16 - Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
PostScript Part two of two Tactics of Social Democracy by
Lenin recorded for Librivos dot org by Christian Picaout at
Communist Revolution dot org. PostScript Part two. Comrade Martinov again

(00:29):
renders the question more profound. Let us pass on to
Martinov's articles in numbers one, O two and one oh
three of the kra We shall, of course make no
reply to Martinov's attempts to prove the incorrectness of our
and the correctness of his interpretation of a number of

(00:52):
citations from Engels and Marx. These attempts are so trivial,
Martinov's subterview hugees, so obvious, and the question so clear,
that it would be of no interest to dwell on
this point. Again. Every thinking reader will be able to
easily see through the simple wiles employed by Martinov in

(01:16):
his retreat all along the line, particularly when the complete
translations of Engel's pamphlet The Bakunonists at Work and Marx's
Address of the Central Council to the Communist League of
March eighteen fifty, on which a group of collaborators of
the Proletari are now working are published. A single quotation

(01:41):
from Martinov's article will suffice to make his retreat clear
to the reader that ESKRA admits, says Martinov in number
one O three, that the establishment of a provisional government
is one of the possible and expedient ways of furthering
the revolution, and denies the expediency of the participation of

(02:04):
social democrats in a bourgeois provisional government precisely in the
interests of a complete seizure in the future of the
state machine for a socialist revolution. In other words, the
ESCRA now admits the absurdity of all its fears concerning

(02:25):
the responsibility of a revolutionary government for the exchequer and
the banks, concerning the danger and impossibility of taking over
the prisons, etc. But the ESKRA is only muddling things
as of old, confusing the democratic with the socialist dictatorship.

(02:46):
This muddle is unavoidable. It is a means to cover
up the retreat. But among the muddle heads of the
new ESCRA, Martinov stands out as a muddle headed of
the first order, as a muddlehead of talent, if we
may so express it, confusing the question of his laborious

(03:09):
efforts to render it more profound. He almost invariably arrives
at new formulations which show us splendidly the entire falsity
of the stand he has taken. You will remember how,
in the days of economism he rendered Plikanov more profound

(03:30):
and created the formulation economic struggle against the employers and
the government. It would be difficult to find in all
the literature of the economists a more apt expression of
the entire falsity of this trend. It is the same today.

(03:50):
Martinov zealously serves the new escra and almost every time
he opens his mouth he furnishes us with new and
excellent material for an evaluation of the new Eskra's false position.
In number one O two he says that lenin has
imperceptibly substituted the concept dictatorship for that of revolution. As

(04:18):
a matter of fact, all the accusations leveled at us
by the new Eskraists can be reduced to this one.
And how grateful we are to Martinov for this accusation.
What an invaluable service he renders us in the struggle
against the New eskra ideas By formulating his accusation in
this way, we must positively beg the editors of the

(04:43):
Eskra to let Martinov loose against us more often, for
the purpose of rendering the attacks on the proletary more
profound and for a truly principled formulation of these attacks.
For the more Martinov strains to argue on the plane
of principles, the worse his arguments appear, and the more

(05:07):
clearly he reveals the gaps in the new Eskra ideas,
the more successfully he performs on himself and on his
friends the useful pedagogical operation reductio ad absurdum. The period
and Proleteri substitute the term dictatorship for that of revolution.

(05:33):
The ESCRA does not want such a substitution. Just so,
most esteemed Comrade Martinov, you have unwittingly stated a great truth.
With this new formulation. You have confirmed our contention that
the ESCRA is dragging at the tail of the revolution,

(05:53):
is straying into an asvobgenia formulation of its task, whereby
the period and proletari are issuing slogans that lead the
democratic revolution forward. You don't understand this, Comrade Martinov, in
view of the importance of the question, we shall try
to give you a detailed explanation. The bourgeois character of

(06:18):
the democratic revolution expresses itself, among other things, in the
fact that a number of classes, groups, and sections of
society which take their stand entirely on the recognition of
private property and commodity production, are incapable of going beyond
these bounds, are led, by force of circumstances to recognize

(06:43):
the uselessness of the autocracy and of the whole feudal
order in general, and join in the demand for liberty.
The bourgeois character of this liberty, which is demanded by
society and advocated in a flood of words and words
only by the land owners and the capitalists, is manifesting

