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On the activities of Lenin in 1917-1922DIGEST OF ARTICLES, MOSCOW 1958
K.S. Trofimov
THE STRUGGLE OF V. I. LENIN FOR THE CREATION AND STRENGTHENING OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL
(1919-1922)
Long before the socialist revolution took place in Russia, Lenin proved that the proletariat, in order to become the leading force in the transformation of society, must create its own revolutionary party, the Party of Communists, which alone can fulfill the role of the foremost fighter and true leader of the working people in their struggle against exploiters. He developed the ideological, programmatic, organizational and tactical principles of this party and was its founder in Russia.
The Bolshevik Party, overcoming the stubborn resistance of the Mensheviks and other revisionists and opportunists, led the working class, the working peasantry, all the progressive-democratic strata of the peoples of Russia through two democratic revolutions, the years of the Black Hundred reaction and the First World War, and in October 1917 ensured a world-historic victory. This victory of the socialist revolution in Russia was convincing proof of the correctness of the Marxist-Leninist theory, the principles of the new type of party, and the complete bankruptcy of the ideas of the parties of the Second International.
During the First World War, the Second International collapsed due to the victory in it of opportunism, which, with the outbreak of the war, grew into social chauvinism. The social democratic parties of the Western European countries proved unable to lead the struggle of the proletariat against the imperialist war for the revolutionary abolition of capitalism. They betrayed the principle of proletarian internationalism, abandoned the class struggle and went over to the service of their imperialist governments. Only the Bolsheviks remained true to the Marxist-Leninist theory and the banner of proletarian internationalism.
They, led by Lenin, were the initiators of the convening of the Zimmerwald (1915) and Kienthal (1916) international conferences, which were the first step towards the unification of the left socialists and the founding of the Third International. Created at the suggestion of Lenin in Stockholm in 1917, the foreign bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) did a great job of rallying left-wing socialist elements.
In the famous April Theses, Lenin raised the question of the immediate founding of the Communist International. He emphasized that only the RSDLP (b) could take the initiative in this matter, because it operated in the freest country at that time and had the necessary experience in the revolutionary struggle.
However, only on January 24, 1918, was it possible to hold an international meeting of left socialists, which discussed the issues of convening a conference to found the Communist International. This meeting was attended by representatives of the left groups of the Social Democratic parties of Sweden, Norway, England, America, Poland and Lithuania, Romania, Armenia, Yugoslavia, and others. The Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) was represented by I. V. Stalin. The meeting decided that “The International Socialist Conference... should be convened under the following conditions: 1. The consent of parties and organizations to take the path of revolutionary struggle against “their” governments for immediate peace; 2. Support for the October Russian Revolution and Soviet power” 1 . The meeting elected an International Bureau, which was to carry out all the preparations for the convening of the conference.
On the basis of the enormous revolutionary upsurge of the working-class movement, caused by the aggravation of contradictions within the capitalist countries and under the influence of the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia, by 1918 communist parties and groups had formed in a number of countries. From many socialist and "independent" social-democratic parties, left-wing revolutionary socialists emerged and entered into an open split with the traitors to socialism.
Following the example of the RCP (b), the revolutionary Marxist parties of Argentina, Latvia, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Romania and Germany also adopted the name communist. Groups of communists formed in Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, France, England. The socialist parties of Norway and Italy took up revolutionary positions. At the same time, the revolutionary movement intensified in Turkey, Korea, Japan, China and Iran. The growth of communist and left-socialist organizations necessitated the unification of their actions, the generalization of revolutionary experience and the development of programmatic, organizational and tactical principles of the international communist movement.
In an effort to prepare in organizational and ideological-theoretical terms the unification of left socialists and communists in the Third International to the fullest extent, Lenin carefully studied all the revolutionary currents in other countries. This is evident from his letter to Berzin dated October 15, 1918, in which he asked the addressee to send him (Lenin) full clippings from foreign newspapers: “(a) everything about Russia; (b) everything about the socialist parties of all countries” 2 . In order to promote the rapid growth of the communist consciousness of the workers of other countries, Lenin considered it necessary to publish abroad more literature about Soviet Russia, as well as against the social chauvinists and Kautskyites. He wrote that the Bolsheviks "should play the role of a bureau for ideological work of an international character" 3. Lenin himself did more than anyone to ensure that the Bolshevik Party became such a center. The unification of all communist parties and groups around the Russian communists was of great historical significance, because the RCP (b) was the first party to accumulate rich experience in the victorious socialist revolution.
With all the diversity of the conditions of the class struggle in different countries, the communist movement has something in common that unites and makes the communist parties of all countries related. The general principles of the activity of communist parties stem from the international character of the working-class movement, which can free the working class from exploitation only if its forces are united, organized and under the leadership of the communist parties. The workers “have no other weapon in the struggle for power than organization and solidarity.
However, at that time, many social democratic theorists, like the current "critics" of communism, denied the international significance of the experience of the Russian socialist revolution and the party of Russian communists. Thus, for example, one of the influential leaders of the German Social Democracy of that time, K. Kautsky, in his articles and pamphlets, viciously slandered the Russian Communists and the Great October Socialist Revolution.
Exposing Kautsky as a traitor to the cause of the working class, Lenin, in his book The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, formulated the main conclusions on the fundamental, fundamental questions of the international communist movement and, with great scourging power, exposed the betrayal of the leaders of Social Democracy, their renunciation of Marxism and the principles of proletarian internationalism. .
Lenin showed that Kautsky and his supporters, while opposing the socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat and proletarian democracy in Russia, also renounced the principle of proletarian internationalism, which consists in combining all the actions of the working class in any particular country with the supreme interests of the victory of the working people over bourgeoisie in all countries.
Communists, fighting against capitalism in their country for the establishment of the dictatorship of the working class and the construction of a new, communist society, must see before them the main goal of the international proletariat - the liberation of all working people from capitalist slavery, the establishment of a communist society on earth without classes and wars.
Proletarian internationalism consists, Lenin pointed out, in doing “the maximum feasible in one country for the development, support, and awakening of the revolution in all countries” 4 so that the proletarian masses of different countries help each other in the struggle against imperialism and in the creation of a new socialist society . This is exactly how the Russian communists acted and are acting, organizing the victory of the socialist revolution and socialism in Russia and showing the proletariat of the whole world the path to liberation.
Lenin saw that in the turbulent whirlwind of the revolutionary struggle, the working class turned its gaze not to the social-chauvinists, but to the proletarian internationalists, to those who called him to the revolutionary struggle against capitalism.
This is confirmed by the growth with unstoppable force of the international revolutionary movement. It developed especially strongly in 1918 and the first half of 1919. Demonstrations, strikes and meetings of workers took place everywhere under the slogans of ending the imperialist war and recognizing Soviet Russia. A wave of anti-war demonstrations and open uprisings in the armies of the warring powers swept through Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and England.
Under the onslaught of the revolution, the hated monarchies in Germany and Austria-Hungary were overthrown. The latter broke up into independent national republics of Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
The liberating spirit of the October Revolution swept through the colonial countries of Asia and Africa. In India, a powerful movement for the independence of the country unfolded. In Japan, "rice riots" broke out, in which about 10 million people participated. The national liberation struggle of the Afghan people began.
The revolutionary workers' and national liberation movement took place under the slogans of the October Revolution. Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were created in many countries. Soviet republics were proclaimed in Finland, Hungary, Bavaria and Slovakia.
Considering the shift to the left and the growth of the international revolutionary movement, V. I. Lenin demanded that the preparatory work on convening a conference for the founding of the Third International be speeded up. At the end of December 1918, he raised the issue of the urgent convening of an international conference of communists and left-wing social democrats. In a letter to G. V. Chicherin, Lenin indicated the approximate date for the start of the conference—February 1, 1919. In it, he outlined a plan for preparing such a conference: 1) "Formulate the foundations of the platform", for which he proposed to take: a) the "theory and practice of Bolshevism" and b) the program of the Spartak Union of Germany; 2) to determine the organizational base on the basis of the principle: “Nothing to do with social patriots”, to approach only those parties and groups that already stand on the basis of the Third International, are close to it, or can go for rapprochement and merging on the basis of a developed platform.
Then Lenin formulated the points on the basis of which alone unification could take place: 1) a decisive split with the social patriots; 2) "For the socialist revolution now and for the dictatorship of the proletariat"; 3) "in principle, for "Soviet power" and against the restriction of our work by bourgeois parliamentarism, against subjugation to it, for the fact that the type of Soviet power is higher and closer to socialism" 5 . At the same time, Lenin proposed demanding that the merging parties change their name: abandon the "social democratic" and "socialist" names and be called communist. Lenin made an approximate list of 21 organizations that could be invited to the conference.
On December 31, 1918, Lenin received a certificate of 18 parties and groups . It gave the characteristics of organizations, as well as the names of their leaders. It was proposed to invite as guests (representatives of Chinese, Korean and Persian (Iranian) revolutionary workers. A total of 32 organizations were identified.
On the same day, Lenin received the draft address "To the First Congress of the Communist International" 7 drawn up on his instructions in accordance with the plan outlined by him in a letter to Chicherin. While editing it, Lenin made several fundamental amendments.
He considered it necessary to point out in the Address that during the world imperialist war of 1914-1918 the Social Democratic and Socialist parties of the Western European countries suffered complete bankruptcy. Despite the difference in the names of these parties, their Right leaders helped the capitalists to deceive the workers. They cared about maintaining the power not of individual bourgeois governments, but of the capitalists as a class, and they strove to strengthen bourgeois "democracy"—that genuine dictatorship of the exploiters.
