ANTE CILIGA ON TROTSKY AND THE KRONSTADT REVOLT

1938
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"he correspondence between "rotsk# and Wendelin "homas $one of the leaders of the revolt in the %erman &av# in '(')* and a member of the American +ommittee of ,n-uir# into the Moscow "rials. regarding the historical significance of the events in /ronstadt in '(0'* has given rise to widespread international discussion. "hat in itself indicates the importance of the problem. 1n the other hand* it is no accident that special interest should be shown in the /ronstadt revolt toda#2 that there is an analog#* a direct link even between what happened at /ronstadt '3 #ears ago* and the recent trials at Moscow* is onl# too apparent.4 "oda# we witness the murder of the leaders of the Russian revolution2 in '(0' it was the masses who formed the basis of the revolution who were massacred. Would it be possible toda# to disgrace and uppress the leaders of 1ctober without the slightest protest from the people* if these leaders had not alread# b# armed force silenced the /ronstadt sailors and the workers all over Russia5 "rotsk#4s repl# to Wendelin "homas shows that unfortunatel# "rotsk# 6 who is* together with talin* the onl# one of the leaders of the 1ctober revolution concerned in the suppression of /ronstadt who remains alive 6 still refuses to look at the past ob7ectivel#. 8urthermore* in his article Too Much Noise About Kronstadt $http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/russia/kronstadt/trotsk#!hue!cr#.html.* he increases the gulf which he created at that time between the working masses and himself2 he does not hesitate* after having ordered their bombardment in '(0' to describe these men toda# as 4completel# demoralised elements* men who wore elegant wide trousers and did their hair like pimps4. &o9 It is not with accusations of this kind* which reek of bureaucratic arrogance* that a useful contribution can be made to the lessons of the great Russian revolution.

In order to assess the influence that /ronstadt has had on the outcome of the revolution* it is necessar# to avoid all personal issues* and direct attention to three fundamental -uestions: (1) In what general circumstances the /ronstadt revolt arose5 (2) What were the aims of the movement5 (3) :# what means did the insurgents attempt to achieve these aims5

THE MASSES AND THE BUREAUCRACY IN 1920-21

,ver#one now agrees that during the winter of '(0; to '(0' the Russian revolution was passing through an e<tremel# critical phase. "he offensive against Poland had ended in defeat at Warsaw* the social revolution had not broken out in the West* the Russian revolution had become isolated* famine and disorganisation had sei=ed the entire countr#. "he peril of bourgeois restoration knocked at the door of the revolution. At this moment of crisis the different classes and parties which e<isted within the revolutionar# camp each presented their solution for its resolution. "he oviet %overnment and the higher circles in the +ommunist Part# applied their own solution of increasing the power of the bureaucrac#. "he attribution of powers to the 4,<ecutive +ommittees4 which had hitherto been vested in the soviets* the replacement of the dictatorship of the class b# the dictatorship of the part#* the shift of authorit# even within the part# from its members to its cadres* the replacement of the double power of the bureaucrac# and the workers in the factor# b# the sole power of the former 6 to do all this was to 4save the Revolution94 It was at this moment that :ukharin put forward his plea for a 4proletarian :onapartism4. 4:# placing restrictions on itself the proletariat would* according to him* facilitate the struggle against the bourgeois counter6revolution. >ere was manifested alread# the enormous -uasi6messianic self6importance of the +ommunist :ureaucrac#. "he &inth and "enth +ongresses of the +ommunist Part#* as well as the intervening #ear passed beneath the auspices of this new polic#. ?enin rigidl# carried it through* "rotsk# sang its praises. "he :ureaucrac# prevented the bourgeois restoration . . . b# eliminating the proletarian character of the revolution. "he formation of the Workers4 1pposition within the part#* which was supported not onl# b# the proletarian faction in the part# itself but also b# the great mass of unorganised workers* the general strike of the Petrograd workers a short time before the /ronstadt revolt and finall# the insurrection itself* all e<pressed the aspirations of the masses who felt* more or less clearl#* that a 4third part#4 was about to destro# their +on-uests. "he movement of poor peasants led b# Makhno in the @kraine was the outcome of similar resistance in similar circumstances. If the struggles of A(0;6 '(0' are e<amined in the light of the historical material now available* one is struck b# the wa# that these scattered masses* starved and enfeebled b# economic disorganisation* nevertheless had the strength to formulate for themselves with such precision their social and political Position* and at the same time to defend themselves against the bureaucrac# and against the bourgeoisie.

