Page:William Zebulon Foster - The Russian Revolution (1921).pdf/36

 {|
 * 1903 || Bolshevik faction of Russ. Soc. Dem. Party || 825
 * 1905 ||       ||5,150
 * 1906 ||       ||13,800
 * 1907 ||       || 46,146
 * 1917 || Russian Communist Party|| 172,625
 * 1918 ||   || 148,000
 * 1919 ||   || 313,766
 * 1920 ||   || 611,978
 * 1921 ||   || 705,245
 * }
 * 1918 ||   || 148,000
 * 1919 ||   || 313,766
 * 1920 ||   || 611,978
 * 1921 ||   || 705,245
 * }
 * 1921 ||   || 705,245
 * }
 * }

In addition to the Communist Party itself there is the organization of the Communist youth. It is now about 400,000 strong and is growing rapidly. It is a feeder for the Party, and the great crop of militants it is now producing will some day play an important part in the history of Russia.

The Russian Communist Party insists that its members conduct themselves as mode! revolutionists under any and all circumstances. Whatever the task in hand, they must set the pace and inspire the masses by their example. The greatest dangers, the severest hardships, and the heaviest burdens fall naturally to their lot. In the industries it is the Communists who must do the hardest and meanest work; upon them falls the weight of all the drives for more efficient production. They are the good and tireless workers, the mainstays of the shops. In times of food shortage they must not only bear their own reduced rations bravely, but also inspire the great rank and file to do the same. And when any Communists go wrong, when they are found guilty of theft or other serious crimes against the revolution, they are always punished with extraordinary severity. They are made an example of. Many a one of them has been shot for offenses that would have brought only mild prison terms to non-party men. Such punishments are always, of course, meted out by the regularly constituted authorities, not by the Party itself.

In the Red Army the Communists are famed as brave and dogged fighters. Their posts are always where the battle is hottest. It was they—a body of student officers—who, by desperate courage in a critical moment, dealt Yudenitch a mortal blow before