INSIDE RUSSIA

For the past seven months we have all read more about the German­ Sov'iet war than about any other single subject. We have followed the military events, the diplomatic side shows, the economic consequences of this struggle. Yet hardly anything is known about one of the two antagonists, the USSR. More than ever Russia appears a strange, mysterious land whioh few understand and many have given up trying to understand. One can read very l·ittle in the press outside Russia about what is goillg on in the Red Empire, f01 there are only a few foreign corre­ spondents left in Russia. Those who are still there are usually far from the front, and limit themselves mainly to reporting the boastful speeches of Losovsky. Moreover they are too close to events to be able to discern the great developments. But out here there are means of following the inner development of the USSR-the Soviet papers and particularly the Soviet broadcast. By turning the dial of the receiving set and tuning in on the Russian programs of Moscow, Khabarovsk, Irktitsk, Vladivostok, or other stations, yott can keep yottr fingers on the pulse of the Soviet Union. For several months, in fact ever sinc6 it became clear that something new was evolving in the Soviet Union, we have been ca'refully collecting the information gained from p'I'ess a71d radio. In a country such as the Soviet Union the really important events are never obvious. and rarely do the Soviet leaders call them by their r·ight names. It takes knowledge of the USSR and the Russian language as well as a great deal of patie11ce to see the po'ints tvhich matter. In the following pages are the resttlts of our research, results tuhich we cons'ider sensational. But for our rea,de1's to see their sensational character, we must ask them to read with patienoe and not to mind if at first some oj the material presented seems ills'ignificant. lt is not. And to those who make the effort oj thoughtftlily reading through the following pages it will become clear that events are talcing place in the USSR the importance of tvhich, not only for Germany and Europe but for the whole world, goes far beyond anything that has happened in Rio de Janeiro or Dibya. A tragedy of vast dimensions is in the ma'~ing.-K. M. STALIN1S THREE-POINT the Red armies suffered huge de­ PROGRAM feats. They lost millions of their best soldiers in dead, wounded, Even before the outbreak of the and prisoners. They had to abandon German-Soviet war, the Soviet regime hundl·eds of thousands of square miles was hated by a considerable part of of their most important agricultural the Russian people and the non-Russian and industrial districts. Millions be­ minorities. Millions of them had had came homeless. At the same time the to suffer through the Bolsheviks. There Germans declared that they were fight­ are few families in which one or more ing the war only against the Bolshevik members have not in one way or regime, not against the Russian people. another become victims of the Revolu­ Could the Soviet system stand all tion and the Civil War, of famine this? Would a wave of revolt carry and de-kulakization, of the frequent away the Bolshevist regime and put a "purges" and the constant terror. national Russian government in its Then came the war against Germany place? Would it greet the Germans as with its additional hardships for the liberators from the Bolshevist yoke? population. In the very first months So the world wondered. INSIDE RUSSIA 95

If the USSR were a solidly or at Soviet Government has been working least overwhelmingly Bolshevist coun­ with feverish and systematic energy at try, these questions would not have the carrying out of this program. arisen. But the world is aware of the What has been achieved so far? fact that the Soviet regime, although it succeeded in winning a large part EVERYBODY MUST FIGHT of the younger generation, has on the whole existed more through the terror First, we have said, there was the of the GPU than the love of its problem of inducing the Germans to citizens. The Bolshevist leaders extend the war to the Russian popula­ knew that this was the case better tion itself. To achieve this, a plan than anybody else. Hence there was was worked out that was insidiously only one chance for them to remain in clever in its simplicity: one had only the saddle and to continue the war. to force the population to fight against They must try to make it a people's war. the German troops, and there would be They must try to convince the Russians nothing left for the Germans but to that they were not fighting for Bol­ take measures against the population. shevism but for Russia. This they could On October 1, 1941, it became ob­ only do by completely changing direc­ ligatory for the entire male population tion, abandoning the communist ideology of the Soviet Union to take part in or at least no longer mentioning it, military exercises. The purpose of this and above all by setting out to accom­ measure was to keep the