver even half or two-thirds of the required amount, that too will be a great success.

Comrade Lenin further points out that our victories on the Don became possible only through the intensification of Party work and cultural-educational activities within the ranks of the Red Army. This brought about a profound psychological shift, and in the end, our Red Army won the Don for us. (Stormy applause.)

In general, our Red Army grows stronger with each passing day. Even bourgeois military experts acknowledge that in imperialist countries, armies are decaying—while ours, by contrast, is being forged, strengthened, and fortified. The Don also boasts substantial grain reserves. There is still no food administration there, but we have our disciplined army—and that, in itself, constitutes an apparatus through which we can secure grain at lower cost and with greater efficiency.

I must note that the Czechoslovaks and the Cossacks continue their familiar tactic: destroying whatever they can. After blowing up the railway bridge across the Volga, they went on to destroy every single bridge and render the entire Trans-Volga rail network utterly unusable. For a long time, the Council of People’s Commissars deliberated on how to restore at least two railway lines: Liski–Rostov and Likhaya–Tsaritsyn. Decisive measures were taken, and at the latest meeting of the Defense Council, held on Monday, March 10, it was revealed that all tools and materials for these lines had already been delivered—and before the onset of the spring thaw, they would be restored.

Pointing once again to the food assistance that the Don and Ukraine will provide us, Comrade Lenin exclaims: “This half‑year is the last of the hard months ahead!” (Applause.)

The international situation, though still grave, is nonetheless improving. You have all seen and heard the foreign delegates of the Third International{19}, who, in their reports and statements, emphasize that the path we have chosen is both right and true. Bolshevism has acquired global significance. This is evident in the fact that even the most advanced bourgeois democracies—those so proud of their freedom—have begun to take repressive measures against the Bolsheviks. The wealthiest bourgeois republic, the United States of America, with its hundred‑million‑strong population, is hastening to expel several hundred Russian Bolsheviks from its borders—most of whom do not even speak English. What, then, is the source of this fear of Bolshevism? In Paris, according to newspaper reports, even workers who are not sympathetic to the Bolsheviks refuse to allow even a single word to be spoken by speakers who are openly hostile to Bolshevism. (Applause.) Despite all the lies and the filthy slander that the bourgeois press of Western Europe pours forth daily against the Bolsheviks, the people have nevertheless come to understand the truth and have turned toward the Bolsheviks. Let the bourgeois French press write what it will—that the Bolsheviks are monsters of the human race, that they devour infants—but the French workers do not believe this press.

We have reached a point where the word “Soviet” has become ubiquitous across all languages. The masses have come to realize that their salvation lies in workers’ and peasants’ power—namely, in the Soviets. This is why, at the Third International Congress in Moscow, we found it so easy to reach an agreement. Even in the most remote corners of the world—somewhere like the Italian Po Valley—tenant farmers and laborers gather and declare: “We greet the German Spartacists and the Russian Sovietists, and we demand that their program become the program of workers everywhere.” I will reiterate here what I already stated in Moscow{20}. This clearly demonstrates that victory is ours—and there can be no doubt about it. Despite all the lies spread by the bourgeois press, we have won the sympathy of the working class. At the same time, the imperialists are unable to agree at the peace conference and are on the verge of tearing each other apart. The Bolshevik contagion has already spread to every country in Europe and America. No matter how many Bolsheviks are expelled, it will make no difference. Even if Western Europe were to erect a Great Wall of China to shut us out—if all Russian Bolsheviks were to vanish into the depths of Tartarus—this would not alleviate the plight of the Western imperialists. The popular masses have understood that they cannot improve their condition through parliamentary means alone; what they need is workers’ power, they need the Soviets. The war has created an enormous debt, and the imperialists are so mad that they demand that peoples repay their war loans. They tell the people: “Pay us billions for the fact that we were so merciful as to allow ten million lives to be cut short—just so we could secure our profits.” In every country, imperialism will plunge into the very abyss into which it plunged in Germany. (Stormy applause.)

“Northern Commune,” No. 58, March 14, 1919

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Northern Commune,” verified against the stenographic record.