(07:08):
itself more and more clearly. At the same time, the
radical difference between the struggle of the workers and the
struggle of the bourgeoisie for liberty, between proletarian and liberal
democratism also becomes more obvious. The working class and its

(07:28):
class conscious representatives are marching forward and pushing this struggle forward,
not only without fearing to carry it to completion, but
striving to go far beyond the uttermost limits of the
democratic revolution. The bourgeoisie is inconsistent and self seeking, and

(07:48):
accepts the slogans of liberty only in part and hypocritically.
All attempts to draw a particular line or to raw
up particular points, like the points in starrovers or the
Conference's resolution beyond which begins this hypocrisy of the bourgeois

(08:11):
friends of liberty, or if you like, this betrayal of
liberty by its bourgeois friends, are inevitably doomed to failure.
For the bourgeoisie, caught between two fires, the autocracy and
the proletariat is capable of changing its position and slogans

(08:33):
by a thousand ways and means of adapting itself by
moving an inch to the left or an inch to
the right, constantly bargering and dickering. The task of proletarian
democratism is not to invent such lifeless points, but unceasingly

(08:53):
to criticize the developing political situation, to expose the ever
new and unforseeable inconsistencies and betrayals on the part of
the bourgeoisie. Recall the history of mister Struve's political pronouncements
in the illegal press, the history of social Democracy's war

(09:14):
with him, and you will see clearly how these tasks
were carried out by social democracy. The champion of proletarian democratism,
mister Struve, began with a purely ship off slogan rights
and an authoritative zempsvohe see my article in the Czaria.

(09:36):
The persecutors of the zempsvoe and the Hannibals of liberalism.
Social Democracy exposed him and pushed him in the direction
of a definitely constitutionalist program. When this pushing took effect,
thanks to the particularly rapid progress of revolutionary events, the

(09:58):
struggle shifted to the next question of democracy, not only
a constitution in general, but one providing for universal and
equal suffrage, direct elections and secret ballot. When we captured
this new position from the enemy the adoption of universal

(10:20):
suffrage by the Azvabjenia League, we began to press further.
We showed up the hypocrisy and falsity of a two
chamber system and the fact that universal suffrage had not
been fully recognized by the Asvabjensi. We pointed to their
monarchism and showed up the huckstering nature of their democratism,

(10:45):
or in other words, the bartering away of the interests
of the Great Russian Revolution by these Asva Bijenya heroes
of the money bags. Finally, the savage obstinacy of the autocracy,
the enormous progress of the civil war, and the hopelessness
of the position into which the monarchists have led Russia

(11:09):
have begun to penetrate even the thickest skulls. The revolution
has become a fact. It is no longer necessary to
be a revolutionary to acknowledge the revolution. The autocratic government
has actually been and is disintegrating in the sight of all,

(11:31):
As has been justly remarked in the legal press by
a certain liberal mister Gretis School, actual insubordination to this
government has set in. Despite all its apparent strength, the
autocracy has proved impotent. The events attending the developing revolution

(11:51):
have simply begun to brush aside this parasitic organism, which
is rotting alive. Compelled to base their activity, or to
put it more correctly, their political wire pulling on relationships
as they are actually taking place, the liberal bourgeois have

(12:13):
begun to see the necessity of recognizing the revolution. They
do so not because they are revolutionaries, but despite the
fact that they are not revolutionaries. They do so of
necessity and against their will. Angrily glaring at the successes
of the revolution, they blame the autocracy for the revolution

(12:36):
because it does not want to strike a bargain, but
wants a life and death struggle. Born hucksters, they hate
struggle and revolution, but circumstances force them to tread the
ground of revolution, for there is no other ground under
their feet. We are witnessing a highly instructive and highly

(13:01):
comical spectacle. The bourgeois liberal prostitutes are trying to drape
themselves in the toga of revolution. The Aswabjenzi ristum tenatis
amiki restrain your laughter, friends. The Asvabjenzi are beginning to
speak in the name of the revolution. The Aswabjenzi are

