September 25, 2025 • 29 mins
Amidst the turmoil of the failed 1905 revolution in Russia, Lenin provides a critical analysis of the Bolshevik political program and tactics, contrasting them with the erratic and subservient factions within the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party. Join us as we explore this insightful examination of revolutionary strategy and political clarity. (Summary by Christian Pecaut) This edition was edited by George Hanna.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Chapter eight of two Tactics of Social Democracy by Lenin,
read for LibriVox dot Org by Christian Picot at Communist
Revolution dot Org, Chapter eight Asvibjeniism and new Escriism. Let
(00:33):
us now proceed to another striking confirmation of the political
meaning of new Escriism in a splendid, remarkable, and most
instructive article entitled how to find Oneself Asvibgenia number seventy one,
Mister Struve wages war against the programmatic revolutionism of our
(00:56):
extreme parties. Mister Strue is particularly displeased with me personally
in comparison with the revolutionism of Messrs Lenin and associates.
The revolutionism of the West European social democracy of Babel
and even of Koutski is opportunism. But the foundations of
(01:21):
even this already toned down revolutionism have been undermined and
washed away by history a most irate thrust. Only mister
Struve is mistaken in thinking that it is possible to
pile everything onto me as if I were dead. It
(01:41):
is sufficient for me to issue a challenge to mister
Struve which he will never be able to accept. When
and where did I call the revolutionism of Babel and
Koutski opportunism. When and where did I ever claim to
have created any sort of special trend in international social
democracy not identical with the trend of Babel and Koutski.
(02:08):
When and where have there been brought to light differences
between me on the one hand, and Babel and Koutski
on the other, differences even slightly approximating in seriousness the
differences between Babel and Koutski, for instance, on the agrarian
question in Breslau. Let mister Struve try to answer these
(02:30):
three questions, and to our readers we say, the liberal
bourgeoisie everywhere and always has recourse to the method of
assuring its adherents in a given country that the social
democrats of that country are the most unreasonable, whereas their
comrades in a neighboring country are good boys. The German
(02:56):
bourgeoisie has held up those good boys of French socialists
as models for the Bebels and the Kautskis hundreds of times.
The French bourgeoisie quite recently pointed to the good boy
Bebel as a model for the French socialists. It is
an old trick, mister Struve. You will find only children
(03:20):
and ignoramuses swallowing that bait. The complete unanimity of international
revolutionary social democracy on all major questions of program and
tactics is a most incontrovertible fact. As for myself, mister
Struve could not please me more. I could not wish
(03:42):
for a better ally in the fight against the renaiscent
economism of the New Escraists and the utter lack of
principle displayed by the Socialist Revolutionaries. On some other occasions,
we shall relate how mister Struve and the Oswobgenia proved
in practice, how utterly reactionary are the amendments to Marxism
(04:06):
made in the draft program of the Socialist Revolutionaries. We
have already repeatedly spoken about how mister Struve rendered me honest,
faithful and real service every time he approved of the
New Escraists in principle, and we shall say so once more.
(04:26):
And now note, let us remind the reader that the
article what should not be done Iskra number fifty two
was hailed with noise and clamor by the Asvbjena as
a noteworthy turn towards concessions to the opportunists. The trends
(04:48):
of the principles behind the new ESCRA ideas were especially
lauded by the Aswabijenya. In an item on the split
among the Russian social Democrats, commenting on Trotsky's pamphlet Our
Political Tasks, the Asvbjenya pointed out the similarity between the
(05:08):
ideas of this author and what was once written and
said by the Rabochiya diyelloists Kritchevsky, Martinov Akimov see the
leaflet entitled an Obliging Liberal published by the period. The
Asvabijenya welcomed Martinov's pamphlet on the two dictatorships see the
(05:32):
item in the period number nine. Finally, Starrover's belated complaints
about the old slogan of the old Iskra first draw
a line of demarcation and then unite met with special
sympathy on the part of the Asvbjenya. Mister Struve's article
(05:55):
contains a number of very interesting statements, which we can
note here only in passing. He intends quote to create
Russian democracy by relying on class collaboration and not on
class struggle, in which case the socially privileged intelligentsia something
in the nature of the cultured nobility to which mister
(06:18):
Struve makes obeisance. With the grace of a truly high society,
Lackey will bring the weight of its social position, the
weight of its money bags to this non class party.
