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V. I. LENIN
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
Burning Questions of Our Movement
F. AGAIN "SLANDERERS," AGAIN
"MYSTIFIERS"These polite expressions, as the reader will recall, belong to the Rabocheye Dyelo, which in this way answers our charge that it "is indirectly preparing the ground for converting the working-class movement into an instrument of bourgeois democracy." In its simplicity of heart the Rabocheye Dyelo decided that this accusation was nothing more than a polemical sally, as if to say, these malicious doctrinaires have
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made up their minds to say all sorts of unpleasant things about us; now what can be more unpleasant than being an instrument of bourgeois democracy? And so they print in bold type a "refutation": "Nothing but downright slander" (Two Congresses, p. 30), "mystification" (p. 31), "masquerade" (p. 33). Like Jupiter, the Rabocheye Dyelo (although it has little resemblance to Jupiter) is angry because it is wrong, and proves by its hasty abuse that it is incapable of understanding its opponents' mode of reasoning. And yet, with only a little reflection it would have understood why all worship of the spontaneity of the mass movement and any degrading of Social-Democratic politics to trade-unionist politics mean precisely preparing the ground for converting the working-class movement into an instrument of bourgeois democracy. The spontaneous working-class movement by itself is able to create (and inevitably creates) only trade unionism, and working-class trade-unionist politics are precisely working-class bourgeois politics. The fact that the working class participates in the political struggle, and even in political revolution, does not in itself make its politics Social-Democratic politics. Will the Rabocheye Dyelo make bold to deny that? Will it, at long last, publicly, plainly and without equivocation explain just how it understands the urgent questions of the international and of the Russian Social-Democratic movement? Oh no, it will never pluck up the courage to do anything of the kind, because it holds fast to the trick, which might be described as saying "no" to everything: "It's not me; it's not my horse; I'm not the driver. We are not Economists; the Rabochaya Mysl does not stand for Economism; there is no Economism at all in Russia." This is a remarkably adroit and "political" trick, which suffers from the slight defect, however, that the publications
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<"p118">practising it are usually nicknamed "Anything you wish, sir."
The Rabocheye Dyelo imagines that in general bourgeois democracy in Russia is merely a "phantom" (Two Congresses, p. 32).[*] Happy people! Like the ostrich, they bury their heads in the sand, and imagine that everything around has disappeared. Liberal publicists who month after month proclaim to the world their triumph over the collapse and even disappearance of Marxism; liberal newspapers (the S. Peterburgskiye Vedomosti,[78] the Russkiye Vedomosti, and many others) which encourage the liberals who bring to the workers the Brentano[79] conception of the class struggle and the trade-unionist conception of politics; the galaxy of critics of Marxism, whose real tendencies were so very well disclosed by the Credo and whose literary products alone circulate in Russia without let or hindrance; the revival of revolutionary non-Social-Democratic tendencies, particularly after the February and March events -- all these, apparently, are just phantoms! All these have nothing at all to do with bourgeois democracy!
The Rabocheye Dyelo and the authors of the Economist letter published in the Iskra, No. 12, should "ponder over the reason why the events of the spring brought about such a revival of revolutionary non-Social-Democratic tendencies
* There follows a reference to the "concrete Russian conditions which fatalistically impel the working-class movement onto the revolutionary path." But these people refuse to understand that the revolutionary path of the working-class movement might not be a Social-Democratic path! When absolutism reigned, the entire West-European bourgeoisie "impelled," deliberately impelled, the workers onto the path of revolution. We Social-Democrats, however, cannot be satisfied with that. And if we, by any means whatever, degrade Social-Democratic politics to the level of spontaneous trade-unionist politics, we, by that, play into the hands of bourgeois democracy.page 119
instead of increasing the authority and the prestige of Social-Democracy" The reason was that we were not up to the tasks confronting us. The masses of the workers proved to be more active than we; we lacked adequately trained revolutionary leaders and organizers with a thorough knowledge of the mood prevailing among all the opposition strata and able to march at the head of the movement, turn a spontaneous demonstration into a political one, broaden its political character, etc. Under such circumstances, our backwardness will inevitably be utilized by the more mobile and more energetic non-Social-Democratic revolutionaries, and the workers, no matter how strenuously and self-sacrificingly they may fight the police and the troops, no matter how revolutionary their actions may be, will prove to be merely a force supporting these revolutionaries, the rearguard of bourgeois democracy, and not the Social-Democratic vanguard. Take, for example, the German Social-Democrats, whose weak aspects alone our Economists desire to emulate. Why is it that not a single political event takes place in Germany without adding to the authority and prestige of Social-Democracy? Because Social-Democracy is always found to be in advance of all others in that it furnishes the most revolutionary appraisal of every given event and by its championship of every protest against tyranny. It does not lull itself with disquisitions about the economic struggle bringing the workers up against their own lack of rights and about concrete conditions fatalistically impelling the working-class movement onto the path of revolution. It intervenes in every sphere and in every question of social and political life: in the matter of Wilhelm's refusal to endorse a bourgeois progressive as city mayor (our Economists have not yet managed to convince the Germans that this, in fact, is a compromise with
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liberalism!); in the question of the law against "immoral" publications and pictures; in the question of the government influencing the election of professors, etc., etc. Everywhere the Social-Democrats are found to be ahead of all others, rousing political discontent among all classes, rousing the sluggards, pushing on the laggards and providing a wealth of material for the development of the political consciousness and political activity of the proletariat. The result of all this is that even the avowed enemies of Socialism are filled with respect for this advanced political fighter, and not unfrequently an important document from bourgeois, and even from bureaucratic and Court circles, makes its way by some miraculous means into the editorial office of the Vorwärts.
