Report from Moscow
(September 1920)

by Otto Ruhle


I travelled illegally to Russia. The business was difficult and dangerous; 
but it succeeded. On 16th June I stepped on to Russian soil: on the 19th 
I was in Moscow.

The departure from Germany went hastily. In April, upon invitation from 
Moscow, the KAPD (Communist Workers Party - Germany) had sent two comrades 
as negotiators to the Executive, to advise upon the KAPD's joining of the 
Third International. Itwas being said that the two comrades had been 
arreseted inEstonia on the return journey. The necessity was to immediately
recommence the negotiations and to bring them to completion and
if possible to send back a report to the KAPD, so that
information from the the KAPD could be received before the start
of the Congress. All in the greatest rush, in that the congress
should already begin on 15th June.

Having arrived in Russia, I found out to my joy that the news about the 
arrests of our comrades had been incorrect. They had travelled back via 
Murmansk and so were already in Norway on theway to Germany. I also learnt 
that the congress was not to begin on the 15th June but only on the 15th July. 

What I further constituted was less pleasing. My firstconversation with 
Radek was a real argument. Hours long. Partly highly vehement. Every sentence 
of Radek was a sentence out ofthe "Red Flag." Every argument a Spartacist argument. Radek isafter all, lord and master of the KPD. Dr. Levi and consorts arehis willing parrots. They have no opinions of their own and are
paid by Moscow.

I asked Radek to hand over to me the Open Letter to the KAPD. He
promised me it, but didn't keep his word. I reminded him of it
repeatedly still and others to remind him but didn't receive it.
When I later heard that the two comrades who'd been acting as
negotiators had only received the Open Letter only at the very
last moment before their departure, the psychology of Radek's
behaviour became clear to me. He, the wiliest of the wily, and
the most unscrupulous of the unscrupulous, considering the
perfidious lies and insolences which absolutely abounded in the
Open Letter, felt of course something so like shame that he shied
away from having to account for himself eye to eye with the
insulted and libelled.

The methods which I saw practised on me in Moscow aroused my
strongest aversions. Whereto I saw: political 'scene-shifting',
calculated as bluff, using flashy revolutionary resolutions to
conceal the opportunistic background. Best of all I'd have gone
up and away again. However I decided to stay until the second
delegate Comrade Merges)Braunschweig, would arrive.

I used the time to make studies.

II

First I looked around Moscow, mostly without official guidance,
so as to also see that which wasn't decreed to be for viewing.
Then I made a long car tour to Kashira and a trip to
Nischny)Nowgorod, Kasan Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Tambov, 
Tula,etc., thus getting to know the most important places in 
Central Russia. That provided an abundance of impressions more unpleasant
than pleasnat. Russia was suffering in all of its limbs, from
every disease. But how could it have been any different! Lots was
being reported but the example of Crispien and Dittman didn't
tempt me to follow suit. Whose interests would be served then?
Only the opponents of Communism. All these shortcomings and
drawbacks aren't, of course, any evidence against Communism. At
the most against the methods and tactics employed by Russia to
realise Communism.

The Russian tactic is the tactic of authoritarian organisation.
It has been so consistently developed and in the end carried to 
extremes, by the Bolsheviks to the fundamental principle of 
centralism that it has led to over)centralism. The Bolsheviks
didn't do that out of wantonness or desire to experiment. The
revolution forced them to it. If today the representatives of
German party organisations are filled with indignation and cross
themselves over the dictatorial and terroristic phenomena in
Russia, its easy for them to talk. Were they in the position of
the Russian government. they'd have to act exactly so.

Centralism is the organisational principle of the
bourgeois)capitalist age. With it the bourgeois state and the
capitalist economy can be built up. Not however the proletarian
state and the socialist economy. They demand the council system.
For the KAPD ) contrary to Moscow ) the revolution is no party
matter, the party no authoritarian organisation from the top
down, the leader no military chief, the masses no army condemned
to blind obedience, the dictatorship no despotism of a ruling
clique; communism no springboard for the rise of a new Soviet
bourgeoisie. For the KAPD the revolution is the business of the
whole proletarian class within which the communist party forms
only the most mature and determined vanguard. The rise and
development of the masses to political maturity of this vanguard
doesn't await the tutelage of the leadership, discipline and
regulation. On the contrary: these methods produce in an advanced
proletariat such as the German exactly the opposite result. They strangle
initiatives, paralyse the revolutionary activity, impair
the combativeness, reduce the personal feeling of responsibility.
What counts is to trigger the initiative of the masses, to free
them from authority, to develop their self-confidence, to train
them in self)activity and thereby to raise their interest in the
revolution. Every fighter must know and feel why he is fighting,
what he is fighting for. Everyone must become in his
consciousness a living bearer of the revolutionary struggle and
creative member of the communist build-up. The necessary freedom 
therefore will however never be won in the coercive system of
centralism, the chains of bureaucratic-militaristic control,
under the burden of a leader)dictatorship and its inevitable
accompaniments: arbitrariness, personality cult, authority,
corruption, violence. Therefore transformation of the 
party-conception into a federative community)conception on the
line of councilist ideas. Therefore: supercession of external
commitments and compulsion through internal readiness and
willingness. Therefore: elevation of communism from the demagogic
prattle of the paper cliche to the height of one of the most
internally captivating and fulfilling experiences of the whole
world.

