Labour Party Assessed By Comrade Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
understood them well - he said that
"the only correct, point of
view, the Labour Party is a thoroughly bourgeois party, because, although made
up of workers, it is led by
reactionaries, and the worst kind of reactionaries at that, who act
quite in the spirit of the
bourgeoisie. It is an organisation of the
bourgeoisie, which exists
to systematically dupe the workers with the aid of the British
Noskes and
Scheidemanns."[ See
http://www.marxist.net/openturn/historic/script.htm?lenin.htm
]
Left-Wing Communism - An Infantile Disorder ex Wiki
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder is a work by
Vladimir Lenin attacking assorted critics of the
Bolsheviks who claimed positions to their left. Most of these critics
were proponents of ideologies later described as
left communism.
The book was written in 1920 and published in Russian, German, English and French later in the year. A copy was then distributed to each delegate at the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern, several of whom were mentioned by Lenin in the work.[2]
Lenin's manuscript was subtitled "A Popular Exposition of Marxist Strategy and Tactics", but this was not applied to any edition brought out during his lifetime.[3]
The book is divided into ten chapters and an appendix.
The Bolsheviks
Lenin points out that the
Russian Revolution has considerable international significance, and
criticises the leaders of the
Second International, including
Karl Kautsky, for failing to recognize the international relevance of
Soviet power as a revolutionary model. To illustrate their move away
from revolutionary politics, he supplies a quote from a 1902 work of Kautsky
which concludes that "Western Europe is becoming a bulwark of reaction and
absolutism in Russia."
Lenin asserts that in a war against the bourgeoisie, "iron discipline" is an "essential condition". He then describes the circumstances which led the Bolsheviks to this conclusion in their success at taking state power in Russia.
The third chapter divides the history of Bolshevism into the "years of preparation of the revolution" (1903–05), the "years of revolution" (1905–07), the "years of reaction" (1907–10), the "years of rise" (1910–14), the "first imperialist world war" (1914–17) and the "second revolution in Russia". He describes the changing circumstances for revolutionaries in Russia and the reaction of the Bolsheviks to them.
Lenin describes the enemies of the working class as opportunists, petty-bourgeois revolutionaries, which he links to anarchism, the "Left" Bolsheviks (expelled from the Bolshevik group in 1909) and whom he links with those who criticised the Peace of Brest-Litovsk. He ends by criticizing the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and members of the Socialist International who were prepared to compromise with the German leaders in defence of a capitalist system.[4]............
"Left-wing" communism in Great Britain
Lenin critiques the
Workers Socialist Federation's opposition to Parliamentary action, and
in particular, to affiliation to the
Labour Party, through texts written by
Sylvia Pankhurst and
Willie Gallacher. He proposes that all the main socialist groups in the
country should form a
Communist Party of Great Britain, and that they should offer an
electoral coalition with Labour. He concludes that the party would gain
whether or not Labour accepted the offer. In a famous turn of phrase, he
says that they should support Labour General Secretary
Arthur Henderson "in the same way as the rope supports a hanged man".
Lenin's conclusions
Lenin concludes that in each country, communism must struggle against
Menshevism and "Left-Wing" communism. He claims that communism has
already won over the vanguard of the workers, but that to win over the
masses, it must relate to the differences between the Hendersons, the
Lloyd Georges (liberals)
and the
Churchills (conservatives).
Despite certain defeats, he believes that the communist movement is
"developing magnificently".
He describes "Left-Wing" communism as the same mistake as that of the social democrats, but "the other way round", that it must be corrected, and that because "Left-Wing" communism is only a young trend, it is "at present a thousand times less dangerous and less significant than the mistakes of Right doctrinairism".[4]
Responses to the
work
Several appendices were added to the document before publication, in
response to new developments in Germany around the formation of the KAPD and
new studies by Lenin of the Italian left. A final appendix acknowledged a
letter on behalf of the
Communist Party of Holland,
David Wijnkoop complaining that the positions Lenin accorded to their
organisation were only those of a minority in the group.
Lenin invited Pankhurst and Gallagher to the Second Conference of the Comintern. He convinced them to argue for their party, by then renamed the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International), to join the Communist Party of Great Britain. The CP(BSTI) did join, and Gallagher remained a loyal member, although Pankhurst was expelled from the CPGB in 1921 and subsequently allied her remaining group with the KAPD, supporting the Communist Workers' International.[5]
Herman Gorter replied to Lenin in an Open Letter, arguing that the smaller numbers of peasants in Western Europe constituted a key difference to the class struggle to that in Russia.[6] In the introduction, he stated:
ReferencesIt has taught me a great deal, as all your writings have done ... Many a trace, and many a germ of this infantile disease, to which without a doubt, I also am a victim, has been chased away by your brochure, or will yet be eradicated by it. Your observations about the confusion that revolution has caused in many brains, is quite right too. I know that. The revolution came so suddenly, and in a way so utterly different from what we expected. Your words will be an incentive to me, once again, and to an even greater extent than before, to base my judgement in all matters of tactics, also in the revolution, exclusively on reality, on the actual class-relations, as they manifest themselves politically and economically.
After having read your brochure I thought all this is right.
But after having considered for a long time whether I would cease to uphold this "Left Wing", and to write articles for the KAPD and the Opposition party in England, I had to decline.[7]
- "Left-Wing" Communism: an Infantile Disorder by Vladimir Lenin at the Marxists Internet Archive
- Open Letter to Comrade Lenin at the Marxists Internet Archive - A reply to Lenin by Herman Gorter