Mister Struve expresses the desire to show the youth the
worthlessness of the quote hackneyed radical opinion that the bourgeoisie
(06:44):
has become frightened and has sold out the proletariat and
the cause of liberty. We welcome this desire with all
our heart. Nothing will confirm the correctness of this Marxian
hackneyed opinion better than a war waged against it by
mister Struve. Please, mister Struve, don't pigeonhole this splendid plan
(07:08):
of yours. For the purposes of our subject. It is
important to note the practical slogans against which this politically
sensitive representative of the Russian bourgeoisie, who is so responsive
to the slightest change in the weather, is fighting at
the present time. First, he is fighting against the slogan
(07:30):
of republicanism. Mister Struve is firmly convinced that this slogan
is quote incomprehensible and foreign to the masses of the people.
He forgets to add comprehensible, but not of advantage to
the bourgeoisie. We should like to see what reply mister
(07:50):
Struve would get from the workers in our study circles
and at our mass meetings. Or are the workers not
the people and the peasants They are given to what
mister Struve calls naive republicanism to kick out the CSAR.
But the liberal bourgeoisie believes that naive republicanism will be
(08:14):
replaced not by enlightened republicanism, but by enlightened monarchism saw
du Pond. Mister Struve, it will depend on circumstances. Neither
tsarism nor the bourgeoisie can help opposing a radical improvement
in the condition of the peasantry at the expense of
(08:34):
the landed estates, whereas the working class cannot help assisting
the peasantry in this respect. Secondly, mister Struve assures us
that in a civil war, the attacking party always proves
to be in the wrong. This idea verges closely on
(08:55):
the above mentioned trends of the new escras. Ideas we
will not say, of course, that in civil war it
is always advantageous to attack. No, Sometimes defensive tactics are
obligatory for a time. But to apply a proposition like
the one mister Struve has made to Russia in nineteen
(09:17):
oh five means precisely displaying a little of the hackneyed
radical opinion. Quote the bourgeoisie takes fright and betrays the
cause of liberty. Whoever now refuses to attack the autocracy
and reaction, whoever is not making preparations for such an attack,
(09:39):
whoever is not advocating it takes the name of adherent
of the revolution in vain. Mister Struve condemns the slogan's
secrecy and rioting, a riot being quote an insurrection in miniature,
(10:00):
spurns both the one and the other, and he does
so from the standpoint of approaching the masses. We should
like to ask mister Struve whether he can point to
any passage in, for instance, what is to be done
the work of an extreme revolutionary from his standpoint which
(10:21):
advocates rioting. As regards secrecy, is there really much difference
between for example, us and mister Struve. Are we not
both working on illegal newspapers which are being smuggled into Russia?
Secretly and which serve the secret groups of either the
(10:43):
Aswabijenia League or the rsdlp our workers' mass meetings are
often held secretly. That sin does exist. But what about
the meetings of the gentlemen of the Asvbigenia League. Is
there any reason why you should brag, mister Struve and
(11:03):
look down upon the despised partisans of despised secrecy? True,
the supplying of arms to the workers demands strict secrecy.
On this point, mister Struve is rather more outspoken. Just
listen quote. As regards armed insurrection or a revolution, in
(11:27):
the technical sense, only mass propaganda in favor of a
democratic program can create the social psychological conditions for a
general armed insurrection. Thus, even from the point of view
that an armed serection is the inevitable consummation of the
present struggle for emancipation, if you I do not share
(11:51):
the permeation of the masses with ideas of democratic reform
is a most fundamental and most necessary task, mister Struve
tries to evade the issue. He speaks of the inevitability
of an insurrection instead of speaking about its necessity for
the victory of the revolution. The insurrection unprepared, spontaneous, sporadic,
(12:19):
has already begun. No one can positively vouch that it
will develop into an entire and integral, popular armed insurrection,
for that depends on the state of the revolutionary forces,
which can be fully gauged only in the course of
the struggle itself, on the behavior of the government and
(12:41):
the bourgeoisie, and on a number of other circumstances which
it is impossible to estimate exactly. There is no point
in speaking about inevitability in the sense of absolute certainty
with regard to some definite event, As mister Struved, what
(13:02):
you must discuss if you want to be a partisan
of the revolution is whether insurrection is necessary for the
victory of the revolution, whether it is necessary to proclaim
it vigorously, to advocate and make immediate and energetic preparations
for it. Mister Struve cannot fail to understand this difference.
(13:26):
He does not, for instance, obscure the question of the
necessity of universal suffrage, which is indisputable for a democrat,
by raising the question of whether its attainment is inevitable
in the course of the present revolution, which is debatable
and of no urgency for people engaged in political activity.