The KAPD came to these of its conclusions through the simple
realisation of the very obvious circumstance, that every country
and every people because they have their own particular economy,
social structure, traditions, maturity of the preletariat ie.their own
 particular revolutionary requirements and conditions, must also have 
their own revolutionary laws, methods, rhythm of development and 
outward appearances. Russia isn't Germany, Russian politics aren't 
German politics, Russian revolution isn't German revolution. Lenin might 
demonstrate hundreds of times that the tactics of the Bolsheviks 
were a brilliant success in the Russian Revolution ) they wouldn't 
by a long way be the right tactics for the German revolution. Every 
attempt to force us to adopt these tactics must provoke the most decisive 
opposition.

Moscow is making this terroristic attempt. It wants to elevate its 
principles to the principles of world revolution. The KPD is its agent. 
It works on Russian orders and to the Russian model. It is Moscow's 
gramaphone. Because the KAPD doesn't play along in this eunuch)role, 
it is persecuted with deadly hate. One reads only the most insulting 
aspersions, the poisonous libels and accusations with which one fights 
us without hindsight of therevolutionary situation in which we stand 
and of the effect which this vile parctice triggers in our bourgeois 
opponents. Dr. Leviand Heckert must fling at us every piece of rubbish 
that Radekand Zinoviev press into their hands. That's what those 
boys are paid for. However because the KAPD doesn't give in nevertheless
it ought to be censured by the Congress of the III International
to comply to Moscow's power) of)command. It was all excellently
prepared. The guillotine was set up. Radek smugly tested the
sharpness of the blade. And already the high court was sitting It
should have been a grand scene. too beautiful to beaccomplished.

III

As I returned from the Volga, Comrade Merges had arrived in
Moscow. On the same day a sitting of the Executive of the III
International took place. We weren't invited. In our absence, the
motion of Meyer (KPD) that we should be refused admission to the
Congress was discussed. The motion was rejected. On this they
called us to the sitting, and were so gracious as to grant us
advisory status at the Congress. At this meeting we got to see
the discussion guidelines which were to be laid before the
Congress. They were intended to be the basis for the decisions of
the Congress. Of which in his boastful manner Radek had already
said to me earlier, that he had it in the pocket. "In the
pocket!" The discussion guidelines ) weren't these not old
familiars? Indeed. We recognised in them the notorious Heidelberg
theses repeated. They were only somewhat more elaborately set
out, somewhat theoretically doctored, somewhat enhanced 
in"Centralist)dictatorial". They were made into theses of Russian
power)politics out of theses of Spartacist division)politics, and
should now become theses of international violation by Russian
methods.

We sacrificed a night to their study, and knew in the morning
what we had to do.

We went to Radek, and put to him the question of if in the Open
Letter (which still hadn't been given to us) the demanded
expulsions of Laufenberg, Wolfheim and Ruhle was an ultimatum,
and if the Executive insisted upon the fulfilment of these
demands before the KAPD would be admitted to the III
International. Radek tried miscellaneous evasions, but we
demanded a plain answer. Then Radek explained: It would satisfy
the Executive if the KAPD promised that they would ) at a later
date, at a suitable opportunity ) free themselves of Laufenberg
and Wolfheim. Of my expulsion there wasn't any more question.
This remarkable yielding to demands which had been raised with
the truest ring of conviction as conditions sine qua non made us
suspicious. Now we demanded to know which demands of the
Executive concerning the admission of the KAPD into the III
International were definitive. Radek explained: You must in the
name of your party at the beginning of the Congress give the
declaration that the KAPD will abide by all decisions ) then
you'll receive voting status at Congress: then nothing will stand
in the way of your admission into the III International.

Were we hearing right: in advance most solemnly declare that we
wished to submit to the Congress decisions, which we didn't even
know. . . .Was that supposed to be one of Radek's jokes? No it
was serious.

Now if the Congress were to decide upon the dissolution of the
KAPD?....Joking apart: he did indeed have that intention. Thereby
Radek was unmasked.

What was in the theses then?

Ah now.

1 The communists are duty)bound to set themselves up in a rigid
centralistic, iron)hard, militaristic, dictatorial organisation.

2 The communists are duty)bound to take part in parliamentary
elections, and to enter parliament to carry out a new type of
revolutionary parliamentary work there.

3 The communists are duty)bound to remain in the trade unions so
as to help the revolution to victory in these
revolutionarily)transformable institutions.

4 Each of the parties that are members of the III International
is to call itself the Communist Party, consequently the KAPD has
to sacrifice its continuing independence and dissolve itself into
the KPD.

Thus joking apart: the Congress actually should pronounce the
death sentence upon the KAPD, and we, the KAPD delegates, should
receive voting status, i.e. we should be able to help pronounce
the death sentence, if we were to declare prior that the KAPD
wanted to submit to the pronounced death sentence without
resistance.

