In the Social Storm: Memoirs of the Russian Revolution By Boris Yelensky Chapter 17
Chapter 17
I saw that I would have ample time at my disposal and decided that this would be my chance to acquaint myself more thoroughly with our movement in Moscow. But before that I still had the task of delivering the two boxes of food I’d brought from Kharkov to Peter Kropotkin.
I had not encountered any trouble getting the two boxes from Kharkov to Moscow since, with my Foreign Commissariat credentials and documents, none of the bureaucrats cared to dig to deeply into what I was carrying in the railroad car. But, though the distance from Moscow to Dimitrov, where Kropotkin was living, was quite short my credentials would not help me. I had good connections and realized I could probably get help from them but I wanted to make sure everything thing went smoothly so there would be no chance of losing the food.
It occurred to me that I might as well use this incident to let the powers in the Kremlin know that the followers of Peter Kropotkin, themselves in a bad situation, were still trying to help their mentor. I set myself the goal of obtaining an order from Lenin himself guaranteeing a safe passage for myself and the two boxes of food.
That same day I approached my immediate boss, Boris Reinstein. He was one of the warmer, more human Bolsheviks, was from the U.S. and had a friendly attitude towards most of us who had come from there and also knew of my good relations with Bill Shatov. When I explained my predicament to him he got quite excited and I was surprised when he immediately called Lenin’s secretary at the Kremlin. When the secretary answered, Reinstein identified himself and asked if it would be possible to speak for a few moments to Lenin himself, adding that it was an emergency. In a minute or two Lenin came on the line and, after a greeting, Reinstein told him the story of the boxes of food for Kropotkin and asked if Lenin himself would issue an order for a safe passage. I could hear that Lenin himself was quite excited and he assured Reinstein he would be happy to help and asked for the name of the person who was transporting the food. Reinstein gave him my name and Lenin assured him that the order would be in his office in a short time.
In half an hour I had in front of me the hand-written order from Lenin, identifying me and explaining that I was delivering boxes of food to the great revolutionary, Peter Kropotkin:
“…I, as president of the U.S.S.R. Commissar’s Council, order all railroad authorities, police, etc., to assist and to be of help to Boris Yelensky.
N. Lenin”
I was off for Dimitrov the next morning with the two boxes of food and the precious document. I was excited and nervous at the prospect of finally coming face to face with this man, whose writings had so heavily influenced my entire life.
I arrived at Kropotkin’s house and after a few knocks the door was opened by a friendly-faced woman who I realized immediately must be Sophia Kropotkin. I introduced myself and told her that the two boxes in front of me were a gift for the Kropotkin family. I hadn’t finished explaining the rest of the story when Peter Kropotkin himself appeared beside her. I can still remember that feeling–like an electric shock–when I faced for the first time the patriarch of anarchist philosophy; the long beard, the friendly smile and the glow in his eyes which enchanted me and left me quite speechless.
Sophia came to my rescue, telling Kropotkin that this comrade had brought two boxes of gifts for them. Kropotkin’s face brightened even more and he said to Sophia, “Why are you keeping the comrade on the doorstep?” and then he said to me, “Do please come into my home.” In the excitement, we both forgot to introduce ourselves and he suddenly stopped, thrust out his hand and said, “I am Peter Kropotkin.” I blushed, took his hand, and told him my name. When we had placed the two boxes in the kitchen he invited me to join him in his workroom and tell him what this was about and who had sent the food to him.
I told him the whole story of how the comrades from Makhno’s army had gathered this food to send to their teacher and that I was just an instrument to deliver the gift. As I was telling him this his face drew into a worried frown and he said to me: “Comrade Yelensky, I appreciate very much what the comrades and you have done for us; but before I can accept this gift, I must be sure – very sure – that this does not come from the government, because I do not accept anything from them.” I could see the pain in his face as he said this.
I said to him that the only assurance I could give him was my word of honor as a comrade and references to other comrades that we both knew who would vouch for me, such as Maximov and Alexandra Shapiro, and many others.
He sensed immediately that I was somewhat distraught and told me with a warm tone, “No, no, comrade. I trust you and your word of honor is enough for me. I will only ask you to accept my thanks and that of my family. Sophia and I very much appreciate what you and the comrades have done. Now, we do hope you will have time to stay with us, at least overnight, so we may have the opportunity to talk with you and find out what is happening in our movement.”
He took me into the living room at this point to introduce me to two guests who were already present, one a professor and old friend of Kropotkin’s and the other a comrade who had come especially to see him from deep Siberia. After we had become acquainted, Kropotkin asked our comrade from Siberia to continue his report about life there and the effects of the revolution on the situation there.
