On the Character of our epoch

On the Character of our epoch

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