1009 (Part 1/10) Lenin's book "The State and Revolution" needs a RELOOK-INTO.

In the Context of the Centenary Year of the Bolshevik Revolution 1917 (Also called October Revolution 1917) in the Russian History, one short book of just 73 pages, which can be freely downloaded at Marxists.org is worth reading. Here is link: Click here to go to https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/lenin/state-and-revolution.pdf, for downloading the book.. For those Readers who do not have time to look into this 73 page book, can study this Book Review by Reddebrek Jun 24 2017 at his blog. Link: Click here to go to https://libcom.org/blog/whatever-happened-dear-old-lenin-24062017 and study the Review. The Review is titled: "Whatever happened to Dear old Lenin?". The Article has quite a large number of quotes from the "State and the Revolution" by Lenin, and the Essayist's observations, many of which are reasonable when viewed from a 2017 Environment. Of course, we all of us are, lettered and thinking individuals, with individual freedoms to think and express in the way we like.

ybrao-a-donkey's personal views which are not intended to be imposed on others

In my youth, and early middle age, I used to be a great Admirer of Lenin, his being the first person to have tried to 'reproduce in action' the precepts of Karl Marx and Frederic Engels. It is the case of "Great Expectations" which ought not to have been hoped for from Pioneers of Movements.

What has particularly disappointed me, in Lenin's Administration?

I thought that Lenin would implement the Communism / Marxism / Socialism (or whatever Marx and Engels have advocated / dreamed of), in its true spirit, at least substantially. But it did not happen.

Example

I thought that Lenin would completely nationalise Agriculture, and make into a State Enterprise, in which peasants, agricultural workers, landlords (kulaks) of the pre-revolution days will be Employees of Equal Pay and Equal Rank. I expected that both the profits and risks/losses from agriculture would go to the State. But, it didn't seem to have happened. Instead, he had introduced a system of targets of production to peasants, and purchase of their produce at State stipulated prices. That meant, the risks of agriculture, he had asked the farmers to bear. Though theoretically, the peasants could keep with them the production made by them in excess of State-imposed targets, that could never have happened because targets were too steep, and unattainable even in the best of Crop Years.

This system might have helped the Urban Organised Labor, the 'Blue Eyed Boys' of the Soviet Dictators, by providing them cheap agri-products procured from the peasants and supplied by the State, at the cost of peasants.

Can you correlate this to what is happening now (2017) in India, and some other countries, including some European countries?

Ans; Though ostensibly there are some benefits intended to come to rescue of farmers, such as Crop Insurance, Minimum Support Price Mechanism, Construction and Maintenance of Market Yards, Ever-rising prices of Agri-Inputs in spite of Input Subsidy Schemes etc., the most important missing element continues to be RISK MANAGEMENT which the small and marginal farmers are ill-equipped to handle. These risks are of myriad types such as vicissitudes and vagaries of monsoons, pests, excess domestic production, dumped imports at prices less than the domestic costs of production, from overactive exporting countries under the pretext of commitments to WTO-GATT and Free Trade Agreements, to name a few. The problems of small and marginal farmers are compounded by their inability to keep their produce(s) at home till prices change in their favor. Consequently, they are forced to sell their produce at below-cost prices, while hoarders and blackmarketeers who purchase from the peasants pocket super profits arising out of upward price changes.

One major difference we can see between the conditions of the Euro-American-ANZ farmers, and the Indian farmers, is that EurAmANZ farmers do not commit suicides, whereas Indian farmers commit suicides regularly, harassed and abetted by Private money lenders. Another important difference is, in India, we have millions of 'oral-tenant farmers' that is their leases are not rendered into writing by means of lease agreements with land-owners. That means we get three types of farmers:

1) 'On paper-farmers' and 'Real Farmers'. On paper-farmers (Absentee Landlords) collect all the benefits which Governments extend to farmers from States' and Central Exchequer. In this class, we get Government Employees, Private Executives, Professionals, Politicians, et al., apart from genuine Land-Lords who cultivate lands with tractors and machinery.
2) Real farmers (oral tenants who are not recognised by State) are left to their fate.
3) Mixed- farmers: Marginal farmers who own very small pieces of land say less than 2.5 acres which they themselves cultivate, and to support their livelihood, they take on oral leases additional, say 3 or 4 acres o land to supplement their activity.

This is a 1000 page subject, though even if I write the 1000 pages, nobody will read. This is the first of the 10 parts series, which I intend to write.

To come back and continue adding / deleting / modifying. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.

935 Russian Diaries of the period 1917-53 can help in identifying what might happened during and after the Bolshevik Revolution 1917

Though I am not a blind admirer of Bolshevik Revolution 1917, as a believer in the benefits of True Complete Socialism, having identified it for examination as a possible alternative for the stupid Capitalism, I am trying to write here a few blog posts on why the World 2017 is viewing the Russian Revolution 1917 and its experiments with Communism / Marxism / Socialism as total failures. For this purpose only, I have downloaded 45 volumes of the Collected Works of Vladimir Lenin the main leader of the Bolshevik Revolution 1917. I have examined some of the Volumes. I shall put through here, some of my observations / feelings / impressions. In the meantime, it will be worthwhile, to provide a link to a news item, that historians are trying to place diaries of the Soviet Citizens of that crucial period of World History online. I perceive that when compared to the Collective Works of Lenin, the diaries of USSR/Russian Citizens of the period 1917-1953, however obscure individuals those Citizens may be, their recordings will become more reliable, primarily because Lenin's Collected Works published by the Soviet Govt. Agencies of those days, might have, sufficiently been, sanitised by a need to hagiographically eulogize Lenin and Stalin. The Russian Citizens of those years, might have had some fears of persecution if their diaries were to be caught by the Stalin's Agents. Hence, I have decided to try compare Lenin's writings with what the Russian Citizens 1917-1953 wrote, privately for themselves and their families, with no intent to publish them.

We shall start with an AFP news report, published by theHindu.Com: Click here to go to http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/between-the-lines-historians-put-stalin-era-diaries-online/article17693846.ece. One particular paragraph, in this report, is specially and sufficiently interesting, hence I am quoting it here, followed by yb-a-donkey's views, which are nt intended to be imposed on others:

At the same time, most were living in overcrowded accommodation and felt hungry most of the time.

“It’s quite rare for someone to eat till they are full,” Mr. Venyavkin said.

