On the International and Domestic Situation of the Soviet Republic

Lenin’s speech delivered to a meeting of the Communist Group at the All-Russia Congress of Metalworkers. It was written on March 6, 1922, and published in Pravda issue No. 54, on March 8, 1922. The Chinese translation is included in Vol. 33 of the first edition and Vol. 43 of the second revised edition of the Complete Works of Lenin.

After the victory of the October Socialist Revolution in 1917, Russia was subjected to the armed interference of Fourteen imperialist countries and the armed rebellion of domestic white bandits, and it was not until the second half of 1920 that the enemy’s attacks at home and abroad were smashed and the Soviet regime was consolidated. On January 6, 1922, the Supreme Council of the Allies in Cannes decided that the next international Economic and Financial Conference should be held in Genoa, Italy. Nominally in the surface it aimed to seek a way to achieve “economic recovery in Central and Eastern Europe”. In essence it mainly discussed the relationship between the Soviet Union and the capitalist world after the failure of imperialist armed intervention. However, the conference had always been in a state of uncertainty whether it could be held or not and became the first international political issue for Russia.

The Fifth Congress of the All-Russia Congress of Metalworkers Trade Union was held in Moscow, from March 3 to 7, 1922, and on March 1, prior to the convening of the Congress, the Standing Bureau of the Communist Party Caucus of the Central Committee of the All-Russia Congress of Metalworkers Hardware, meeting with the representatives of the regional delegations, considered it appropriate to request from Lenin, on behalf of the Central Committee of the All-Russia Communist Party,(B), to make a report at the Congress in respect to the international and domestic situation in which the Soviet Republic found itself.

To this end, Lenin made this speech. (1) This speech focuses on the position and countermeasures of Soviet Russia’s participation in Genoa Conference and defines the tasks of the Soviet delegation. He pointed out that the Genoa conference is a diplomatic trick of bourgeois countries, and its essence was to do business, otherwise they will continue to decline and collapse economically. Soviet Russia welcomed and prepared to attend the Genoa Conference business-wise in order to agree on the economic and political terms of trade with capitalist countries, it could implement a limited concession policy to capitalist countries, that’s all. Russia does not accept threats and intimidation. (2) According to the objective situation, the problem of “stopping retreat” was put forward. Lenin pointed out that the New Economic Policy is a kind of retreat. In terms of signing contracts with Russian and foreign capitalists, the goal of retreat has been achieved, and the retreat in the sense of making concessions to the capitalists has ended; Lenin put forward that stopping economic retreat does not mean the end of the New Economic Policy, and it should be continued to implement the concession policy, but the limit of concession has been set. (3) He pointed out the changes in the main tasks of domestic policies, especially in economic policies. After the retreat, the key to all the work and policies of the party lies in examining the appropriateness of employing personnel and checking the actual implementation. In particular, we should reorganize the ranks of cadres and select people with business experience to lead the commercial enterprises, that is, to lead the state-owned trusts. At the same time, we should carry out the struggle against bureaucracy. Lenin sharply pointed out that the most hateful enemy of All-Russian Communist Party (B) and state organs is the bureaucratic people who occupy the important positions of the Soviet Union. They not only don’t fight against different bureaucratic habits such as procrastination, but also cover them. Therefore, with the help of all the conscious workers and peasants, we should eliminate such enemies, so as to establish the whole Party organization, so as to make the power of the proletariat as the winner in all the fields of work as well as in the field of economy.

Lenin’s speech plays an important role in the correct understanding of the domestic and foreign situations faced by Russia by all Party members, cadres and conscious workers, as well as the corresponding policy changes, and implementing it in their own work.