The "8 NENTORI" Publishing House - Tirana, 1982
PREFACE
The present collection comprises parts of V. I. Lenin's and J. V.
Stalin's works which dwell on the character of our epoch and the
strategy and tactics of the revolution.
In these works, the fundamental problems of our times, the major
questions concerning the world revolutionary Liberation movement, are
subjected to a penetrating dialectical analysis.
The works included in this collection follow in chronological order.
In V. I. Lenin's works of the first revolutionary period "What the
'Friends of the Peoples' Are and How They Fight the Socuil-Demoerais",
"What Is to Be Done?" etc., a series of programmatic theses and tasks in
the revolutionary struggle of the Russian proletariat, are formulated.
In his work "Two Tactics of Social- Democracy in the Democratic
Revolution" Lenin ideologically smashed the petty-bourgeois tactical
platform of Mensheviks and international opportunism, provided arguments
of genius for the Bolshevik tactics, worked out the tactical
fundamentals of the Marxist party of the new type, armed the working
class for the further development of the revolution and laid the
foundations of the revolutionary tactics.
Of particular significance are the works "Two Worlds" and "Differences
in the European Working Class Movement" which constitute an exposure of
opportunism in the European working-class movement and the traitorous
policy of the leaders of the Second International. A series of writings
as e.g. "The Position and the Tasks of the Socialist International",
"The War and the Russian Social-Democracy" etc., are dedicated to the
struggle of Bolshevism against opportunism in the Russian and
international working-class movement against Trotskyite Liquidators,
Socialist-Revolutionaries and the opportunists of the Second
International. In the work "The Right of Nations to Self-Determination"
the author provided argument for and developed the Bolshevik programme
of the national question, expounding on the concrete historical way of
how this question should be treated.
In a number of works written in the period 1914- 1915, as e.g.
"Socialism and War" etc., V. I. Lenin raised the banner of struggle
against imperialist war and internationa1 social-chauvinism, laid the
foundations of the theory and tactics of the Bolshevik Party on the
question of war, peace and the revolution.
In the article "Opportunism, and the Collapse of the Second
International", V. I. Lenin tears the mask of apostasy and of the
betrayal by the opportunist leaders of the Second International and the
West- European socialist parties, and defines the tasks and tactics of
the revolutionary Social-Democracy in the struggle against international
opportunism.
In his work "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" V. I. Lenin
propounds his ideas of genius on imperialism as the highest and last
stage of the development of capitalism; as monopoly parasitic and senile
capitalism, as moribund capitalism, as an unprecedented increase of
exploitation, oppression and reaction in all the fields and as the eve
of the proletarian revolution. On the basis of this analysis Lenin
formulates a new theoretical thesis on the possibility of the triumph of
socialism first in one capitalist country, and on the impossibility of
its triumph in all countries simultaneously.
In the article "A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism" V. I.
Lenin criticizes the anti- Marxist attitude of the anti-party Bukharin-Pyatakov
group and explains the Bolshevik programme on the national question in
the new historical conditions.
In the work "The State and Revolution", V. I. Lenin developed and
defended the Marxist theory of the state against distortion and
vulgarization by the opportunists, while in the work "The Proletarian
Revolution and Renegade Kautsky" denounces the opportunism and
obsequiousness of Kautsky and other leaders of the Second International
towards the imperialists.
In the work "Left- Wing Communism - an Infantile Disorder" V. I. Lenin
showed that international opportunism is the chief enemy within the
working class movement and stigmatized the leaders of the Second
International as collaborators of imperialist banditism.
Treating the character of our epoch in his work "Two Camps" J.
V. Stalin says:
«The world has definitely and irrevocably split into two camps: the camp
of imperialism and the camp of socialism. The struggle between these two
camps constitutes the hub of present-day affairs, determines of whole
substance of the present home and foreign policies of the leaders of the
old and the new worlds. »
J. V. Stalin's major work "The Foundations of Leninism" is dedicated to
the theoretical argumentation of Leninism as the further development of
Marxism of the epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolutions.
It played a very important role in the struggle of the Party against
Trotskyists and all other enemies of Bolshevism.
In "Political Report of the Central Committee, (The Fourteenth Congress
of the CPSU(b), in The International Situation and the Tasks of the
Communist Parties" and in other works, the author proves with all-round
argument the soundness of the general line of the Bolshevik Party and
denounces the defeatist attitude of Trotskyists and Zinovievists who
advocated the restoration of capitalism.
In the works "Concerning Questions of Leninism" and in other works J. V.
Stalin upholds the decisions of the Fourteenth Congress of the CPSU (b),
exposes the malicious distortions by Zinoviev - Kamenev group, discloses
the attempts of New Opposition to arouse in the Party the feeling of
mistrust in the triumph of socialism in the USSR and their attempts to
substitute Trotskyism for Leninism. J. V. Stalin lays special emphasis
on the absolute necessity of preserving and strengthening the organs of
the dictatorship of the proletariat in the conditions of the existing
capitalist encirclement and the danger of intervention.
In his writing "Notes on Contemporary Themes" and in other works J. V.
Stalin, besides other problems lays stress on the unity and
indivisibility of the national and international tasks of the socialist
revolution; he defines the line of the party in the field of foreign
policy in the conditions of the threat of a new aggression against USSR
and sets the new tasks for strengthening the defence potential of the
Soviet Union.
In the political reports to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Congresses of the CPSU (b) J. V. Stalin- makes a detailed analysis of
the economic crisis of world capitalism and points out the exacerbation
of contradictions in the capitalist system and indicates the superiority
of the socialist system over the capitalist system. J. V. Stalin treats
the aggravation of the political situation in the capitalist countries,
the relations among these countries, as well as the preparations for a
new world war by the imperialists.