Mr. Venyavkin is: a 35-year-old historian Ilya Venyavkin, who is writing a book about diaries from the 1930s.

this blogger yb-a-donkey's views

About congested accommodation

Though the accommodation provided by Lenin-Stalin-Trotsky Triumvirate during 1917-1953 to their Citizens might have been 'meagre', 'overcrowded' we may have to accept it as an unavoidable reality because 'accommodations' for an entire Nation of impoverished and deprived Population, cannot be created overnight or in a few years. This problem of scant, crowded, and unaffordable accommodation exists even in countries of 2017 which are considered as most Prosperous, such as Japan and United States. In Japan, many workers live in rented spaces what are known as bunker beds. Senior Citizens of Japan, are reported to be preferring to commit minor crimes so as to go to jails which in their view are better than the dungeons outside. In our Great World Ruling country of Uncle Sam, we find its citizens living under fly- overs, living in subways, living in their own cars/station wagons, living in Churches. Of course, two wrongs cannot make one right. Failures of Capitalism, cannot justify the failure of Bolshevik Leaders.

About "rare for someone to eat till they are full"

Let my readers compare the following two scenarios:

Socialist Sharing of Poverty	Capitalist Overeating
Citizens sharing hunger of fellow-citizens, though involuntarily, for a limited period, till circumstances improve, can be considered as something noble.	In 2017, we have several countries, which have scenarios, where 10% rich and super-rich overeat, do little exercise and suffer from metabolic diseases like diabetes, obesity etc., and 90% of their citizens lead a life of precarious existence, unable to earn two square meals a day.
It is not clear whether erstwhile USSR was able to solve this problem between 1954 and 1991.	After 1991 Soviet Union disintegrated, and its Constituents turned to Capitalism. Is there any largE scale improvement either in Accommodation or in availability of food? I do not think in Putin's Russia 2017, there is ample food OR adequate uncrowded accommodation for all its Citizens.

To continue adding / deleting / modifying. और जोडने के हैं। ఇంకా జోడించాల్సినవి ఉన్నాయి.

934 What Vladimin Lenin had done, or had not done to erstwhile USSR is worth analysing!

What Vladimir Lenin, the Legendary Leader of the Communist Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution 1917), had done / had not done, for the erstwhile Soviet Union are worth analysing , without Capitalist or Communist bias, and worth reading for those who have a view that this Capitalist World is really abominable, and is to be trashed, if some viable humane alternative socio-economic system can be found and implemented without bloodshed and tyrannical oppressions. In a few blog posts of mine, made here earlier, I have made one such beginning. Today's trigger: Click here to go to https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/03/how-lenin-manipulated-the-russian-revolution-to-his-own-ends/#, to study some critical analyses on the subject. More are to come from this donkey also. This link contains an article titled "How Lenin manipulated the Russian Revolution to his own ends' by Roland Elliott Brown, which is readable. The writer Mr. Brown says "He even viewed the starvation of countless peasants as a ‘progressive element’ in weakening the Tsar, says Victor Sebestyen (a review of book authored by Sebestyen, says)".

This article starts with viewing Lenin as a 'demagogue'. Meaning, as per Google Inquiry: "...a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument. ...".

ybrao-a-donkey's views which are not intended to be imposed on others:

Even Capitalism, MNCs, the American Government (not necessarily the Trump's Administeration, we can even say 'starting with George Washington'), the Euro Governments do the same thing, i.e. they try to appeal to popular desires and prejudices rather than by use rational argument. The only difference is Marketing does not concentrate much on "satisfying popular wants (My Economics Text book in my XI Standard School days, started with 'human wants', 'necessities, comforts, and luxuries' and progressed into Consumer Behaviors)", but on the 'luxuries of those who have the moolah to purchase'. Had there not been a system called 'Voting Parliaments/Assemblies' every four or five years, the Governments would not have even bothered about popular desires and / or prejudices. Anyway that is a term affair of 4/5/10 years affair. In their daily routine, Capitalist Governments want to 'maximise their income', like the proverbial monopolyist's equilibrium in the Smithsonian Economics or the Classical Economics.

Principal Object of Modern Governments i.e. their raison d'être/ˌreɪzɒ̃ ˈdɛtrə,French ʀɛzɔ̃ dɛtʀ/ -the most important reason or purpose for someone or something's existence.

The need and greed of any Government worth its salt in this World will be to maximise its tax collections, and the Governments will not mind to pay millions to those Experts and Consultants who can invent new ways to introduce new taxes, bring in newer groups of citizens into the tax net, how to raise tax rates without making the Citizens to feel that their blood is being sucked.

What is Smithsonian Economics?

For those Readers who are interested in studying the features of Smithsonian Economics, here is one link to download a pdf: Click here to download a pdf of Reflections on Smithsonian Economics.

LENIN'S AND STALIN'S ADMINISTRATIONS CANNOT BE EXCEPTIONS

Lenin's and Stalin's Administrations cannot be exceptions because RUNNING ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES WITH ALL THEIR concomitant Fads, Idiosyncrasies, Mansions, Cars, Paraphernalia, Regalia, Statues and what not, need investments and maintenance. Huge Police Hierarchies are needed to save the Top Gods Ruling the Administration, whether in Capitalist Countries or in (untruly) Socialist Countries.

To continue adding / deleting / modifying. और विषयांश जोडने की हैं। ఇంకా జోడించాల్సిన వషయాంశాలు ఉన్నాయి.

880 (Part 5 of 10 Series) Relook at Bolshevik Revolution- Mr. Putin cannot justify his present mistakes by zooming the mistakes of Lenin

A friend of mine, who has great affinity and appreciation towards Indian Nationalism of 2014-17 Brand, and who for reasons known only to him, probably because he loves Indian Nationalism extremely to the extent that Communism/Marxism/Total true Socialism may appear to him as somewhat forget-worthy ghosts, has emailed to me a link, to a news Guardian report titled: "Vladimir Putin accuses Lenin of placing a 'time bomb' under Russia ". This report was dated 25th Jan. 2016. Both video version and the news version are available for the Putin's speech. It is a common characteristic in world history, that present dictators finding fault with past dictators (if my readers do not relish my adventurism of using the word 'dictators' for my reference to Putin, and Lenin, my Readers shall be free to amend and read as "leaders" instead of "dictators", and wherever possible trying to pass on their own guilt(s) and lapses to the past dictators. With due respect to the 1999-2017 ruler of the World's geographically the largest country, I am tempted to say that Mr. Putin Remarks accusing Lenin of placing time bomb under Russia, can also be placed under this 'pass-on-the-buck category.

First: links to the news reports: Guardian Video-- Click to go Guardian, and see the video.

Second: Guardian news, text, with link to video: Click to go to Guardian, and study the text.

