The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-13
Leninisrn or Trotskyis1n


country against the petty-bourgeois
elements, on the basis of the realized
dictatorship of the proletariat and peas
antry. This means the mastering and
organization of the proletarian ele-
ments on the basis of this dictator
ship, in order to proceed from the rev.
| dictionary democratic dictatorship of
the proletariat and peasantry to the
dictatorship of the proletariat, to the
purely socialist revolution. For this
reason, Lenin invariably adapted his
tactics to the development of the mass
movement in the peAsantry, and he
studied the peculiarly" of the realiz-
alton of the dictatorship Of the prole-
tariat and the peasahtry, which con-
sisted of the fact that the latter. at
the given stage of theretolution april
1870, retained their confidence in the
bourgeois government in the form of
defense of native country" After
describing the views of the Bolsheviki
contending against him q was one of
these), and after a sharp attack upon
us, Lenin writes: -
"a Marxist must never quit the firm
ground of analysis Of class relations.
The bourgeoisie is in power. And is
the mass of the peasantry not another
bourgeoisie belonging to another STRAIT
UNI, of another description and char
acter? Does it follow that this STRAIT
UNI may not seize power by the con
summation of bourgeois democratic
revolution? Why should this not be
possible? Old Bolsheviki frequently
/ Judge in this manner"
replied, "This is perfectly possible
it is quite possible that the
peasantry seizes the whole of the land
and at the same time the whole pow
er. -
Lenin continues: ''If the peasantry
ceases to support the government in
the social revolutionary and menshe-
visit Soviets, if the peasantry, having
deserted the bourgeoisie, seize the
land and power in spite of the bour-
eoisie, then we shall have new stage
in the bourgeois democratic revolution
and one which will occupy us greatly"
This is much more complicated than
Trotskys theory, straight as the line
in which the crow flies. For Trotsky,
with his slogan Of: soft with the
car and on with the labor govern
ment," the matter was much simple.
He simply ignored the whole peas
antry and the conditions prerequisite
to the realization of the dictatorship
of the proletariat in a alphabetically
backward agrarian country.
The greatness of Lenin lies in the
fact that he began to carry out the
dictatorship of the proletariat under
the given conditions of a given agrar-
ian country, and actually did carry
this out by means of constantly keep
ing in sight those real elements upon
whose foundation this dictatorship can
not only be proclaimed, but built up.
AS a matter of fact, even in April
it was not possible to judge whether
there might not be a moment in the
Russian revolution in which the peas
antry would leave the social revolu-
tionary and menshevist Soviets in the
| lurch and turn against the provisional
| government, before it could attain to
the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Lenin, as real politician and mass
leader, knowing that we pursued the
policy of the proletariat under the
peculiar conditions of an agrarian
4 country, arranged his tactics for both
possibilities.
| Lenin would not have been Lenin,
| that is, he would not have been the
practical leader of millions in class
war, if he had really taken over Trot-
sky's equipment, for Trotsky's theory
would have inevitably led to the
breakdown of the proletariat and of
the peasantry as well. In it's pure
form, the line taken by Trotsky is sim
ply the ignoring of the peasantry, the
ignoring of that transition stage dur
ing which the peasantry still places its
confidence in the ruling bourgeoisie at
first, is disappointed and turns against
the bourgeoisie, but still does not join
the proletariat; this transitional stage
which ends by theproletariat taking
over the leadership of the peasantry
in the form of peasants risings, real
izing the dictatorship, and endeavor-
ing to bring about an alliance between
workers and peasants in various
changing forms.
| IeHlHJ III lue same pdMpuiSI III
which he wrote aginst'th old Bolshe-
wiki, states:
"In my theses have secured my
self against any leaps over agrarian
or petty bourgeois movements which
have not yet been overcome, against
any playing with Seizure of power
by the labor government 'Trot-
skyism' down with the car up with
the labor government'-is wrong. The
petty bourgeoisie (that is, the peas
antry. L. K.). exists and cannot be
ignored"
Is this not the literal repetition, in
the heat Of revolution, of all that Len
in had long warned the party against?
In 1910, Lenin had already said that:
"Trotsky's fundamental error. is
the lack Of the smallest thought about
the question Of the transition from
this (the bourgeois) revolution to a
socialist revolution."l9
Trotsky's original theory takes
from the Bolsheviki the demand for
decisive revolutionary struggle on the
part of the proletariat and the demand