This, then, is the explanation of the seeming "contradiction" which is so much beyond the understanding of the Rabocheye Dyelo that it raises its arms and cries: "Masquerade!" Indeed, just think of it: We, the Rabocheye Dyelo, regard the mass working-class movement as the cornerstone (and say so in bold type!); we warn all and sundry against belittling the significance of the spontaneous movement; we desire to lend the economic struggle itself, itself, itself, a political character; we desire to maintain close and organic contact with the proletarian struggle! And yet we are told that we are preparing the ground for converting the working class movement into an instrument of bourgeois democracy! And who says this? People who "compromise" with liberalism, intervene in every "liberal" issue (what a gross misunderstanding of "organic contact with the proletarian struggle"!), who devote so much attention to the students and even (Oh horror!) to the Zemstvo-ites! People who wish to devote a greater (compared with the Economists) percent-
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age of their efforts to activity among non-proletarian classes of the population! Is not this a "masquerade"?
Poor Rabocheye Dyelo ! Will it ever find the solution to this complicated puzzle?
<"NOTES">NOTES
Chapters 1-3<"n1">[1] What Is To Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement -- a book written by Lenin in the latter part of 1901 and in the beginning of 1902. In "Where To Begin?", published in the Iskra, No. 4 (May 1901), Lenin wrote that the article represents "the outlines of a plan which is described in greater detail in a pamphlet now in preparation for the press."
Lenin began the actual writing of the book in the autumn of 1901. In his "Preface to 'Documents of the "Unity" Congress,'" written in November 1901, Lenin stated that the book "was in preparation and would appear at an early date." Lenin subsequently described his article, "A Conversation with the Advocates of Economism" (Iskra, No. 12, December 1901) as a synopsis of What Is To Be Done? In February 1902 Lenin wrote the preface to the book, which appeared in the early days of March in Stuttgart where it was published by Dietz. An an nouncement of its publication was printed in the Iskra, No. 18, March 10, 1902.
The ideas Lenin advanced and expounded in What Is To Be Done? were upheld and developed by Comrade Stalin. His pamphlet Briefly About the Disagreements in the Party, written in the spring of 1905, is intimately connected with What Is To Be Done? (J. V. Stalin, Works, Russ. ed., Vol. 1, pp. 89-130). The defence of Lenin's ideas, enunciated in What Is To Be Done?, is taken up by Comrade Stalin also in his article "A Reply to Sotsial-Demokrat," published in the newspaper Proletariatis Brdazola (The Struggle of the Proletariat ) in August 1905 (J. V. Stalin, Works, Russ. ed., Vol. 1, pp. 160-72). Lenin gave a high appraisal of this article, noting, in particular, that it contained a "splendid presentation of the question of the celebrated 'introduction of consciousness from without.'"page 238
In republishing What Is To Be Done? in 1907 in the collection Twelve Years, Lenin omitted section A of Chapter V "Who Was Offended by the Article ' Where To Begin?'" and announced in the preface that the book was being published "with very slight abridgements, omitting only details concerning organizational relationships and minor polemical remarks." Lenin added five footnotes to the new edition.
The text of What Is To Be Done? given in Vol. 5 of V. I. Lenin's Collected Works (from which this translation has been made) follows the 1902 edition, checked with the text of the 1907 edition. [p.1]<"n2">[2] Iskra (The Spark ) -- the first all-Russian illegal Marxist newspaper, founded by Lenin in 1900. It played a decisive role in the formation of the Marxist party, in the defeat of the "Economists," in the unification of the dispersed Social-Democratic groups and in preparation for the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.
The publication of a revolutionary newspaper in Russia was impossible owing to police persecution. While still in exile in Siberia, Lenin worked out all the details of a plan to publish the paper abroad and proceeded to carry out this plan as soon as his term of exile ended in January 1900.
The first issue of Lenin's Iskra appeared on December 11 (24), 1900, in Leipzig, after which it was published in Munich, London (from April 1902) and, beginning with the spring of 1903, in Geneva.
