Bolshevism Flashcards
(283 cards)
1
Q
What does Luxemburg see the World War as being a cover for from the german persepctive?
A
“The Russian Revolution is the mightiest event of the World War. Its outbreak, its unexampled radicalism, its enduring consequences, constitute the clearest condemnation of the lying phrases which official Social-Democracy so zealously supplied at the beginning of the war as an ideological cover for German imperialism’s campaign of conquest. I refer to the phrases concerning the mission of German bayonets, which were to overthrow Russian Czarism and free its oppressed peoples.”
2
Q
What was the effect of the World War on the revolutionary feeling of 1905-07 in Russia? (Luxemburg)
A
“The revolution of 1905-07 roused only a faint echo in Europe. Therefore, it had to remain a mere opening chapter. Continuation and conclusion were tied up with the further development of Europe.”
3
Q
Why would the actions of the Bolsheviks not be perfect according to Luxemburg?
A
“Dealing as we are with the very first experiment in proletarian dictatorship in world history (and one taking place at that under the hardest conceivable conditions, in the midst of the world-wide conflagration and chaos of the imperialist mass slaughter, caught in the coils of the most reactionary military power in Europe, and accompanied by the most complete failure on the part of the international working class), it would be a crazy idea to think that every last thing done or left undone in an experiment with the dictatorship of the proletariat under such abnormal conditions represented the very pinnacle of perfection. “
4
Q
Why must the Russian Revolution be studied according to Luxemburg?
A
“Not by the creation of a revolutionary hurrah-spirit, but quite the contrary: only by an insight into all the fearful seriousness, all the complexity of the tasks involved, only as a result of political maturity and independence of spirit, only as a result of a capacity for critical judgement on the part of the masses, whose capacity was systematically killed by the Social-Democracy for decades under various pretexts, only thus can the genuine capacity for historical action be born in the German proletariat. To concern one’s self with a critical analysis of the Russian Revolution in all its historical connections is the best training for the German and the international working class for the tasks which confront them as an outgrowth of the present situation.”
5
Q
What is the Russian Revolution according to Luxemburg?
A
“It is the typical course of every first general reckoning of the revolutionary forces begotten within the womb of bourgeois society.”
6
Q
What was the Russian Revolution a result of according to Luxemburg?
A
“In this, it became clear that Russia was realizing the result of a century of European development, and above all, that the revolution of 1917 was a direct continuation of that of 1905 07, and not a gift of the German “liberator.””
7
Q
Who were the enemys of the Revolution and why according to Luxemburg?
A
“From this we can judge the utopian and fundamentally reactionary characters of the tactics by which the Russian “Kautskyans” or Mensheviks permitted themselves to be guided. Hardened in their addiction to the myth of the bourgeois character of the Russian Revolution – for the time being, you see, Russia is not supposed to be ripe for the social revolution! – they clung desperately to a coalition with the bourgeois liberals”
8
Q
Who did Kautsky want to collaborate with according the Luxemburg?
A
“those classes and parties from which came the greatest threat of danger to the revolution and to its first conquest, democracy.”
9
Q
What did Lenin and the Bolsheviks represent according to Luxemburg?
A
“The party of Lenin was thus the only one in Russia which grasped the true interest of the revolution in that first period. It was the element that drove the revolution forward, and, thus it was the only party which really carried on a socialist policy.”
10
Q
What lesson did the Russian Revolution teach? (Luxemburg)
A
“In this, the Russian Revolution has but confirmed the basic lesson of every great revolution, the law of its being, which decrees: either the revolution must advance at a rapid, stormy, resolute tempo, break down all barriers with an iron hand and place its goals ever farther ahead, or it is quite soon thrown backward behind its feeble point of departure and suppressed by counter revolution. “
11
Q
Why must the Revolution keep moving? (Luxemburg)
A
“The “golden mean” cannot be maintained in any revolution. The law of its nature demands a quick decision: either the locomotive drives forward full steam ahead to the most extreme point of the historical ascent, or it rolls back of its own weight again to the starting point at the bottom; and those who would keep it with their weak powers half way up the hill, it drags down with it irredeemably into the abyss.”
12
Q
What were the Bolsheviks able to do in the revolutionary situation? (Luxemburg)
A
“The party of Lenin was the only one which grasped the mandate and duty of a truly revolutionary party and which, by the slogan – “All power in the hands of the proletariat and peasantry” – insured the continued development of the revolution.”
13
Q
What problem did the Bolsheviks solve that the German Social Democrats had not according to Luxemburg?
A
“Thereby the Bolsheviks solved the famous problem of “winning a majority of the people,” which problem has ever weighed on the German Social Democracy like a nightmare.”
14
Q
What mistake did the German Social Democrats make according to Luxemburg?
A
“As bred-in-the-bone disciples of parliamentary cretinism, these German Social-Democrats have sought to apply to revolutions the home-made wisdom of the parliamentary nursery: in order to carry anything, you must first have a majority. The same, they say, applies to a revolution: first let’s become a “majority.” “
15
Q
What does Luxemburg say about achieving revolution through majorities?
A
“The true dialectic of revolutions, however, stands this wisdom of parliamentary moles on its head: not through a majority, but through revolutionary tactics to a majority – that’s the way the road runs.”
16
Q
What was the aim of the Bolsheviks that Luxemburg says made them the only truly revolutionary party?
A
“Moreover, the Bolsheviks immediately set as the aim of this seizure of power a complete, far-reaching revolutionary program; not the safeguarding of bourgeois democracy, but a dictatorship of the proletariat for the purpose of realizing socialism. “
17
Q
What does Luxemburg says the land policy of a revolutionary party should be?
A
“Still, every socialist economic reform on the land must obviously begin with large and medium land-ownership. Here the property right must first of all be turned over to the nation, or to the state, which, with a socialist government, amounts to the same thing; for it is this alone which affords the possibility of organizing agricultural production in accord with the requirements of interrelated, large-scale socialist production.”
18
Q
What is needed for socialism to be achieved according to Luxemburg?
A
“The nationalization of the large and middle-sized estates and the union of industry and agriculture – these are two fundamental requirements of any socialist economic reform, without which there is no socialism. “
19
Q
What event was decisive in the progress of the Bolsheviks according to Luxemburg?
A
“The well-known dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in November 1917 played an outstanding role in the policy of the Bolsheviks. This measure was decisive for their further position; to a certain point it represented a turning point in their tactics.”
20
Q
Why is the proletarian state not simply the bourgeois state inverted?
A
“This simplified view misses the most essential thing: bourgeois class rule has no need of the political training and education of the entire mass of the people, at least not beyond certain narrow limits. But for the proletarian dictatorship that is the life element, the very air without which it is not able to exist.” (Luxemburg)
21
Q
How does Luxemburg describe freedom?
A
“Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all.”
22
Q
What is the assumption Lenin makes according to Luxemburg?
A
“The tacit assumption underlying the Lenin-Trotsky theory of dictatorship is this: that the socialist transformation is something for which a ready-made formula lies completed in the pocket of the revolutionary party, which needs only to be carried out energetically in practice.”
23
Q
What does Luxemburg say about the assumptions Lenin makes?
A
“This is, unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – not the case. Far from being a sum of ready-made prescriptions which have only to be applied, the practical realization of socialism as an economic, social and juridical system is something which lies completely hidden in the mists of the future. What we possess in our program is nothing but a few main signposts which indicate the general direction in which to look for the necessary measures, and the indications are mainly negative in character at that. “
24
Q
How is socialism made according to Luxemburg?
A
“The socialist system of society should only be, and can only be, an historical product, born out of the school of its own experiences, born in the course of its realization, as a result of the developments of living history, which – just like organic nature of which, in the last analysis, it forms a part – has the fine habit of always producing along with any real social need the means to its satisfaction, along with the task simultaneously the solution.”
25
What is the most a socialist programme can know in advance of attempting to make socialism according to Luxemburg?
"It has as its prerequisite a number of measures of force– against property, etc. The negative, the tearing down, can be decreed; the building up, the positive, cannot."
26
How are people supposed to change for socialism to be achieved according to Luxemburg?
"Socialism in life demands a complete spiritual transformation in the masses degraded by centuries of bourgeois rule. Social instincts in place of egotistical ones, mass initiative in place of inertia, idealism which conquers all suffering, etc., etc."
27
Who knows that a transformation of people is needed in order to transform society according to Luxemburg?
"No one knows this better, describes it more penetratingly; repeats it more stubbornly than Lenin. But he is completely mistaken in the means he employs."
28
What are the means Lenin employs that Luxemburg says are wrong for achieving socialism?
"Decree, dictatorial force of the factory overseer, draconian penalties, rule by terror – all these things are but palliatives. The only way to a rebirth is the school of public life itself, the most unlimited, the broadest democracy and public opinion. It is rule by terror which demoralizes."
29
What has lenin done in place of representative bodies?
"In place of the representative bodies created by general, popular elections, Lenin and Trotsky have laid down the soviets as the only true representation of political life in the land as a whole, life in the soviets must also become more and more crippled." (Luxemburg)
30
What happens when general elections are abolished as Luxemburg sees in Russia?
"Without general elections, without unrestricted freedom of press and assembly, without a free struggle of opinion, life dies out in every public institution, becomes a mere semblance of life, in which only the bureaucracy remains as the active element. Public life gradually falls asleep, a few dozen party leaders of inexhaustible energy and boundless experience direct and rule." (Luxemburg)
31
How does Luxemburg describe the situation of people created by the Bolsheviks?
