SOCIETY FOR DEFENCE OF FREEDOM IN ASIA

Here are two chaptersfrom Stalin's FOUNDA..TIONS Of LENINISM withexplanatory notes and anexhaustive, documented in..troduction, for a direct,firsthand acquaintance withStalin's basic thought onthe goal, methods, strategyand tactics of world com..munism.

"Why should the non·commu·nists indulge in cock-and-bullstories about an imagined commu·nism which Stalin is supposedlytrying to achieve? Because someof us do not care to know the truth,because we are intellectually lazy,morallq indifferent and spirituallyundecided. The pious politicalilliterates felt outraged at the doingsof Hitler and his Nazis and tlwughtthat Hitler had betrayed them when,in actual fact, the Great Dictatorwas only practising what he since·rely believed, and what he had,candidly and honestly, stated inhis MIEN KAMPH years beforehe came to power. There is alesson for us in this precedent.If we do not agree with the goaland path of Stalin, let us make upour minds right now and startdoing all we can to defeat thecommunist movement in our coun·t1'yand the world."

IN

s

WORLD CONQUEST

INST ALMENTS

J. V. STALIN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

SITA RAM GOEL

itos

PUBLISHERS

Society' for Defence of Freedom in Asia,

CALCUTTA12, Chowringhee Square

Publisher,Samir K. DasSecretary (West Bengal)Society For Defence of Freedom in Asia12, Chowringhee Square,Calcutta,

1952

Price Twelve Annas

PrintersU. D. SharmaRatnakar Pressl l-A, Syed Salley LaneCalcutta.

INT

The Communiston any issue, natioan occasion for cuthe. part of non-cornsocialists, radicals orness of its twists andeviations; self-criticof leadership and rasituation' and renaneutrals; and covehemently a fewpolitical history.

To take a few eParty of the Sovietknow how to fit 1Policy of early tweof agriculture in lateNazi-Soviet Pact; dinization of the ComMarshal Tito; irrevoco-existence" of Pos

Nearer home, aCommunist Partywealth of contradict\in the twenties andlist war from 1939

I

after; support of BriI

to early 19·:14 and all'ciation of Netaji Suyears and street riot!

• '0',

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / I

World Conquest in Instalments

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / III

WORLD CONQUEST

IN

INSTALMENTS

J . V . S T A L I N

WITH AN INTROSDUCTION BY

SITA RAM GOEL

PUBLISHERSSociety for Defence of Freedom in Asia,

12, Chowringhee Square,

Publisher,Samir K. DasSecretary (West Bengal)Society For Defence of Freedom in Asia12, Chowringhee Sqaure,Calcutta.

1952

Price Twelve Annas

This pdf ñ 2017.

Printers,U.D. SharmaRatnakar Press11-A, Syed Salley LaneCalcutta.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / III( I I I )

INTRODUCTIONI

The Communist Party Line at any time, anywhere,on any issue, national, international or local, is alwaysan occasion for curiosity, controversy and confusion onthe part of non-communists, be they conservatives, liberals,socialists, redicals or leftists in general. For sheer sudden-ness of its twists and turns; ritualistic, hair-splitting aboutdeviations; self-criticism and confessions of error; purgesof leadership and rank and file; re-reading of the ëobjectivesituationí and renaming of friends, enemies, allies andneutrals; and complete reversal of policies advocatedvehemently a few days beforeóone finds no parallel inpolitical history.

To take a few examples from the parent CommunistParty of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik), one just does notknow how to fit logically together the New EconomicPolicy of early twenties with the forced collectivisationof agriculture in later years; Anti-Fascist crusade and theNazi-Soviet Pact; dissolution of the Comintern and reorga-nization of the Cominform; raising and pulling down ofMarshal Tito; irrevocable world revolution and ìpeacefulco-existenceî of Post-War II years.

Nearer home, a glance at the 30 years history of theCommunist Party of India reveals the same amazingwealth of contradictions. Hostility towards the Congressin the twenties and United Front in the thirties; Imperia-list war from 1939 to June 1941 and Peopleís war there-after; support of British Imperialism in India from 1942to early 1944 and anti-imperialist hysteria later on; denun-ciation of Netaji Subhas Bose and INA throughout waryears and street riots in their name in 1945; support of

( I V )

Pakistan and Muslim League from 1942 to 1947 andadmission of mistakes in 1948; all out support for Nehrusoon after independence and declaration of war on hisGovernment in 1948; open insurrection under Ranadiveand Parliamentarism under Gopalan.

Readings from the Communist press and topicalpamphlets hardly clarify the confusion except to thefaithful and the fellow-traveller who remain perpetuallyconvinced. The Communists either talk in a technicaljargon not easily understandable to the merely literatepolitical reader or show a splendid forgetfulness of whatthey said previously on the same issues. The human mind,however, wants a bridging up of theses logical gaps.

The non-communist is tempted to lose temper andpatience, become cynical, feel outraged and declare thatthe Reds are either a band of lunatics or a pack of impo-ssible scoundrels. Or feel parental, kind and superior andsay that the communists are young, inexperience,impatient, restless idealists who very often cannot seethat two and two make four. Our start believing that allthis tight-rope-dancing is the result of personal whims ofthe Despot in Moscow who controls these world-widepuppet-shows.

But those, who have themselves been communists outof conviction or have made a serious study of communistclassics, cannot share these superficial opinions about theCommunist Party Line. They know that the leaders ofworld-communism are down-right serious, sane and practi-cal people with a well-knit ideology which they regardas irrefutable science, and that the communist policy atany time is the result of a sincere effort on their part toapply that ìscienceî to the world around us. The seemingcontradictions, illogic, twists, turns and every other featureof the Communist Party Line would become clear if weonce understand this ìscienceî.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / V( V )

The communists define their ideology as Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism or Marxism-Leninism as expoundedand practised by Stalin. Many socialists and leftists,owing allegiance to Marxism-Leninism would assert thatStalinism is a gross perversion of the real communist creed.It is a highly controversial and complicated issue whichwill perhaps never be decided. Both Stalin and hisopponents can prove their case by direct quotations fromthe Masters in whom a revolutionary passion and not logicseems to have been the strong point. But the fact remainsthat what we are face to face with is the Stalinist versionof Marxism-Leninism. This version is being practised overvast areas of Europe and Asia by powerful communistgovernments and communist parties. It is no use feelingbetrayed, crying ìthiefî and ìusurperî. We have got tounderstand calmly and coolly what Stalin is aiming at andwhat road he intends to follow, before we can decide forourselves how far we are in agreement or conflict with thegoal and the path of Stalin. There is no better way thangoing to Stalinís own writings which are very clear andprecise on every issue he considers important.

We thinkóand we hope that most of the followers ofStalin would agree with usóthat Stalinís FOUNDATIONSOF LENINISM is the most important document amidsta wealth of writings, speeches and interviews credited tothe living Master. It is a series of nine lectures, besidesa small introductory chapter, originally delivered atSverdlov University and first published in Pravda duringApril and May 1924. These lectures have been given prideof place in all editions of Stalinís magnum opusëPROBLEMS OF LENINISMí as well as in the collectedworks of Stalin, prepared by the Marx-Engels Institute.

We are reprinting in the following pages Chpater Nos.III and VII, headlined THEORY and STRATEGY ANDTACTICS which we consider to be the corner-stones of

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the edifice raised in these lectures. Our text has beentaken from ìPROBLEMS OF LENINISMî published byForeign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, in 1947.Unfortunately we have not been able to get an edition ofthis book later than 1947 from any of the bookshopsselling Moscow publications in Calcutta. But a comparisonof the text in the 1947 edition of the complete book withthe text in a separate pamphlet containing these lecturesand published by the same House in Moscow in 1950reveals no change, which, incidentally, is a very frequentphenomenon in Communist publications. The date ofMoscow publications has significance because they do notretain that which is thought redundant or outmoded, eventhough it was originally a part of the basic ideology.

II

Stalin gave a summary of his entire thought in hisanswer to Question No. 12 put by the First AmericanLabour Delegation which met him in Moscow on September9, 1927. The question was: ìCan you outline briefly thecharacteristics of the society of the future which Commu-nism is trying to create?î Stalin stated:

ëThe general characteristics of communistsociety are given in the works of Marx, Engels andLenin. Briefly, the anatomy of Communist societymay be described as follows: It is a society inwhich: (a) there will be no private ownership ofthe instruments and means of production butsocial, collective ownership; (b) there will be noclasses or state, but workers in industry and agri-culture managing their economic affairs as a freeassociation of working people; (c) national economy,organized according to plan, will be based on thehighest technique in both industry and agriculture;

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / VII( VII )

(d) products will be distributed according to theprinciple of the old French Communists: ëfromeach according to his abilities, to each accordingto his needsí; (e) science and art will enjoy condi-tions conducive to their highest development;(f) the individual, freed from bread and buttercares, and of the necessity of cringing to theëpowers that beí will become really free etc., etc.Clearly we are still remote from such a society.

ìWith regard to the international conditionsnecessary for the complete triumph of communistsociety, these will develop and grow in proportionas revolutionary crises and revolutionary outbreaksof the working class in capitalist countries grow.It must not be imagined that the working-classin one country, or in several countries, will marchtowards Socialism, and still more to Communism,and that the capitalists of other countries will sitstill with folded arms and look on with indifference.Still less must it be imagined that the workingclass in capitalist countries will agree to be merespectators of the victorious development of Social-ism in one or another country. As a matter offact, the capitalists will do all in their power tocrush such countries. As a matter of fact, everyimportant step taken towards Socialism, and stillmore towards Communism, in any country willinevitably be accompanied by the unrestrainableefforts of the working class in capitalist countriesto achieve the dictatorship and Socialism in thosecountries. Thus, in the further progress of develop-ment of the international revolution two world centreswill be formed: the Socialist centre, attracting to itselfall the countries gravitating towards Socialism, andthe capitalist centre, attracting to itself all the coun-tries gravitating towards capitalism. The fight

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between these two centres for the conquest of worldeconomy will decide the fate of capitalism and Com-munism throughout the whole world, for the finaldefeat of world capitalism means the victory ofSocialism in the arena of the world economy.î *

The first part of Stalinís answer refers to the distant goalof the communist society and the second part charts out thepath which history should follow to reach that goal. Brieflysummarized, the road to the communist society is proletarianrevolution as a result of which the working class in everycountry establishes its dictatorship and achieves Socialism.Such a revolution must necessarily be on an internationalscale, firstly, because the capitalists would intervene to de-feat every triumphant proletarian revolution and, secondly,because the working-class in every country would like tohave its own revolution on the pattern of the first successfuloutbreak.

Here it is necessary to understand clearly the threeterms, namely, ìproletarian revolutionî, ìdictatorshipîand ìSocialismî which are key terms in communistthought and language.

(1) Proletarian Revolution does not mean any working-class revolution, but only a revolution led by the Commu-nist Party as the vanguard of the proletariat.1

(2) Dictatorship, or more fully speaking, Dictatorshipof the Proletariat means the form of Government establi-shed as a result of the victorious proletarian revolution.2

(3) Socialism in communist parlance is the lower orthe first phase of communist society which grows directlyout of capitalism after the successful proletarian revolutionestablishes a Dictatorship of the Proletariat.3

* Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. I, Part I, pages 54-55, (Moscow 1952).Our italicsóed.

1. Ibid Pages 50-512. Ibid Page 493. Lenin Selected Works, Vol. II, Part I, pages 294-298,

Moscow 1952.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / IX( I X )

The immediate task, therefore, is to lead the proletarianrevolution on a world scale, establish dictatorship of theproletariat on an international basis and build a world-Socialist economy which would in due course lead to thecommunist society. That is why Stalin, a highly practicalman, never bothers about he communist society againin his voluminous writings and speeches covering a periodof 25 years since he gave that interview to the First Dele-gation of American Labour in 1927. Nor do we find anydetailed reference to communist society in his earlierwritings and utterances. His famous definition of Leninismin the introductory lecture of THE FOUDNATIONS OFLENINISM does not mention Communism of communistsociety, but refers only to the proletarian revolution anddictatorship of the proletariat. He says:

ìLeninism is Marxism of the era of imperialismand of the proletarian revolution. To be more exactLeninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarianrevolution in general, the theory and tactics of thedictatorship of the proletariat in particular î.1*

It would be noticed that there is a great emphasis inthis definition on the dictatorship of the proletariat. Let usillustrate this emphasis in Stalinís own words. In thechapter THE FUNDAMETNAL THING IN LENINISMhe states:

ìIndeed, if Leninism is the theory and tacticsof the proletarian revolution, and the basic contentof proletariat revolution is the dictatorship of theproletariat, then it is clear that the fundamentalthing in Leninism is the problem of the dictatorshipof the proletariat *, the elaboration of this problem,the substantiation and concretization of thisproblemî.

1. Problems of Leninism, page 14, Moscow, 1947.2. Ibid, page 126. * Our italicsóed.

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Elsewhere also Stalin defines the role of the dictatorshipof the proletariat in the proletarian revolution in veryunmistakable terms. Her states:

ìThe question of proletarian dictatorship isabove all a question of the main content of theproletarian revolution. The proletarian revolution,its movement, its sweep and its achievementacquire flesh and blood only through the dictator-ship of the proletariat. The dictatorship of theproletariat is the instrument of the proletarian revo-lution; its organ, its most important mainstay,*brought into being for the purpose of, firstlycrushing the resistance of the overthrown exploitersand consolidating the achievements of the proleta-rian revolution, and secondly, carrying the prole-tarian revolution to its completion carrying therevolution to complete victory of Socialism.î1

Stalin also quotes Lenin to support his own thesis ofthe inevitable advent of the communist society after dicta-torship of the proletariat has been established:

ìThe economic foundation of this revolutionaryforce (dictatorship of the proletariatóour addition)the guarantee of its validity and its success is inthe fact that the proletariat represents and carriesout a higher type of Social organisation of labourcompared with capitalism. This is the essence.This is the source of the strength and the guaranteeof the inevitable complete triumph of Commu-nism.î2

In this context the THEORY of proletarian revolutionand STRATEGY AND TACTICS for achieving the dicta-

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, page 14, Moscow, 1947.2. Ibid, page 135.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XI( X I )

torship of the proletariat assume fuller meaning. In scripturallanguage Stalin would say, ìSeek thou first the dictatorshipof the proletariat and all else will be added unto theeî.

There are popular notions that Stalinís Communism isan ideology of certain economic, political and social ends,namely, Equality, Liberty, Security and so on. We areafraid that except for the solitary passage quoted abovethere is no support for this notion in Stalinís own writings.According to Stalin, Communism is a body of strategy andtactics for establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat on aninternational scale, a methodology for engineering the proleta-rian revolution and ushering in the socialist economy whichin due course is supposed to develop into the fullfledgedcommunist society.

III

The question would naturally arise regarding the nature,scope and content of this dictatorship of the proletariatwhich is the corner stone of Stalinism, ìthe mainstay of theproletarian revolution.î Stalin devotes a long chapter toelaboration of this problem in his FOUNDATIONS OFLENINISM. For a brief definition, he quotes Lenin whodescribed the dictatorship of the proletariat as:

ìThe ruleóunrestricted by law and based onforce *óof the proletariat over the bourgeoisie, arule enjoying the sympathy and support of thelabouring and exploited masses.î 1

It should be made clear that ìthe sympathy andsupport of the labouring and exploited massesî are notnecessary on the eve of establishing the dictatorship of the

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, page 43, Moscow, 1947.

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proletariat, but are expected to arise after the event. Lenin,whom Stalin quotes, was perfectly clear on this point andstated:

ìThe class which took political power into itshand did so knowing that it took power alone. Thatis a part of the concept of the dictatorship of theproletariat. This concept has meaning only whenthe single class knows that it alone is taking powerin its hands and does not deceive itself or otherswith take about ëpopular Government elected byall, sanctified by the whole peopleî.1

There is an amplification of the same point in anotherstatement of Lenin quoted by Stalin:

ìLet the majority of the population while pri-vate property still exists i.e., while the rule andyoke of capital still exists, first express themselvesin favour of the party of the proletariat, and onlythen can and should the latter take poweróso saythe petty-bourgeois democrats who call themselvesëSocialistsí but are in reality the servitors of thebourgeoisie.

ìWe say: let this revolutionary proletariat firstover-throw the bourgeoisie, break the yoke ofcapital and smash the bourgeois state machine;then the victorious proletariat will be able rapidlyto gain the sympathy and support of the majority ofthe toiling nonproletarian masses by satisfyingtheir needs at the expense of the exploiters.î

It might be imagined by some people that the dictator-ship of the proletariat is a short-lived and transitory event.In the nature of things it cannot be a temporary

1. Ibid, page 133.2. Ibid, page 132.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XIII( XIII )

phenomenon because the dictatorship has to build Socialismon a world scale which cannot be possible in a short time.We have, however, Stalinís own definite conception regar-ding the time-scale of the dictatorship of the proletariat.According to him:

ìThe dictatorship of the proletariat, the trans-ition from capitalism to Communism must not beregarded as a fleeting period of ëSuper-revolutio-naryí acts and decrees but as an entire historical erareplete with civil wars and external conflicts, withpersistent orgnisational work and economic constru-ction, with advances and retreats, victory and defeats.*This historical era is needed not only to create theeconomical and cultural pre-requisities for the com-plete victory of Socialism but also to enable theproletariat, first, to educate itself and become stee-led as a force capable of governing the country,and, secondly, to re-educate and remodel the petty-bourgeois strata along such lines as will assure theorganisation of socialist production.î1

In his support, Stalin quotes Lenin who said:ìThe dictatorship of the proletariat is a most

determined and most ruthless war waged by thenew class against a more powerful enemy, the bour-geoisie whose resistance is increased tenfold by itsoverthrow. The dictatorship of the proletariat is apersistent struggleóbloody and bloodless, violent andpeaceful, military and economic, educational andadministrativeóagainst the forces and traditions ofthe old society.î2

Also Marx who said:ìYou will have to go through fifteen, twenty,

fifty years of civil wars and international conflicts,

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, page 41, Moscow, 1947.2. Ibid, page 41.

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not only to change existing conditions but also tochange yourselves and to make yourselves capableof wielding political power.î 1

It should also be clearly understood that according toStalin the dictatorship of the proletariat must be establi-shed on an international scale if complete victory of Socia-lism is to be achieved. There has been a confusion regar-ding Stalinís attitude to revolution outside Russia, eversince his controversy with Trotsky about ìPermanentRevolution.î It is supposed that while Trotsky advocatedspread of the revolution abroad, Stalin acted as a conser-vative and raised the slogan of ìSocialism in one country.îLately, Stalin has been talking about ëpeaceful co-existe-nce of capitalism and Communismî, which misleads quitea few political innocents.

Readers will find ample proof in the two chapters fromStalin included in this pamphlet that Stalin stands for worldproletarian revolution and international dictatorship of theproletariat. We shall give here a few more direct quotati-ons on the subject.

In his introductory lecture to FOUNDATIONS OFLENINISM, he says:ó

ìSome say that Leninism is the application ofMarxism to the peculiar conditions of the situationin Russia. This definition contains a particle oftruth, but not the whole truth by any means.Lenin, indeed applied Marxism to Russian condi-tions, and applied it in a masterly way. But ifLeninism were only the application of Marxism tothe peculiar situation in Russia it would be apurely national and only national, a purely Russianand only Russian, phenomenon. We know, however,

1. Ibid, page 41.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XV( X V )

that Leninism is not merely a Russian, but aninternational phenomenon rooted in the whole ofinternational development.î *1

He goes further in his OCTOBER REVOLUTION ANDTACTICS OF RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS, and explainsthat the slogan of ìSocialism in one countryî is not acontradictory, but a complementary and instrumentalaspect of the world-revolution:

ìThe victory of Socialism in one country isnot a self-sufficient task. The revolution whichhas been victorious in one country must regarditself not as a self-sufficient entity, but as an aid,a means for hastening the victory of the proleta-riat in all countries. For the victory of the revo-lution in one country, in the present case Russia,is not only the product of the uneven developmentand progressive decay of imperialism; it is at thesame time the beginning of and the ground workfor world Revolution.î2

In yet another statement, in the same article, he repeatsthe same argument more pointedly:

ìWe see that the first country to break away,the first victorious country, is already being suppo-rted by the workers and the labouring masses ingeneral of other countries. Without this supportit could not hold out. Undoubtedly, this supportwill increase and grow. But there can also be nodoubt that the very development of world revolution,the very process of the breaking away from imperia-lism of a number of new countries will be morerapid and more thorough, the more thoroughly

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, page 13, Moscow, 1947.2. Ibid, page 320.

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Socialism fortifies itself in the first victoriouscountry, the faster this country is transformed into abase for the further unfolding of the world revolution,into a lever for the further disintegration of imperia-lism.î* 1

According to Stalin, therefore:óìThe world significance of the October Revo-

lution lies not only in that it constitutes a greatstart made by one country in causing a break inthe system of imperialism and that it is the firstcentre of Socialism in an ocean of imperialistcountries, but also in that it constitutes the firststage of the world revolution and a mighty base for itsfurther development.*2

Stalin also quotes Lenin in his support:óìThe victorious proletariat having expro-

priated the capitalists and organised its ownSocialist production, would stand up against therest of the world, the capitalist world, attractingto its cause the oppressed classes of other countries,raising revolts in those countries, and in the eventof necessity coming out even with armed forceagainst the exploiting classes and their states.*3

That Stalin does not believe in ìpeaceful co-existenceîis clear from a statement of Lenin which he quotes in hiswritings. Lenin had said:

ìWe are living not merely in a state, but in asystem of states and the existence of the SovietRepublic side by side with imperialist states for a longtime is unthinkable. One or the other must triumph in

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, page 122.2. Ibid, page 123.3. Ibid, page 122.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XVII( XVII )

the end. And before that end supervenes a series offrightful collisions between the Soviet Republic and thebourgeois states will be inevitable.* That meansthat if the ruling class, the proletariat, wants tohold sway it must prove its capacity to do so bymilitary organisation also.î1

This goal of world proletarian revolution was completelyand faithfully accepted by the Communist International,founded by Lenin in 1919. The Comintern adopted itsTHESES AND STATUTES at the Second World Congressheld in Moscow from July 17 to August 7, 1920. Thefirst Statue reads as follows:ó

ìThe new International Association of Workersis established for the purpose of organising commonactivity of the workers of various countries whoare striving towards a single aim: the overthrow ofcapitalism, the establishment of the dictatorship ofthe proletariat and of the International SovietRepublic for the complete abolition of classes and therealisation of Socialismóthis first step to CommunistSociety.î*

It must be remembered that Stalin has maintainedthe Comintern with its original THESES AND STATUTES,all through these years. Tactically suppressed in 1943 toplease his ìImperialist alliesî against Hitler, Stalin resur-rected the Comintern as Cominform in 1947. Stalin hasremained true to the vow he took on the death of Lenin inJanuary, 1924, in spite of all that his adversaries of theFourth International might say. Facing the Second AllUnion Congress of Soviets, he said:ó

ìDeparting from us, Comrade Lenin adjured usto consolidate and extend the Union of Republics.

* Our italicsóed.1. Ibid, page 160.

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We vow to you, Comrade Lenin, that this behesttoo we will fulfill with credit,î1

This speech ended with the following words:óìDeparting from us, Comrade Lenin adjured us

to remain faithful to the principles of the Commu-nist International. We vow to you, Comrade Le-nin, that we will not spare our lives to strengthenand extend the union of the working people of thewhole worldóThe Communist International.í2

There should be no doubt left that the slogan of ìpeace-ful co-existenceî is what the communists call a ìpartialslogan,î a slogan advanced in the period of ìebb of therevolutionary movementî when the Party follows Tacticsof Retreat.

IV

We, now, come to the human agency through which theDictatorship of the Proletariat really functions i.e., thekind of people who wield power in the name of the proleta-riat. Stalinís unequivocal reply isóthe Communist Party.He defines the Party as:

ìthe instrument of the dictatorship of the proleta-riat,î because ìthe proletariat needs the Party notonly to achieve the dictatorship; it needs it still moreto maintain the dictatorship: to consolidate andexpand it in order to achieve the complete victory ofSocialism.î

* Our italicsóed.1. Lenin, Selected Works Vol. I, Part I, page 24, Moscow, 1952.2. Ibid, page 26.3. Problems of Leninism, pages 87-88, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XIX( XIX )

After describing the other mass organisations of theProletariat e.g., trade unions, the soviets, the co-operativesocieties, the youth leagues etc., as ëleversí and ëtransmi-ssion beltsí of the dictatorship of the proletariat, he makesthe point very clear indeed:

ìThe highest expression of the leading role ofthe party, here, in the Soviet Union, in the landof dictatorship of the proletariat, for example, isthe fact that not a single political or organisationalquestion is decided by our Soviet and other massorganisations without guiding directions from theParty. In this sense it could be said that the dicta-torship of the proletariat is in essence the dictatorshipof its vanguard, the dictatorship of the party as themain guiding force of the proletariat.î *1

In his answer to the First question of the FirstAmerican Labour Delegation also he made the sameassertion. According to Stalin, Leninís specific contribu-tions to the question of the Party of the proletariat were:

ìa) That the Party is a higher from of classorganisation of the proletariat compared withother forms of proletarian organisation (labourunions, co-operative societies, the organisation ofState) whose work, it is Partyís function togeneralise and to direct;

ìb) that the dictatorship of the proletariat canbe realised only through the Party, the directingforce of the dictatorship;

ìc) that the dictatorship of the proletariat canbe complete only if it is led by one party, the Commu-nist Party,* which does not and must not sharepower with any other party.î2

* Our italicsóed.1. Ibid, page 140.2. Lenin, Selected Works Vol. I, Part I, pages 52-53, Moscow,

1952

( X X )

Now, as the task is no less than establishment of aninternational dictatorship of the proletariat, the CommunistParty, too, has necessarily to be an international organisa-tion. A reference to the THESES AND STATUTES ofthe Communist International would bear out the logicalinference. We reproduce below the relevant Statutes:ó

ì2) The new International Association ofWorkers is called The Communist International.

