V. I.

Lenin

Plan of a Speech at a Meeting of The Communist Group of the Fourth All-Russia Congress of Trade Unions [1]

Plan of a Speech 18/V

1. Rules of the R.C.P.: the Party and groups.

2. C.C. resolution-and its

CONCEALMENT .

3. Ryazanov and his role. (Ryazanov’s anti-Party resolution.)...

4. Tomsky and his

mistake or crime ?... (( Composition of the Four .))

5. The workers’ extremely nervy, wrought up state,
discontent:

{{

Burden on the workers.

1920 surplus appropriation- on the peasants.

Alleviation for the peasants: still depends on the harvest.

For the workers: profound resentment at the spectacle of “lighters”, [2] theft, and so on.

}}

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Notes:
[1]
The meeting of the Communist group of the Fourth All-Russia Congress of
Trade Unions to discuss the activities of the A.C.C.T.U. was held on May
18, 1921. The congress Steering Commission set up by the C.C. of the
R,C.P.(B.) drafted a reso-lution on the activities of the A.C.C.T.U. which
was to be used as a basis for the resolution of the T.U. Congress, and
directed commission member M. P. Tomsky, Chairman of the A.C.C.T.U., to put
this draft down for discussion by the Communist group. Tomsky, however, did
not do this. The group’s, meeting adopted a resolution tabled by
D. B. Ryazanov, which ran counter to the Party decisions concerning the
relations between the Party and the trade unions. The plenum of the C.C.,
R.C.P.(B.) on May 18 condemned Byazanov’s resolution, decided to remove
Tomsky from the commission and relieve him of his post in the A.C.C.T.U.,
and to remove Ryazanov from trade union work.

On behalf of the Central Committee Lenin took the floor at a group
meeting and revealed the anarcho-syndicalist nature of Ryazariov’s
motion. The group, by an overwhelming majority, rejected Ryazanov’s
resolution and adopted that of the Central Committee. There is no record of
Lenin’s speech in the Central Party Archives of the Institute of
Marxism-Leninism of the C.C. of the C.P.S.U.

[2]
During the years of industrial breakdown and disorganisation following
the First World War and the civil war some of the industrial workers became
declassed. It was said of such people that they did not do their jobs at
the factories, but made "cigarette ligliters" there, that is, they took
advantage of the slackening of labour discipline to make articles of
domestic use for the black market.