population plish three things with the greatest well in hand in spite of all the defeats. possible speed and effort: The introduction of nation-wide con­ (1) Regardless of the cost, they had scription brought with it the possibility to force the Germans to wage war not of organizing and supervising more only against the Red Army but also strictly than ever all subjects of the against the population; Soviet state through military discipline. And the maintenance of discipline is (2) They had to appeal to those nation­ of great importance especially during alistic instincts of the Russians which times of military defeats. they had ridiculed for twenty years; At the same time the mobilization (3) They had to attempt to weld the of the people was extended to the Bolshevist Party and the Russian peo­ entire nation, to both sexes as well as ple together in order to make use of to adolescents. This is stated again the whole strength of the Russian and again. For instance: masses for the purposes of Bolshevism. "It is the sacred duty of every Doing all this meant declaring, at citizen to contribute towards the least temporarily, the bankruptcy of defense of his town or village, to carry the Bolshevist doctrine. But it is to a gun, and to be able to use it ...• the advantage of the Bolsheviks that However far a hamlet or township they know no inhibitions. They belong may be removed from the front, neither to a c;ertain nation nor to a proper military preparations must be certain culture or moral code. Their made everywhere. Every town and motto is: "That is good which helps every village must be transformed into Bolshevism." With this credo they can an armed camp and a fortress." Or: turn in whichever direction they please "Our young people must be not only without scruple in the choice of their good workers but also soldiers, and methods. The feelings, ideals, dreams, the same applies to women." (2.10.41) and traditions of all others are for them only means which they use for WOMEN SOLDIERS their ends. This did not remain theory for long. For the last six months the whole One broadcast reported, for instance, giant apparatus at the disposal of the that a women's organization, headed 96 THE XXth CENTURY

by Comrade Kharinoshina, had sent Don't ~'ou know that this tie is soaked with its gifts for the soldiers of the in the blood of our warriors? In the Red Army an accompanying letter: blood of the heroes of the Civil War, "Tensely and with pride we women the heroes of the Red Army, the blood are following your struggle, dear of the Pioneers? Don't you all know brothers, and when the time has come that it is your duty to help the Red we too will participate actively in the soldiers and partisans?" On the follow~ war as truck drivers or with machine ing day, so she said, the children guns." (22.12.41) looked clean and solemn and said to Or a report was sent out saying: her: "We have thought a lot about "The women of our region are learning what you told us yesterday. From the proper use of a rifle. Their first now on we will behave quite dif~ target practice took place yesterday." ferently, and from today we shall also (13.12.41) practice throwing hand grenades." The schoolmistress concluded her " Radio Let it be noted that it is not a Talk for Little Children" with the question here of regular women's words: "Thus the hearts of the chil­ regiments incorporated in the army dren were set on fire by the right like those mentioned on several oc­ words." (18.10.41) casions in the Finnish communiques This is an example of how every op­ or praised in the Soviet radio with portunity, be it ever so minute, even such words as these: "Entire detach­ a dirty tie, is being used. to create a ments of brave and audacious Soviet militant attitude in all inhabitants of women are fighting shoulder to shoul~ the USSR. der with their husbands and sons, having learnt how to use rifles and FIGHTING NURSES bayonets." (17.1.42) It is rather a "Heroic Soviet women are helping que tion of arming aU women and to destroy the Fascists by joining the drilling them for fighting German ambulance corps," reported the Soviet soldiers. Bureau of Information on Decem­ ber 25, 1941. And in the communiques THE DIRTY RED TIE of the Far Eastern Army the ex~ And not only the women. "Blood­ planation is given: "Ambulance as~ thirsty Fascism has invaded our coun­ sistants and nurses do not only want try. It wants to rob us of our happy to give aid to the wounded, but also childhood. So we, the schoolchildren, to be combatants. Hence many of must do any work allotted to us. We them are practicing rifle shooting." must collect warm clothing and scrap And one of the " nurses" solemnly iron, and we must acquire military supplements this news with the words: knowledge." This is what two school~ "On the battlefield we shall not only girls, Raissa Yolinova and Vera help the wounded but. rifle in hand. Yermolayeva, said when they were we shall also strike down the Fascist brought to the microphone