Describing the new apparatus of power that would be created by the proletariat after its victory over the bourgeoisie, Lenin emphasized that it must embody the dictatorship of the working class and the rural semi-proletariat. From the experience of the Russian revolution it was clear that the proletariat must win over to its side all possible allies, and, first of all, the semi-proletarian elements of the countryside. Only under this condition will the power of the working class be really stable.
V. I. Lenin explained that the proletariat needed the dictatorship not only for the expropriation of capital, but mainly in order to abolish private ownership of the means of production in general and turn the latter into public property.
At that time, the right-wing leadership of the German "independent" Social Democrats, in order to deceive the workers, put forward the slogan of the socialization of large-scale industry, but without the abolition of private property. Lenin, exposing this maneuver of the rightists, emphasized that by socialization the revolutionary Marxists understand the abolition of private property, the transfer of large-scale industry to the ownership of the proletarian state and to the socialist administration of the working class.
Lenin suggested that the list of organizations invited to the conference be supplemented by representatives of leftist groups within the socialist and syndicalist movement in France and the Japanese Socialist Party, and, where possible, the names of such leaders of parties and organizations as, for example, Debs in America and MacLean in England.
All these proposals of Lenin were taken into account in the final text of the appeal.
Thus, with the direct participation of Lenin, on his initiative and plan, at the end of 1918, an appeal “To the First Congress of the Communist International” was drafted, which summed up the development of the international proletarian revolutionary movement after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the struggle of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. for the international unification of leftist socialist elements.
The appeal raised new questions posed by the course of the revolution: about the proletarian state, about the soviets as one of the forms of this state, about the relations between the socialist countries 8 that could arise in the course of the revolution, about the armed forces of the socialist state. It also outlined the principles on which the foundation of a new, Third Communist International could take place.
On January 21, 1919, a meeting of representatives of some communist and socialist parties and organizations 9 was held in Moscow , in which representatives of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) headed by Lenin, the Foreign Bureau of the Communist Workers' Party of Poland, the Foreign Bureau of the Hungarian Communist Party, the Foreign Bureau of the German The Austrian Communist Party, the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party, the Central Committee of the Finnish Communist Party, the Executive Committee of the Balkan Revolutionary Social Democratic Federation, the Socialist Labor Party of America and the English Left Socialists. At the meeting, it was decided to appeal to 39 organizations with a call to begin "discussion of the question of convening an International Communist Congress" 10 .
After the January meeting of 1919, direct preparations began for the convocation of the first compress of the Communist International, the main part of which, mainly the development of the fundamental foundations, was carried out by Lenin. Part of this preparation is his Letter to the Workers of Europe and America, written on January 21, 1919, and published in Pravda (No. 16) on January 24, 1919. In it, Lenin emphasized that “when the Spartacus League” called itself the “Communist Party of Germany” (December 31, 1918. - T.K.), then the foundation of a truly proletarian, truly internationalist, truly revolutionary Third International, the Communist International, became a fact. Formally, this foundation has not yet been fixed, but in fact the Third International already exists .. Lenin's letter directed the advanced proletarian revolutionary elements of Europe and America to rally their forces around the communist parties, to unite on an international scale to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat against imperialism.
The theory of scientific communism of Marx and Engels has been and remains at the basis of the ideological rallying of all communist and left socialist elements. The theory and practice of Bolshevism are a direct continuation, development and practical implementation of the ideas of Marxism in the new historical conditions, when the necessity, inevitability and possibility of carrying out the socialist revolution was proved by the entire course of development and the actions of the millions of working people.
Marx's idea of a transitional state, a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, was for a long time deliberately concealed from the workers' misses and distorted by the revisionists of the Second International. This caused great damage to the revolutionary workers' movement. The workers were pushed onto the path of conciliation with the bourgeoisie and admiration for the state of the bourgeoisie, renunciation of the revolutionary struggle for socialism.
Fighting against any and all distortions of Marxism, the Party of Russian Communists, during the period of its inception, developed the only revolutionary program at that time, which recognized the need to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to carry out the tasks of the socialist revolution. This main, fundamental, principled position of Marxism was included in the program adopted by the Eighth Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1919.
The recognition of the necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat during the transitional period was of great international significance, since it showed the proletariat the only path that could lead it to liberation from the yoke of capital. The communists, leading the struggle of the proletariat to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie in all countries in the name of transforming society on a communist basis, received a clear confirmation of this position in the course of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the building of socialism in the USSR.
Not a single socialist party, not a single social-democratic theoretician has even attempted to raise the question of changing the type of state as a result of the socialist revolution. They believed that only a parliamentary republic could be the only form of state in the period of transition from capitalism to socialism. Lenin, as a true Marxist-dialectic, was able to see the new that gives rise to the revolutionary creativity of the masses and tends to develop. Based on the experience of two Russian revolutions, Lenin, on the basis of Marxist theory, discovered that the Soviets were the organs of a new state, a state of the type of the Paris Commune, finally found a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. He substantiated the position that the republic of Soviets is a higher type of state than a parliamentary republic.
Marxism-Leninism teaches that the proletariat must break down the bourgeois state machine and create its own, new, proletarian state apparatus, suitable for carrying out the tasks of the socialist transformation of society. Developing the teaching of Marxism on the state, Lenin proved that the state of the Soviet type is in a new way democratic and in a new way dictatorial, because it is called upon to give full democracy to the working masses, i.e., to the majority of the population, and to dictatorially suppress the resistance of the overthrown propertied classes, i.e. e. minority population. This new state will take different forms in different countries and exist throughout the entire period of transition from capitalism to communism, but its essence "will inevitably be the same: the dictatorship of the proletariat" 12 .
The International Association of Communists was to disseminate this Marxist-Leninist position on the state among the broad working masses and find forms in which the dictatorship of the proletariat could be realized in other countries. Later, after the Second World War, the peoples of a number of countries, liberating themselves from Hitler's tyranny and creating a new state system, discovered a new form of the dictatorship of the proletariat—people's democracy, which in each country is carried out taking into account national and historical traditions and the existing balance of class forces.
Continuing the preparations for the first congress of the Third International, at the end of February 1919 Lenin drew up the theses on bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat, which were the main document of the First Congress of the Third International.
The theses criticized bourgeois democracy, which was defended under the guise of "democracy in general" by the socialists headed by Kautsky; the inalienable right of the proletariat to establish its own dictatorship was substantiated in the interests of realizing genuine democracy for the working people and solving the problems of the socialist revolution. Lenin showed in particular detail what the Soviets mean, what their historical significance is. “The essence of Soviet power,” he wrote, “consists in the fact that the permanent and only basis of all state power, of the entire state apparatus is the mass organization of precisely those classes that were oppressed by capitalism, i.e., workers and semi-proletarians...” 13. The Soviet type of state is most suited to fulfilling the leading role of the proletariat as a class, replacing the bourgeois state with a new, proletarian one.
The theses formulated the main goals and tasks of the struggle of the working class and its vanguard, the communist parties, in a period when there was a grandiose revolutionary upsurge after the First World War and the question of revolution, the conquest of power by the proletariat, was on the agenda in many capitalist countries. The theses made it possible to unite the efforts of the working class on an international scale.
Thus, Lenin's development of questions of the theory of socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the role of communist parties in the revolutionary struggle of the working class, as well as his struggle for the formation of the Comintern, were of great importance in those conditions. The young communist parties had to master the revolutionary experience they already had and learn to lead the masses in a selfless struggle to establish the power of the proletariat. In this they were helped by the enormous work that Lenin did.
Having defined the program principles and direction of the activities of the Third International, Lenin wrote: “This International not only returns to Marxism in its name, but also in all its ideological and political content, in all its actions, implements the revolutionary teaching of Marx, cleansed of bourgeois opportunist distortions. ” see the new International.
* * *
The appeal "To the First Congress of the Communist International" quickly found a response all over the world. In January-February 1919, delegates began to arrive in Moscow. Representatives of precisely those organizations gathered that were in solidarity with each other on all the main issues of the struggle for the socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the support of the first country in the world where power was established, workers and peasants. The First Congress of the Communist International was attended by delegates from organizations that at that time represented the most revolutionary part of the international proletariat. Another feature that distinguished the congress of communists from all the congresses of the Second International was revealed, and that is genuine proletarian internationalism.
On March 1, 1919, under the leadership of Lenin, a preliminary meeting of representatives of a number of delegations was held, at which the organization of the congress was discussed. The meeting was attended by representatives of the RCP (b), the communist parties of Germany and Finland, the Socialist Workers' Party of America and others. The meeting outlined the provisional agenda, speakers, composition of the commissions. In view of the fact that the Central Committee of the German Communist Party considered it premature to found a new International and instructed its representative to participate only in the preliminary conference, it was decided to open the congress as a conference and discuss the question of constitution in the course of work. The conference instructed Lenin to open the conference.
On the evening of March 2, 1919, the first meeting of the conference took place in the Kremlin. The main question at the conference was the question of bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the further development of the entire proletarian class struggle depended on a correct understanding of it. Their unification and joint struggle in the future, the stability of the victory of the proletariat in the revolution and all its achievements depended on the attitude of the delegates gathered at the conference to this question.