ì3) All parties and organisations comprising theCommunist International bear the name of theCommunist Party of the given country (section of theInternational).*

ì4) The World Congress of all parties andorganisations which from part of the CommunistInternational is the supreme organ of this Inter-national. The World Congress as a rule convenesnot less than once a year. The World Congressconfirms the programs of the various parties com-prising the Communist International. The WorldCongress discusses and decides the more importantquestions of programme and tactics which areconnected with the activity of the CommunistInternational. The number of decisive votes atthe World Congress for every party and organisa-tion is decided upon by a special regulation of theCongress.

ì5) The World Congress elects an ExecutiveCommittee of the Communist International whichserves as the leading organ of the CommunistInternational in the intervals between the Conven-tion of the World Congress and is responsible onlyto the World Congress.

* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXI( XXI )

ì6) The Executive Committee makes the neces-sary appeals on behalf of the Communist Interna-tional and issues instructions obligatory to all theparties and organisations which form part of theCommunist International.* The Executive Commi-ttee of the Communist International enjoys theright to demand from the affiliated parties theexclusion of groups of members who are guilty ofthe infringement of international proletarian disci-pline, as well as the exclusion from the CommunistInternational of such parties guilty of the infringe-ment of the regulations of the World Congress.These parties retain the right of appealing to theWorld Congress. In the event of necessity the Execu-tive Committee organises in various countries itstechnical and auxiliary bureax completely subordi-nated to the Executive Committee.* The representa-tives of the Executive Committee shall carry outtheir political tasks in closest contact with theCentral Committee of the Communist Party ofthe given country.î

We can, therefore, safely conclude that the goal ofStalinism is dictatorship of the proletariat on an internationalscale, exercised by the Communist International.

Before we discuss the means which the Communistsare directed to employ and the road which Stalin hasmapped out for them, we shall touch upon the characterof the Communist Party. Who are the Communists?

A statistical enquiry in the class origins of the Commu-nists, past and present, would reveal to anybody that theoverwhelming majority of them come from classes otherthan the working class, such as, the capitalists, landlordsand the petty-bourgeoisie. Why these people call themselvesthe party of the proletariat, is an intriguing question.

* Our italicsóed.

( XXII )

The Communist Party has no electoral basis like mostother political parties and there is no way to check up whe-ther the proletariat as a class wants the Communists to repre-sent proletarian interests. Nor do the Communists entertainany ëwishy-washy sentimentalismí for the underdog andthe pariah. As a matter of fact, any Socialism based uponsympathy for the oppressed people as a whole and a desireto improve their lot by broad Social measures is denouncedby the Communists as ìUtopian Socialismî with whichthey strongly contrast their own ìScientific Socialism.î

An explanation of this mystery would be found only inthe Communist Manifesto, issued by Marx and Engels, in1848. They wrote:

ìOf all the classes that stand face to face withbourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a reallyrevolutionary class. The other classes decay andfinally disappear in the face of modern industry;the proletariat is its special and essential product.

ìThe advance of industry whose involuntarypromoter is the bourgeoisie replaces the isolationof the labourers, due to competition, by their revo-lutionary combination, due to association. Thedevelopment of Modern Industry, therefore, cutsfrom under its feet the very foundations whichthe bourgeoisie produce and appropriate products.What the bourgeoisie therefore, produces above all,are its own grave diggers. Its fall and victory ofthe proletariat are equally inevitable.î1

So, it is not because the proletariat as a class wants theproletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proleta-riat, but because a certain theory of history predicts sucha course of events, that the Communists call themselves theparty of the proletariat. Stalin says so in so many words:ó

ìThe Party must be, first of all, the vanguardof the working class. The Party must absorb all

* Marx Engels; Selected Works: pages 42-43, Moscow, 1951.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXIII( XXIII )

the best elements of the working class, theirexperience, their revolutionary spirit, self-lessdevotion to the cause of the proletariat. But inorder that it may really be the vanguard, the partymust be armed with revolutionary theory, with aknowledge of the laws of the movement, with a know-ledge of the laws of revolution. Without this it willbe incapable of directing the struggle of the proletariat,of leading the proletariat.*1

The THESES AND STATUTES of the CommunistInternational made a very exact formulation about therelations between the proletariat as a class and the Commu-nist Party as a party of the proletariat. It says:ó

ìA sharp distinction must be made betweenthe conception of ìpartyî and ìclassî. Themembers of the ìChristianî and liberal tradeunions in Germany, England and other countries,are undoubtedly parts of the working class. Moreor less considerable circles of the working people,followers of Scheidemann, Gompers & Co., are like-wise part of the working class. Under certain histo-rical conditions, the working class is very likely to beimpregnated with numerous reactionary elements.The task of Communism is not to adapt itself tosuch retrograde elements of the working class, butto raise the whole working class to the level of theCommunist vanguard. The confounding of thesetwo conceptionsóof party and of classócan onlylead to the greatest errors and confusion. Thus,for instance, it is clear that notwithstanding thedisposition or prejudices of certain parts of theworking masses during the imperialist war, the

* Our italicsóed.1. Problems of Leninism, pages 81-82, Moscow, 1947.

( XXIV )

workersí parties ought to have counteracted theseprejudices, defending the historical interests of theproletariat, which demanded of the proletarianparties a declaration of war against war.î

Is this ideology, this philosophy of history, this theoryof a proletarian revolution establishing a dictatorship of theproletariat and achieving a Socialist world-economy on theway of the Communist Societyóis it a creation of theproletarian class out of their own experience, aspirationsand knowledge? So far as we know Stalin has notdiscussed this point anywhere in his writings or speechesetc. But Lenin was very positive and clear on the issueand we hope Stalin would not dispute Leninís authority.Lenin wrote:ó

ìThe history of all countries show that theworking class exclusively by its own efforts, is ableto develop only trade union consciousness, i.e., itmay realise necessity for combining in unions,for fighting against the employers and for striving tocompel the government to pass necessary labour legis-lation etc. The theory of Socialism, however, grewout of the philosophical, historical, and economictheories that were elaborated by the educated represe-ntatives of the propertied classes, the intellectuals.According to their social status the founders ofmodern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, them-selves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia.î*1

Now, the Communists regard their theory of ìscientificsocialismî as an exact insight into the inner workings ofHistory herself, and asked for proof they assert that itscorrectness has been borne out in practice. By practice,of course, they mean the rise to power of Communist

* Our italicsóed.1. Lenin Selected Works, Vol. I, Part I, pages 233-34,

Moscow, 1952.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXV( XXV )

parties in several countries, big and small. If you tellthem that Nazism also had a theory of history and alsorose to power greater than the communists have yetattained, they lose their temper and call you a Fascist!

But we can, that a group of people, coming mostlyfrom the educated, propertied classes, start believing thatHistory wants to travel in a particular direction; thatunaided she might go astray, that she needs the help of aPolitical Party to lead her to her longed-for destination;that she not only appoints a special group of people to playthat role of guides and helpers but also reveals to them herinmost secret seekings; and, lastly, that the appointeesare they themselves and the secret is the theory and practiceof proletarian revolution already known to them as a resultof their own philosophical, economic and historical contem-plations. One comes back where one started from. Butsuch is the nature of all dogmas held by fanatics, religiousor otherwise. In fact, the Communists are a band of self-chosen people with a mission to lead the human herd intothe Promised Land, the Millennium, the Satyayuga. Stalinsaid so much while opening his speech on the death ofLenin on January 26, 1924:ó

ìComrades, We Communists, are people of aspecial mould. We are made of a special stuff.* Weare those who form the army of the great proletarianstrategist, the army of Comrade Lenin. There isnothing higher than the honour of belonging to thisarmy. There is nothing higher than the title ofmember of the Party whose founder and leader wasComrade Lenin. It is not given to everyone to bemember of such a Party.î*1

There it is ! One may keep wondering how this doct-rine is in any way different from the Nazi doctrine of theNordic Race!

* Our italicsóed.1. Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. I, Part I page 21, Moscow, 1952.

( XXVI )

VThe readers would understand from the chapter ìTHE-

ORYî included in this pamphlet that ëobjective conditionsífor the proletarian revolution now exist in the whole world.According to Lenin the world has been ripe for proletarianrevolution ever since 1900-03 when ìCapitalism has beentransformed into imperialism.î1 History is ready todeliver the dictatorship of the proletariat and the SocialistSociety, immediately. What History needs is a competentmidwife to help her in this supreme and final crisis ofmaternity. That midwife is the Communist International.Stalin writes:ó

ìIn the pre-revolutionary period, in the periodof more or less peaceful development, the partiesof the Second International were the predominantforce in the working class movement and parlia-mentary forms of struggle were regarded as theprincipal forms.

ìBut matters have changed radically with thedawn of the new period. The new period is one ofthe open class collisions, of revolutionary action bythe proletariat, of proletarian revolution, a periodwhen forces are being directly mustered for theoverthrow of imperialism and the seizure of powerby the proletariat.

ìHence the necessity for a new party, a mili-tant party, a revolutionary party, one bold enoughto lead the proletarians in the struggle for power,sufficiently experienced to find its bearings amidstthe complex conditions of a revolutionary situa-tion, and sufficiently flexible to steer clear of allsubmerged rocks in the path to its goal. Withoutsuch a party it is useless to even think of over-throwing imperialism and achieving the dictator-ship of the proletariatî.1

1. Problems of Leninism, page 81, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXVII( XXVII )

The Party must be ìstrong by reason of its solidarityand iron disciplineî, should ìpreclude all factionalismand division of authorityî and should ìdevelop and be-come strong by purging itself of opportunists and refor-mists, Social-imperialists and social-chauvinists, socialpatriots and Social-pacifistsî, and grow inside the Partybecause ìthe proletariat is not an isolated classî and ìisconstantly replenished by the influx of peasants, petty-bourgeoisie and intellectualsî, who ìpenetrate the partyand introduce into it the spirit of hesistency and opportu-nism, the spirit of demoralisation and uncertaintyî andwho, ìprincipally constitute the source of factionalism anddisintegration, the source of disorganisation and disruptionof the party from within.î

Although, the road to Socialism and Communism isstraight via the dictatorship of the proletariat, the Partymay wander away due to opportunist elements inside.Stalin gives a warning and puts up danger signposts, bothon the ìRightî and the ìLeftî of the revolutionary road.The road has two sectionsóthis side of the dictatorship,and beyond the dictatorship. The dangers lurk on both ofthem. Stalin outlined the Right danger before the MoscowControl Commission of the C.P.S.U. (B) in October, 1928:ó

ìUnder capitalist conditions the Right devia-tion in Communism is a tendency, an inclination,not yet formulated, it is true, and perhaps not yetconsciously realised, but nevertheless, a tendencyon the part of a section of the communists to de-part from the revolutionary line of Marxism in thedirection of Social-Democracy. It means the streng-thening and consolidation of capitalism in theworking class. Hence, a victory of the Right devia-tion in the Communist Parties in capitalist coun-tries would add to the conditions necessary for thepreservation of capitalism.

* Our italicsóed.

( XXVIII )

ìUnder the conditions of Soviet development,when capitalism has already been overthrown, butits roots have not yet been torn up, the Rightdeviation in the Communist movement signifies atendency, an inclination, not yet formulated, it istrue, and perhaps not yet fully realised, but never-theless a tendency on the part of a section of thecommunists to depart from the general line of ourparty towards bourgeois ideology. Hence a victoryof the Right deviation in our Party adds to theconditions necessary for the restoration of capita-lism in our country.î1

He charts out the ìLeftî danger in a single statement,equally meticulous:ó

ìWhere does the danger of the ìLeftî (Trot-skyite) deviation in our Party lie? In the fact thatit over-estimates the strength of our enemies, thestrength of capitalism; it sees only the possibilityof restoring capitalism, but cannot see thepossibility of building Socialism by the efforts ofour country; it gives way to despair and is obligedto console itself with prattle about the Thermido-rianism of our Party. Hence the adventurism inthe policy of ìLeftî deviation. Hence its ësuper-humaní leaps in the sphere of policy. There is nodoubt that the triumph of the ìLeftî deviation inour Party would lead to the working class beingseparated from the rest of the working class masses,and, consequently, to the defeat of the proletariatand to conditions facilitating the restoration ofcapitalismî.2

Now, we have to survey the road which the Party musttread towards world dictatorship of the CommunistInternational. The communists, of course, do not regard

1. & 2. Problems of Leninism, pages 228-29, & 233, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXIX( XXIX )

Party commands as political or ethical imperative. Intheir thinking, the Party tells them just what Historyinvites her to do. The proletarian revolution is not asocial or political or humanitarian slogan, but only anìhistorical inevitabilityî which it is their ìscientificresponsibilityî to help materialise. Logically, of course,this combination of freewill and determinism, contingencyand necessity, choice and inevitability, human effort andFate, has been found an impossible task by all rationalthinkers. But the Communists revel in contradictionswhich, in their thinking, are basic to the structure of ourcosmos down to human society, and which, instead oftrying to explain or interpret or abolish, we should helpevolve into a final harmony through cataclysmic conflicts.This Mytique is called dialectics in contrast to mereìbourgeoisî metaphysics wallowing in the mud of Aristote-lian Law of Difference.

In Stalinís opinion, the historical necessity as well asinevitability for proletarian revolution arises on accountof the rise of Imperialism. But by ìImperialismî he mostlydoes not mean what we commonly understand, viz., theconquest of foreign countries and enslavement of foreignpopulations etc. Stalin writes:ó

ìLenin called imperialism ëmoribund capitalismí.why? Because imperialism carries the contradic-tions of capitalism to their last bounds, to theextreme limit, beyond which revolution begins.î1

The three principal contradictions of Capitalism are: 1)between labour and capital in every country; 2) betweenone industrially advanced country and another and 3)between industrially advanced and backward countries.The first contradiction leads to civil strife inside everycountry; the second leads to wars between advanced

1. Ibid, page 15.

( XXX )

nations and the third to strife between backward andadvanced countries. The task of the Communists is to takeadvantage of this three-fold strife and consolidate their powerin one country after another, peacemeal and by stage,remaining conscious always that time is on their side and thathistory would vindicate their faith.

Now, essentially, this theory of revolution is a theory ofachieving power by utilizing civil and national conflictswhich exist, which, as a matter of fact, have always existedand will continue to exist, in our human world. Stalinthinks that capitalism is the root cause of all theseconflicts, which will disappear as soon as capitalism isabolishedóa highly controversial thesis, irrespectiveof whether capitalism is desirable or not. We recommendSri R. Swarupís RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM for a detailedstudy of this question. But the fact remains that theseconflicts can be utilized and a party convinced of itsrighteous mission and indifferent to the purity of means,must exploit them for building its own power. This is thewhole idea behind elaboration of STRATEGY ANDTACTICS of proletarian revolution which in reality is theold Mechiavellian recipe of divide and conquer force, andfraud, dressed up in Marxist verbiage.

Lenin said so when talking about the method of revo-lution:

The more powerful enemy can be vanquishedonly by exerting the utmost effort, and withoutfail, most thoroughly, carefully, attentively andskillfully using every, even the smallest ëriftí amongthe enemies, of every antagonism of interestamong the bourgeoisie of every country andamongst the various groups or types of bourgeoisiewithin the various countries, and also by takingadvantage of every, even the smallest, opportunityof gaining a mass ally, even though this ally be

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXXI( XXXI )

temporary, vaccilating, unstable, unreliable andconditional. Those who fail to understand this,fail to understand even a particle of Marxism, orof scientific modern socialism in general.î 1

In the first place, the communists believe that theycannot rise to power by parliamentary or peaceful means,that a violent revolution is inevitable, is in the nature ofthings. Stalin says:ó

ìWhere and by whom has it ever been provedthat the parliamentary struggle is the principalform of struggle of the proletariat? Does not thehistory of all revolutionary movements show thatthe parliamentary struggle is only a school for andan aid in organising the extra-parliamentarystruggle of the proletariat, that under Capitalismthe fundamental problems of the working classmovement are solved by force, by the directstruggle of the proletarian masses, their generalstrike, their insurrection?î2

It is recorded history also that communists have notattained power by parliamentary means in any of thecountries they now occupy. The classical example is theRussian Constituent Assembly which was summoned bythe Bolsheviks after seizure of power in October 1917 anddissolved by force on the first day of its meeting, because,out of the total 36,000,000 votes cast, the Bolsheviks hadobtained only 9,000,000 and found themselves outnumberedby Socialists and Liberals. In China and East Europeancountries too, communists have seized power by militaryand conspiratorial methods, as we shall discuss in a latersection. It is therefore, difficult to say whether this totalrejection of parliamentary methods is a theoretical formu-lation or a dogmatic rationalisation of distrust aroused bya specific experience in Russian history.

1. Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. II Part II page 396, Moscow, 1951.2. Problems of Leninism, page 23, Moscow, 1947.

( XXXII )

Secondly, in Communist ethical thinking, the means tobe adopted for bringing about the proletarian revolutionshould be judged only from the point of view of expediencyand from no other point of view at all. Lenin told theThird All-Russian Congress of the Young CommunistLeague in 1920 as follows:ó

ìWe repudiate all morality taken apart fromhuman society and classes. We say that it is adeception, a fraud, a befogging of the minds ofthe workers and peasants in the interests of thelandlords and capitalists.

ìWe say that our morality is entirely subordi-nated to the interests of the class struggle of theproletariat. Our morality is derived from theinterests of the class struggle of the proletariat.î1

That is why Lenin could advise the Communists-ìto record to various strategems, artifices, illegal

methods, to evasions and subterfuges, only so as toget into the trade unions, to remain in them, and tocarry on Communist work within them at allcosts.î2 *

The Communist STRATEGY AND TACTICS should,therefore, be viewed in this larger perspective of a basicbelief in the necessity of violence and a completely amoraland instrumental attitude towards the means to beemployed.

What does the revolution mean? Stalin gives the defi-nition in his reply to Comrade Yan-sky:ó

ìLenin says that ëthe main question of everyrevolution is the question of state powerí. In thehands of which class or which classes is powerconcentrated, which class or which classes must be

1. Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. II Part II, page 483 (Moscow 1951).2. Ibid, page 379.* Our italics ñ ed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXXIII( XXXIII )

overthrown, which class or which classes must takepowerósuch is the main question of every revo-lution.î1

So the main question of the proletarian revolution isseizure of state power by the proletariat which in Stalinistcontext means the Communist Party, which is just anothername for a band of professional revolutionaries who havemastered the art of divide-and-conquer. What is this art?The Communist reply isóclass analysis, class characteri-sation and class war.

The communists analyse every society in terms ofclasses it may contain and characterise every class exactlyin terms of its role and ultimate fate in the communistrevolution. Each class is to be used against the other andliquidated when its utility is over and it attempts to sharepower with the Communists after the common enemy hasbeen overthrown. Now, all societies are generally consti-tuted by all or several of the following classes:

1) Landlords or Feudal Elements2) Capitalists or the Big Bourgeoisie3) Middle Classes or the Petty-bourgeoisie4) PeasantryóRich, Middle and Poor.5) Urban Working Class or the Proletariat.

Super-imposed upon this social structure may be aclass of foreign rulers in societies reduced to a colonialstatus. The communists must oust all these classes frompower, subdue and reduce them to a single classóthe wor-king class which will build Socialism under communistdictatorship. And this task has been neatly divided bythem into stages, each with its own comprehensivestrategy.

1. Problems of Leninism, page 178, Moscow, 1947.* Our italicsóed.

( XXXIV )

At each stage the communists, first, choose the mainenemy against whom the main blow is to be diretected.The main enemy is always the class which controls statepower at the particular time. Next thing they do is toorganise a ìUnitedî or ìPopularî or ìNationalî front ofall those classes who are hostile to the ìmain enemyî,irrespective of the difference in objectives after the ìmainenemyí has been overcome. And lastly, they paralyse orneutralise the ìvaccilating classî i.e., the class which can-not choose decisively between the ìmain enemyî and thecommunist ìUnited Frontî. The whole plan of this revo-lution is conceived dynamically, so that allies at one stagebecome enemies at another, till the Communist Partyemerges as the sole survivor and establishes its dictatorship.It is essential, however, that the communists retain leader-ship of the ëunited frontí at every stage. The implicationsof this strategy are:

1) Concealment of the ultimate communist aims fromthe ìtemporary alliesî in the ìUnited Frontî.

2) Devising of a common or ìminimum programmeîacceptable to the ìtemporary alliesî and as a plank formobilising the broad masses against the ìmain enemyî.

3) Advancing slogans which the ìvaccilating classîcan neither support nor oppose for fear of being identifiedwith one side or the other.

Shri Rajagopalachari, the present Chief Minister ofMadras State summarised the essence of Communist stra-tegy into a simple arithmetical formula, in his speech tothe Madras Legislative Assembly on July 3, 1952. He said,as reported in Hindu of 4th July :ó

ìI know how smooth and oily the Communistsare and how they get into every party on the basisof a g.c.m. and then convert that g.c.m. into anl.c.m. by multiplication. They take possession of

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXXV( XXXV )

the greatest common measure of grievances andthen multiply that factor by, what I call, exaggera-tion. When you exaggerate the g.c.m. becomes l.c.m.That is the arithmetical strategy of the communists.......It is built on the formula laid down in thescriptures of the Communist Party. It is the resultof a long research into human psychology. Findout the least common measure, and multiply it andmake it the common policy for everybody. Whenthis is arrived at the small fish is eaten by the bigfish. Then comes the Police Raj greater than anyPolice Raj, Mr. Nagi (Communist memberóouraddition) has described.î

Here it is relevant to clarify a very great confusionwhich is very widely prevalent, namely, that the commu-nists are friends of the middle-classes and the peasantry.Nothing is further from the truth as revealed in Staliníswritings, all of which discuss these classes with brutalfrankness. In basic communist thinking, these two classesare greater and more difficult enemies than the capitalistsand landlords who are only a handful and whoseelimination leaves big estates and giant factories ready forësocialist reconstructioní in the shape of large scale industryand collectivised agriculture. The middle classes and thepeasantry, on the other hand, are ëaddictedí to small scaleproduction and small agricultural holdings and because oftheir numerical strength are bound to offer bitter and stiffresistance to the eventual socialisation and collectivisationunder communist dictatorship.

Referring to small producers Lenin wrote in his Left-wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder:ó

ìThey encircle the proletariat on every sidewith a petty-bourgeois atmosphere, which permeatesand corrupts the proletariat and causes constantrelapse among the proletariat into petty-bourgeois

( XXXVI )

spinelessness, disunity, individualism, and alternatemoods of exaltation and dejection. It is athousand times easier to vanquish the centralisedbig bourgeoisie than to vanquish the millions andmillions of small owners; yet they by their ordinary,everyday, imperceptible, illusive, demoralisingactivity achieve the very results wich thebourgeoisie need and which tend to restore thebourgeoisie.î* 1

Stalin supports him in his lecture THE RIGHTDANGER IN THE C.P.S.U.(B):ó

ìAre there any factors in our Soviet Countrywhich make the restoration of capitalism possible?Yes, there are. That, Comrade, may appearstrange, but it is a fact. We have overthrowncapitalism, we have established the dictatorshipof the proletariat, we are developing our Socialistindustry at a rapid pace and are linking thepeasant economy with it. But we have not yettorn up the roots of capitalism. Where arethese roots implanted ? They are implanted in thesystem of commodity production, in small produc-tion in the towns and particularly in the ruraldistricts. As Lenin said, the strength of capitalismlies in the strength of small production. Forunfortunately small production is still very verywidespread and small production engenders capi-talism and the bourgeoisie, continuously, daily,hourly, spontaneously and on a mass scale.î2

Stalin describes the peasantry more specifically in thesame lecture :ó

ìLenin said that the peasantry is the lastcapitalist class. Is the thesis correct? Yes, it is

1. Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. II Part II, page 367, Moscow 1951.2. Problems of Leninism, page 230, Moscow, 1947.* Our italics ñ ed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXXVII( XXXVII )

absolutely correct. Why is the peasantry describedas the last capitalist class? Because of the twomain classes of which our society is composed,the peasantry is a class whose economy is based onprivate property and small commodity production.Because the peasantry as long as it remains apeasentry carrying on small commodity production,will breed capitalists in its ranks, and cannot helpbreeding them constantly and continuously. Thisis of decisive importance in the question of ourMarxism attitude to the problem of the alliancebetween the working class and the peasantry.î1

What is then the quality of this alliance between theCommunists and the peasantry? We have Leninís classicenunciation in his ATTITUDE OF SOCIAL-DEMO-CRACY TOWARD PEASANT MOEMENT:ó

ìAt first we support the peasantry in generalagainst the landlords, support it to the end and byall means, including confiscation and then (orrather not ëthení but at the same time) we supportthe proletariat against the peasantry in general.To try now to calculate what the combination offorces will be within the peasantry on the ëmorrowíof the revolution (the democratic revolution) issheer utopia. Without descending to adventurismor going against our scientific conscience, withoutstriving for cheap popularity, we can and do sayonly one thing. We shall put every effort intoassisting the entire peasantry to make the demo-cratic revolution, in order thereby to make it easierfor us, the Party of the Proletariat, to pass on asquickly as possible, to the new and higher taskóthe Socialist Revolution. We hold forth no promi-ses of harmony equalisation or ësocialisationí as a

1. Ibid., page 258, Moscow, 1947.

( XXXVIII )

result of the victory of the present peasant uprisingóon the contrary we ëpromiseí a new struggle, newinequality, a new revolution towards which weare striving.î 1

With greater frankness Stalin wrote to ComradePokrovsky who was obviously confused by conflictingslogans. Stalin stated:ó

ìReading your letter one might think that itwas not we who used the peasantry in the serviceof the proletarian revolution, but, on the contrary,that it was the ëpeasantry as a wholeí, includingthe kulaks, who used the Bolsheviks in theirservice. The Bolsheviksí affairs would be in abad way if they so easily enter the ìserviceî ofnon-proletarian classes.î2

To return to strategy, the same pattern is followed bythe Communists on the international plane. The countrieswhere Communists have achieved dictatorship form theìproletarianî vanguard in the task of international revolu-tion. The main enemy is the strongest non-Communistnation at the time. Non-Communist nations who areopposed to the main enemy form the Communist ìUnitedFrontî or ìGrand Allianceî while other nations, dividedin their hostility or loyalty to the vanguard and the ìmainenemyî have to be neutralised or paralysed. TheSTATUTES of the Communist International state veryfrankly.