by Comrade robbers." (4.10.41) Vontchenko, Director of the Municipal Thus no attempt is made to conceal Committee for Public Enlightenment the fact that there is in the Soviet in Khabarovsk. (20.10.41) Union no civilian population in the A teacher told the following story usual sense, that civilian men and on the radio. She had noticed one of women, girls and boys, children and her pupils who belonged to the Union nurses may and are even in duty of Young Pioneers wearing a dirty bound to wage war. tie and had said to him; Ie Do you know that a twelve-year-old child NO CIVILIANS LEFT wearing the red tie of the Pioneers The "partisans" so often mentioned was hanged by the Germans? And in the newspapers are a part of this look at your tie, how dirty it is! program. Some of them are regular INSIDE RUSSIA 97 soldiers purposely left behind during only, but of the destruction of values the retreat of the army in order to in general, i.e. of all material and become active in the rear of the German immaterial goods. troops. The majority are civilians, Hence, when the Red Army leaves a among them women and children, who, city, the true Soviet patriots must see with all the means of propaganda, are to it that the museum of Tchaikovsky, spurred on to carry out acts of war the house of Rimsky-Korsakov, or one or sabotage against the Germans, as of the famous Russian monasteries are was demanded by Stalin on July 2, destroyed or at least damaged. This 1941, in his first speech after the has happened time and again. And it outbreak of war. should be done with a clear conscience, In this manner the Bolsheviks suc­ for "there is no room for pity or -ceeded in putting the entire population regret in such cases." on the same level as the Red Army. Thus were the Russians blinded. A twofold aim was achieved: the Those who have read Dostoyevsky know number of fighting forces available that a certain desire for self-destruction against the Germans was increased; is peculiar to the Russian nature. and-this is far more important-the And now destruction was made German troops occupying a village or a a patriotic duty. The people were town found themselves faced by an brought into a feverish state of hatred armed and hostile population, against for the enemy. They began to harm which they had to take measures. And and torture themselves in order to that meant the accomplishment of the harm this enemy. When after the Kremlin's goal. Now the Russian people beginning of winter the German troops .and the world could be told that the withdrew their advanced lines at several Germans were fighting against civilians. places, the reoccupied villages that had The more this became known, the easier at one time been destroyed by the it was to enlist Russian civilians into retreating Russians themselves could be "the ranks of active combatants. If the presented to the world and to their Germans, they were told, are after nation as "proofs of German destruc­ civilians anyway, then it is better for tion." you to shoot first. "SCORCHED EARTH" BREEDING HATRED Closely linked with this employment "Our hearts are aflame, aflame with of partisans is the "scorched earth" hate! Revenge I Revenge for the death policy. It too was proclaimed by Stalin of our fathers and brothers! For our in his speech of July 2, and formulated country, for our beloved soill" Thus more clearly in an article by the the Soviet radio, incessantly. President of the USSR, Kalinin, entitled "Yes, it is hard to listen to such '''What is true Soviet Patriotism?" things. But listen, Soviet girl! Hear which was read over the radio and in how these German monsters threw an "Which he said: infant into the fire before the eyes of "When the enemy advances, every­ the mother and at the same time raped thing of value must be destroyed. One the mother. Listen and fight, forget your must not let oneself be disturbed by own comfort, your female sensitiveness." the thought that those are values This is what Comrade Kononenko told ·created by us. There is no room for women and girls over the radio. (28.10.41) .pity or regret in such cases. To ~estroy And Comrade Kononenko is a specialist• everything, to leave nothing behmd for You can hearher articles read quite often the enemy, that is true patriotism." on the Khabarovsk wave length, always on the subject of women and atrocities. One should note that the President of the Soviet Union does not speak of The following program is meant for the destruction of- industrial plants soldiers: 98 THE XXth CENTURY

