Among the Red Autocrats: My Experience in the Service of the Soviets

By George Solomon

First published in 1935, this is the full and frank account of author George Solomon’s service to the Soviet Government during the Russian Civil War.

Solomon, who was named First Secretary to the Commissar for Commerce and Industry, Leonid Borisovich Krasin, in July 1918, provides a detailed record of his time with the Red Autocrats, beginning with assuming his new position and his first meeting with L. B. Krasin in Germany in July of 1918, being welcomed as an enemy in his native Russia in June 1919, to representing the Commission of Administration to take over all the business transactions in Estonia in August 1920 and, finally, arriving in England in June 1921, before his retirement from service on August 1, 1923.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Muriwai Books
• Release date: Jun 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787205048

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Text originally published in 1935 under the same title.

© Muriwai Books 2017, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

AMONG THE RED AUTOCRATS

MY EXPERIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF THE SOVIETS

BY

GEORGE SOLOMON

Translated from the German Edition

Edited and revised by

ARNO C. GAEBELEIN

Author: Conflict of the Ages: World Prospects, etc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 4

PREFACE 6

INTRODUCTION 8

FIRST PART — My Service in Germany 16

I 16

II 19

III 23

IV 25

V 27

VI 29

VII 30

VIII 33

IX 37

SECOND PART — My Service in Moscow 43

I 43

II 45

III 49

IV 51

V 55

VI 56

VII 59

VIII 63

IX 66

X 68

XI 72

THIRD PART — My Service in Esthonia 75

I 75

II 79

III 83

IV 87

V 90

VI 93

VII 96

VIII 100

X 109

XI 112

FOURTH PART — My Service in England 116

I 116

II 119

III 123

IV 127

V 132

A Word in Conclusion 137

A MODERN MIRACLE 139

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 140

PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION

It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this volume to the American reader.

The translation from the German has been edited by the esteemed Dr. Gaebelein, and after going over the original German myself, I have given careful consideration to any possible errors and omissions.{1}

At the very outset the reader will observe that I stood apart from Lenin and his followers, believing that he had seized the reins of government by force, without any conception of governing a people. Both my deceased friend, L. B. Krassin, and myself, were opposed to the so-called Soviet government, perceiving it to be only a Communistic experiment with the unhappy people of Russia, who had been oppressed for centuries. Since our early years we had both been in the ranks of the revolutionists and had sacrificed all because of a deep love for our people, and a painful knowledge of their tragic history. But we finally decided that we had no right to stand aloof and leave our country to its fate. After a few long months of thoughtful consideration of the matter, we at length decided that we must ally ourselves with this new government. We believed that our friends and comrades, also revolutionists, and now allied with the new regime, who, like ourselves, had fought for the rights and liberties of the Russian people, would cease experimenting with the destinies of a people and would turn wholeheartedly to the reconstruction of a nation.

Such was our belief. From this point I shall speak only of myself. Later on, as you will see from my book, Krassin changed in spirit more and more, and our relations were eventually severed forever. Until the end of his life he was in the service of the Soviets, as State Secretary.

From the time of my entrance into the ranks of the Soviets I questioned the wisdom of my course of action. My doubts increased. Soon I realized my great mistake, for my old comrades, the red leaders, abandoned their former ideas of honesty and service to their country. I readily came to the conclusion that going over to the cause of the Communists had been a grave error. But it was impossible for me to leave them at once. Indeed, this could not be accomplished so easily, for the Soviet regime is a system which makes one a tool in its hand—virtually a slave. With good will and pure motives I had plunged myself into the heart of their activities, thinking that I thereby best served my people. I had searched for something that we held in common, but finally my conscience forced me to leave the Reds. Now I was in a state of indecision as to whether I should reveal their workings. Perhaps I had erred; perhaps I had approached them from the wrong angle; perhaps I was to blame for not finding the points of agreement. I waited some years in silence. In the meantime the Soviet government continued its criminal practices. One terror after another fell upon the heads of the innocent Russian citizens. These acts more than proved them public enemies.

I shall be brief, for my book recounts these terrors. I speak the truth, the naked truth! They made beggars of the peasants; millions were exiled and put to forced labor in the concentration camps; masses of people were shot without trial, not only of the intelligensia but also the peasants and working class.