MORNING STAR उदय तारा వేగు చుక్క

One heartening quality of the speech of Mr. Putin is, low-voice, whispering manner and style, unlike the SHOUTING HOARSE, DRAMATIC, SARCASTIC STYLES OF INDIAN POLITICIANS.

ybrao-a-donkey's observations which are not intended to be imposed on others

If as pointed out by Mr. Putin, in case Lenin had supported Federalism, with a right to Constituents secede , and Stalin had supported a 'Unitary State', then it only shows a democratic and liberal philosophical outlook of Lenin, as against a sterner dictatorial style of Stalin. Even if we assume that Lenin error-ed in his decision of un-restricting the freedoms of the Constituent States of the erstwhile Soviet Union, yet, that error , does not deserve a comment of placing a Nation under a 'time bomb'. Lenin might have made an indiscretion in drawing the boundaries of parts of U.S.S.R. at that time. Yet, he does not deserve the comment of being 'whimsical', and "delirious". The comment for the information of our readers:

"...Lenin’s government had whimsically drawn borders between parts of the USSR, placing Donbass under the Ukrainian jurisdiction in order to increase the percentage of proletariat in a move Putin called “delirious..."

yb-a-donkey's view:

There is no need for anybody to be 'delirious' or 'whimsical' to classify a particular place as 'proletariat'. Every sq.meter under the sky, not a forest, is proletariat. We can find proletariat everywhere. Even Buckingham Palace will have proletariat; the Queen's guards and servants can be classified as proletariat, in spite of their being paid sizable wages. Of course, the Queen's guards and servants may not accept it, because they may be too proud of their jobs, to such an extent, that they may feel superior to the guards of car factory or a ketchup factory or a soda ash factory. Such mis-perceptions are natural concomitants of Capitalist Systems, sets-up and structures.

MISPERCEPTIONS OF SELF-UPGRADED UPPER-PROLETARIAT

It is like this: A pet with a gold-belt and bound with a gold-chain in British Royal Palace, may feel superior to a dog wearing a silver-belt and bound with a silver-chain in a business-magnet's flat. The silver-bound dog, in turn, may feel superior to an unbound belt-less, chain-less, stray-street dog in London or Delhi.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERS WHO HAVE STUDIED M.TECH, AND MIDDLE AND SENIOR MANAGERS, WHETHER MBA, OR NOT, AND HOWSOEVER POMPOUS THEIR DESIGNATIONS MAY BE, ALSO FALL UNDER PROLETARIAT.

Though they may not admit, but it is still a fact that, the software engineers of India may also be classified as proletariat. Working full time for a wage/salary can be one ingredient, to get admitted to proletariat, inter alia , there are other basic requirements to belong to the genre of proletariat.

Every Nation, and every Province-state-prefectures forming parts of Nature, are also proletariats. There is no need to place 'red vermilion' on the face of each province-state-prefecture-district-county and call it 'proletariat'.

SOME LIP-SYMPATHY PONTIFICATIONS OF MR. PUTIN, WHICH LACK SINCERITY

"...My attitude to Communist ideas have never wavered. To this day I keep my party membership ticket at home. ..."

"...You know that I, like millions of Soviet citizens, over 20 million, was a member of the Communist Party of the USSR and not only was I a member of the party but I worked for almost 20 years for an organization called the Committee for State Security (KGB) ..."

"...I was not, as you know, a party member by necessity, I liked Communist and socialist ideas very much and I like them still”.

"...I was never just a 'functionary' when it came to party matters. 'The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism—a set of rules to be followed by all party members— ', resembles the Bible a lot. ..."

"...The code revolved around key concepts such as brotherhood, equality and happiness. ..."

"...These ideas were not implemented fully in the USSR. The Soviet Union began with repressions—something the Communists accused the tsar of...".

yb-a-donkey's view:

Mr. Putin is just canny, and worldly wise. If he does not reiterate and confirm that he still holds the Communist Party's membership Ticket, he may lose some votes, some crowds. Why take risk? Accept that "I support Communism/Marxism", and do the opposite! A true Communist-Marxist-Socialist Leader cannot rule a State for 16 long years. People are bound to get dissatisfied, and throw long-standing rulers. Reason: Communist/Marxist/truly Socialist Nations are yet to evolve solutions for hundreds of problems which a newly-Socialist State is likely to face.

This is a thousand page subject. To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.

864 (3 of 10 series) Review of Bolshevik Revolution 1917 to redesign True Complete Socialism

Readers may be aware that the Rulers of India 2016 act without much concern for the difficulties of the poor, promising heaven for them in the next birth. Traditionally, India had a separate Railway Budget, independent of the National General Budget. Railway Budget used to be prepared and presented by Union Railway Minister, whereas General Budget used to be prepared and presented by Union Finance Minister. In 2016, the Rulers have merged the Railway Budget into the General Budget. The General Budget is going to be presented within about a month.

Our Readers may be aware that Rulers of India right from 1991, irrespective of their party affiliations had/have/will have special love for the Corporate Pressure Groups like Assocham, CII, FICCI, etc. What they take pleasure to say to the Corporate Pressure Groups, they do not dare to say directly to the common people. The Rulers can see eye into the eyes of the Corporate Heads, but they can't and they do not wish to have an eye contact with the common people. For the same reason, a distance of at least 200/250 meters seems to be maintained between the dais and the common people in public meetings. Though the Rulers seem to make hearty contacts with the public, cracking jokes, waving hands in the sky, voice modulations, actual words are spoken to the sky, picked up and sieved by common people according to their own whims and fancies (It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.). Even Corporate Business Persons and Industrialists are not exempt from this trait. In one such Conference on Accounting Reforms in Railways organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr. Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, now in charge of Railway Budget also, informed the CII on 20th Dec. 2016, that Railway Fares will undergo an upward revision.

Here is a news report: Click to go to http://www.financialexpress.com/budget/ahead-of-budget-2017-arun-jaitley-hints-indian-railways-fares-will-be-freed/481343/. Some jewels from his speech:--

"...Railways got caught in a battle where populism prevailed over performance.. For any commercial establishment to be run, the first essential principle is that consumers must pay for the services that they receive. ..."

"...The core competence of the railways is really to drive trains, to provide those services. Hospitality may not be the core competence of the railways and, therefore, what is not within its core competence, the principle of outsourcing — which is accepted world over — can be a logical addition to those activities of railways ..."

"...Power and highway sectors started doing well only after consumers paid for the services they got. ..."

"...The world over, only those services have succeeded where there is a financial model which says that consumers pay for what they receive. ..."

yb-a-donkey's observations

Okay, let at least the Corporate Bosses be happy, that there is going to be a surgical strike on the Railway Passengers, and that they (industrialists) can fly happily on some Jet Airlines or Indigo Airlines, and talk to one another face to face.

FANTASY OF TOTAL TRUE COMPLETE SOCIALISM, and A LOOK INTO THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION + 74 YEARS OF USSR

In my donkey's day dreams, I think of total absolutely free public transport for all citizens.. Travellers need not purchase any Railway Tickets either paying cash NEW NOTES, or through some paytm or some other wallet. Then, Indian Citizens will be deprived of their gambling opportunities of winning Lucky Draws and Mega Draws promised by our Rulers.