"My heart trembles when I look become acquainted at least in rough upon a German I have finished off. It outline with the history of his is as if my heart were saying to me: regiment." you see, there lies a part of the duty you have fulfilled." That is what a STUDYING REGIMENTAL Red Army man writes to his brother, HISTORY a soldier in the Far Eastern Army. History? In a country that had The radio continues: "And this letter made non-existence of history a prin­ passed from hand to hand in the de­ ciple. that had always emphasized that tachment of his brother, evoking history began only in November 1917 admiration everywhere." and that before this everything had Thus the Kremlin's first goal was only been preparation for the Bolshe­ achieved. The people have been plunged vist Revolution - in this country people into a delirium of blood and destruc. were suddenly to study regimental tion. history? THE CHANGING OF THE GUARDS Soon it became apparent where this study of history was to lead. "Glorious Tbe second point of the Bolshevist were the old Russian Guards, they program we drew up at the beginning were in Berlin and Leipzig and of our article was the appeal to Rus­ Paris. • .• These mighty old Russian sian nationalistic instincts. How was Guards, they died in the battles of the this done? Let us start with the Great War." (15.12.41) Guards. But it is not the old Tsarist Guards One must remember what the word who are dead. It is rather the "Guards" meant to the Bolsheviks proletarian Red Guards of the civil until quite recently. The Guards regi­ war years. For it is not the proletarian ments, the most loyal supports of the Guards of 1917-19 but those of Tsarist throne of the Tsars before the Revolu­ Russia that are to serve today as an, tion, were in the eyes of the Bolsheviks example to the Red Army: "The nothing but "bands of class-enemies," glorious war traditions of the old "bloodsuckers," "drink-sodden body­ Ru~ian Army have been taken over guards of the Tsar, created by that by the Red Army. The soldiers of butcher of men Peter I for the protec­ the Guards are the finest sons of the tion of his tyranny over the people," Russian people." (29.12.41) tltc. These were tbe expressions used in the press for many years. GUARDSMEN-OLD AND NEW Suddenly, on November 11. 1941, a In order to do away with any doubt. decree by Stalin was published: Major-General A. Ignatyev. a surviving "For heroic deeds and brave fighting member of the old Tsarist Guards, on the battlefield against the German had to speak up. Here are some of armies the 14th Tank Brigade is his most striking statements: awarded the designation of 1st Guards liThe Guards may die, but they never Tank Brigade." surrender.. '. We the old Russian Guardsmen who have survived former Could that have been a misprint? wars are doubly happy that the best For several days nothing happened. examples of Guardsman heroism in our But one week later more units were history have not only been carried on given the title of "Guards," and by now but even surpassed by the warriors this has become a standing feature of of the Red Army. . .. The heroism Soviet papers and broadcasts. Also. of the old Russian Guards was great on November 13. a leading article in indeed I They were born under the P'ravda admonished: leadership of that great Russian com­ "Everyone must fight for the honor mander, Peter the Great, in the of his regiment. Therefore he must temporary defeat of Narva, and covered INSIDE RUSSIA 99 themselves with immortal glory in the commanders and statesmen of the victory of Poltava. . .. Their flags and past. standards bore the marks of German, French, and Turkish bullets. •.. Whole RELIGIOUS IMAGES generations of warriors were brought This tendency towards the taking up in their fighting tradition. . .. over of old traditions does not even The magni.ficent name of a Guardsman stop at the otherwise forbidden sphere carries with it a great responsibility...• of religious feelings. This does not From him to whom much is given, mean that the Church, suppressed much is expected. • .• Many former consistently and bloodily for twenty­ Guardsmen have the great honor of four years, is now being treated with standing today in the ranks of the bighearted tolerance, as some people highest command of our glorious Red outside Russia may perhaps imagine, Army." Nevertheless, religious images and con­ ceptions are placed more and more at Thus the circle was closed: the pur­ the service of the defense of the Soviet pose of the title "Guards" is that the Union. At first, quite "by chance" soldiers and officers of the Red Army and apparently without any particular shall consider themselves direct de­ intention, a poem by a young author scendants of the old Tsarist Army was read in which the words of the and feel that they are "true Russian famous Russian Easter hymn occur: patriots." "Death is conquered by death" (Sme1'tytt smert poprav). They are to indicate IVAN THE TERRIBLE that like Christ the Soviet people dies Very often we hear the word and is resurrected. bogatyr (hero) in the Russian radio, A few days after that an article and again and again reference is made from Life was broadcast which re­ to legendary bogatyrs of ancient Rus­ ported on alleged plans of Hitler's to sian sagas, who fought heroically do away with all religions. (The against overwhelming odds. From month religious Russian listener should then to month the language grows more think: what a contrast