"Among them, in reality only a dozen outstanding heads do the leading and an elite of the working class is invited from time to time to meetings where they are to applaud the speeches of the leaders, and to approve proposed resolutions unanimously – at bottom, then, a clique affair – a dictatorship, to be sure, not the dictatorship of the proletariat but only the dictatorship of a handful of politicians, that is a dictatorship in the bourgeois sense "
32
What is the error that Lenin and Kautsky make according to Luxemburg?
"The basic error of the Lenin-Trotsky theory is that they too, just like Kautsky, oppose dictatorship to democracy. “Dictatorship or democracy” is the way the question is put by Bolsheviks and Kautsky alike."
33
What is the path Lenin has decided on according to Luxemburg?
"Lenin and Trotsky, on the other hand, decide in favor of dictatorship in contradistinction to democracy, and thereby, in favor of the dictatorship of a handful of persons, that is, in favor of dictatorship on the bourgeois model. "
34
Why is the dictatorship Lenin made not a proletarian one?
Because it is a dictatorship or a few elites, making it a borugeois style dictatorship
35
What does Luxemburg say Kautsky's advice to the proletariat is?
"The proletariat, when it seizes power, can never follow the good advice of Kautsky, given on the pretext of the “unripeness of the country,” the advice being to renounce socialist revolution and devote itself to democracy. It cannot follow this advice without betraying thereby itself, the International, and the revolution. "
36
What should the proletariat do when it takes power according to Luxemburg?
"exercise a dictatorship, but a dictatorship of the class, not of a party or of a clique dictatorship of the class, that means in the broadest possible form on the basis of the most active, unlimited participation of the mass of the people, of unlimited democracy."
37
When does democracy begin under socialism according to Luxemburg?
"But socialist democracy is not something which begins only in the promised land after the foundations of socialist economy are created; it does not come as some sort of Christmas present for the worthy people who, in the interim, have loyally supported a handful of socialist dictators. Socialist democracy begins simultaneously with the beginnings of the destruction of class rule and of the construction of socialism. It begins at the very moment of the seizure of power by the socialist party. It is the same thing as the dictatorship of the proletariat."
38
What sort of dictatorship does Luxemburg want?
"Yes, dictatorship! But this dictatorship consists in the manner of applying democracy, not in its elimination, but in energetic, resolute attacks upon the well entrenched rights and economic relationships of bourgeois society, without which a socialist transformation cannot be accomplished"
39
Who does Lenin attribute the new critical trend and attitude to?
Bernstein
40
What does Lenin say Bernstein wants to achieve? (WITBD)
"Social-Democracy must change from a party of the social revolution into a democratic party of social reforms."
41
Want did Bernstein reject? (WITBD)
"The very conception, “ultimate aim,” was declared to be unsound, and the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat was absolutely rejected."
42
Why did Bernstein reject class struggle according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"The theory of the class struggle was rejected on the grounds that it could not be applied to a strictly democratic society, governed according to the will of the majority, etc."
43
What is the crtical trend in socialism really? (WITBD)
"He who does not deliberately close his eyes cannot fail to see that the new “critical” trend in socialism is nothing more nor less than a new variety of opportunism."
44
What does the new opportunist trend that Bernstein represents seek to achieve according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"freedom to convert Social-Democracy into a democratic party of reform, freedom to introduce bourgeois ideas and bourgeois elements into socialism"
45
What did Bernstein's ideas do to true marxist ideas? (WITBD)
"the Bernsteinian and “critical” trend, to which the majority of the “legal Marxists” turned, deprived the Socialists of this opportunity and corrupted socialist consciousness by vulgarizing Marxism, by advocating the theory that social antagonisms were being toned down, by declaring the idea of the social revolution and of the dictatorship of the proletariat to be absurd, by reducing the working-class movement and the class struggle to narrow trade unionism and to a “realistic” struggle for petty, gradual reforms."
46
What was Bernstein essentially accused of doing by Lenin?
Trying to make the masses suceptible to bourgeois ideas rather than showing them that their interests are diametrically opposed
47
What does Lenin say about the importance of theory? (WITBD)
"Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement"
48
Where does the vanguard fighter come from? (WITBD)
"At this point, we only wish to state that the role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory"
49
What does the Russian proletariat represent? (WITBD)
"History has now confronted us with an immediate task which is the most revolutionary of all the immediate tasks that confront the proletariat of any country. The fulfilment of this task, the destruction of the most powerful bulwark, not only of European, but also (it may now be said) of Asiatic reaction, would make the Russian proletariat the vanguard of the international revolutionary proletariat"
50
Where does the strength and weakness of the revolutionary movement in Russia reside according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"Indeed, no one, we think, has up to now doubted that the strength of the present-day movement lies in the awakening of the masses (principally, the industrial proletariat), and that its weakness lies in the lack of consciousness and initiative among the revolutionary leaders."
51
What makes actions truly Social Democratic? (WITBD)
"Taken by themselves, these strikes were simply trade union struggles, but not yet Social Democratic struggles. They testified to the awakening antagonisms between workers and employers, but the workers were not, and could not be, conscious of the irreconcilable antagonism of their interests to the whole of the modern political and social system, i.e., theirs was not yet Social-Democratic consciousness. "
52
Where does Social Democratic consciouness come from? (WITBD)
"We have said that there could not yet be Social-Democratic consciousness among the workers. It could only be brought to them from without."
53
What can the masses achieve if left to themselves according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort, is able to develop only trade union consciousness, i.e., the conviction that it is necessary to combine in unions, fight the employers and strive to compel the government to pass necessary labour legislation, etc."
54
What does Lenin point to to suggest that theory must be given to the masses from the outside? (WITBD)
"According to their social status, the founders of modern scientific Socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia. In the very same way, in Russia, the theoretical doctrine of Social Democracy arose quite independently of the spontaneous growth of the working-class movement, it arose as a natural and inevitable outcome of the development of ideas among the revolutionary socialist intelligentsia. "
55
What is the Rabochaya Mysl?
A Russian newspaper that lenin accused of promoting 'economism'
56
What is economism to Lenin? (WITBD)
A call to limit the class struggle to trade unions: "Instead of sounding the call to go forward, towards the consolidation of the revolutionary organization and to the expansion of political activity, the call for a retreat to the purely trade union struggle was issued."
57
How does Lenin characterise those who put faith in spontenaity?
"All those who talk about “overrating the importance of ideology,” about exaggerating the role of the conscious element, etc., imagine that the pure working-class movement can work out, and will work out, an independent ideology for itself, if only the workers “wrest their fate from the hands of the leaders.” But this is a profound mistake." (WITBD)
58
Is trade unionism a social democratic ideology?
No, it is bourgeois
59
What does spontenaity lead to? (WITBD)
"There is a lot of talk about spontaneity, but the spontaneous development of the working-class movement leads to its becoming subordinated to the bourgeois ideology, leads to its developing according to the program of the Credo, for the spontaneous working class movement is trade unionism, is Nur-Gewerkschaftlerei, and trade unionism means the ideological enslavement of the workers by the bourgeoisie."
60
What is the task of Social Democracy with regards to spontenaity? (WITBD)
"Hence, our task, the task of Social-Democracy, is to combat spontaneity, to divert the working-class movement from this spontaneous, trade-unionist striving to come under the wing of the bourgeoisie, and to bring it under the wing of revolutionary Social-Democracy. "
61
Why does spontenaity lead to bourgeois ideology? (WITBD)
"But why, the reader will ask, does the spontaneous movement, the movement along the line of the least resistance, lead to the domination of the bourgeois ideology? For the simple reason that the bourgeois ideology is far older than the socialist ideology; because it is more fully developed and because it possesses immeasurably more opportunities for being spread. "
62
What does Lenin accuse the Rabocheye Dyelo of doing? (WITBD)
"We need only point out that the Rabocheye Dyelo considered that it was impossible to set the overthrow of the autocracy as the first task of the mass working-class movement, and that it degraded this task (in the interests of the mass movement) to that of a struggle for immediate political demands."
63
What is the fundamental error of the new critical trend according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"And so, we have become convinced that the fundamental error committed by the “new trend” in Russian Social-Democracy lies in its bowing to spontaneity, and its failure to understand that the spontaneity of the masses demands a mass of consciousness from us Social-Democrats."
64
Lenin does not deny the existence of spontenaity, but what does it demand? (WITBD)
"The greater the spontaneous upsurge of the masses, the more widespread the movement becomes, so much the more rapidly, incomparably more rapidly, grows the demand for greater consciousness in the theoretical, political and organizational work of Social-Democracy."
65
What did the distribution of leaflets in factories, containing proper theory, achieve according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"And in the over whelming majority of cases these “leaflets” were in truth a declaration of war, because the exposures served greatly to agitate the workers; they evoked among them the common demands for the removal of the most glaring evils and roused in them a readiness to support these demands with strikes. Finally, the employers themselves were compelled to recognize the significance of these leaflets as a declaration of war, so much so that in a large number of cases they did not even wait for the outbreak of hostilities."
66
What does the exposure of capitalist consitions through leaflets achieve according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"Even in the most advanced countries of Europe we can still witness how the exposure of evils in some backward trade, or in some forgotten branch of domestic industry, serves as a starting point for the awakening of class consciousness, for the beginning of a trade union struggle, and for the spread of Socialism. "
67
What have the economists limited themselves to doing through leaflets and newspapers? (WITBD)
"The overwhelming majority of Russian Social-Democrats have of late been almost entirely absorbed by this work of organizing the exposure of factory conditions. It is sufficient to recall the Rabochaya Mysl to see to what extent they were taken up by it. So much so, indeed, that they lost sight of the fact that this, taken by itself, is in essence still not Social-Democratic work, but merely trade union work.