ìIn order to overthrow the international bour-geoisie and to create an international SovietRepublic as a transition stage to the completeabolition of the State, the Communist Interna-tional will use all means at its disposal, includingforce of armsî.

1. Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. I, page 442, Moscow 1947.2. Problems of Leninism, page 196, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XXXIX( XXXIX )

Here we must clear up another confusion, namely, thatthe communists stand for national independence and self-determination of people, especially in countries underforeign domination. It is the same type of confusion aswe discussed above in respect of peasantry and the middleclasses. An appeal to Stalinís writings would provide uswith the correct communist attitude. In his lecture onTHE NATIONAL PROBLEM, he says:ó

ìFormerly, the national problem was regardedfrom a reformist point of view, as an independentproblem having no connection with the generalproblems of the rule of capital, of the overthrowof imperialism, of the proletarian revolution.Leninism has proved, and the imperialist war andthe revolution in Russia have confirmed, that thenational problem can be solved only in connectionwith and on the basis of the proletarian revolution,and the road to victory of the revolution in theWest lies through the revolutionary alliance withthe liberation movement of the colonies and depen-dent countries against imperialism. The nationalproblem is a part of the general problem of thedictatorship of the proletariat.*

ìThe question presents itself as follows:óArethe revolutionary possibilities latent in the revolu-tionary liberation movement of the oppressedcountries already exhausted or not; and if not, isthere any hope, any ground to expect that thesepossibilities can be utilized for the proletarianrevolution, and the colonial countries can be trans-formed from a reserve of the imperialist bourgeoisieinto a reserve of the revolutionary proletariat, intoan ally of the latter.

* Our italics ñ ed.

( X L )

ìLeninism replies to this question in the affir-mative ... ... Hence the necessity for the proleta-riat to supportóresolutely and actively to supportóthe national liberation movement of the oppres-sed and dependent peoples.

ìThis does not mean of course, that the pro-letariat must support every national movement,everywhere and always, in every single concretecase. It means that support must be given tosuch national movements as tend to weaken, tooverthrow imperialism, and not to strengthen andpreserve it. Cases occur when the national move-ments in certain oppressed countries come into con-flict with the interests of the development of the prole-tarian movement. In such cases support is, of course,entirely out of the question.î* 1

The THESES of the Communist International reflectStalinís basic thinking on national and colonial questions,THESIS no. 7 states:ó

ìThere are to be found in the dependent coun-tries two distinct movements which everyday growfarther apart from each other. There is the bour-geois-democratic nationalist movement, witha programme of political independence under thebourgeois order, and the other is the mass actionof the poor and ignorant peasants and sufferersfrom all sorts of exploitation. The former endea-vour to control the latter, and often succeed to acertain extent but the Communist Internationalmust struggle against such control and help todevelop class consciousness in the working massesof the colonies,î......The proletarian parties mustcarry on vigorous and systematic propaganda of

* Our italics ñ ed.1. Problems of Leninism, pages 61-62, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XLI( XLI )

the Soviet idea and organise the peasantís andworkerís soviets as soon as possible. These sovietswill work in close co-operation with the sovietrepublics in the advanced capitalist countries forthe ultimate overthrow of the capitalist orderthrough-out the world.î

Such, in concrete shape, is the Communist strategy forpeace-meal world conquest.

VI

Now we come to a consideration of Communist tactics,which are a subordinate part of strategy, but on the correctapplication of which in day to day struggle depends thesuccess of the strategy at each stage. The main outlinehas been discussed in the Chapter ëSTRATEGY & TAC-TICSí included in this pamphlet. We shall here examinethis question somewhat more specifically.

The Communists have an uncompromising singleness ofaim but they combine with it a great flexibility of appro-ach. The preparation for the proletarian revolution mustnot stop for a single moment, whatever be the ëobjectivesituationí. The ideal situation for the Communists, ofcourse, is the time when the discontent against govern-mental authority breaks out into strikes and demonstra-tions. If the communists can manage to et the leadershipin such a situation, they come out with insurrectionaryslogans. But at the same time, a mass movement led bynon-communists is regarded by communists with greatsuspicion and distrust and unless they can find somefoothold in it, they do their utmost to ridicule, discreditand frustrate the movement.

To ensure their leadership in times of revolutionarycrisis, therefore, they have developed tactics of evasion and

( XLII )

infiltration. They go to the people of all classes, not ascommunists, but as relief workers, trade unionists, prote-ctors of children, champions of women, defenders of civilrights, lovers of progressive art, preventers of cruelty toanimals, educationists, dramatists, literary critics, sports-men and as humanitarian and philanthropic associations,organizations and societies to spread their personal influ-ence and plant the Party Line as far as others would takeit. They have formed a host of seemingly non-politicalorganisations which work hand in hand with the Commu-nist International. The Comintern included the followingmain sections :ó

I. The International Trade Union or the Profintern, des-igned to infiltrate and control trade union move-ment in all countries. It had three offices: a) theTERRITORIAL dealing with trade unions, coun-try by country; b) PROFESSIONAL supervisingsyndicates of similar professions, and c) the CLAN-DESTINE, entrusted with transmitting of strikeorder and financial help etc.

II. International of Co-operatives.

III. The Red Sports International or the Sportintern.IV. The International of Red Combatants, which attem-

pted to organise ex-serviceman and reservists foraction aiming at: a) spread of anti-militarism innon-communist countries, b) formation of RedGuards.

V. The Womenís Communist International.

VI. International Federation of Communist Youthwhose aim was to ìmake every child a communist.î

VII. The International of Educational Employees withthe object of disseminating communist propagandaamongst teachers and professors.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XLIII( XLIII )

VIII. The International of Red Relief, which had a num-ber of secondary societies.

IX. The Anti-Imperialist and Anti-colonial Leaguewhich later cooperated with the Anti-FascistLeague.

X. The International of Socialist Lawyers whose taskwas to defend communist, in the courts as well asto introduce movements convenient to the commu-nists into the legislation of non-communist coun-tries.

XI. The International of Free-thinkers aiming at thecentralisation of the atheist movement of the world.

XII. The International of Sailors and Stevedors whichfounded ìSailorís Clubsî in all the larger ports ofthe world.

XIII. The International of Friends of the U.S.S.R.under which Friends of the Soviet Union Societieswere formed in all non-communist countries.

XIV. The International of Red Revolutionary Writersused for communist propaganda in literature andpublicity.

Under the Cominform most of these have reappearedwith changed names. The International Trade Union hasbecome World Trade Union Federation; InternationalFederation of Communist Youth has been reincarnated asthe World Federation of Democratic Federation. Thereare many more such as International association of Demo-cratic Lawyers; International Conference for Protection ofChildren; World Congress for the Defence of Peace whichdirects various Progressive Writersí and Artistsí Associationsand Partisans of Peace and so on. The old Friends of theSoviet Union Societies have all along been intact and havebeen supplemented by many other Societies for Friendshipwith new communist countries such as China and EastEuropean satellites.

( XLIV )

All these organisations work on one fundamental prin-ciple laid down by the famous German Communist, KlaraZetkin, in 1925:ó

ìThese Organisations must not carry placards with thewords ëCommunist organisationí visible from afar by theirred letters. On the contrary they should appear on theoutside as neutral organisations. It is indispensable thattheir committees should include representatives of all typesof opinion. What is, however, essential is that theCommunist Party should surreptitiously, give to eachorganisation its aims and its programme.î

That is why the name ìCommunistî is being droppedand words ìProgressiveî and ìDemocraticî used more andmore in its place. In an article in the Cominform Journal,ëFor a Lasting Peace: For a Peopleís Democracyí datedAugust 24, 1951 emphasis was laid on:ó

ìthe need to wage a tireless struggle in thetrade unions...the need for Communists to carryon daily work in the other mass organisations:Youth, Womenís and Peasantsí organisations, co-operatives, in the associations of ex-servicemenof the resistance movement, in sports and clubs,tenantsí associations, cultural societies, etc.î

These communist ìFrontsî give rise to the numerousìfellow-travellersî of the communists, who are mostlydupes or downright liars.

In order to assist the work of infiltration and to remainprepared for the day when the Party is suppressed, quite alarge part of communist activities in non-communistcountries are carried on secretly and illegally and theCommunist International gives specific direction in thisconnection. Thesis No.12 lays down:ó

ìFor all countries, even for most free ìlegalîand ìpeacefulî ones in the sense of a lesser

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XLV( XLV )

acuteness in the class struggle the period hasarrived, when it has become absolutely necessaryfor every Communist Party to combine systema-tically all legal and illegal work, legal and illegalorganisation.î

Further, condition No.3 for admission to the Cominternreads:ó

ìThe class struggle in almost every countryof Europe and America is entering the phase ofcivil war. Under such conditions the Communistscan have no confidence in bourgeois laws. Theyshould create everywhere a parallel illegal apparatus,which at the decisions moment should be of assistanceto the party to do its duty towards the revolution.* Inevery country where, in consequence of martiallaw or of other exceptional laws, the Communistsare unable to carry on their work legally, acombination of legal and illegal work is absolutelynecessary.î

These instructions and conditions led to organisationof communist groups more or less parallel to open Commu-nist Parties. Annals of every Communist Party in theworld go to prove that suppression of the legal party doesnot seriously affect the communist movement, unless someway is found to destroy the illegal apparatus, as the Nazisdid in Germany. Official Soviet sources admit the existenceof secret communist groups. According to Report of theDelegation of the Communist Party of Soviet Union(Bolshevik) to the 18th Congress of the Comintern inMarch, 1939, ìthere are thousands of Communists workingwith great devotion and sacrifice in conditions of compul-sory secrecy who are not to be found in any statistics.

In times of peace, the Communists follow tactics ofretreat such as revolutionary parliamentarism and

* Our italics ñ ed.

( XLVI )

revolutionary reformism. In this context the CommunistInternational enjoins upon all its sections as follows:ó

ìWhen there is no revolutionary upsurge, thecommunist parties must advance slogans anddemands that correspond to the every day needs ofthe toilers, linking them with the fundamental tasksof the Communist International.î

And as Sri R. Swarup puts it in this RUSSIANIMPERIALSIM:

ìGiven the ëfundamental tasksí the necessaryslogans can always be got up, firstly, because peoplealways have everyday needs of one kind or theother, and secondly, because ëneedsí of the people,not being a fixed quantity and not depending onany determinated criterion, and, left to beinterpreted by those who have ëfundamental tasksíof the Communist International to fulfil, can alsobe cooked up like the slogans.î

We should make a particular mention of the Commu-nist parliamentary tactics as elaborated by the CommunistInternational and as followed by the Communist parties incountries which have parliamentary institutions, but whichdue to democratic traditions or ignorance about communistobjectives and tactics or the mass strength of thesecommunist parties have not disallowed communist entryinto their parliaments, assemblies, and municipal councilsetc.

A whole section of THE THESES AND STATUTES ofthe Communist International is devoted to this problem.Thesis No. 4 of sub-section No. II reads:

ìThe bourgeois parliaments, which constitutethe most important apparatus of the State machi-nery of the bourgeoisie, cannot be taken over bythe proletariat any more than can the bourgeoisorder in general. The task of the proletariat consists

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XLVII( XLVII )

in blowing up the whole machinery of the bourgeoisie,in destroying it, and all the parliamentary institutionswith it,* whether they be republican or constitu-tional monarchy.î

Thesis No. 11 of the same section, however, directs theCommunists to join bourgeois parliaments and Thesis No.12 defines what work they should do:ó

ìThis work within the parliaments, consistschiefly in making revolutionary propaganda fromthe parliamentary platform, the denouncing ofenemies, the ideological unification of the masses,who are still looking up to the parliamentaryplatform, captivated by democratic illusions,especially in the objects and tasks of the massstruggle outside the parliaments.î

Thesis No. 14 relates to the election campaign andreads:

ìThe election campaign must be carried onnot for the purpose of obtaining a large numberof seats in parliament, but for the revolutionarymobilization of the masses around the slogans ofthe proletarian revolution. The election campaignmust be conducted by the entire mass of partymembers, not by the leaders along; it is necessaryto make use of and be in complete touch with allthe manifestations of the masses (strikes, demons-trations, movements, among the soldiers andsailors, etc.) going on at the moment; it isnecessary to summon all the masses of theproletarian organisations to active work.î

Sub-section No. IV of this section gives precise instruc-tions to the Communist deputies. Some of the THESESare reproduced below:ó

ì4. A Communist representative, by decisionof the Central Committee, is bound to combine

* Our italics ñ ed.

( XLVIII )

legal work with illegal work. In countries wherethe Communist delegate enjoys a certain inviola-bility, this must be utilized by way of renderingassistance to the illegal organizations and for thepropaganda of the party.

ì5. The Communist representatives shallmake all their parliamentary work dependent onthe work of the party outside the parliament. Theregular proposing of demonstrative measure, not forthe purpose of having them passed by the bourgeoismajority, but for the purpose of propaganda, agita-tion and organization, must be carried on under thedirection of the party and its Central Committee.*

ì8. Each Communist representative must rem-ember that he is not a ìlegislatorî. Who is bound toseek agreements with the other legislators, but anagitator of the party, detailed into the enemyís campin order to carry out the orders of the party there. TheCommunist member is answerable not to the widemass of his constituents, but to his own CommunistPartyówhether legal or illegal.*

ì9. The Communist representatives must speakin parliament in such a way as to be understood byevery workman, peasant, washer-woman, shepherd;so that the party may publish his speeches and spreadthem to the most remote villages of the country.î*

The emotional and tendencious speeches as well as theobstructionist behavior in general of our Communist M. Psand M.L. As in the newly constituted parliament andState Legislatures would amply prove that the Staliniststalwarts are minutely and meticulously obeying the tacti-cal instructions of the Comintern laid down 35 years ago.Incidently, these Theses would also explain the behaviour

* Our italics ñ ed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / XLIX( XLIX )

of representatives communist countries in the UNO andother world organisations. The fundamental purpose be-hind these tactics of retreat is also evasion and conceal-ment as stated by Lenin in LEFTWING COMMUNISM:AN INFANTILE DISORDER:ó

ìTo tie our hands beforehand, openly to tellthe enemy who at present is better armed than weare, whether we shall fight him, and when, is stupi-dity and not revolutionism. To accept battle ata time when it is obviously advantageous to theenemy and not to us is a crime; and the politicalleader of the revolutionary class who s unableëto tack, to manoeuvre, to compromiseí in orderto avoid an obviously disadvantageous battle, isabsolutely worthless.î

There are many minor forms of tactics besides themajor ones discussed above. Making all sorts of false,attractive and contradictory promises to every class, cha-racter-assassination and smear campaign against all oppo-nents, provoking street riots and police action, sowingsuspicion and discord amongst different classes, politicalparties and groups by an unceasing propaganda barrageon a sufficiently low level, and so on. Every crime,vice, sin, devilry, bestiality, treachery, backstabbing, lyingand cheating is turned into heroism and martyrdom, pro-vided the Party directs its perpetration in pursuance of therevolutionary objective. The history of Communist move-ment everywhere is full of dark and sinister deeds doneeven by educated, well-bred, upright persons who lost theirsense of absolute values under Party discipline and instruc-tions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

The Communist, of course, believe that they work uponobjective conditions which exist outside them and indepen-dent of them. But human mind, under the influence of a

1 Lenin: Selected Works, Vol. II Part II pages 403-4, Moscow, 1951, vii

( L )

dogma, very soon becomes capable of either seeing whatdoes not exist or creating what should exist according tothe dogma. Here we again feel tempted to quote fromSri R. Swarupís RUSSIAN IMPERIALSIM:

ìThey (Communists) say that their chancecomes when those they have decided to subjugate,have become ësufficiently entangled, and are suffi-ciently at loggerheadsí with each other. Knowingwhat they want and what conditions can bringthem what they want, they make every effort tobring about conditions that they know will bringthem what they want. They go about sowing dis-trust and division among those they have decidedto enslave.

ìOn the basis of their ëcontradictionsí, theyinvite the non-communist world to be locked in amutually exhaustive, threefold, cross-struggle;industrially backward nations to fight industriallyadvanced nations; industrially advanced nations tofight amongst themselves; and people within eachnations whether industrially advanced or back-ward to fight each other in what is called a ërevolu-tionary civil war.í The task of the communistparties is to ësharpení these contradictions andhelp the non-communist world to come to a headand seek a ërevolutionary solutioní of their contra-dictions by engaging in the threefold strugglecorresponding to the three-fold contradictions.

ìThey say to us ëLook, you are not producers,peasants, labourers, clerks, composers, shopkeepers,managers, engineers or teachers. On the other hand,appearances notwithstanding, fundamentally, youare mutual exploiters, bourgeoisie, proletariat,imperialists and colonials, henchmen and paidagents. The fundamental thing about your eco-

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LI( L I )

nomy is mutual exploitation and resultant produ-ction, if any, is a by-product.

ìAnd the Nietzcheís Zaruthustra they conti-nue, ëWe teach you war and civil war. If you areequally rich fight as class rivals. If you are un-equally rich or poor, fight as class enemies. Peoplewith income of Rs. 100/- come out and gird upyour loins. Fight and kill the people with Rs.200/-. But if the fight is too much for you unaided,unite with people of Rs. 150/-, to kill the peoplewith income above it and after that is done, youcan kill the people above. Rs. 100/-. We have aname for it: Paralysis of Classes.

ìThey continue, ëFight, kill; as long as youfight and kill, any reason is good enough, anycosmology is good enough, For as long as you areon the war path, you are on the right path. Neverforget that fighting and killing and mutual destru-ction, somehow, by some inner compulsion, myste-riously and miraculously add up to the strengthand growth of a society, to its pride and prosperityand happiness.î

Sri C. Rajagopalachari also analysed the usual Commu-nist doubletalk and promises to every class in the speechreferred above. He said:ó

ìCommunists are the champions of landlesslabourers, of small peasant proprietors. The busowners must look to the communists as theirchampions. Passengers and N.G.Os must alsolook up to the communists. Everybody, the middleclasses and the upper middle classes and the smallcapitalist who is allotted a high place in the list isto be championed by the communists. Commu-nists are at present champions of linguistic

( LII )

provinces. I remember the time when the commu-nists were vigorously arguing against linguisticprovinces as parochialism. At the present daythe communists are champions of handloomindustry, mill industry and of mill workers. Iwish to point out that the championship of thehandloom industry is in direct conflict with theideology of the communists about mills, and millworkmen, their bonus and emoluments. There isan eternal, permanent and inherent conflict in thecommunist jargon between the handloom industryand the mills.

ìAgain, the communists are the champions ofeconomy in administration. They are the champi-ons of retrenchment and at the same time thechampions of the retrenched men also. Commu-nists want economy, but they do not want retren-chment. Then again, Communists have becomechampions of Mangalasutram of women. Therewas a time when the communist doctrine had itsown views about marriage. The Communist Partyknew the trick of making compartments for allthese. The communists want all Police Stationsto be abolished. They want to have an easy walk-over. I am sorry, I cannot oblige them!î1

VII

One very vital point which is of supreme importance indetermining the Communist Party Line everywhere wasdeliberately left out by us in previous sections, that is, therelation of the Soviet Union with the Communist Inter-national and the duties and responsibilities of each towardsthe other. The Party Line would become perfectly

1 Hindu, July 4, 1952.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LIII( LIII )

understandable only after the nature of this relationshipis fully grasped. The readers would know from the ChapterSTRATEGY AND TACTICS included in this pamphletthat after the dictatorship of the proletariat is establishedin a country, proletarian revolution enters the third stage,that is, the stage of supporting revolution abroad. In thissense every communist dictatorship is an instrument, anda ìbase for the overthrow of imperialism in all countries.î

What Stalin has nowhere discussed in his basicwritings is the responsibilities of revolutionary forces innon-communist countries towards the countries wheredictatorship of the proletariat has already been established.He has, however, not departed from what he said on thedeath of Lenin in 1924:ó

ìLenin never regarded the Republic of Sovietsas an end in itself. To him it was always a linkneeded to strengthen the chain of revolutionarymovement in the countries of the West and theEast, a link needed to facilitate the victory of theworking people of the whole world over capitalism.Lenin knew that this was the only right conception,both from the international standpoint and fromthe point of view of preserving the Soviet Republicitself.* Lenin knew that this alone could fire theworking class people of the world to fight thedecisive battles for their emancipation. That iswhy, on the very morrow of the establishment ofthe dictatorship of the proletariat, he, the greatestof the geniuses who have led the proletariat, laidthe foundations of the workersí International. Thisis why he never tired of extending and streng-thening the union of the working people of thewhole worldóThe Communist International.î1

* Our italics ñ ed.1 Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. I Part I, page 25, Moscow, 1952.