(13:49):
By evading the issue of the necessity of an insurrection,
mister Struve expresses the innermost essence of the political position
of the liberal bourgeoisie. In the first place, the bourgeoisie
would prefer to come to terms with the autocracy rather
than crush it. Secondly, the bourgeoisie in any case thrusts
(14:13):
the arms struggle upon the shoulders of the workers. This
is the real meaning of mister Struve's evasiveness. That is
why he backs out of the question of the necessity
of an insurrection towards the question of the social psychological
conditions for it. Of preliminary propaganda, just as the bourgeois
(14:39):
wind bags in the Frankfurt Parliament of eighteen forty eight
engaged in drawing up resolutions, declarations and decisions, in mass
propaganda and in preparing the social psychological conditions at a
time when it was a matter of repelling the armed
force of the government, when the movement led to the
(15:02):
necessity for an armed struggle, when verbal persuasion alone, which
is one hundredfold necessary during the preparatory period, became banal,
bourgeois inactivity and cowardice. So also mister Struve evades the
question of insurrection, screening himself behind phrases. Mister Struve vividly
(15:28):
shows us what many social democrats stubbornly fail to see, namely,
that a revolutionary period differs from ordinary, everyday preparatory periods
in history in that the temper, excitement and convictions of
the masses must and do reveal themselves in action. Vulgar
(15:53):
revolutionism fails to see that the word is also a deed.
This proposition is indisputable when applied to history generally, or
to those periods of history when no open political mass
actions take place, and when they cannot be replaced or
artificially evoked by pushes of any sort. Quostist revolutionaries fail
(16:19):
to understand that when a revolutionary period has started, when
the old superstructure has cracked from top to bottom, when
open political action on the part of the classes and
masses who are creating a new superstructure for themselves has
become a fact, when civil war has begun. Then to
(16:42):
confine oneself to words as of old, and to fail
to advance the direct slogan to pass to deeds, still,
to try to avoid deeds by pleading the need for
psychological conditions and propaganda in general. Is apathy, lifelessness, pedantry,
(17:06):
or else betrayal of the revolution and treachery to it.
The Frankfurt wind bags of the democratic bourgeoisie are a
memorable historical example of just such treachery, or of just
such pedantic stupidity. Would you like an explanation of this
(17:27):
difference between vulgar revolutionism and the cavostism of revolutionaries by
an example taken from the history of the social democratic
movement in Russia. We shall give you such an explanation.
Call to mind the years nineteen oh one and nineteen
o two, which are so recent, but which already seem
(17:48):
ancient history to us today. Demonstrations had begun, the protagonists
of vulgar revolutionism raised a cry about storming Rabocheadello quote
bloodthirsty leaflets were issued of Berlin origin. If my memory
does not fail me, attacks were made on the literature,
(18:12):
writing and armchair nature of the idea of conducting agitation
on a national scale through a newspaper Nadejden. On the
other hand, the kostism of revolutionaries was revealed in preaching
that quote, the economic struggle is the best means of
(18:32):
political agitation. What was the attitude of the revolutionary social democrats.
They attacked both of these trends. They condemned flash in
the pan methods and the cries about storming, for it
was or should have been obvious to all that open
mass action was a matter of the days to come.
(18:56):
They condemned kostism and bluntly issued slogan even of a
popular armed insurrection. Not in the sense of a direct appeal.
Mister Struve would not discover any appeals to riots in
our utterances of that period, but in the sense of
a necessary deduction, in the sense of propaganda about which
(19:21):
mister Struve has bethought himself only now, our honorable mister
Struve is always several years behind the times in the
sense of preparing those very social psychological conditions about which
the representatives of the bewildered, huckstering bourgeoisie are now holding
(19:42):
forth sadly and inappropriately. At that time propaganda and agitation.
Agitation and propaganda were really pushed to the fore by
the objective state of affairs at that time. The work
of publisher an all Russian political newspaper, the weekly Issuance
(20:04):
of which was regarded as an ideal could be proposed,
and was proposed in What is to be Done as
the touchstone of the work of preparing for an insurrection.
At that time, the slogans advocating mass agitation instead of
direct armed action, preparation of the social psychological conditions for
(20:28):
insurrection instead of flash in the pan methods were the
only correct slogans for the revolutionary social democratic movement. At
the present time, the slogans have been superseded by events.
The movement has gone beyond them. They have become cast offs,
(20:50):
rags fit only to clothe the hypocrisy of the Aswabjena
and the khostism of the new Escra. Or perhaps I
am mistaken. Perhaps the revolution has not yet begun. Perhaps
the time for open political action of classes has not
yet arrived. Perhaps there is still no civil war, and
(21:13):
the criticism of weapons should not, as yet be the
necessary and obligatory successor air trustee and wielder of the
weapon of criticism. Look around, poke your head out of
your study, and look into the street for an answer.
