The Great October Socialist Revolution – a Radical Watershed in Both Agriculture’s Development and Living in a Village

By ZDENEK NOVOTNY

Until the Great October Socialist Revolution, the agriculture had been characterized by a considerable diversity of the land keeping. The majority were big latifundists, big-large farmers, who were the setting factor of both the production and the price creation of the agricultural products. These landowners had been the main exploiters of the wage earners. Furthermore, there in the agricultural sector there were numerous groups of middle-peasants and small landholders, crofters and soc servant peasants.

Like in all spheres of social living, the Great October Socialist Revolution brought a radical turn in both the agricultural development and village life. First and foremost, it absolutely eliminated the latifundists exploitation group, representing the bourgeois strata, which oppressed the people. The land was then nationalized and handed over into the hands of peasants for free-of-charge use.

Thanks to the genius of V.I. Lenin, who analyzed the conditions of agriculture in detail, not only in Russia, but also in the whole of Europe, as well as in America - the “Cooperative Plan of Agriculture Reconstruction” was born. There was the plan for peasants to pull their small- holdings of land and join together, respecting socialist principles of relations to the working class during this new socialist society. Lenin’s “Cooperative Plan” created realistic pre-requisites of conversion of backward small-scale production into a progressive modern large-scale agricultural one.

But the main political importance of Lenin’s Cooperative Plan was that the cooperative farmers formed themselves into an independent social class, which became an objective, strong and loyal ally of the working class. In conditions of socialism, the agricultural production assumed very qualitatively new features.

To recruit collective farmers as the allies, it became of a decisive importance in the victorious class struggle against the enemies of the newly growing socialist society. Experiences of rebuilding the agriculture were – and they still are – instances for other countries to build their socialist society. There was to be not only Collective Farms, but also State Farms that were Socialist in content and practice.

Taking Advantage of Soviet Union’s Experience by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in Building Socialism

In order to achieve this noble aim there had to be established and created a form of class ties between workers and peasants in particular. It would be impossible to realize a socialist outlook without these ties. Lenin did not only apply these principles in the Russian conditions, he had done a praiseworthy work in the Communist Commintern action to promote the agricultural policies by other communist parties.

It has been fully the merit of Gottwald’s leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia that these principles were applied of Lenin’s Bolshevism. The action of the CPC in the village peasants helped the people who had been the most exploited group of inhabitants. But at the same time, at the beginning the CPC promoted its support also to the small and middle size farmers, who faced economic pressures from the big farmers and the landlords.

An example was the action of North Bohemian Beetroot farmers, in which the CPC stood firmly their justifiable demands against the sugar refinery monopolies who had exploited them unfairly.

After the liberation of the Czechoslovak Republic by the Soviet Rd Army, and after the defeat of the bourgeoisie in February of 1948, the CPC followed these traditions. The next step towards Socialism was the victory of the popular democratic revolution. That advance was determined by the CPC’s 9^th Congress. Klement Gottwald, the President, expressed this aim by the following statement:

“There cannot be Socialism in our villages and in our country without firm ties between the workers and farmers.” There started to be organized in the countryside the United Farmer’s Cooperatives (UFCs) in order to join these fragmented small pieces of unproductive land into large-scale production units and this movement had help from the workers all across the country who helped and gave aid. Workers went voluntarily to repair agricultural machinery, gave help during the harvest time and other help  that was need  by those cooperative ventures. These actions cemented the friendship, understanding and dedication to the building of a socialist society.

Of course the enemies of Socialism and of the CPC accused the party and Klement Gottwald that these socialist changes were due to the pressured by J.V. Stalin and that the local traditions were not observed. The success of the Cooperatives proved how wrong were these enemies, since there was large-scale mechanizations, soil improvement, dairy and livestock growth, etc. all with the full agreement and cooperation of the village farmers.

We followed the plans of Lenin in that this collectivization had to be voluntary and the struggle against the big landowners. The slogan that was adopted and unanimously agreed upon was: “The land belongs to those who cultivate it!” In the Czechoslovak conditions we did not have to nationalize the land. State farms were created from mostly the latifundist estates. There were Tractor Stations created, garages, workshops; they were all in the hands of the State, never in the hands of the Cooperatives. This was the generous aid of the working class to the farmers. Workers from the cities volunteered as mechanics, economist and other needed agricultural specialists.

There was a campaign of convincing the middle class peasants who were not yet ready to join the Cooperatives, but after a while they soon realized that it is a much better form of production and less hardships than they were used to for a long time.

The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, many scientific institutions and technology experts were helping agriculture to be more productive, more viable, more economy friendly and better crop yields were the results of this State research help. With the demand for more meat and other products, the Cooperatives were always on top of the latest techniques in production and in harvesting. The Cooperatives were flourishing all across the country.

This was all due to the correct policies of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia during this very short historical period, and thus the life of the village and the countryside changed beyond recognition. The agricultural technology that was applied had done away with the age-old grind of the peasants.

For the first time in its history the production of food met the needs of the people. Just a few examples will suffice to illustrate this – the grain yield in Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1938 had been 16-18 cents per one hectare, but the Cooperatives had achieved 80-100 cents per one hectare. Milk was then 1,800 liters per one cow, while after Socialism the yield was 4,500 liters per cow.

CSSR achieved a high standard at par with other developed European countries. There were enemies that were supported from abroad and also by the internal reactionary forces who were preparing a counter-revolution in CSSR. In 1968 when the United Farmers Cooperative held their Congress, there came the so-called “Cultural Elite” to this Congress, but the farmers chased these enemies out. Who of these former private farmers would want to go back into the toil of making out a miserable life on their tiny plots of land?

Now the situation in the former CSSR cannot be compared to what it was under Socialism. The agriculture is in a dismal situation and unfortunately many of the workers and farmers had the wool pulled over their eyes by anti-Socialist and anti-Soviet propaganda, and now the whole country is paying a terrible price for this. The agriculture, the industry production have dropped below the living standards and all off this is due to the current right-wing government, besides splitting the country apart and being incorporated into NATO!

The village life has slipped back into the first half of the last century. As part of the European Union, the bureaucrats of the EU are now restricting even the production of the small private farmers, setting quotas and prices, plus stopping any production increases that might be attempted. The trans-national corporations from the West are cold-bloodedly ruling the roost.

With justified pride, we can evaluate that the socialist industry and agriculture and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia’s work and dedication had advanced our socialist homeland into a booming industrial and agricultural power and improved the life and happiness of the people. We were fulfilling the heritage of the October Revolution.

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