to the USSR, nationalistic: where the publication of the anti­ "With pride and dignity we bear religious magazine The Godless has our name: we are Russians I We are been stopped.) On November 27 a fighting for the Russian people, for lecture was given over the Kuibyshev Russia. We are defending our sacred transmitter which ended in the follow­ homeland, our Russia, our Moscow I" ing almost biblical words: "Befm·e (4.11.41) Or: the Day of Judgment thou, my Russia, hast taken upon thyself the chastise­ "Like the iron regiments of Ivan ment of humanity. From us, from tIle Terrible march the divisions of the East, the sacred light will come." the Red Army and carryon the glorious tradition of Kutusov's army SACRED OR HOLY? of 1812. The soldiers are unshakably determined to defend the most precious A few weeks later a further step thing in the world: the Russian people I in the same direction was made. On It is clear: they are fighting for December 17, in the enumeration of Russia !" (6.11.41) the alleged terrible atrocities on the part of German troops, the following These are the words and images case was mentioned in the report of with which the Soviet radio speaks to the Soviet Bureau of Information: its listeners, day in and day out, words "In the village of Yershov a hundred which appeal to the nationalistic feel­ people were locked up in the church, ings of the Russians, images which, whereupon the church was blown up." in hours of darkness, are intended to That the emphasis in this tale was not recall the figures of the great Russian on the people killed but on the 100 THE XXth CENTURY destruction of the house of God be­ So they were not coincidences, these comes clear when one reads the closing remarks made from time to time words of the leading article of Pravda about the blowing up of churches, of the same day: "With holy fire in these appeals to the religious thoughts the soul, with holy thoughts, with and convictions of the Soviet subjects. faith in the complete annihilation of the The people were being prepared to see enemy: onward, comrades, warriors, in the Bolsheviks the guardians of the onward! Continue to strike down the religious feelings of the Russian masses, foe!" protecting the holy images and re­ specting God. But one should be Those who know conditions in the careful not to draw false conclusions Soviet Union will understand. During from these facts. This is anything the past twenty-four years only the but a return to Orthodox Russia. It word "sacred" (svyastchenny) could be is simply a shrewd device, a powerful used, never the word "holy" (svyatoy). snare with which to catch the Russian "Svyastchenny" is only a neutral people. secular expression, whereas "svyatoy" invokes religious ideas. So that when Pravda suddenly uses the expression PARTY AND PEOPLE "holy," it knows exactly what it is The third aim of the Bolshevist doing. program, we have said, was to unite party and people. Since the founding It is true, God Himself has not yet of the party by Lenin it has con­ been invoked, but His name, for twenty­ sciously been a small group of profes­ four years only the subject of profane sional revolutionaries. By occupying jokes, is now mentioned in quotations the key positions in Russia after the from Roosevelt and other allies. Revolution and by applying skillful propaganda and ruthless terror, it THE ICON'S DOILY managed to take the fate of Russia into its hands. But it remained In the discussion of Molotov's Note separated from the masses of the on the "monstrous atrocities of the people by a deep gulf. German troops," it was said (8.12.41): "The Fascists hate the national culture In the critical days of the late of the Soviet peoples. The religious summer of 1941 it became urgently feelings of the population are scorned," necessary to bring party and people A few days later this theme was closer together and, of course, at the brought out still more. It was "re· same time to take measures to ensure pol"tt::d" how an old woman in a village that the supremacy of the party could temporarily occupied by German troops not be jeopardized. It was the task complained to the returning Russian of the party to convince the Russians soldIers about the atrocities of the that their interests were identical and Germans. Pointing to the icon in the to safeguard itself by gaining control corner, she said: "They have even over a growing number of new party taken away the doily from under the members. image of Cod." (17.1.42) We record these little stories because JOIN THE PARTY! it is through the exceedingly clever Toward the end of September 1941 publicizing of such small incidents with the importance of accepting new a human touch-often read from letters members for the party was pointed written to each other by soldiers and out at a meeting of the Moscow Party their mothers or sweethearts-that the Committee. Since then a continuous Bolsheviks are achieving their greatest campaign has been carried on for the psychological successes. And we may winning of new members, and in radio add that by these means they have reports and newspapers frequent ac· succeeded abroad as well as at home. counts are given of the results. INSIDE RUSSIA 101

