The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-24
Bolshevism or Trotskyism? 3 {: z5s.,:,


organizatory principles OF Leninism
cannot claim that a right wing exist
ed in the Bolshevik party. Bolshevism
differed fundamentally in that it could
not permit and did not permit the
party to be organized as a block of
all possible tendencies, as block Of
right, of left wing, Of a center,
etc.
Think over what Comrade Lenin
has written for example regarding
the period of the emigration time of
the party. He said: The great va
riety of political tendencies in emigra-
tion-mensheviki, S. R. anarchists,
maximalists, which were again divid-
ed into sub sections, had the effect
that all non-Bolshevist elements were
withdrawn, as by a plaster, from the
body Of the party. The same was the
case in the period Of legal and Illegal
existence of our party between Feb
ruary and October, 1917. At that time
we saw the same variety and multiple
city of political parties, fractions and
minor fractions, which inevitably abb
sorbed everything that was not thoro-
ly Bolshevik. In this manner the Boil
shevik party became Capitalization
point only for Bolsheviki. Hence our
party was one indivisible whole.
1t involves a complete ignorance Of
Lenin and of Leninism to admit the
possibility that Lenin, even if only
for a short time, had tolerated the
existence of a right wing in the Boil
shevik party. And what is still more
important is, that Leninism is irrecon-
cilable with the existence of a right
wing in the Bolshevist party.
1t could be argued that there were
Bolshevik "reconciliators" who great
" resembled right wing of Bolshe-
vism.
Yes, that is a fact The Bolshevik
"reconciliators" played an episodal
role at the commencement Of the split
between the Bolshevik and the men,
sheviki (1903-1904), and then also in
the years of the counter-revolution
t1s10-1s11). But at the moment Of
this hesitating attitude CT the Boil
shevik '.reconciliators" it came essen
tally to a direct split between US
and them. The Boishevik party. I'M
Ter Lenin's leadership, was ready to
amputate this small fragment from its
body. and this it did in order to re-
main a homogeneous Bolshevfk party
The Overwhelming majority Of those
reconcilors are at present in our
ranks and nobody thinks of asserting
today that they recollect there being
in any way sort of right tendency
in the party. Their most prominent
leader was l. F. Dubrovinsky, and no
body who knew him would pretend
that he represented in any way right
wing. From one prison TO another.
from one Punishment to another, went
such comrades as Dubrovinsky and
Nogin; and in the period between the
one prison and the other they made
many passing errors regarding ques-
lions of organization. OF course, these
comrades could have fallen victims to
opportunism if their errors had un-
dergone a logical development. This
however, did not happen. Lenin put
the question bluntly: Either expulsion
or submission to the decisions Of the
Bolshevik leadership.
That does not mean that IN the
long years of the history Of Bolshe-
vism there were never any difference
es and various tendencies between the
most prominent functionaries Of the
party. There were, Of course, such
differences. In 1906 Kamenev advo-
Gated the boycott Of the Duma "a
left" attitude). while Comrade Lenin
recommended participation in the
Duma- In the plenum of the G. c.
in 1910 (the last joint plenum with
the mensheviki) a section of the Boil
shevilSi attempted unity with TrotslSy,
whilst Comrade Lenin and other Boil
shevik leaders, (among them the pres
cnt writer) were emphatically against
his attempt. These, however, were