(13:26):
beginning to assure us that they do not fear revolution.
Mister Struve in the Azwobgenia number seventy two, the asva
Bjensi are voicing their claims to be the head of
the revolution. This is an exceptionally significant phenomenon that characterizes

(13:46):
not only the progress of bourgeois liberalism, but even more
so the progress of the real successes of the revolutionary movement.
Which has compelled recognition. Even the bourgeois is beginning to
feel that it is more to its advantage to take
its side on the side of the revolution. So shaky

(14:08):
is the autocracy. On the other hand, this phenomenon, which
testifies to the fact that the entire movement has risen
to a new and higher plane, also sets us new
and higher tasks. The recognition of the revolution by the
bourgeoisie cannot be sincere. Irrespective of the personal integrity of

(14:33):
this or that bourgeois ideologist, the bourgeoisie cannot help introducing
selfishness and inconsistency, the bargaining spirit, and petty reactionary tricks
even into this higher stage of the movement. We must
now formulate the immediate concrete tasks of the revolution differently

(14:58):
in the name of our program and in amplification of
our program. What was adequate yesterday is inadequate today. Yesterday,
perhaps the demand for the recognition of the revolution was
adequate as an advanced democratic slogan. Today this is not enough.

(15:21):
The revolution has forced even mister Struve to recognize it.
The advanced class must now define exactly the very content
of the urgent and pressing tasks of the revolution. While
recognizing the revolution messieurs the struves again and again expose

(15:41):
their asses, ears and strike up the old song about
the possibility of a peaceful outcome, about Nicholas calling on
the Asvajenzi to take power, etc. Et cetera. The Asva
Bjenzi recognized the revolution in order to more safely for
themselves to conjure it away, to betray it. It is

(16:06):
our duty at the present time to show the proletariat
and the whole people the inadequacy of the slogan revolution.
We must show how it is necessary to have a
clear and unambiguous, consistent and determined definition of the very
content of the revolution. And this definition is provided by

(16:29):
the one slogan that is capable of correctly expressing a
decisive victory of the revolution, the slogan for the revolutionary
democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry. The misuse
of terms is a most common practice in politics. The

(16:51):
term socialists, for example, has often been appropriated by the
supporters of English bourgeois liberalism. All socialists now, says Harcourt,
by the supporters of Bismarck, and by the friends of
Pope Leo the thirteen. The term revolution also fully lends

(17:13):
itself to misuse, and at a certain stage in the
development of the movement, such misuse is inevitable. When mister
Struve began to speak in the name of revolution, I
involuntarily remembered Tears a few days before the February Revolution.

(17:34):
This monstrous gnome, this most consummate expression of the political
corruption of the bourgeoisie, scented the approach of a popular storm,
and so he announced from the Parliamentary Tribune that he
was of the Party of the Revolution. C. Marx's The
Civil War in France. The political significance of asvab jen

(18:00):
Ya's turn to the Party of Revolution is quite identical
with that of Tears. The fact that the Russian Tears
are talking about their belonging to the Party of Revolution
shows that the slogan revolution has become inadequate, meaningless and
defines no tasks. For the revolution has become a fact,

(18:24):
and the most diverse elements are flocking to its side. Indeed,
what is revolution from the Marxist point of view the
violent breakup of the obsolete political superstructure, the contradiction between
which and the new relations of production caused its collapse

(18:45):
at a certain moment. The contradiction between the autocracy and
the entire structure of capitalist Russia, all the requirements of
her bourgeois democratic development, has now caused its collapse, all
the more severe owing to the lengthy period in which
this contradiction was artificially sustained. The superstructure is cracking at

(19:11):
every joint. It is yielding to pressure, It is growing weaker.
The people, through the representatives of the most diverse classes
and groups, must now, by its own efforts, build a
new superstructure for itself. At a certain stage of development,

(19:32):
the uselessness of the old superstructure becomes obvious to all.
The revolution is recognized by all. The task now is
to define which classes must build the new superstructure and
how they are to build it. If this is not defined,

(19:54):
the slogan revolution is empty and meaningless. At the present time.
The the feebleness of the autocracy makes revolutionaries, even of
the grand Dukes and of the Muscovtier viademosty. If this
is not defined, there can be no talk about the