The editorial board of the Iskra was made up of V. I. Lenin, G. V. Plekhanov, Y. O. Martov, P. B. Axelrod, A. N. Potresov and V. I. Zasulich. N. K. Krupskaya became secretary of the editorial board in the spring of 1900. Lenin was the Iskra's actual editor-in-chief and leader of its activities. His articles in the Iskra dealt with all the fundamental problems of building the Party and of the class struggle of the proletariat in Russia as well as with outstanding events on the international scene.
Groups and committees of the R.S.D.L.P. supporting the Lenin-Iskra line were organized in many cities of Russia, including St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Iskra organizations were founded by and worked under the direct guidance of professional revolutionaries trained by Lenin (N. E. Bauman, I. V. Babushkin, S. I. Gusev, M. I. Kalinin and others).
On Lenin's initiative, and with his immediate participation, the Iskra editorial board drew up a draft program of the Party (published in issue No. 21), and prepared the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., which was held in July-August 1903.
By that time most of the Social-Democratic organizations in Russia had associated themselves with the Iskra, approved its tactics, program and organizational plan, and recognized it as their leading organ. In apage 239
special resolution the Second Congress recorded the exceptional role of the paper in the struggle to create the Party and adopted the Iskra as the Central Organ of the R.S.D.L.P.
The Second Congress appointed an editorial board consisting of Lenin, Plekhanov and Martov. Contrary to the Congress decision, Martov refused to serve on the board, and issues 46-51 of the Iskra were edited by Lenin and Plekhanov. Subsequently, Plekhanov took his stand with the Mensheviks and demanded that all the former Menshevik editors, who had been rejected by the Congress, be included in the editorial board. Lenin could not agree to this, and on October 19 (November 1), 1903, resigned from the editorial board in order to involve himself in the Central Committee of the Party and to strike at the Menshevik opportunists from this position. Issue 52 of the Iskra was edited by Plekhanov alone. On November 13 (26), 1903, acting on his own and in defiance of the will of the Congress, Plekhanov co-opted the former Menshevik editors to the editorial board. Beginning with the 52nd issue of the Iskra, the Mensheviks converted it into their organ. From that time Lenin's Bolshevik Iskra, known in the Party as the old Iskra, was replaced by the Menshevik opportunist Iskra as the new Iskra. [p.2]<"n3">[3] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 5, pp. 1-12. p. 2 [p.2]
<"n4">[4] Rabocheye Dyelo (Workers' Cause ) -- a magazine published by the "Economists" at irregular intervals from April 1899 to February 1902 in Geneva. It was the organ of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad, edited by B.N. Krichevsky, A. S. Martynov and V. P. Ivanshin. Altogether 12 issues (of which three were double issues) appeared. [p.2]
<"n5">[5] Rabochaya Gazeta (The Workers' Gazette ) -- illegal organ of the Kiev Social-Democratic group. Two issues appeared: No. 1 in August and No. 2 in December (dated November) 1897. The First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. adopted the Rabochaya Gazeta as the official organ of the Party, but it discontinued publication after the Congress as a result of a police raid on the printing press and the arrest of members of the Central Committee. [p.3]
<"n6">[6] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 5, pp. 287-93. [p.3]
<"n7">[7] Lassalleans and Eisenachers -- two parties in the German working class movement in the sixties and early seventies of the nineteenth century.
Lassalleans -- adherents and followers of Ferdinand Lassalle. The General German Labour League, founded by Lassalle in 1863, made up the core of the movement. Proceeding from the possibility of a peaceful transformation of capitalism into Socialism with the aid of workers' associations supported by the capitalist state, the Lassalleans advocated the
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struggle for universal franchise and peaceful parliamentary activities as a substitute for the revolutionary struggle of the working class.
Marx trenchantly criticized the Lassalleans, pointing out that "over a course of several years they were a hindrance to the organization of the proletariat and ended up by becoming no more than a tool in the hands of the police." Marx gives an appraisal of the theoretical views of the Lassalleans and of their tactics in Critique of the Gotha Program, Alleged Splits in the International and in correspondence with Engels.Eisenachers -- supporters of Marxism, ideologically influenced by Marx and Engels. Led by Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel, they founded the Social-Democratic Labour Party of Germany at the Eisenach Congress in I869.
The two parties, which fought each other bitterly, were impelled to merge by the rise of the workers' movement and intensified reprisals by the government. The merger was effected at the Gotha Congress in 1875, when a single Socialist Labour Party of Germany was formed, in which the Lassalleans represented the opportunist wing.
Lenin describes the Lassalleans and Eisenachers in his article "August Bebel," written in August 1913. [p.7]<"n8">[8] Guesdites and Possibilists -- two trends in the French Socialist movement; they originated in 1882 following the split in the French Labour Party.
Guesdites -- supporters of Jules Guesde. They represented the Left, Marxist trend and maintained that the proletariat must pursue an independent revolutionary policy. In 1901 the Guesdites founded the Socialist Party of France.
Possibilists -- a petty-bourgeois, reformist trend which sought to deflect the proletariat from revolutionary methods of struggle. They proposed to confine the activities of the working class to what was "possible" under capitalism. In 1902, in conjunction with other reformist groups, they founded the French Socialist Party.
The Socialist Party of France and the French Socialist Party merged in 1905. During the imperialist war of 1914-18 Jules Guesde, in common with the leadership of the French Socialist Party, took his stand as a social-chauvinist. [p.7]
<"n9">[9] Fabians -- members of the reformist and opportunist Fabian Society, formed by a group of British bourgeois intellectuals in 1884. The society took its name from the Roman General Fabius Cunctator (the "Delayer"), famous for his procrastinating tactics and avoidance of decisive battles. The Fabian Society represented, as Lenin put it, "the most finished expression of opportunism and liberal-labour politics." The Fabians sought
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to deflect the proletariat from the class struggle and advocated the possibility of a peaceful, gradual transition from capitalism to socialism by means of reforms. During the imperialist world war (1914-18) the Fabians took a social-chauvinist stand. For a characterization of the Fabians see Lenin's "Preface to the Russian Edition of Letters by J. P. Becke, J. Dietzgen, F. Engels, K. Marx and Others to P. A. Sorge and Others" (V. I. Lenin, Marx-Engels-Marxism, Moscow, 1953, pp. 245-46), "The Agrarian Program of Social-Democracy in the Russian Revolution" (Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 15, p. 154), and "English Pacifism and English Dislike of Theory" (ibid., Vol. 21, p. 234). [p.7]
<"n10">[10] Narodnaya Volya-ites -- from Narodnaya Volya (People's Freedom), a secret society founded in 1879 for revolutionary struggle against the tsarist autocracy.
The Narodnaya Volya was smashed by the tsarist government soon after its members had assassinated Alexander II on March 1 (13), 1881. Following this the majority of the Narodniks abandoned the revolutionary struggle against tsardom, began to advocate reconciliation and agreement with the tsarist autocracy. These Epigoni of Narodism, the liberal Narodniks of the eighties and nineties of the nineteenth century actually voiced the interests of the kulaks. [p.7]<"n11">[11] According to the Roman mythology, Jupiter was the chief of the gods, while Minerva was guardian goddess of handicrafts, science and art, of teachers and doctors. Minerva was said to have sprung in helmet and armour, sword in hand, from Jupiter's head. Her mode of birth was popularly used to illustrate a person or phenomenon as being complete from the very beginning. [p.8]
<"n12">[12] Lenin quotes a passage from Engels' "Preface to the Third German Edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte," Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1951, Vol. I, p. 223. [p.8]
<"n13">[13] Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. [p.8]
<"n14">[14] From Ivan Andreyevich Krylov's fable "Two Barrels." One barrel was empty and rattled on the cart with such deafening noise that passers-by all tried to keep out of the way. [p.10]
<"n15">[15] Union of Rursian Social-Democrats Ahroad -- founded in Geneva in 1894 on the initiative of the Emancipation of Labour group which at first supervised its activities and edited its publications. Opportunist elements (the "young leaders," the "Economists") subsequently gained the upper hand in the Union. In November 1898, at the Union's first congress, the Emancipation of Labour group declined to bear further
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responsibility for the editorship of its publications. The final break with the Union and the secession of the Emancipation of Labour group occurred in April 1900, at the Union's second congress, when the Emancipation of Labour group and its followers left the congress and founded their own organization, the Sotsial-Demokrat group. [p.11]
<"n16">[16] Zarya (The Dawn) -- a Marxist journal of politics published in Stuttgart by the editors of the Iskra in 1901-02.
The following articles by V. I. Lenin appeared in the Zarya: "Casual Notes," "The Persecutors of the Zemstvo and the Hannibals of Liberalism," the first four chapters of "The Agrarian Question and the 'Critics of Marx'" (the Zarya title was "Messrs. the 'Critics' on the Agrarian Question"), "Review of Internal Affairs," "The Agrarian Program of Russian Social-Democracy." Four issues of the magazine appeared: No. 1 in April 1901 (actually on March 23, new style), No. 2-3 in December 1901, and No. 4 in August 1902. [p.11]<"n17">[17] Cadets (Constitutional-Democratic Party) -- the principal bourgeois party in Russia, the party of the liberal-monarchist bourgeoisie. It was founded in October 1905. Feigning democracy and calling themselves the party of "people's freedom," the Cadets tried to win the peasantry to their side. They strove to preserve tsarism in the form of a constitutional monarchy. Subsequently, the Cadets became the party of the imperialist bourgeoisie. After the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, the Cadets organized counter-revolutionary conspiracies and revolts against the Soviet Republic. [p.11]
<"n18">[18] Bezzaglavtsi -- the group that founded and edited the magazine Bez Zaglaviya (Without a Title) published in St. Petersburg in 1906. The group, which included S. N. Prokopovich, E. D. Kuskova, V. Y. Bogucharsky and others, openly advocated revisionism, supported the Mensheviks and liberals and was opposed to the proletariat pursuing an independent policy. Lenin called the Bezzaglavtsi pro-Menshevik Cadets or pro-Cadet Mensheviks. [p.11]
<"n19">[19] Ilovaisky D. I. (1832-1920) -- historian, author of numerous official textbooks on history widely used in elementary and secondary schools in Russia prior to the revolution. Ilovaisky interpreted history as consisting mainly of the acts of tsars and generals, and explained the historical process by secondary and incidental factors. [p.13]
<"n20">[20] The Anti-Socialist Law was introduced in Germany in 1878. It provided for the prohibition of all Social-Democratic organizations, mass labour organizations, the labour press, the confiscation of socialist literature
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and the persecution of Social-Democrats. The law was repealed in 1890 under pressure by the mass working-class movement. [p.13]
<"n21">[21] Vorwärts (Forward ) -- a daily newspaper, central organ of the German Social-Democratic Party. It began publication in 1876, with Wilhelm Liebknecht as editor. In its columns Frederick Engels combated all manifestations of opportunism. In the latter half of the nineties, after Engels' death, Vorwärts began systematically printing articles by opportunists who dominated the German Social-Democratic Party and the Second International. During the First World War Vorwärts took the stand of social-chauvinism. It appeared in Berlin until 1933. [p.13]
<"n22">[22] The Katheder-Socialists (Socialists of the Chair) -- a trend in bourgeois political economy, originated in Germany in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century. The Katheder-Socialists used their position as university lecturers to preach bourgeois-liberal reformism under the guise of Socialism. Their contention was that the bourgeois state stood above classes, was capable of reconciling hostile classes, gradually introducing "Socialism" without encroaching on the interests of the capitalists and, as far as possible, of taking into account the demands of the workers. The views of the Katheder-Socialists were advocated in Russia by the "legal Marxists." [p.13]
<"n23">[23] Nozdryov -- a character in Gogol's Dead Souls, landowner, troublemaker and rascal. Gogol called Nozdryov a "historical" personage because wherever he appeared he left behind a "history" of troublemaking. [p.14]
<"n24">[24] The Hanover resolution regarding "attacks on the basic views and tactics of the party," adopted by the Congress of the German Social-Democratic Party in Hanover, September 27 to October 2 (October 9-14), 1899. The discussion of this question at the congress and the adoption of a special resolution were necessitated by the opportunists, led by Bernstein, advocating the revision of Marxist theory and demanding a review of Social-Democratic revolutionary policy and tactics. The Hanover resolution rejected the demands of the revisionists but failed to criticize or expose Bernsteinism. Bernstein's supporters voted for the resolution. [p.14]
<"n25">[25] The Lübeck resolution -- adopted at the Congress of the German Social-Democratic Party in Lübeck, September 9-15 (22-28), 1901. The central issue at the Congress was the struggle against revisionism, which by that time had taken shape as the Right wing of the Party with its own program and press organ, the Sozialistische Monatshefte (Socialist Monthly). The leader of the revisionists, Bernstein. who had been
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advocating a revision of scientific Socialism long before the Congress, demanded in his Congress speech "freedom to criticize" Marxism. The Congress rejected the resolution by Bernstein's supporters and adopted one which, though directly warning Bernstein, did not lay down the principle that Bernsteinian views were incompatible with membership in the working-class party. [p.14]
<"n26">[26] The Stuttgart Congress of the German Social-Democratic Party, held on September 21-26 (October 3-8), 1898, was the first congress to discuss the question of revisionism in the German Social-Democratic movement. It heard a statement in absentia from Bernstein, in which he set forth and defended his opportunist views, expounded earlier in a number of articles. Bernstein's opponents at the congress failed to take a united stand. One section (Bebel and others) advocated ideological struggle against Bernstein and criticism of his mistakes, but did not agree to take organizational measures against him. Another section, the minority headed by Rosa Luxemburg, was more resolute in its opposition to Bernsteinism. [p.15]
<"n27">[27] Starover -- pseudonym of A. N. Potresov, member of the editorial board of the Iskra; subsequently a Menshevik. p. 16 [p.16]
<"n28">[28] The Author Who Got a Swelled Head -- the title of one of Maxim Gorky's early stories. [p.18]
<"n29">[29] Lenin refers to the symposium Materials Characterizing Our Economic Development, printed legally in 2,000 copies in April 1895. The symposium contained Lenin's article (signed K. Tulin) "The Economic Content of Narodism and a Criticism of It in Mr. Struve's Book (The Reflection of Marxism in Bourgeois Literature)," directed against the "legal Marxists." (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 1, pp. 315-484) [Transcriber's Note: Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 1, pp. 333-507. -- DJR] [p.19]
<"n30">[30] Herostratus was a Greek in Asia Minor. To get a name for himself, he set fire in 356 B.C. to Artemis Temple, a famous artistic building of ancient Greece. [p.20]
<"n31">[31] Zubatov -- chief of the Moscow secret police, the moving spirit of "police socialism" in Russia. Zubatov set up bogus labour organizations under the aegis of the gendarmes and police, in an effort to deflect the workers from the revolutionary movement. [p.20]
<"n32">[32] The "Protest of the Russian Social-Democrats" was written by Lenin in 1899, during his exile. It was directed against the Credo of a group of "Economists" (S. N. Prokopovich, E. D. Kuskova and others who subsequently became Cadets). On receiving a copy of the Credo
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through his sister, A. I. Yelizarova, Lenin wrote a sharp protest in which he exposed the nature of this declaration.
The Protest was discussed and unanimously endorsed by a meeting of seventeen exiled Marxists, convened by Lenin in the village of Yermakovskoye, Minusinsk District. The exiles in the Turukhansk District and in Orlovo (Vyatka Gubernia) subsequently associated themselves with it.
Lenin forwarded a copy of the Protest to the Emancipation of Labour group abroad, where it was published in early 1900 by G. V. Plekhanov in his Vademecum for the Editors of the Rabocheye Dyelo. [p.21]<"n33">[33] Byloye (The Past ) -- a monthly journal on historical problems published in St. Petersburg in 1906-07. In 1908 its name was changed to Minuvshiye Gody (Years Past), and later it was banned by the tsarist government. Publication was resumed in Petrograd in July 1917 and continued until 1926. [p.21]
<"n34">[34] Rabochaya Mysl (The Workers' Thought ) -- newspaper of the "Economists," published from October 1897 to December 1902. Sixteen issues appeared: Nos. 3 to 11, and 16 in Berlin, and the others in St. Petersburg. Edited by K. M. Takhtaryov and others.
Lenin criticizes the views expounded by the Rabochaya Mysl as the Russian variety of international opportunism, in a number of his writings, particularly in his Iskra articles and in this work. [p.22]<"n35">[35] Vademecum for the Editors of the Rabocheye Dyelo -- the title of a collection of materials and documents compiled and prefaced by G. V. Plekhanov and published by the Emancipation of Labour-group in Geneva in 1900. It exposed the opportunist views of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad and of the editors of its organ, the Rabocheye Dyelo. [p.22]
<"n36">[36] Profession de foi [Transcriber's Note: Profession of faith. -- DJR]-- means a belief or programme which expounds a certain world outlook. Here it refers to a leaflet setting forth the opportunist views of the Kiev Committee, issued at the close of 1899. On many points it was identical with the notorious "Economist" Credo. It is criticized by Lenin in his article "Apropos the 'Profession de foi.' " (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 263-73) [Transcriber's Note: Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 286-296. -- DJR] [p.22]
<"n37">[37] Special Supplement to the "Rabochaya Mysl" -- a pamphlet published by the editors of the "Economist" Rabochaya Mysl in September 1899. The pamphlet, and in particular the article "Our Realities" which appeared over the signature R. M., frankly set forth the opportunist views of the "Economists," Lenin criticizes this pamphlet in his article "The Retrograde
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Trend in the Russian Social-Democracy" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Russ. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 234-62) [Transcriber's Note: Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 255-285. -- DJR] and in this book. (See pp. 21-33, pp. 87-88 and pp. 103-04.) [p.25]
<"n38">[38] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, p. 329. [p.26]
<"n39">[39] Emancipation of Labour group -- the first Russian Marxist group, organized by G. V. Plekhanov in Geneva in 1883. At the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. in August 1903, the group announced its dissolution.
The group did much to spread Marxism in Russia. It translated such Marxist works as Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels, Wage-Labour and Capital by Marx, and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels, publishing them abroad and illegally spreading them in Russia. Plekhanov and his group dealt a serious blow at Narodism. The group, however, made some serious mistakes, which were the first projections of the future Menshevik views held by Plekhanov and other members of the group. [p.26]<"n40">[40] Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Works, Eng. ed., PLPH, Moscow, 1951, Vol. II, p. 15. [p.28]
<"n41">[41] Dritter Abdruck. Leipzig, 1875. Verlag der Genossenschaftsbuchdruckerei. (The Peasant War in Germany. Third imptession. Co-operative Publishers, Leipzig, 1875.) [p.30]
<"n42">[42] Lenin is quoting from Engels' Prefatory Note to the Peasant War in Germany. (Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1951, Vol. I, pp. 590-91) [p.32]
<"n43">[43] The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class was formed by V. I. Lenin in the autumn of 1895 and united all the Marxist workers' circles in St. Petersburg. It was headed by a Central Group that was directed by Lenin. The League of Struggle was the first organization in Russia to combine Socialism with the working-class movement and to pass over from the propaganda of Marxism among a small circle of advanced workers to political agitation among the broad masses of the working class.