After a thorough discussion, the platform for the unification of communist and left-socialist organizations, worked out at the suggestion of Lenin and in accordance with his instructions, was approved by the conference on March 4. The main points on which all organizations agreed were the recognition of: 1) the inevitability of the replacement of the capitalist social system by the communist one; 2) the possibility of an armed struggle by the proletariat to overthrow bourgeois governments; 3) the destruction of the bourgeois state and its replacement by a state of a new type, a state of the proletariat, of the Soviet type, which will exercise the dictatorship of the proletariat; 4) expropriation of big capital, both in industry and in agriculture; 5) the establishment of a friendly alliance between the proletariat and the poorest peasantry and the semi-proletariat of town and country; 6) strengthening fraternal ties between the proletariat of developed countries and the national liberation movement of colonial and semi-colonial dependent peoples; 7) the closest alliance and mutual assistance between states in which the power of the proletariat has triumphed, in order to jointly defend their gains and build socialism - the first phase of communist society. The central principle of this platform was the struggle of the communists for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the creation of a state like the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies. The international character of all these principles is obvious. Even today they unite all communist parties in their struggle against imperialism. The principle of unity of action between the communist parties and the governments of the countries building socialism is now acquiring special significance. It is the solidarity of the countries of the socialist camp that is the most powerful and insurmountable obstacle for the imperialist instigators of a new war. The events in Hungary in the autumn of 1956 showed that the imperialists were striving to undermine the unity of the countries of the socialist camp. To do this, they go to any lengths. However, if the imperialists succeeded in destroying the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 due to its isolation from other Soviet republics by the forces of internal and external counterrevolution, then in 1956 the assistance provided by the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist camp to the working people of Hungary played a decisive role in defeating the counterrevolutionary forces there. and the preservation of the people's democratic system. Mutual assistance treaties concluded between the socialist countries help them overcome all difficulties and successfully build socialism.
At the meeting of the conference on March 4, 1919, Lenin announced his theses, clearly defined the significance of the Soviets as one of the forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the task of the communists of the capitalist countries in explaining the essence and significance of Soviet power. He also suggested discussing and adopting an additional resolution on the tasks of the communist parties where Soviet power does not yet exist. It pointed out that the Communists of all countries should explain to the broad masses of working people the significance of the political and practical necessity of proletarian democracy, which is called upon to replace bourgeois democracy and parliamentarism; spread and organize Soviets or similar organizations widely among the workers, soldiers, laborers and poor peasants and win a communist majority within these organizations.
This resolution was and is of great importance, because in an era when a revolutionary situation is brewing, the Communist Party must be best prepared not only to take power, but also to hold it, to be able to beat off all attacks from reactionary forces. To this end, the Communist Party must secure a leading position in all mass organizations of the proletariat, including the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.
Lenin's theses on bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat, with an additional resolution to them, were unanimously adopted by the conference. Thus, all questions concerning the basic principles of the activities of the communist parties were successfully resolved.
At the same meeting, delegates from the Balkan Revolutionary Social Democratic Federation, the Communist Parties of German Austria and Hungary, and the Swedish Left Social Democratic Party made a joint proposal for the founding of the Communist International. They pointed out that "the necessity of the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat requires the existence of a single, cohesive, international organization of all communist elements standing on this platform." Refusal to create a Communist International could harm the growing revolutionary movement of the working class, so the foundation of the Comintern was "an unconditional historical demand and must be carried out by the International Communist Conference meeting in Moscow" 15 .
A heated discussion began on this proposal, which showed that only the delegate of the German Communist Party, bound by the imperative mandate of the Central Committee of the KKE, opposed the immediate founding of the Comintern. Representatives of the RCP (b), the Swedish Left Social Democratic Party, the Communist Parties of Finland and Hungary, the French Communist Group, and others supported the proposal to found the Communist International. Some delegates pointed out that it was the Third International that would give a new impetus to the formation of communist parties in countries where they did not yet exist.
On March 4, 1919, the conference adopted a historic decision: "The International Communist Conference decides to be constituted as the Third International and to adopt the name of the Communist International" 16 . From that moment on, the congress met as the First Congress of the Communist International. The long-term struggle of the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, ended with the consolidation of the results achieved - the Communist International was founded. There was a struggle to strengthen it, to formulate the basic principles of its organization and all further activities.
One of the most important documents of the First Congress of the Communist International was the Manifesto to the Proletarians of the World. It pointed out that the Communist International is the successor and executor of the ideas of Marx and Engels, set forth by them in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party", and defined the task of the Comintern - to generalize the revolutionary experience of the working class of all countries, to cleanse the revolutionary movement of opportunism, to unite the efforts of all truly revolutionary parties proletariat to win the victory of the communist revolution throughout the world. By decision of the congress, the representatives of the delegations, who had the right to a decisive vote, were entrusted with signing the Manifesto. On behalf of the RCP (b) the Manifesto was signed by Lenin.
In his article "The Third International and Its Place in History", published in the magazine "Communist International" No. 1 in May 1919, Lenin showed the historical significance of the founding of the Third Communist International. He wrote that the Third International accepted the fruits of the work of the Second International - the broad development of the socialist movement and its organization under the conditions of the legality of the bourgeois state - "cut off its opportunist, social-chauvinist, bourgeois and petty-bourgeois filth and began to implement the dictatorship of the proletariat" 17 . Lenin stressed that the vocation of the Communist International is to "fulfill, put into practice the precepts of Marxism and realize the age-old ideals of socialism and the labor movement" 18. He could fulfill this task, because he had "a base of unprecedented strength" in the face of the Soviet republics, which were the embodiment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It was in this that Lenin saw the historical significance of the Comintern.
After the First Congress of the Comintern, a new upsurge of the communist movement began in all countries, which took place on the basis of the general growth of the revolutionary workers' and national liberation movements. It led to the formation of new and the strengthening of existing Communist parties; to the transition of a part of the Social Democratic workers to the positions of communism.
At a conference in Zurich on March 15, 1919, the Swiss Communist Party was formed, which joined the decisions of the First Congress of the Comintern. A few days later, on March 19, the Executive Committee of the Italian Socialist Party decided to withdraw from the Brussels International Bureau and join the Third International.
On March 20, the leader of the Irish Socialist Movement, Jim Larkin, informed Lenin that the Irish socialists welcomed the RCP(b) and the Communist International, that they would fight for the revolution, for the dictatorship of the proletariat . In March, as a result of the split of the socialist party, the Communist Party of Mexico was formed, among the founders of which were Manuel Diaz Ramirez and José Allen. She enjoyed great influence in trade union and peasant organizations.
On April 13, 1919, the governing Committee of the Communist Party of Holland adopted a resolution: "Join the Third, Communist International founded on March 6" 20 . On April 20-23, a congress of the Social Democrats was held in Belgrade, which by an absolute majority voted in favor of the formation of a single Yugoslav Socialist Workers' Party (Communists) on the platform of the Communist International. In April, the joint congress of the Union of Korean Socialists and the Union of Korean Citizens founded the Korean Socialist Party. The congress declared that the Korean socialists were withdrawing from the International and joining the new, revolutionary International.
The fact that the International began to be called Communist, its goal was the victory of communism, and millions of revolutionary workers were drawn to it, all this prompted the parties that adjoined the International to also be called communist. That is exactly what the Bulgarian communists did. On May 25–27, 1919, Sofia hosted the 22nd Congress of the Social Democratic Party (“Tesnyakov”), which represented a significant force in the Bulgarian revolutionary movement. The congress adopted the previously published "Programme Declaration", recognizing the principles and tactics of the Communist International. The congress renamed the party ("Tesnyakov") into the Bulgarian Communist Party and became its Constituent Congress.
The congress of the Norwegian Social Democratic Party on June 9, 1919 decided by an overwhelming majority to withdraw from the International and join the Comintern. Soon, on June 12-17, the Third Congress of the Swedish Left Social Democratic Party met in Stockholm, which, after a heated discussion, decided by a majority of votes to join the Comintern. On June 23, the founding congress of the Communist Party of Iran, which separated from the socialist Adalet Party, was held. The congress decided to join the Third International, fully approving its platform. Shortly thereafter, the Socialist Workers' and Peasants' Party of Turkey was formed from the communist groups located on the territory of Soviet Russia. It was headed by the Turkish Communist Mustafa Subhi, a delegate to the First Congress of the Comintern. The Party resolutely came out in favor of the platform of the Comintern.
In August, the communist parties of Eastern Galicia, Finland, and the Ukrainian Federation of the American Socialist Party joined the Communist International. On August 27, it was reported from Vienna that "The Communist Party of German Austria recognizes the program of the Third International adopted at the congress in Moscow... and declares its adherence to the Third International . " In September, the party of Alsace-Lorraine announced its entry into the International.
A great victory for the Comintern was the formation of the Communist Party in the USA. But this victory was weakened from the very beginning by the split between the American communists, who formed two parties in early September 1919: the communist and the communist workers. Attempts were made to unite them. However, they were not successful then. As John Reid acknowledged in his letter "The Communist Movement in America" 22, sent to Lenin, the differences between the Communist Workers' Party and the Communist Party of the USA were not program-theoretical. Both parties recognized the platform of the Comintern. They differed mainly in organizational matters. The PKK opposed federalism in the organization, and the CP was built on the principle of federations on a national scale and provided these federations with greater autonomy, which undermined the unity of the party's actions. The split of the communists into two parties led to a decrease in their influence. Whereas before the formation of the communist parties the left had more than 50,000 members, both newly formed parties had, according to the PKK, about 20,000 members. The American communists were faced with the urgent task of uniting, creating one Communist Party, which was carried out with the help of the Comintern in May 1921.
The 16th Congress of the Italian Socialist Party (Bologna, October 5-8, 1919), after sharp criticism of the reformists by the maximalists and a thorough discussion of the issues raised, decided to accept the platform of the Third International and join it. However, the congress did not take any decisions aimed at purging the party of reformists, nor did it change the name of the party.
In a letter to Lenin dated January 10, 1920, the Italian socialists justified the “impossibility” of changing the name of the party by saying that there had never been a split in it, its traditions were revolutionary, and therefore the history and policy of this party did not require dissociation in the name from imaginary socialists 23 . This position of the socialists seriously hampered the development of the revolutionary movement of the Italian proletariat and hindered the formation of a truly revolutionary party of a new type, which was formed only a year later.
