We are confronted by a number of obstacles. The main obstacle is disorganization. In order to improve the condition of the workmen and peasants not in words but in deeds, it is necessary to deliver a decisive blow to disorganization. At present, however, there are a great many obstacles in the way of a successful struggle against disorganization. One of these obstacles is banditism, which is greatly developed in some provinces. Bandits, who have been created by wealthy peasants who cannot reconcile themselves to Soviet authority, masquerade as the protectors of the interests of the peasants.
Here we have a confession as to the state of disorganization and the chief obstacles, namely, the revolts of the agricultural population—which Kalinin designates as a revolt of bandits and wealthy peasants, although the latter class, as recently stated by Lenin is now non-existent, and no bodies can better deserve the title of "bandits" than the expeditions sent out by the Soviets to plunder the countryside.
The Bolshevists give additional causes for the economic degeneration:
For 3,150,000 workmen there are in Russia 2,000,000 officials—1,500,000 belonging to the staffs of controlling organizations. (Official statistical data quoted in the official Economic Life, Dec. 9, 1920.)
One of the best descriptions of the results of this sort of thing is given by Prince Kropotkin, the eminent philosophical anarchist, just deceased in Soviet Russia. In a letter to the British workers, very similar to that printed in the report of the British labor delegation, Kropotkin declares:
