Bolshevism: The Enemy of Political and Industrial DemocracySpargo, John
History
Bolshevism: The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy
Spargo, John
Communism -- Soviet Union; Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921
As to the revolutionary organization and its task, the conquest of
the power of the state and militarism: From the praxis of the
French Commune of 1871, Marx shows that "the working class cannot
simply take over the governmental machinery as built by the
bourgeoisie, and use this machinery for its own purposes." The
proletariat must break down this machinery. And this has been
either concealed or denied by the opportunists.[9] But it is the
most valuable lesson of the Paris Commune of 1871 and the
Revolution in Russia in 1905. The difference between us and the
Anarchists is, that we admit the state is a necessity in the
development of our Revolution. The difference with the
opportunists and the Kautsky[10] disciples is that we claim that
we do not need the bourgeois state machinery as completed in the
"democratic" bourgeois republics, but _the direct power of armed
and organized workers_. Such was the character of the Commune of
1871 and of the Council of Workmen and Soldiers of 1905 and 1917.
On this basis we build.[11]
Lenine went on to outline his program of action, which was to begin a new
phase of the Revolution; to carry the revolt against Czarism onward against
the bourgeoisie. Notwithstanding his scorn for democracy, he declared at
that time that his policy included the establishment of a "democratic
republic," confiscation of the landed estates of the nobility in favor of
the peasants, and the opening up of immediate peace negotiations. But the
latter he would take out of the hands of the government entirely. "Peace
negotiations should not be carried on by and with bourgeois governments,
but with the proletariat in each of the warring countries." In his
criticism of Kerensky and Tchcheidze the Bolshevik leader was especially
scornful and bitter.
In a letter which he addressed to the Socialists of Switzerland immediately
after his departure for Russia, Lenine gave a careful statement of his own
position and that of his friends. It shows an opportunistic attitude of
mind which differs from the opportunistic attitude of the moderate
Socialists _in direction only_, not in the _quality of being
opportunistic_:
Historic conditions have made the Russians, _perhaps for a short
period_, the leaders of the revolutionary world proletariat, _but
Socialism cannot now prevail in Russia_. We can expect only an
agrarian revolution, which will help to create more favorable
conditions for further development of the proletarian forces and
_may result in measures for the control of production and
distribution_.
The main results of the present Revolution will have to be _the
creation of more favorable conditions for further revolutionary
development_, and to influence the more highly developed European
countries into action.[12]
The Bolsheviki at this period had as their program the following:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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