Lenin carefully studied the programs and other documents of the parties and organizations that declared their adherence to the Third International. It became more and more clear that in the young communist organizations there was no firm understanding of the basic principles of communist activity. At the same time, the revolutionary situation throughout the world and the tasks facing international communism demanded the rallying of the communist parties on the basis of revolutionary Marxism, the unity of their actions and iron discipline in organizations.
Considering the difficulties and shortcomings of the ever-growing communist movement, on October 28, 1919, Lenin addressed the communists and supporters of the Third International in various countries with letters, urging them to pay special attention to the need to strengthen the unity of the ranks - the communist movement. In a letter to "Comrade Loriot and all French friends who joined the Third International," Lenin pointed out that the crisis caused by the war had given rise to the suffering and misery of the masses, who were therefore drawn to communism, which showed the way out of this crisis. From this Lenin drew the conclusion that the communists must draw ever closer to the broad masses of the proletariat, act more resolutely and firmly pursue the outlined line, and this will ensure their complete victory.24 , especially since they had no disagreements on basic principles. He emphasized that the unification of the German communists was both possible and necessary. He drew the attention of the members of the group that had broken away from the party to this in a letter to "Comrade Communists who were part of the common "Communist Party of Germany" and now constituted a new party."
In a letter to "Comrade Serrati and the Italian Communists in general," Lenin approved the decision of the Bologna Congress to take part in the parliamentary elections and warned the Italian comrades there that the struggle against the opportunists was not yet over, as they would try to circumvent the decisions of the congress. In this letter, Lenin drew the attention of the communists to the need to win over not only the industrial, but also the rural proletariat and the small peasantry. He emphasized that only on this condition, in the presence of a favorable international situation, would the proletariat of Italy be able to win a lasting victory.
Thus, after the First Congress of the Comintern, on the basis of the rise of the proletarian movement, the communist movement developed rapidly, which led to the formation of many new and to the strengthening of pre-existing communist parties.
Now most of the developed countries had their own communist parties. All the advanced revolutionary workers who had previously supported the Social Democrats joined the communists.
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The growing communist movement needed to be protected from the corrupting influence of opportunism, to unite on the principles of Marxism-Leninism, and to work out common organizational and tactical principles. Therefore, Lenin, before the Congress of the Comintern, developed the organizational and tactical foundations of the communist movement, based on the experience of the RCP (b) and all other communist parties. He developed the basic programmatic demands of the communists on the main questions of the international revolutionary movement.
One of these issues was national-colonial. Its importance grew because the majority of the world's population was oppressed by a minority. After the First World War, a billion and a quarter of the world's population became dependent on the victorious countries, whose population was only about 250 million people. But in these countries, too, only a handful of monopolists enjoyed all the benefits and grew inexpressibly rich from the ruthless exploitation of the colonial and dependent countries.
Imperialism is an international force, and the struggle against it must be waged jointly by all the revolutionary elements of the world. Uniting the national liberation movement of the peoples of the colonies and dependent countries with the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat of the mother countries has been and is one of the most important tasks of the international communist movement. Therefore, Lenin began to develop the program requirements of the Comintern on the national-colonial question. On June 1, 1920, he developed a plan of theses on these questions for the commission that prepared them for discussion by the Second Congress of the Comintern.
On June 5, Lenin handed over to the Commission of the Comintern the initial outline of the theses on the national and colonial questions and asked for comments, corrections, additions or explanations to them.
After July 14, Lenin received some comments on his theses. The Trotskyite Preobrazhensky declared that the plan of "using the movement in the East against European imperialism" was unacceptable. He even believed that if the socialist revolution in Europe was victorious before the conditions were ripe for a voluntary federation of the colonial peoples with the European socialist countries, then "their (colonies) would be inevitably suppressed by force and the economically most important regions would be forcibly annexed to the union of European republics." After reviewing these statements, Lenin remarked: “Over the edge enough. It is unprovable and wrong to say that "Inevitable", "suppression by force". Fundamentally wrong" 25. Lenin considered this consideration of Preobrazhensky deeply erroneous and a manifestation of great-power chauvinism. He repeatedly pointed out that it was unacceptable for a socialist state to have colonies. Only the leaders of the right-wing socialists, who represent the interests of the capitalists of their countries and the privileged top of the working class, which the capitalists "feed" by robbing the colonies, can defend colonialism.
Lenin also received remarks from Chicherin, who believed that under developed imperialism the program of national liberation movements was a complete illusion, and "even the program of Irish independence diverts the Irish working class into a false path" 26 . Lenin considered these remarks by Chicherin also erroneous. Under the conditions of developed imperialism in the colonies, the peoples are drawn more and more into industrial development, and a proletariat is created in them, which begins the struggle for liberation from imperialist slavery. Without a long, stubborn and brutal struggle, without national liberation movements, the national independence of the people cannot be won, and without independence, a real class struggle for building a new, socialist society cannot develop.
Already during the work of the Second Congress of the Comintern, Lenin read the theses on national and colonial questions written by P. Levi, and noted that they were too general, did not take into account the semi-colonial countries (Persia, for example) and the author fell into "national Bolshevism", considering the Germans the only nation in the world. He considered Levy's theses 27 unacceptable .
The Second Congress of the Comintern, held from July 19 to August 7, 1920, discussed the national-colonial question and adopted Lenin's theses. They were the main programmatic document in the activity of the communist parties of all countries in the sphere of solving the national-colonial question.
The correctness of the national policy elaborated by Lenin has been confirmed by the entire course of historical development. At present, the struggle against colonialism, for the liberation of the colonial peoples from the yoke of imperialism and the assertion of their national independence, cannot be waged successfully alone. As the failure of the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression against Egypt has shown, this struggle can be successful only with the support of the socialist camp, the proletariat of the highly developed capitalist countries and peoples of the East, who have liberated themselves from the yoke of imperialism. The Communist Parties unreservedly stand for joint action by the colonial peoples and the proletariat of all countries against imperialism.
One of the important questions in the program of the international communist movement is the agrarian question. In most countries of the world, the peasantry constitutes the vast majority of the population. But at the same time, due to its economic position, it is most difficult to organize. The implementation of socialist transformations after the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat is impossible without the involvement of the working peasantry in it. Therefore, the communists of all countries had to find common principles for solving the agrarian problem and drawing the peasantry into the struggle for socialism.
Lenin, on the basis of the worldwide experience of the revolutionary movement and, in particular, the solution of the agrarian question in Soviet Russia, developed for the Second Congress of the Comintern an initial outline of theses, which, after its discussion in the agrarian commission and the introduction of certain changes and additions, was adopted by the congress. In his theses, Lenin drew the conclusion confirmed by history that the working masses of the countryside would not be able to achieve their emancipation without an alliance with the urban proletariat. But even the proletariat cannot solve its socialist tasks without the support of the working peasantry. Therefore, the alliance of the proletariat with the working peasantry in the struggle against the bourgeoisie and the landlords is the most necessary condition for the successful solution of the tasks of the social emancipation of the proletariat, as well as the agrarian question.
With regard to the transition to collective forms of economy in the countryside, Lenin emphasized the idea that the state power of the proletariat would have to carry out this transition with the greatest caution, gradually, and only by the force of example. In relation to the large peasant farms, Lenin believed that their expropriation “can in no way be the direct task of the victorious proletariat ...” and, as a rule, “the proletarian state power should keep their lands for the big peasants, confiscating them only in case of resistance to the authorities. working and exploited” 28. Only the farms of large landowners, landlords and those who exploit the labor of others “on “their” lands, without participating in the work themselves, Lenin proposed to confiscate without any redemption and mainly strive to maintain them in the future on the principles of Soviet or state farms. However, he emphasized that this rule should not be stereotyped, and sometimes, taking into account specific conditions, it is necessary to transfer part of the confiscated land to the surrounding peasantry for individual use.
The elaboration of the policy of the Communist Party towards the peasantry and its participation in the building of a new, socialist society were of world-historical significance. The policy of an alliance between the working class and the peasantry and the transfer of small peasant farms to collective (cooperative) forms of management is necessary, applicable and inevitable in all countries. It provides the only opportunity to prepare the majority of the people for the transformation of capitalist society into socialist society, and most painlessly.
The new economic policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, worked out by V. I. Lenin and adopted at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b), was also intended to serve this purpose, aimed at strengthening the alliance between the working class and the peasantry and building the economic foundation of socialism.
In his report to the Third Congress of the Comintern on the tactics of the RCP(b), Lenin pointed out that in most capitalist countries the small producers and petty bourgeois make up 30 to 45 per cent of the population. They cannot be expropriated like the big bourgeoisie and big landowners. They can and should be won over to the side of the proletariat. It is up to all communist parties to decide the attitude of the victorious proletariat towards the peasantry in the event of the victory of the socialist revolution in their countries. Therefore, the experience of our Soviet Russia is of world-historical significance.
The proletarian state in Russia has passed from a military alliance with the peasantry to an economic alliance based on the correct exchange of products of production between town and country, while maintaining power in the hands of the working class, which alone is capable of directing the reorganization of society on socialist and communist foundations. It is the New Economic Policy that must be the basic policy in economic relations between the victorious proletariat and the peasantry in all countries during the period of transition from capitalism to socialism. This is confirmed by the historical experience of the USSR, People's China and other people's democracies. The Third Congress of the Comintern adopted Lenin's theses on the tactics of the RCP(b) and a resolution on this issue. Lenin's provisions on NEP were also included in the program of the Comintern adopted by its Sixth Congress in 1928.