Time is pressing. Hence today, in meeting is held. Applications are read accepting new members for the party, out which say: 'We want to weld our the waiting periods formerly considered destiny to that of the Bolshevist necessary are no longer strictly adhered Party.'" (3.1.42) to, nor is the genuineness of the communist conviction of the novices so Or a girl was brought to the closely examined. The Central Com­ microphone, Anya Tuchkova. Anya mittee of the party issued a special said: "Our country is in danger. In ruling regarding the question of accept­ this dark hour of our land I have ing soldiers who had distinguished decided to join the party. (The girl'S themselves on the battlefield. Accord­ voice became hoarse from emotion.) ing to this, the party· organizations I am an industrious working girl. I were empowered to accept soldiers know no fatigue. I do my work, I who are candidates for party member­ stay in the factory till my task is ship as full-fledged members after done, and I swear(Anya's voice broke).... three months instead of after one and I swear that with my life and my year. For "war is the best test of death ... , (Anya burst into sobs) .... men." But not only the bravest and with my death, I will hold high the ablest soldiers and officers are needed banner of the party." (13.11.41) in the party; it was important that And the announcer closed the per­ as many as possible of the hardest­ formance with the words (in ancient working male and female workers, the Greece it was the chorus which ful­ most capable engineers and technicians, filled this part of the drama): .,Our the most industrious peasants and ancestors were brave and courageous. peasant women should join. It would For our country, for honor, for liberty, be suicide to do without such people in we too will fight bravely and coura­ such desperate times; moreover it would geously." be stupid to leave them to their own resources, for who knows what ideas Of course the composition of the they might get? party itself is altered to a consider­ Many are applying for party mem~ able degree by the numerous new mem­ bership. Once the notion that this bers. The type of the old party fight­ was a people's war had penetrated er had already largely fallen victim into many heads through measures to the "purges," and the Bolshevist described in the first part of our spirit of the new members is extremely article, the next logical step for them doubtful. Nevertheless the party can was to join the party,· as only the well afford to take this into the party offered full scope for their bargain. For the profits are undoubted­ energies in this war. ly bigger than this risk. It is probable that the party actually acquires the most capable engineers, the best work­ THE SENSE OF DRAMA ers, and the bravest soldiers. So weighty an event as joining the party must, of course, be accordingly 4900 PERCENTERS dressed up. So the Soviet Bureau of Information reported, for example, that Much has been achieved in the last in the last few days many soldiers have few months by the Bolshevist leader­ sent in their application for acceptance ship through the consistent psycholo­ in the party immediately before a battle gical belaboring of the population (as if it were a sacrificial act!) towards the three goals which we have Even in the remotest districts, pro­ described. But is this enough for the vision was made for a dramatic stag­ continuation of the war? In addition ing of the event. A report from it was necessary to increase industrial Siberia said: "Blizzard. A forest. A and agricultural production in order to company on the march halts. A party replace at least in part the losses of 102 THE XXth CENTURY

the occupied zones in western Russia cost of the substance and cannot be and the Ukraine. repeated. For instance. one can collect Listening to the Russian programs scrap iron and used nails once or twice of the Soviet transmitters one gains and use them again. or re-employ old an impression of the innumerable tools and discarded spare parts. But methods by which this is to be the more thorough are such collections. achieved. New slogans abound by for which children are now being em­ which the people are spurred on to ployed, the fewer of these old things ever greater efforts. There is, for will there be to collect in the future. example, a movement of the two The more old spare parts are installed. hundred and three hundred percenters, the faster must the remaining good that is, of those who accomplish two parts of the machine be worn out. to three hundred per cent or more of the required work average (recently HARROWS FOR TRACTORS even a "four thousand nine hundred percenter" was mentioned. 