68
What did leaflets and newspapers achieve? (WITBD)
"all that they achieved was that the sellers of labour power learned to sell their “commodity” on better terms and to fight the purchasers over a purely commercial deal."
69
How does true Social Democracy correct the errors of the new critical economism? (WITBD)
"Social-Democracy leads the struggle of the working class not only for better terms for the sale of labour power, but also for the abolition of the social system which compels the propertyless to sell themselves to the rich."
70
What must Social Democracy not confine themselves to? (WITBD)
"Hence, it follows that Social-Democrats not only must not confine themselves entirely to the economic struggle; they must not even allow the organization of economic exposures to become the predominant part of their activities. We must actively take up the political education of the working class and the development of its political consciousness."
71
What does it mean to give the economic struggle a political character? (WITBD)
"Lending “the economic struggle itself a political character” means, therefore, striving to secure satisfaction of these trade demands, the improvement of conditions of labour in each separate trade by means of “legislative and administrative measures” (as Martynov expresses it on the next page of his article, p. 43). This is exactly what all workers’ trade unions do and always have done."
72
What does giving the economic struggle a political character resolve itself to? (WITBD)
"Thus, the pompous phrase about “lending the economic struggle itself a political character,” which sounds so “terrifically” profound and revolutionary, serves as a screen to conceal what is in fact the traditional striving to degrade Social-Democratic politics to the level of trade union politics!"
73
Does true, revolutionary Social Democracy disregard all legal and political measures? (WITBD)
"Revolutionary Social-Democracy always included, and now includes, the fight for reforms as part of its activities. But it utilizes “economic” agitation for the purpose of presenting to the government, not only demands for all sorts of measures, but also (and primarily) the demand that it cease to be an autocratic government."
74
Why does revolutionary Social Democracy not devolve into simple economism, despite not rejecting legal reforms? (WITBD)
"In a word, it subordinates the struggle for reforms, as the part to the whole, to the revolutionary struggle for liberty and for Socialism. "
75
Why would to government want to grant economic concessions and what must Social Democracy do in response? (WITBD)
"“Economic” concessions (or pseudo concessions) are, of course, the cheapest and most advantageous from the government’s point of view, because by these means it hopes to win the confidence of the masses of the workers. For this very reason, we Social-Democrats must not under any circumstances or in any way whatever create grounds for the belief (or the misunderstanding) that we attach greater value to economic reforms, or that we regard them as being particularly important, etc."
76
What is required to make a genuine class consciouness? (WITBD)
"The consciousness of the masses of the workers cannot be genuine class consciousness, unless the workers learn to observe from concrete, and above all from topical (current), political facts and events, every other social class and all the manifestations of the intellectual, ethical and political life of these classes; unless they learn to apply in practice the materialist analysis and the materialist estimate of all aspects of the life and activity of all classes, strata and groups of the population."
77
What does Lenin accuse the truly revolutionary Social Democracts of failing to do? (WITBD)
"We must blame ourselves, our lagging behind the mass movement for being unable as yet to organize sufficiently wide, striking and rapid exposures of all these despicable outrages. When we do that (and we must and can do it), the most backward worker will understand, or will feel that the students and members of religious sects, the muzhiks and the authors are being abused and outraged by the very same dark forces that are oppressing and crushing him at every step of his life, and, feeling that, he himself will be filled with an irresistible desire to respond to these things, and then he will organize catcalls against the censors one day, another day he will demonstrate outside the house of a governor who has brutally suppressed a peasant uprising, another day he will teach a lesson to the gendarmes in surplices who are doing the work of the Holy Inquisition, etc. As yet we have done very little, almost nothing, to hurl universal and fresh exposures among the masses of the workers."
78
What must intellectuals do in order to raise the consciouness of the masses and harness their spontaneous consciouness for revolutionary ends? (WITBD)
"In order that we may do this, the intellectuals must talk to us less of what we already know, and tell us more about what we do not yet know and what we can never learn from our factory and “economic” experience, that is, you must give us political knowledge. You intellectuals can acquire this knowledge, and it is your duty to bring it to us in a hundred and a thousand times greater measure than you have done up to now; and you must bring it to us, not only in the form of arguments, pamphlets and articles which sometimes – excuse our frankness! – are rather dull, but precisely in the form of live exposures of what our government and our governing classes are doing at this very moment in all spheres of life."
79
What can the economic struggle only succeed in doing? (WITBD)
"The economic struggle merely “brings home” to the workers questions concerning the attitude of the government towards the working class. "
80
What is the ideal social democratic leader like that can educate the masses in proper class consciouness? (WITBD)
"a tribune of the people, able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it takes place, no matter what stratum or class of the people it affects; he must be able to generalize all these manifestations to produce a single picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation; he must be able to take advantage of every event, however small, in order to explain his Socialistic convictions and his democratic demands to all, in order to explain to all and every one the world-historic significance of the proletariat’s struggle for emancipation."
81
Must the true social democrat be in line with the masses? (WITBD)
"He is no Social Democrat who forgets his obligation to be ahead of everybody in advancing, accentuating and solving every general democratic problem."
82
What must the vanguard do to make them democrats? (WITBD)
"But if “we” desire to be advanced democrats, we must make it our business to stimulate in the minds of those who are dissatisfied with university, or only with Zemstvo, etc. conditions the idea that the whole political system is worthless. We must take upon ourselves the task of organizing an all-round political struggle under the leadership of our Party in such a manner as to obtain all the support possible of all opposition strata for the struggle and for our Party."
83
How are the Social Democrats to lead the people? (WITBD)
"And in order to be able to provide the workers with real, comprehensive and live political knowledge, we must have “our own people,” Social-Democrats, everywhere, among all social strata, and in all positions from which we can learn the inner springs of our state mechanism."
84
What will the Social Democrats do according to Lenin and with what result? (WITBD)
"Social-Democrats will organize these public exposures; that all the questions raised by the agitation will be elucidated in a consistently Social-Democratic spirit, without any concessions to deliberate or non-deliberate distortions of Marxism; in the fact that this all-round political agitation will be conducted by a party which unites into one inseparable whole the pressure upon the government in the name of the whole people, the revolutionary training of the proletariat, while safeguarding its political independence, and guidance of the economic struggle of the working class, the utilization of all its spontaneous conflicts with its exploiters which rouse and bring into our camp increasing numbers of the proletariat!"
85
What is trade union politics? (WITBD)
" working-class trade-unionist politics are precisely working class bourgeois politics"
86
What does Lenin have to say about the Social Democrats of germany? (WITBD)
"Because Social-Democracy is always found to be in advance of all others in that it furnishes the most revolutionary appraisal of every given event and by its championship of every protest against tyranny. It does not lull itself with disquisitions about the economic struggle bringing the workers up against their own lack of rights and about concrete conditions fatalistically impelling the working-class movement onto the path of revolution. It intervenes in every sphere and in every question of social and political life"
87
In what way is the Russian Revoltuion better than the Paris Commune according to Kautsky?
"Yet, in one important aspect, the Paris Commune was superior to the Soviet Republic. The former was the work of the entire proletariat. All shades of the Socialist movement took part in it, none drew back from it, none was excluded."
88
How do the Bolsheviks rule according to kautsky?
"On the other hand, the Socialist Party which governs Russia to-day gained power in fighting against other Socialist Parties, and exercises its authority while excluding other Socialist Parties from the executive."
89
Why is the Bolshevik's methods not democratic according to Kautsky?
"Dictatorship does not ask for the refutation of contrary views, but the forcible suppression of their utterance. Thus, the two methods of democracy and dictatorship are already irreconcilably opposed before the discussion has started. The one demands, the other forbids it."
90
How does Kautsky characterise the difference in method between the Paris Commune and the Bolsheviks?
"The antagonism of the two Socialist movements is not based on small personal jealousies: it is the clashing of two fundamentally distinct methods, that of democracy and that of dictatorship."
91
What is the meaning of socialism for Kautsky?
"We understand by Modern Socialism not metly social organisation of production, but democratic organisation of society as well. Accordingly, Socialism is for us inseparably connected with democracy. No Socialism without democracy."
92
What is the first condition for socialism according to Kautsky?
" Every conscious human action presupposes a will. The Will to Socialism is the first condition for its accomplishment.
"
93
As well as the necessary conditions, what else does Kautsky say is necessary for socialism to be made possible?
"To the ripening of the conditions, the necessary level of the industrial development, must be added the maturity of the proletariat, in order to make Socialism possible."
94
Why is the expression of ideas and discussion within the party needed according to Kautsky?
"Although only a few of the new ideas and doctrines may spell real progress, yet progress is only possible through new ideas, which at the outset are put forward by minorities. The suppression of the new ideas of minorities in the Party would only cause harm to the proletarian class struggle, and an obstacle to the development of the proletariat. The world is always bringing us against new problems, which are not to be solved by the existing methods."
95
Why does democracy in society not hinder revolution according to Kautsky?
"It is quite false to say that the proletariat in a democracy ceases to be revolutionary, that it is contented with giving public expression to its indignation and its sufferings, and renounces the idea of social and political revolution. Democracy cannot remove the class antagonisms of capitalist society, nor prevent the overthrow of that society, which is their inevitable outcome. But if it cannot prevent the Revolution, it can avoid many reckless and premature attempts at revolution, and render many revolutionary movements unnecessary."
96
How does Kautsky describe the effect of the proletariat taking part in a democratic society, albeit a bourgeois one?
"The direction of evolution is not thereby altered, but the pace is made more even and steady."