THE KRONSTADT PROGRAMME

We shall not content ourselves* like "rotsk#* with simple declarations* so we submit to readers the resolution which served as a programme for the /ronstadt movement. We reproduce it in full* because of its immense historical importance. It was adopted on 8ebruar# 0)th b# the sailors of the battleship 4Petropavlovsk4* and was subse-uentl# accepted b# all the sailors* soldiers and workers of /ronstadt. After having heard the representatives delegated b# the general meeting of ships4 crew to report on the situation in Petrograd this assembl# takes the following decisions:

1.

eeing that the present soviets do not e<press the wishes of the workers and peasants* to organise immediatel# re6elections to the oviets with ecret vote* and with care to organise free electoral propaganda for all workers and peasants.

2. "o grant libert# of speech and of press to the workers and peasants* to the
anarchists and the left socialist parties.

3. "o secure freedom of assembl# for labour unions and peasant 1rganisations. 4. "o call a non6partisan +onference of the workers* Red Arm# 5. "o liberate all political prisoners of
oldiers and sailors of Petrograd* /ronstadt* and of Petrograd province* no later than March ';th* '(0'. ocialist parties as well as all workers* peasants* soldiers and ailors imprisoned in connection with the labour and peasant movements.

6. "o elect a +ominission to review the cases of those held in prisons and
concentration camps.

. "o abolish all 4politodeli4 because no part# should be given special privileges in the
propagation of its ideas or receive financial upport from the government for such purposes. Instead there should be established educational and cultural commissions* locall# elected and financed b# the government.

!. "o abolish immediatel# all 4Bagr#aditelni#e otr#adi4. 9. "o e-uali=e all the rations of all who work with the e<ception of those emplo#ed in
trades detrimental to health.

10. "o abolish the communist fighting detachments in all branches of the arm#* as
well as the communist guards kept on dut# in mills and factories. hould such guards or militar# detachments be found necessar# the# are to be appointed in the arm# from the ranks* and in the factories according to the 7udgement of the workers.

11. "o give the peasants full freedom of action in regard to their land and also the
right to keep cattle on condition that the peasants manage with their own means2 that is* without emplo#ing hired labour.

12. "o re-uest all branches of the Arm#* as well as our comrades the militar#
4kursanti4 to concur in our resolutions.

13. "o demand that the press give the fullest publicit# to our resolutions. 14. "o appoint a travelling commission of control. 15. "o permit free artisan production which does not emplo# hired labour.
"hese are primitive formulations* insufficient no doubt* but all of them impregnated with the spirit of 1ctober2 and no calumn# in the world can cast a doubt on the intimate connection e<isting between this resolution and the sentiments which guided the e<propriations of '('3. "he depth of principle which animates this resolution is shown b# the fact that it is still to a great e<tent applicable. 1ne can* in fact* oppose it as well to the talin regime of '(C)* as to that of ?enin in '(0'. More even than that: the accusations of "rotsk# himself against talin4s regime are onl# reproductions* timid ones* it is true* of the /ronstadt claims. :esides* what other programme which is at all socialist could be set up against the bureaucratic oligarch# e<cept that of /ronstadt and the Workers4 1pposition5 "he appearance of this resolution demonstrates the close connections which e<isted between the movements of Petrograd and /ronstadt. "rotsk#4s attempt to set the workers of Petrograd against those of /ronstadt in order to confirm the legend of the counter6revolutionar# nature of the /ronstadt movement* comes back on "rotsk# himself: in '(0'* "rotsk# pleaded the necessit# under which ?enin was situated in 7ustification of the suppression of democrac# in the oviets and in the part#* and accused the masses inside and outside the part# of s#mpathising with /ronstadt >e admitted therefore that at that time the Petrograd workers and the opposition although the# had not resisted b# force of arms* none the less e<tended their s#mpath# to /ronstadt. "rotsk#4s subse-uent assertion that "the insurrection was inspired by the desire to obtain a privileged ration" is still more wild. "hus* it is one of these privileged people of the /remlin* the rations for whom were ver# much better than those of others* who dares to hurl a similar reproach* and that at the ver# men who in paragraph ( of their resolution* e<plicitl# demanded e-ualisation of rations9 "his detail shows the desperate e<tent of "rotsk#4s bureaucratic blindness. "rotsk#4s articles do not depart in the slightest degree from the legend created long ago b# the +entral +ommittee of the Part#. "rotsk# certainl# deserves credit from the international working class for having refused since '(0C to continue to participate in the bureaucratic degeneration and in the new 4purges4 which were destined to deprive the Revolution of all its left6wing elements. >e deserves still more to be defended against talin4s calumn# and assassins. :ut all this does not give "rotsk# the right to insult the working masses of '(0'. 1n the contrar#9 More than an#one else* "rotsk# should furnish a new appreciation of the initiative taken at /ronstadt. An initiative of great historic value* an initiative taken b# rank6and6file militants in the struggle against the first bloodstained 4purge4 undertaken b# the bureaucrac#.