He told us of life in their little town, surrounded by the vast expanses of tundra and that the revolution had really done more harm than good to the spiritual life of the place, since more than half the population had been political exiles and most of these had left when news of the revolution came, and with them most of the political and social thought. What was left was the beauty of the wilderness but little intellectual stimulation, though they had a goodly amount of freedom, since there was little in the way of authority in such a small, isolated place.
From some remarks I made, they gathered that I had come from the U.S. and the talk turned naturally to that country and the many people Kropotkin knew there.
Our conversation was proceeding at such a rate that none of us noticed that evening was approaching until Sophia came in to tell us it was time for tea and a bite to eat.
When we went into the dining room, we found on the table many of the good things I had brought in the two boxes, food of a quality that made all three sets of eyes pop, so that at the table our conversation was mainly about the food situation in the southern part of Russia.
Finally the two guests departed and, after the table was cleared, the Kropotkins and I went into his study. Kropotkin took out writing paper and a pen and said to me, ‘’Now Comrade Yelensky, I want you to tell me the whole story of your activities – and please take your time. Don’t omit anything as I am prepared to sit with you all night if necessary.”
I told him I would be happy to oblige him and told him the story of my childhood, how I got involved in the revolutionary movement in Russia and the 1905 revolution, then had to leave my home city to avoid being arrested. I spoke of my time in Europe and in America, my first years in Philadelphia and my involvement in the Radical Library act-cities under Joseph Cohen and how I became an active worker in our movement. I told him of my main aim in life; to help our comrades in the Russian prisons and how a group of us had organized a branch of the Anarchist Red Cross and later, after I had moved to Chicago, another branch there, of which I was the secretary.
At this point Kropotkin stopped me and said, “When you introduced yourself your last name seemed familiar to me and now it has come back to me. We had some correspondence when I was the Treasurer of the Anarchist Red Cross in London many years ago. But please go on.”
I continued with my story of my activities with the anarchist groups in Chicago and how, in February of 1917 I had come to Russia at the beginning of the new epoch in Russia.
It was already 10 o’clock at this point and I felt it must be somewhat hard for this grand old man so sit and listen to me talk for so long so I made a remark to that effect.
He was in deep thought as I was telling my story but when he heard my remark he stirred and said to me, “Comrade Yelensky, you are wrong if you think I am tired of listening to you. I am concentrating on what you are saying and trying to digest it all and am quite ready to sit here with you all night! You know that I am cut off out here, not only from active life, but also from all news about what is happening all over Russia and the world so I am more than happy to have you here with us to tell us these things–it brings me back to life.”
I was touched deeply that this noble man, this scholar and great human being should be so cut off from all that was happening around him.
Meanwhile, Kropotkin said to his wife, Sophia, “Dear, do you think we could have some tea? I am sure Comrade Yelensky’s voice and throat are getting dry from talking so long.” Then he said to me, “I take a walk every night if I feel well enough. Will you join me in such a walk?”
Here and there in Dimitrov you could see a dim light in one of the houses but most of the little town was already asleep and it was very quiet all around. It was a beautiful night, with a full moon illuminating the poor houses of the village. We walked without saying anything, both of us under the spell of the night and the quiet.
On the way back to the house, Kropotkin finally broke the silence: “You know, Comrade Yelensky, every time I take a walk on such a beautiful night, all manner of questions come into my head that I cannot find answers for.
“Russia went through a 300 year dark age of untold suffering until at last we rid ourselves of the Tsar and all that he stood for. Now we are again experiencing a reaction, both physical and spiritual, that I am afraid will again plunge Russia back into that dark age for many years to come. The only hope is that, in the coming years, the younger generation will rebel again and bring back the spirit of 1917 and the constructive forces and start to build a new society in the spirit of our ideas.
“But I am afraid I will depress you with my gloomy thoughts. Let us go hack into the house and let me hear the rest of your story.”
After tea, we went back to Kropotkin’s workroom and, by the time I was through telling my story, it was after midnight. I told Kropotkin of the times in the U.S. and of the reaction of the colony there to the news of the revolution, how I came back to the city where I grew up and got my revolutionary schooling and my attempt, in the city of Novorossiysk, to find other anarchists. I spoke of the organization of our small group and of our decision to try to organize the life of the city on the ideal of a free society.
I told him of our great experiment in Novorossisyk in detail. When I was through, I looked again at him and he appeared to be almost dreaming, but it was obvious he was deeply caught up emotionally in my story, that it was something new to him and had excited him greatly.
