Page:Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov - The New Russia - tr. Emile Burns (1920).djvu/17

 people were ordered to leave immediately, and were allowed to take away nothing, being compelled to look for work elsewhere. In many cases there were families in which a division of opinion took place. The obstinate "possessors" were compelled to quit, but the younger generation, won over to the new ideas, were allowed to remain and to enter into friendly relations with the people.

The political party now in power is called the Communist Party. Its aim is to introduce State Communism, not at all an easy task in a country of at least a hundred million people, the majority of whom are still illiterate. For this reason the Government first aimed at establishing model communist organisations, and gave these favourable opportunities for developing, with the aim of attracting the people towards them. This plan, however, has met with only partial success. Alongside of these official organisations there are a certain number of voluntary communist organisations, held together by moral and religious bonds, which are recognised by the State and given equally favourable chances for development. Some of these communes have grown considerably, such as, for example, the Commune of Abstainers, which lately sent an appeal to the Allies asking them to put an end to the Blockade and to stop armed intervention in Russia—that new war which in my opinion is doing irreparable harm to the Russian people. This appeal was published some time ago in the Swiss papers.

Apart from these Communist organisations the Co-operative movement contains the largest number of groupings in present-day Russia. There are a great many of these Co-operative organisations, both of consumers and of producers, and their machinery is of great value