The importance of the St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Eman cipation of the Working Class consisted in the fact that, as Lenin said, it was the first real rudiment of a revolutionary party which was backed by the working-class movement. [p.38]<"n44">[44] Russkaya Starina -- a monthly journal of history published in St. Petersburg from 1870 to 1918. [p.38]
<"n45">[45] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 2, pp. 71-76. [Transcriber's Note: Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 2, pp. 87-92. -- DJR] [p.38]
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<"n46">[46] S. Peterburgsky Rabochy Listok (St. Petersburg Workers' Sheet) -- an illegal newspaper, organ of the St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Two issues appeared: No. 1 in February (marked January), 1897 (mimeographed in Russia in 300-400 copies); and No. 2 in September 1897 in Geneva. [p.39]
<"n47">[47] The private meeting referred to by Lenin was held in St. Petersburg between February 14 and 17 (February 26-March 1, new style), 1897. It was attended by V. I. Lenin, A. A. Vaneyev, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky and other members bf the St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, that is, by the "veterans" who had been released from prison for three days, before being sent to exile in Siberia, and the "young" leaders of the League of Struggle who took over after Lenin's arrest. [p.41]
<"n48">[48] Listok Rabotnika (The Workingman's Sheet) -- published in Geneva by the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad from 1896 to 1899; ten issues appeared. Issues 1 to 8 were edited by the Emancipation of Labour group, which, with the majority of the Union swinging to "Economism," refused to continue editing its publications. No. 9-10 was brought out by a new editorial board formed by the Union. [p.41]
<"n49">[49] An article by V. I. -- reference is to an article by V. P. Ivanshin. [p.42]
<"n50">[50] The tsarist gendarmes wore blue uniforms. [p.43]
<"n51">[51] V. V. -- pseudonym of V. P. Vorontsov, one of the ideologists of liberal Narodism in the eighties and nineties of the nineteenth century. Lenin's words "the V. V.'s of Russian Social-Democracy" are an allusion to the "Economists," who represented the opportunist trend in Russian Social-Democracy. [p.44]
<"n52">[52] The Hirsch-Duncker unions -- founded by the bourgeois liberals Hirsch and Duncker in 1868 in Germany. Hirsch and Duncker advocated "harmony of class interests," drew the workers away from the revolutionary class struggle against the bourgeoisie, reduced the tasks and role of trade union organizations to those of benefit societies and cultural and educational clubs. [p.50]
<"n53">[53] Self-Emancipation of the Workers Group -- a small group of "Economists" formed in St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1898. The group, which existed only a few months, published a manifesto setting forth its aims (printed in the Nakanunye, a magazine appearing in London), a set of rules and several leaflets for distribution among the workers. [p.53]
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<"n54">[54] Nakanunye (On the Eve) -- a journal of the Narodnik trend published in Russian in London from January 1899 to February 1902. Thirty-seven issues appeared. The Nakanunye served as a rallying point for representatives of diverse petty-bourgeois parties. [p.53]
<"n55">[55] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 2, pp. 299-326. [Transcriber's Note: V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 2, pp. 323-351. -- DJR] [p.54]
<"n56">[56] Ibid., Vol. 4, pp. 345-46 [Transcriber's Note: from V. I. Lenin's, "The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement," Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 366-71. The passage is on p. 371. -- DJR] [p.57]
<"n57">[57] Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 6. [p.57]
<"n58">[58] Lead article in the Iskra, No. 1. (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, p. 344.) [Transcriber's Note: from V. I. Lenin's, "The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement," Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 366-71. The passage is on p. 369. -- DJR] [p.60]
<"n59">[59] Under the pseudonym of N. Beltov, G. V. Plekhanov published his well-known book On the Development of the Monistic View of History, which appeared legally in St. Petersburg in 1895. [p.61]
<"n60">[60] Reference is to the satirical poem "Anthem of the Super-modern Russian Socialist" by Y. O. Martov, published in the Zarya, No. 1, April 1901, over the signature "Narcissus Tuporylov." It ridiculed the "Economists" and their adaptation to the spontaneous movement. [p.62]
<"n61">[61] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 5, pp. 6-8. [p.63]
<"n62">[62] Zemsky Nachalniks -- rural officials in tsarist Russia appointed from the landed nobility and exercising administrative and magisterial rights. [p.72]
<"n63">[63] Bund -- the General Jewish Workers' Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia. Founded in 1897, it embraced mainly the Jewish artisans in the western regions of Russia. The Bund joined the R.S.D.L.P. at the latter's First Congress in March 1898. At the Second R.S.D.L.P. Congress the Bund delegates insisted on their organization being recognized as the sole representative of the Jewish proletariat in Russia. The Congress rejected this organizational nationalism, whereupon the Bund withdrew from the Party.