97
What does Kautsky say will be possible if the proletariat work within a democratic society?
"On these grounds, I anticipate that the social revolution of the proletariat will assume quite other forms than that of the bourgeoisie, and that it will be possible to carry it out by peaceful economic, legal and moral means, instead of by physical force, in all places where democracy has been established. "
98
What does democracy do to the consciouness of the proletariat according to Kautsky?
"Under democracy this moral elevation is no longer confined to a handful, but is shared in by the whole of the people, who are at the same time gradually accustomed to self-government by the daily performance of routine work. "
99
What will democracy allow the proletariat to retain and why? (kautsky)
"When the people are roused to action under a democracy, there is less danger than under despotism that they have been prematurely provoked, or will waste their energy in futile efforts. When victory is achieved, it will not be lost, but successfully maintained. And that is better in the end than the mere nervous excitement of a fresh revolutionary drama."
100
Why does Kautsky see democracy as essential for building socialism?
"Only under the influence of democracy does the proletariat attain that maturity which it needs to be able to bring about Socialism, and democracy supplies the surest means for testing its maturity."
101
What does marx say about the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Gotha Programme?
"In his letter criticising the Gotha party programme, written in May, 1875, it is stated: “Between capitalist and communist society lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. This requires a political transition stage, which can be nothing else than the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.” (Kautsky)
102
How does Kautsky charaterise marx's view of the doctatorship of the proletariat?
"He speaks in the passage above quoted not of a form of government, but of a condition which must everywhere arise when the “proletariat has conquered political power. That he was not thinking of a form of government is shown by his opinion that in England and America the transition might be carried out peacefully. Of course, Democracy does not guarantee a peaceful transition. But this is certainly not possible without Democracy."
103
What sorts of dictatorship does Kautsky differentiate between?
"In the examination of this question, dictatorship as a condition must not be confused with dictatorship as a form of government, which alone is a subject of dispute in our ranks"
104
What does Kautsky mean by dictatorship as a form of government?
"Dictatorship as a form of government means disarming the opposition, by taking from them the franchise, and liberty of the Press and combination."
105
Who does not rule in a dictatorship as a form of government?
A class, instead of an organisation or party like the Bolsheviks
106
What does a dictatorship as a form of government entail with regards to who rules? (Kautsky)
"The dictatorship of one of these parties is then no longer in any sense the dictatorship of the proletariat, but a dictatorship of one part of the proletariat over the other. "
107
Does Kautsky see any situation when democracy can be subverted?
"The subversion of democracy by dictatorship can therefore only be a matter for consideration in exceptional cases, when an extraordinary combination of favourable circumstances enables a proletarian party to take to itself political power, while the majority of the people are either not on its side, or are even against it."
108
Where does a minority dictatorship find its support and with what result according to kautsky?
"A minority dictatorship always finds its most powerful support in an obedient army, but the more it substitutes this for majority support, the more it drives the opposition to seek a remedy by an appeal to the bayonet, instead of an appeal to that vote which is denied them. Civil war becomes the method of adjusting political and social antagonisms. "
109
What does Russia represent according to Lenin? (LWC)
"But at the present moment of history the situation is precisely such that the Russian model reveals to all countries something, and something very essential, of their near and inevitable future. "
110
How does Lenin describe the dictatorship of the proletariat? (LWC)
"The dictatorship of the proletariat is a most determined and most ruthless war waged by the new class against a more powerful enemy, the bourgeoisie, whose resistance is increased tenfold by its overthrow (even if only in one country), and whose power lies not only in the strength of international capital, in the strength and durability of the international connections of the bourgeoisie, but also in the force of habit, in the strength of small production."
111
What does the resistance of the bourgeoisie require according to Lenin? (LWC)
"For all these reasons the dictatorship of the proletariat is essential, and victory over the bourgeoisie is impossible without a long, stubborn and desperate war of life and death, a war demanding perseverance, discipline, firmness, indomitableness and unity of will."
112
What has the Russian Revolution demonstrated as fundamental to overthrowing the bourgeoisie? (LWC)
"I repeat, the experience of the victorious dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia has clearly shown even to those who are unable to think, or who have not had occasion to ponder over this question, that absolute centralization and the strictest discipline of the proletariat constitute one of the fundamental conditions for victory over the bourgeoisie."
113
What is the first way discipline maintained in the revolutionary party according to lenin? (LWC)
"First, by the class consciousness of the proletarian vanguard and by its devotion to the revolution, by its perseverance, self-sacrifice and heroism. "
114
What is the second way discipline is maintained in the revolutionary party according to Lenin? (LWC)
"Secondly, by its ability to link itself with, to keep in close touch with, and to a certain extent, if you like, to merge with the broadest masses of the toilers—primarily with the proletariat, but also with the non-proletarian toiling masses."
115
What is the third way that discipline is maintained in the revolutionary party accroding to lenin? (LWC)
"Thirdly, by the correctness of the political leadership exercised by this vanguard, by the correctness of its political strategy and tactics, provided that the broadest masses have been convinced by their own experience that they are correct."
116
What are reactionaries accused of bowing down to according to Lenin?
Spontenaity, remaining behind the progress of the revolutionary movement instead of leading it
117
Why does Lenin say spontaneous movements end in arrests and failure? (WITBD)
"because these open hostilities were not the result of a systematic and carefully thought-out and gradually prepared plan for a prolonged and stubborn struggle, but simply the result of the spontaneous growth of traditional circle work; because, naturally, the police, in almost every case, knew the principal leaders of the local movement, for they had already “won a reputation” for themselves in their school days, and the police waited only for a convenient moment to make their raid, deliberately allowing the circle sufficient time to develop its work so that they might obtain a palpable corpus delicti, and always permitted several of the persons known to them to remain at liberty in order to act as “breeders” (which, I believe, is the technical term used both by our people and by the gendarmes). "
118
What does amateurishness mean? (WITBD)
"But the term “amateurishness” embraces something else: it denotes a narrow scope of revolutionary work generally, failure to understand that a good organization of revolutionaries cannot be built up on the basis of such narrow activity, and lastly – and most important – it denotes attempts to justify this narrowness and to elevate it to a special “theory,” i.e., bowing in worship to spontaneity on this question too."
119
What is the primary aim for Lenin? (WITBD)
"our primary and most imperative practical task, namely, to establish an organization of revolutionaries capable of maintaining the energy, stability and continuity of the political struggle. "
120
What do the amateurs believe is enough to bring about a revolution according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"All we need do is to snatch up our old friend, the “handy” wooden club. Speaking without metaphor it means – we must organize a general strike, or we must stimulate the “spiritless” progress of the working-class movement by means of “excitative terror.” Both these trends, the opportunists and the “revolutionists,” bow to the prevailing amateurishness"
121
Does Lenin reject spontenaity?
No, just that it must be harnessed by a revolutionary vanguard and directed by proper theory
122
What sort of people make up the organisations of revolutionaries? (WITBD)
"the organizations of revolutionaries must consist first, foremost and mainly of people who make revolutionary activity their profession (that is why I speak of organizations of revolutionaries, meaning revolutionary Social-Democrats). "
123
What can trade unions offer according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"Trade union organizations can be not only of tremendous value in developing and consolidating the economic struggle, but can also become a very important auxiliary to political agitation and revolutionary organization."
124
Who do the economists and amateurs confuse as being revolutionaries?
The workers
125
What is the first objective of a social democrat? (WITBD)
"a Social-Democrat must concern himself first and foremost with an organization of revolutionaries who are capable of guiding the whole proletarian struggle for emancipation."
126
How does Lenin characterise the Social Democratic organisation that leads the workers? (WITBD)
"A small, compact core of the most reliable, experienced and hardened workers, with responsible representatives in the principal districts and connected by all the rules of strict secrecy with the organization of revolutionaries, can, with the widest support of the masses and without any formal organization, perform all the functions of a trade union organization, and perform them, moreover, in a manner desirable to Social-Democracy. Only in this way can we secure the consolidation and development of a Social Democratic trade union movement, in spite of all the gendarmes."
127
What is the economic struggle?
" “economic struggle of the workers against the employers and the government.”
128
What can no revolutionary movement do without according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"no revolutionary movement can endure without a stable organization of leaders that maintains continuity"
129
What is the advantage of limiting the revolutionary party to professional revolutionaries? (WITBD)
"the more we confine the membership of such an organization to people who are professionally engaged in revolutionary activity and who have been professionally trained in the art of combating the political police, the more difficult will it be to wipe out such an organization"
130
Where will the professional revolutionaries come from?
"the crowd will advance from its ranks increasing numbers of professional revolutionaries; for it will know that it is not enough for a few students and for a few workingmen waging the economic struggle, to gather together and form a “committee,” but that it takes years to train oneself to be a professional revolutionary; the crowd will “think” not of amateurish methods alone but of such training."
131
What will be the effect on the masses of a revolutionary organisation? (WITBD)
"The active and widespread participation of the masses will not suffer; on the contrary, it will benefit by the fact that a “dozen” experienced revolutionaries, trained professionally no less than the police, will centralize all the secret aspects of the work – drawing up leaflets, working out approximate plans and appointing bodies of leaders for each urban district, for each factory district and for each educational institution, etc."
132
What is the task of revolutionaries? (WITBD)
"our task is not to champion the degrading of the revolutionary to the level of an amateur, but to raise the amateurs to the level of revolutionaries."
133
What are those who rely on spontenaity fearful of? (WITBD)
"Worship of spontaneity seems to inspire a fear of taking even one step away from what “can be understood” by the masses, a fear of rising too high above mere subservience to the immediate and direct requirements of the masses."
