The Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30

Description

The Russian Workers’ Opposition in 1919-21 advocated trade union management of the Soviet economy and worker dominance of the Russian Communist Party’s leading bodies. The Workers’ Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30 comprises articles, speeches, theses, memoranda, protocols, resolutions, letters, diary entries, and other documents pertaining to the activity of the Workers’ Opposition group during its existence and of its individual former members after the group dissolved and until its key members ceased their participation in dissenting political activities by 1930. Most of the documents in the collection have never before been published in English and many have not been published in Russian. It will appeal to those who study Marxism, trade unions, and Soviet history. ‎Contents ‎Acknowledgements ‎Explanatory Notes ‎Abbreviations and Acronyms ‎Introduction ‎Chapter 1. Background to the Trade Union Debate, March 1919–Autumn 1920: the Workers’ Opposition in Formation ‎1. Economic Section of RCP(b) Programme, Point 5, Adopted at the Eighth Congress of the RCP(b), March 1919 ‎2. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Specialists’ ‎3. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Wages and Labour Productivity’ ‎4. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Production and Productivity’ ‎5. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Industrial Productivity’ ‎6. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Report to a Meeting of the All-Russian Metalworkers’ Union (VSRM) Central Committee, the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS), and Other Union Personnel, Autumn 1919 ‎7. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Tasks of the Russian Proletariat’s Economic Organisations’ ‎8. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Notes, January–February 1920 ‎9. Speeches by Iu.Kh. Lutovinov and A.S. Kiselev at the Ninth Congress of the RCP(b), March–April 1920 ‎10. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Relations between the Russian Communist Party, the Soviets, and Production Unions’ ‎11. Speeches by Iu.Kh. Lutovinov, S.P. Medvedev, I.I. Kutuzov, and A.M. Kollontai at the Ninth Conference of the RCP(b), September 1920 ‎12. Iu.Kh. Lutovinov’s Proposals to the Ninth Conference of the RCP(b), September 1920 ‎13. N. Kopylov, ‘That Which Needs to be Destroyed: “Higher-Ups” and “Rank-and-File”’ ‎14. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Notes, Circa October 1920 ‎15. Theses Presented to Some Party Cells and to the Central Committee of the All-Russian Metalworkers’ Union in the Autumn of 1920 ‎16. Iu.Kh. Lutovinov, Letter to Ukrainian Comrades, 23 October 1920 ‎17. Remarks by I.N. Perepechko, Antonov, and G.E. Zinoviev at the Fifth Conference of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine (CP(b)U), 17–22 November 1920, Kharkov ‎18. Letter from G.E. Zinoviev to I.N. Perepechko, 26 November 1920, with Excerpts from Perepechko’s Letter to Zinoviev ‎19. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Tasks of Workers’ Unions’ ‎20. Circular of the All-Russian Union of Metalworkers Communist Faction Bureau about Organising Party Cells in the Provinces, Moscow, 16 December 1920 ‎Chapter 2. The Trade Union Discussion, December 1920–March 1921: the Workers’ Opposition as a Fully-Formed Legal Faction ‎1. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Speech at the Eighth Congress of Soviets, Moscow, 30 December 1920 ‎2. Theses of the Workers Opposition: Tasks of Trade Unions ‎3. Iu.Kh. Lutovinov, Report to the All-Russian Trade Union Council (VTsSPS) on the Work of the November–December 1920 Trade Union Commission ‎4. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Economic Organisation and Unions’ Tasks: For Discussion’ ‎5. A.M. Kollontai, ‘Time to Analyse’ ‎6. A.M. Kollontai’s Corrections to the Theses on Party Building ‎7. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Our Intraparty Disagreements’ ‎8. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Speeches to the Communist Faction of the Second All-Russian Congress of Mineworkers ‎9. N. Kopylov, ‘Mistake or Urgent Task?’ ‎10. N.M. Tikhonravov, Supplement to the Theses of the Workers’ Opposition about the Tasks of Trade Unions ‎11. Polosatov’s and Kuznetsov’s Speeches at the Fourth CP(b)U Conference of Donetsk Gubernia, 16–18 February 1921 ‎12. Documents from Samara about the Debates over Party Building, Culture, and the Tasks of Trade Unions, February 1921 ‎13. [A.D.] Sirotin, ‘Theses for the Report about Party Building’, Eighth Samara Gubernia RCP(b) Conference, January 1921 ‎14. Iu.K. Milonov, ‘Theses: the Content of our Cultural Work’, Eighth Samara Gubernia RCP(b) Conference ‎15. Iu.K. Milonov, ‘Trade Unions and Their Role in the Economic Life of the Country: Theses of a Report to the Eighth Samara Gubernia Conference of the RCP(b)’ ‎16. Speeches, Resolutions, Materials, and Declarations Relating to the Workers’ Opposition at the Tenth Party Congress, March 1921 ‎17. Iu.K. Milonov, ‘Assembly of Former Underground Party Members during the Tenth Party Congress’ ‎Chapter 3. From the Ban on Factions through the Eleventh Party Congress, 1921–2: Former Worker Oppositionists Respond to the New Economic Policy and to Repression against Them ‎1. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Entries, March–April 1921 ‎2. Appeals of the Worker-Peasant Socialist Party Led by Vasily Paniushkin, Early 1921 ‎3. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘To the Fourth Congress of the All-Russian Metalworkers’ Union (VSRM)’ ‎4. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Our Economic Policy and Practice’ ‎5. Speeches Protesting Against Party Appointment of Metalworkers’ Union Leaders; Protocols of the RCP CC’s Commission, the Bureau of the Communist Faction, and the Communist Faction of the Congress; and Other Materials Relating to the Fourth Congress of the Metalworkers’ Union in May 1921 ‎6. A.M. Kollontai’s Speech to the Third Comintern Congress, 5 June 1921 ‎7. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Entries, July–August 1921 ‎8. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov to S.P. Medvedev, 28 June 1921 ‎9. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov and S.P. Medvedev to the Politburo and VTsSPS, July 1921, Protesting VSNKh Decrees ‎10. Letter from [A.G. Shliapnikov] to Comrade [N.S.] Mamchenko, 6 July 1921 ‎11. Letter from F.A. Mitin to S.P. Medvedev, Summer 1921 ‎12. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov to F.A. Mitin ‎13. Protocol and Resolution from a Meeting of RCP(b) Members Who Had Belonged to the Workers’ Opposition, 8 July 1921 ‎14. Resolution Offered by Aleksei Sovetov to the Delegates’ Assembly of the Bauman District RCP(b) Organisation, 29 July 1921 ‎15. Letter Received by Ukrainian Comrades in 1921 from a Former Member of the Workers’ Opposition, perhaps Ivan Perepechko ‎16. Letter from Levit of the Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands (KAPD) to A.G. Shliapnikov, 30 August 1921, and Shliapnikov’s Signed Response, 31 August 1921 ‎17. Excerpts from Speeches at the All-Russian Union of Metalworkers Central Committee Plenum, 17–21 October 1921 ‎18. Iu.Kh. Lutovinov’s Speech to the Eleventh Party Conference, 19–22 December 1921, and Related Party Documents ‎19. Undated Minutes from a Meeting of the Workers’ Opposition or the 22 ‎20. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Letter to the Politburo about the Genoa Conference, February 1922 ‎21. Protocol of a 10 February 1922 Meeting of a Group of 25 Delegates to the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Metalworkers and Other Minutes from Meetings of Those Who Would Sign the Letter of the 22 ‎22. Letter of the 22 to the Comintern, Signed by Shliapnikov, Kollontai, et al ‎23. Comparison of Those Signing the Letter of the 22 and the Theses of the Workers’ Opposition ‎24. Selected Speeches at the Meeting of the RCP(b) Faction of the Fifth Congress of the Metalworkers’ Union, 2–7 March 1922 ‎25. Letter from Z.L. Shadurskaia to the Politburo, 8 March 1922 ‎26. Letter from S.P. Medvedev to the Orgburo, 9 March 1922 ‎27. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Correspondence Regarding the 22, March 1922 ‎28. Party Central Control Commission (CCC) Questioning of the 22, 17 March 1922 ‎29. Letter from V.L. Paniushkin in Support of Shliapnikov and Medvedev, on the Eve of the Eleventh Party Congress ‎30. N. Kopylov, ‘For a United Party’ ‎31. Eleventh Congress of the RCP(b), March–April 1922, Published Speeches at Open Sessions, Unpublished Speeches at 2 April 1922 Closed Session, Published Resolution and other Materials Relating to the Former Workers’ Opposition ‎32. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Entries on the Appeal of the 22 and on the Eleventh Party Congress ‎33. Letter from A.M. Kollontai to the Comintern Executive Committee, Copying the Politburo, 15 March 1922 ‎34. Letter from A.M. Kollontai to the Editorial Board of the ‘Communist Worker Newspaper’ of Germany, Requesting That It Cease Publication of Her Brochure, Rabochaia Oppozitsiia, 22 September 1921 ‎35. Iu.K. Milonov, ‘On the Way to a Worker Encyclopedia: Instead of a Preface’ ‎Chapter 4. Former Worker Oppositionists in the Debates of the NEP Era and during the First Five-Year Plan, 1922–30 ‎1. Letter from S.P. Medvedev in Berlin to A.G. Shliapnikov in Moscow, 26 September 1922 ‎2. Iu.Kh. Lutovinov’s Speech at the Twelfth RCP(b) Congress, 17–25 April 1923 ‎3. S.P. Medvedev’s Notes from 6 December 1923, Possibly from a Private Talk Given in Moscow by a German Communist ‎4. N.A. Kubiak’s Speech to the Thirteenth Party Conference, 17 January 1924 ‎5. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Our Differences’, Pravda, 18 January 1924 ‎6. Resolution Proposed by A.G. Shliapnikov and Others from the Former Workers’ Opposition, [January] 1924 ‎7. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Speeches at the Second Khamovniki District Party Conference, Moscow, 7–10 January 1924 ‎8. S.P. Medvedev, ‘Letter to a Baku Comrade’, 1924 ‎9. Letter from S.P. Medvedev in Moscow to A.G. Shliapnikov in France, 27 December 1924, and A.G. Shliapnikov’s Answering Letter, Dated 7 January 1925, Written in Paris ‎10. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Features of the Current Moment: About Results of the Fourteenth Party Conference’, with S.P. Medvedev’s Suggested Changes, May 1925 ‎11. A.M. Kollontai’s Diary Notes, February 1926 and November [1927] ‎12. Letter from I.I. Nikolaenko, Kiev [to A.G. Shliapnikov and S.P. Medvedev], circa 1926 ‎13. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov, Moscow, to [I.I. Nikolaenko], 12 May 1926 ‎14. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘About a Demonstrative Attack and the Rightist Danger in the Party’ ‎15. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov and S.P. Medvedev to the CCC Presidium and the Politburo of the CC VKP(b), 17 September 1926 ‎16. Letters from A.G. Shliapnikov and S.P. Medvedev to the Politburo, CC, and CCC VKP(b), October 1926 ‎17. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Letter to the Editor’ ‎18. Undated Letter from Unknown Person (Perhaps Mariia Trifonova), to Which Shliapnikov Replied in a 19 July 1927 Letter ‎19. Letter from Aleksandr [Shliapnikov] to Unknown Person, 19 July 1927 ‎20. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Lessons of Intraparty Struggle’ ‎21. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘For Industrialisation and For Socialism’ ‎22. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘Letter to the Editor’ ‎23. A.G. Shliapnikov’s Letter to the Bureau of the Omsk District (Okrug) Party Committee, 4 April 1930 ‎24. A.G. Shliapnikov, ‘A Big Mistake by a Small Group in Omsk’, 28 February 1930: Excerpts ‎25. Letter from A.G. Shliapnikov and S.P. Medvedev to the CCC, 28 April 1930, with a Copy to the Politburo ‎Biographical Glossary ‎Bibliography ‎Index