( LIV )

What does Stalin mean by this ìpoint of view ofpreserving the Soviet Republic itselfî? Reviewing theinternational situation in his Report to the SeventeenthCongress of the CPSU (B) in January 1934, he said:ó

ìStill others, again, think that war should beorganised against the USSR. Their plan is todefeat the USSR, divide up its territory and profitat its expenses.î1

This fear of the ëbourgeoisí world plotting to destroythe revolution in Russia has been a constant obsession withStalin, not because facts have been or are there to justifyit, but mostly because his dogma tells him that capitalistsmust go to war to save their economy from collapse andthat a war against the USSR would kill two birds withone stone. Stalin, therefore, warned the ëwar-mongeringíbourgeoisie in the following words:ó

ìThere can hardly be any doubt that such awar would be the most dangerous for the bour-geoisie. It would be the most dangerous war notonly because the peoples of the USSR would fightto the very death to preserve the gains of therevolution; it would be the most dangerous war forthe bourgeoisie for the added reason that it would bewaged not only at the fronts, but also behind theenemy lines. The bourgeoisie need have no doubtthat the numerous friends of the working class of theUSSR in Europe and in Asia would do their best tostrike a blow in the rear at their oppressors who starta criminal war against the fatherland of the workingclass of all countries.* .............It can hardly bedoubted that a second war against the USSR willlead to the complete defeat of the aggressors, to

* Our italics ñ ed.1 Problems of Leninism, page 463, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LV( L V )

revolution in a number of countries of Europe andAsia, and to the destruction of the bourgeois-landlord governments in those countries.î1

While recounting the factors on which the USSR reliesìin this difficult and complicated struggle for peaceî,Stalin said at the 17th Congress in 1934 and repeated atthe 18th Congress in 1939, that one of the factors was ìthemoral support of the vast masses of the working class inevery country who are vitally interested in the preservationof peace.î2

We can, therefore, understand that the CommunistInternational is pledged not only to world-revolutions, butalso to the preservation of the USSR against all foreignattacks. An appeal to the THESE, STATUTES andPROGRAMME of the Comintern reveals that preservationof the USSR is a greater revolutionary responsibility. Oneof the conditions for admission to the CommunistInternational is as follows:ó

ìEach party desirous of affiliating to the Com-munist International should be obliged to renderevery possible assistance to the Soviet Republicsin their struggle against all counter-revolutionaryforces. The communist parties should carry on aprecise and definite propaganda to induce theworkers to refuse to transport any kind of militaryequipment intended for fighting against the SovietRepublics, and should also by legal or illegal meanscarry on a propaganda amongst troops sent againstthe workersí republics etc.î

That this fear of ìcounter-revolutionaryî attack onthe USSR is real, is also admitted by one of the THESESon National and Colonial Questions. It says:ó

ìthe political situation of the world at thepresent time has placed the question of the dicta-

1. Ibid., pages 463-464.2. Ibid., pages 465-66 & 606.

( LVI )

torship of the proletariat in the foreground, andall the events of world politics are inevitablyconcentrating around one point, namely, the stru-ggle of the bourgeois world against the RussianSoviet Republic.î

Discussing the REVOLUTIONARY COLLAPSE OFCAPITALISM, the PROGRAMME of the CommunistInternational declared:ó

ìThe class struggle which hitherto was cond-ucted in circumstances when the proletariat wasnot in possession of state power, is now being cond-ucted on an enormous and really world scale; theworking class of the world has now its own stateóthe one and only fatherland of the internationalproletariat.î

Elsewhere the PROGRAMME states:óìthe internal consolidation of the proletarian

dictatorship in the USSR, the success achieved inthe work of Socialist construction, the growth ofthe influence and authority of the USSR, amongthe masses of the proletariat and the oppressedpeoples of the colonies, signify, therefore, thecontinuation, intensification and expansion of theInternational Social Revolution.î

And the PROGRAMME lays down the duties of theInternational Proletariat to the USSR as follows:ó

ìIn view of the fact that the USSR is the onlyfatherland of the international proletariat, the princi-pal bulwark of its achievements and the mostimportant factor for its international emancipation,the international proletariat must on its part facilitate,the success of the work of Socialist Construction inthe USSR and defend her against the attacks of thecapitalist powers by all means in its power.î

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LVII( LVII )

Here it will do well to suspend the main argument andto discuss a subsidiary issue, namely, the part played bydifferent sections or Communist Parties in the shaping ofpolicies by the Communist International. Article No.8of the STATUTES reads as follows:ó

ìThe bulk of the work and responsibility inthe Executive Committee of the Communist Inter-national lies with the Party of that Country where,in keeping with regulations of the World Congress,the Executive Committee finds its residence forthe time being. The party of the Country inquestion sends to the Executive Committee notless than five members with a decisive vote. Inaddition to this one representative with a decisivevote is sent to the Executive Committee from eachof the other ten or twelve largest communistparties. The remaining parties and organisationsforming part of the Communist International enjoythe right of sending to the Executive Committeeone representative each with a consultative vote.î

The proletarian revolution on the Russian pattern wasconsidered to be imminent in a number of western coun-tries, especially Germany, when the Comintern wasfounded by Lenin in 1919. But no other revolution actu-ally took place. And since the Soviet Union was theonly country where Comintern was ever able to find resi-dence, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshe-vik), theoretically a section of the Comintern like (and onpar with) any other Communist Party, came to occupy anincreasingly privileged position. We have Stalinís owntestimony regarding this development. Analysing hisìdifferences with Bukharin on ìComintern Question,îhe said in 1929:ó

ìHow did our differences in this sphere begin?They began with Bukharinís theses at the Sixth

( LVIII )

Congress (of the Cominternóour addition) on theinternational situation. As a rule, theses are firstexamined by the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B).In this case, however, that condition was not obser-ved. The theses, signed by Bukharin, were sentto the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B) at the sametime that they were distributed to the foreigndelegations at the Sixth Congress. But the thesesproved to be unsatisfactory on a number of points.The delegation of the C.P.S.U(B) was obliged tointroduce about twenty amendments to thetheses.

ìThis created a rather awkward situation forBukharin. But who was to blame for that? Whywas it necessary for Bukharin to distribute thetheses to the foreign delegations before they hadbeen examined by the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B)?Could the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B) refrainfrom introducing amendments when the thesesproved to be unsatisfactory? And so it came aboutthat from the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B) thereissued what were practically new theses on theinternational situation, which the foreign delega-tions began to oppose to the old theses signed byBukharin. Obviously, this awkward situationwould not have arisen had not Bukharin been ina hurry to distribute his theses to the foreigndelegations.î1

One of the main points of difference was the questionof discipline. Stalin said in the same speech:ó

ìIn Bukharinís theses no mention was madeof the necessity of maintaining iron discipline inthe Communist Parties. That also was a defectof no little importance. Why? Because in a period

1. Problems of Leninism, pages 244-245, Moscow, 1947.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LIX( LIX )

when the fight against the Right deviation is beingintensified, in a period when the slogan of purgingthe Communist Parties of opportunist elements isbeing carried into effect, the Right deviationistsusually organise themselves into a faction, set uptheir own factional discipline and disrupt anddestroy the discipline of the Party. In order toprotect the Party from the factional stories of theRight deviationists we must insist on iron disci-pline in the Party and on the unconditionalsubordination of Party members to this discipline.Without that there can be no question of waginga serious fight against the Right deviation. Thatis why the delegation of the C.P.S.U(B) introducedto Bukharinís theses an amendment to this effect,and this amendment was subsequently adopted bythe Sixth Congress.î1

Thus, we see that the Communist parties from outsidethe Soviet Union were reduced by 1929 to the status ofìpoor relationsî whom the C.P.S.U(B) had not only tolead, but also to discipline. The rise of Fascism-Nazismand the defeat of the Spanish ìrevolutionî forced most ofEuropeís leading communists to become refugees in Moscowand they bore the full brunt of Stalinís purges which brokeout in 1937-38. About ninety percent of the leading for-eign communists normally resident in Moscow as membersof the Executive Committee of the Communist Inter-national, as political refugees, were either executed asìspies, saboteurs, wreckers, class enemies, mad dogs anddeviationistsî of some sort or another, or disappearedwithout trace. And the Comintern became an instrumentof the Soviet Government, especially the Commissariats forForeign Affairs and Defence.

This degeneration of the Comintern was accompanied,

* Ibid, page 245 Moscow, 1947.

( L X )

or caused, by the transformation of the Soviet Union fromthe base of ìinternational proletarian revolutionî into amilitarist and imperialist state which signed a secret pro-tocol with Hitler in 1939 for annexations of territory inEurope and acquisition of a colonial Empire in Asia, andwhich later exacted the secret Yalta Agreement for annex-ations in the Far East, as its pound of flesh in exchangefor a promise of war against Japan (which, of course,Russia never fought). The outcome was what Sri R.Swarup states in his RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM:ó

ìTo start with, in its expansive days, worldcommunism cast Russia in its own image. Butvery soon this Russia acquired her own ambitions,shape and impulsion under the leadership of Stalin.Now this Stalinist Russia in order to perpetuateand expand, in turn, had to create world Commu-nism in her own image.

ìIt will not help anybody to confuse or misun-derstand the true relations and the true order ofprimacy between these two forces. Today Russiais not an instrument of world revolution, butworld communism is an instrument of Russiannational expansion. This reversal of roles is nota new thing in history. It has happened again andagain. The author creates, but very soon thatwhich is created acquires a life, purpose and driveof its own, many times driving the author to do itsbidding. The eternal Frankenstein!

ìThis streamlined super-Imperialism is waginga two-front war: one internally in individual coun-tries through the local communists; the other inter-nationally through its own organised militarystrength. The two are very well co-ordinated toachieve the same imperialist end.î

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXI( LXI )

That is why the organisation of the Cominform has beenkept secret unlike that of the Comintern which was openand challenging in pursuance of Marxís declaration at theend of Communist Manifesto; ìThe Communists disdainto hide their aimsî. The world knows only a statementpublished in Pravda dated the 7th October, 1947 asunder:ó

ìAt the end of September, there took placein Poland a Conference of Information at whichparticipated the following communist parties.Yugoslav C.P. (Comrades Kardelji and Djilas),Bulgarian Workers Party (Comrades Ghervenkoand Poptomov); Rumanian C.P. (ComradesGheorghiudej and Ana Pauker); Hungarian C.P.(Comrades Farkar and Devai); Polish WorkersParty (Comrades Gomulka and Mine); BolshevikC.P. of the USSR (Comrade Zhdanov andMalenkov) French C.P. (Duclos and Fajon);Czechoslovakian C.P. (Comrades Slansky andBachtovansky); Italian C.P (Comrades Longo andReale).

ìA report on the international situation waspresented by Zhdanov. A report on the activitiesco-ordinating the Communist Parties was presentedby Gomulka. On this question, the conferencehaving in mind the negative phenomena producedby the absence of contact between the partiesrepresented, decided to create an InformationBureau. The task of this office will consist inorganising their activities on a basis of mutualagreement.î

This Zhdanov report is the notorious document whichlaid the basis of communist aggression everywhere, createdcivil wars in Greece, China, Philipines, Indo-China and

( LXII )

Malaya, inspired a communist revolt in Indonesia and theTelengana campaign of arson, loot, murder and rape in India.

So, obviously, there is no question of the Cominformbeing only a simple ëInformation Bureauí as claimed byPravdaís statement. On the contrary the Cominformconstitutes the most important wheels in the organisationof world conquest by a combination of Russian diplomacy,military might and the Russian fifth-columns as representedby the various Communist Parties and the fellow-travellingfronts. An important study of the general Organisationof the cominform was made in 1950 by the ìJournal DeGeneveî based on information from various reliable sources.The events that have followed since the study was madehave on the whole confirmed the exactitude of this study.

At the head of the Cominform stands the Russian Polit-bureau controlled by Generalissimo Stalin and consistingof 14 members amongst whom three are most important;(a) Malenkov who directs the organisation of the C.P.S.U(B) and allied communist organisations inside Russia; (b)Beria who controls the Surveillance and Security Serviceswhich depend upon the USSR Ministry of Sucurity calledM.G.B; and (c) Molotov who is the Supreme Commanderof the Cominform in its activities outside Russia. Amongstothers, Marshal Vorochilov directs military affairs, Mikoyanthe Economic Services and Suslov, propaganda or agitation.The departments of the Russian Government and theCominform are so closely integrated that the Russiandepartmental head also controls the corresponding Comin-form department.

According to the above mentioned study the CominformHeadquarters are installed in Bucharest in reservedpremises and include nearly 1,000 officials. It is dividedinto five principal departments:ó

Department No.1 or Propaganda

In 1950 it was under the direction of Edvard Kohlmanof USSR and counted 65 officials on its staff. There are

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXIII( LXIII )

sub-offices in Vienna as well as in Prague. This departmenthas supreme control over the revolutionary activities in allcountries which are divided into six zones or sub-sectionsnamely:ó

1. Slav States,2. German States,3. Latin States,4. South American States,5. Iberian States, and6. Colonial States.

It is significant that the Anglo-Saxon states are left outin this zonal division. The explanation is Leninist-Stalinistthesis of ìpiercing the imperialist chain at its weakestlinksî.

The leaders of the Third International wrote propheti-cally in July 1920 in their reply to the Independence LabourParty of Britain:

ìIt is probable that upon the throwing off ofthe chains of the capitalist governments, the revo-lutionary proletariat of Europe will meet the resis-tance of Anglo-Saxon capitalism in the persons ofBritish and American capitalists who will attemptto blockade it. It is then possible that the revo-lutionary proletariat of Europe will rise in unionwith peoples of the East and commence a revolu-tionary struggle, the scene of which will be theentire world, to deal a final blow to British andAmerican capitalism.î1

Department No.2 or Economy and Finance:

In 1950, its head was Rudolf Slansky of USSR, and thisdepartment is especially entrusted with the task of co-ordination, that is to say, the allotting of funds receivedfrom Moscow and other communist states for strikes,

1. The Times, July 30, 1920.

( LXIV )

sabotage and other help to various Communist Parties.A new political section under the department has beenestablished in Prague and is called the Economic Bureauor E.K.O.U.

Department No.3 or Political Department:ó

It is perhaps the most important department of all andin 1950 it had 150 officials directly under Mikhail Suslovmember of the Russian Politbureau. Its four impor-tant sections are:

a) Supervision, which directs the activities of the dip-lomats and secret agents in all non-communist countries,acting through Russian and Satellite Embassies and Lega-tions. It also controls the personal attitude of the Commu-nist leaders in all countries and establishes black lists inview of a war or for liquidating the opponents and undesi-rable.

b) Infiltration, whose supreme task is to set up commu-nist cells in all trade unions.

c) Youth, which controls the various youth and pioneermovements in the universities, amongst the peasants andthe working classes. The World Federation of DemocraticYouth is directly under this section.

d) Desinform, or section of Religious Affairs is mainlyconcerned with the Christian religion and directs the acti-vities of various Red priests and patriarchs.

Department No.4 or Bureau of Information and Enquiryó

In 1950 it had 50 officials working under Russian spe-cialists in research, technical studies, documentary publica-tions and compilation of secret records. This Departmentworks in direct collaboration with Department No.5, des-cribed below and with the Secret Services of Red Army.

Department No. 5 or Military Bureauó

In 1950 it was headed by USSR General Kironov whowas dependent upon USSR General Kovepack who in turn

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXV( LXV )

was subordinate to the Russian General Staff. Employingabout 350 officials it is divided into several sections e.g.Air, Armour, Artillery, Propaganda, International Brigadesand Partisans. It is this department which is concernedwith the setting up of various ëLiberation Armiesí and des-patch of ëVolunteersí of which we have a classic exam-ple in Korea.

According to the Communist Journal of Economic Ques-tions of the Cominform, the Communist Parties of the worldhad 23 million registered members in 1950 of which morethan half are in non-communist countries. But we shallrepeat that the number of members registered in a Commu-nists Party is far from representing the true number ofcommunists in a particular non-communist country, for thereexists a large number of secret communists as well as fellow-travellers who work and vote for communists but who arenot registered with the party. For instance, according toEdgar Hoover, Head of the FBI in the United States ofAmerica, although the American Communist Party numbers54,000 registered members only, there are about 540,000active communists in the U.S.A.

Here we shall also like to discuss the very importantquestion of financing these world-wide communist fifth-co-lumns of Soviet Russia, as it necessitates a budget of ex-penses nearly equal to that of a shooting war. Naturallythe greater part of the finances is provided by the StateBudgets of the communist states headed by the USSR.These funds are transmitted to foreign countries throughthe embassies and legations of the USSR and satellitenations. For this purpose, the USSR has declared a wholeseries of organisations such as the Tass Agency and theRussian Cultural Organisations abroad as ëState Orgnisa-tionsí having no connection with diplomacy but enjoyinga pseudo-diplomatic status.

The origin of these funds is manifold and complexbecause of the fact that they are allotted for very different

( LXVI )

designs in different areas and must remain absolutelysecret. We give below some of the methods of raising andtransmitting these funds:ó

(a) From commerce of the USSR and of the satellite states.There exist commercial agreements and commercialtransactions between the non-communist countries andnations situated behind the Iron-certain. In communistcountries all commerce is state controlled so that theGovernments can easily leave part of the money realised inforeign currencies at the disposal of their diplomaticservices abroad for assisting Cominform activities. Recentlyour Minister for Commerce declared in the Parliament thatthe Soviet Exhibition in Bombay had sold goods worth27 lakhs of rupees, and that the money had never beentransmitted to Russia.*

(b) Special organisations trading with a deficit in order toaccumulate foreign currencies for the actions of the Cominform.This type of organisations are represented by the E.K.O.Uor Economic Bureau mentioned above. One of the methodsemployed for obtaining funds in foreign countries consistsin ensuring the sale, mostly at a loss, of products exportedby the communist countries. Czechoslovakia, as the leadingindustrial country behind the Iron-curtain, is chieflyentrusted with this effort, and the Office of E.K.O.U is alsoestablished in Prague. According to recent informationthe Czechoslav industries sold in the countries of Asia andeven in West European countries, Czech motor cars forabout 50,000 crowns apiece while the cost price of the caris 100,000 crowns and the sale price in Czechoslovakiaitself is 200,000 crowns. Similarly Bohemian glasswareis sold in Western countries at prices sometimes 50% lowerthan of glass products by local industries. Most of themoney thus obtained is given to the Communist Parties ofdifferent countries.

* The exposure in our Parliament has resulted in immediate actionby the Russian Embassy & according to a recent Tass reportthe money has been transmitted.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXVII( LXVII )

(c) Monopoly of exports and imports with the countriessituated behind the Iron-curtain is given to communist firmsin non-communist countries. The Italian Governmentdiscovered in 1949 that big sums of money had beenbanked by the Italian Communist Party owing to the factthat the Cominform had given the monopoly for importsand exports with Russia and the Satellites to a certainnumber of Italian communist firms. These firms are directedby men chosen by the Communist Party and assisted bytechnicians coming mostly from Central Europe. It wasonly when visas were asked for in Rome from thesedifferent ëtechniciansí that the Italian Government realisedwhat was really happening. Similar methods are employedby the Cominform in every non-communist country.

(d) Gold transactionsóAccording to all reliable sources,Soviet Russia is the second biggest gold producing countryand possesses gold reserves which, including those ofSatellite governments in Europe and Asia, amount to about8 billion dollars. This production and the reverses are madeuse of by the Soviet Government to achieve their politicalaims in non-communist countries. Russia negotiates partof her gold production in the international market so asto obtain local currencies for financing the CommunistParties. According to official estimates the volume ofSoviet gold transactions in the Near and Far East is about100 million dollars per year, while a considerable mass ofgold is smuggled and altogether escapes official control.The clandestine circulation of Soviet gold generally goesthrough Hongkong, Bombay, Syria, Lebanon, Israel andAlexandria.

Controlled and financed in this way and ideologicallycommitted to ìdefence of the Soviet Union againstcapitalist attacksî and to ìsuccess of the socialist construc-tion in the only fatherland of the world-proletariatî, theCommunist Parties outside the Iron-curtain have longceased to be political associations and have become, in the

( LXVIII )

fullest sense, criminal conspiracies for spying, sabotage,infiltration and softening inside non-communist countriesin anticipation of eventual military conquest by ImperialistRussia.

We shall conclude this section by another quotationfrom Sri R. Swarupís RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM:

ìCommunism elsewhere, as a branch of com-munism in Russia, suffered a deterioration un-known in history. Colonial and socialist struggles inthe hands of the communist parties lost theirindigenous character and became counters in thechess-game of Russian foreign policy. When sheentered an alliance with France against Germany,the communist leaders in French colonies were toldto stop believing and preaching that France wasan imperialist country. When she entered into analliance with Germany against the whole world,the communists everywhere were told to stopbelieving that Germany was a Fascist country,and, instead, begin preaching that the rest of thenations were fascists.

ìWhen, as a direct result of Soviet-Nazi Pact,Hitler felt encouraged to invade France and Francefell, the French Communist party would not evenmention Hitler or Germany, but explained thewhole affair as an invasion of ìforeign imperia-lismî. They contributed to French weakness andconsequent defeat by organising strikes in keywar-industries.

ìLater on when Hitler turned on Russia andAmerica became an ally, Browder, the communistleader of America contemptuously dismissed thosewho talked of American monopoly-capitalism andwelcoming it said, ëCapital has a perfect right tomonopolies itself.í The American communistsëdissolvedí their party to allay the suspicions ofthe American public.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXIX( LXIX )

ìSo, we see that imperialism, monopoly-capi-talism, fascism or democracy are not definitethings or given quantities but highly changeablephenomena determined purely by temporary needsof Russian foreign policy. There are no socialists,communists, capitalists, democrats, fascists, impe-rialists, nationalists, bourgeoisie, proletariat,truthful men or scoundrels, but Russian needsmake them so.î

The nearest parallel is the International MAFIA which,starting as a peasant revolt against landlord oppressionin Sicily, is now organised as a gangster racket smugglingdrugs, contraband arms and unauthorised gold; carrying aworld-wide traffic in women and supervising armed robbe-ries, murders and every other conceivable crime in leadingcities of the world.

IX

With the degeneration of the Comintern alias Comin-form into an instrument of Russian imperialist expansion,the plan of ìWorld Revolutionî has also undergone arevision. Soviet Russia is no more interested in Communistrevolutions in far-off countries where the Communist Partiesmay slip out of her stranglehold and start an independentendeavour. The Communist Parties of the world can,therefore, be divided into two sections; a) those which areactive in countries on the borders of Stalinís Empire inEurope and Asia and b) those with whom no territoriallink exists.

The Parties in the first category are directed to set upìLiberation Armiesî equipped with Russian arms andguided by Russian advisers. One such ìLiberation Armyîhas already conquered China, another met a debacle inKorea, und yet others are engaged in Indo-China, Malayaand Burma. India, Nepal and Persia are also thought tobe mature for ìLiberation Armiesî. The ìLiberation Armyî

( LXX )

must be raised in provinces or zones directly linked withStalinís Empire so that communication, help and controlmay be feasible, and the hard core my escape into safeterritory if the enemy attempts an encirclement and offen-sive. That was the reason why the Chinese Reds marched6000 miles from the heart of China and established them-selves on the Northern Borders contiguous with Sovietterritory. That was why Russia organised the 1945 Commu-nist revolt in Azerbaijan province of Persia.

The Burmese, the Malayan and Viet-Minh Communistshave direct links with Red China. In Nepal, the ìLibera-tionî would start from borders of Tibet, where a ìLibera-tion Armyî of Nepalese Communists and adventures isbeing actively organised. In India, it would be a greatmistake to attach too much importance to Telengana wherethe Communists have acquired a stranglehold. Of course,Telengana would be fully exploited for a behind-the-enemy-lines guerrilla warfare. The ideal setting for Indiaís ëLibera-tion Armyí is Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and portions ofEast Punjab. That is the meaning of Kashmirís latestbid for ëspecial statusí and the Communist support forSheikh Abdullaís stand. The Kashmir National Conferenceis for all practical purposes a Communist organisation withmost of its leaders being secret or overt Communists. Asecond ìLiberation Armyî for India would be raised inthe North East. Bhutan and Sikkim are ripe to fall intothe Communist lap at any time. The North Bengal districts,predominantly Gurkha inhabited, are also excellent groundfor Communist activity. And the province of Assam, withits floods, famines, Nagas and other hill tribes and becauseof her direct contiguity with Communist China & NorthBurma, is going to be the central pivot of this North Eas-tern ìLiberation Armyî which would link up with itsNorth-Western counterpart via Nepal.

The present policy of the Communist Party of India isan application of the tactics of retreat. This policy has

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXI( LXXI )

been adopted, partly because the Communist Party ofIndia was threatened with collapse and disintegration as aresult of the Ranadive line forced upon them by the Co-minform in pre-Korea period of general offensive in Asiaand saw a great opportunity in the general elections of1951; but mainly, because Stalinís schedule in Asia wasrudely disturbed by the debacle in Korea and Stalin neededIndia as a temporary ally or, at least, as a neutral quan-tity in the international balance of power. Whoever elsemay be confused, the Communist Party is completely clearabout its future course. In their Statement of policy publi-shed on the eve of general elections, they say:ó

ìThere are a large number of people whothink that this Government can be replaced by aPeopleís Democratic Government by utilizing theParliament ushered in by the new Constitution.Such feelings are encouraged and fed not only bythis Government and the vested interests but evenby the right-wing Socialists, who preach that thevery fact of a strong opposition Party on the Par-liamentary floor will shake the Government andmake it topple down.

ìHistory, enlightened for us by Marx, Engels,Lenin and Stalin, places before us its vast experi-ence, arising out of struggles which have led thehalf of humanity to Socialism, freedom and realdemocracy, at the head of which stands the SovietUnion and in which the great Chinese and PeoplesíDemocracies join hands. Thus our main road isalready charted out for us.î

What is that main road? We should read Mao TseTungís massage to the ìIndian peopleî in 1949, two yearsafter we achieved independence. Stalinís satrap in Chinasaid:

ìThe Indian people are one of the great Asiannationalities with a long history and a vast popu-

( LXXII )

lation; the countryís fate in the past and her pathin the future are similar to those of China in manyrespects.

ìLike free China, a free India will one dayemerge in the world as a member of the Socialistand democratic peoplesí family. That day will endthe imperialist reactionary era in the history ofmankind.î1

The response of the Indian Communist Party is equallywarm and optimistic:

ìIndia is the last biggest dependent semi-colonial country in Asia still left for the enslaversto rob and exploit. But the Communist Partybelieves that India too will soon take its place inthe great nations of the world as a victoriousPeoplesí Democracy and take the road of peace,prosperity and happiness.î2

Here it would be of interest to give more specific atten-tion to the Cominform Organisation in Asia, because theremaining non-Communist countries of South East Asiasuch as Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, Malaya and Indiaare on the schedule of immediate conquest. The militaryand political support which China has undertaken to giveMoscow for the conquest of South East Asia is an impor-tant factor in the whole design. The main centre, there-fore, is the Bureau of the World Federation of TradeUnions for Asia and Australia settled in Peking sinceNovember, 1949, following the Congress of World Federa-tion of Trade Unions. During this Congress the orders forthe conquest of Southern Asia were given to the differentsections of the Ceminform concerned.

1. (R. Palme Dutt: The Indian Elections, Page 8, Peopleís Publi- shing House Ltd., Bombay, March 1952).

2. (Programme of the Communist Party of India, Page 24,October 1951).

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXIII( LXXIII )

There is a secondary centre called the Supreme Commu-nist Council having its seat in Hongkong. The activityof the Supreme Council is entirely directed by the Chineseand its membership is composed of 6 National Committeesfor activities in Indo-China, Siam Burma, Malaya, Indo-nesia and the Philippines, each including 5 directing mem-bers. Its task is to organise the Chinese populations in thesedifferent countries and secret communists are given a trai-ning course in Hongkong, before they become active intheir respective countries.