The teachings of V. I. Lenin and J. V. Stalin on the character of our
epoch and on the revolutionary strategy and tactics are valid even in
our days. The present-day capitalist society is developed according to
the same objective laws which Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin have
discovered.
«Properly applied, » as Comrade Enver Hoxha has put it,
«Marxism-Leninism and its immortal principles will inevitably bring
about the destruction of world capitalism and the triumph of the
dictatorship of the proletariat, by means of which the working class
will build socialism and march towards communism. »
CONTENTS
WHAT THE "FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE" ARE AND HOW THEY FIGHT THE SOCIAL
DEMOCRATS
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
TWO TACTICS OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY IN THE DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
THE PROLETARIAT AND THE PEASANTRY
LESSONS OF THE COMMUNE
EVENTS IN THE BALKANS AND IN PERSIA
TWO WORLDS
DIFFERENCES IN THE EUROPEAN LABOUR MOVEMENT
THE RIGHT OF NATIONS TO SELF-DETERMINATION
2. The historically concrete presentation of the question
REPORT OF THE C.C. OF THE R.S.D.L.P. TO THE BRUSSELS CONFERENCE AND
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE C.C. DELEGATION
THE WAR AND RUSSIAN SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY
THE POSITION AND TASKS OF SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL
KARL MARX
The class struggle
Tactics of the struggle of the proletariat
SOCIALISM AND WAR
The war of today is an imperialist war.
"War is the continuation of politics by other" (i.e. violent) "means"
The case of Belgium
What social-chauvinism is
The Basle Manifesto
False references to Marx and Engels
The collapse of the Second International
Social-chauvinism is the acme of opportunism
Unity with the opportunists means an alliance between the workers and
their "own" national bourgeoisie, and splitting the international
revolutionary working class
The Marxists' slogan of revolutionary social-democracy
The example set by fraternization in the trenches
The importance of an underground organization
On the defeat of one's «own» government in the imperialist war
Pacifism and the peace slogan
The right of nations to self-determination
ON THE SLOGAN FOR A UNITED STATES OF EUROPE
OPPORTUNISM AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL
THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTION AND THE RIGHT OF NATIONS TO SELF-DETERMINATION
1. Imperialism, socialism and liberation of the oppressed nations
IMPERIALISM -THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM
V. Division of the world among capitalist associations
VI. Division of the world among the great powers
VII. Imperialism, as a special stage of capitalism
VIII. Parasitism and decay of capitalism
IX. Critique of imperialism
The place of imperialism in history
THE DISCUSSION ON SELF-DETERMINATION SUMMED UP
4. For or against annexations?
10. The Irish rebellion of 1916
A CARICATURE OF MARXISM AND IMPERIALIST ECONOMISM
2. Our understanding of the new era
3. What is economic analysis?
5. Monism and dualism
THE MILITARY PROGRAMME OF THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION
THE "DISARMAMENT" SLOGAN
IMPERIALISM AND THE SPLIT IN SOCIALISM
THE STATE AND REVOLUTION
THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION AND THE RENEGADE KAUTSKY
THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTION AND THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE
PROLETARIAT
"LEFT-WING" COMMUNISM - AN INFANTILE DISORDER
II. An essential condition of the Bolsheviks' success
XIII. No compromises?
X. Several conclusions
TO INESSA ARMAND
TO INESSA ARMAND
STALIN
THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION
III. The world-wide significance of the October Revolution
TWO CAMPS
CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF THE RUSSIAN
COMMUNISTS
I. Preliminary concepts
1. Two aspects of the working-class movement
2. The theory and programme of Marxism
3. Strategy
4. Tactics
II. The strategic plans
1. Historic turns. Strategic plans
2. The first historic turn and the course towards the bourgeois
democratic revolution in Russia
3. The second historic turn and the course towards the dictatorship of
the proletariat in Russia
4. The third historic turn and the course towards the proletarian
revolution in Europe
NATIONAL FACTOR IN PARTY AND STATE AFFAIRS
THE FOUNDATIONS OF LENINISM
VII. Strategy and tactics
THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE TACTICS OF THE RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS
1. The external and internal setting for the October Revolution
II. Two specific features of the October Revolution - or October and
Trotsky's theory of "permanent" revolution
III. Certain specific features of the tactics of the Bolsheviks during
the period of preparation for October
IV. The October Revolution is the beginning of and pre-condition for the
world revolution
THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION AND THE TASKS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTIES
POLITICAL REPORT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
1. The stabilization of capitalism
2. Imperialism, colonies and semi-colonies
3. Victors and vanquished
4. The contradictions between the victor countries
5. The capitalist world and the Soviet Union
CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF LENINISM
I. The definition of Leninism
II. The main thing in Leninism
REPLY TO THE DISCUSSION ON THE REPORT ON THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC DEVIATION
IN OUR PARTY
NOTES ON THE CONTEMPORARY THEMES
1. The threat of war
RESULTS OF THE JULY PLENUM OF THE C.C., C.P.S.U.(B.)
I. The Comintern
1. Major problems of the Sixth Congress of the Comintern
POLITICAL REPORT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SIXTEENTH CONRESS OF
THE C.P.S.U.(B.)
1. The world economic crisis
2. The Intensification of the contradictions of capitalism
3. The relation between the U.S.S.R. and the capitalist states
REPORT TO THE SEVENTEENTH PARTY CONGRESS ON THE WORK OF THE CENTRAL
COMMITTEE OF THE C.P.S.U.(B.)
1 The course of the economic crisis in the capitalist countries
2. The growing tension in the political situation of the capitalist
countries
REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE TO THE EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
OF THE C.P.S.U.(B.)
1. New economic crises in the capitalist countries. Intensification of
the struggle for markets and sources of raw materials, and for a new
redivision of the world