IX. Report of the British Delegation to Russia
The position of the British in these negotiations was greatly strengthened by the Report of the British Delegation to Russia. The Report, published officially by the Trades Union Congress, is a careful, extended document covering various phases of public life in Russia under the Soviets. There are chapters on politics, finance, industry, transport and agriculture, foreign commerce, education, public health, trade unions, labor regulations, wages, and other topics. At the time of its appearance it was the most comprehensive and thoroughgoing statement in English concerning the life of the workers in Soviet Russia.
It is impossible in a brief space to give any adequate idea either of the extent of this report or of the conclusions which it presents.
Early in its pages the British delegates assert that unless people realize that the working class is the ruling class in Russia they can have no correct understanding of the events which have taken place there since the Russian Revolution. Great emphasis is laid upon the improvement in the political, economic, and social conditions of Russian workers. Those members of the Delegation who had been in Russia in 1920, and those who were familiar with Russia before the Revolution, found the situation in 1924 vastly improved. The Delegation found Russian finance on a sound basis with a stable currency, a balanced budget, and an experimental relation maintained between private trading, the co-operatives, and the state organizations. Great emphasis was laid on the improvement in industry and on the effective work done by the State Planning Commission, whose object is the control of production and trade. "The existing economic system is not only viable, but has real vitality … it does not stunt, but can even stimulate the economic recovery that peace has now made possible."[1] Equally favorable are the reports on commerce, transport, and agriculture.
Health and housing have improved; social conditions are definitely better; education has received an immense impetus as a result of the Revolution. "Every opportunity and encouragement is given to the worker, no matter what may be his or her calling, to obtain the best instruction in any branch of art, industry, science, or literature for which he may feel he has an aptitude. The results which were seen by the Delegation in all the districts visited were certainly astounding, especially when it is considered that the whole system has not yet been in operation for three
- ↑ The Official Report of the British Trades Union Delegation to Russia, Nov. and Dec., 1924, London. Trades Union Congress General Council, 1925, p. 59.
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