In 1906, following the Fourth ("Unity") Congress, the Bund reaffiliated to the R.S.D.L.P. The Bundists constantly supported the Mensheviks and waged an incessant struggle against the Bolsheviks. Despite its formal affiliation to the R.S.D.L.P., the Bund was an organization of a bourgeois-nationalist character. As opposed to the Bolshevik programmatic demand for the right of nations to self-determination, the Bund put for ward the demand for cultural-national autonomy. During the First World War of l914-18 the Bundists took the stand of social-chauvinism. In 1917 the Bund supported the counter-revolutionary Provisional Government and fought on the side of the enemies of the October Socialist Revolution.page 249
During the Civil War prominent Bundists joined forces with the counter-revolution. At the same time a turn began among the rank-and-file members of the Bund in favour of collaboration with the Soviet government. Only when the victory of the proletarian dictatorship over the internal counter-revolution and foreign interventionists became evident did the Bund declare its abandonment of the struggle against the Soviet system. In March 1921, the Bund went into voluntary liquidation and part of its membership joined the R.C.P.(B.) in the ordinary way. [p.74]
<"n64">[64] all such. [p.78]
<"n65">[65] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed,. Vol. 5, pp. 231-51. p.79 [p.79]
<"n66">[66] The reference is to student unrest and working-class action -- meetings, demonstrations and strikes -- that took place in February and March 1901 in many cities of Russia: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Yaroslavl, Tomsk, Warsaw, Belostok, etc. [p.89]
<"n67">[67] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 388-93. [Transcriber's Note: V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 414-19. -- DJR] [p.89]
<"n68">[68] How simple and naïve! [p.107]
<"n69">[69] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 5, pp. 9-10. [p.109]
<"n70">[70] Iskra, No. 7 (August 1901), carried in its section "The Workers' Movement and Letters from the Mills and Factories," a letter from a weaver which testified to the vast influence Lenin's Iskra exercised on the advanced workers. The letter reads in part: ". . . I showed the Iskra to many fellow workers and the copy has been read to tatters; but we treasure it greatly. . . . The Iskra writes about our own cause, about the cause of all Russia which cannot be evaluated in kopeks or measured in hours of work; when you read the paper you understand why the gendarmes and police are afraid of us workers and of those intellectuals whom we follow. There is no denying that they do not simply make the bosses tremble for their pocketbooks, but inspire fear in the tsar, the employers and the rest. . . . It will not take much now to set the working folk aflame. All that is wanted is a spark to kindle the fire that is already smouldering among the people. How true are the words 'the spark will kindle a flame!'. . . . In the past every strike was an event, but today everyone sees that strikes alone are not enough, that we must now strive for liberty, win it by might and main. Today everyone, old and young, is eager to read, but the sad thing is that there are no books. Last Sunday I gathered eleven people and read them
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'Where To Begin?', and we discussed it till late in the evening. How true it expresses everything, how it gets to the very heart of things. . . . And we would like to write a letter to your Iskra, to ask you to teach us not only how to begin, but how to live and how to die." [p.109]
<"n71">[71] And in the interval between these articles the Iskra (No. 3) printed one specially dealing with class antagonisms in the countryside. (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 394-401.) [Transcriber's Note: see V. I. Lenin's "The Workers' Party and the Peasantry", Collected Works, 4th Eng. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 420-28. -- DJR] [p.113]
<"n72">[72] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 4, pp. 388-93. [Transcriber's Note: see note 67 above. -- DJR] [p.115]
<"n73">[73] Ibid., pp. 394-401. [Transcriber's Note: see note 71 above. -- DJR] [p.115]
<"n74">[74] Ibid., Vol. 5, pp. 78-83. [p.115]
<"n75">[75] Ibid., pp. 84-85. [p.115]
<"n76">[76] Rossiya (Russia) -- a moderate liberal newspaper published in St. Petersburg from 1899 through 1902. [p.115]
<"n77">[77] V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 5, pp. 71-72. [p.116]
<"n78">[78] S. Peterburgskiye Vedomosti (St. Petersburg Recorder) -- a newspaper that began publication in St. Petersburg in 1728 as a continuation of the first Russian newspaper Vedomosti, founded in 1703. From 1728 to 1874 the S. Peterburgskiye Vedomosti was published by the Academy of Sciences and from 1875 onwards by the Ministry of Education; it continued publication until the end of 1917. [p.118]
<"n79">[79] L. Brentano -- a German bourgeois economist, advocate of so-called "state Socialism," who tried to prove the possibility of attaining social equality within the framework of capitalism by introducing reforms and conciliating the interests of the capitalists and workers. Using Marxist phraseology as a cover, Brentano and his followers endeavoured to subordinate the working-class movement to the interests of the bourgeoisie. [p.118]