134
What does the development of a spontaneous mass movement make necessary? (WITBD)
"On the contrary, this movement imposes this duty upon us, because the spontaneous struggle of the proletariat will not become its genuine “class struggle” until this struggle is led by a strong organization of revolutionaries."
135
What can a revolutionary organisation prevent from happening? (WITBD)
"a strong revolutionary organization is absolutely necessary precisely for the purpose of giving firmness to the movement, and of safeguarding it against the possibility of making premature attacks."
136
What can only a revolutionary organisation safeguard against? (WITBD)
"Only a centralized, militant organization that consistently carries out a Social-Democratic policy, that satisfies, so to speak, all revolutionary instincts and strivings, can safeguard the movement against making thoughtless attacks and prepare attacks that hold out the promise of success."
137
Why can professional revolutionaries not be elected according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"Is it conceivable in Russia for all those “who accept the principles of the Party program and render the Party all possible support” to control every action of the revolutionary working in secret? Is it possible for all the revolutionaries to elect one of their number to any particular office, when, in the very interests of the work, he must conceal his identity from nine out of ten of these “all”?"
138
What are the benefits of elections in democratic states according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"Everyone knows that a certain political figure began in such and such a way, passed through such and such an evolution, behaved in a trying moment in such and such a way and possesses such and such qualities and, consequently, all party members, knowing all the facts, can elect or refuse to elect this person to a particular party office. The universal control (in the literal sense of the term) exercised over every act of a party man in the political field brings into existence an automatically operating mechanism which produces what in biology is called “survival of the fittest.” The “natural selection” by full publicity, election and universal control provides the guarantee that, in the last analysis, every political figure will be “in his proper place,” will do the work for which he is best fitted by his capacity and abilities, will feel the effects of his mistakes on himself, and will prove before all the world his ability to recognize mistakes and to avoid them."
139
In what way did people object to lenin's ideas as undemocratic? (WITBD)
"Fears are expressed that the formation of a centralized organization may shift the centre of gravity from the former to the latter, damage the movement, weaken our contacts with the masses of the workers and undermine local agitation generally."
140
Why could organisation not be left to a local level according to Lenin? (WITBD)
"It is positively beyond the strength of a separate local organization to maintain stability of principles in its newspaper and raise it to the level of a political organ; it is beyond its strength to collect and utilize sufficient material to cast light on the whole of our political life."
141
What is the gendarmes that Lenin refers to?
a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population
142
What is the primitive democracy that Lenin ridicules? (WITBD)
" in which everybody does everything and all entertain themselves by playing at referendums"
143
What function does a revolutionary organisation play? (WITBD)
"a revolutionary organization, capable of combining all the forces and of leading the movement not only in name, but indeed, i.e., an organization that will be ready at any moment to support every protest and every outbreak, and to utilize these for the purpose of increasing and strengthening the military forces required for decisive battle"
144
How and why are revolutionary leaders needed? (WITBD)
"the masses will never learn to conduct the political struggle until we help to train leaders for this struggle, both from among the enlightened workers and from among the intellectuals; and such leaders can acquire training solely by systematically appraising all the everyday aspects of our political life, of all attempts at protest and struggle on the part of various classes and on various grounds."
145
In what way could a national, not a local newspaper, organised by a central revolutionary organisation, help train the masses? (WITBD)
"If we had a newspaper, however, such communication would become the rule and would secure, not only the distribution of the newspaper, of course, but also (and what is more important) an exchange of experience, of material, of forces and of resources. The scope of organizational work would immediately become many times wider and the success of one locality would serve as a standing encouragement to further perfection and would arouse the desire to utilize the experience already gained by comrades working in other parts of the country. "
146
How does Lenin describe the effect of an all-Russian newspaper on the masses? (WITBD)
"This newspaper would become a part of an enormous pair of smith’s bellows that would fan every spark of class struggle and popular indignation into a general conflagration. Around what is in itself still a very innocent and very small, but a regular and common effort, in the full sense of the word, a regular army of tried warriors would systematically gather and receive their training."
147
In what way might we see Lenin's professional revolutionaries acting democratically?
They arise from the masses and guide their spontaneous movements, giving them general training and direction rather than orders. The emphasis is still on the people, just a trained, educated, and led people
148
In what way would revolutionaries and the distribution of newspapers help make a revolution? (WITBD)
"It is precisely such work that would serve to cultivate the ability properly to estimate the general political situation and, consequently, the ability to select the proper moment for the uprising."
149
Would the professional revolutionaries in Russia act openly according to Lenin?
No, they work work in secret amongst the workers because the police and gendarmes would arrest them otherwise and halt their work
150
How does Lenin describe the proletariat in the revolution of 10905-07? (LWC)
" the proletariat, as the leader"
150
What organisation spontaneously arose in the period of 1905-7 according to Lenin? (LWC)
"The Soviet form of organization is born in the spontaneous development of the struggle. The controversies of that time over the significance of the Soviets anticipate the great struggle of 1917-20."
151
How does Lenin describe the link between 1905 and 1917? (LWC)
"Without the “dress rehearsal” of 1905, the victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible."
152
Who said 1905 was a dress rehearsal for 1917?
Lenin
153
What did experience demonstrate to lenin? (LWC)
"experience has proved that on certain very essential questions of the proletarian revolution, all countries will inevitably have to perform what Russia has performed."
154
What is the principal enemy of Bolshevism?
opportunism
155
In what way does Lenin present the view of left-wing childishness?
"The mere presentation of the question—“dictatorship of the Party or dictatorship of the class, dictatorship (Party) of the leaders, or dictatorship (Party) of the masses?”"
156
What distinction does Lenin see left-wing infantiles as drawing where he does not see one?
He says they draw a distinction between a dictatorship of the party and a dictatorship of the masses, whereas for lenin the party is an organ of the masses so there is no distinction
157
What do left-wing infantile repudiates and with what result? (LWC)
"Repudiation of the party principle and of party discipline—such is the opposition’s net result. And this is tantamount to completely disarming the proletariat in the interest of the bourgeoisie. It is tantamount to that petit-bourgeois diffuseness, instability, incapacity for sustained effort, unity and organized action, which, if indulged in, must inevitably destroy every proletarian revolutionary movement. "
158
What does the bourgeoisie do in response to revolt from the masses? (LWC)
"They encircle the proletariat on every side with a petit-bourgeois atmosphere, which permeates and corrupts the proletariat and causes constant relapses among the proletariat into petit-bourgeois spinelessness, disunity, individualism, and alternate moods of exaltation and dejection."
159
Why do the actions of the bourgeoisie necessitate a party organisation, despite what left-wing infantiles argue? (LWC)
"The strictest centralization and discipline are required within the political party of the proletariat in order to counteract this, in order that the organizational role of the proletariat (and that is its principal role) may be exercised correctly, successfully, victoriously. The dictatorship of the proletariat is a persistent struggle—bloody and bloodless, violent and peaceful, military and economic, educational and administrative— against the forces and traditions of the old society. "
160
What happens if there is no party organisation? (LWC)
"Without an iron party tempered in the struggle, without a party enjoying the confidence of all that is honest in the given class, without a party capable of watching and influencing the mood of the masses, it is impossible to conduct such a struggle successfully."
161
Why does Lenin not distinguish between a dictatorship of the class and a dictatorship of the party?
They are one and the same, the party arising from the ranks of the class and giving it structure and organisation that it would otherwise lack
162
What does a weakening of the party lead to in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"Whoever weakens ever so little the iron discipline of the party of the proletariat (especially during the time of its dictatorship), actually aids the bourgeoisie against the proletariat."
163
What do the left-wing infantiles see a party dictatorship as?
A dictatorship of leaders, not a dictatorship of the proletariat
164
What is the infantile attitude to working within trade unions in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"it is unnecessary and even impermissible for revolutionaries and Communists to work in yellow, social-chauvinist, compromising, counter-revolutionary trade unions of the Legien type."
165
What, in general, is the infantile disorder?
A rigid adherence to principles that discount the changing reality of revolutionary periods, and an adaptation to circumstances as they change.
166
What happens under the leadership of the party? (LWC)
" under the leadership of the Party, the dictatorship of the class is exercised"
167
What could not happen without trade unions in Lenin's view, making it infantile to refuse to work with them? (LWC)
"Without close contact with the trade unions, without their hearty support and self-sacrificing work, not only in economic, but also in military affairs, it would, of course, have been impossible for us to govern the country and to maintain the dictatorship for two-and-a-half months, let alone two-and-a-half years."
168
What can trade unions provide in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"Thus, on the whole, we have a formally non-Communist, flexible and relatively wide and very powerful proletarian apparatus, by means of which the Party is closely linked up with the class and with the masses, and by means of which, under the leadership of the Party, the dictatorship of the class is exercised."
169
What is something about trade unions that limits their ability to lead a revolution?
They only fight for benefits within capitalism and are too narrow in scope, being focused on individual trades rather than a class as a whole
170
What benefit did the trade unions give initially in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"The trade unions were a tremendous progressive step for the working class in the early days of capitalist development, inasmuch as they represented a transition from the disunity and helplessness of the workers to the rudiments of class organization."
171
What does a refusal to work with trade unions as left-wing infantiles do amount to in Lenin's view? (LWC)
" to avoid it, to leap over it, would be the greatest folly, for it would be fearing that function of the proletarian vanguard which consists in training, educating, enlightening and drawing into the new life the most backward strata and masses of the working class and the peasantry."