Question: WAS THERE NO COMPLETELY FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN THE DEFUNCT USSR?

I have been on a searching spree, for information on how the public transport system in 1918 Russia worked. As nobody could own any assets, at least theoretically, nobody could possess wallets and money, and if that assumption is correct, there should not have been any fares at all. On first-cum-first serve basis (subject to some exceptions for journeys on official duties of Government servants, and some similar other genuine travellers, who may have to be given some priority in boarding), anybody could board trains/ buses /trams and travel free. But, I am unable to trace any such evidence in early Soviet History right now.

Just before disintegration of USSR, i.e. 1991, Soviet Railways seem to have been subsidised to the extent of 70%. It implies that pre-1991 Passengers had to bear 30% fare. This does not seem to be reasonable. We may have to re-discuss this item after collecting more evidence.

2016 INDIAN RAILWAYS

Question: In India also, train-fares are heavily subsidised. Consequently tracks and rolling stock are poorly maintained, resulting in accidents

WHO SUBSIDISES WHOM?

GENERAL COMPARTMENTS OF EXPRESS TRAINS: Express Train bogeys, General Compartments are filled 4 times their full official capacity. That means 4 passengers get ZIPPED/COMPRESSED (like in a Computer Zip file) in one passenger's space. It implies that a passenger should pay only 25% fare, with 75% subsidisation.
PASSENGER TRAINS (Passenger, meaning = not Express. Slow moving. They stop everywhere). Sometimes they stop for several hours anywhere without any information on Public Address System, for giving way to Express Trains. In such situations, the foolish passenger who boarded a passenger train would not know whether he should go out and continue his journey by bus or not. The moment he leaves the Station after one hour wait, the train may start, as if something was pushing and rushing it from behind, with divine force.

A 33 km (20 mile). journey which takes about 40 mts. on buses, will take 1 hour to 2 hours on passenger trains. Those travellers who have urgent work use buses, resulting in low occupancy of passenger trains. If a laborer goes on a passenger train, for that day, he is likely to lose his one day wage. Railways use only their IDLE TIME on tracks, and some dilapidated bogeys which cannot be employed elsewhere, for the passenger trains. Things which would have remained idle & revenueless otherwise, will get some revenue for the Railways.

Passengers pay full fare, 75% in terms of their wasted time, and 25% in terms of actual fare = Total 100%. Hence, the element of subsidisation of passenger trains is imaginary, because on any route, Railways run only 2 or 3 PASSENGER trains per day, THAT TOO ONLY DURING DAY TIME. If they run PASSENGER TRAINS at a frequency of every 30 mts., the question of subsidisation may arise, depending on whether Road passengers shift to Passenger Trains or not. When road passengers shift to railways, train-occupancy ratios go up even for Passenger trains. Then we get the situation of 4 passengers crowding in 1 passengers space i.e. gets ZIPPED/COMPRESSED, as in Express Trains, discussed above.

Ques: ARE THERE NO OTHER WAYS/MEANS OF RAISING THE REVENUES OF RAILWAYS, WITHOUT RAISING FARES

THIS ANSWER APPLIES ONLY TO CAPITALIST SYSTEM. IT DOES NOT APPLY TO TRUE COMPLETE SOCIALISM.

Ans: This is a very very old hackneyed question, which every Railway Minister promises to implement, but NEVER IMPLEMENTS, for various reasons. Some solutions:--

1. Maximising advertisement revenues: Advertisements on laminated wall panels within the compartments. Advertisements on the exterior surfaces of bogeys. Permitting advertisement hoardings along side, parallel to railway tracks, both facing inward (towards tracks) and outward (towards roads). Advertisements on bridges.

IN A LIGHTER VEINRailways have to learn, how to maximise advertisement revenues, from Indian TV Channels, particularly Regional Language TV Channels. 40% of viewing time on Indian TV Channels consists of advertisements. Only 60% time is used for viewing programs in a dis-joined manner (without continuity). For skipping advertisements on TV channels, we have to use 'remote(s)' like some typewriters or mobile phones.

2. Constructing rows of shops along the tracks, and leasing them out.

a) Facing the roads adjoining the Railway Tracks.
b) When two rows of shops face one another in the space between railway line and the public Road, a bazar can be created.
c) Creation of specilised bazars for heavy items unloaded from trains such as construction steel rods, cement, vegetables, food grains, feldspar chips, sand, timber, can be experimented with. This will also ease traffic on the streets of towns and cities. Warehouses can be built and leased out. Open spaces can also be leased out for storing bricks, cement, stones, ores, etc.

3. Erection of solar power panels parallel to the rail tracks, in at least four rows (one facing track at a distance, one on its reverse side, one facing adjoining road, one on its reverse side. Alternatively, sheds can be buit, using solar power panels for ceiling.

4. Wherever there are wider spaces belonging to Railways, they can be leased out for raising cattle fodder or for grazing cattle.

5. Wherever there are long vacant strips of land along side the railway lines on both sides, whereever technically feasible, long strips of cement based-walled water storage tanks can be built for collecting rain water. This water can be sold to Municipalities and Panchayats for purification and supply of drinking water.

To continue. सशेष. సశేషం.

863 Part 2/out of 10 series We need not celebrate OR mourn the Bolshevik Revolution. We have to analyse.

This is in continuation of our blog post No. 861 Click to go to 862.. Recapitulating: We found renowned Indian author Mr. Mohan Guruswamy, referring to his two visits to Vladivostok and Moscow, just before the disintegration of the erstwhile U.S.S.R. I have given a DeccanChronicle.com link for his article. He seems to have successfully forecast the crumbling of Soviet Union, and tried to convince the Indian Government about it. (Anyway, it is an internal affair of the U.S.S.R., and its constituent Republics, and India might not have had anything to do it,) even if the Government of India were to take the prediction of Mr. Mohan Guruswamy as ominous foreboding. Then we saw another link, to Spectator.co.uk., containing an article by Mr. Max Hasting, titled "The centenary of the Russian revolution should be mourned, not celebrated".

(ybrao-a-donkey's views): Though erstwhile U.S.S.R. might have deviated from the basic tenets of Communism / Marxism / Socialism, during its 74 years of existence, we cannot forget that U.S.S.R. had made some efforts to usher in to bring about some sort of equality, among its citizens. This is notwithstanding the probable fact that top leaders walowed in great comforts and luxuries, leaving the common people to undue hardships, a la their counterparts i.e. the top leaders of the Capitalist countries.

In post NO.552 Click to go to post No. 552, we found that Bolsheviks used Churches as World War II mortuary, and later as potato warehouse.

"...It was built at the spot where Tsar Alexander II, the man who sold Alaska to the United States, was mortally wounded in a grenade attack in 1881. The interior of the church is a virtual museum of mosaics with intricately wrought biblical themes. Closed down by the Bolsheviks for decades, the church was used as a mortuary during World War II and later as a warehouse for potatoes. Today it is more of a showpiece than a place of worship. ..."