Has not the government itself started civil war by shooting
(21:37):
down hosts of peaceful and unarmed citizens everywhere. Are not
the armed black hundreds acting as arguments of the autocracy.
Has not the bourgeoisie, even the bourgeoisie recognized the need
for a citizen's militia. Does not mister Struve himself, the
(21:58):
ideally moderate and punctilious mister Struve say alas he says
so only to evade the issue. That quote, the open
nature of revolutionary action, that's the sort of fellows we
are today, is now one of the most important conditions
for exerting an educational influence upon the masses of the people.
(22:22):
Those who have eyes to see can have no doubt
as to the question of armed insurrection must be presented
by the partisans of revolution at the present time. Just
take a look at the three ways in which this
question has been presented in the organs of the free press,
which are at all capable of influencing the masses. The
(22:46):
first presentation the resolution of the Third Congress of the
Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The following is the text
in full. Whereas one, the proletariat, being by virtue of
its very position, the most advanced and the only consistently
revolutionary class, is for that very reason called upon to
(23:11):
play the leading part in the general democratic revolutionary movement
in Russia. Two. This movement has already brought about the
necessity of an armed insurrection. Three. The proletariat will inevitably
take a most energetic part in this insurrection, this participation
(23:32):
determining the fate of the revolution in Russia. Four. The
proletariat can play the leading part in this revolution only
if it is welded into a united and independent political
force under the banner of the Social Democratic Labor Party,
which is to guide its struggle not only ideologically, but
(23:54):
practically as well. Five. It is only by fulfilling in
this part that the proletariat can be assured of the
most favorable conditions for the struggle for socialism against the
propertied classes of a bourgeois democratic Russia. The Third Congress
of the RSDLP recognizes that the task of organizing the
(24:18):
proletariat for direct struggle against the autocracy through armed insurrection
is one of the most important and pressing tasks of
the party in the present revolutionary period. The Congress therefore
resolves to instruct all the party organizations a to explain
to the proletariat by means of propaganda and agitation not
(24:42):
only the political importance but also the practical organizational aspect
of the impending armed insurrection. B In this propaganda and agitation,
to explain the part played by mass political strikes, which
may be of great importance at the beginn beginning and
in the very process of the insurrection. C. To adopt
(25:06):
the most energetic measures to arm the proletariat, and also
to draw up a plan for the armed insurrection and
for direct leadership of the latter, establishing for this purpose
to the extent that it is necessary special groups of
party functionaries. It is publicly acknowledged and declared that the
(25:28):
general democratic revolutionary movement has already led to the necessity
of an armed insurrection. The organization of the proletariat for
an insurrection has been placed on the order of the
day as one of the essential, principal and indispensable tasks
of the party. Instructions are issued to adopt the most
(25:50):
energetic measures to arm the proletariat and to ensure the
possibility of directly leading the insurrection. The second presentation an
article in the Aswubjena containing a statement of principles by
the quote leader of the Russian Constitutionalists as mister Struve
(26:12):
was recently described by such an influential organ of the
European bourgeoisie as the Frankfurt or Zeitung or the leader
of the Russian Progressive Bourgeoisie. He does not share the
opinion that an insurrection is inevitable. Secret activity and riots
are the specific methods of irrational revolutionism. Republicanism is a
(26:37):
method of stunning. The question of armed insurrection is really
a mere technical question, whereas quote, the fundamental and most
necessary task is to carry on mass propaganda and to
prepare the social psychological conditions. The third presentation the resolution
(26:59):
of the New Escriist Conference, our task is to prepare
an insurrection. A planned insurrection is out of the question.
Favorable conditions for an insurrection are created by the disorganization
of the government, by our agitation and by our organization.
Only then quote can technical military preparations acquire more or
(27:24):
less serious significance. And is that all? Yes, that is all.
The New Escriists leaders of the proletariat still do not
know whether insurrection has become a necessity. It is still
not clear to them whether the task of organizing the
proletariat for direct battle has become an urgent one. It
(27:49):
is not necessary to urge the adoption of the most
energetic measures. It is far more important in nineteen oh five,
and not in nineteen o two, to explain in general
outlines under what conditions these measures quote may acquire quote
more or less serious significance. Do you see now comrades
(28:14):
of the new escra where your turn to Martinovism has
led you? Do you realize that your political philosophy has
proved to be a rehash of the Aswobgenia philosophy that,
against your will and without your being aware of it,
you are following at the tale of the monarchistic bourgeoisie.