Could there be a greater political comedy? Or a greater perfidy?
We laughed in Radek's face, and asked if he was mad.

A party, that on the grounds of the Heidelberg theses had split
from the KPD, had constituted itself on a new basis, and had
given itself organisationally a new structure, tactically a new
orientation and theoretically a new programme, that vigorously
stood on its own two feet, concentrated in itself all the active
forces of the German revolution and in size of membership is far
superior to the KPD ) such a party refuses, may, indeed must
refuse, even once to enter into a discussion on the discussion of
its right to exist. As a child can never return to its mother's
womb, likewise the KAPD doesn't return to the KPD. Even one word
of discussion about this is mischief, is absurdity, is apolitical 
childishness.

We left Radek standing so, with the hangman's rope that he had
intended to put around the neck of the KAPD, and went on our way.
We felt no desire to give ourselves further headaches in this
atmosphere of political trickery and cheating, of diplomatic
stage)management and opportunistic string)pulling, of lack of
moral restraint and cold)grinning cunning.Inside ourselves we had
nothing, nothing at all to look for in a congress which met so
far from all communism.

Therefore we declared: "We decline with thanks participation in
the Congress. We have decided to travel home, to recommend to the
KAPD a wait)and)see attitude, until a truly revolutionary
International has come into being, which it can join. Adios!

IV

Our decision had a surprising effect. If until then we were
treated like spoilt children, whose misdeeds caused the poor
parents anxiety and vexation, and should be put across the knee
and given a good hiding, so they now suddenly started to come
round. The threateningly swung whip disappeared behind the
mirror, and the carrot was brought out of the drawer. They began
to woo us with brotherly words, such as should be customary
between communists, and with the appearance of goodwill towards
objective communication. Even Radek took on manners. He
negotiated reasonably and railed against the KPD, who he called,
"a lazy and cowardly gang", who he would make "wet their pants",etc. 
We had prolonged and thorough discussions with him,Zinoviev, 
Bukharin and at the last moment even a determined
discussion with Lenin. The great respect and high admiration that
we have for him, and that through this discussion were raised
even further, did not prevent us telling him, in a totally German
manner, our opinions. We explained to him that we felt it a
scandal and a crime against the German revolution, that in a time
when hundreds of brochures had to be written opposing
opportunism, he found the time and felt occasioned to write a
brochure exactly against the KAPD ) the active and most
consistent party of the German revolution, which now, like his
other writings of recent times, was being used by the entire
counter)revolution as an arsenal, not to correct our supposedly
wrong tactic in the interest of the revolution, but to knock dead
every stirring activity of the masses with arguments and quotes
from Lenin. We demonstrated to him that he is completely
misinformed about conditions in Germany, and that his arguments
for the revolutionary exploitation of the parliament and the
trades unions only have a laughable effect. We finally left him
without the slightest doubt that the KAPD, as it refuses any
material help from Moscow, also with complete determination won't
stand for any interference from Moscow in its politics.

The discussions left in us the feeling that the Russian comrades
had begun to appreciate what a mistake it had been to go too far.
That in the end the International, i. e. in the first line
Russia, needed the KAPD more than vice versa, the KAPD the
International. So for them our decision was most unpleasant, and
they sought a compromise. As we were in Petrograd on the way
home, the Executive sent after us another invitation to the
Congress with the statement that the KAPD (although it hadn't
complied with or promised to comply with a single one of the
draconian conditions of the Open Letter) had been allowed the
right to the voting status at the Congress. Too crude a bait!
Fundamentally it was of course a matter of complete indifference
whether the KAPD assisted at its proposed execution in Moscow
with advisory or voting status. So we gave our thanks once more
and travelled to Germany.

The outcome of the Congress had justified our tactics. The
decisions taken on the questions of concern to us ) building of
the party, parliamentarianism, trade union politics ) reveal the
most unconcealed opportunism. They are decisions on the line of
the right wing of the USP, decisions that even to the
interpretation of the Damigs, Curt Geyers, Koenens, etc., on the
parliamentary and trades unions questions mean a violation. But
can and should the KAPD share the same Congress decisions on the
same ground with the USP? One must answer in the affirmative to
this question and think out the consequences in order to judge
the complete monstrosity and absolute impossibilty of the KAPD
joining this III International.

This is not to say that we wished to oppose the organisational
unification of communist workers and an international alliance of
the revolutionary proletariat. By no means! We only mean, that
the affiliation to an actual revolutionary International will not
be decided through paper Congress decisions and the goodwill of
the strata of the hierarchies. It decides itself through the will
to struggle and the revolutionary activities of the masses in the
hour of the decision. It is the product of the great purifying
and maturing processes of the revolution, which eliminates 
everything halfway and wrong and only lets the true and whole
count. The KAPD may confidently look forward to this decision,
then it will rise to the historic task that awaits it.

As I said goodbye to Lenin, I said to him: "Hopefully the next
Congress of the III International can take place in Germany. Then
we will have brought you the concrete evidence that we were in
the right. Then you will have to correct your point of view." To
which Lenin replied laughing: "If it so happens, then we would be
the last to stand in the way of correction."

May it so happen! It will so happen!