(20:14):
advanced democratic tasks of the advanced class. This definition is
given in the slogan the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat
and the peasantry. This slogan defines the classes upon which
the new builders of the new superstructure can and must rely,

(20:37):
the character of the new superstructure, a democratic as distinct
from a socialist dictatorship, and how it is to be
built dictatorship, i e. The violent suppression of violent resistance,
arming the revolutionary classes of the people. Whoever now refuses

(20:59):
to recognize this slogan of revolutionary democratic dictatorship the slogan
of a revolutionary army of a revolutionary government of revolutionary
peasant committees, either hopelessly fails to understand the tasks of
the revolution, is unable to define the new and higher
tasks that are called forth by the present situation, or

(21:23):
is deceiving the people, betraying the revolution misusing the slogan revolution.
The former case applies to Comrade Martinov and his friends.
The latter applies to mister Struve and the whole of
the Constitutional Democratic ZEMPSVOH Party. Comrade Martinov was so shrewd

(21:48):
and smart that he hurled the charge of substituting the
term dictatorship for that of revolution just at the time
when the development of the revolution called for or a
definition of its tasks by the slogan dictatorship. Actually, Comrade
Martinov again had the misfortune to remain at the tail end,

(22:12):
to get stranded at the penultimate stage, to find himself
on the level of Uswabjeniaism. For it is precisely to
the political stand of Aswabgenia i e. To the interests
of the liberal monarchist bourgeoisie, that recognition of revolution in

(22:33):
words and refusal to recognize the democratic dictatorship of the
proletariat and the peasantry i e. Revolution in deeds now corresponds.
The liberal bourgeoisie, through the mouth of mister Struve, is
now expressing itself in favor of revolution. The class conscious proletariat,

(22:57):
through the mouths of the revolutionary social democrats, is demanding
the dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry. And here
the wise cracker of the New Escra intervenes in the
controversy and yells, don't dare substitute the term dictatorship for
that of revolution? Well? Is it not true that the

(23:21):
false stand taken by the new Escrists dooms them to
be constantly dragging along at the tale of Azvobjeniaism. We
have shown that the Azvabjensi are ascending, not without encouraging
prods by the social Democrats step by step in the

(23:41):
matter of recognizing democracy. At first the issue in the
dispute between us was the ship off system rights and
an authoritative zempsvoh or constitutionalism. Then it was limited so
suffrage or universal suffrage. Later recognition of the revolution or

(24:07):
a stock jobber's bargain with the autocracy. Finally, now it
is recognition of the revolution without the dictatorship of the
proletariat and the peasantry, or recognition of the demand for
a dictatorship of these classes in the democratic revolution. It

(24:29):
is possible and probable that missieurs the Uswubjenzi, whether the
present ones or their successors in the left wing of
the bourgeois Democrats, makes no difference, will ascend another step,
i e. Recognize in time, perhaps by the time Comrade
Martinov goes up one more step the slogan of dictatorship. Also,

(24:56):
this will inevitably be so if the Russian Revolution continue
us to forge ahead successfully and achieves a decisive victory
what will be the position of social democracy. Then the
complete victory of the present revolution will mark the end
of the democratic revolution and the beginning of a determined

(25:18):
struggle for a socialist revolution. The satisfaction of the demands
of the present day peasantry, the utter rout of reaction,
and the winning of a democratic republic will mark the
complete end of the revolutionism of the bourgeoisie, and even
of the petty bourgeoisie will mark the beginning of the

(25:42):
real struggle of the proletariat for socialism. The more complete
the democratic revolution, the sooner, the more wide spread, the
purer and more determined will be the development of this
new struggle. The slogan of a democratic dictatorship expresses the

(26:05):
historically limited nature of the present revolution and the necessity
of a new struggle on the basis of the new
order for the complete emancipation of the working class from
all oppression and all exploitation. In other words, when the
democratic bourgeoisie or petty bourgeoisie ascends another step, when not

(26:30):
only the revolution, but the complete victory of the revolution
becomes an accomplished fact, we shall substitute, perhaps amid the
horrified cries of New Future. Martinovs for the slogan of
the democratic dictatorship the slogan of a socialist dictatorship of

(26:51):
the proletariat, i e. Of a complete socialist revolution of
PostScript Part two. This recording is in the public domain.