The Arshinov Files: Part Two
Due to extensive research by labour historian Dmitri Rublev we are able to publish for the first time in English letters written by Arshinov to prominent Bolsheviks as well as correspondence between Bolshevik leaders among themselves discussing the efforts of Arshinov to 'decompose' anarchism.
In this letter, Arshinov acknowledges his break with anarchism in 1931 and mentions "instructions" given to him in 1932 in response to his request to return to the USSR but doesn't name his instructor. Could it have been Sergo Ordzhonikidze mentioned in the biography of Arshinov by Nick Heath? And who is the 'authorised comrade" be that collaborated with Arshinov to distribute criticisms of "Spanish anarcho-syndicalism" in Spain until contact was lost with them in October 1933?
This letter raises more questions than it provides answers.
LETTER FROM P.A. ARSHINOV TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ALL-UNION COMMUNIST PARTY (BOLSHEVIKOV) (VKP(B)) ABOUT HIS ACTIVITIES TO DECOMPOSE THE INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT AND THE DESIRE TO RETURN TO THE USSR
January 20, 1934
Paris
To the Central Committee of the CPSU(b), Moscow, USSR
According to the agreement with the authorized comrade, I was to remain in France and prepare material exposing the erroneous tactics of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism during the Spanish revolution. The comrade himself went to Spain in order to prepare bases for the development of our work. In doing so, he took with him, for publication in Spain, all the material I had that criticized the positions of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism and aimed at creating a united front between the Spanish communists and the healthy elements of the National Confederation of Labor (i.e. CNT-AIT). Later, I sent him to Spain a number of new articles of the same meaning, and in particular my “Open Letter to the Leaders of the National Confederation of Labor and the Iberian Federation of Anarchists,” the writing of which I had specially agreed with the comrade before his departure. The letter was received and the comrade informed me that it was being published as a separate treatise of the political work of our group created in Spain. This was in early October 1933. Since then, contact between my comrade and me was interrupted and, despite all my efforts, I could not re-establish it. It is quite possible that my comrade became a victim of the arrests that took place in abundance in November–December 1933.
The events of December 8–14, 1933 further intensified the reaction and worsened the situation of the revolutionary elements in the country. According to the report of the anarchist organs (International Workers' Association), the workers' syndicates belonging to the National Confederation of Labor have been closed down almost throughout the country. The Confederation's daily newspapers (in Barcelona and Madrid) have been suppressed. In addition to several hundred killed and several thousand wounded, over twenty thousand people have been arrested in the first place. At the present time, the trials of those arrested are underway and arrests continue, both of anarcho-syndicalists and communists. As a result of the developing repressions, hundreds of discredited anarcho-syndicalist workers have fled abroad, settling in a number of cities in France.
Given the collapse of the work locally, for me, having failed both in France and in Spain, to go to the latter now, in my opinion, is inexpedient. A certain period of time is needed for the indigenous movement in the country to recover and come into force and for the necessary prerequisites to be in place locally. It is equally inexpedient for me to be in France, where I am now so discredited that, in view of the constant surveillance over me, I cannot take the slightest part in the work of the local movement.
That is why I am turning to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) with a request to give me permission and the opportunity to come to the USSR, where I will with great desire take part in one of the labor fronts, which I already asked the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) about two years ago, in January 1933.[1]
To what has been said above, I consider it necessary to add that the anarchist leadership of all countries is spreading rumors about me as a “Bolshevik spy.”
Having recognized in 1931 the method of Marxism-Leninism as the only correct method in social revolution, I intended to soon openly break with the anarchist movement and openly declare my ideological affiliation with Bolshevism and then ask the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to accept me into the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). However, in accordance with the instructions given to me in response to my request in 1932 to return to the USSR, I continued to remain in the anarchist ranks, conducting communist propaganda. This alerted the anarchists to me. Already in February 1932, a resolution was passed regarding me as an “element harmful and hostile to anarchist communism” and warnings were issued about me in a number of countries where I had previously collaborated in the anarchist press. (Resolution in “Delo Truda”, No. 68–69, Chicago).
Later, numerous articles were published about me in the anarchist press of Spain, Bulgaria, France, North America and other countries, the gist of which boiled down to the fact that I was an open Bolshevik agent. A number of anarchists expressed this idea to me either in person or in writing. My opponents from the anarchist camp try to hit me mainly with this side. A completely intolerable moral and political atmosphere has been created around me, in which no fruitful work on my part is possible. The only way out of this intolerable and useless for communist propaganda situation is my departure to the USSR, an open break with the anarchist environment and openly joining the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
P. Arshinov
Russian State Archive of Social and Political History. F. 17. Op. 169. D. 29. L. 245–246. Original. Typescript.
[1]That's how it is in the document. Correct: "1932".