There are centres of advanced action in Mandalay, inBangkok and near the Chino-Viet Minh frontier, the exactlocation of which is still unknown. It is the responsibilityof the Chinese to raise guerrilla forces called ìliberationarmiesî such as are already active in Indo-China, Malayaand Burma. These liberation armies are reinforced withmen and supplied with arms by Communist China whohas a common frontier with Indo-China, Siam and Burmaand also Malaya through Red-infested areas of NorthBurma.

The entire activities of these Cominform centres areunder Russian direction. The main centre for Soviet poli-tical action is, of course, the Embassy of the USSR isPeking, but an advance centre for South East Asia inestablished in the Embassy of USSR at Bangkok whichgives instructions to Communist Party and distributesarms throughout the states of South East Asia as far asthe Philippines. The Soviet political action is backed bymilitary preparations in which Soviet Turkestan army andthe Far East Army are to play a very strategic role. TheTurkestan Army with its headquarters at Tashkent isentrusted with operations towards India, Sinkiang andTibet (the last two of which have already passed behindthe Iron-Curtain). The Far East Army with its headquartersin Vladivostok is entrusted with operations towards Burma,Malaya and Indo-China across South China.

( LXXIV )

The effective integration of these conquests alreadymade and to be made in due course, presents the USSRwith serious problems of communications. The Governmentof the USSR has, therefore, undertaken considerable workon the Trans-Siberian Railway which has now become, inthe greater part, a double track rail-road. Nevertheless thisRailway does not suffice and is too slow to ensure efficientcommercial and military communications over these vastareas. The Soviet Government has, therefore, developedthe vast, aeronautical organisation called Aerofloat. Itsnet-work covers more than 82,000 kilometers and includesabout 100 air fields or landing grounds with others underconstruction. The number of planes employed in this net-work is very considerable, and, as a matter of fact, thegreater part of the annual Soviet aircraft production ofapproximately 20,000 planes is now allotted to theAerofloat. This network runs along the Arctic Ocean andcovers Persia, Afganistan and the whole of Central Asia,China and North Korea.

From the political point of view, the Aerofloat networkassures the liason between all the countries of the commu-nist block and carries continuously thousands of politicalagents and civilian agitators who are transported forpropaganda actions in the Middle East, India, Pakistan,Burma etc., as well as innumerable civilian technicians whoare flown across Siberia to all the Far East. From thecommercial point of view, it assures the transport of goldand funds as well as that of all kinds of merchandise andmachinery.

From the military point of view, the part played by theAerofloat is equally important. The Soviet High Commandforesees that in war time the Russian armies in Europe andAsia would have to act independently, each one leaningon different industrial areas; but they, nevertheless,consider it indispensable that a close liason should be

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXV( LXXV )

maintained between these armies and that they should beassured of being well-supplied. To this end, experimentsare being continuously carried out throughout Aerofloatnetwork. Various types of planes are tried and a conside-rable number of pilots are trained for long-distance flights.In peace times the Aerofloat network serves the purpose ofdominating the satellite countries such as China, NorthKorea and Tibet.

This readiness for and preparation of armed struggle,however, does not mean that Communists would miss anopportunity to sieze power by parliamentary methods andunited front tactics, should such an opportunity exist any-where. But abolition of parliaments and liquidation ofnon-communist parties is absolutely inevitable, is a mini-mum programme of all Communist Parties. The history ofEast European ìPeoplesí Democraciesî is replete with thesetrojan-horse methods. The Communist parties were practi-cally non-existent in most of these countries, but the Russ-ian occupation forces brought Communist ëleadersí of eachnationality from their hideout in Moscow and imposedthem on each government. Invariably, the Communistsclaimed and obtained Ministries of Interior and War so asto transform the Police and the Army everywhere into ins-truments of the eventual the Communist coup. Then follo-wed the liquidation of Peasant and Socialist leaders in everycoalition and a forced merger of Peasant and Socialist par-ties with the Communist parties. And in this way, theseìPeoplesí Democraciesî became dictatorships of the Com-munists over the people. The same pattern would be follo-wed whenever the other parties are not informed and vigi-lant and walk into the Communist trap of United Front,Coalition Government and Common Programme.

Equally inevitable is the liquidation of local Commu-nists by the Russian M.V.D. after these Communists haveliquidated all other parties inside their countries and acqui-

( LXXVI )

red dictatorial powers. The old Stalinist method of discove-ring deviations and forcing confessions is employed foreliminating local communists who are suspected of natio-nalism and patriotism or who show resistance to Russianexploitation. Laszlo Rajk of Hungary, Gomulka of Poland,Traicho Kostov of Bulgaria, Rudolf Slansky and Clemen-tes of Czechoslovakia and Ana Pauker of Rumania, allveteran Communist leaders of many yearsí standing, havebeen washed down the drain of Stalinís ërevolutioní. Titoand Kardelj alone escaped the M.V.D. torture chambers.And the Chinese leaders are on the waiting list.

The parties in the second category, that is, those incountries not directly linked with Stalinís Empire are usednot for creating a revolution but as diplomatic counterwei-ghts, for sabotage, spying and other purpose of the coldwar. In a world war, these parties will fight for Stalin in-side their own countries and stab every national defencein the back. Thus, for instance, the Communist Parties inFrance and Italy are capable of capturing power immedia-tely, but Stalin knows that either these revolutions wouldbecome independent or lead immediately to a world war,which he does not want before he has gathered the entirelandmass of Europe and Asia under his heel, by peacemealmethods. So the French and Italian Communists leadabortive strikes and anti-American campaigns.

In this sense, it can be said that Stalin has given up thegoal of world revolution. But his goal of world Empirehas crept into its place and the language and instrumentali-ties used in either case are the same.

X

Quite a few people would see nothing wrong in Stalinísstrategy and tactics because they believe that the ìdicta-

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXVII( LXXVII )

torship of the proletariatî as established in Russia, has, atleast, abolished classes, exploitation and social injusticeand ensured food, clothing, education and employment foreverybody. We should be prepared, they will argue, for allthis treachery and travail, because the end result is somagnificent. This is, however, a question of facts andfigures which are available in plenty for anyone whocares to know. No one need go to ëbourgeoisí, ëimperialistíëAmericaní or ëBritishí publications to know the truthabout Russia. The entire picture can be built up by aclose study and scrutiny of Moscow publications. If ìsocia-lismî and ìcommunismî at all mean an equalitarian andprosperous society, Stalinís Russia is as remote from themas the primitive gorilla from Dr. Einstein.

Stripped of shibboleths and dragged out of our ìleftîintellectualsí guilt complex, the reality of Stalinís Commu-nism compares very favourably with the reality of Nazism-Fascism. An unbridled dictatorship, a monolithic partymachine, extensive secret police, vast concentration camps,an economy planned for and geared to total war, a fallingstandard of living, a mass hysteria engendered by mono-poly control of propaganda weapons, a calculated destru-ction of menís minds, an unquenchable thirst for world-empire, the far flung fifth-columnsófrom top to bottomthey are the same phenomena. A proof positive of theiridentical spiritual content is the ease with which Nazi-Fascists and Stalinists have slipped into one anotherísuniform in both Italy and Germany.

In Stalinís Russia, class privilege has attained unprece-dented proportions. On the one hand she flaunts thecourtier class, consisting of Party, Police and Army bosses,propagandists and technicians who live in luxurious apart-ments, holiday in magnificent country houses, move aboutin streamlined limousines, eat and drink choicest food andwines and whose wives frequent beauty saloons and jewe-

( LXXVIII )

llery shops in every capital city of the world. On theother hand, she has to hide the vast masses of pauperisedproletariat and peasantry who are underfed, underclad andmiserably housed; who slave without respite, without hope,but who have lost the right to complain as they couldunder the most primitive despot and who have to pretendbefore foreign visitors that by Stalinís grace, they enjoyan abundance of material welfare unknown anywhere inthe benighted bourgeois world!

In Stalinís Russia, ten to fifteen percent of the popula-tion consisting of the privileged classes consumes more thanfifty percent of the national income; a super-capitalistState exacts ultra-surplus value from proletarians andpeasants who have not acquired the means of production,but who have lost their trade unions, their village MIRS,their right to organise, protest strike and revolt and whohave to work on reduced real wages for longer hours!

In Russia, Stalin has planned and perfected an economyof want in which while the production of coal, oil, steel,zinc, manganese, tractors and tanks keeps souring up, thesupply of food, clothing and shelter continues to decline!As the number of co-operative and state stores and shopsincreases, their shelves become emptier and emptier andthe queues outside them grow longer and longer like eveningshadows! One has to see the wives and daughters of Sovietdiplomats and consuls on the eve of their return home,pressing each other inside departmental stores of thebourgeois world, to buy more of soap and tooth pasteas such things are scarce and costly in the SovietFatherland!

Stalinís Russia is a totalitarian tyranny overbrimmingwith ex-cathedra decrees of an unbridled despot, whereall freedoms stand irrevocably abolished, where fundamen-tal human rights are trampled under MVDís irresistible

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXIX( LXXIX )

jackboot, where there are no parliaments, no oppositionparties, no law courts with juries, counsels and publiclyknown law codes, where the secret police may knock atany door at any hour to remove whole families into innu-merable Lubiankas, where innocent people have to confessof having committed fantastic crimes, where ghastly purgestake toll of thousands every year and where millions findthemselves in Siberian slave labour camps, digging gold,felling timber, mining and transporting till death takespity on their carcases!

In Stalinís Russia, there is place only for court poetswho rhyme and sing to Stalinís eternal glory; there arepainters and sculptors whose brush and chisel are devotedto bestowing youth and beauty upon an ugly and agingpaymaster; there are novelists, dramatists and cinema-directors who take orders from the Politbureau, revise andrewrite and withdraw their work, confess errors and outdoeach other in a maddening orgy of denunciation and chest-beating; there are campaigners of hate who receive peaceprizes; there are charlatans whose scientific achievements areparaded in a thousand newspapers and periodicals; thereare patriots according to whom nothing was ever inventedor discovered by non-Russians and there are party linersaccording to whom comrade Stalin is the greatest philo-sopher, scientist, linguist, poet and artist of all ages!

Stalinís Russia is an imperialist monster who whilewhipping up an hysterical patriotism inland, is irrevocablycommitted to world-conquest; who while preaching politi-cal morality, peace and international law, steals and con-quers foreign territory, turning independent nations intosatellites; who forcibly removes foreign wealth into hercoffers and foreign nationals into her slave-gangs fordigging Volga-Don canals; who destroys the hard-core ofnationalism everywhere and imposes her home-trainedpuppets, his imperial colonial trade, his forced collectivi-

( LXXX )

sation and slave labour camps, his language andculture and from whose slavery there remains noescape till his head is scotched by some greater power !

This manifold degeneration of the Soviet Union is sym-bolised in the rise of intense national chauvinism, wegive a few examples. P.Y. Vyshinsky, a Russian writer,censured internationalism in the following words, in hisarticle ìSoviet PatriotismóThe Moving Force of the Deve-lopment of Socialist Societyî written in SovitskomSotsialisticheskom Obschestov, published from Moscowin 1948:ó

ìHumanism,óthey sayóis higher ideal thanpatriotism. The interests of humanity, it is said,are higher and more worthwhile than the interestsof oneís fatherland. Science is internationalótheysayóand therefore, it is said, it makes no differencewhere, when, and in what country a scientificdiscovery or a technical invention was made. Inthe epoch of developing international relations andconnections any discovery, it is said, will in theend become the general property of all countries...

ìAll these ëdiscoursesí are false sophism,concocted for the hypocritical justification of theirlack of ideas, their ideological-political back-wardness and ignorance, and of a hardenedindividualism, of a forgetting of their duty andresponsibility before the Soviet people, the Sovietstate, and Soviet science.

ìThis abstract ëhumanismí and ëinternation-alismí are lies, through and through, which shroudthe fact that the world is divided into two camps:the camps of socialism and democracy and thecamp of decaying, dying capitalism and imperia-lism. In these conditions, genuine humanism consists

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXXI( LXXXI )

first of all in care about the socialist fatherland (theUSSR), which alone is the embodiment of the idealsof humanism, the bulwark o freedom and democracy,the hope of all leading and progressive mankind.î*

Another Moscow Magazine, ìLiterary Gazetteî datedJanuary 1, 1949 wrote as under regarding the ìGreatLanguage of our Epochî:

ìLatin was the language of the ancient worldand the early Middle Ages. French was thelanguage of the ruling class of the feudal epoch.English became the world language of capitalism.Looking ahead into the New Year, into the future,we see the Russian tongue as the world languageof socialism.î

A dialectical explanation of ìSoviet patriotismî isprovided by the magazine ìBolshevikî in the issue datedNovember 18, 1947:ó

ìSoviet patriotism and national pride arebased on the realization of the world-historicsignificance of the successes of socialism and of theleading part of this country and her people in theworld history of mankind. The felling of Sovietnational pride is based on the understanding ofthe great and unequalled superiority of Sovietculture, ideology, science and morals.î

As a result, all scientific inventions, all geographicaldiscoveries and every bit of pioneer work in the field ofscience, art, literature, adventure, travel, sports etc.,have been claimed by the Russians as their own contribu-tions, which the ìbourgeoisî West has either stolen orcopied. And to top the edifice is the cult of Stalin, ìtheleader, father and teacher of the working class of the

* Our italicsóed.

( LXXXII )

whole world.î SOVIET STATE AND LAW, No.4, 1950says:ó

ìComrade Stalin is the greatest Marxist, thegreatest Leninist, the brilliant continuer of thegreat cause of Marx-Engels-Lenin....All the mostimportant questions of scientific socialism, politicaleconomy, philosophy, law, governmental, economic,and cultural construction, military affairs,literature and art have received the utmostdevelopment in the works of Comrade Stalin.î

As early as 1st February, 1935 Pravda carried thespeech and photograph of a writer Avdeyenko, entitledìWhy I Applaud Stalin.î Some portions are quotedbelow:ó

ìCenturies shall elapse and the communistgenerations of the future will deem us the happiestof all mortals that have inhabited this planetthroughout the ages, because it is we who haveseen Stalin, the leader, genius, Stalin the sage, thesmiling, the kindly, the supremely simple...

ìWhen I met Stalin, even at a distance, Ithrobbed with his forcefulness, his magnetism andhis greatness. I wanted to sing, to shriek, to howlfrom happiness and exaltation.

ìOur love, our devotion, our strength, ourheart, our heroism, our lifeóall these are thine,great Stalin! Here take them, all this is thine, chiefof great fatherland. Dispose of them, thy sons,capable of heroic feats in the air, under the earth,on the waters, and in the stratosphere...

ìMen of all times and of all nations shall callby thy name all that is beautiful, strong, wise and

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXXIII( LXXXIII )

pretty. Thy name is and shall remain on everyfactory, every machine, every bit of land, and inthe heart of every man...

ìWhen my beloved will bear me my child, thefirst word I shall teach him will beóSTALIN!

ìI am not infected with any disease, I amstrong, I cherish in my bosom the very finesthuman feelings: love, devotion, honesty, self-sacrifice, heroism, disinterestednessóall thanksto thee, great educator Stalin! I write books, I ama writer, I dream of creating a work which willnever be forgotten, I love a girl in a new way, Iprocreate my kind, and it shall be a happy oneall thanks to thee, great educator Stalin...

ìI am happy, full of joy of living, I am un-shakably bold, I go to sleep with greatest sorrow,I wake up happy, I will live to be 100 years old,my hair will turn white, but I will remain eternallyhappy and radiantóall thanks to thee, greateducator Stalin

ìI can fly to the moon, travel to the Arctic,invent a new machine, for my creative energy isnot trampled by anybodyóall thanks to theegreat educator Stalin...

Songs like the following are written in homage toStalin:ó

ëO great Stalin, O leader of the peoples,

Thou who broughtest man to birth,

Thou who fructifiest the earnth,

Thou who restorest the centuries,

Thou who makest bloom the spring,

( LXXXIV )

Thou who makest vibrate the musical cords,

Thou, splendour of my spring, O Thou,

Sun reflected by millions of hearts...1

ìI would have compared him to a white mountainóbut the mountain has a summit.

ìI would have compared him to the depths of theseaóbut the seas has a bottom.

ìI would have compared him to the shinning moonóbut the moon shines at midnight, not at

noon.

ìI would have compared him to the brilliant sunóbut the sun radiates at noon, not at mid-

night.2

All this treachery and betrayal does not become obviousto the communists outside the Iron Curtain, partlybecause a communist only shouts slogans without thinking,distributes literature which he never reads and indulges indirty, malicious abuse when invited for discussion; but,mainly, because the whole communist indoctrination leadsto an acceptance of double standards, double-talk, double-think. The best illustration is communist attitude to waras defined by Lenin:ó

ìIf war is waged by the exploiting class withthe object of strengthening its class rule, such awar is a criminal war and defencism in such a waris a base betrayal of socialism. If war is wagedby the proletariat after it has conquered thebourgeoisie in its own country and is waged with

1. Pravda, August 28, 1936.2. Znamye (Soviet Authorsí Union Monthly), October, 1948.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXXV( LXXXV )

the object of strengthening and extending socialismsuch a war is legitimate and holyî.

So the spread of Stalinís slave empire becomes for thecommunists the spread of ìsocialismî ìproletarianismîand all other slogan-worlds, till they are picked up by theRussian MVD at dead of night, tortured and made toconfess that they had been Anglo-American spies, sabo-teurs, wreckers, mad-dogs, cosmopolitans, individualists,humanists, Titoists, Trotskyites, monarchists, fascists andmany other forms of ìevilî ever since their mothers con-ceived them. Thus, the police action against Nizam bythe Indian Union become an ìimperialistî crime, while therape of the Republic of Korea and Tibet was only ìlibera-tion.î Thus, the communist leaders in France, Italy andeven far off Australia declared publicly that if Soviettroops enter their countries, the ìproletariatî would hear-tily welcome them!

But why should the non-communists indulge in cockand bull stories about an imagined communism whichStalin is supposedly trying to achieve? Because someof us do not care to know the truth, because we are intelle-ctually lazy, morally indifferent and spiritually undecided.The pious political illiterates felt outraged at the doingsof Hitler and his Nazis and thought that Hitler hadbetrayed them when, in actual fact, the Great Dictatorwas only practising what he sincerely believed, and whathe had candidly and honestly stated in his MIEN KEMPFyears before he came to power. There is a lesson for us inthis precedent. If we do not agree with the goal and pathof Stalin, let us make up our mind right now and startdoing all we can to defeat the communist movement in ourcountry and the world. If we isolate, expose and defeatStalinís fifth-columns masquerading as ìproletariatî andìpeopleî under our noses, in our homes, schools, fields,

( LXXXVI )

factories and everywhere else, Stalin would have to pause,ponder and finally give up his goal of World Conquestin Instalments.

* *

I am deeply grateful to Shri Gouri Shankar Mohta forpreparing the Notes which appear at the end of this bookand to Shri D.C. Dutt for his extreme care in readingthe proofs.

SITA RAM GOEL

9, P.K. Tagore Street,Calcutta,9.8.52.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / LXXXVII( LXXXVII )

SOVIET EXPANSION SINCE 1939.Territories Annexed. Area. Population.

(Sq. Miles) (before anne-xation)

1. Rumanian Provinces 19,087 3,700,0002. Estonia 18,022 1,122,0003. Latvia 25,019 1,951,0004. Lithuania 21,178 2,957,0005. Northern East Prussia 5,323 1,187,0006. Eastern Czechoslovakia 4,829 731,0007. Eastern Poland 68,821 11,800,0008. Finnish Provinces 17,338 450,0009. Tannu Tuva 63,041 65,000

10. Japanese Possessions 17,528 433,000

TOTAL ... ... 260,186 24,396,000

SATELLITES CONTROLLED.

11. Albania 10,909 1,186,00012. Bulgaria 42,167 7,160,00013. Czechoslovakia* 48,555 12,463,00014. Eastern Germany 42,243 18,807,00015. Hungary 35,361 9,224,00016. Poland* 118,555 24,500,00017. Rumania* 90,190 16,007,00018. China 3,688,327 450,000,00019. Outer Mongolia 616,388 2,000,00020. North Korea 47,757 9,100,000

TOTAL ... ... 4,740,452 550,447,000TOTAL SOVIETDOMINATED: ... 5,000,638 574,843,000

* Parts not annexedSEE MAP INSIDE (countries identified by number as

listed above)

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 1

From FOUNDATIONS OF LENINISM

byJ. V. STALIN.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 3

I

THE ORY

From this theme I take three questions:a) the importance of theory for the proletarian

movement;b) criticism of the ìtheoryî of spontaneity1;c) the theory of the proletarian revolution.1. The importance of theory. Some think that Leninism

is the precedence of practice over theory in the sense thatits main point is the translation of the Marxian theses intodeeds, their ìexecutionî; as for theory, it is alleged thatLeninism is rather unconcerned about it. We know thatPlekhanov2 time and again chaffed Lenin about his ìuncon-cernî for theory, and particularly for philosophy. Wealso know that theory is not held in great favour by manypresent-day Leninist practical workers, particularly inview of the immense amount of practical work imposedupon them by present circumstances. I must declare thatthis more than odd opinion about Lenin and Leninism isquite wrong and bears no relation whatever to the truth;that the attempt of practical workers to brush theory asideruns counter to the whole spirit of Leninism and is fraughtwith serious dangers to the cause.

Theory is the experience of the working-class movementin all countries taken in its general aspect. Of course,theory becomes purposeless if it is not connected withrevolutionary practice, just as practice gropes in the darkif its path is not illumined by revolutionary theory. Buttheory can become a tremendous force in the working-classmovement if it is built up in indissoluble connection withrevolutionary practice; for theory, and theory alone, cangive the movement confidence, the power of orientation,

and an understanding of the inner relation of currentevents; for it, and it alone, can help practice to discernnot only how and in which direction classes are moving atthe present time, but also how and in which direction theywill move in the near future. None other than Leninuttered and repeated scores of times the well-known thesisthat:

ìWithout a revolutionary theory there can be no revolu-tionary movement.î* (Vol. IV, p. 380.)

Lenin, better than anyone else, understood the greatimportance of theory, particularly for a Party such as ours,in view of the role of vanguard fighter of the internationalproletariat which has fallen to its lot, and in view of thecomplicated internal and international situation in whichit finds itself. Foreseeing this special role of our Partyas far back as 1902, he thought it necessary even then topoint out that:

ìThe role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by aparty that is guided by the most advanced theory.î (Vol.IV, p. 380.)

It need hardly be proved that now, when Leninís pre-diction about the role of our Party has come true, thisthesis of Leninís acquires particular force and particularimportance.

Perhaps the most striking expression of the greatimportance which Lenin attached to theory is the fact thatnone other than Lenin undertook the very serious task ofgeneralizing, in line with the materialist philosophy, themost important achievements of science from the time ofEngels down to his own time, as well as of subjecting tocomprehensive criticism the antimaterialistic trends amongMarxists. Engels said that ìmaterialism must assume anew aspect with every new great discovery.î It is wellknown that none other than Lenin accomplished this task

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* My italicsóJ. S.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 5

for his own time in his remarkable work Materialism andEmpirio-Criticism 3. It is well known that Plekhanov,who loved to chaff Lenin about his ìunconcernî for philo-sophy, did not even dare to make a serious attempt toundertake such a task.

2. Criticism of the ìtheoryî of spontaneity, or the role ofthe vanguard in the movement. The ìtheoryî of spontaneityis a theory of opportunism, a theory of worshipping thespontaneity of the labour movement, a theory which actu-ally repudiates the leading role of the vanguard of theworking-class, of the party of the working-class.

The theory of worshipping spontaneity is decidedlyopposed to the revolutionary character of the working-classmovement; it is opposed to the movement taking the lineof struggle against the foundations of capitalism; it standsfor the idea of the movement proceeding exclusively alongthe line of ìrealizableî demands, of demands ìacceptableîto capitalism; it stands entirely for the ìline of leastresistance.î The theory of spontaneity is the ideology oftrade unionism.

The theory of worshipping spontaneity is decidedlyopposed to lending the spontaneity movement conscious-ness and system. It is opposed to the idea of the Party mar-ching at the head of the working-class, of the Party raisingthe masses to the level of consciousness, of the Party lead-ing the movement; it stands for the idea that the consciouselements of the movement must not hinder the movementfrom taking its own course; it stands for the idea that theParty is only to head the spontaneous movement and followin its tail. The theory of spontaneity is the theory ofbelittling the role of the conscious element in the movement,the ideology of ìkhvostism 4îóthe logical basis of allopportunism.

In practice this theory, which appeared on the sceneeven before the first revolution in Russia, led its adherents,the so-called ìEconomists 5î, to deny the need for an

( 3 )

independent workers party in Russia, to oppose the revolu-tionary struggle of the working-class for the overthrow ofTsardom, to preach a purely trade-unionist policy in themovement, and, in general, to surrender the labour move-ment to the hegemony of the liberal bourgeoisie.

The fight of the old Iskra 6 and the brilliant criticism ofthe theory of ìkhvostismî in Leninís pamphlet What Is ToBe Done 7? not only smashed so-called Economism, butalso created the theoretical foundations for a truly revolu-tionary movement of the Russian working class.

Without this fight it would have been quite useless evento think of creating an independent workersí party inRussia and of its playing a leading part in the revolution.