(28:36):
Is it clear to you now that while repeating what
you have learned by rote and attaining perfection in sophistry,
you have lost sight of the fact that, in the
memorable words of Peter Struve's memorable article, the open nature
of revolutionary action is now one of the most important
conditions for exerting an educational influence upon the man classes
(29:00):
of the people. End of chapter eight. This recording is
in the public domain
Chapter eight of two Tactics of Social Democracy by Lenin,
read for LibriVox dot Org by Christian Picot at Communist
Revolution dot Org, Chapter eight Asvibjeniism and new Escriism. Let
(00:33):
us now proceed to another striking confirmation of the political
meaning of new Escriism in a splendid, remarkable, and most
instructive article entitled how to find Oneself Asvibgenia number seventy one,
Mister Struve wages war against the programmatic revolutionism of our
(00:56):
extreme parties. Mister Strue is particularly displeased with me personally
in comparison with the revolutionism of Messrs Lenin and associates.
The revolutionism of the West European social democracy of Babel
and even of Koutski is opportunism. But the foundations of
(01:21):
even this already toned down revolutionism have been undermined and
washed away by history a most irate thrust. Only mister
Struve is mistaken in thinking that it is possible to
pile everything onto me as if I were dead. It
(01:41):
is sufficient for me to issue a challenge to mister
Struve which he will never be able to accept. When
and where did I call the revolutionism of Babel and
Koutski opportunism. When and where did I ever claim to
have created any sort of special trend in international social
democracy not identical with the trend of Babel and Koutski.
(02:08):
When and where have there been brought to light differences
between me on the one hand, and Babel and Koutski
on the other, differences even slightly approximating in seriousness the
differences between Babel and Koutski, for instance, on the agrarian
question in Breslau. Let mister Struve try to answer these
(02:30):
three questions, and to our readers we say, the liberal
bourgeoisie everywhere and always has recourse to the method of
assuring its adherents in a given country that the social
democrats of that country are the most unreasonable, whereas their
comrades in a neighboring country are good boys. The German
(02:56):
bourgeoisie has held up those good boys of French socialists
as models for the Bebels and the Kautskis hundreds of times.
The French bourgeoisie quite recently pointed to the good boy
Bebel as a model for the French socialists. It is
an old trick, mister Struve. You will find only children
(03:20):
and ignoramuses swallowing that bait. The complete unanimity of international
revolutionary social democracy on all major questions of program and
tactics is a most incontrovertible fact. As for myself, mister
Struve could not please me more. I could not wish
(03:42):
for a better ally in the fight against the renaiscent
economism of the New Escraists and the utter lack of
principle displayed by the Socialist Revolutionaries. On some other occasions,
we shall relate how mister Struve and the Oswobgenia proved
in practice, how utterly reactionary are the amendments to Marxism
(04:06):
made in the draft program of the Socialist Revolutionaries. We
have already repeatedly spoken about how mister Struve rendered me honest,
faithful and real service every time he approved of the
New Escraists in principle, and we shall say so once more.
(04:26):
And now note, let us remind the reader that the
article what should not be done Iskra number fifty two
was hailed with noise and clamor by the Asvbjena as
a noteworthy turn towards concessions to the opportunists. The trends
(04:48):
of the principles behind the new ESCRA ideas were especially
lauded by the Aswabijenya. In an item on the split
among the Russian social Democrats, commenting on Trotsky's pamphlet Our
Political Tasks, the Asvbjenya pointed out the similarity between the
(05:08):
ideas of this author and what was once written and
said by the Rabochiya diyelloists Kritchevsky, Martinov Akimov see the
leaflet entitled an Obliging Liberal published by the period. The
Asvabijenya welcomed Martinov's pamphlet on the two dictatorships see the
(05:32):
item in the period number nine. Finally, Starrover's belated complaints
about the old slogan of the old Iskra first draw
a line of demarcation and then unite met with special
sympathy on the part of the Asvbjenya. Mister Struve's article
(05:55):
contains a number of very interesting statements, which we can
note here only in passing. He intends quote to create
Russian democracy by relying on class collaboration and not on
class struggle, in which case the socially privileged intelligentsia something
in the nature of the cultured nobility to which mister
(06:18):
Struve makes obeisance. With the grace of a truly high society,
Lackey will bring the weight of its social position, the
weight of its money bags to this non class party.
Mister Struve expresses the desire to show the youth the
worthlessness of the quote hackneyed radical opinion that the bourgeoisie
(06:44):
has become frightened and has sold out the proletariat and
the cause of liberty. We welcome this desire with all
our heart. Nothing will confirm the correctness of this Marxian
hackneyed opinion better than a war waged against it by
mister Struve. Please, mister Struve, don't pigeonhole this splendid plan
(07:08):
of yours. For the purposes of our subject. It is
important to note the practical slogans against which this politically
sensitive representative of the Russian bourgeoisie, who is so responsive
to the slightest change in the weather, is fighting at
the present time. First, he is fighting against the slogan
(07:30):
of republicanism. Mister Struve is firmly convinced that this slogan
is quote incomprehensible and foreign to the masses of the people.