We shall, now be back, to inadequate food, and housing in Russia, referred to by Shri Mohan Guruswamy. Here, we shall have to good links, so as to have a look into the community common living consisting of small individual apartments + common rooms towards kitchen, washing machines, toilets. What Shri Mohan Guruswamy discussed was the position of 1991, the year of Soviet Decomposition. We shall now see, links of 2015 and 2016.

2016: Click here to go to http://www.deccanchronicle.com/world/europe/020516/you-re-never-alone-russia-celebrates-its-soviet-era-communal-flats.html . The title of the article is "'You're never alone': Russia celebrates its Soviet era communal flats". The article starts with : "A communal flat or ‘kommunalka’ is a small dwelling shared by dozen or more residents." Date: 2nd May 2016. Probably, this might have been published as a sequel to the 2016 May Day, held on 1st May 2016.

Through further googling, I found the following link. click to go to http://holeinthedonut.com/2015/01/17/kommunalka-living-st-petersburg-russia. The title of the article is: 'Kommunalka Living in St. Petersburg, Russia – Throwback to an Earlier Era'. Date: January 17, 2015. This article is by Barbara Weibel. This article is lengthier than the DC article. It has a number of photos. This article has 19 comments. Most of the comments have expressed a surprise, that this type of 'living holes' still exist.

At the 'holeinthedonut.com' website, we can find a profile of Ms. Barbara Weibel. The site holeinthedonut.com is owned by Ms. Barbara Weibel. She is a TravelWriter. The 'About' page of the holeinthedonut website is quite informative. According to Click to go to study a profile of Ms. Baraba Weibel, Ms. Weibel's 'about' page is worth studying, from the point of view of 'Capitalism vs. Socialism' and probably integral part 'Individualism vs. Socialism'.

Here is a sample form the 'About' page of holeinthedonut of Ms. Barbara Weibel:

"... My name is Barbara Weibel and I’m the owner/editor of Hole in the Donut Cultural Travel. I’ve always envied people who love their jobs. Unlike those lucky souls, my various careers over the years (marketing, advertising, selling real estate, working in a retail store, owning a public relations firm, and selling snow cones in the largest water park in Puerto Rico, among others) were just means to an end – a way to earn money and have a comfortable lifestyle. I never loved what I did and I can’t really say I was ever really happy, but I plodded on because I was raised to be dependable, to always give 110%, and to work hard in order to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. All of which meant going to work every day, regardless of how much I despised my job. ..."

LIP SERVICE

What we fail to recognise is, Capitalism pays only a 'lip service' to individualism. In the eyes of Capitalism, an 'individual' does not exist. For Capitalism, all individuals are soul-less robots. For the Capitalism, all are ORGANISMS are (includes not only human laborers, but also, working animals like horses, oxen, camels, elephants, kites and vultures(!!!), sledge dogs, hunter dogs, cattle in the abattoirs, pigs, hens and ducks, etc.) all are just objects of business, and factors of production. If those organisms have to survive on this Earth, they must contribute some surplus / profit to the Enterprise Managers and Corporate Monsters. "Freedom of individual", which bourgeoisie economists profess and canvass, exists only in imagination. "Freedom of individual" is used as a stick to beat Socialism with stick, because individuals want a space of their own. Given a chance, it is true, that individuals do not want to share NOT ONLY THAT SPACE WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR THEIR SURVIVAL, BUT ALSO THE SPACE WHICH OTHERS NEED, BESIDE THEM. But, in reality, we have unlimited SPACE only in the sky, above ATMOSPHERE. On this earth, we do not have such unlimited spaces.

SHARING BECOMES INEVITABLE, WHEN RESOURCES SCARCE

Prima facie, it appears to me that Socialism will not impose, or aim to thrust, SHARING on individuals. Let us take Housing. In Capitalism, every individual has to build or buy his-her own home, using lucre made through beg-borrow-steal-rob-cheat-connive. If they are incapable of doing it, then they have to live in huts, or under flyovers, or in subways, or in parked vehicles outside the city. In Capitalist democracies, though Governments promise houses to poor, and allocate a few millions for building houses to poor in annual budgets, most of all such manoeuvres are token-ist to win some elections. There is no genuine intent.

In True Complete Socialism, though it may appear to be a fantasy, the expectation is that a Socialist State will strive to provide at least a sort of 'vanilla' shelters for all, free of cost, for life. Of course, inheritance should not be expected. In fact, it may be prudent for the Socialist State, to rotate housing quarters given free to its Citizens every three years or five years, so that they do not develop attachments and temptations (In Indian philosophy, this is called 'sangams' and 'mohams'). Indian philosophical thinking calls houses, moneys, wives, offsprings, vehicles etc. all as 'debts', and the relationships between the possessors and the objects as the relationship of debtor and creditor. The objects exist as long as the debt exists, and they go away, once the debt gets satisfied. Here is a relevant Sanskrit verse:

riNAnubandha rUpENA
paSu patni suta Alayaha
tad anubandham
pra Samam yAnti
kA tatra parivEdanA !

English gist: Cattle (paSu), patni (wife), suta (sons, daughters), Alaya (houses) are all 'rINAs' (debts). anu = favorable. bandham = band (Indo-European word). rUpENa = in the form of.

tat=that (Indo-European language). praSamam = gets pacified (probably Indo-European origin). yAnti = goes. kA=why, where. tatra = there. pari= a lot, substantial. vEdana = pain.

This ephemeral relationship between 'things' and an 'individual' is to be understood.

.

Another concept which is relevant is: 'jagat' (=this world). ja=What is born, what takes birth.(probably Indo-European language). ga=go (Indo-European). Jagat is something which comes and goes. It does not stay here. It is not 'eternal'. What is 'eternal', becomes 'sat or satyam' i.e. 'truth'.

Film Star and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State in INdia, who passed away recently, apparently did not realise this ephemeral-ity. Consequently, she seems to have acquired huge wealth disproportionate to the known sources of her income. A case is pending against her in Supreme Court of India. Her dwelling is Poes Gardens in Chennai. She is reported to have recommended a SanD Mafia don for appointment to the richest Temple in India, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust Board. She having gone to heaven/hell/nowhere, INTESTATE, those who remain on this earth are fighting for inheriting her wealth, and political mantel.

Similar is the case with Late Shri Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, who died in a plane crash in 2009. People believe that he accumulated a trillion Rupees (about $15 billion) through quid pro quo methods for his son, along with a palace called 'Lotus Pond'. His having gone to heaven/hell/nowhere, cases are pending in Indian courts.