172
What happens if the revolutionaries refuse to work in the trade unions? (LWC)
"To refuse to work in the reactionary trade unions means leaving the insufficiently developed or backward masses of workers under the influence of the reactionary leaders, the agents of the bourgeoisie, the labor aristocrats"
173
How does Lenin characterise trade unions and worker's cooperatives? (LWC)
"organizations where the masses are to be found"
174
What is the task of communists?
"For the whole task of the Communists is to be able to convince the backward elements, to work among them, and not to fence themselves off from them"
175
Must the communist movement train politicians in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"But the writer apparently does not appreciate that politics is a science and an art that does not drop from the skies, that it is not obtained gratis, and that the proletariat, if it wants to conquer the bourgeoisie, must train its own, proletarian “class politicians,” and such as will be no worse than the bourgeois politicians."
176
What two things are needed for a successful revolution according to lenin? (LWC)
" it is not enough for revolution that the exploited and oppressed masses should understand the impossibility of living in the old way and demand changes; it is essential for revolution that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way. Only when the “lower classes” do not want the old way, and when the “upper classes” cannot carry on in the old way—only then can revolution triumph. "
177
What can revolutioanries in parliament help to do?
Undermine parliamentarianism from with and help to bring about a crisis amongst the rulers, not only relying on a crisis of the ruled
178
Why did Lenin think it would be suitable for revolutionaries to help beat Churchill and Lloyd George in a revolution? (LWC)
"if Henderson and Snowden gain the victory over Lloyd George and Churchill, the majority will in a brief space of time become disappointed in their leaders and will begin to support Communism"
179
Why can revolutionaries not limit themselves to certain means of struggle? (LWC)
"In politics it is even harder to forecast what methods of warfare will be applicable and advantageous to us under specific future conditions. Unless we master all means of warfare, we may suffer grave, often even decisive, defeat if changes beyond our control in the position of the other classes bring to the forefront forms of activity in which we are particularly weak. If, however, we master all means of warfare, victory will be certain, because we represent the interests of the really foremost and really revolutionary class"
180
What do inexperienced revolutionaries think according to Lenin? (LWC)
"Inexperienced revolutionaries often think that legal methods of struggle are opportunist because in this field the bourgeoisie has especially frequently (particularly in “peaceful,” non-revolutionary times) deceived and fooled the workers, and that illegal methods of struggle are revolutionary. But that is not true."
181
What do the German Left (infantile) communists say about working within parliaments? (LWC)
"One must emphatically reject… all reversion to parliamentary forms of struggle, which have become historically and politically obsolete."
182
What has parliamentarism become according to Lenin? (LWC)
"Parliamentarism has become “historically obsolete.” That is true as regards propaganda. But everyone knows that this is still a long way from overcoming it practically"
183
Even though parliamentarism is politically obsolete, what is it not? (LWC)
It is not practically obsolete - "Parliamentarism, of course, is “politically obsolete” for the Communists in Germany; but—and that is the whole point—we must not regard what is obsolete for us as being obsolete for the class, as being obsolete for the masses."
184
As long as there is a parliament, what must you do according to Lenin? (LWC)
"As long as you are unable to disperse the bourgeois parliament and every other type of reactionary institution, you must work inside them precisely because there you will still find workers who are doped by priests and the dreariness of rural life"
185
Even though the Soviets must work for the dispersal of parliament, what does this not mean in Lenin's view? (LWC)
"But it does not follow that this dispersal is hindered, or is not facilitated, by the presence of a Soviet opposition within the counter-revolutionary parliament. "
186
What is the lesson of revolutions that the Left have forgotten? (LWC)
"how very useful during a revolution is the combination of mass action outside the reactionary parliament with an opposition sympathetic to (or, better still, directly supporting) the revolution inside it. "
187
What is a sign that communists must work within parliaments? (LWC)
"Precisely because the backward masses of the workers and—to an even greater degree—of the small peasants are in Western Europe much more imbued with bourgeois-democratic and parliamentary prejudices than they were in Russia, precisely because of that, it is only from within such institutions as bourgeois parliaments that Communists can (and must) wage a long and persistent struggle"
188
What is it absurd for revolutionaries to do according to Lenin? (LWC)
"It would be absurd to formulate a recipe or general rule (“No Compromises!”) to serve all cases. One must use one’s own brains and be able to find one’s bearings in each separate case."
189
Instead of ;aying down general rules, what is the party and its leaders to do? (LWC)
"That, in fact, is one of the functions of a party organization and of party leaders worthy of the title, namely, through the prolonged, persistent, variegated and comprehensive efforts of all thinking representatives of the given class, to evolve the knowledge, the experience and—in addition to knowledge and experience—the political instinct necessary for the speedy and correct solution of intricate political problems."
190
What does Lenin accuse the likes of Kautsky of forgetting? (LWC)
"Our theory is not a dogma, but a guide to action, said Marx and Engels"
191
What is an example of comprise Lenin gives that shows working with bourgeois elements of society is permissible? (LWC)
"Between 1903 and 1912 there were periods of several years in which we were formally united with the Mensheviks in one Social-Democratic Party; but we never ceased our ideological and political struggle against them as opportunists and vehicles of bourgeois influence among the proletariat."
192
What mistake did the German Communists make according to Lenin? (LWC)
"one of the reasons was the mistaken tactics of the German Communists, who must fearlessly admit this mistake and learn to rectify it. The mistake lay in their denial of the need to take part in the reactionary bourgeois parliaments and in the reactionary trade unions; the mistake lay in numerous manifestations of that “Left” infantile disorder which has now come to the surface and will consequently be cured more thoroughly, more quickly and with greater benefit to the organism"
193
Who were the two groups of Marxists in Russia during the revolution according to Kautsky, and what did they believe?
"These divided into two sections, the Mensheviks, who held that only a bourgeois revolution was possible in the existing economic conditions in Russia, unless the revolution coincided with a European Socialist revolution, and the Bolsheviks, who always believed in the omnipotence of will and force, and now, without considering the backwardness of Russia, are trying to shape the Revolution on Socialist lines. "
194
Why was it not a problem to the Bolsheviks that Russia was not yet ripe for revolution? (Kautsky)
"The Revolution which would bring about Socialism in Europe would also be the means of removing the obstacles to the carrying through of Socialism in Russia which are created by the economic backwardness of that country. "
195
Why did expectation of revolution in Russia mean it mattered little what for peace in WW1 took? (Kautsky)
"On these suppositions, it was of no moment what form was taken by the Russian separate peace, what humiliations and burdens it placed on the Russian people, and what interpretations it gave to the principle of the self-determination of peoples."
196
What was the actual effect of revolution in Russia on account of the conditions not being ready and the expectation of European Revolution not occuring? (Kautsky)
"They had to establish a regime of well-being for all in a state of general dislocation and impoverishment. The less the material and intellectual conditions existed for all that they aspired to, the more they felt obliged to replace what was lacking by the exercise of naked power, by dictatorship. They had to do this all the more the greater the opposition to them amongst the masses became. So it became inevitable that they should put dictatorship in the place of democracy. "
197
What does Kautsky say about trade unions for emancipation?
"Trade Unions are absolutely necessary. The proletariat is the stronger the greater the number of its members, and the larger the financial resources of its Trade Unions. Widespread and permanent organisations, with many ramifications, are not possible without a machinery for permanent administration, that is a bureaucracy. The Trade Union bureaucracy is as essential as the Trade Union itself. "
198
How did Lenin describe the government of the Soviet? (Kautksy)
"Indeed, they did not repudiate democracy entirely. In his speech of April 28, Lenin described the Soviet organisation as a higher type of democracy, a complete break with its “bourgeois distortion”. Entire freedom was now secured to the proletarian and the poor peasant."
199
What function are the Soviets meant to serve to the dictatorship of the proletariat, and what does this mean for those not represented by them? (Kautsky)
"The Soviet Republic is to be the organ of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the only means, as Lenin expresses it, whereby the most painless transition to Socialism is made possible. This is to be done by depriving of political rights all those who are not represented in the Soviets. "
200
Why does Kautsky think the capitalists would serve no threat if there was universal suffrage?
"How could they then prevent the transition to Socialism under universal suffrage? On the contrary, universal suffrage would reveal them as an insignificant minority, and consequently they would the sooner resign themselves to their fate than if the franchise were so shaped that no- one could say with certainty which party had behind it a majority of the people. "
201
What two things happen if only the soviets and those represented by them are allow to take part in governance? (Kautsky)
"By obliging them to fight their common foes, universal suffrage causes them to close up their ranks sooner than if the political struggle were confined to the Soviets, from which the opponents are excluded, and in which the political struggle of a Socialist party takes the form of attacking another Socialist Party."
202
Is capitalist opposition eliminated by excluding them from the soviets? (Kautsky)
"Their opposition would not be lessened if they were deprived of political rights. They would all the more energetically oppose the measures of the new tyrannical regime."
203
What is the real result of ruling through the Societs according to Kautsky?
"In other words, the Soviet organisation has the advantage over general suffrage of being more arbitrary. It can exclude all organisations which it considers obnoxious. It “concedes full and equal rights to citizens”, but “obviously” they must only be exercised to the liking of the Soviet Government."
204
What did the All-Russian Congress of Soviets in 1918 say about who gets to vote, as laid down in its constitution? (Kautsky)
"This lays it down that not all the inhabitants of the Russian Empire, but only specified categories have the right to elect deputies to the Soviets. All those may vote “who procure their sustenance by useful or productive work”. "
205
What is the result of the franchise qualifications laid down in the constitution of the Russian Soviet Republic? (Kautsky)
"One sees how little it takes, according to the Constitution of the Soviet Republic, to be labelled a capitalist, and to lose the vote."