In short, Russia is moaning and groaning as in the time of Batij (the Tartar conqueror of Russia-Trans.). No, it is worse! The RED LEADERS created the O G P U with their dark dungeons where such cruelties have been executed as would cause even Torquemada, the deluded fanatic to grow pale.

Vanished is even the shadow of the elements of personal liberty. A constricting hand has stilled the voice of the press; freedom of conscience is denied; and freedom of religion, banished and tortured to death, has disappeared. No! Religion has not just disappeared. This small group of unscrupulous red beasts have not only closed and destroyed churches where the people could pray to God and find deliverance for their souls, but they have banished God and placed atheism as a pearl of great price in the Holy of Holies. This is not only a mental denial of the existence of God, but it is the thorough carrying-out in every sphere of life of the idea that there is no God. With all these present day occurrences in Russia in mind, one involuntarily thinks of the fourteenth Psalm: The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people, as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord?

—George Solomon.

PREFACE

After many years of thought I decided to give a record of my service to the Government of the Soviets. Before relating my experiences, and in preparation for what is to follow, a few general remarks are in order.

The memory of my experiences during the time of my active service among the Soviets so weighed upon me that I could no longer remain silent.

On August 1, 1923, I retired, hoping to forget all that had passed as I would an unpleasant dream, wishing only to avoid all future contact with them, and without the slightest thought of ever placing my experiences on paper.

The day now seems far off when I left that hell, after many disappointments, deeply afflicted mentally and physically by my sad experiences, and convinced that it had been a tragic error on my part to have ever entered the service of the Soviets.

As a result of these reflections, and to satisfy the demands of my conscience, as well as for the love of my native country (Russia), I feel constrained to set forth these experiences and describe the system and fundamentals of the Government which then, and even now prevails, and suppresses all human endeavor. Why should the truth be concealed?

I must confess that after my departure from the Soviets a sense of personal vengeance always dwelt in my heart....It took years of intensive inner conflict, a thorough investigation of my former views and a formulation of new thoughts before I could overcome it to the extent that I am now able to give my story in an objective way and from an historical point of view.

I am publishing my experiences because I am convinced that I have no right to continue in silence. Only my conscience and my duty towards my fellowmen have brought forth this decision, and I shall endeavor in all sincerity not to say anything but the truth.

Let me add that I was engaged in some of the most important positions of high responsibility:

At the time of Joffe I was first Secretary in the embassy at Berlin; then Consul at Hamburg, and at the same time in Stettin and Lübeck; then an intercessor of the National Commissariat for Foreign Trade in Moscow; then authorized representative of the Commercial Commissariat in Reval (where I was representing the famous Gukowski), and, finally, Director of the Acros Commercial Association in London.

As a result I had not only chances to see much, but was also acquainted with a large number of most prominent Bolshevists, my relation to them reaching back into the time of revolutionary conspiracies in old Russia.

Naturally, in describing single events I cannot avoid mentioning some of these men, thus, in the following story the reader will see them passing in review: Lenin, Krassin, Joffe, Litwinow, Tschitscherin, Worowski, Lunartscharski, Schlichter, Krestinski, Karachan, Sinowjew, Balabanowa, Kollontai, Kopp, Radek, Elisarow, Klyschko, Bersin, Kwiatkowski, Polowtsewa, etc.

I will give a full account of why I, together with my deceased friend, Krassin (whom I have known from my early youth) entered the service of the Soviets, in spite of our critical disposition towards them, and also why I had separated from Krassin.

INTRODUCTION

In the revolution of February, 1917, I took an active part. In May of that year I departed for Stockholm and remained there for a long time. Therefore at the outbreak of the Bolshevistic overthrow I was neither a partaker nor spectator. In Stockholm I frequently met Worowski, the manager of a branch of the Electricity Works of Siemen & Schuckert. Their branch in Petersburg was headed by Krassin, and Worowski at that time greatly flattered me in order to profit from my influence with my old friend.