"he attitude of the Russian workers during the tragic winter of '(0;6'(0' shows a profound social instinct2 and a noble heroism inspired the working classes of Russia nor onl# at the height of the Revolution but also at the crisis which placed it in mortal danger. &either the /ronstadt fighters* nor the Petrograd workers* nor the ranks of the +ommunists could summon* it is true* in that winter the same revolutionar# energ# as in '('3 to '('(* but what there was of socialism and revolutionar# feeling in the Russia of '(0' was possessed b# the rank6and6file. In their 1Pposition to this* ?enin and "rotsk#* in line with talin* with Binoviev* /aganovitch* and others responded to the wishes and served the interests of the bureaucratic cadres. "he workers struggled for the socialism which the bureaucrac# were alread# in the process of li-uidating. "hat is the fundamental point of the whole problem.

KRONSTADT AND THE NEP

People often believe that /ronstadt forced the introduction of the &ew ,conomic Polic# $&,P. 6 a profound error. "he /ronstadt resolution pronounced in favour of the defence of the workers* not onl# against the bureaucratic capitalism of the tate* but also against the restoration of private capitalism. "his restoration was demanded 6 in 1pposition to /ronstadt 6 b# the social democrats* who combined it with a regime of political democrac#. And it was ?enin and "rotsk# who to a great e<tent realised it $but without political democrac#. in the form of the &,P. "he /ronstadt resolution declared for the 1pposite ince it declared itself against the emplo#ment of wage labour in agriculture and small industr#. "his resolution* and the movement underl#ing* sought for a revolutionar# alliance of the proletarian and peasant workers with the poorest sections of the countr# labourers* in order that the revolution might develop towards socialism. "he &,P* on the other hand* was a union of bureaucrats with the upper la#ers of the village against the proletariat2 it was the alliance of tate capitalism and private capitalism against socialism. "he &,P is as much opposed to the /ronstadt demands as* for e<ample* the revolutionar# socialist programme of the vanguard of the ,uropean workers for the abolition of the Dersailles s#stem* is opposed to the abrogation of the "reat# of Dersailles achieved b# >itler. ?et us consider* finall#* one last accusation which is commonl# circulated: that action such as that at /ronstadt could have indirectl# let loose the forces of the counter6revolution. It is possible indeed that even b# placing itself on a footing of workers4 democrac# the revolution might have been overthrown2 but what is certain is that it has perished* and that it has perished on account of the polic# of its leaders. "he repression of /ronstadt* the suppression of the democrac# of workers and soviets b# the Russian +ommunist part#* the elimination of the proletariat from the management of industr#* and the introduction of the &,P* alread# signified the death of the Revolution. It was precisel# the end of the civil war which produced the splitting of the post6revolutionar# societ# into two fundamental groupings: the working masses and the bureaucrac#. As far as its socialist and internationalist aspirations were concerned* the Russian Revolution was stifled: in its nationalist* bureaucratic* and state capitalist tendencies* it developed and consolidated itself. It was from this point onwards* and on this basis* each #ear more and more clearl#* that the :olshevik repudiation of moralit#* so fre-uentl# evoked* took on a development which had to lead to the Moscow "rials. "he implacable logic of things has manifested itself. While the revolutionaries* remaining such onl# in words* accomplished in fact the task of the reaction and counter6revolution* the# were compelled* inevitabl#* to have recourse to lies* to calumn# and falsification. "his s#stem