For a few moments it was very quiet in the room then Kropotkin started and said to me, “I want to thank you very much for this story. I can assure you it is very valuable information for me and, if I am able to continue my work, I will use it to good advantage. Please now–some details. How many people were in your group? And how many of them were active in developing the plan for your great experiment?”
I explained that when the group was first organized, in August of 1917, there were seven comrades and that later on three more joined us. I explained that the plan was developed mainly by three of us: Katya Garbova, Vanya Budnik and myself. The idea had come originally to Vanya Budnik and myself that, in the short time the revolution had been in existence, there had already been more than enough destruction and that it was time to do constructive work and to begin attempting to build up a new society. Later on, Katya Garbova accepted our ideas and the three of us started to work out a plan as to what our group should do. After a few days of arguing out our differences, we decided to propose to our group that we start propagandizing the workers, urging that a Regional Economic Soviet be organized to coordinate production and distribution. We felt that the Soviet should consist of two delegates from, each shop or factory.
The workers in each shop or factory should organize work committees consisting of delegates from each section of work and these committees should then take over the work place and make it communal property devoted to maintaining the life and welfare of the community. Since we believed in equality for every human being we would recommend equal pay for every worker, with 25% extra above the basic pay for each dependent in the worker’s family. We decided to accept any of the administrative or engineering staffs who wished to join us on an equal basis without any retaliation for what they had been before the revolution.
We had further agreed to propose to the Regional Economic Soviet that they contact the cooperatives of the region and try to arrange with them that they take over all the work of distribution of products produced in the shops and factories; and that the Regional Soviet should organize the care for the old and sick people who were unable to work.
I told Kropotkin that this, in brief, was what our group had proposed to the first conference of delegates from the shops and factories, that all our recommendations were accepted and that this resulted in the establishment of the Economic Soviet in the city of Novorossiysk. I apologized for not having available a copy of the rules and regulations of the Internal Shop Committees which would have given him a better picture of how the whole setup worked and finished by telling him I felt that his principle of mutual aid had worked so perfectly in this experiment even we had been amazed.
I again told him I thought I had talked enough for one night and he replied, “I have felt so good hearing this story that I could stay up all night!” but at this point Sophia intervened firmly and said, “Peter, you are going to bed now! You have had a very big day,” and she turned to me with a smile and said, in English, “Enough is enough!”
The next morning, after breakfast, we adjourned again to his workroom and it was obvious his mind had been working during the night as he fired question after question at me, inquiring about activities of our movement in the various places I had visited and asking for more details about our experiment in Novorossiysk, devouring every detail like a starving man confronted by a meal. I could see that the old man was emotionally reliving these experiences with me and savoring them vicariously. When I saw how deeply affected he was by all this I stopped talking and after a few moments of quiet, he pulled himself together and said to me, “Comrade Yelensky, the story you have told me of your great experiment in Novorossiysk has helped prove to me that I was right in my ideas and theories; that they can be applied in real life and that, in the proper environment, human beings can indeed change and create a free society. It also reinforces my conviction that we must continue to struggle against the conception of the State, even the so-called “proletarian” state, that can destroy the nucleus of any free society.
‘’Yes! We cannot bring back what you had in Novorossiysk, but, we can still try as hard as possible to collect and preserve the evidence of this experiment–every document we can get our hands on. And, most important to me, you and the other comrades that were working with you should collectively and individually record everything you did in the attempt to build a free society. This material may then prove of help to future historians to bring out what really happened. I went through this experience when I did my research on the great French social revolution and I know what is involved. I do hope you will do this important work for us.”
At that point, Sophia came in to tell Kropotkin that another comrade had arrived to visit him and could he be shown in. “Why not?” said Kropotkin, “Tell him to come in and join us.”
The visitor turned out to be my old friend and comrade, Aron Baron. We greeted each other warmly and Kropotkin said, “Ah, I see that you know each other. Comrade Baron, do you know of Comrade Yelensky’s experiences in Novorossiysk?” Baron answered that he had only heard of the experiment after it was over and had been sorry not to have found out in time to come and take part.
It had come, time for me to regretfully take my leave. After I had said my goodbyes to the others in the house, Kropotkin said, “Come, I will walk you to the corner and we will make our goodbyes there.” When we got to the corner he said to me in parting, “Comrade, you should be proud to have had the opportunity to take part in such a great experiment. Don’t forget what I asked you–record everything about your experience. Now goodbye, and come to see us when you can.'’
This ended my visit and I regret to this day that I never had the opportunity to see him again.