An important document in the history of Turkish Communism. Sadrettin Celal Antel (Orhan), later an renown educator, was delegate for the Turkish Workers and Peasants Socialist Party to the 4th World Congress of the Communist International and gave this report on the changed orientation of the Kemalists, previously critically supported by the Communists, and the wave of persecutions at their hands.

‘The Situation in Turkey’ by Orhan from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 2 No. 116. December 22, 1922.

Comrades, you have read in the papers about the mass arrests of communists in Asia Minor and about the dissolution of the Workers’ Union of Turkey, in Constantinople. In order that you may well understand the significance of this new turn in the policy of the Kemalists and of these recent persecutions in particular, I find it necessary to inform the Congress of the general activities of the Communist Party of Angora and of Constantinople as well as the policies of the Nationalist Government.

The Turkish Communist Party was formed at the time when the bourgeois nationalist government, initiated by the workers and peasants, took a position detrimental to the vital interests of the toiling masses. The Turkish Communist Party therefore, at the time of its formation, found itself faced by two enemies: imperialism and bourgeois nationalism. The Party, considering that the struggle against imperialism, our greatest enemy, was of world wide importance, decided to support the government so long as it fought imperialism, while demanding democratic reforms for workers and peasants and trying to organise them. These decisions were in conformity with the resolutions of the Second Congress concerning nationalist and colonial questions. The Party has not changed this policy from the time of its formation until the present. As proof of this, I might refer to the proclamation issued by the Party to the army, and to the workers and peasants, summoning them to the struggle for the final victory. In another Party proclamation addressed to the Greek army and working masses, the latter were invited to rise and to disorganise their army, which was fighting only for the Greek bourgeoisie and British imperialism.

Still another proclamation was issued by the Party calling upon the people of Constantinople to form a united front against reaction and imperialism, and not to allow the Sultan to escape but bring him before the supreme tribunal of the people.

The Home and Foreign Policies of the Government.

The Government of the Great National Assembly, born out of the struggle for independence and proclaiming that it is fully for the “National Pact” and against imperialism, has shown during the last three years by its conduct, that its policy has been one of betrayal. The following facts are instructive in this respect:

1) When their relations with the Soviet Government were just started, the representatives sent by the government to Moscow stated that there was a large Communist Party in Turkey, that this Party had a numerous following among the peasants, and that peasants’ soviets were already functioning in several localities.

2) In the first period of its existence, trying to deceive Soviet Russia, the government formed under the name of the Green Army, a would-be Bolshevik Party consisting exclusively of bourgeois elements.

3) After the arrival of the first soviet ambassador at Angora, the government formed an official Communist Party composed of the remainder of the Green Army, high government officials, and intellectuals.

4) The delegation sent by the government to the London Conference, to please the imperialist Powers announced in all the European capitals through which it was passing that a score of Communists, among whom were our brave Comrades Soubhi and Ehden Nejat, had been slaughtered and that they were going to put an end to all the other imprisoned comrades, so that the plague of Bolshevism would no more infest the country.

5) The agreement with the French in 1921 proves that the government is betraying the East, and that it has given away the “National Pact.”

6) Finally, we have the recent persecution directed against the Communist Party and the Turkish Labourers’ Union, coinciding with the convocation of the Lausanne Conference.

As to its home policy, the activity of the Angora government consisted in checking all free activity on the part of all parties and groups favoring democratic reforms, in annihilating all opposition before it had time to crystalise, and in deceiving the people by solemn promises. This policy has found its concrete expression in the following facts:

1) The government strangled the “People’s League,” which had been formed within the great National Assembly and which advocated a program of extensive reforms.

2) It rejected the electoral system of occupational representation proposed in the original draft of the constitution.

3) In order to stifle the opposition in the Great National Assembly, the government organised the “Group of Solidarity”; and, in order to ensure its domination over the masses, it formed in all parts of Asia Minor, so called Defense of Law and Order groups composed exclusively of capitalists, landholders and speculators.

4) In spite of its promises, the government inaugurated no reforms for the benefit of the working masses. On the contrary, it prevented by every means the establishment of working class organisations, and it is crushing the peasants under an unendurable burden of taxation.

The Relations between the Party and the Masses.

