From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 3 No. 45, 22 June 1923, p. 440.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
June 13, 1923
The watchword of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government should be more clearly defined. One must differentiate between the working and the exploiting peasants. The working peasants are connected by many bonds with the proletariat, being similarly affected by taxation railways rates, the Trusts and in some countries also by the feudal land ownership.
It is only natural that this watchword of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government should contain many perils. When we, in conformity with the United Front tactics, unite with the social democratic workers, we unite with class comrades. The watchword of Workers’ and Peasants’ Government however means that we are seeking an alliance with a class, the economic position of which differs from that of the proletariat. The exploitation of the peasants is not as acute as that of the proletariat. There is the danger that wide sections of the producing and exploiting peasantry will join us in its struggle against the capitalists. This may occur in the U.S.A, and in Canada where not only the working but also the exploiting peasants are opposed to the capitalists, who during the last decade have kept the prices of manufactured goods artificially at a high level by means of their Trusts, thus creating unfavourable price conditions between corn and manufactured goods, and doing harm to the peasants. The reappearance of Russia on the corn market is making this crisis still more acute.
I suggest that the formulation of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government watchword be made more explicit for propaganda purposes, and that its altered form should be “Government of Workers and Working Peasants”. In no country has the peasantry as yet been able to remain in power for any length of time. It must be led by a class, and the question is if it shall be led by the capitalist class, which is exploiting it or by the proletariat which is not exploiting it.
Replying to Comrade Dunet, Varga said that differentiation between Parliamentarian and Revolutionary Workers’ Government was undialectical and un-Marxian.
He concluded with the remark. If this enlarged E.C succeeds in convincing all those present that an alliance between the working class and the peasantry is absolutely necessary, it will become a milestone in the development of our movement.
Last updated on 3 September 2021