So, the INDIVIDUALISTS need not shiver at the very idea of sharing some 'common space' for kitchens, washing machines, toilets, while they get small rooms as their personal space for beds, etc. What appears to me in the USSR effort of Kommunalka seems to be to provide some personal space + some shared space, to every individual citizen. I do not know whether there was NEAR-EQUALITY in allocating the living quarters, in the Soviet dispensations. It is always possible that good quarters are allocated to cronies, and dilapidated spaces are imposed on dumb citizens.

To my Indian eyes, the Kommunalka Apartments appeared quite decent. For us, we the Indians, we have Dharavi slum in Mumbai. All of our cities, both Metros, and the smaller cities have slums, in which people live in pitiable squalor. Besides, we have some millions of people living under trees, foot paths, cement pipes lying on road margins and in the adjacent fields.



To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.

862 (1st of 10 series) No need to celebrate or mourn Bolshevik Revolution in Russia,Oct. 1917. We need to analyse where we have gone wrong!

Once bitten, twice shy. Thus says the traditional English idiom. 100 years have passed since Bolshevik Revolution took place in Czarist Russia of 1917. The Bolshevik Revolution was violent, and in the upheaval, the last Tsar Emperor of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai I, was killed by Bolshevik Troup led by Yakov Yurovsky. The advent of U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) took place, and Lenin became the undisputed Leader of the geographically the most expansive Nation of the World.

In 1991, when Gorbachev was at the helm of U.S.S.R., it broke into splinters. About the 74 years existence (1917 to 1991) of U.S.S.R., superficially as a Communist / Socialist Nation, there are divergent opinions. According to the Capitalist Press, Communism was a total failure. According to them, it is beyond redemption. They say that, we, should now, mourn, the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communism. Lenin might have implemented his brand of Communism, rather boorishly and with procacity. It may be true, that erstwhile USSR went through harrowing and gruesome tales of mass-killings, ferocious persecution, in the hands of succeeding cruel dictators. Their oppression might have, really been brutal.

Here is a link to one article in Spectator.co.u.k., titled: "The centenary of the Russian revolution should be mourned, not celebrated"., dated 10th Dec. 2016, by Max Hastings Click to go to http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/the-centenary-of-the-russian-revolution-should-be-mourned-not-celebrated/. The article has collected all the negative sides of the Soviety History 1917-2017. In reality, Soviet Communism might not have been so sepulchral dark and despicable with ghastly shrieks and charnel smells. We shall have a sample from this article:

"...In the West, the gullibility of the Webbs, Bernard Shaw and the rest of the ‘true believers’ was fed by a desperation to suppose the Soviet example viable. ‘Looking around us at our own hells,’ wrote the historian Philip Toynbee, who became a communist at Cambridge, ‘we had to invent an earthly paradise somewhere else’. As late as 1945, the leftist publisher Victor Gollancz brought posterity’s contempt upon himself by declining to publish Animal Farm, George Orwell’s great satire on Bolshevism. ..."

"...President Putin has made unlawful all published mention of the unspeakable cruelties the Soviet regime inflicted on its own citizens — shooting an estimated 300,000 soldiers for alleged desertion or cowardice — in order to prevail. Antony Beevor’s books, and for that matter my own, are nowadays banned because they describe the Red Army’s 1945 campaign of rape and pillage in Germany. ..."

The defunct Soviet Union might not have been either a paradise or, - a hell as is made out now, from hindsight.

Capitalist writers forget the hells created by Imperialism, Colonialism, and Corporate Multi Nationalism. Of course, two wrongs may not make one 'right'. Like slow poison, industrial and agricultural exploitation too took its toll, making people undeclared slaves, before the pulpit of "CASH".

INDIAN WRITER SHRI MOHAN GURUSWAMY, in DECCAN CHRONICLE.COM.

Here is a link to the renowned Indian Writer's article, Shri Mohan Guruswamy, in DeccanChronicle.Com, dated 24th Dec. 2016, when the whole world was celebrating Christmas. Click to go to http://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/op-ed/241216/will-russian-spring-return.html. The title of the article is Will the Russian Spring return?

Every sentence written by Shri Guruswamy is worth discussing and analysing. To start with we shall take one paragraph:

The second time I stayed in a small Moscow apartment belonging to an old Russian widow, who for a small dollar price agreed to part with her state-allotted home for a few days. The flat, a few kilometres away from the Indian embassy at Ulitza Obhuka, was as tiny as they come. The bedroom had enough place for just a single bed. The living room was of the same size and had a sofa-cum-bed. The kitchen was tiny and bare. The bathroom was not much bigger than a train toilet. Food was not available for love or money but there was a lot of love available for food or money. In the small store that stood outside the Indian embassy the shelves were bare, as were the shelves in Moscow’s famous GUM store facing the Kremlin. I wanted to experience typical Russian life and got plenty of it. The ruble was officially on par with the US dollar, but on the street the dollar fetched a dozen rubles at least. And for a carton of Marlboro cigarettes (then $8 in Delhi’s duty-free) cabbies would drive you all over Moscow for as long as one wanted. Such was the plight of the other superpower.

yb-a-donkey's observations

With due respect to Shri Mohan Guruswamy, who says "Will the Russian Spring return?", we can also say "Will the American Spring return? Will the British / French / German / Italian / Portuguese / Spanish Springs return?

To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.

814 (Part 3/100) of Lenin X Gandhi Comparisons, George Bernard Shaw, Future of Global Communism, and Indian Communism

George Bernard Shaw was one of the analytical expounders of Fabian Socialism (Gradualist Socialism). After the two world wars, his perspectives seem to have changed. He seems to have started supporting dictatorships. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia.org:

"...His appetite for politics and controversy remained undiminished; by the late 1920s he had largely renounced Fabian gradualism and often wrote and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left—he expressed admiration for both Mussolini and Stalin. In the final decade of his life he made fewer public statements, but continued to write prolifically until shortly before his death, aged 94, having refused all state honours, including the Order of Merit in 1946. ..."

ybrao-a-donkey's humble comments. वैबीराव एक गधे के विनम्र राय . వైబీరావ్ గాడిద వినమ్ర వాణి. You have every right to differ with me. I respect your right. आपको मेरे मत से भिन्न राय रखने के संपूर्ण हक है। मै उस अधिकार को परिपूर्ण रूप से गौरव देता हुँ. మీకు, మీ భిన్నమైన అభిప్రాయాన్ని కలిగిఉండే సంపూర్ణ హక్కు ఉంది. దానిని ఎంతో నేను గౌరవిస్తాను. However, pl. examine this donkey's views also. परन्तु एस गधे के दृष्टिकोण को भी अनुशीलन कीजिये. కానీ ఈ గాడిద దృష్టికోణాన్ని కూడ ఓర చూపుతో కంటజూడుమీ, క్రీగంట జూడమీ.