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Lenin repeatedly reminded the communists that the proletariat needed a dictatorship to carry out its historical tasks. It means a stubborn, cruel struggle against the bourgeoisie, it requires monolithic firmness, inflexibility and unity of will, centralization and the strictest discipline of the proletariat and, above all, its vanguard, the Communist Party. Therefore, Lenin emphasized that "the party cannot open wide its gates." It "should be so narrow as to absorb outside the working class only those people from other classes whom it has the opportunity to test with the greatest care" 29 .
Considering the Comintern as an international communist party, Lenin believed that only such parties and organizations could be united in it, which, in addition to recognizing the dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet power, recognized and implemented in practice a single revolutionary discipline and organization based on the strictest centralization. Otherwise, the Comintern, under certain conditions, could be threatened by "the danger of its liquefaction by shaky and half-hearted groups that have not yet dealt with the ideology of the Second International" 30 .
The growing influence of the communists and the widespread dissemination of the ideas of communism among the masses created the threat of the final loss of the influence of social democracy, and, consequently, the weakening of one of the most important social pillars of capitalism. In order to maintain their influence on the masses, the right-wing Social Democrats and the "independents" were forced to change their tactics. They began to advocate a break with the Second International, which had completely compromised itself in the revolutionary movement of the proletariat. However, the leading elite of the socialist and "independent" parties, agreeing to break with the Second International, wanted only to deceive the masses of rank-and-file socialists, to maintain their influence over them, without thinking at all in fact, to pursue a revolutionary policy, and thereby sought to weaken the revolutionary movement.
Due to the fact that independent Social Democrats in Germany and many other countries also spoke out for joining the Comintern, Lenin believed that their statements should not be taken on faith, but political figures should be checked by their public speeches and deeds. Therefore, on December 28, 1919, he asked M. Litvinov, who was then in Copenhagen, to collect and send to him (Lenin) published in the press “all documents, resolutions, pamphlets, newspaper articles and speeches relating to ideological trends in left socialism and communism, especially anarcho-syndicalist perversions of communism" 31. On January 4, in a letter to Chicherin, Lenin insisted that the purchase of socialist, anarchist and communist literature, resolutions, reports, protocols on congresses and the work of various parties of all countries be organized abroad. This was necessary in order to study the positions of the parties and to develop one's attitude towards them. For a real unification of the revolutionary Marxists on an international scale, it was necessary to draw a strict disengagement from all enemies and fellow travelers of communism.
On the eve of the Strasbourg Congress of the French Socialist Party, Lenin familiarized himself with the resolution proposed by Longuet's supporters to that congress. On February 14, 1920, he wrote “Notes of a Publicist”, in which he exposed the essence of the “Theses” of the Longuetists, who in words recognized the dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet power, but in fact pursued the former policy of reformism and betrayal of the interests of the proletariat, like the Hungarian “socialists” of 1919, who destroyed Soviet power in Hungary. He wrote that such "supporters" of socialism were not needed in the Third International.
Exposing the maneuvers of the "independents" and the socialists, Lenin wrote that the leaders of the socialists, remaining in slavery to bourgeois democracy, "would only hurt the proletariat even more if they took it into their heads to call themselves communists and join the Third International" 32 . He suggested not accepting the Centrists (Independents and Longuetists) into the Comintern, but waiting until the workers themselves corrected the shortcomings of these parties.
Proceeding from the main tasks of the Comintern and the experience of organizational building of the RCP (b), on the eve of the Second Congress, Lenin formulated the "Conditions for admission to the Communist International", in which he outlined the policy of the Comintern in relation to parties wishing to join it, and organizational measures that ensure the transformation of communist parties into parties of a new type. The "Conditions" formulated the organizational principles of the communist movement. The main principle was the principle of democratic centralism. Particularly important were the instructions on the creation of communist cells in all mass organizations of the working class, in the countryside and in the troops; on breaking with the opportunists and purging the parties of them, as well as on the adaptation of the parties to work in illegal conditions. All these conditions were aimed at strengthening the unity of the parties, to transform them into truly revolutionary Marxist parties of a new type, capable of leading the struggle of the proletariat for power, for socialism. Commission of the II Congress, elected to discuss the conditions for admission to the Comintern (it included representatives of the communist parties: Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, USA, Hungary, Austria, Holland, the industrial workers of the world of Ireland, the left wing of the socialist party of Switzerland and the communist group of France) 25 July 1920 approved the text of the Leninist conditions.
The Executive Committee of the Comintern prepared a draft Charter of the Communist International, which was first discussed in the organizing committee, and then at the meeting of the Second Congress on August 4, 1920. With amendments and additions, the Charter was adopted unanimously.
The adoption by the Second Congress of decisions on the tasks of the Comintern, on the conditions for admission to the Comintern, and the approval of the Rules finally consolidated the Leninist organizational principles of building the communist parties of all countries, the parties of revolutionary Marxism. The experience of organizational building accumulated by the RCP(b) was recognized by the international communist movement. It is also recognized by modern communist parties. All attempts in our day by individual elements to revise the Leninist organizational principles and to consider them supposedly outdated receive a decisive rebuff and are refuted by all the experience of the modern international communist movement. Where the communists do not deviate from Leninist principles, the communist parties successfully repulse the attacks of the reaction and lead the struggle of the working people for the satisfaction of their vital needs, for peace, democracy and socialism. Wherever Leninist principles are violated, the leading role of the Communists is undermined. After the Second Congress of the Comintern, all communist and a number of social-democratic parties launched a struggle to strengthen them on the basis of Leninist organizational principles.
In an effort to make it easier for the communists to fight to strengthen the ranks of the parties, on September 24, 1920, Lenin wrote a Letter to the German and French Workers. In it, he argued the need to purge the proletarian parties of opportunists who, like the Hungarian and Italian right-wing socialists, betrayed the working class and went over to the side of the bourgeoisie at decisive moments in the revolutionary struggle.
The Congress of the French Socialist Parties, convened in Tours in December 1920, voted by a two-thirds majority in favor of the unconditional acceptance of 21 conditions for admission to the Comintern. The majority of the congress founded the Communist Party of France, whose founding congress was held May 15-17, 1921, in Paris.
In Livorno, from January 15 to 20, 1921, a congress of the Italian Socialist Party was held, at which the majority, headed by Serrati, representing 98 thousand members of the party, recognized 21 conditions, only with the proviso that it was up to the party itself to decide the question of expelling opportunists from the party . The minority, headed by A. Gramsci and P. Togliatti, representing about 59 thousand members of the party, unconditionally recognized the conditions for admission to the Comintern. They left the congress and founded the Communist Party of Italy. Having received a message about this, on January 25, Lenin signed (together with other members of the ECCI) a greeting from the Communist Party of Italy, in which it was recognized as the only section of the Comintern in Italy.
The struggle for the organizational strengthening of the ranks was especially fierce in the RCP (b). At the end of 1920 and the beginning of 1921, the Trotskyists, the "workers' opposition" and the Bukharinites dragged the RCP(b) into a discussion about trade unions, about the methods of the party's approach to the masses of workers and peasants. In the course of the discussion, it became clear that these people were essentially trying to undermine the leading role of the Communist Party in the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat, to revive factionalism (groupism) and thereby break the unity and iron discipline in the party. They did this, like the current revisionists of communism, under the flag of expanding inner-party democracy, which in fact meant weakening the state and facilitating the restoration of capitalism in our country.
Lenin saw in the sortie of the Trotskyists, the "workers' opposition" and the Bukharinites against the party, a danger to the entire international communist movement, to all communist parties. Therefore, he passionately fought against the anti-Party attitudes of opposition leaders. Lenin took every measure to protect the RCP(b) and the communist parties of other countries from fruitless discussions and splits in their ranks.
At Lenin's suggestion, the 10th Congress of the RCP(b) adopted resolutions "On the Unity of the Party" and "On the Syndicalist and Anarchist Deviation in Our Party", which were aimed at strengthening the unity of the party ranks and eliminating all factionalism generated by petty-bourgeois and anarchist vacillations of unstable elements. These resolutions mobilized the attention of the communists of all countries to the need to strengthen the unity of the ranks in their parties and pointed the way to the implementation of this task.
During the preparations for the Third Congress of the Comintern, Lenin paid great attention to the organizational building of the communist parties in order to help them overcome the opportunistic vacillations of fellow travelers who had infiltrated their ranks, strengthen the parties and prepare them for the upcoming battles against capital.
Theses were prepared for the Third Congress of the Comintern: "Organizational construction of the communist parties, methods and content of their work." Even before June 2, 1921, Lenin familiarized himself with the theses of both Bela Kun and Kuusinen. In a note sent to the ECCI, he proposed that only Kuusinen be given a report at the congress on this issue, because his theses correctly reflected the needs of the organizational work of the communist parties. The final draft of the theses was entrusted to Kuusinen and Kenen. On July 9, Lenin informed them in a note that he had read the draft with great satisfaction and suggested that two additions be made: 1) to form control commissions in all parties “from the best tested workers” to check the composition and work of party organizations and 2) in connection with the fact that the bourgeoisie will send its provocateurs into the Communist Party,33 .
After a comprehensive discussion in the organizing committee, the Congress of the Comintern adopted the theses and the additions made by Lenin. They defined the task of the organizational work of the party: "The creation of such organizations that would be capable of ensuring the victory of the proletarian revolution over the propertied classes"; the concept of democratic centralism was explained as a combination of centralism and proletarian democracy in party work; one of the basic principles of the activity of a new type of Marxist party was put forward—the active participation of each member of the party in the work of one of the party organizations. To this end, it was recommended that cells, labor groups and other organizations be set up everywhere, under whose leadership all members and candidates of the party were to act.