206
What does Clause 23 of the Constitution of the Soviet Republic say?
"In the interests of the working class as a whole the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic may withdraw rights from any persons or groups who misuse them to the detriment of the Socialist Revolution."
207
Due to their limiting of the franchise, what has the Bolshevik party become according to Kautsky?
"Starting out with the idea of establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat the Bolshevist regime was bound to become the dictatorship of a party within the proletariat."
208
What is the logic of those who propose dictatorship according to Kautsky?
"We reach our goal far quicker if an energetic minority which knows its aims, seizes hold of the power of the State, and use it for passing Socialist measures. Its success would at once compel conviction, and the majority, which hitherto had opposed, would quickly rally to Socialism. "
209
If the imposition of socilaism by a dictatorship were to fail, what does Kautsky think would be the result amongst the masses?
"They would not seek for the explanation in the unfavourable or unripe conditions, but in Socialism itself, and would conclude that Socialism is realisable under no circumstances."
210
How does Kautsky summarise the dictatorship of the proletariat on the masses?
"This method will win nobody who is not already a Socialist. It can only increase the enemies of Socialism."
211
What does a dictatorship presuppose according to Kautsky?
"The necessity for dictatorship pre-supposes that a minority of the population have possessed themselves of the power of the State. A minority composed of those who possess nothing."
212
What cannot be expected of the proletariat where they are a minority? (Kautsky)
"In a country which is so little developed economically that the proletariat only forms a minority, such maturity of the proletariat is not to be expected. "
213
Why is democracy indispensible according to Kautsky?
"Democracy may sometimes repress its revolutionary thought, but it is the indispensable means for the proletariat to attain that ripeness which it needs for the conquest of political power, and the bringing about of the social revolution. "
214
if the proletariat gains control when it is a majority, what will be the result? (Kautsky)
"Where a proletariat, under such conditions, gains control of the State, it will discover sufficient material and intellectual resources to permit it at once to give the economic development a Socialist direction, and immediately to increase the general well-being."
215
Because of the fact it is not ready to convert capitalist production to socialist production, what is the Russian Revolution in actuality according to Kautsky?
"But Russia, is not one of these leading industrial States. What is being enacted there now is, in fact, the last of bourgeois, and not the first of Socialist revolutions. "
216
What is the situation in Russia an attempt to do according to Kautsky?
"the dictatorship of the proletariat, which they preach and practise, is nothing but a grandiose attempt to clear by bold leaps or remove by legal enactments the obstacles offered by the successive phases of normal development. They think that it is the least painful method for the delivery of Socialism, for “shortening and lessening its birth-pangs”."
217
What can dioctators not overcome and cause the situation in Russia to fail? (Kautsky)
"However high the dictatorship may be raised above all other powers in the State, it is always dependent upon one of them: that is the material foundations of society. These conditions, and not the will of the dictators, decide what the final consequences of the dictatorship will be."
218
How is the Russia Revolution linked to France in 1789 according to Kautsky?
"The Revolution has only achieved in Russia what it effected in France in 1789 and what its aftermath achieved in Germany. By the removal of the remains of feudalism it has given stronger and more definite expression to private property than the latter had formerly. It has now made of the peasants, who were formerly interested in the overthrow of private property in land, that is, the big estates, the most energetic defenders of the newly-created private property in land. It has strengthened private property in the means of production and in the produce, which are conditions from which capitalist production will constantly arise, although it may be disturbed or even destroyed for a time."
219
What has the Russian Revolution produced amongst the peasants according to Kautsky?
"Even the poor peasants are not thinking of giving up the principle of private property in land. Not by collective production do they seek to improve their lot, but by increasing their own share of land, that is, their own private property. That thirst for land, which always characterises the peasant, has now, after the destruction of the big estates, made of him the strongest defender of private property."
220
Has the Russia Revolution destroyed capitalist production according to Kautsky?
"That it has radically destroyed capitalism can be accepted by no one. It can certainly destroy much capitalist property, and transform many capitalists into proletarians, but this is not equivalent to the establishment of a Socialist system of production. So far as it does not succeed in doing this, capitalism will again arise, and must arise."
221
What does democracy represent for the proletariat when it is in the majority? (Kautsky)
" The proletariat everywhere has the greatest interest in democracy. Where the proletariat represents the majority, democracy will be the machinery for its rule. "
222
What does democract represent to the proletariat when it in the minority? (Kautsky)
"Where it is in the minority, democracy constitutes its most suitable fighting arena in which to assert itself, win concessions, and develop."
223
If a minority attains power whilst it is in the minority, why is it shortsighted to try and retain that power by suppressing democracy? (Kautsky)
"If a proletariat which is in a minority attains to power, in alliance with another class, through a momentary conjunction of forces, it is most shortsighted “real” politics, that is, politics of the passing moment, to endeavour to perpetuate this position by the suppression of democracy and the rights of minorities in opposition. It would destroy the ground on which alone a firm footing could be retained, after the passing of this phase, for further work and an extended struggle."
224
Where does the future of the proletariat lie in the view of Kautsky?
"Not in dictatorship, but in democracy, lies the future of the Russian proletariat."
225
What did the Russia Revolution show about people's desires? (Kautsky)
"Now what this theory teaches is that our desires and capabilities are limited by the material conditions, and it shows how powerless is the strongest Will which would rise superior to them."
226
What happens if democracy conflicts with socialism, as seen in the Russian example in Kautsky's view?
"If democracy thereby comes in conflict with the new regime, which, in spite of the great popularity which it so quickly won, cannot dispose of a majority of the votes in the Empire, then so much the worse for democracy. Then it must be replaced by dictatorship, which is all the easier to accomplish, as the people’s freedom is quite a new thing in Russia, and as yet has struck no deep roots amongst the masses of the people."
227
In what way are the Bolsheviks in contradiction to Marxism? (Kautsky)
"Their dictatorship, however, is in contradiction to the Marxist teaching that no people can overcome the obstacles offered by the successive phases of their development by a jump, or by legal enactment. "
228
What has come to be the view of dictatorship that Kautsky sees as wrong?
" Instead of seeing something which should be generally condemned in the method of dictatorship, and the disfranchising of large sections of the people, which at the most is only defensible as a product of the exceptional conditions prevailing in Russia, they go out of their way to praise this method, as a condition which the German Social Democracy should also strive to realise."
229
Does a dictatorship progress or impede socialism's progress? (Kautsky)
"The dictatorship does not reveal itself as a resource of a Socialist Party to secure itself in the sovereignty which has been gained in opposition to the majority of the people, but only as means of grappling with tasks which are beyond its strength, and the solution of which exhausts and wears it; in doing which it only too easily compromises the ideas of Socialism itself, the progress of which it impedes rather than assists."
230
What is the state? (SAR)
"The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable"
231
How does the bourgoeisie distort the view of the state? (SAR)
"On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, "correct" Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes"
232
What can the petty bourgeois not understand?
"That the state is an organ of the rule of a definite class which cannot be reconciled with its antipode (the class opposite to it) is something the petty-bourgeois democrats will never be able to understand"
233
What is the kautskyite distortion of marxism according to Lenin? (SAR)
" "Theoretically," it is not denied that the state is an organ of class rule, or that class antagonisms are irreconcilable. But what is overlooked or glossed over is this: if the state is the product of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms, if it is a power standing above society and "alienating itself more and more from it," it is clear that the liberation of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power which was created by the ruling class and which is the embodiment of this alienation"
234
How does wealth exercise it influence in democracy? (SAR)
"In a democratic republic, Engels continues, "wealth exercises its power indirectly, but all the more surely," first, by means of the "direct corruption of officials" (America); secondly, by means of an "alliance of the government and the Stock Exchange" (France arid America). "
235
What does a mistaken interpretation of the withering away of teh state lead to? (SAR)
"To prune Marxism to such an extent means reducing it to opportunism, for this "interpretation" only leaves a vague notion of a slow, even, gradual change, of absence of leaps, and storms, of absence of revolution. "
236
Which state is abolished and which withers away? (SAR)
"According to Engels, the bourgeois state does not "wither away," but is "abolished" by the proletariat in the course of the revolution. What withers away after this revolution is the proletarian state or semi-state."
237
What does it mean to abolish the state as the state? (SAR)
"And it follows from it that the "special coercive force" for the suppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, of millions of working people by handfuls of the rich, must be replaced by a "special coercive force" for the suppression of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat (the dictatorship of the proletariat). This is precisely what is meant by abolition of the state as state"
238
What sort of state needs to be abolished?
The bourgeois state. The state "in general" is what withers away after the proletariat has come to power
239
Why are the communists in favour of a democratic republic? (SAR)
"We are in favour of a democratic republic as the best form of state for the proletariat under capitalism. But we have no right to forget that wage slavery is the lot of the people even in the most democratic bourgeois republic."
240
What is needed for the suppression of teh bouregois state? (SAR)
"The supersession of the bourgeois state by the proletarian state is impossible without a violent revolution."
241
What do the kautskyites and oppotunists teach? (SAR)
"The proletariat needs the state—this is repeated by all the opportunists, social-chauvinists and Kautskyites, who assure us that this is what Marx taught."
242
Why does the proletariat need state power? (SAR)
"The proletariat needs state power, a centralised organisation of force, an organisation of violence, both to crush the resistance of the exploiters and to lead the enormous mass of the population, the peasants, the petty bourgeoisie, and semi-proletarians—in the work of organising a socialist economy."
243
What does Kautsky fail to see? (SAR)
"all previous revolutions perfected the state machine, whereas it must be broken, smashed"
244
What must the state be transformed into according to Lenin?