He forgets to add comprehensible, but not of advantage to
the bourgeoisie. We should like to see what reply mister
(07:50):
Struve would get from the workers in our study circles
and at our mass meetings. Or are the workers not
the people and the peasants They are given to what
mister Struve calls naive republicanism to kick out the CSAR.
But the liberal bourgeoisie believes that naive republicanism will be
(08:14):
replaced not by enlightened republicanism, but by enlightened monarchism saw
du Pond. Mister Struve, it will depend on circumstances. Neither
tsarism nor the bourgeoisie can help opposing a radical improvement
in the condition of the peasantry at the expense of
(08:34):
the landed estates, whereas the working class cannot help assisting
the peasantry in this respect. Secondly, mister Struve assures us
that in a civil war, the attacking party always proves
to be in the wrong. This idea verges closely on
(08:55):
the above mentioned trends of the new escras. Ideas we
will not say, of course, that in civil war it
is always advantageous to attack. No, Sometimes defensive tactics are
obligatory for a time. But to apply a proposition like
the one mister Struve has made to Russia in nineteen
(09:17):
oh five means precisely displaying a little of the hackneyed
radical opinion. Quote the bourgeoisie takes fright and betrays the
cause of liberty. Whoever now refuses to attack the autocracy
and reaction, whoever is not making preparations for such an attack,
(09:39):
whoever is not advocating it takes the name of adherent
of the revolution in vain. Mister Struve condemns the slogan's
secrecy and rioting, a riot being quote an insurrection in miniature,
(10:00):
spurns both the one and the other, and he does
so from the standpoint of approaching the masses. We should
like to ask mister Struve whether he can point to
any passage in, for instance, what is to be done
the work of an extreme revolutionary from his standpoint which
(10:21):
advocates rioting. As regards secrecy, is there really much difference
between for example, us and mister Struve. Are we not
both working on illegal newspapers which are being smuggled into Russia?
Secretly and which serve the secret groups of either the
(10:43):
Aswabijenia League or the rsdlp our workers' mass meetings are
often held secretly. That sin does exist. But what about
the meetings of the gentlemen of the Asvbigenia League. Is
there any reason why you should brag, mister Struve and
(11:03):
look down upon the despised partisans of despised secrecy? True,
the supplying of arms to the workers demands strict secrecy.
On this point, mister Struve is rather more outspoken. Just
listen quote. As regards armed insurrection or a revolution, in
(11:27):
the technical sense, only mass propaganda in favor of a
democratic program can create the social psychological conditions for a
general armed insurrection. Thus, even from the point of view
that an armed serection is the inevitable consummation of the
present struggle for emancipation, if you I do not share
(11:51):
the permeation of the masses with ideas of democratic reform
is a most fundamental and most necessary task, mister Struve
tries to evade the issue. He speaks of the inevitability
of an insurrection instead of speaking about its necessity for
the victory of the revolution. The insurrection unprepared, spontaneous, sporadic,
(12:19):
has already begun. No one can positively vouch that it
will develop into an entire and integral, popular armed insurrection,
for that depends on the state of the revolutionary forces,
which can be fully gauged only in the course of
the struggle itself, on the behavior of the government and
(12:41):
the bourgeoisie, and on a number of other circumstances which
it is impossible to estimate exactly. There is no point
in speaking about inevitability in the sense of absolute certainty
with regard to some definite event, As mister Struved, what
(13:02):
you must discuss if you want to be a partisan
of the revolution is whether insurrection is necessary for the
victory of the revolution, whether it is necessary to proclaim
it vigorously, to advocate and make immediate and energetic preparations
for it. Mister Struve cannot fail to understand this difference.
(13:26):
He does not, for instance, obscure the question of the
necessity of universal suffrage, which is indisputable for a democrat,
by raising the question of whether its attainment is inevitable
in the course of the present revolution, which is debatable
and of no urgency for people engaged in political activity.
