The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-04
Continued from last issue)
i. The Period Of Reorganization Of

I. The Period Of Reorganization Of
the Party (Mareh-AprlD.
The fundamental facts Of this per
old are: a, the fall of czarism; b, the
formation of the provisional govern
ment dictatorship of the bour-
geoisie); C, the rise of soldiers and
workmen's soviets dictatorship Of the
proletariat and the peasantry); d, the
double government; Q, the April de-
monstration; I, the first crisis Of
power.
The characteristic feature Of this
period is the fact that side by side,
concurrently and simultaneously,
there exist both the dictatorship Of
the bourgeoisis and that of the prole-
tariat and the peasantry, the latter
showing confidence in the former, be-
lieving in its efforts for peace, volun-
tarily comforting the power on the
bourgeoisie and thus turning itself in
to its appendage. Serious conflicts
between the two relationships had not
yet arisen. Instead of this there was
contact commission"
This was the greatest change in the
history of Russia and hitherto unex-
perienced turn in the history of our
party. The old personal---very. plat
form of the direct overthrow of the
government was clear and definite, but
was no longer suited to the new condi-
tons of the fight. 1t was now impos-
sible to aim directly at the overthrow
of the government, for it was bound
up with the Soviets which were under
the influence of the social patriots,
and the party would have had to car
ry on an unbearable fight against both
the government and the Soviets. But
it was also impossible to carry out
a policy for the support of the pro-
visional government for this was a
government of imperialism.
A re-orientation of the party under
the new conditions of the fight was
necessary. The party tits majority
approached this re-orientation very
cautiously. 1t adopted the policy of a
pressure of the Soviets on the provi-
sional government in the question of
peace, but did not at once make up
its mind to take the further step from
the old slogan of the dictatorship of
the proletariat and the peasantry to
the new slogan of the power of the
Soviets. This double-faced policy was
calculated to convince the Soviets
thru the concrete questions of peace
of the genuinely imperialistic nature
Of the provisional government, and
thus to tear them away from the lat
ter. This was an entirely mistaken
policy; for it produced paciflst illu.
sions, supplied water to the mills OF
social patriotism and rendered the re-
volutionary education Of the masses
| dificult This mistaken attitude
shared at that time with other mem
bers of the party, and only renounc.
ed it altogether in the middle of April
after had subscribed to Lenin's thes-
! is.% siri
A re-orientation was necessary, This
re-orientation was given to the party
/ by Lenin in his famous theses Of April
will not enter into detail as to these
theses, as they are known to every
one. Were there at that time differ.
ences of opinion between the party
and Lenin? Yes, there were. How
long did these differences of opinion
last? Not more than fortnight. The
conference Of the organization of the
whole town of Petrograd (second hall
of ApriD, which accepted Lenin's
theses, was a turning point in the de
velopment of our party. The state
conference at the end of April only
completed the work of the Petrograd
conference in a measure appropriate
to the state gathering, by the united
attitude of the party, nine-tenths Of
the party round itself
Now, after seven years, Comrade
Trotsky shows malicious joy at Ions
passed differences of opinion among
the Bolsheviki, by representing these
differences OF opinion almost as a fight
of two parties within Bolshevism. But
first of all, Comrade Trotsky exagge
rates in an outrageous manner and in
fates the whole subject; for the Boil
shevist Party has outlived these DIFF
ferences Of opinion without being IN
the least shaken. In the second place
our party would be a caste and moi
revolutionary party If it did moi
admit different shades Of opinion In
its midst, but it is well-known thai
there were differences of opinion