Page:Nikolai Bukharin - Programme of the World Revolution (1920).djvu/64

 with class spirit, who make purchases at their own risk independently of the working organisations, thereby also increasing the disorganisation of the general plan. Each one thinks to himself: "No matter what you say, I can mind my own business best"—and off he goes to buy bread. Later on, conflicts are apt to arise on the way, on account of this very bread, and then he complains: "They don't give you a chance to look after yourself." As a matter of fact the whole affair looks somewhat like this: let us imagine a train going, packed full; some passengers are standing in the corridors, others lying on the floors—in a word there is not enough room to drop a pin. Then all of a sudden one man smells something burning, raises a cry of "fire," and dashes like mad towards the door, pushing people aside. The people, panic stricken, try to break open the door, a wild scuffle ensues, they bite and hit each other, break one another's ribs, trample children underfoot. The result is—dozens of killed, wounded, maimed. Is that right? It might all have been quite different. If reasonable people had been found to reassure the crowd, to calm it, everyone would have walked out in order without a scratch! Why did everything happen in the way it did? Because each one thought: he will act for himself, the others are "no concern of mine." But in the end it is he who gets his neck broken first.

The very same thing takes place with those who buy bread independently, infringing the regulations of the workers' food organisation. Each one thinks that he will make things easier for himself. But what is the result? Every such purchase upsets the systematic registering of the stock in hand: owing to these purchases the regular delivery of bread becomes impossible. One locality, for instance, where there is absolute starvation, must have bread delivered at the expense of another, where things are comparatively better. But, instead, some people from the latter locality buy up all the bread and take it with them. The former locality is thus left to starve to death. What follows? As the organised public purchases have become disorganised there appears on the scene the marauding speculator. He at once begins to try his hand at private purchases. In this manner the unintelligent poor, lacking in class consciousness, not understanding things themselves, aid and abet the vampire speculator, whose real place is on the gallows. Now we can understand why these speculating gentry exploit the natural dissatisfaction of the hungry against the Soviet Govern-