The slogans advanced by the Party found an echo among the masses of wage-workers and exploited masses, of whom the most enlightened are joining the Party. In spite of the campaigns of persecution which the government has launched against the Party, the workers and peasants supported it in ever greater numbers. Within a very short time the Party has gained important victories. During the period of its activity from March to October 1922, it did good work of education and propaganda and advocated also the Red International of Labour Unions and the Young Communists. Because of its influence on the masses, the government felt it necessary to put an end to its activities.

Constantinople.

I wish to say a few words on the working class movement in Constantinople, and on the influence of the Communist Group in that city where the government has recently dissolved the Turkish Laborers’ Union on the ground that it was conducting communist propaganda. In Constantinople, the work was much harder. Comrades, I need not describe the difficult and tragic situation of our comrades struggling against the reactionary Turkish government, and against imperialism, the arch enemy of communism. But, in spite of all these difficulties, in spite of the terror, the Communist Group of Constantinople, working illegally for two years, has attained great influence among the masses, by forming nuclei within the factories, workshops, and everywhere where there are workers, by publishing legal and illegal pamphlets, magazines, manifestoes and leaflets, and by distributing communist publications which they receive regularly from other communist organisations.

It is obviously not possible for me to tell you all that the Constantinople Communist Group is doing. However, to give you an example of the nature of its activity, I might mention that in July it called a conference of the most important working class organisations in Constantinople in order to form a United Front against the general offensive of capital. But the International Workers’ Union, which we had considered until then as the most class-conscious working class organisation in that city, sabotaged this attempt, declaring that the working class was not yet prepared, and that it must first be educated. We said, however, that it was the leaders who were really opposed, and that unity will be achieved through action. We also added that if we did not establish the United Front the bourgeoisie would crush one by one all labour organisations. Consequent events amply proved that we were right.

The New orientation of the Government and its Perspectives.

In summing up the new orientation of Kemalism, we may say that the imperialist bourgeoisie which at the London Conference was full of hatred against imperialism, anticipating now the possibility of getting its share in the exploitation of the toiling masses of Turkey, has changed its policy of relentless warfare into a policy of concessions and treason. Since the London Conference the nationalist bourgeoisie is no longer revolutionary. It is for this reason that the Angora Government, desirous of obtaining at the Lausanne Conference favorable conditions for itself, and for the interests of the big bourgeoisie which it represents, is preparing to make concessions in the national pact at the expense of the toiling masses.

The General Offensive of Capital, and the policy of Repressions.

As you see, the Angora Government did not keep out of the general offensive of capitalism against the proletariat and the communists. At the opening session of the Congress, when comrade Clara Zetkin condemned the execution of communists in Italy, Poland, Roumania, Greece, Latvia etc., we were already in receipt of the telegram which informed us of the barbarous repressions carried on by the government of Mustapha Kemal against the Communist Party of Tukey. We cannot describe these repressions otherwise than barbarous, because police-officers armed with razors and iron nails tortured their prisoners.

The government of Mustapha Kemal, in carrying out wholesale arrests, has accused our imprisoned comrades of espionage on behalf of Soviet Russia, and consequently of high treason.

The arrests are still going on, according to the latest news received. Over 200 comrades have already been imprisoned, and even at Constantinople the Turkish Labourers’ Union has been suppressed and the Communists are persecuted. In no other country was there so large a number of arrests made in time of peace. But notwithstanding the repressions and terrorism, the workers and peasants, having learned to distinguish their true friends from their enemies, have rallied to their Party with increased devotion. In proof of this we may mention the following few facts:

1. During the arrest of communist workers at an Angora ammunition factory, the non-communist workers demanded the reason for these arrests. On being told that our comrades were arrested for being communists, they declared: “Since you arrests those who defend the interests of the proletariat, you arrest us too. Until now we were not communists, but now we have become communists too.”

2. The proclamation of protest against this brutal act, calling upon workers to rally to the Communist Party, was supported by the majority of the workers present. A scuffle occurred, and the police had to work hard to restore order.

3. During the arrests among the peasant organisations the latter offered formidable resistance.

4. At Constantinople, in spite of the combined terror of foreign imperialism and the native bourgeoisie, the Communists remained at their posts.

Conclusion.