When, directly after the revolution, I accidentally met Worowski, he told me with apparent irony that he was to be congratulated on his appointment as Soviet Ambassador to Sweden. On this occasion he assured me that he had not the least confidence in the Bolshevistic uprising, because of the inability of the leaders to perform anything serious. He considered this movement as a simple adventure of no duration. He even referred to his appointment as ambassador in a jocular manner. It is a real theater, he exclaimed, but I don’t care to be an ambassador, even of only an opera-government for a short time. For this reason he kept his position while at the same time he issued passport-visas for travelers to Russia.

On a later occasion he spoke of Lenin. As if this rootless, fantastic fellow could do anything positive, he said. To destroy things—that he can do; it’s easy enough; but to build up something new he is not capable of doing.

The rumors which then came from Russia were contradictory. Early in December I decided to take a look at the situation myself, and with a visa from Worowski I set out for Petersburg, which then was the seat of the Soviet Government. Casually on the train I met Ashberg, the Director of the Bank of Stockholm, who was also on his way to Petersburg.

About two o’clock in the morning we arrived. The streets were empty and poorly illuminated. Now and then a frightened man could be seen slouched against the walls of the houses. The driver of my cab gave whispering answers in response to my questions. Asked whether it was true that the new Government had promised to call a constitutional assembly, he replied, Yes, but the people consider it only as the means to draw them on their side.

The first thing on arrival I called on Krassin at his office. Instead of the friendly welcome I expected, he shouted at me, What evil spirit has brought you here? He at once began to tell me some very sad and delicate things. You ask me about this movement? The object is an immediate introduction of radical Socialism, in other words, an Utopia pointing to extreme stupidity. Don’t forget that all of them, Lenin included, have gone crazy. They have forgotten all we have learned from Social Democracy, forgotten all laws of natural development, forgotten our struggles and the warnings of the danger of operating social experiments in a time such as this! They really seem insanely possessed: they destroy everything, they seize everything; the goods are spoiling, industry is at a standstill, the factories are ruled by committees of common laborers, who, without any knowledge, decide on technical and commercial matters. In my own factories there are similar labormanagers.

And just think: They forbid the operation of certain machines, claiming they are useless, the work can be done without them. And Lenin? Well, you will see for yourself; he is simply at the end of his wits. With a zeal beyond control he wants to establish radical socialism not only in Russia but all over the world. The men surrounding him obey every word. They do not dare to contradict him. In fact we live under his absolute autocratic rule.

Having left Krassin, I went to the Institute Smolni, where the Soviet of Public Commissars met at that time. Here I spoke first with Lenin and then with older members of the party, such as Elisarow, Lunartscharski, Schlichter. From my conversation with Lenin I was painfully impressed. He really seemed to pursue his goal with a zeal beyond control, as Krassin had said. I beg you, Wladimir Iljitsch, I said, "explain to me, an old pal, your intentions. Have you really the Utopian plan of establishing radical Socialism on an immense scale all over the world? I cannot grasp the idea."

It is not at all an Utopian plan, he said in a very harsh and dominating tone. It really means creating a Socialistic State, and Russia will be the first country where this idea will be realized....Shrugging your shoulders? You will live to see even more. I don’t care what will become of Russia; to hell with it! My dear friend, all this is only the road to a world revolution? At this I could not withhold a smile; but he looked at me sideways, with his little mongolian eyes, in which I caught a malicious flash. You are laughing, he uttered, because you are considering all this as an idle dream. I know all your objections, the whole armor of traditional phrases, those arguments of Marxism, which are nothing but common Menschivistic ideas by which you cannot move a finger. By the way, he interrupted himself, my comrade Worowski has notified me from Stockholm that you are making fun of our present work. But I tell you, we have passed the infancy of Marxism. You and Krassin can never convince me of your ‘going ahead step by step,’ and your ‘natural development.’ We shall now and in the future turn to the left as much as possible.

Here I took the opportunity of interrupting him while he was struggling for a new breath. Very well, I said, take it for granted that you have succeeded in turning to the left perfectly; are you not forgetting the law of repulse, that simple mechanical law, which will throw you on the opposite side?

Even if there is such a reaction, he exclaimed, to us it will mean that we must turn still more to the left. This argument also favors me.