But the theory of worshipping spontaneity is not anexclusively Russian phenomenon. It is extremely wide-spreadóin a somewhat different form, it is trueóin all theparties of the Second International 8, without exception. Ihave in mind the so-called ìproductive forcesî theory9

debased by the leaders of the Second Internationalóatheory that justifies everything and conciliates everybody,that records facts and explains them only after everyonehas become sick and tired of them, and, having recordedthem, rests content. Marx said that the materialist theorycould not confine itself to explaining the world, that it mustalso change it. But Kautsky10 and Co. are not concernedwith this; they prefer to rest content with the first partof Marxís formula.

Here is one of the numerous examples of the applicationof this ìtheoryî. It is said that before the imperialist warthe parties of the Second International threatened to de-clare ìwar against war11î if the imperialists should start awar. It is said that on the very eve of the war these partiespigeonholed the ìwar against warî slogan and applied anopposite slogan, viz., ìwar for the imperialist fatherlandî.It is said that as a result of this change of slogans millionsof workers were sent to their death. But it would be a

( 4 )

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 7

mistake to think that there must have been people whowere to blame for this, that someone was unfaithful to theworking class or betrayed it. Not at all! Everythinghappened as it should have happened. Firstly, because theInternational, it is alleged, is ìan instrument of peaceîand not of war. Secondly, because, in view of the ìlevelof the productive forcesî which then prevailed, there wasnothing else that could be done. The ìproductive forcesîare ìto blameî. This is the precise explanation vouchsafedto ìusî by Mr. Kautskyís ìproductive forces theory.î Andwhoever does not believe in this ìtheoryî is not a Marxist.The role of the parties? Their importance for the move-ment? But what can a party do against so decisive afactor as the ìlevel of the productive forcesî?...

One could cite a host of similar examples of the falsifi-cation of Marxism.

It is hardly necessary to prove that this spurious ìMar-xism,î designed to hide the nakedness of opportunism, ismerely a European variety of the selfsame theory ofìkhvostismî which Lenin fought even before the firstRussian revolution.

It is hardly necessary to prove that the demolition ofthis theoretical falsification is a prerequisite for the creationof truly revolutionary parties in the West.

3. The theory of the proletarian revolution. The Leninisttheory of the proletarian revolution proceeds from threefundamental theses.

First Thesis: The domination of finance capital in theadvanced capitalist countries: the issue of stocks and bondsas one of the principal operations of finance capital; theexport of capital to the sources of raw materials, which isone of the foundations of imperialism; the omnipotence of afinancial oligarchy, which is the result of the domination offinance capitalóall this reveals the grossly parasitic charac-ter of monopolist capitalism, makes the yoke of the capital-ist trusts and syndicates a hundred times more burdensome,

( 5 )

it intensifies the indignation of the working class with thefoundations of capitalism, and brings the masses to theproletarian revolution as their only salvation. (See Lenin,Imperialism12).

Hence the first conclusion: intensification of the revo-lutionary crisis within the capitalist countries and growthof the elements of an explosion on the internal, proletarianfront in the ìmother countries.î

Second Thesis: The increase in the export of capital tothe colonies and dependent countries; the expansion ofìspheres of influenceî and colonial possessions until theycover the whole globe; the transformation of capitalisminto a world system of financial enslavement and colonialoppression of the vast majority of the population of theearth by a handful of ìadvancedî countriesóall this has,on the one hand, converted the separate national economiesand national territories into links in a single chain calledworld economy, and, on the other hand, split the populationof the globe into two camps: a handful of ìadvancedî capi-talist countries which exploit and oppress vast colonies anddependencies, and the vast majority consisting of colonialand dependent countries which are compelled to fight fortheir liberation from the imperialist yoke. (See Imperialism).

Hence the second conclusion: intensification of therevolutionary crisis in the colonial countries and growthof the elements of revolt against imperialism on theexternal, colonial front.

Third Thesis: The monopolistic possession of ìspheres ofinfluenceî and colonies; the uneven development of capita-list countries, leading to a frenzied struggle for the re-divi-sion of the world between the countries which have alreadyseized territories and those claiming their ìshareî; imperia-list wars as the only means of restoring the disturbed ìequi-libriumîóall this leads to the intensification of the struggleon the third front, the intercapitalist front, which weakensimperialism and facilitates the amalgamation of the first

( 6 )

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 9

two fronts against imperialism: the front of the revolu-tionary proletariat and the front of colonial emancipation.(See Imperialism.)

Hence the third conclusion: that under imperialismwars cannot be averted, and that a coalition betweenthe proletarian revolution in Europe and the colonialrevolution in the East in a united world front of revolutionagainst the world front of imperialism is inevitable.

Lenin combines all these conclusions into one generalconclusion that ìimperialism is the eve of the socialistrevolution.î* (Vol. XIX, p. 71.)

The very approach to the question of the proletarianrevolution, of the character of the revolution, of its scope,of its depth, the scheme of the revolution in general,changes accordingly.

Formerly13, the analysis of the prerequisites for theproletarian revolution was usually approached from thepoint of view of the economic state of individual countries.Now, this approach is no longer adequate. Now the mattermust be approached from the point of view of the economicstate of all or the majority of countries, from the point ofview of the state of world economy; for individual countriesand individual national economies have ceased to be self-sufficient units, have become links in a single chain calledworld economy; for the old ìculturedî capitalism hasevolved into imperialism, and imperialism is a world systemof financial enslavement and colonial oppression of the vastmajority of the population of the earth by a handful ofìadvancedî countries.

Formerly it was the accepted thing to speak of theexistence or absence of objective conditions for theproletarian revolution in individual countries, or, to be moreprecise, in one or another developed country. Now thispoint of view is no longer adequate. Now we must speak

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* My italicsóJ. S.

of the existence of objective conditions for the revolution in theentire system of world imperialist economy as an integralunit;* the existence within this system of some countriesthat are not sufficiently developed industrially cannotserve as an insurmountable obstacle to the revolution, ifthe system as a whole, or, more correctly, because thesystem as a whole is already ripe for revolution.

Formerly it was the accepted thing to speak of theproletarian revolution in one or another developed countryas of a separate and self-sufficient entity opposing aseparate national front of capital as its antipode. Nowwe must speak of the world proletarian revolution,* for theseparate national fronts of capital have become links of asingle chain called the world front of imperialism, whichmust be opposed by a common front of the revolutionarymovement in all countries.

Formerly the proletarian revolution was regarded exclu-sively as the result of the internal development of a givencountry. Now, this point of view is no longer adequate.Now the proletarian revolution must be regarded primarilyas the result of the development of the contradictions withinthe world system of imperialism, as the result of the breakingof the chain of the imperialist world front in one country oranother.*

Where will the revolution begin ? Where, in whatcountry, can the front of capital be pierced first ?

Where industry is more developed, where the proletariatconstitutes the majority, where there is more culture,where there is more democracyóthat was the reply usuallygiven formerly.

No, objects the Leninist theory of revolution; not nece-ssarily where industry is more developed, and so forth. Thefront of capital will be pierced where the chain of imperia-lism is weakest, for the proletarian revolution is the result

( 8 )

* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 11

of the breaking of the chain of the world imperialist front atits weakest link; and it may turn out that the country whichhas started the revolution, which has made a breach in thefront of capital, is less developed in a capitalist sense thanother, more developed, countries, which have, however,remained within the framework of capitalism.*

In 1917 the chain of the imperialist world front provedto be weaker in Russia than in the other countries. It wasthere that the chain gave way and provided an outlet forthe proletarian revolution. Why? Because in Russia agreat popular revolution was unfolding, and at its headmarched the revolutionary proletariat, which had such animportant ally as the vast mass of the peasantry who wereoppressed and exploited by the landlords. Because therevolution there was opposed by such a hideous representa-tive of imperialism as tsarism, which lacked all moralprestige and was deservedly hated by the whole population.The chain proved to be weaker in Russia, although thatcountry was less developed in a capitalist sense than, sayFrance or Germany, England or America.

Where will the chain break in the near future? Again,where it is weakest. It is not precluded that the chain maybreak, say, in India. Why? Because that country has ayoung, militant, revolutionary proletariat, which has suchan ally as the national liberation movementóan undoubtedlypowerful and undoubtedly important ally. Because there therevolution is confronted by such a well-known foe as foreignimperialism, which lacks all moral credit and is deservedlyhated by the oppressed and exploited masses of India.*

It is also quite possible that the chain will break inGermany. Why ? Because the factors which are operating,say, in India are beginning to operate in Germany as well;

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* Our italicsóed. It may be noted that while Stalin made thisstatement in 1924, it is still regarded as valid because accordingto Communist thinking India is still under foreign imperialism.

but, of course, the enormous difference in the level of deve-lopment between India and Germany cannot but stampits imprint on the progress and outcome of a revolution inGermany.

That is why Lenin said that:ìThe West-European capitalist countries are consummating

their development towards Socialism not ... by the gradualëmaturingí of Socialism, but by the exploitation of some countriesby others, by the exploitation of the first of the countries to bevanquished in the imperialist war combined with the exploitationof the whole of the East. On the other hand, precisely as a resultof the first imperialist war, the East has been definitely drawn intothe revolutionary movement, has been definitely drawn into thegeneral maelstrom of the world revolutionary movementî (Vol.XXVII, p. 415-16)

Briefly, the chain of the imperialist front must, as a rule,give way where the links are weaker and, at all events, notnecessarily where capitalism is more developed, where thereis such and such a percentage of proletarians and such andsuch a percentage of peasants, and so on.

That is why in deciding the question of proletarian revo-lution statistical estimates of the percentage of the proletarianpopulation in a given country lose the exceptional importanceso eagerly attached to them by the bigoted doctrinaires of theSecond International, who have not understood imperialismand who fear revolution like the plague.*

To proceed. The heroes of the Second Internationalasserted (and continue to assert) that between the bourgeois-democratic revolution and the proletarian revolution thereis a chasm, or at any rate a Chinese Wall, separating onefrom the other by a more or less protracted interval oftime, during which the bourgeoisie, having come into power,develops capitalism, while the proletariat accumulatesstrength and prepares for the ìdecisive struggleî against

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 13

capitalism. This interval is usually calculated to extendover many decades, if not longer. It is hardly necessaryto prove that this Chinese wall ìtheoryî is totally devoidof scientific meaning under the conditions of imperialism,that it is and can be only a means of concealing and camou-flaging the counterrevolutionary aspirations of the bour-geoisie. It is hardly necessary to prove that under theconditions of imperialism, which is pregnant with collisionsand wars; under the conditions of the ìeve of the socialistrevolution,î when ìflourishingî capitalism is becomingìmoribundî capitalism (Lenin) and the revolutionarymovement is growing in all countries of the world; whenimperialism is allying itself with all reactionary forceswithout exception, down to and including tsarism and serf-dom, thus making imperative the coalition of all revolu-tionary forces, from the proletarian movement of the Westto the national liberation movement of the East; when theoverthrow of the survivals of the regime of feudal serfdombecomes impossible without a revolutionary struggle againstimperialismóit is hardly necessary to prove that thebourgeois-democratic revolution, in a more or less deve-loped country, must under such circumstances verge uponthe proletarian revolution, that the former must pass intothe latter. The history of the revolution in Russia hasprovided palpable proof that this thesis is correct andincontrovertible. It was not without reason that Lenin,as far back as 1905, on the eve of the first Russian revolu-tion, in his pamphlet Two Tactics,14 depicted the bourgeois-democratic revolution and the socialist revolution as twolinks in the same chain, as a single and integral pictureof the sweep of the Russian revolution:

ìThe proletariat must carry to completion the democratic revolution,by allying to itself the mass of the peasantry in order to crush by forcethe resistance of the autocracy and to paralyze the instability of the bour-geoisie. The proletariat must accomplish the socialist revolution byallying to itself the mass of the semi proletarian elements of the populationin order to crush by force the resistance of the bourgeoisie and to paralyze

( 11 )

the instability of the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie. Such are thetasks of the proletariat, which the new Iskra-ists present sonarrowly in all their arguments and resolutions about the sweepof the revolutionî (Lenin, Vol. VIII, p. 96.)

I do not even mention other, later works of Leninís, inwhich the idea of the bourgeois revolution passing into theproletarian revolution stands out in greater relief than inTwo Tactics as one of the cornerstones of the Leninisttheory of revolution.*

To proceed. Formerly, the victory of the revolution inone country was considered impossible, on the assumptionthat it would require the combined action of the proleta-rians of all or at least of a majority of the advancedcountries to achieve victory over the bourgeoisie. Nowthis point of view no longer accords with the facts. Now wemust proceed from the possibility of such a victory, forthe uneven and spasmodic character of the development,of the various capitalist countries under the conditions ofimperialism, the development, within imperialism, of cata-strophic contradictions leading to inevitable wars, thegrowth of the revolutionary movement in all countries ofthe worldóall this leads, not only to the possibility, butalso to the necessity of the victory of the proletariat inindividual countries. The history of the Russian Revolutionis direct proof of this. At the same time, however, it mustbe borne in mind that the overthrow of the bourgeoisiecan be successfully accomplished only when certain absolu-tely necessary conditions exist, in the absence of whichthere can be even no question of the proletariat takingpower.

Here is what Lenin says about these conditions in hispamphlet ìLeft-Wingî Communism: 15

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* Here we omit eighteen paras of Stalinís lecture, three quota-tions from Lenin and one from Marx because they refer to adomestic controversy between Leninists, the controversy aboutìPermanent Revolutionî. Our purpose is to present Stalinís ownthought.óed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 15

ìThe fundamental law of revolution, which has been confirmedby all revolutions, and particularly by all three Russian revolutionsin the twentieth century, is as follows: it is not enough for revolu-tion that the exploited and oppressed masses should understandthe impossibility of living in the old way and demand changes; itis essential for revolution that the exploiters should not be able tolive and rule in the old way. Only when the ëlower classesí do notwant the old way, and when the ëupper classesí cannot carry on inthe old wayóonly then can revolution triumph. This truth may beexpressed in other words: revolution is impossible without a nation-wide crisis (affecting both the exploited and the exploiters).* It followsthat for revolution it is essential, first, that a majority of theworkers (or at least a majority of the class-conscious, thinking,politically active workers) should fully understand that revolutionis necessary and be ready to sacrifice their lives for it; secondly,that the ruling classes should be passing through a governmentalcrisis, which draws even the most backward masses into politics ...weakens the government and makes it possible for the revolution-aries to overthrow it rapidly.î (Vol. XXV, p. 222.)

But the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie andestablishment of the power of the proletariat in one countrydoes not yet mean that the complete victory of Socialismhas been ensured. After consolidating its power and takingthe peasantry in tow, the proletariat of the victoriouscountry can and must build up a socialist society. Butdoes this mean that it will thereby achieve the completeand final victory of Socialism, i.e., does it mean that withthe forces of only one country it can finally consolidateSocialism and fully guarantee that country against inter-vention and, consequently, also against restoration? No, itdoes not. For this the victory of the revolution in at leastseveral countries is needed. Therefore, the development andsupport of revolution in other countries is an essential taskof the victorious revolution. Therefore, the revolution in thevictorious country must regard itself not as a self-sufficiententity but as an auxiliary, as a means of hastening the victoryof the proletariat in other countries.**

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* My italicsóJ. S.** Our italicsóed.

Lenin expressed this thought succinctly when he saidthat the task of the victorious revolution is to do ìtheutmost possible in one country for the developmentsupport and awakening of the revolution in all countries.î(Vol. XXIII, p. 385.)

These, in general, are the characteristic features ofLeninís theory of proletarian revolution.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 17

II

STRATEGY AND TACTICS

From this theme I take six questions:a) strategy and tactics as the science of leadership in

the class struggle of the proletariat;b) stages of the revolution, and strategy;c) the flow and ebb of the movement, and tactics;d) strategic leadership;e) tactical leadership;f) reformism and revolutionism;

1. Strategy and tactics as the science of leadership in theclass struggle of the proletariat. The period of the domina-tion of the Second International was mainly a period ofthe formation and training of the proletarian politicalarmies amidst conditions of more or less peaceful develop-ment. This was the period when parliamentarism wasthe principal form of class struggle. Questions of greatclass conflicts, of preparing the proletariat for revolutionarybattles, of the means of achieving the dictatorship of theproletariat, did not seem to be on the order of the day atthat time. The task was confined to utilizing all means oflegal development for the purpose of forming and trainingthe proletarian armies, to utilizing parliamentarism inconformity with the conditions under which the status ofthe proletariat was (and as it seemed then, had to remain)that of an Opposition. It need hardly be proved that insuch a period and with such a conception of the tasks ofthe proletariat there could be neither an integral strategynor any elaborated tactics. There was fragmentary anddetached ideas about tactics and strategy, but no tacticsor strategy as such.

The mortal sin of the Second International was notthat it pursued the tactics of utilizing the parliamentaryforms of struggle, but that it overestimated the importanceof these forms; that it considered them virtually the onlyforms; and that when the period of open revolutionarybattles set in and the question of extraparliamentary formsof struggle came to the fore, the parties of the SecondInternational turned their backs on these new tasks,refused to shoulder them.

Only in the subsequent period, in the period of directaction by the proletariat, in the period of proletarian revo-lution, when the question of overthrowing the bourgeoisiebecame a question of immediate action; when the questionof the reserves of the proletariat (strategy) became one ofthe most burning questions; when all forms of struggle andof organization, parliamentary and extraparliamentary(tactics), had fully manifested themselves and became well-definedóonly in this period could an integral strategy andelaborated tactics for the struggle of the proletariat bedrawn up. It was precisely in that period that Leninbrought out into the light of day the brilliant ideas of Marxand Engels on tactics and strategy that had been immuredby the opportunists of the Second International. But Lenindid not confine himself to restoring certain tactical propo-sitions16 of Marx and Engels. He developed them furtherand supplemented them with new ideas and propositions,combining them all into a system of rules and guidingprinciples for the leadership of the class struggle of theproletariat. Leninís pamphlets, such as What Is To BeDone? Two Tactics, Imperialism, State and Revolution17,The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky,18

ìLeft-Wingî Communism, etc., will undoubtedly always betreasured as priceless contributions to the general storeof Marxism, to its revolutionary arsenal. The strategyand tactics of Leninism constitute the science of leadershipof the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 19

2. Stages of the revolution, and strategy. Strategy isthe determination of the direction of the main blow of theproletariat at a given stage of the revolution, the elaborationof a corresponding plan for the disposition of the revolutionaryforces (the main and secondary reserves), the fight to carryout this plan throughout the given stage of the revolution.

Our revolution already passed through two stages, andafter the October Revolution it has entered a third stage. Ourstrategy changed accordingly.*

First Stage. 1903 to February 1917. Objective: to over-throw tsarism and completely wipe out the survivals ofmedievalism. The main force of the revolution: the prole-tariat. Immediate reserves: the peasantry. Direction ofthe main blow: the isolation of the liberal-monarchistbourgeoisie, which was striving to win over the peasantryand liquidate the revolution by compromising with tsarism.Plan for the disposition of forces: alliance of the workingclass with the peasantry. ìThe proletariat must carry tocompletion the democratic revolution, by allying to itselfthe mass of the peasantry in order to crush by force theresistance of the autocracy and to paralyze the instabilityof the bourgeoisie.î (Lenin, Vol. VIII, p. 96.)

Second stage. March 1917 to October 1917. Objective:to overthrow imperialism in Russia and to withdraw fromthe imperialist war. The main force of the revolution: theproletariat. Immediate reserves: the poor peasantry. Theproletariat of neighbouring countries as probable reserves.The protracted war and the crisis of imperialism as thefavourable factor. Direction of the main blow: isolationof the petty-bourgeois democrats (Mensheviks19 andSocialist-Revolutionaries20), who were striving to win overthe toiling masses of the peasantry and to terminate therevolution by compromising with imperialism. Plan forthe disposition of forces: alliance of the proletariat with

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* Our italicsóed.

the poorest peasantry. ìThe proletariat must accomplishthe socialist revolution, by allying to itself the mass of thesemiproletarian elements of the population in order to crushby force the resistance of the bourgeoisie and to paralyzethe instability of the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie.î(Ibid.)

Third Stage. Commenced after the October Revolution.Objective: to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariatin one country, using it as a base for the defeat of imperia-lism in all countries. The revolution is spreading beyondthe confines of one country; the epoch of world revolutionhas commenced. The main forces of the revolution: thedictatorship of the proletariat in one country, the revolu-tionary movement of the proletariat in all countries. Mainreserves: the semiproletarian and small-peasant masses inthe development countries, the liberation movement in thecolonies and dependent countries. Direction of the mainblow: isolation of the petty-bourgeois democrats, isolationof the parties of the Second International, which constitutethe main support of the policy of compromise with imperia-lism. Plan for the disposition of forces: alliance of theproletarian revolution with the liberation movement in thecolonies and the dependent countries.

Strategy deals with the main forces of the revolution andtheir reserves. It changes with the passing of the revolutionfrom one stage to another, but remains essentially unchangedthroughout a given stage.*

3. The flow and ebb of the movement, and tactics. Tacticsare the determination of the line of conduct of the proleta-riat in the comparatively short period of the flow or ebb ofthe movement, of the rise or decline of the revolution, thefight to carry out this line by means of replacing old formsof struggle and organization by new ones, old slogans bynew ones, by combining these forms, etc. While the

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 21

object of strategy is to win the war against tsarism, let ussay, or against the bourgeoisie, to carry the struggle againsttsarism or against the bourgeoisie to its end, tactics pursueless important objects, for the object of tactics is not thewinning of the war as a whole, but the winning of someparticular engagement or some particular battles, thecarrying through successfully of some particular campaignsor actions which correspond to the concrete circumstancesin the given period of rise or decline of the revolution.Tactics are a part of strategy, subordinate to it andserving it.

Tactics change according to flow and ebb. While thestrategic plan remained unchanged during the first stageof the revolution (1903 to February 1917), tactics changedseveral times during that period. In the period from 1903to 1905 the Party pursued offensive tactics,* for the tideof the revolution was rising, the movement was on theupgrade, and tactics had to proceed from this fact. Accord-ingly, the forms of struggle were revolutionary, corres-ponding to the requirements of the rising tide of therevolution. Local political strikes, political demonstrations,the general political strike, boycott of the Duma,21 insur-rection, revolutionary fighting slogansósuch were thesuccessive forms of the struggle during that period. Thesechanges in the forms of struggle were accompanied bycorresponding changes in the forms of organization.Factory committees, Soviets of workersí deputies, a workersíparty operating more or less openlyósuch were the formsof organization during that period.

In the period from 1907 to 1912 the Party was com-pelled to resort to tactics of retreat *; for we then experienceda decline in the revolutionary movement, the ebb of therevolution, and tactics necessarily had to take this fact

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* Our italicsóed.

into consideration. The forms of struggle, as well as theforms of organization, changed accordingly: instead of theboycott of the Duma there was participation in the Duma;instead of open, direct revolutionary action outside theDuma, there were parliamentary speeches and work in theDuma; instead of general political strikes, there werepartial economic strikes, or simply a lull in activities. Ofcourse, the Party had to go underground during thatperiod, while the revolutionary mass organizations weresuperseded by cultural, educational, cooperative, insuranceand other legal organizations.

The same must be said of the second and third stagesof the revolution, during which tactics changed dozens oftimes, whereas the strategical plans remained unchanged.

Tactics deal with the forms of struggle and the forms oforganization of the proletariat, with their changes and combi-nations. During a given stage of the revolution tactics maychange several times, depending on the flow or ebb, the riseor decline, of the revolution.*

4. Strategic leadership. The reserves of the revolutioncan be:

direct: a) the peasantry and in general the intermediatestrata of the population within the country; b) the proleta-riat of the neighbouring countries; c) the revolutionarymovement in the colonies and dependent countries; d) theconquests and gains of the dictatorship of the proletariatópart of which the proletariat may give up temporarily,while retaining superiority of forces, in order to buy off apowerful enemy and gain a respite; and

Indirect: a) the contradictions and conflicts among thenonproletarian classes within the country, which can beutilized by the proletariat to weaken the enemy and tostrengthen its own reserves; b) contradictions, conflicts andwars (the imperialist war, for instance) among the bour-

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 23

geois states hostile to the proletarian state, which can beutilized by the proletariat in its offensive or in manoeuvringin the event of a forced retreat.

There is no need to speak at length about the reservesof the first category, as their significance is understood byeveryone. As for the reserves of the second category,whose significance is not always clear, it must be said thatsometimes they are of prime importance for the progressof the revolution. One can hardly deny the enormousimportance, for example, of the conflict between the petty-bourgeois democrats (Socialist-Revolutionaries) and theliberal-monarchist bourgeoisie (the Constitutional-Demo-crats)22 during and after the first revolution, whichundoubtedly played its part in freeing the peasantry fromthe influence of the bourgeoisie. Still less reason is therefor denying the colossal importance of the fact that theprincipal groups of imperialists were engaged in a deadlywar during the period of the October Revolution, whenthe imperialists, engrossed in war among themselves, wereunable to concentrate their forces against the young Sovietpower, and the proletariat, for this very reason, was ableto get down to the work of organizing its forces and conso-lidating its power, and to prepare the rout of Kolchak23

and Denikin.24 It must be presumed that now, when thecontradictions among the imperialist groups are becomingmore and more profound and when a new war amongthem is becoming inevitable, reserves of this descriptionwill assume ever greater importance for the proletariat.

The task of strategic leadership is to make proper useof all these reserves for the achievement of the mainobject of the revolution at the given stage of its develop-ment.