(13:49):
By evading the issue of the necessity of an insurrection,
mister Struve expresses the innermost essence of the political position
of the liberal bourgeoisie. In the first place, the bourgeoisie
would prefer to come to terms with the autocracy rather
than crush it. Secondly, the bourgeoisie in any case thrusts
(14:13):
the arms struggle upon the shoulders of the workers. This
is the real meaning of mister Struve's evasiveness. That is
why he backs out of the question of the necessity
of an insurrection towards the question of the social psychological
conditions for it. Of preliminary propaganda, just as the bourgeois
(14:39):
wind bags in the Frankfurt Parliament of eighteen forty eight
engaged in drawing up resolutions, declarations and decisions, in mass
propaganda and in preparing the social psychological conditions at a
time when it was a matter of repelling the armed
force of the government, when the movement led to the
(15:02):
necessity for an armed struggle, when verbal persuasion alone, which
is one hundredfold necessary during the preparatory period, became banal,
bourgeois inactivity and cowardice. So also mister Struve evades the
question of insurrection, screening himself behind phrases. Mister Struve vividly
(15:28):
shows us what many social democrats stubbornly fail to see, namely,
that a revolutionary period differs from ordinary, everyday preparatory periods
in history in that the temper, excitement and convictions of
the masses must and do reveal themselves in action. Vulgar
(15:53):
revolutionism fails to see that the word is also a deed.
This proposition is indisputable when applied to history generally, or
to those periods of history when no open political mass
actions take place, and when they cannot be replaced or
artificially evoked by pushes of any sort. Quostist revolutionaries fail
(16:19):
to understand that when a revolutionary period has started, when
the old superstructure has cracked from top to bottom, when
open political action on the part of the classes and
masses who are creating a new superstructure for themselves has
become a fact, when civil war has begun. Then to
(16:42):
confine oneself to words as of old, and to fail
to advance the direct slogan to pass to deeds, still,
to try to avoid deeds by pleading the need for
psychological conditions and propaganda in general. Is apathy, lifelessness, pedantry,
(17:06):
or else betrayal of the revolution and treachery to it.
The Frankfurt wind bags of the democratic bourgeoisie are a
memorable historical example of just such treachery, or of just
such pedantic stupidity. Would you like an explanation of this
(17:27):
difference between vulgar revolutionism and the cavostism of revolutionaries by
an example taken from the history of the social democratic
movement in Russia. We shall give you such an explanation.
Call to mind the years nineteen oh one and nineteen
o two, which are so recent, but which already seem
(17:48):
ancient history to us today. Demonstrations had begun, the protagonists
of vulgar revolutionism raised a cry about storming Rabocheadello quote
bloodthirsty leaflets were issued of Berlin origin. If my memory
does not fail me, attacks were made on the literature,
(18:12):
writing and armchair nature of the idea of conducting agitation
on a national scale through a newspaper Nadejden. On the
other hand, the kostism of revolutionaries was revealed in preaching
that quote, the economic struggle is the best means of
(18:32):
political agitation. What was the attitude of the revolutionary social democrats.
They attacked both of these trends. They condemned flash in
the pan methods and the cries about storming, for it
was or should have been obvious to all that open
mass action was a matter of the days to come.
(18:56):
They condemned kostism and bluntly issued slogan even of a
popular armed insurrection. Not in the sense of a direct appeal.
Mister Struve would not discover any appeals to riots in
our utterances of that period, but in the sense of
a necessary deduction, in the sense of propaganda about which
(19:21):
mister Struve has bethought himself only now, our honorable mister
Struve is always several years behind the times in the
sense of preparing those very social psychological conditions about which
the representatives of the bewildered, huckstering bourgeoisie are now holding
(19:42):
forth sadly and inappropriately. At that time propaganda and agitation.
Agitation and propaganda were really pushed to the fore by
the objective state of affairs at that time. The work
of publisher an all Russian political newspaper, the weekly Issuance
(20:04):
of which was regarded as an ideal could be proposed,
and was proposed in What is to be Done as
the touchstone of the work of preparing for an insurrection.
At that time, the slogans advocating mass agitation instead of
direct armed action, preparation of the social psychological conditions for
(20:28):
insurrection instead of flash in the pan methods were the
only correct slogans for the revolutionary social democratic movement. At
the present time, the slogans have been superseded by events.
The movement has gone beyond them. They have become cast offs,
(20:50):
rags fit only to clothe the hypocrisy of the Aswabjena
and the khostism of the new Escra. Or perhaps I
am mistaken. Perhaps the revolution has not yet begun. Perhaps
the time for open political action of classes has not
yet arrived. Perhaps there is still no civil war, and
(21:13):
the criticism of weapons should not, as yet be the
necessary and obligatory successor air trustee and wielder of the
weapon of criticism. Look around, poke your head out of
your study, and look into the street for an answer.
Has not the government itself started civil war by shooting
(21:37):
down hosts of peaceful and unarmed citizens everywhere. Are not
the armed black hundreds acting as arguments of the autocracy.