In the course of this conversation I made a remark regarding the meeting of the constitutional assembly. With a malicious twinkle in his eyes and some despicable whistling, he answered:

This is a subject on which I do not like to speak. This constitutional meeting is but a romantic idea, which we have given up already. We have promised to assemble it, yes; but in no case shall we alter our position!

Our conference lasted a long time; I have given only an excerpt from it. Now then, come with us, you and Krassin, he concluded. It will not do that old revolutionists, as we are, should be in doubt about this enterprise. We shall revolutionize the whole world: the proletariat will follow us, he said in a tone suggesting as if he were before a public audience.

We then departed, and I conversed with some of those present in the institute. They all, whether sincerely or not, seemed to have accepted the program that the Russian revolution should be a preparatory step toward a world revolution. Before Lenin they all seemed to be inspired with fear.

Only my old friend Marc Timofejewitsch Elisarow kept an independent position. He shook his head over the thought of a world revolution, although he was obeying his wife and Lenin in accepting the appointment of a Road-Commissar. I now talked to him about the project of Ashberg, of locating a bank in St. Petersburg, explaining some details.

The idea is fine, he said, but do you think that anyone here will consent to it? The common talk runs along the lines of a general control by the State. The banks also should be put under that control and no new bank should be established. But I shall speak about it to Lenin, although I am sure that he, like all the others, has lost his head over these things. Between us, sometimes it seems as though he were not quite normal. He himself has the feeling that the fundamentals of his ideas are not very firm, and therefore he answers all opposition with insulting words. In brief, we are in the midst of total confusion.

That same day Elisarow conversed with Lenin on the project of Ashberg. He tried for a long time to persuade his brother-in-law, but his efforts were in vain. When he left the office of Lenin he looked very much disappointed. As I have said before, he reported, he and the others have not caught the idea. ‘What does it mean to establish a People’s Bank?’ they asked me. ‘Why should we let strange capitalists, these sharks and robbers of the Proletariat, come into our country? What do we need a private People’s Bank for? We are ourselves representatives of the people.’ The only success was that Lenin promised he would think the matter over once more, and let you have a decisive answer through Menschinski by tomorrow.

With oppressed feelings I left the institute. Again I stood on the gloomy street. In all, or at least in most of the stores, the goods were seized. One could see, through the show-windows, the goods piled up on the shelves. Guards protected them, while the people were forced to secure their wants by underhanded ways. Such actions, contrary to any show of common sense, embarrassed me. A fellow-worker in a high position gave the following explanation:

Yes, he said, you are right, the provisions on the shelves are rotting, because we are overloaded with work; we seize the stocks, and afterwards no one thinks of them any more. Surely it is a pity that they are spoiling, but we can’t help it. The next day Ashberg and myself called at the office of the Financial Ministry. The luxurious building appeared plundered. The fact was, that in spite of all protests the various officers had carried away the furniture and the large rooms were left empty.

Our conference with Menschinski, then the Soviet Commissar for Finances, took little time. He told Ashberg that his project was very interesting, and that it had been handed over to the Sownarkom (the Soviet of the people’s commissars). He added, at the present everybody is busy with things of greater importance, and we cannot spend time on such secondary matters.

After Ashberg had gone and I was left alone with Menschinski, he informed me that Lenin was very angry with me as the result of a letter from Worowski defaming me as a foe, and a malicious critic of the Soviet Government, calling me a spy with strong sympathies for Germany.

But all this is not serious, Menschinski concluded, I would only advise you to be beware of Worowski, because he has an intense and mean animosity toward you. We shall speak about that some other time; today I want to make a proposal to you. Having had a position in a large bank for many years, you are a man of experience. You know that in State Institutes nobody cares to work. We are very much in need of a Director of the State Bank. In spite of his enmity, caused by the letter of Worowski, Lenin agreed upon my request to offer you this position. I have convinced him that you would do very fine work. Would you be willing to accept this appointment?

Ever since my arrival in Petersburg I was so confused by the things I had seen that I was not much impressed to take upon me the responsibility of such an important position. In view of the present state of confusion the task was not only very difficult, but dangerous. It really required a great deal of experience, which I did not possess. I therefore declined the proposition. Later on when I could speak to Krassin in regard to this proposition, he gave his full consent to