Chapter I: Front Matter

“THE GREATEST FAILURE
IN ALL HISTORY”

BOOKS BY

JOHN SPARGO

“THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY”
RUSSIA AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BOLSHEVISM
BOLSHEVISM
AMERICANISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY EXPLAINED

HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK
ESTABLISHED 1817

“THE GREATEST FAILURE
IN ALL HISTORY”

_A Critical Examination of
The Actual Workings of
Bolshevism In Russia_

BY

JOHN SPARGO

AUTHOR OF
“BOLSHEVISM” “THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BOLSHEVISM”
“RUSSIA AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM”
“SOCIAL DEMOCRACY EXPLAINED”

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON

THE GREATEST FAILURE IN ALL HISTORY

Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America
Published August, 1920

G-U

_To The
MISGUIDED, THE MISTAKEN,
AND THE MISINFORMED
Who Have Hailed Bolshevism in Russia as the Advent of
A NEW FREEDOM_

_I Submit a Part of the Indisputable Evidence Upon Which, as a Socialist, Who Believes in Democracy in Government and Industry--and in the Generous Individualism Which Communism of Opportunity Alone Can Give--I Base My Condemnation of Bolshevism as a Mad Attempt, by a Brutal and Degrading Tyranny, to Carry Out an Impossible Program_

NOTE

My thanks are due to many friends, in this country and in Europe, for their kindly co-operation, assistance, and advice. I do not name them all--partly because many of them have requested me not to do so. I must, however, express my thanks to Mr. Henry L. Slobodin of New York, for kindly placing his materials at my disposal; Dr. S. Ingerman of New York, for his valuable assistance; Mr. Jerome Landfield of New York, for most valuable suggestions; Prof. V. I. Issaiev of London, for personal courtesies and for the assistance derived from his valuable collection of data; Dr. Joseph M. Goldstein, author of _Russia, Her Economic Past and Future_; Mr. Gregor Alexinsky; Mr. Alexander Kerensky, former Premier of Russia; Madame Catherine Breshkovsky; Dr. J. O. Gavronsky of London; the editors of _Pour la Russie_, Paris; Gen. C. M. Oberoucheff, military commander of the Kiev District under the Provisional Government; Mr. J. Strumillo, of the Russian Social Democratic Party; Mr. G. Soloveytchik of Queen’s College, Oxford; to the Institute for Public Service for the diagram used on page 65; and, finally, my old friend and colleague of twenty-five years ago, Col. John Ward, C.B., C.M.G., member of the British House of Commons, founder of the Navvies’ Union, whose courageous struggle against Bolshevism has won for him the respect and gratitude of all friends of Russian freedom.

J. S.

CONTENTS

PAGE
NOTE vii

PREFACE xi

I. WHY HAVE THE BOLSHEVIKI RETAINED POWER? 1

II. THE SOVIETS 8

III. THE SOVIETS UNDER THE BOLSHEVIKI 20

IV. THE UNDEMOCRATIC SOVIET STATE 38

V. THE PEASANTS AND THE LAND 67

VI. THE BOLSHEVIKI AND THE PEASANTS 90

VII. THE RED TERROR 140

VIII. INDUSTRY UNDER SOVIET CONTROL 192

IX. THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY--I 240

X. THE NATIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRY--II 280

XI. FREEDOM OF PRESS AND ASSEMBLY 309

XII. “THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT” 352

XIII. STATE COMMUNISM AND LABOR CONSCRIPTION 369

XIV. LET THE VERDICT BE RENDERED 410

DOCUMENTS 453

INDEX 473