5.1.42). We have a similar picture in agricul­ Then there is the movement for vol­ ture. The following was said of the untary Sunday work, that of the district of Kbabarovsk: "The majority mnogostanotchniki (multi-workbenchers) of the kolchosy has not completed the who simultaneously run several work plans for increased production." In benches. And then there are the itself this is not to be wondered at, mobilization of women, girl, and child for one can hardly expect agriculture workers, measures for saving coal and to carry out plans for increased pro­ oil, etc. duction which were made in the middle of the year. The question is whether AND THE RESULTS? the successes will be greater by next spring, and here considerable skepticism For military reasons the Soviet is justifiable. The main difficulty is Union bas for some time not issued the lack of tractive power. Almost all production figures for the whole experienced tractor drivers had to be country, but the radio quite often re­ trained for tanks. The new ones are ports partial results from individual still inexperienced. It is becoming industries and districts. For example, more and more difficult to obtain spare in connection with the Sixth Plenary parts for tractors. as the industrial Meeting of the Party Committee in plants are in part in German-occupied Khabarovsk in December 1941 quite a territory, and bad to switch to tank lot was said about production in the production. The supply of oil is also Far East. inadequate. Hence reports are be­ Taking the entire economy of coming frequent that old-fashioned and the Far East, it seems that the quotas primitive agricultural implements, such were at best just filled. and this in as hand plows and harrows-to which spite of all exhortations. At the same the modern Soviet Union felt itself so time the price attached to this squeez­ superior-must be put back into use. ing-out of the utmost in work produc­ That again brings up another difficulty. tion is very high. To give to the two the lack of horses, the number of and three hundred percenters the op­ wbich is hardly more than half of what portunity of overfilling their quotas it was before collectivization. Reports others must stand back in their pro­ of cows being used as tractive power duction. Moreover it does not speak are increasing. well for the average quotas if it is Every day the radio speaks about possible for individual workers to sur­ additional gifts of cattle and meat pass them by two, three, or forty-nine from the farms to the State. These times. collections go considerably beyond the Much of what has been achieved natural'increase, so that they are also during the last two months was at the made at the cost of the substance. INSIDE RUSSIA 103

Hence the greatest danger, seen TO THOSE WHO REJOICE economically and psychologically, to the Soviet Union lies in the fact that she This is the picture of Inside Russia. is living today almost entirely on her There are those who rejoice at this, substance. And these losses in sub­ who welcome every indication of con­ stance will, within the next few months, tinued Soviet resistance, and who hope grow like an avalanche. for a final Soviet victory. There are also those who are willing to turn over WHAT IS NOT MENTIONED Europe to Stalin as a reward for his sacrificing millions of Russians. To all On many other points which are of of them two things should become burning interest to the world, the clear from an examination of this Russian radio and' press are silent. For picture of recent Soviet developments: it there do not exist the tremendous problems and sufferings entailed by the First, that this so-called national war flight and forced migration of countless is only an instrument for the support millions from western and central of Bolshevism, not a return to national Russia to the east and to Siberia. It Russia. The clever men in the Kremlin does not speak of the victims of the know that they must offer the Russian war, unless they can be used to create masses something if these are to be feelings of revenge and hatred against willing to bleed on the battlefields or Germany. It does not mention the grim starve in the evacuations. They treat terror and the frantic spy-hunting in the people like an emotional woman, the Soviet Union, nor the difficulties whom they try with all their cunning to in caring for the sick and wounded. make compliant to their wishes. They (And only those who in peace time have themselves follow very definite aims. been patients in the best hospital of But they know they cannot tell her the Soviet Union in Moscow can imagine that. She must be won by stirring and what the hundreds of thousands of dramatic words. A victorious Stalin wounded must go through in the dis­ would sit more firmly than e\ er in the organized hinterland of the war.) It saddle and would soon forget the old says nothing about the forced moving Tsarist Guards and the icons in the into Siberia of half a million farmers corner of the peasant's hut. If the of German descent, whose ancestors. at Soviet Union of today