Willy Münzenberg

Relief for Russia

500,000,000 Marks Collected
by Foreign Committee
for the Famine Stricken in Russia

(5 May 1922)


From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 2 No. 32/33, 5 May 1922, pp. 258–259.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2019). 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.


Up to the 1st of April, the Workers’ Relief Committees affiliated to the Foreign Committee (Berlin) for the Organisation of Workers Relief for the Famine Stricken in Russia had collected 447,787,000 Marks in cash and goods. To this there is to be added 150 to 180 million Marks granted by trade-unions, cooperative societies, and private and parliamentary donations upon the motions of Workers’ Relief Committees, Communist groups and fractions. This latter sum is not included in the 447,787,000 Marks because the money has not been placed at the disposal of the Foreign Committee, but sent to the International Trade Union Federation, various Red Cross organizations or to the Nansen Committee. All in all there has been brought in up to the 1st April last through the activity of the organisations of the Foreign Committee for the starving workers and peasants in Russia the very respectable sum of over 500,000,000 Marks. To this total the various countries have contributed as follows:

Norway (Workers’ Relief Committee)

300,000 Kr.

 

16,500,000 Mks.

Denmark (C.P. of Denmark)

150,000 Kr.

9,750,000 Mks.

France (Workers’ Relief Committee,
C.P. of France and Syndicalists)

1,700,000 Fr.

47,600,000 Mks.

Switzerland (Relief Committee of
the C.P. of Switzerland)

190,000 Fr.

11,020,000 Mks.

Czecho-Slovakia (Relief Committee of the C.P.
after the splitting of the Joint Committee)

250,000 Kr.

15,000,000 Mks.

Germany (Workers’ Relief Committee)

 

6,000,000 Mks.

England (Relief Committee of the C.P.G.B.)

£6,000

7,800,000 Mks.

South Africa (C.P.S.A.)

£1,500

1,950,000 Mks.

Greece (C.P. Greece)

10,000 Dr.

400,000 Mks.

Sweden (C.P. Sweden)

160,000 Kr.

12,480,000 Mks.

Holland (Workers’ Relief Committee)

180,000 Fl.

20,700,000 Mks.

Italy (Relief Committee)

1,600,000 Lire

25,600,000 Mks.

Bulgaria (C.P.B.)

3,000,000 Leva

6,300,000 Mks.

Belgium (C.P. Belgium)

200,000 Fr.

5,000,000 Mks.

Argentine Republic (C.P.A.)

40,000 Pes.

4,200,000 Mks.

Luxemburg (C.P.L.)

 

50,000 Mks.

Roumania (Social Rev.) Brasno

14,000 Lei

30,000 Mks.

Wood-Workers’ Federation of Siebenburgen

10,000 Lei

25,000 Mks.

Brazil (K.P.B.)

9,000 Mil.

360,000 Mks.

Spain (Trade Unions)

25,000 Pes.

1,125,000 Mks.

Communist Party

2,225 Pes.

100,000 Mks.

Austria (C.P.A.)

2,000,000 Kr.

105,000 Mks.

Poland (Workers’ Relief Committee)

 

370,000 Mks.

Confiscated by the Government of America
(Friends of Soviet Russia)

$850,000

255,000,000 Mks.

From the Japanese Relief Committee in Europe

 

60,000 Mks.

From some Korean Students

 

12,000 Mks.

Various Contributions

 

250,000 Mks.

Total

 

447,787,000 Mks.

The International Trade Union Federation which keeps its collections separate from those of the Foreign Committee, up to the 15th January has given receipts for the following contributions:

Austria

£1,520

Belgium

6,100

Checko Slovakia [sic!]

20,780

Denmark

3,820

France

12,230

Germany

7,160

Great Britain

7,730

Holland

5,360

Italy

33,420

Lettland

160

Luxemburg

180

Poland

250

Spain

1,210

Sweden

8,380

Switzerland

3,820

International Transport Workers’ Federation

170

Various Gifts

220

Total

£112,510
Mks. 146,265,000

From the collections of the Foreign Committee and its organisations alone, 20,000,000 kilograms of provisions and materials were be purchased, the greater part of which has already arrived in Russia. A part is now en route. This is will [save] several hundred thousand human beings up to the time of the next harvest and thus save them from what would have otherwise been certain death from starvation. This is a proof that help is possible from the international working class. The growing famine in Russia renders it the first duty of every proletarian not to slacken in his efforts to help. It is necessary to carry on relief activity with all persistence and perseverance until the difficult crisis is past. A particularly appropriate day for fresh endeavors and for further collections is the 1st of May. Workers, Comrades, make use of it, We must neither rest until we have succeeded in collecting one billion for our starving brothers in Russia.

 

The Secretary
Willy Münzenberg


Last updated on 27 December 2019