Written: Unknown date, by L. Sosnovsky
First Published: Moscow Pravda, April 19, 1921
Source: The Living Age, July-September, 1921.
Translated: Unknown
Transcription/Markup: Brian Reid
Public Domain: Soviet History Archive 2005. This work is completely free.
I UNDERSTAND that the Mensheviki and Social Revolutionaries are troubled and even sickened by the procedure at our elections. There is no pre-election scramble, with invitations to come and join our crowd, no secret balloting, with sealed envelopes, ballots, ballot-boxes, and the other holy sacraments of parliamentarism.
Yesterday I was at the electoral meeting of the Artillery section of the Moscow garrison. The elections went off so quickly that I did not have time to realize what was happening. The report on the problems of the moment was listened to attentively, sympathetically. There was no discussion. A certain non-party man from the Artillery School stood up and said briefly:
'In the name of the non-party members, I ask all the comrades to elect Communists. The Russian Communist Party alone is capable of leading the people to complete victory.' [Applause.]
Then a list was proposed by the Communists. It was accepted by the raising of hands almost unanimously. That is all there was to it.
'Well, is this really free expression of the will?' says an indignant Menshevik. 'You know the representatives of all parties should be heard.'
Is that necessary?
This is what happened after the election. The gunners arranged themselves in an imposing file on the street. From the muster-roll they called out the six men who had been fixed upon to receive rewards for distinguished service in battle.
The commander of the artillery brigade, a workman, delivered a short, forceful speech.
'Red eagles! You all deserve rewards, and it is difficult to decide upon those who are especially deserving. Under Perekop [where Wrangel was defeated] you showed more than human strength; you advanced with only machine-guns against the cannon and tanks, of the enemy and you took their tanks. You suffered great losses. The Republic will not forget your services. Right now our Russia is poor and her gifts are modest. But your services and feats of arms will be remembered for a long time to come!
'Comrade ________, the Republic rewards you with a gold watch. Keep this gift as long as you live. Let your nearest, your children, looking at it say: ________
"'Our father took part in and was a hero of the great battles of the revolution. He tools Perekop.'"
I listened to the simple abrupt sentences of the workman-commander, addressed to the men who were receiving rewards, and I began to understand why the gunners did not need long speeches before an election.
They had voted before the face of death under Perekop. They had voted under the fire of French and English tanks, sitting in the red-hot metal artillery boxes. In the artillery the truck-driver, the commander, and the machine-gunner were all of one party. In the face of world counter-revolution, sending against the enemy volley after volley, they had voted for Communism. They had asserted Communism against Wrangel, Clemenceau, Lloyd George.
From the voting at Perekop many did not return. And those who did return know well enough why, in the winter of 1920, their brothers perished at Perekop.
Do they need now the speeches of Martov, [Menshevik] or of Victor Chernov, [Socialist Revolutionary] or of that everlasting schoolboy of the Social Revolutionary Party, Steinberg, in order to decide whom to vote for? Do they need, after Perekop, the sacraments of ballots, ballot-boxes, secret balloting, and all that?
Under Perekop they voted openly, and they voted - for Communism and against the bourgeoisie; and now they vote just as simply and openly for Communism and against the bourgeosie.