The theses formulated the principles of the production structure of party organizations. It was pointed out that “communist cells are the main cores that perform daily communist work in factories, trade unions, labor artels, military units, etc.” 34 .
With regard to the press, attention was drawn to the complete subordination of the press to the leading party authorities, to maintaining and expanding the connection of newspapers and magazines with the broadest masses of working people.
Thus, the principles of organizational construction of communist parties worked out by the Comintern with the direct participation and leadership of Lenin became an unshakable law for the communists of the whole world. The communist parties of all countries are built on the basis of these principles, because the Leninist organizational principles ensure cohesion on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, iron discipline and unity of action of the communists, the leading role of the communist parties in the revolutionary working-class movement, and hinder subversive activities within the communist ranks by all kinds of factionalists and demagogues. , the enemies of the proletariat.
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Along with defining the programmatic and organizational provisions, Lenin also worked out the tactical principles of the activity of the Comintern and the communist parties. One of his most important works on the tactics of the proletarian revolutionary parties was the article "Elections to the Constituent Assembly and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", written by him on December 16, 1919. In it, Lenin, on the basis of an analysis of the data on the elections to the Constituent Assembly and on the development of the socialist revolution in Russia for two years, drew conclusions that are important for the activities of the communist parties of any capitalist country, not only of that period, but also at the present time. First of all, he proved that in order to win the dictatorship of the proletariat, the party must: carry out comprehensive preparations for the revolutionary part of the proletariat to expose and expel the opportunists from its ranks; to have the majority of the proletariat behind it and to create an overwhelming preponderance of forces at a decisive moment in a decisive place; to win over to our side from the bourgeoisie the armed force—the army, the armed workers and peasants—for the struggle against the exploiters; finally, and most importantly, it must win over the non-proletarian working masses.
Separate groups of communists in many parties did not understand these conclusions about the tactics of the proletarian Marxist party.
They denied the need for persistent communist work in the trade unions and other organizations of the working class led by the reformists, and refused to participate in the work of the bourgeois parliaments. This showed that a current appeared in the young communist parties that wanted to be more to the left of the Russian Bolsheviks, but in reality led the parties to sectarianism, doomed them to impotence in the revolutionary struggle, to isolation from the working class. The experience of the Russian communists, the "leftists", like the social democrats and some newly-minted "theoreticians" of our time, did not want to study and apply in the struggle of the communist parties of the developed capitalist countries.
Lenin believed that the mistakes made at that time by the communists of Hungary, Bavaria and Germany, as well as the emergence of a "left" direction in the communist parties, have common causes - a misunderstanding of the tactics of the Marxist party - a party of a new type; misunderstanding of the role and significance of the party itself in the revolutionary struggle of the working class. The growth and development of the communist movement required a careful study of the experience of the first socialist revolution and the party that led the proletariat to victory. Therefore, in April 1920, Lenin wrote the book The Childhood Disease of “Leftism” in Communism, in which he examined the experience of Russian communists in terms of its applicability to other countries, as well as the experience of the international communist movement. He proved that all the main and many secondary features of the Russian socialist revolution are of international importance in the sense of influencing all countries, while emphasizing the historical inevitability of the repetition on an international scale of the main features of this Russian revolution. In the book The Childhood Disease of "Leftism" in Communism, Lenin showed the main tactical methods of the RCP (b) and analyzed the mistakes of the "leftists" in Germany, England and Italy. The world-historical significance of Lenin's book lies in the fact that it develops the basic principles of the strategy and tactics of the communist parties, guided by which they can successfully organize and lead the masses of working people in the struggle for the victory of communism under various conditions. This work of Lenin helped the Communists of all countries to overcome the "Left" deviation and take the right path of revolutionary struggle, to better use their forces in preparing the proletariat for decisive battles.Lenin showed that the tactics of a Marxist party must be built on the basis of the experience of the entire international revolutionary movement, and above all on "a strictly objective account of all the class forces of a given state (and the states surrounding it, and all states, on a world scale)"35. The basic principles of communism—the dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet power—cannot be applied equally in all countries. The unity of the international tactics of the communist movement must strictly take into account all national and nation-state differences. It must, precisely, consist in correctly modifying general principles in particular, while preserving them in the basis. Lenin explained that the main tactical task of the communist parties of all capitalist countries is: “To explore, study, find, guess, grasp the nationally special, nationally specific in the specific approaches of each country to solving a single international problem”36, which he saw in the victory over opportunism and "Left" doctrinairism, the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In order to work out international tactics, communists of all countries must carefully study the experience of the RCP(b), which carried out victoriously the socialist revolution. This experience has shown that if the Marxist Party wants to lead the proletariat to victory, it must master all forms of organization and struggle of the working class in the varied and complex conditions of both the bourgeois state and the state in transition.
One of the most important tactical tasks of the communists, Lenin considered winning over to his side the most backward sections of the proletariat, and even more so those who, out of unconsciousness, follow the reformist leaders.
Therefore, he pointed out that the communists must work where there are masses, without winning them over to their side, they will not be able to prepare and carry out the revolution. It follows from this that communists must work in all mass organizations of the working people, including the trade unions, however reactionary they may be. Criticizing the "leftists" in the international communist movement, Lenin wrote that their refusal to work in the reactionary trade unions was "such unforgivable stupidity, which is tantamount to the greatest service rendered by the communists to the bourgeoisie" 37 . He proposed to the Comintern to condemn the policy of non-participation of communists in reactionary trade unions.
Proceeding from the task of winning over the masses to the side of the revolutionary proletariat, Lenin emphasized that communists must also participate in elections and in the work of the bourgeois parliament. This is necessary in order to expose the policy of the ruling bourgeoisie to the masses by using the election campaign and the parliamentary platform, to organize the masses around communist slogans, to prove to them that the bourgeois parliament is unsuitable for satisfying their vital needs and the need for its revolutionary transformation in the interests of the working people.
Developing these Leninist theses in modern conditions, the 20th Congress of the CPSU also emphasizes the possibility of using, under certain conditions, the parliamentary form of transition to socialism. To do this, the proletariat and communists must win a solid majority in parliaments and turn them "from an organ of bourgeois democracy into an instrument of the real people's will" 38 .
In connection with the task of winning over the majority of the working people to their side, the question of compromise is also of great importance in the tactics of the Communists. Communist parties are obliged to seek acceptable compromises with all who might follow them, even if only temporarily.
The communists must all the more find a compromise with the workers (socialists and "independents") who sincerely believe in socialism but have been deceived by their leaders. However, Lenin considered the obligatory conditions for the communists of any such compromise to preserve the organizational independence of the party, to reserve the freedom of the ideological and political struggle against opportunism, as well as loyalty to Marxism and maintaining purity and upholding their principles. He considered another condition for the use of compromise tactics to be an increase, and not a decrease, in "the general level of proletarian consciousness, revolutionary spirit, ability to fight and win" 39 .
Questions of tactics were discussed and worked out at the Third Congress of the Comintern. Two draft theses on the tactics of the Comintern were drawn up for the congress: the first was written by Halheimer and Bela Kun; the other on behalf of the delegation of the RCP (b) K. Radek. Having familiarized himself with the drafts, on May 10, 1921, Lenin wrote his remarks in which he emphasized that the theses of Halheimer and Bela Kun were fundamentally politically incorrect, and therefore suggested that the Executive Committee of the Comintern officially reject them. He subjected Radek's theses to thorough criticism and noted that Radek, in correcting the original draft, spoiled it by crossing out the essence - the need to win over the majority of the working class to the side of communism. Lenin wrote: “The majority of the nowhere (working class) com. parties have not yet won: not only for organizational leadership, but also for the principles of communism. This is the foundation of everything to “weaken” this foundation of the only reasonable tactic is criminal frivolity.” He further pointed out that “the tactics of the Communist] International should be based on this: steadily and systematically win over the majority of the working class, primarily within the old trade unions. Then we will win for sure at any turn of events.”40 .
The Third Congress discussed in detail the tactical line of the Comintern in the conditions of a protracted revolutionary crisis. In accordance with the principles developed by Lenin, the congress adopted the theses "On tactics", in which the main thing was to win over the majority of the working class to the side of communism. This tactical line was carried out after the Third Congress by the Communists of all countries under the slogan "To the masses!"
The development of principles for the activity of the Communist International and its sections, carried out by the Comintern under the leadership of Lenin, was of great importance for strengthening the entire world communist movement. It contributed to the creation and strengthening of the militant parties of the working class, which selflessly continue to this day the struggle for the liberation of the working class, the working peasants and the oppressed peoples of the colonies from the yoke of international imperialism.
One of the most important principles put forward by Lenin was the cleansing of the communist parties of opportunist elements and the overcoming of the survivals of social democracy in their work. In the book The Childhood Disease of “Leftism” in Communism, Lenin wrote: “That’s why Communists exist in the world, supporters of the Third International in all countries, in order to remake along the entire line, in all areas of life, the old socialist, trade unionist, syndicalist, parliamentary work into a new, communist one" 41. In his article “On the Struggle Within the Italian Socialist Party,” written on December 11, 1920, he pointed out that “the most important and basic condition for success at the moment on the eve of the proletarian revolution is liberation, there is freedom for the parties of the revolutionary proletariat from the opportunists and “centralists”, from their influence, from their prejudices, weaknesses, hesitation” 42 . Lenin launched a struggle to overcome all the weaknesses and shortcomings that the communist parties had, due to the presence of remnants of social democracy in their work.
These survivals consisted in the fact that, while accepting in words the slogans of the revolutionary establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a section of the Communists did not in fact launch a great and stubborn ideological struggle against opportunism, did not help the working class to prepare in practice for the conquest of power. Some parties hesitated to expel from their ranks opportunists who did not submit to general party discipline on the grounds that they were meritorious and authoritative persons. To a large extent, party work was carried out only around parliamentary factions, and in fact the parties served the interests of these factions, and not vice versa.