Has not the bourgeoisie, even the bourgeoisie recognized the need
for a citizen's militia. Does not mister Struve himself, the
(21:58):
ideally moderate and punctilious mister Struve say alas he says
so only to evade the issue. That quote, the open
nature of revolutionary action, that's the sort of fellows we
are today, is now one of the most important conditions
for exerting an educational influence upon the masses of the people.
(22:22):
Those who have eyes to see can have no doubt
as to the question of armed insurrection must be presented
by the partisans of revolution at the present time. Just
take a look at the three ways in which this
question has been presented in the organs of the free press,
which are at all capable of influencing the masses. The
(22:46):
first presentation the resolution of the Third Congress of the
Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The following is the text
in full. Whereas one, the proletariat, being by virtue of
its very position, the most advanced and the only consistently
revolutionary class, is for that very reason called upon to
(23:11):
play the leading part in the general democratic revolutionary movement
in Russia. Two. This movement has already brought about the
necessity of an armed insurrection. Three. The proletariat will inevitably
take a most energetic part in this insurrection, this participation
(23:32):
determining the fate of the revolution in Russia. Four. The
proletariat can play the leading part in this revolution only
if it is welded into a united and independent political
force under the banner of the Social Democratic Labor Party,
which is to guide its struggle not only ideologically, but
(23:54):
practically as well. Five. It is only by fulfilling in
this part that the proletariat can be assured of the
most favorable conditions for the struggle for socialism against the
propertied classes of a bourgeois democratic Russia. The Third Congress
of the RSDLP recognizes that the task of organizing the
(24:18):
proletariat for direct struggle against the autocracy through armed insurrection
is one of the most important and pressing tasks of
the party in the present revolutionary period. The Congress therefore
resolves to instruct all the party organizations a to explain
to the proletariat by means of propaganda and agitation not
(24:42):
only the political importance but also the practical organizational aspect
of the impending armed insurrection. B In this propaganda and agitation,
to explain the part played by mass political strikes, which
may be of great importance at the beginn beginning and
in the very process of the insurrection. C. To adopt
(25:06):
the most energetic measures to arm the proletariat, and also
to draw up a plan for the armed insurrection and
for direct leadership of the latter, establishing for this purpose
to the extent that it is necessary special groups of
party functionaries. It is publicly acknowledged and declared that the
(25:28):
general democratic revolutionary movement has already led to the necessity
of an armed insurrection. The organization of the proletariat for
an insurrection has been placed on the order of the
day as one of the essential, principal and indispensable tasks
of the party. Instructions are issued to adopt the most
(25:50):
energetic measures to arm the proletariat and to ensure the
possibility of directly leading the insurrection. The second presentation an
article in the Aswubjena containing a statement of principles by
the quote leader of the Russian Constitutionalists as mister Struve
(26:12):
was recently described by such an influential organ of the
European bourgeoisie as the Frankfurt or Zeitung or the leader
of the Russian Progressive Bourgeoisie. He does not share the
opinion that an insurrection is inevitable. Secret activity and riots
are the specific methods of irrational revolutionism. Republicanism is a
(26:37):
method of stunning. The question of armed insurrection is really
a mere technical question, whereas quote, the fundamental and most
necessary task is to carry on mass propaganda and to
prepare the social psychological conditions. The third presentation the resolution
(26:59):
of the New Escriist Conference, our task is to prepare
an insurrection. A planned insurrection is out of the question.
Favorable conditions for an insurrection are created by the disorganization
of the government, by our agitation and by our organization.
Only then quote can technical military preparations acquire more or
(27:24):
less serious significance. And is that all? Yes, that is all.
The New Escriists leaders of the proletariat still do not
know whether insurrection has become a necessity. It is still
not clear to them whether the task of organizing the
proletariat for direct battle has become an urgent one. It
(27:49):
is not necessary to urge the adoption of the most
energetic measures. It is far more important in nineteen oh five,
and not in nineteen o two, to explain in general
outlines under what conditions these measures quote may acquire quote
more or less serious significance. Do you see now comrades
(28:14):
of the new escra where your turn to Martinovism has
led you? Do you realize that your political philosophy has
proved to be a rehash of the Aswobgenia philosophy that,
against your will and without your being aware of it,
you are following at the tale of the monarchistic bourgeoisie.
(28:36):
Is it clear to you now that while repeating what
you have learned by rote and attaining perfection in sophistry,
you have lost sight of the fact that, in the
memorable words of Peter Struve's memorable article, the open nature
of revolutionary action is now one of the most important
conditions for exerting an educational influence upon the man classes
(29:00):
of the people. End of chapter eight. This recording is
in the public domain
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