What does making proper use of reserves mean?It means fulfilling certain necessary conditions, of which

the following must be regarded as the principal ones:

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First: The concentration of the main forces of the revolu-tion at the enemyís most vulnerable spot at the decisive moment,*when the revolution has already become ripe, when theoffensive is going full-steam ahead, when insurrection isknocking at the door, and when bringing the reserves upto the vanguard is the decisive condition of success. ThePartyís strategy during the period from April to October1917 well illustrates this manner of utilizing reserves.Undoubtedly, the enemyís most vulnerable spot at the timewas the war. Undoubtedly, it was on this question, as thefundamental one, that the Party rallied the broadestmasses of the population around the proletarinan vanguard.The Partyís strategy during that period was, while trainingthe vanguard for street action by means of manifestationsand demonstrations, to bring the reserve up to the van-guard through the medium of the Soviets in the rear andthe soldiersí committees at the front. The outcome of therevolution has shown that the reserves were properlyutilized.

Here is what Lenin, paraphrasing the well-known thesesof Marx and Engels on insurrection, says about thiscondition of the strategic utilization of the forces of therevolution:

ì1) Never play with insurrection, but when beginning it, firmlyrealize that you must go to the end.

ì2) You must concentrate a great superiority of forces at thedecisive point, at the decisive moment, otherwise the enemy, whohas the advantage of better preparation and organization, willdestroy the insurgents.

ì3) Once the insurrection has begun, you must act with thegreatest determination, and by all means, without fail, take theoffensive. ëThe defensive is the death of every armed rising.í

ì4) You must try to take the enemy by surprise and seize themoment when his forces are scattered.

ì5) You must strive for daily successes, even if small (onemight say hourly, if it is the case of one town), and at all costsretain ëmoral ascendancy.í (Vol. XXI, pp. 319-20)

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 25

Second. The selection of the moment for the decisive blow,of the moment for starting the insurrection *, so timed as tocoincide with the moment when the crisis has reached itsclimax, when it is fully apparent that the vanguard isprepared to fight to the end, the reserves are prepared tosupport the vanguard, and maximum consternation reignsin the ranks of the enemy.

The decisive battle, says Lenin, may be deemed to have fullymatured when ì(1) all the class forces hostile to us have becomesufficiently entangled, are sufficiently at loggerheads with eachother, have sufficiently weakened themselves in a struggle which isbeyond their strengthî; when ì(2) all the vacillating, wavering,unstable, intermediate elementsóthe petty bourgeoisie and thepetty-bourgeois democrats as distinct from the bourgeoisieóhavesufficiently exposed themselves in the eyes of the people, havesufficiently disgraced themselves through their practical bank-ruptcyî; when ì(3) among the proletariat a mass sentiment infavour of supporting the most determined, supremely bold, revoln-tionary action against the bourgeoisie has arisen and begun vigo-rously to grow. Then revolution is indeed ripe; then, indeed, ifwe have correctly gauged all the conditions indicated ... above, andif we have chosen the moment rightly, our victory is assured.î(Vol. XXV, p. 229.)

The manner in which the October insurrection wascarried out may be taken as a model of such strategy.

Failure to observe this condition leads to a dangerouserror called ìloss of tempo,î when the Party lags behindthe movement or runs far ahead of it, courting the dangerof failure. An example of such ìloss of tempo,î an exampleof how the moment of insurrection should not be chosen,may be seen in the attempt made by a section of ourcomrades to begin the insurrection by arresting the Demo-cratic Conferences in September 1917, when hesitation wasstill rife in the Soviets, when the armies at the front werestill at the crossroads, when the reserves had not yet beenbrought up to the vanguard.

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* Our italicsóed.

Third. Undeviating pursuit of the course adopted, nomatter what difficulties and complications are encountered onthe road towards the goal,* this is necessary in order thatthe vanguard may not lose sight of the main goal of thestruggle and that the masses may not stray from the roadwhile marching towards that goal and striving to rallyaround the vanguard. Failure to observe this conditionleads to a grave error, well known to sailors as ìlosing thecourse.î As an example of this ìloss of courseî we maymention the erroneous conduct of our Party when, imme-diately after the Democratic Conference, it adopted aresolution to participate in the Preparliament.26 For themoment the Party, as it were, forgot that the Preparlia-ment was an attempt of the bourgeoisie to switch thecountry from the path of the Soviets to the path of bour-geois parliamentarism, that the Partyís participation insuch a body might result in mixing up all the cards andconfusing the workers and peasants, who were waging arevolutionary struggle under the slogan: ìAll Power to theSoviets.î27 This mistake was rectified by the withdrawalof the Bolsheviks from the Preparliament.

Fourth. Manoeuvring the reserves with a view of effectinga proper retreat when the enemy is strong,* when retreat isinevitable, when to accept battle forced upon us by theenemy is obviously disadvantageous, when, with the givenalignment of forces, retreat becomes the only way to wardoff a blow against the vanguard and to keep the reservesintact.

ìThe revolutionary parties,î says Lenin, ìmust complete theireducation. They have learned to attack. Now they have to realizethat this knowledge must be supplemented with the knowledge howto retreat properly. They have to realizeóand the revolutionaryclass is taught to realize it by its own bitter experienceóthatvictory is impossible unless they have learned both how to attackand how to retreat properly.î (Vol. XXV, p. 177.)

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 27

The object of this strategy is to gain time, to demoralizethe enemy, and to accumulate forces in order later to assumethe offensive.*

The signing of the Brest-Litovsk Peace28 may be takenas a model of this strategy, for it enabled the Party togain time, to take advantage of the conflicts in the campof the imperialists, to demoralize the forces of the enemy,to retain the support of the peasantry, and to accumulateforces in preparation for the offensive against Kolchak andDenikin.

ìIn concluding a separate peace,î said Lenin at that time, ìwefree ourselves as much as is possible at the present moment from bothhostile imperialist groups, we take advantage of their mutualenmity and warfare, which hamper concerted action on their partagainst us, and for a certain period have our hands free to advanceand to consolidate the socialist revolution.î (Vol. XXII, p. 198.)

ìNow even the biggest fool,î said Lenin, three years after theBrest-Litovsk Peace, ìcan see that the ëBrest Peaceí was a conce-ssion that strengthened us and broke up the forces of internationalimperialism.î (Vol.XXVII, p. 7.)

Such are the principal conditions which ensure correctstrategic leadership.

5. Tactical leadership. Tactical leadership is a partof strategic leadership, subordinated to the tasks and therequirements of the latter. The task of tactical leadershipis to master all forms of struggle and organization of theproletariat and to ensure that they are used properly so as toachieve, with the given relation of forces, the maximum resultsnecessary to prepare for strategic success.*

What is meant by making proper use of the forms ofstruggle and organization of the proletariat?

It means fulfilling certain necessary conditions, ofwhich the following must be regarded as the principalones:

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* Our italicsóed.

First. To put in the forefront precisely those forms ofstruggle and organization which are best suited to the condi-tions prevailing during the flow or ebb of the movement at agiven moment.* and which therefore can facilitate andensure the bringing of the masses to the revolutionarypositions, the brining of the millions to the revolu-tionary front, and their disposition at the revolutionaryfront.

The point here is not that the vanguard shall realizethe impossibility of preserving the old order of thingsand the inevitability of its overthrow. The point is thatthe masses, the millions, shall understand this inevitabilityand display their readiness to support the vanguard. Butthe masses can understand this only from their own expe-rience. The task is to enable the vast masses to realizefrom their own experience the inevitability of the overthrowof the old regime, to promote such methods of struggleand forms of organization as will make it easier for themasses to learn from experience to recognize the correctnessof the revolutionary slogans.

The vanguard would have become detached from theworking class, and the working class would have lostcontact with the masses, if the Party had not decided atthe time to participate in the Duma, if it had not decidedto concentrate its forces on work in the Duma and to basethe struggle on this work, in order to make it easier for themasses to realize from their own experience the futility ofthe Duma, the falsity of the promises of the Constitutional-Democrats, the impossibility of compromise with tsarism,and the inevitability of an alliance between the peasantryand the working class. Had the masses not gained theirexperience during the period of the Duma, the exposure ofthe Constitutional-Democrats and the hegemony of theproletariat would have been impossible.

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 29

The danger of the ìOtzovistî29 tactics was that theythreatened to detach the vanguard from the millions ofits reserves.

The Party would have become detached from theworking class, and the working class would have lost itsinfluence among the broad masses of the peasants andsoldiers, if the proletariat had followed the ìleftî Commu-nists, who called for insurrection in April 1917, when theMensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries had not yetexposed themselves as advocates of war and imperialism,when the masses had not yet learned from their own expe-rience to recognize the falsity of the speeches of theMensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries about peace,land and freedom. Had the masses not gained thisexperience during the Kerensky30 period, the Mensheviksand Socialist-Revolutionaries would not have been isolatedand the dictatorship of the proletariat would have beenimpossible. Therefore, the tactics of ìpatiently explainingîthe mistakes of the petty-bourgeois parties and of openstruggle in the Soviets were the only correct tactics.

The danger of the tactics of the ìleftî Communists31

was that they threatened to transform the Party from theleader of the proletarian revolution into a handful of inaneconspirators with no ground to stand on.

ìVictory cannot be won with the vanguard along,î says Lenin.ìTo throw the vanguard alone into the decisive battle, before thewhole class, before the broad masses have taken up a position eitherof direct support of the vanguard, or at least of benevolent neutra-lity towards it ... would be not merely folly but a crime. And inorder that actually the whole class, that actually the broad massesof the working people and those oppressed by capital may take upsuch a position, propaganda and agitation alone are not enough.For this the masses must have their own political experience. Suchis the fundamental law of all great revolutions, now confirmedwith astonishing force and vividness not only in Russia but alsoin Germany. Not only the uncultured, often illiterate masses ofRussia, but the highly cultured, entirely literate masses of Germanyhad to realize through their own painful experience the absoluteimpotence and spinelessness, the absolute helplessness and servility

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to the bourgeoisie, the utter vileness of the government of theknights of the Second International, the absolute inevitability of adictatorship of the extreme reactionaries (Kornilov in Russia, Kappand Co. in Germany) as the only alternative to a dictatorship ofthe proletariat, in order to turn them resolutely toward Commu-nism.î (Vol. XXV, p. 228.)

Second. To locate at any given moment that particularlink in the chain of processes which, if grasped, will enable usto hold the whole chain to prepare the conditions forachieving strategic success.*

The point here is to single out from all the problemsconfronting the Party that particular immediate problem,the answer to which constitutes the central point, and thesolution of which will ensure the successful solution of theother immediate problems.

The importance of this thesis may be illustrated by twoexamples, one of which may be taken from the remotepast (the period of the formation of the party) and theother from the immediate present (the period of the NewEconomic Policy).32

In the period of the formation of the Party, when theinnumerable circles and organizations had not yet beenlinked together, when amateurishness and the parochialoutlook of the circles were corroding the Party from topto bottom, when ideological confusion was the charact-eristic feature of the internal life of the Party, the mainlink and the main task in the chain of links and in thechain of tasks then confronting the Party prove to be theestablishment of an all-Russian illegal newspaper (Iskra).Why? Because only by means of an all-Russian illegalnewspaper was it possible under the conditions then preva-iling to create a coherent party nucleus capable of unitingthe innumerable circles and organizations into a singleorganization, to prepare the conditions for ideological andtactical unity, and thus to lay the foundations for theformation of a real Party.

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 31

During the period of transition from war to economicconstruction, when industry was in the clutches of ruin andagriculture was suffering from a shortage of manufacturedgoods, when the establishment of a bond between stateindustry and peasant economy became the fundamentalcondition for successful socialist constructionóin thatperiod it turned out that the main link in the chain ofprocesses, the main task among a number of tasks, was todevelop trade. Why? Because under the conditions ofthe New Economic Policy (NEP) the bond between indus-try and peasant economy cannot be established exceptthrough trade; because under the conditions of NEPproduction without sale is fatal for industry; because indus-try try can be expanded only by the expansion of sales as aresult of developing trade; because only after we haveconsolidated our position in the sphere of trade, only afterwe have secured control of trade, only after we havesecured this link can there be any hope of linking industrywith the peasant market and successfully fulfilling theother immediate tasks in order to create the conditions forbuilding the foundations of socialist economy.

ìIt is not enough to be a revolutionary and an adherent ofSocialism or a Communist in general,î says Lenin. ìOne must beable at each particular moment to find the particular link in thechain which one must grasp with all oneís might in order to holdthe whole chain and to prepare firmly for the transition to thenext link.î

ìAt the present time ... this link is the revival of internaltrade under proper state regulation (direction). Tradeóthat isthe ëlinkí in the historical chain of events, in the transitional formsof our socialist construction in 1921-22, ëwhich we must grasp withall our might.í î (Vol. XXVII, p. 82)

These are the principal conditions which ensure correcttactical leadership.

6. Reformism and revolutionism. What is the differencebetween revolutionary tactics and reformist tactics ?

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Some think that Leninism is opposed to reforms,opposed to compromises and to agreements in general.This is absolutely wrong. Bolsheviks know as well as any-body else that in a certain sense ìevery little helps,î thatunder certain conditions reforms in general, and compro-mises and agreements in particular, are necessary anduseful.

ìTo carry on a war for the overthrow of the international bour-geoisieî says Lenin, ìa war which is a hundred times more diffi-cult protracted and complicated than the most stubborn of ordi-nary wars between states, and to refuse beforehand to manoeuvre,to utilize the conflict of interests (even though temporary) amongoneís enemies, to refuse to temporize and compromise with possible(even though temporary, unstable, vacilating and conditional)alliesóis not this ridiculous in the extreme? Is it not as though,when making a difficult ascent of an unexplored and heretoforeinaccessible mountain, we were to refuse beforehand ever to movein zigzags, ever to retrace our steps ever to abandon the courseonce selected and to try others ?î (Vol. XXV, p. 210.)

Obviously, therefore, it is not a matter of reforms or ofcompromises and agreements, but of the use people makeof reforms and compromises.

To a reformist, reforms are everything, while revolutionarywork is something incidental, something just to talk about,mere eyewash. That is why, with reformist tactics under thebourgeois regime, reforms are inevitably transformed into aninstrument for strengthening that regime, an instrument fordisintegrating the revolution.*

To a revolutionary, on the contrary, the main thing isrevolutionary work and not reforms; to him reforms are by-products of the revolution. That is why, with revolutionarytactics under the bourgeois regime, reforms are naturallytransformed into instruments for disintegrating this regime,into instruments for strengthening the revolution, into a basefor the further development of the revolutionary movement.*

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 33

The revolutionary will accept a reform in order to use it asan aid in combining legal work with illegal work, to intensify,under its cover, the illegal work for the revolutionary prepara-tion of the masses for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie.*

This is what making revolutionary use of reforms andagreements under the conditions of imperialism means.*

The reformist, on the contrary, will accept reforms in orderto renounce all illegal work, to thwart the preparation of themasses for the revolution and to rest in the shade of ìbestowedîreforms.*

This is what reformist tactics mean.*This is the position in regard to reforms and agreements

under imperialism.The situation changes somewhat, however, after the over-

throw of imperialism, under the dictatorship of the proletariat.Under certain conditions, in a certain situation, the proleta-rian power may find itself constrained temporarily to leavethe path of the revolutionary reconstruction of the existingorder of things and to take the part of its gradual transfor-mation, the ìreformist pathî,* as Lenin says in his well-knownarticle ìThe Importance of Gold,î33 the path of flankingmovements, of reforms and concessions to the nonprole-tarian classesóin order to disintegrate these classes, togive the revolution a respite, to recuperate and prepare theconditions for a new offensive. It cannot be denied thatin a sense this is a ìreformistî path. But it must be bornein mind that there is a fundamental distinction here, whichconsists in the fact that in this case the reform emanatesfrom the proletarian power, it strengthens the proletarianpower, it procures for it necessary respite; its purpose is todisintegrate, not the revolution, but the nonproletarianclasses.

Under such conditions a reform is thus transformed intoits opposite.

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* Our italicsóed.

The proletarian power is able to adopt such policybecause, and only because, the sweep of the revolution inthe preceding period was broad enough and therefore pro-vided a sufficiently wide expanse within which to retreat,substituting for offensive tactics the tactics of temporaryretreat, the tactics of flanking movements.

Thus, while formerly under the bourgeois regime, reformswere a by-product of revolution, now, under the dictatorshipof the proletariat, the source of reforms is the revolutionarygains of the proletariat,* the reserves accumulated in thehands of the proletariat and consisting of these gains.

ìOnly Marxism,î says Lenin, ìhas precisely and correctlydefined the relation of reforms to revolution. However, Marx wasable to see this relation only from one aspect, namely, underthe conditions preceding, the first to any extent permanent andlasting victory of the proletariat, if only in a single country.Under those conditions, the basis of the proper relationwas: reforms are a by-product of the revolutionary classstruggle of the proletariat. ... After the victory of theproletariat, if only in a single country, something newenters into the relation between reforms and revolution.In principle, it is the same as before, but a change in formtakes place, which Marx himself could not foresee, butwhich can be appreciated only on the basis of thephilosophy and politics of Marxism. .... After the victory(while still remaining a ëby-productí on an internationalscale) they (i.e., reformsóJ. S.) are, in addition, for thecountry in which victory has been achieved, a necessaryand legitimate respite in those cases when, after the utmostexertion of effort, it becomes obvious that sufficientstrength is lacking for the revolutionary accomplishment ofthis or that transition. Victory creates such a ëreserve ofstrengthí that it is possible to hold out even in a forcedretreat, hold out both materially and morally.î (Vol. XXVIII,pp. 84-85.)

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* Our italicsóed.

TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 35

NOTES

1. Theory of Spontaneity.

This was a theory prevalent in a section of Russianlabour movement known as Economists in the beginningof the 20th century. Lenin vehemently attacks this theoryin this pamphlet ëWhat Is To Be Doneí.

According to Economists, the working-class movementmust remain confined to the spontaneous economicstruggles of the workers and they must not take part inany political struggle for Socialism. Or trade unionsshould follow the policy of trade unionism as such andshould have nothing to do with political activities.

Thus they gave comparatively more importance to theregulation of spontaneous economic struggle of theworkers, than to the political struggles, for the bettermentof the workersí lot.

2. Plekhanov. (1857-1918)Russian theoretician of Marxism, respected even by

Lenin. His writings were considered second only to thoseof Engels in Marxist literature. In the beginning hejoined underground Populist Movement as a labour orga-niser and editor, became a Marxist, and came into promi-nence in 1890 by writing a book on Historical Materialism.

In 1900, together with Lenin he began to publishabroad Iskra (The Spark) which soon became RussianSocial Democratic Partysí Official Organ. Party Pro-gramme of 1903 was also drafted by him along with Lenin.In the following years there was a split in the Party andhe remained with the minority groupóthe Mensheviksand was a consistant opponent of Bolsheviks. He wrotepolemics against all revisionists of Marxism.

After the Revolution he returned to Russia, but couldnot find support for his programme. He died in 1918.

3. Materialism and EmpirioóCriticism.

This is the only major philosophical work of Lenin. Itwas published in May 1909.

This book was written against the philosophical theoriesof his adversaries in Socialist movement of Russia, parti-cularly against Bogdanov, Bazarov, Lunacharsky,Berman etc.

These persons were trying to revise Marxism, takinginspirations from the writings of Mach and Avenarius.

Lenin here defends Dialectical Materialism against theso-called vulgarizers, falsifires and deserters of Marxism,also taking into consideration the recent discoveries ofscience after Englesí death.

4. Khvostism, means following the tail, from the Russianworld Khvost, meaning tail. Lenin was emphatic abouta Party leading the masses rather than following them.

5. The Economists.A section of the Russian working-class movement

whom Lenin criticised in his pamphlet ìWhat Is To BeDone.î

They believed that the economic interests are thedecisive factors and hence to regulate spontaneous economicstruggle of the workers is of much more importance thanthe political struggle.

6. The Iskra. (Spark)

Was the first All-Russian illegal Marxist newspaperfounded by Lenin and Plekhanov in 1900.

Due to police persecution, this paper was publishedabroad. Its first issue appeared on Dec. 11th. (RussianCalendar) 1900, in Leipzig, after which it was published

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 37

from Munich, then from London (from April 1902) andfrom spring 1903, from Geneva.

The editorial Board consisted of Lenin, Plekhanov,Martov, Axelrod, Potresov and Zasulich.

At the Second Congress of the Social Democratic Partyin 1903, it became the official organ of the Party. Thestruggle over the composition of the editorial board atthis Congress was one of the reasons for the split intomajority (Bolsheviks) and minority (Mensheviks) factions.

Lenin resigned from the editorial Board and the papercame into the hands of Mensheviks. Lenin termed this Iskraas the New Iskra. It ceased publication in Oct. 1905.

7. What Is To Be Done.

This book was written by Lenin in 1902 and is regardedas a classic in Marxist literature.

In this book Lenin takes issues with the tendencyprevalent in a section of the working-class movementknown as Economism according to which the task of theworkersí movement is to give attention to the spontaneouseconomic struggles of the workers and to refrain fromjoining political activities. Against them, Lenin empha-sises the conscious political role of the working class andadvocates the great importance of theory, of consciousness,and of the party as the revolutionary and guiding forceof the spontaneous working-class movement.

Developing further the role of the party, he deals withits organisational aspects, insists on the urgency of buildingup revolutionary political cadres, and welding themtogether into a disciplined army of revolutionaries andmakes an impassioned appeal to scrap the existing formof organizations and build a theoretically sound party,revolutionary in purpose and national in scope.

The concepts of centralised party and professionalRevolutionaries, advanced in this book, have been adoptedby all the Communist Parties.

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8. The Second International. (Socialist)

The Second International was constituted in 1889,15 years after the disappearance of the first. Unlike thefirst, it possessed no powerful central authority and itsearly meetings were mainly devoted to discussion of thetactics and methods of the affiliated national parties;from 1911 onward the question of war and peace receivedmore attention. The International Socialist Bureau, themost important body of the International, met for thelast time at its headquarters in Brussels on July 29th and30th, 1914. War put an end to all International activities.

Certain abortive attempts were made to revive Inter-national action. Attempt to convene an InternationalCongress at Stockholm in 1917, failed. But the confer-ences at Zimmerwald (Sept. 15) and Kienthal (April 16th.)were attended by certain groups and from these elementsemerged the Communist or Third International.

After the war, conferences were successively summonedat Berne (Feb. 1919) Lucenne (Aug. 1919) and Geneva(Aug. 20) with a view to reestablish the Second Interna-tional.

Meanwhile, however, the Third International had beenformed at Moscow. Some of the parties and groups whowere unwilling to be affiliated to either the Second or theThird grouped themselves in what is known as ëViennaInternational or Two-and-a-Half International.

The outstanding leaders of the second Internationalwere Kautsky, Otto Bauer, Freiderich Adler, Scheidemann,Noskes, Hilferding, Renner, Austerlitz, Turati, Longuet etc.

In May 1923, representatives of the Second and ViennaInternationals jointly invited a conference in which 620delegates from 30 countries participated. It was decidedto dissolve the two Internationals and form in its placethe Labour and Socialist International (L. S. I.). Thisbody continued in existence until 1945.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 39

9. Productive Forces Theory.One of the major theoretical foundations of Marxism

is the theory of Materialistic interpretation of History orHistorical Materialism. According to Marxists it uncoversthe laws of the development of the human Society. Thetwo central concepts of this theory are Productive forcesand Relations of Production.

Marx writes ìThe Social Relations of Production, change,are transformed, with the change and development of thematerial means of production, the productive forces. Therelations of production in their totality constitute whatare called the social relations, society and specifically, asociety at a definite stage of historical development, asociety with a peculiar, distinctive characteróFeudalSociety, Bourgeois Society etc.î (Selected Works.P. 83-84).

In his preface to the Critique of Political Economy,Marx formulates his theory more clearly. He writes:ó

ìIn the social production of their life men enter intodefinite relations that are indispensable and independent oftheir will, relations of production which correspond to adefinite stage of development of the material productiveforces. The sum total of these relations of productionconstitute the economic structure of society, the real foun-dation on which rises a legal and political superstructureand to which correspond definite froms of social conscious-ness.......At a certain stage of their development, thematerial productive forces of Society come in conflict withthe existing relations of production.......from forms ofdevelopment of the productive forces relations turninto their fetters. Then begins and epoch of Social Revolu-tions.î (P. 328-329 selected works).

10. Karl Kautsky. (1854-1938)

Karl Kautsky was a German Marxist and Historian ofSocialism. He was a friend and disciple of Karl Marx and

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after the death of Engels was university regarded as themost important interpreter of Marxian thought. He wasalso a leader of the Second International.

His book on Russia in 1906, evoked great praise fromLenin and carried a preface by Lenin in its Russian trans-lation; but later writings and activities of Kautsky angeredLenin, who wrote a pamphlet ëProletarian Revolution: AndRenegade Kautskyí, abusing and slandering Kautsky.

Kautsky adopted a pacifist attitude towards World War Iand continued to write books and essays against theoriesof Lenin and Trotsky and later against Stalinís Russia.After Nazi occupation of Vienna he fled to Czechoslovakiaand again to Amsterdam, where he died in 1938.