really were a the time of Catherine the Great, settled national Russia, as Stalin would have on the Volga and who were making the world believe, Germany would long their living there as peaceful peasants. since have made peace with her, for It hardly mentions the war in the the last thing Germany desired wa' a Pacific. national war against the Russian people. It says nothing about the minority problem, today more important than Secondly, that a Bolshevist victory ever, the significance of which we would signify the Bolshevization of pointed out in the November issue of Europe. What that means can only be this magazine. The more nationalisti­ fully grasped by those who have lived cally Russian the Bolsheviks are forced in the Soviet Union during the last to behave (appealing to the Russian twenty-four years, or in the Baltic people with the ideas of Russian history States in 1940. But even those who and messiahship and emphasizing the have not should comprehend that in a indivisibility of the Empire in spite of Bolshevist Europe - and who but the its many national minorities), and theless German Army can now prevent the they have to consider the already lost Bolshevization of Europe? - neither De territories of the Ukraine and White Gaulle nor Queen Wilhelmina. nor the Russia-the more they repel the remain­ other shadow figures in London, nor ing many millions of non-Russians in the European and Russian emigrants, the USSR. will have anything to say. 104 THE XXth CENTURY

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT being artfully provoked, hammered, and forged in order to bring the beating Those who believe that Stalin with of its heart into a perfectly planned his wiles wants to force the Russian rhythm. Dazzled by the unexpected people to fight only against the German gift of national and holy phrases, Army. are mistaken. It is true intoxicated by streams of its own and that at first the feelings of hatred foreign blood, driven wild by the and revenge being fanned were direct­ ruins of a vast destruction, it is in ed against the German Army only. danger, after twenty-four years of But lately they have been given much suffering resistance, of being finally wider scope. In the discussion of the harnessed to Bolshevism for the pur­ Molotov Note concerning the alleged poses of the World Revolution. German atrocities, the following was declared on January 6, 1942: If this development continues, it will lead to sacrifices on the part of the "We shall settle accounts, not only Russian people that can never be re­ with those who rob our people, but placed. Germany must wage this war also with those who make use of the to its end as long as Russia is a tool plunder. All German women wearing of Bolshevism. Today it is that more such things should not forget that than it has ever been since November they will have to pay for them. And 1917. The more the Kremlin succeeds they will have to pay a price that in identifying the Russian people with will go many times beyond the market Bolshevism, the bloodier must the Russian price of those articles .. .. Terrible losses be. Making use of the winter retaliation will be meted out." months, Germany-no longer under­ rating the Red armies-is preparing The Red Kremlin can speak frankly for the spring with the resources of since it has been accepted as an equal all Europe at her disposal. What we partner by the Anglo-Saxon powers, shall probably witness soon will I e an since the Soviet flag has been raised all-out attack against a Russia already on official buildings in Washington and terribly weakened by losses in men, London and telegrams of congratulation land, and industries. were dispatched to Stalin by short­ sighted kings. The final outcome can, in the light of the successes of the Ger­ • • • man armies in the years 1939-41, scarcely be doubtful. Even the Allies In the picture that we have drawn in London and Washington will hardly in this article from the Soviet press entertain any false hopes on that and the daily broadcasts of Soviet account. For England continues to fight stations, there is nothing to rejoice today with her confidence not in Stalin about, for anyone. For it preludes but in Roosevelt. the terrible tragedy of a great nation. Whoever collaborates in this fiction Here is what may happen: the of a Russian national war and pro­ Russians, with their proud history and pagates it, falls victim to wishful cultural traditions, with their magni­ thinking or Soviet propaganda. He ficent literature and music, and with takes a share in the responsibility the promise of great contributions in of spreading a dreadful bacillus and the future-this nation, including its dragging the Russian people into a refugees, is in danger of becoming the catastrophe which has no equivalent in willing tool of Bolshevism as the European history and which is deserved victim of a crafty plan. Day and night only by the present leaders of the its deepest and most sacred emotions are Russian population.