of generalised l#ing is the result* not the cause* of the separation of the :olshevik part# from socialism and from the proletariat. In order to corroborate this statement* I shall -uote the testimon# regarding /ronstadt of men I have met in oviet Russia. 4"he men of /ronstadt9 "he# were absolutel# right2 the# intervened in order to defend the Petrograd workers: it was a tragic misunderstanding on the part of ?enin and "rotsk#* that instead of agreeing with them* the# gave them battle*4 said Ech. to me in '(C0. >e was a non6part# worker in Petrograd in '(0'* whom I knew in the political isolator at Derkhne6@ralsk as a "rotsk#ist. "It is a myth that, from the social point of view, Kronstadt of 1 !1 had a wholly different population from that of 1 1"," another man from Petrograd* Ev.* said to me in prison. In '(0' he was a member of the +ommunist #outh* and was imprisoned in '(C0 as a 4decist4 $a member of apronov4s group of 4Eemocratic +entralists4.. I also had the 1pportunit# of knowing one of the most effective participants in the /ronstadt rebellion. >e was an old marine engineer* a communist since '('3* who had* during the civil war* taken an active part* directing at one time a "cheka in a province somewhere on the Dolga* and found himself in '(0' at /ronstadt as a political commissar on the warship 4Marat4 $e< 4Petropavlovsk4.. When I saw him* in '(C;* in the ?eningrad prison* he had 7ust spent the previous eight #ears in the olovietski islands.

THE METHODS O" STRUGG#E

"he /ronstadt workers pursued revolutionar# aims in struggling against the reactionar# tendencies of the bureaucrac#* and the# used clean and honest methods. In contrast* the bureaucrac# slandered their movement odiousl#* pretending that it was led b# %eneral /o=lovski. Actuall#* the men of /ronstadt honestl# desired* as comrades* to discuss the -uestions at issue with the representatives of the government. "heir action* had at first* a defensive character 6 that is the reason wh# the# did not occup# 1ranienbaum in time* situated on the coast opposite /ronstadt. Right from the start* the Petrograd bureaucrats made use of the s#stem of hostages b# arresting the families of the sailors* Red Arm# soldiers and workers of /ronstadt who were living in Petrograd because several commissars in /ronstadt 6 not one of whom was shot 6 had been arrested. "he news of the sei=ing of hostages was brought to the knowledge of /ronstadt b# means of leaflets dropped from aeroplanes. In their repl# b# radio* /ronstadt declared on March 3th "that they did not wish to imitate #etrograd as they considered that such an act, even when carried out in an e$cess of desperation and hate, is most shameful and most cowardly from every point of view% &istory has not yet 'nown a similar procedure". "he new governing cli-ue understood much better than the /ronstadt 4rebels4 the significance of the social struggle which was beginning* the depth of the class6 antagonism which separated it from the workers. It is in this that lies the traged2 of revolutions in the period of their decline. :ut while militar# conflict was forced upon /ronstadt* the# still found the strength to formulate the programme for the 4third revolution4* which remains since then the programme of the Russian socialism of the future.

BA#ANCE SHEET
"here are reasons for thinking that granted the relation between the forces of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie* of socialism and capitalism* which e<isted in Russia and ,urope at the beginning of '(0'*the struggle for the socialist development of the Russian Revolution was doomed to defeat. In those conditions the socialist programme of the masses could not con-uer: it had to depend on the triumph of the counter6revolution whether openl# declared or camouflaged under an aspect of degenerac# $as has been produced in fact.. :ut such a conception of the progress of the Russian Revolution does not diminish in the slightest* in the realms of principle* the historic importance of the programme and the efforts of the working masses. 1n the contrar#* this programme constitutes the point of departure from which a new c#cle in the revolutionar# socialist development will begin. In fact* each new revolution begins not on the basis from which the preceding one started* but from the point at which the revolution before it had undergone a moral set6back. "he e<perience of the degeneration of the Russian Revolution places anew before the conscience of international socialism an e<tremel# important sociological problem. In the Russian revolution* as in two other great revolutions* those of ,ngland and of 8rance* wh# is it that it is from the inside that the counter6revolution has triumphed* at the moment when the revolutionar# forces were e<hausted* and b# means of the revolutionar# part# itself $4purged4* it is true of its left6wing elements.5 Mar<ism believes that the socialist revolution* once begun* would either be assured of a gradual and continued development towards integral socialism* or would be defeated through the agenc# of bourgeois restoration. Altogether* the Russian Revolution poses in an entirel# new wa# the problem of the mechanism of the socialist revolution. "his -uestion must become paramount in international discussion. In such discussion the problem of /ronstadt can and must have a position worth# of it.
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