In Blog Post No. Click to go to post No. 813 at this blog , I have given a quote from Lenin's telegram to his associates to arrange for hanging of 100 kulaks, not because I wanted to find fault with Lenin's methods of working, but because, I have some reservations about 'killing' as a 'corrective-mechanism' for ills of society. In that post, we have also made a note that Indian Maoists went on killing/maiming presumably innocent people calling them informers or traitors, and went on being killed by the Police in (1) Genuine Encounters and, (2) Fake Encounters. The Maoists and their supporters called the State Killings as 'rAjya himsa' (Violence by State), and their killing of informers 'prati himsa' (Retributive or Compensatory Violence). Analyses of the State Violence vs. Retributive Violence, we shall take up later.

What we ought to note, in a longer term perspective, is Killings and violence delay the advent of True Socialism, because a deviation of efforts takes place. Focus will shift. Misdirections take place. There will be heat and explosions. But starving and the suffering millions will not get the amelioration and relief they need and deserve, RIGHT NOW.

We shall, now, take up the captioned quote of George Bernard Shaw, which can also be seen in the above image:--

Socialism means equality of income or nothing... under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not.

If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.

Back to yb-donkey's views:

About "Socialism means equality of income or nothing" : -Somehow this quote omitted "equality of wealth", "equality of dignity", "equality of distribution of menial work (physical and hazardous labor)", "equality in distribution of essential goods and services", "justice in preferential order and the design of ladder of distribution (This DESIGN OF LADDER OF DISTRIBUTION AND PREFERENTIAL ORDER requires a thousand blogposts to introduce, explain, and layout pros and cons), etc. While it is true that PERFECT EQUALITY is not possible, at least EXCELLENT EQUALITY should be achievable.

About "You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not.", this is the noblest thing in socialism. No human, worth his salt, will normally on his own volition (exceptions: some Jain traditions) abstain from food, clothing, shelter, education). Our Capitalist Economies and Political Administrations also do not OVERTLY advise or force people to abstain from FLESCOH (My favorite acronym for Food, Liberty, Education, Shelter, Clothing, Old Age Security and Health Care).

We can see how Donald Trump and Ms. Hillary Clinton are making competitive promises, and allegations and counter-allegations, about these things only. Actually, these promises, and some half-hearted follow-up actions on the part of the bourgeoisie parties, have punctured the truck of True Socialism. It is because, either people have started thinking that "something is better than nothing", or because they have reached a situation that they cannot wait even a day for the fantasy of true complete socialism.

Some Telugu language proverbs are relevant here:

1) parugetti pAlu tAgE kannA nilabaDi nILLu trAgaTam mElu. English: It will be better to drink water while standing, instead of running marathons for drinking milk.

2) majjiga lEvurA magaDA anTE, peruguki cITI vrASADuTa. English: Context: A wife asked her to bring butter-milk from outside. The husband responded by writing a chit (slip containing an order) to send curd (yogurt). Here, buttermilk is the minimum survival immediate need. Curd-yogurt is a distant fantasy. People do not oppose curd. They will be delighted to relish it, but they are not prepared to wait.

3) bratikunTE balusAku tinaccu. English: If a person lives, he can survive by eating 'leaves of the balusu plant'. In drought areas of India, there were large number of days, there are some days even now, where people ate/eat leaves of the 'balusu plant' and survived/survive.

4) Upiri unTE uppu kallu ammi bratakaccu: English: If we have breath, we can survive, even by selling salt. (Selling salt = eking out livelihood by street-vending salt taking it on a cart to houses).

About "If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner;" :-- 1) Who will decide that a particular person, or some particular persons do not have the required character? If he becomes adament / biased / corrupt / despotic ? There must be a fool-proof State mechanism to prevent injustices, and a efficient-genuine-honest Grievance Redressal Mechanism.

2) What is this "executed in a kindly manner" ? Executions should not either be resorted to at all, or if they are absolutely unavoidable, they should be the LAST RESORT, after zillion alternatives fail.

In my last birth, incarnation as a Bank Employee, I used to have a Bank Manager boss, who had two sons. They used to approach him smilingly, taking with them some chocolates or laDDus, fall on his feet in perfect obedience and obeisance [In Bengali novels of late Saratchandra Chaterjee (popularly called Sarat Babu), we come across a practice called 'pAda dhUli' (taking a little dust at feet and keeping on head, as a token of reverence)]. Then, they used to sit one each on his laps, and then climb up to his head, shuffle his hair with all love and affection, and then finally blurt out "Oh Father, we love you. But we shall fire you with this (toy) pistol, etc.". In real life, there will be no toy pistols. Where will, we can find this "KINDLY".

We can only find persons of the type of Shri Kind Kaluvakolanu Chandrasekhara Rao, present Chief Minister of Telangana State, who want to do some "karru kAlci vAtalu" (brand people he hated, with hot irons). Or we may find some Great Leaders like Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who will want their opponents to be struck with footwear (ceppu tIsukoni koTTanDi in Telugu language). Or we may find persons like his rival politician Shri Nara Chandra Babu Naidu, who will call critics 'unmAdi' (lunatic). So, this idea of Executions in "Kindly manner" or "cruel manner", or whatsoever manner, have to be erased from the Concept of Socialism.

About "but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well." : This is the noblest part of what Shaw said, in the above quote. Reason: Today, in this Great Great Great Capitalist Economy, millions of people are living under sub-human conditions, not only have been deprived of their basic needs of FLESCOH, but also denied of their self-respect. For proof, I can give any number of real life examples of this monstracity of Capitalism.

But, one crucial question, still remains about: "whilst you were permitted to live". This question is important, because humans existed even before societies evolved. That means Human is 'primary' and Society should be 'secondary'. 'Human' is like dog's head. 'Society' is like dog's tail. Head can survive without tail. But, tail cannot survive without head. I believe that society does not / cannot have an authority to determine whether a person SHOULD BE / SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO LIVE. (NOTE: Capital Punishments through Courts of Law, for ghastly proven rarest-of-the-rarest offences, are exceptions. They are neither norms or parameters or standards in day-to-day functioning of the society.)

Here, it is worthwhile to quote a verse of Telugu poet Late SriSri, from his collection 'mahA prasthAnam' (Great destiny/destination).

మనది ఒక బ్రతుకేనా (Is our life, a life?!!! )
కుక్కల వలె నక్కలవలె (Like dogs, like foxes)
మనదీ ఒక బ్రతుకేనా (Is our life, a life?)
సందులలో పందులవలె (Like the pigs in dirty lanes)

It is this sort of life which True Complete Socialism does not want people to lead /live. However, "should live well" cannot mean "live with all comforts and luxuries". Here "live well" refers to "intrinsic worth of life", and not to "extrinsic worth of life".