His works include:óDemocracy and DictatorshipóFrom Democracy to State SlaveryóThe Labour Revolu-tionóThe Proletarian RevolutionóBolshevism at a Dead-lockóSoviet Russia and the Socialist InternationalóTheLimitations of Force etc. Between 1927ó37 he publisheda several volume work on Socialism which was praisedthroughout the World.

11. ìWar Against War.î

Reference is to the manifesto adopted by The BasleCongress of the Second International held in November24-25, 1912. The Congress was convened in connectionwith the Balkan War and the growing menace of WorldWar. The manifesto called upon the workers to use theirorganised power for a revolutionary struggle against thethreat of war, urging them to declare ìWar Against War.î

12. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism.

This book was written by Lenin in Zurich in the springof 1916. Materials collected in Hobsonís book on Imperia-lism were used as basis in the preparation of this work.

This book is considered by the Communists as one ofthe most important major works of Lenin and his theory

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 41

of Imperialism or monopoly capitalism developed in thisbook is regarded as the direct continuation of Marxístheory of capitalism. In this book Lenin also developedhis theory of Proletarian Revolution and Dictatorship ofthe Proletariat, which came to be known as Leninism.

13. Formerly.

The expression ìFormerlyî is used several times in thechapter. Although Stalin offers no explanation, obviouslythe reference is to the theory of proletarian revolution aspropounded by Marx and Engels. The purpose is to bringout by contrast the salient features of Leninís contributionsto the theory. It may however be noticed by the leaderthat the ìcontributionsî amount to a virtual reversal ofevery thesis advanced by the Founding Fathers.

14. Two Tactics of Social Democracy.

This book was written by Lenin in 1905.It is based on the decision of Third Congress of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which met inLondon in April 1905.

In the Congress only the majority faction of the party,known as Bolsheviks under the leadership of Lenin, parti-cipated. The minority faction known as Mensheviks heldtheir conference in Geneva.

Both the factions discussed tactical questions on theeve of 1905 Revolution, but the decisions they arrived atwere diametrically opposed.

The tactics, which Bolsheviks decided and Lenin advo-cated was that only the Proletariat could be the leader ofthis revolution in alliance with peasantry. The liberalbourgeiosie must be isolated as it was not interested in thecompletion of the Revolution. Against this the Mensheviktactics, which Lenin here criticises, was that as therevolution was a bourgeois democratic revolution only thebourgeoisie could be its leader, and the proletariat mustally itself with the bourgeoisie.

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15. Left-Wing Communism : An Infantile Disorder.

This book was written by Lenin, on April 27th 1920,after the Russian Revolution.

This was written as a polemic against a section of theCommunist parties all over the world, known as left-wingof the Communist movement. These left-wings advocateda policy of non-co-operation with all non-Communistorganisations such as Parliaments and Trade Unions undernon-communist control, and were for the adoption of apurely revolutionary and illegal programme.

Lenin characterised this Left-wing Communism as aninfantile disorder and advocated the combination of bothlegal and illegal activities and co-operation with even non-Communists as a tactics for the achievement of Commu-nism.

16. Tactical Propositions of Marx and Engels.

The index of the two volume Selected Works of Marxand Engels published by Foreign Languages PublishingHouse, Moscow, 1951, gives the following references underthe heading ìTactics of Class Struggle of Proletariatî :óVol. No. I. Pages 44-45: It is section II of The CommunistManifesto. Only the first seven paras on page 44 can beunderstood to contain tactical advice. The next four parason page 44 and eleven paras on page 45 are devoted totheoretical conclusions. The seven paras on page 44 readas under:

ìIn what relation do the Communists stand to theProletarians as a whole?

ìThe Communists do not form a separate partyopposed to other working-class parties.

ìThey have no interests separate and apart from thoseof the proletariat as a whole.

ìThey do not set up any sectarian principles of their own,by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 43

ìThe Communists are distinguished from the otherworking-class parties by this only: I. In the nationalstruggles of the proletarians of the different countries, theypoint out and bring to the front the common interests ofthe entire proletariat, independently of all nationality. 2.In the various stages of development which the struggle ofthe working-class against the bourgeoisie has to passthrough, they always and everywhere represent the inter-ests of the movement as a whole.

ìThe Communists, therefore, are on the one hand,practically, the most advanced and resolute section ofthe working-class parties of every country, that sectionwhich pushes forward all others; on the other hand, theo-retically, they have over the great mass of the proletariatthe advantage of clearly understanding the line of march,the conditions, and the ultimate general results of theproletarian movement.

ìThe immediate aim of the Communists is the same asthat of all the other proletarian parties: formation of theproletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeoissupremacy, conquest of political power by theproletariatî.Page 61.:óWe reproduce the twelve paras which formthe concluding section No. IV of the Communist Mani-festo:ó

ìSection II has made clear the relations of the Commu-nists to the existing working-class parties, such as theChartists in England and the Agrarian Reformers inAmerica.

ìThe Communists fight for the attainment of theimmediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentaryinterests of the working-class but in the movement of thepresent, they also represent and take care of the futureof that movement. In France the Communists ally

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themselves with the Social-Democrats, against the con-servative and radical bourgeoisie, reserving, however, theright to take up a critical position in regard to phrases andillusions traditionally handed down from the greatrevolution.

ìIn Switzerland they support the Radicals, withoutlosing sight of the fact that this party consists of anta-gonistic elements partly of Democratic Socialists, in theFrench sense, partly of radical bourgeois.

ìIn Poland they support the party that insists on anagrarian revolution as the prime condition for nationalemancipation, that party which fomented the insurrectionof Cracow in 1846.

ìIn Germany they fight with the bourgeoisie wheneverit acts in a revolutionary way, against the absolutemonarchy, the feudal squirearchy, and the petty bour-geoisie.

ìBut they never cease, for a single instant, to instilinto the working-class the clearest possible recognition ofthe hostile antagonism between bourgeoisie and proletariat,in order that the German workers may straightway use,as so many weapons against the bourgeoise, the socialand political conditions that the bourgeoisie must necessa-rily introduce along with its supremacy and in order that,after the fall of the reactionary classes in Germany, thefight against the bourgeoisie itself may immediately begin.

ìThe Communists turn their attention chiefly toGermany, because that country is on the eve of a bourgeoisrevolution that is bound to be carried out under moreadvanced conditions of European civilisation, and with amuch more developed proletariat, than that of Englandwas in the seventeenth, and of France in the eighteenthcentury, and because the bourgeois revolution in Germanywill be but the prelude to an immediately following prole-tarian revolution.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 45

ìIn short, the Communists everywhere support everyrevolutionary movement against the existing social andpolitical order of things.

ìIn all these movements they bring to the front, as theleading question in each, the property question, no matterwhat its degree of development at the time.

ìFinally, they labour everywhere for the union andagreement of the democratic parties of all countries.

ìThe Communists disdain to conceal their views andaims. They openly declare that their ends can be attainedonly by the forcible overthrow of all existing social condi-tions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communisticrevolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose buttheir chains. They have a world to win. Working menof all countries, uniteî.

Vol. No.II. Page 297-298.:óIt is an article written byEngels in 1848-1849 under the heading ìMarx and theNew Rheiniche Zeitung.î Here Engels, while referring toMarxís programme of principles and tactics, reproducesthe portions from Communist Manifesto, referred above.Page No. 430:óIt is a letter from Engels to A. Bebeldated June 20th, 1873. We reproduce the relevantportion:ó

ìWith regard to the attitude of the Party towardLassalleanism, you of course can judge better than wewhat tactics should be adopted, especially in particularcases. But there is also this to be considered. When, asin your case, one is to a certain extent in the position of acompetitor to the General Association of German Workers,one is easily too considerate of oneís rival and gets intothe habit of always thinking of him first. But both theGeneral Association of German Workers and the Social-Democratic Workersí Party together still form only a verysmall minority of the German working-class. Our view

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which we have found confirmed by long practice, is thatthe correct tactics in propaganda is not to entice away afew individuals and memberships here and there from oneísopponent, but to work on the great mass which still remainsinactive. The raw force of a single individual whom onehas reared oneself from the raw is worth more than tenLassallean turncoats, who always bring the seeds of theirfalse tendencies into the Party with them. And if onecould only get the masses without their local leaders itwould still be all right. But one always has to take awhole crowd of these leaders into the bargain, who arebound by their previous public utterances, if not by theirprevious views, and now have above all things to provethat they have not deserted their principles but that onthe contrary the Social-Democratic Workesí Party preachestrue Lassaleanismî.

17. The State and Revolution.

This book was written by Lenin, in August-Sept. 1917just before the October Revolution in Russia, and waspublished after the Revolution. This work is consideredas one of the most important of Leninís writings, whereinhe develops the Marxist theory of the state, as the productand manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antago-nism and serving as an organ of class domination.

In the course of his analysis, he vehemently criticisesthe theories held by other Marxists of the time such asPlekhanov and Kautsky.

18. Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky.

This book was written by Lenin in March 1919, as ananswer to the pamphlet ìThe Dictatorship of the Proletariatî(1918) by the German Marxist, Karl Kautsky. Kautskyin his pamphlet criticises Leninís policy in Russia andcondemns the dictatorship and advocates the democraticmethod as the only true Socialist method.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 47

Against this Lenin accuses Kautsky of ìSocial-Chau-vinism, renegacy, spinelessness, subservience to opportunism,unexampled vulgarization of the theories of Marxism andcomplete renunciation of Marxismî.

19. Mensheviks.

At the Second Party Congress of Russian Social Demo-cratic Labour Party held in 1903, the Party split, on thequestion of tactics, into two factions, the majority(Bolsheviks) and the minority (Mensheviks).

Thus Mensheviks means ëmembers of the minorityí.These two wings became two separate parties, both callingthemselves Russian Social Democratic Labour Party andboth professing to be Marxists.

Mensheviks were really the majority party after 1905Revolution and continued to be so until Sept. 1917.

This Party included all shades of Socialists who believedthat Society must progress by natural evolution towardssocialism and that the working class must conquer politicalpower first. Among their most prominent leaders werePlekhanov, Martov etc.

20. The Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Was formed at the end of 1901 by inviting a numberof revolutionary Narodnik groups in Russia and abroad.The theoretical views of the party were a mixture ofpopulism and Marxism in a revised from. It strove totransform the peasant struggle for land and for the redi-vision of land into a movement for declaring all land asnational property and for its equal distribution among thetoilers which it called the Socialisation of land.

A more radical intellectual section broke off from theparty in the fall of 1917 and formed a new party, theLeft Socialist Revolutionary Party. During the Revolu-tion, the Right Party joined hand with the Mensheviks,

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and the Left with the Bolsheviks. The former were in thetwo provisional governments after the first (March) RussianRevolution and the latter joined the Bolshevik cabinetafter November Revolution.

Right Socialist-Revolutionaries together with Menshe-viks were in majority in the Constituent Assembly ofRussia, elected after November Revolution and the firstpresident of that one day Assembly was Victor Chernov,a prominent leader of the party. In course of time bothRight and Left Socialist Revolutionaries met the fate ofall other opposition parties at the hands of the Bolsheviks.

21. Duma.

The name of the first Russian House of Representativesgranted by Nicholas II (Oct. 30th, 1905). It was formallysanctioned on March 5th 1906, after amendment of theelectoral law. Election to the Duma was indirectly on thebasis of division of population by classes. Only six largecities had direct elections. Electoral law was such thatthe upper classes had a great preponderance in the Duma.

It had power to legislate, to vote the budget and tocontrol administration but actually its powers werecurtailed by Tsarís Prerogatives, frequent use of orders-in-council, irresponsible ministers and the conservativeupper house.

First two Dumas were dissolved by the Tsar after 73and 103 days of existence.

Third duma (1907-1912) elected after a change ofelectoral law, lasted for full five years and the Fourth(1912-1917) was nearing its completion when Revolutionbroke out.

22. The Constitutional Democratic Party.

Also called Cadets. Its official name was Party of thePeopleís Freedom. It was composed of liberals from the

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 49

propertied classes. They stood for constitutional monarchyand political reform. When the revolution broke out inMarch 1917, they formed the first Provisional Government.But as they declared themselves in favour of allied waraims, their Ministry was overthrown in April. They grewmore and more conservative as the Revolution becamemore and more a social and economic upheaval.

23. Kolchak.

A Tsarist general who established his power in Siberiain 1919 and launched an offensive along the wholeEastern Front. His offensive assumed serious proportionsand he almost reached the Volga. But the Red Armygave him fierce resistance and he had to retreat. Bythe end of 1919 his army was completely routed, hehimself taken prisoner and shot by order of the Revolu-tionary Committee in Irkutsk.

24. Denikin.

Another Tsarist general who advanced from the southin the summer of 1919. By Oetober his armies seizedthe whole of Ukraine, captured Orel and almost reachedTula. Moscow was in imminent danger, Lenin issued theSlogan ìAll for the fight against Denikin.î The fierceresistance of the Red army, however, forced him toretreat and by the beginning of 1920, his defeat wascomplete.

25. The All-Russia Democratic Conference.

Was held in Petrograd from September 14 to 22, 1917.It was convened by the Menshevik and Socialist Revolu-tionary leaders of the All-Russian Central ExecutiveCommittee of the Soviets of Workersí and SoldiersíDeputies, and of the Executive Committee of the Sovietof Peasantsí Deputies, and attended by representativesof the Socialist Parties, Soviets, trade unions, Zemstvos,commercial and industrial circles and military units. The

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conference set up a Preparliament (The Provisional Councilof the Republic) as an advisory body to the ProvisionalGovernment.

26. Preparliament.

An advisory body set up by a majority vote of theAll-Russia Democratic Conference to advise the ProvisionalGovernment. The Bolsheviks finding themselves out-numbered in the Preparliament decided to boycott itand to prepare for armed uprising.

27. ìAll Power to the Sovietsî.

This slogan was given by Lenin in the Seventh (April1917) Conference of the Bolshevik Party. The intentionwas to undermine authority of the Provisional Governmentby seizing leadership of the Soviets. But when the FirstAll-Russian Congress of Soviets met in June, 1917, a littleover 100 Bolsheviks were outnumbered by 700 to 800Mensheviks Socialist-Revolutionaries and others. TheCongress gave full support to the Provisional Government,which suppressed the Bolsheviks and drove Lenin under-ground. The Bolshevik Party changed its tactics fromìAll Power to the Sovietsî to ìDictatorship of the Prole-tariat and poor peasantryî, at the 6th Party Congress inJuly, held Secretly.

28. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Two Treaties were signed at Brest-Litovsk early in1918. On Feb. 9th, between Central Powers and theUkrainian Republic; and on March 3rd, between theCentral Powers and the Soviet Government of Russia.

On November 20th, 1917, following on a resolutionpassed by the Congress of Russian Soviets in favour ofimmediate peace, the new government informed theCentral Powers of its readiness to come to terms.

The First meeting of peace delegates was held onDec. 22, in the fortress of Brest-Litovsk.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 51

Russians laid down the principle of peace withoutannexations and indeminities, and the recognition of theright of self-determination for all peoples.

Dead-lock continued for some time as in the Russiancamp, opinions differed widely on German demands, andin the meanwhile Central powers signed a separate peacetreaty with Ukrain, which enraged Russia.

On, Feb 28th, Germany denounced the armistice andinvaded Estonia. On Feb. 19th, Petrograd being imme-diately threatened, Lenin and Trotsky sued for peace,accepting the conditions laid down at Brest-Litovsk.Germans, however, now delivered an ultimatum embodyingfresh demands, including the German occupation ofEstonia and Latvia to which the Russians agreed on Feb.24. Treaty was signed on March 3rd. It was threefold. One, territorial cessions by Russia; two, fourannexes regulated economic regulations; three, Russiapromised to pay 300,000,000 gold Roubles as compensa-tions.

The Treaty was annulled on 11th Nov. 1918, afterGerman defeat in World War I.

29. Otzovism.

From the Russian word ëOtozvatí meaning ìto recallî.This was the name given to an ìOpportunist petty-bourgeoisî trend that arose in the ranks of the Bolsheviksin the period of reaction (1908-11). Otzovism demandedrecall of Social-Democratic Deputies in the state Dumaand the abandonment of work in the trade unions andother legal working class organisations.

30. Kerensky. (1881ó

Alexander Feodorovich Kerensky, a Russian politiciantook law degree from St. Petersburg University and joined

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the bar there. In 1912, he was elected to the FourthDuma and joined the labour group. He was regardedas a very eloquent speaker.

After the Revolution of Feb. 1917, he became theMinister of Justice in the first provisional government andlater, in May, 1917, became War Minister.

On July 25th, he succeeded Prime Lvov as PrimeMinister of the 2nd provisional government, holding thisoffice until the outbreak of Bolshevik Revolution. Onthe eve of the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1918, hefled from Petrograd and attempted to march with armedforces on the capital, but was defeated. His furtherattempts to oust Bolsheviks from power failed after whichhe returned to Paris. At present he is in America

His published works are: Prelude to Bolshevism;and, Catastrophe.

31. Left-Communists.

A section of the Communist Party who advocatednon-cooperation with all non-communist organisationssuch as parliaments and assemblies and stood for a purelyrevolutionary and illegal programme.

33. ìThe Importance of Gold Now and After the Complete Victory of Socialism.

This is an article written by Lenin on Nov. 5 andpublished in Pravda No. 251 on Nov. 6-7, 1920. Inthis article Lenin justifies the temporary adoption byhis government of certain economic measures of ëStateCapitalism.í

He says ìwhen we are victorious on a world-scale, Ithink we shall use gold for the purpose of building publiclavatories in the streets of some of the largest cities of

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 53

the worldî, as gold has been the cause of greatest miseryto humanity. But ìmeanwhile we must save gold in theR.S.F.S.R., sell it at the highest price, buy goods withit at the lowest price. When living among wolves, howllike wolves.î

33. New Economic Policy.Introduced in Russia by Lenin in 1921, when ending of

the Civil War and war communism widespreaddiscontent and sporadic revolts of peasants all over Russia.There had been a catastrophic decline in industry, tradeand agriculture during the Civil War. N.E.P. was theantidote which began with an agricultural policy ofincreasing food supplies by offering inducements to thepeasant, developed into a commercial policy for the pro-motion of trade and exchange, involving a financial policyfor a stable currency and finally became a policy ofincreased industrial productivity. Free enterprise wasgiven sufficient elbow room both in industry and agri-culture. Lenin regarded the policy as ìa retreat and adefeatófor a new attack.î The policy was ended byStalin in 1925, when the Fourteenth Party Congress adopteda ìPolicy of Socialist Industrialisation.î

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 55

SUGGESTED READINGS.

I

1. Marx & EngelsóThe Communist Manifesto.2. LeninóThe State and Revolution.

óImperialism: Highest Stage of Capitalism.óTwo Tactics of Social Democracy.óLeft Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder.óOne Step Forward, Two Steps backward.óOpportunism and Social Chauvinism.óWhat Is To Be Done?

3. StalinóFoundation of Leninism.óProblems of Leninism.óHistory of The Communist Party of

Soviet Union (Bolshevik)4. Theses and Statutes of The Communist International.5. Programme of The Communist International.6. Russiaís Post War Plan 1946-50.7. Mao Tse TungóChinaís New Democracy.

óOne Peopleís Democratic Dictatorship. óOn culture.

8. Liu Shao ChióOn Inner Party Struggle.óHow To Be A Good Communist

Nationalism & Internationalism.9. Thirty Years History of The Chinese Communist Party.

10. News Papers and Magazins.a. New TimesóMoscow.b. Cominform Journal; For a Lasting Peace: For a

Peopleís Democracy.

c. Peopleís ChinaóPeking.d. Cross RoadsóMadras.e. Current Soviet DigestóJoint Committee of

Slavic Studies, U.S.A.

II

1. Suzanne LabinóStalinís Russia.2. Harry SchwartzóRussiaís Soviet Economy.3. Alexander BaykovóThe Development of the

Soviet Economic System.4. Issac DeutscheróStalin: A Political Biography.5. Sidney and Beatrice WebbóSoviet Communism.:

A New Civilization.6. David J, DallinóForced Labour in Soviet Russia.7. Leon TrotskyóThe Revolution Betrayed.8. Soviet Nazi Relations; 1939-41.9. Ruth FischeróStalin and German Communism.

10 Carew HuntóThe Theory and Practice of Communism.11. Yagel GlucksteinóStalinís Satellites in Europe.12. Soviet-Yugoslav DiputeóRoyal Council of

International Affairs.13. The Royal Canadian Commissionís Report about

Atom Spy Ring.14. John ReedóTen Days that shook the World.

III

1. George S. Counts and Nucia LodgeóCountry of theBlind.

2. Alex InkelesóPublic Opinion in Soviet Russia:A Study in Mass Persuation.

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TERMS OF THE DEBATE / 57

3. Julien SteinburgóVerdict of Three Decades: fromthe Literature of Revolt against SovietCommunism 1917-50.

4. Gleb StruveóSoviet Russian literature.5. Margaret BuberóUnder two Dictators.6. Victor KravchenkoóI Chose Freedom.7. The God that FailedóSix Famous Men Tell How

They Changed Their MindAbout Communism.

8 Alex WeissbourgóConspiracy of Silence.9. Arthur KoestleróDarkness at Noon: A Novel.

10. James BurnhamóThe Coming Defeat of Communism.11. Julian HuxleyóSoviet Genetics.12. A RossióA Communist Party in Action.13. R. SwarupóRussian Imperialism.14. Menes SperberóThe Wind and the Flame: A Novel.15. Whittaker ChambersóThe Witnes.

IV

1. Edward HunteróBrain Washing in Red China.2. Freda UtleyóLast Chance in China.3. Edger SnowóRed Star Over China.4. Phillip JaffeeóNew Frontiers in Asia.5. Freda UtleyóThe China Story.6. Jack BeldenóChina Shakes The World.7. Maurice ZitkinóAsia and the West.8. Freda UtleyóThe China Story.

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V

1. Hannan AredetóThe Burden of our Times: An Historical Study of The World-wide Crisis of our Times, with its EvilConcept of the Deliberate De-

humanization of Humanity.2. Asoka MethaóDemocratic Socialism: A Mid

Twentienth Century Synthesis.3. Karl L. PopperóThe Open Society and Its Enemies.4. Charles MorganóLiberties of the Mind.5. George OrwellóNinteen Eighty-Four.6. Robert PayneóZero.7. New Fabian EssaysóEdited by R.H. Crossman.8. Bertrand RussellóPower.9. Aldoux HuxleyóTime Must Have A Stop: A Novel.

10. Aldoux HuxleyóEnds And Means.11. Milovan DjilasóNew Roads to Socialism.

VI

1. Frank D. NewburyóThe American EconomicSystem.

2. Handbook for 1951 Facts and Figures for 1951published by Labour Party, London.

3. Paul HoffmanóPeace Can Be Won.4. John Foster DullesóWar or Peace.

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A Oompanio n V'ol1tmeRUSSIAN IMPERIALISM:

HOW TO STOP IT?(English & Hindi)

By

Ram SwarupSome Opinions.:

"Thank you for the discussionof Russian Imperialism which Ithought excellent I wish youall success."

-BERTRAND RUSSELL.

EnglishHindi

Rs. 2/.As .. /1'..-

"Many thanks for sending methe typescript of Russian Impe-rialism 1wish you good suo-cess in the important work youhave undertaken"

-ARTHUR KOESTLER,"He has made a careful study

of the Russian polity as it existstoday, and it deserves a widecirculation. There must indeedbe a large public which wantsthe kind of information that thisbook provides."

-ARTHUR MOORE.(Hinduathan Times)

"Mr. Swarup seems to appraisethe Soviet regime and its threatto us very justly, And he makesmany good points in his exposureof eommunisr propaganda espe.cially on economic questions .it required some courage andclear-slghtedness to do this .t},e facts about Russia are soshockmg that merely to statethem seems to lay one open toaccusations of bitterness, bias,credulity and sensationalism"

-PHILIP SPRATT.(Mysindia).

"You bring out your pointwith trip hammer blows"

-RICHARD DEVEHALL\ (Free Trade Union Committee)

Published by:Prachi PrakAshan,12, Chow: inghee Square,Calcu t.ta

"

TRUTH FUNDCommunism threatens freedom everywhere, particularly

the freedom of the new, emergent Asia. Far exceedingthe ravages of the 19th century colonialism and capita-lism, it stands for total eclipse of man, his spiritual stag-nation and death and increasing improverishment of themasses.

OF

.FREEDOM IN ASIA

Combining methods of political infiltration and sub-version, communism advances under false slogans andfalse promises by means of organised misinformationretailed through local pedlars.

In this struggle. Truth is the greatest weapon ofdefence in the hands of world democracy and Asianfreedom. Let people know the truth about Soviet slave-labour champs, purges, terror, speed-up, stage-trials,increasing indudrialisation and d. creasing standard ofliving; and regiinentation of the artist and thinker, andcommunism will shrink within and die of its own lies.

This is how the Society for Defence of Freedom in Asiaconceives the danger and this is how it contemplates tomeet it. This, we believe, is the "ray of truth, peace anddiscrimination.

We invite all those who agree with us to donateliberally to the Truth Fund. The contributor may donatein any shape, donate the cost or part-cost of printing andpublishing a book, a pamphlet, a poster. No donationis too big or too small for our-purpose.

SOCIETY FOR DEFENCE

12, Chowringhee Square, Calcutta.5147 W.E.A, Karol Bagh, New Delhi.