Long time. The Comintern, carrying out the Leninist line, assisted the British, Czechoslovak, Norwegian, French and other communist parties in transforming them into parties of a truly new type, meeting the requirements of the revolutionary struggle of the working class for their liberation from the yoke of imperialism.
As a result of Lenin's stubborn struggle for the development and implementation of the programmatic, organizational and tactical principles of communism, the Comintern created a barrier against the penetration of opportunist elements into the ranks of the communist parties; corrected the mistakes of "left" communism; created cohesion and discipline in the international communist movement; outlined ways for it to unite with the world democratic and national liberation movement of the colonial peoples against imperialism.
* * *
In 1921, an economic crisis broke out in a number of capitalist countries. The capitalists stepped up their offensive against the won rights of the working class. This offensive was expressed in lowering wages and lengthening the working day, dismissal of the most revolutionary part of the working class from enterprises and, finally, in the intensification of attempts to establish fascist regimes. In October 1922, the Fascists, supported by the most reactionary layers of the bourgeoisie, seized power in Italy. Fascist coups were attempted in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, etc.
The offensive of capitalist reaction, which was unfolding along the entire front, presented the organizations of the working class with the task of uniting all proletarian forces for the conduct of a defensive struggle. The young communist parties had to work out tactics that would enable them to repulse the offensive of reaction, to preserve and prepare the forces of the proletariat for future offensive battles.
At the Third Congress of the Comintern, examples were given of how the rank and file workers of Rome, who belonged to various parties, united (in addition to the party leadership) around the communists to fight against the fascist "youngsters" Mussolini, and also that the revolutionary syndicalists of France spoke out for joint actions with the communists in the struggle to improve the economic conditions of the working class. Intrigued by these facts, on August 11, 1921, Lenin requested materials on the common actions of the workers of different parties 43. Even earlier, on July 27, he had a conversation with K. Zetkin, from whom he learned that unifying tendencies were also developing in the German labor movement. On this occasion, Lenin remarked that "Zetkina was quite right when she said that the Communists should be in favor of such unification in the fight against the capitalists..." 44 . Informing Lenin about the situation in the Italian socialist and communist parties, Borovsky, in a letter dated September 26, 1921,45 pointed out that the struggle against the fascists had indeed united the socialists and communists locally, that is, in the grass-roots organizations.
All the facts and the entire objective situation of that time led to the conclusion that joint action by the working class against capital was necessary. By the beginning of December 1921. Lenin came to the conclusion that the line of joint action between the communist parties and the workers' parties of the Second International was correct . In pursuing this line, the communist parties had to remember that in no case should they deviate from Marxist principles and go for unprincipled unity with the opportunists and reformists. On December 1, 1921, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) spoke in favor of a united front of the workers and supported the proposal to carry out this tactic on an international scale. On December 4, 1921, the Presidium of the ECCI adopted the draft theses on the united front of the workers.
Getting acquainted with this project, on December 6, Lenin made his remarks. He believed that it was necessary to add to the theses from the history of Bolshevism that the splits between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks were replaced by associations and gender among the associations "not only due to the ups and downs of the struggle, but also under pressure from the lower classes, who demanded verification tests by their own experience" 47 . This remark by Lenin was taken into account, and in the final text of the theses, § 19 was formulated on the experience of united action by the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
The question of the tactics of the united front of the workers was discussed at the XI All-Russian Conference of the RCP (b), which took place from December 19 to 22, 1921. The conference unanimously endorsed the theses of the ECCI on the united front and expressed the hope that this tactic "will help the Communist Parties of Europe and America to rally the broadest working masses under the banner of communism" 48 and will help the masses to see for themselves the betrayal of the reformists.
Implementing the tactics of the united front of the working class, the communists enlisted all workers, regardless of their political and ideological views, in the struggle against fascism and the danger of a new war, in defense of the daily interests of the working class; they got the opportunity to show the workers, even the most backward, who really betray the interests of the proletariat, split its ranks, and explain to the masses of workers that only their joint actions will lead to the overthrow of the power of imperialism, to the liberation of the working people from oppression and exploitation. Thus, the tactical line: "To the masses!", adopted by the congress, completely coincided with the new tactical directive given in the theses of the ECCI on the united workers' front.
In the theses of the ECCI, it was noted that in the face of a new offensive by capital against the working class, a spontaneous and irresistible desire for unity among the proletariat arose and the confidence of the masses in the communists increased. Remaining independent ideologically and organizationally, the communists could unite the efforts of the masses for practical action in defense of their rights, improve the economic situation of the workers, and launch a struggle against the fascist danger.
Lenin all the time closely followed the development of the united front of the communists with the rank and file workers, as well as the united actions of the communist parties with the reformist workers' organizations. Based on the principle of a united front, on January 12, 1922, he advised the ECCI to adopt a resolution on the tactics of the Communist Party of England in the forthcoming election campaign there for parliamentary elections. He believed that all British Communists should have voted for the candidates of the Labor Party in order to prevent the candidates of the bourgeois parties from winning .
The first expanded plenum of the ECCI, which took place from February 21 to March 4, 1922, following the report of the Communist Party of England, adopted a resolution in which it recommended the CPA to implement these Leninist tactics in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and also determined specifically what should be the implementation of the tactics of the united front of the working class in England.
Due to his illness, Lenin did not participate in the work of the expanded plenum of the ECCI. However, he took an active part in the preparations for the convening of the conference of the three Internationals, which he considered extremely necessary both for the development of the united front of the workers and for exposing in the eyes of the proletarian masses the true policy of the leaders of the Second and Second 1/2 Internationals. He developed proposals on the tactics of the ECCI delegation in negotiations with representatives of the two Internationals. He wrote: “We propose to raise only the least controversial (questions. - T. K.), considering the goal of trying partial, but joint actions of the working masses.” Further, he recommended that "at the preliminary conference our delegates be extremely restrained until the hope of reaching the goal is lost" 50 , that is, to gather all three Internationals for a general conference.
During the plenum of the ECCI on February 23, before discussion, Lenin familiarized himself with the draft resolution of the plenum: "Participation of the Communist International in the proposed conference of all workers' organizations of the world." In his remarks, he proposed to make additions, firstly, that the workers understand political differences, but they by an overwhelming majority "want and demand unity of action in relation to the most urgent and close to the political interests of the workers' interests" 51 , secondly, to emphasize that it is necessary to set aside controversial issues for a certain time and single out the least controversial ones, although not to renounce the possible victory of one's own points of view. These Leninist proposals were taken into account in the final editing of the revolution adopted by the enlarged plenum of the ECCI.
The plenum, having heard the report on the united workers' front, confirmed the December theses of the ECCI and proposed that the presidium with representatives of the sections work out a tactical line taking into account the specific conditions of each country. Thus, the tactics of the united workers' front became the law of the activity of all the communist parties of the world. Under the sign of strengthening the united front of the proletariat, in the struggle against the onset of reaction, all the actions of the working class in the subsequent period took place.
The decisions of the enlarged plenum of the ECCI were greeted with great enthusiasm by the XI Congress of the RCP (b), which took place from March 27 to April 2, 1922. In a resolution on the report of the RCP(b) delegation to the Comintern, the congress expressed its solidarity with the tactics of the united front and determined the concrete application of this tactics under the conditions of the victorious dictatorship of the proletariat. The resolution stated: “The implementation of the united front tactic in the Soviet country requires that the Communist Party be able to meet the legitimate demands of the non-Party masses in a timely manner, make the necessary concessions to them, evaluate together with them every step of state and economic construction, not for a moment breaking away from them. gradually raising them to a higher level” 52. At the same time, the congress pointed out that in the Soviet country there could be no concessions and agreements between communists and the counter-revolutionary parties of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.
In April and early May 1922, in accordance with the decision of the Berlin Conference of the Three Internationals, demonstrations of workers under the slogans of a united proletarian front took place in Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway and some other countries. The success of these demonstrations showed that the struggle against the offensive of the capitalists, with the unification of the forces of the working class, can develop into an offensive of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. These results were feared by the reformist leaders of the Second and Second 1/2 Internationals and the parties adjoining them. They saw that the united front immeasurably strengthened the position of the communists in the workers' movement. Therefore, they decided to break the agreement with the Comintern and split the working class.
The tactics of the Comintern were correct; they oriented the Communist Parties towards seeking an alliance with the masses of the workers—Social Democrats and Syndicalists, and strengthening the unity of action from below, in the factories, despite the break with the leaders of international opportunism.
In November 1922, the Fourth Congress of the Comintern was convened. One of the main items on the agenda was the question of the tactics of the Comintern and its sections.
The Fourth Congress opened on November 5, 1922 in Petrograd, the cradle of the October Revolution. On November 4, Lenin sent a letter to the “Fourth World Congress of the Comintern, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Red Army Deputies”, in which he emphasized that the main task of the Comintern and all communist parties is to win over the majority of workers to the side of the ideas of communism, that Soviet Russia, the first country of the dictatorship of the proletariat, “ considers it a great pride to help the workers of the whole world in their difficult struggle to overthrow capitalism” 53. He expressed confidence that if the struggle of the world proletariat was combined with the struggle of Soviet Russia, victory would be on the side of communism. This idea of Lenin has a special meaning and significance in our time, when a powerful camp of socialist states has formed around the Soviet Union, and more and more countries are drawn to this camp, freeing themselves from the oppression of imperialism as a result of the collapse of the colonial system.