Though from the Wikipedia quote given above, we find that Shaw seems to have in his later years "... often wrote and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left—he expressed admiration for both Mussolini and Stalin. ...", we do not know the circumstances and situations which had led Late George Bernard Shaw to shift his stance. I do not contribute to the idea of "Shaw had become an opportunist".

To continue. Subject to further editing to remove anything illegal/unlawful. सशेष. సశేషం.

813 (Part 2/100) of Lenin X Gandhi Comparisons, Future of Global Communism, and Indian Communism

The Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, October 2 2016, is a few days ahead. As usual, there will be a public holiday, so that Government Employees can play cards the whole day, booze, or visit pubs, or go to dance bars, or hang around TV sets, or do whatever they like, except studying at least for one day, what Gandhiji had said or practised during his life time, what methods Gandhiji used in the various movements led by him such as Non-Co-operation Movement, Salt SatyAgraha, Quit India Movement. Of course, officially Governments will order closure of meat shops and wine shops. Okay, let us have this annual ritual, as true Indians whose penchant for rituals is well-known globally.

In the last post, I have given some links for download of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Collected works of Lenin. I have also given one link to a 1930 article by a Indo-British Labor Leader of those days Shapurji Saklatvala, with the article titled 'Who is this Gandhi?". Along with that I have also given a 'memoriam' about late Shapurji Saklatvala.

Now, I provide below a link to a telegram by Late Lenin, soon after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, addressed to his associates. Click to go to Telegram to Comrades Kuraev, Bosh, Minkin, and other Penza communists at Marxists.org.

I also quote excerpts from the telegram:

Written: August 11, 1918
Source: From the Library of Congress exhibit Revelations from the Russian Archives: Collectivization and Industrialization: “Hanging order”, p. 1 & p. 2.
Translated: Prof. Richard B. Day, of the University of Toronto Mississauga (2008)
qTranscription & Markup: Kevin Goins (2008)
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2008). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.

Russian Federated Soviet Republic
Chairman of the Council Of People’s Commissars From Moscow, the Kremlin. 11-VIII-08
To Penza

To Comrades Kuraev, Bosh, Minkin and other Penza communists.

Comrades! The uprising by the five kulak volosts must be mercilessly suppressed. The interest of the entire revolution demands this, for we are now facing everywhere the “final decisive battle” with the kulaks. We need to set an example.

1. You need to hang (hang without fail, so that the people see) no fewer than 100 of the notorious kulaks, the rich and the bloodsuckers.
2. Publish their names.
3. Take all their grain from them.
4. Appoint the hostages — in accordance with yesterday’s telegram.

This needs to be done in such a way that the people for hundreds of versts around will see, tremble, know and shout: they are throttling and will throttle the bloodsucking kulaks.

Telegraph us concerning receipt and implementation.
Yours, Lenin.
PS. Find tougher people.

ybrao-a-donkey's humble comments. वैबीराव एक गधे के विनम्र राय . వైబీరావ్ గాడిద వినమ్ర వాణి. You have every right to differ with me. I respect your right. आपको मेरे मत से भिन्न राय रखने के संपूर्ण हक है। मै उस अधिकार को परिपूर्ण रूप से गौरव देता हुँ. మీకు, మీ భిన్నమైన అభిప్రాయాన్ని కలిగిఉండే సంపూర్ణ హక్కు ఉంది. దానిని ఎంతో నేను గౌరవిస్తాను. However, pl. examine this donkey's views also. परन्तु एस गधे के दृष्टिकोण को भी अनुशीलन कीजिये. కానీ ఈ గాడిద దృష్టికోణాన్ని కూడ ఓర చూపుతో కంటజూడుమీ, క్రీగంట జూడమీ.

I do not want to eulogise or criticse Late Lenin, because we do not know the grassroot level scenario prevailing in Russia of 1917. I am more interested for the 'Indian Context", that too "India 2016".

Similarly, I do not want to eulogise or criticise Mahatma Gandhi's leadership and working styles, because he had his own set of priorities and problems. His topmost priority, obviously was to lead India to freedom, and that he had done to the best of his ability. There might have taken place many meritorious things and some undesirable things. Anyway, whatever had happened at that time is history. It will be suffice if facts are recorded by historians in a "mirror-like manner".

In the above telegram, Lenin was asking his associates to hang at least 100 kulaks.

Kulak definition as per Merrium Webster Dictionary: 1. A prosperous or wealthy peasant farmer in 19th century Russia. 2 : a farmer characterized by Communists as having excessive wealth.

In Indian context, we can call them landlords, big farmers. For sometime, when P.V. Narasimha Rao as Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh tried to bring in Land Reforms, some fragmentation took place in AP, and it appeared as though there are few landlords left in Andhra Pradesh. Probably, a similar thing might have happened in Bengal and Kerala. In some other States administered by other bourgeoisie parties like Congress, BJP, RJD, Samajvadi, BSP, etc. etc. some sort of facade-land-reforms might have taken place.

2016 Indian Situation, is definitely different. Owing to continuous fragmentation which took place among children of farmers, while the number of small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural laborers, unwritten-tenant farmers has gone up, simultaneously several pieces of small land holdings were purchased in benami names by nouveau riche

Simple Definition of nouveau riche as per Merriam Webster Dictionary:

: a person who has recently become rich and who likes to spend a lot of money.

of Society consisting of industrialists and business magnets, politicians and bureaucrats, film stars, cricketers, successful lawyers and doctors, corrupt Govt. engineers etc. In other words, the old class of kulaks (in Telugu we can probably call them 'peda rAyuDu') have been replaced by the modern kulaks.

Maoists hiding in forests tried the techniques of killing kulaks and contractors, probably some rural money-lenders. They have also killed some villagers, calling them informers. They have also indulged in killing some low-level police employees treating them as enemies. But, ultimately, they could achieve nothing in India, except extracting moneys from contractors. Some surrendered Maoists like Nayeem, Sambasivudu (et al) have even established their own empires of criminal extortions.

The Empire established by Lenin in U.S.S.R. (erstwhile Soviet Union) through MASS KILLINGS as proven by the above telegram, did not last long. About Lenin's administration of his so called new Communist Society, we shall take up later. Soon after death of Lenin, the Russian Empire went into the hands of Stalin, who was nothing but a tyrant.

What I wish that we should study in the reigns of Lenin and Stalin is, whether Collective Farming Methods had brought any improvements in the lives of the then Russian Working Class. If there were failures, gradual atrophy till 1991 dissolution of Soviet Union, possible reasons for such failures, we have to study. What I am tempted to say is: Why should we throw away baby with the bathwater? Why not we identify what went wrong in the Russian and East European Experimentations of so-called Socialism-Communism? We know that Chinese Communism is a total failure, as can be seen from China2016.

To continue. Subject to further editing to remove anything illegal/unlawful. सशेष. సశేషం.