The proletariat organised as the ruling class
245
Why will the state wither away after the proletariat has attained power? (SAR)
"this proletarian state will begin to wither away immediately after its victory because the state is unnecessary and cannot exist in a society in which there are no class antagonisms"
246
How does Lenin summarise the period after the February revolution of 1917 in the State and Revolution?
"The six months between February 27 and August 27, 1917, can be summed up, objectively summed up beyond all dispute, as follows: reforms shelved, distribution of official jobs accomplished and "mistakes" in the distribution corrected by a few redistributions."
247
Who is the spokesman of opportunism according to Lenin and why? (SAR)
"Opportunism today, as represented by its principal spokesman, the ex-Marxist Karl Kautsky, fits in completely with Marx's characterization of the bourgeois position quoted above, for this opportunism limits recognition of the class struggle to the sphere of bourgeois relations."
248
Why is the dictatorship of the proletariat democratic in a new way? (SAR)
"during this period the state must inevitably be a state that is democratic in a new way (for the proletariat and the propertyless in general) and dictatorial in a new way (against the bourgeoisie)"
249
What sort of dictatorship is there under capitalism?
the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie
250
What is the principle lesson of marxism regarding the state? (SAR)
"The words, "to smash the bureaucratic-military machine," briefly express the principal lesson of Marxism regarding the tasks of the proletariat during a revolution in relation to the state. And it is this lesson that has been not only completely ignored, but positively distorted by the prevailing, Kautskyite, "interpretation" of Marxism!"
251
Why did the Paris Commune of 1871 fail? (SAR)
"It is still necessary to suppress the bourgeoisie and crush their resistance. This was particularly necessary for the Commune; and one of the reasons for its defeat was that it did not do this with sufficient determination"
252
Why can the state wither away? (SAR)
"the majority itself can directly fulfil all these functions, and the more the functions of state power are performed by the people as a whole, the less need there is for the existence of this power"
253
How do elections work in bourgeois democracy? (SAR)
"To decide once every few years which member of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament—this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary-constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics."
254
What is a utopia according to Lenin? (SAR)
"Abolishing the bureaucracy at once, everywhere and completely, is out of the question. It is a utopia. But to smash the old bureaucratic machine at once and to begin immediately to construct a new one that will make possible the gradual abolition of all bureaucracy —this is not a utopia, it is the experience of the Commune, the direct and immediate task of the revolutionary proletariat."
255
Who will people be subordinated to under the dictatorship if the proletariat? (SAR)
"The subordination, however, must be to the armed vanguard of all the exploited and working people, i.e., to the proletariat. A beginning can and must be made at once, overnight, to replace the specific "bossing" of state officials by the simple functions of "fore men and accountants," functions which are already fully within the ability of the average town dweller and can well be performed for "workmen's wages.""
256
What is the immediate aim of the dictatorship of the proletariat? (SAR)
"To organise the whole economy on the lines of the postal service so that the technicians, foremen and accountants, as well as all officials, shall receive salaries no higher than workman's wage," all under the control and leadership of the armed proletariat—this is our immediate aim"
257
What does the commune represent according tom Lenin? (SAR)
"The Commune is the first attempt by a proletarian revolution to smash the bourgeois state machine; and it is the political form "at last discovered," by which the smashed state machine can and must be replaced"
258
Why did the Commune cease to be a state? (SAR)
"The Commune was ceasing to be a state since it had to suppress, not the majority of the population, but a minority (the exploiters) . It had smashed the bourgeois state machine. In place of a special coercive force the population itself came on the scene. All this was a departure from the state in the proper sense of the word."
259
What must happen in order to abolish the state? (SAR)
"For, in order to abolish the state, it is necessary to convert the functions of the, civil service into the simple operations of control and accounting that are within the scope and ability of the vast majority of the population, and, subsequently, of every single individual"
260
Other than the fact that people will perform the functions of the state themselves, why else is the state no longer needed under communism and why it withers away? (SAR)
"In striving for socialism, however, we are convinced that it will develop into communism and, therefore, that the need for violence against people in general, for the subordination of one. man to another, and of one section of the population to another, will vanish altogether since people will become accustomed to observing the elementary conditions of social life without violence and without subordination"
261
Where else would we find the freedom found in capitalist society? (SAR)
"Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. Owing to the conditions of capitalist exploitation, the modem wage slaves are so crushed by want and poverty that "they cannot be bothered with democracy," cannot be bothered with politics"; in the ordinary, peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is debarred from participation in public and political life."
262
Who has democracy under capitalism? (SAR)
"Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich —that is the democracy of capitalist society" - the propertied and the men
263
What does democracy become for the first time under the dictatorship of the proletariat? (SAR)
"Simultaneously with an immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the money-bags, the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists."
264
What change does democracy undergo? (SAR)
"Democracy for the vast majority of the people, and suppression by force, i.e., exclusion from democracy, of the exploiters and oppressors of the people—this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to communism"
265
What will happen to democracy under communism? (SAR)
"Communism alone is capable of providing really complete democracy, and the more complete it is, the sooner it will become unnecessary and wither away of its own accord"
266
Why is the state uneccessary in communism? (SAR)
"Lastly, only communism makes the state absolutely unnecessary, for there is nobody to be suppressed—"nobody" in the sense of a class, of a systematic struggle against a definite section of the population"
267
How do people recieve goods when the means of production are under the control of society? (SAR)
"Every member of society, performing a certain part of the socially-necessary work, receives a certificate from society to the effect that he has done a certain amount of work. And with this certificate he receives from the public store of consumer goods a corresponding quantity of products. After a deduction is made of the amount of labour which goes to the public fund, every worker, therefore, receives from society as much as he has given to it. "
268
Will everyone recieve things equally udner the first phase of communism? (SAR)
"But people are not alike: one is strong, another is weak; one is married, another is not; one has more children, another has less, and so on. And the conclusion Marx draws is: "With an equal performance of labour, and hence an equal share in the social consumption fund, one will in fact receive more than another, one will be richer than another, and so on. To avoid all these defects, right would have to be unequal rather than equal." "
269
What is the first phase of communist society?
Socialism, when the means of production are no longer privately controlled
270
What remains for a time under communism in its earlier phase? (SAR)
"It follows that under communism there remains for a time not only bourgeois right, but even the bourgeois state, without the bourgeoisie! "
271
What preconditions of socialism does capitalism create other than the development of productive forces? (SAR)
" The development of capitalism, in turn, creates the preconditions that enable really "all" to take part in the administration of the state. Some of these preconditions are: universal literacy, which has already been achieved in a number of the most advanced capitalist countries, then the "training and disciplining" of millions of workers by the huge, complex, socialised apparatus of the postal service, railways, big factories, large-scale commerce, banking, etc., etc."
272
What are all citizens transformed into under the first phase of communism? (SAR)
"Accounting and control—that is mainly what is needed for the "smooth working," for the proper functioning, of the first phase of communist society. All citizens are transformed into hired employees of the state, which consists of the armed workers. All citizens become employees and workers of a single country-wide state "syndicate." All-that is required is that they should work equally, do their proper share of work, and get equal pay.""
273
At what point does the need for government dissappear? (SAR)
"From the moment all members of society, or at least the vast majority, have learned to administer the state themselves, Have taken this work into their own hands, have "organised control over the insignificant capitalist minority, over the gentry who wish to preserve their capitalist habits and over the workers who have been thoroughly corrupted- by capitalism—from this moment the need for government of any kind begins to disappear altogether"
274
What does Lenin accuse Kautsky of doing with regards to attitudes towards the state? (SAR)
" Throughout the pamphlet the author speaks of the winning of state power—and no more; that is, he has chosen a formula which makes a concession to the opportunists,- inasmuch as it admits the possibility of seizing power without destroying the state machine, everything which Marx in 1872 declared to be "obsolete" in the programme of the Communist Manifesto, is revived by Kautsky in 1902"
275
How will the workers state prevent beauracratisation? (SAR)
"(1) not only election, but also recall at any time; (2) pay not to exceed that of a workman; (3) immediate introduction of control and supervision by all, so that all may become "bureaucrats' for a time and that, therefore, nobody may be able to become a "bureaucrat." "
276
What does it mean to be a working body, and not a parliamentary body, something that Kautsky fails to understand? (SAR)
"Kautsky has not reflected at all on Marx's words: "The Commune was a working, not a parliamentary, body, executive and legislative at the same time.""
277
What has Kautsky not udnerstood with regards to bourgeois parliamentarism?
"Kautsky has not understood at all the difference between bourgeois parliamentarism, which combines democracy (not for the people) with bureaucracy (against the people), and proletarian democracy, which will take immediate steps to cut bureaucracy down to the roots, and which will be able to carry these measures through to the end, to the complete abolition of bureaucracy, to the introduction of complete democracy for the people"
278
What does Kautsky have for the state (a point of view) (SAR)
"Kautsky here displays the same old "superstitious reverence" for the state, and "superstitious belief" in bureaucracy"
279
How does Kautsky abandon marxism for opportunism? (SAR)
"Kautsky abandons Marxism for the opportunist camp, for this destruction of the state machine, which is utterly unacceptable to the opportunists, completely disappears from his argument, and he leaves a loophole for them in that "conquest" may be interpreted as the simple acquisition of a majority"
280
What happens to democracy under capitalism? (SAR)
"Under capitalism, democracy is restricted, cramped, curtailed, mutilated by all the conditions of wage slavery, and the poverty and misery of the people."
281
What does Kautsky want the current governemnt to do according to Lenin? (SAR)
meet the proletariat half way
282