Of particular importance was Lenin's report "Five Years of the Russian Revolution and the Perspectives of the World Revolution", which took place on November 13, 1922, when the meetings of the congress were transferred to Moscow. In his report, Lenin summed up the results of the implementation of the New Economic Policy in Soviet Russia. He emphasized that the new economic policy made it possible for the party and the Soviet government to strengthen ties with the mass of working people; to strengthen the alliance of the working class with the peasantry on a new economic basis, to place an even more solid and broad base under the dictatorship of the proletariat; revive the economic life of the country and begin to restore both light and heavy industries. Drawing lessons from NEP for the international communist movement, Lenin emphasized its international character and significance.
Lenin also dwelled on the significance of state capitalism for building a socialist economy. He showed that state capitalism in a country where power is in the hands of the proletariat is not terrible for socialism, that it will help the proletariat to master the economy and build a socialist economy .
Further, Lenin showed that in a country where the proletariat had won power, it was necessary not only to take over the old state apparatus, but to create a new apparatus from people devoted to the socialist revolution. This has been clearly shown by the experience of Soviet Russia and all the people's democracies. Without the involvement of workers and peasants in work in the state apparatus, the gains of socialism cannot be lasting.
Lenin believed that the objective conditions were ripe for the world socialist revolution. But the subjective factors were not yet sufficiently developed to accomplish it. Chief among them, he considered the ability of the communist parties to apply the general truths of Marxist teaching to the specific conditions of individual countries. The communist parties had to understand the experience of the Russian communists and take into account the specific conditions of their countries. Therefore, Lenin set before the communists of the whole world the task of studying the Soviet experience and applying it creatively in concrete conditions; the task of learning to apply Marxism. Lenin said: “We learn in a general sense. But they (foreign communists—TK) must study in a special sense in order to really comprehend the organization, structure, method, and content of revolutionary work. If this is done, then I am convinced that the prospects for a world resolution will be not only good, but also excellent.Lenin's conclusions about the prospects for the world socialist revolution further convinced of the necessity of carrying out the tactics of the united front of the working class, since at that time any major event in international life could cause a mass uprising of the working people, leading to the victory of the socialist revolution in other countries. Therefore, the outcome of the struggle depended only on the unity of the proletariat and on the ability of the communist parties to direct the actions of the united working class.
The 4th Congress, in a resolution on the tactics of the Communist International, confirmed the correctness of the decisions of the 3rd Congress on the world economic crisis, the tasks of the Comintern and its tactics, and pointed out that "the true implementation of the united front tactics can only come from below, directly from the very depths of the working masses . "
The Fourth Congress, in a special section of the resolution, determined that the tactics of the united workers' front should logically lead in some countries to the creation of a working-class government, the first tasks of which should be: to arm the proletariat; the disarmament of the counter-revolutionary organizations of the bourgeoisie; production control; imposing taxes on the propertied classes. The formation of such a government will provoke the resistance of the bourgeoisie. Therefore, the government must rely on the masses, and it must be led by the Communists, as the most consistent, revolutionary elements of the working class, who will not hesitate to implement the dictatorship of the proletariat, fighting to strengthen the power of the workers' government.
Lenin received many congress delegates, talking about the work of the communist parties of various countries. He paid chief attention to the organizational structure and strengthening of the communist parties, to the methods and content of their work in the new conditions. In his conversations, Lenin made the main emphasis on studying the experience of the RCP (b) and on its creative application by the communist parties in their countries. These conversations, like all of Lenin's activities, contributed to the creation of revolutionary Marxist parties, their overcoming of social democratic survivals and the transformation of the communist parties into a truly revolutionary force of the working class.
Worked out by the RCP(b) and the ECCI, under the direct leadership of Lenin, the tactics of the united front of the working class were accepted as a guide for action by all communist parties and carried out by them with firmness and consistency. At the present time it is precisely the tactic that can lead to the creation of a powerful front of all democratic forces capable of blocking the path of the offensive of imperialist reaction, fascism and war.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU, in its resolution on the Central Committee's report, pointed out that under the present conditions it is possible to defend peace and prevent the outbreak of a new world war if all anti-imperialist forces act as a united front. Its main force is the working class. Therefore, one of the most important tasks of the Communist Parties of all countries, as emphasized in the Declaration of the November 1957 Conference of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist Countries, is to overcome the split in the working-class movement, to create, above all, a united front of the proletariat in the struggle against the offensive of imperialist reaction against the economic and the political rights of the working people, against the preparation of a new world war, for the national interests of the peoples, their independence, democracy and socialism.
* * *
The Communist International, formed on the initiative and under the leadership of the great Lenin, did a tremendous job of defending Marxism-Leninism from being vulgarized by the socialist opportunists, of rallying the advanced revolutionary elements of the working class and peasantry into communist and workers' parties, which now selflessly continue the struggle for the liberation of the worker. class, the working peasants and the oppressed peoples of the colonies from the oppression of imperialism, for peace, democracy and socialism.
At the present time, when international reactionaries are madly persecuting the communists and their parties, when the enemies are slandering the achievements of socialism won by the stubborn struggle of the peoples of a number of countries that have freed themselves from the fetters of imperialist slavery, and some of them dispute the international significance of the Leninist principles of the communist movement, it is necessary to emphasize that the history of the communist movement proves the inviolability, vitality and universal, world significance of these principles, guided by which the communist parties of various countries achieve more and more successes.
The enemies of communism seek to undermine the growing authority of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the communist and workers' parties of other countries in order to weaken their influence on the working class, the peasantry and the middle strata of the people, who are becoming more and more disillusioned with capitalism and turn their eyes to the salutary prospects of socialism and communism. . Despite all these attempts by the enemies to undermine the unity of the communist movement, the communist and workers' parties, as the Declaration and Manifesto of Peace adopted by the Conferences of their representatives in Moscow in November 1957 show, remain true to Marxism-Leninism, expose open enemies and disguised revisionists, observe Leninist principles in their activities, further strengthen the fraternal solidarity and unity of action of the working class,
Notes:
1 Pravda, February 12 (January 30), 1918
2 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit chr no. 7246.
3 "Leninsky collection" XXI, p. 253.
4 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 28, p. 269.
5 "Lenin Collection" XXXVI (prepared for publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU).
6 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on, 1. unit ridge 8046
7 Ibid., sg. ridge No. 8094. The final text, edited by Lenin, was published in the newspaper Pravda, January 21, 1919, and in the appendices to the minutes of the First Congress of the Comintern. Partizdat, 1933, pp. 253-256.
8 Already in this document it was pointed out that "the world situation now requires maximum contact between the various sections of the revolutionary proletariat and a complete bloc between those countries where the socialist revolution has already won." Such a "complete bloc" between the socialist countries is all the more necessary now that imperialist reaction has launched a campaign against all communist and progressive forces.
9 The approximate date of the meeting is established on the basis of the memoirs of its participant Feinberg, published in the journal Communist International, No. 9-10, 1929, pp. 201-203.
10 "First Congress of the Communist International". protocols. Partizdat, 1933, p. 255.
11 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 28, p. 408
12 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 25, p. 385.
13 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 28, p. 443.
14 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 29, p. 104.
15 "First Congress of the Communist International". Protocols, Partizdat, 1933, pp. 118, 119
16 "First Congress of the Communist International" Protocols. Partizdat, 1933, p. 218
17 V. I. Lenin. Soch., vol. 29, p. 281
18 Ibid., pp. 280-281.
19 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f 2, on. 1, item no. 9878
20 Communist International No. 1, May 1, 1919, p. 80
21 Communist International, No. 7-8, November-December 1919, p. 1112.
22 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit ridge No. 11903.
23 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit chr no. 12491.
24 The split of the Communist Party of Germany took place at the Second Congress of October 20-23, 1919, when the “leftists”, who advocated a boycott of parliament and opposed the work of communists in reactionary trade unions, were expelled from the party and soon organized the Communist Workers’ Party of Germany, which subsequently collapsed.
25 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit ridge 14355, l. 2.
26 Ibid., sg. ridge 14356, l. 2.
27 See Lenin's Collection XXXIV, p. 338.
28 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 135; See also Second Congress of the Comintern. protocols. Partizdat. 1934, p. 527.
29 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 30, p. 165.
30 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 182.
31 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit ridge No. 12429
32 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 119.
33 "Lenin Collection" XXXVI Prepared for publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU
34 Communist International in Documents (1919-1932), Partizdat, 1933, pp. 202, 204.
35 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 45.
36 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 72.
37 Ibid., pp. 34-35.
38 "Resolutions of the XX Congress of the CPSU", Gospolitizdat, 1956, p. 11
39 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 56.
40 "Lenin's collection" XXXVI. Prepared for publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU.
41 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 31, p. 78.
42 Ibid., p. 368
43 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit ridge No. 20283.
44 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. 1, unit ridge No. 20018, l. 1 (vol.).
45 Ibid., sg. ridge No. 21029, l. 2
46 Ibid., sg. ridge No. 22296
47 "Leninsky collection" XXXV, p. 303.
48 “CPSU in resolutions and decisions...”, part I, p. 579.
49 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU f. 2, on. 1, eat. xp Ѣ 22623
50 "Lenin Collection" XXXVI. Prepared for publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU.
51 Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, f. 2, on. I, unit ridge No. 22838, l. 1.
52 “CPSU in resolutions and decisions...”, part I, p. 602.
53 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 33, p. 379.
54 An example of the successful use of state capitalism to build socialism today is provided by the Communist Party of China. At the same time, most of the capitalists in the People's Republic of China voluntarily go for socialist transformations, convinced of the groundlessness of capitalism in New China and the advantages of a planned socialist economy.
55 V. I. Lenin. Works, vol. 33, p. 394.
56 The Communist International in Documents, Partizdat, 1933, p. 300.