Comrades, from what I have just said, you can see that the Communist Party of Turkey and the Constantinople Party organisation are carrying out the instructions of the Communist International, and have always supported the national liberation movement. Considering the general situation, they have spent the major part of their activity in organising and educating the proletariat, demanding democratic reforms to benefit the large masses of the workers. But in spite of their conciliatory and favorable attitude, the bourgeois nationalists government has constantly persecuted the Party, and today we witness its determination to stamp out the movement of revolutionary communism. It is truly strange that the government, in its blind fury against Communism, should act in this manner at the very moment when all the imperialist forces are acting in coalition for the complete enslavement of Turkey, and when it is in greatest need of the support of the working masses and the entire world proletariat. But the counter blows that are bound to come from the working masses themselves, and from the world proletariat who have supported it during the three years of struggle, will make it realise the magnitude of the heinous crime committed by them.

Comrades, the Turkish delegation proposes to the Fourth Congress of the Communist International to send, on behalf of the world proletariat, an open letter to the toiling people of Turkey languishing under the dictatorship of imperialism and the treacherous national government, and to the imprisoned comrades who in their dungeons courageously await the imminent breaking of the dawn. Here is the text of the proposed letter:

To the Communists and to the Working Masses of Turkey.

The Fourth Congress of the Third International, held contemporaneously with the Fifth Anniversary of the great Proletarian Revolution, sends its warmest greetings to the workers and peasants of Turkey, wishing them success in their heroic struggle for independence against Western imperialism.

Comrades of Turkey! you have given a live example of a revolutionary movement of independence to the entire East and to all the Colonial countries subjugated by imperialism.

But the latest events show that the bourgeois nationalist government intends to usurp the fruits of this victory won at the price of your tremendous sacrifices.

The nationalist government of Angora is ready to come to terms with the imperialists at the price of some concessions obtained for the benefit of the big bourgeoisie of Turkey. It inaugurated this new policy by dissolving the Communist Party and suppressing all its organisations, by making wholesale arrests and maltreating our imprisoned comrades in barbarous fashion, and finally by suppressing the Turkish Labourers’ Union at Constantinople.

The Turkish Communist Party has always supported the bourgeois nationalist government in the struggle of the toiling masses against imperialism. The Turkish Communist Party consented even, in face of the common enemy, to make temporary concessions in its program and its ideal.

In view of these facts, the attitude of the government towards the Communist Party demonstrates the desire of the government to banish all the conscious representatives of the working class and the peasantry who will insist on realisation of the democratic reforms which were solemnly pledged in order to obtain your aid, and also in order to make the appearance of a real bourgeois government at the Lausanne Conference.

The bourgeois government of Turkey has the audacity to commit against you and your representatives such crimes that arouse the indignation of the entire world proletariat led by the Russian proletariat which grudged no material or moral sacrifice during the most trying period, when all the imperialist and capitalist Powers made common cause for the purpose of strangling the toiling people of Turkey.

The nationalist government, in preparation for an under- standing with the imperialists, endeavours to destroy your true representatives and to separate them from their friends abroad.

The Fourth Congress of the Communist International protests vigorously against this barbarous act, and considers it as its duty to solemnly proclaim its readiness to support any government or political party that will refuse to play the part of the gendarme of imperialism, which will continually fight against imperialism and reaction and which will realise the democratic reforms for the benefit of the toiling masses of Turkey. You, the imprisoned comrades, the Third International–the general staff of defence of the world proletariat–affectionately salutes as the most conscious and most devoted representatives of the toiling masses of Turkey.

Remember, comrades, that the gloom of dungeons has never yet obscured the sun of the revolution.

Remember, comrades, that on the eve of the victory of the revolution, the impotence of the ruling class manifests itself by increased ferocity. This is what we are witnessing now, when Capitalism breaks down under the weight of its inherent contradictions, when the shock of imperialist conflicts has reached its highest point, that the international bourgeoisie redoubles its persecutions against the heralds and the builders of the new Communist society.

But no white terror ever succeeded in intimidating those who are firm in their faith of the inevitable and final victory of the social revolution. The place of every comrade that is imprisoned or shot is taken by hundreds of comrades arising from the exploited proletarian ranks, who will continue to fight for freedom with increased vigour.

Comrades, the Third International considers it as its essential duty to do everything in its power to rescue you from the hands of your hangmen.

Long live the World Revolution!

Long live the faithful Communists of Turkey! Long live the Third International!

Long live Soviet Russia!

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1922/v02n116-dec-22-1922-Inprecor.pdf