The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-04
WORK within
REACTION
UNIONS" LENIN
NoSeparation of Revolu-
ton from Mass
By n. LenIn, AprII q, 1aao.

~
To refuse to work within reaction.
airy trade unions means to leave the
backward or insuf1lciently developed
working masses to the influence Of the
reactionary leaders, the agents OF the
bourgeoisie, the "aristocrats OF labor"
and the "bourgeoisifed" workers.
1t is just this absurd theory of non.
participation by Communists in reac
tionary trade unions that most clearly
shows how Ight-headedly the left
Communists regard the problem of in
fluencing the masses" how they con.
tradict their own outcries about the
masses"
Qualities Of Mass Leadership.
In order to be able to help thu
masses, and to win the sympathy, con,
fidence and support Of the masses"
It is essential to be fearless in the face
of difficulties, to fear neither chilean
cry, opposition, insult or persecution
at the hands of the leaders" (who BE-
ing opportunists and social chauvin-
lists, in the majority Of cases have
direct or indirect connections with the
bourgeoisie and the police), and 10
work by every possible means wher.
ever the masses are.
Great sacrifices must be made, al
obstacles overcome, in order TO carry
on Systematically, stubbornIy, insist
emily, patiently. agitation and propa-
ganda in all those institutions, socie-
ties and unions, even tho completely
reactionary in which are grouped pro
letarian or semi-proletarian masses.
Where are these Massesf
And trade unions and co-operatfves
(the latter at least in some oasssI are
just organizations where the masses
are to be found.
In England, according to figures xiv.
en- by the Swedish paper, Folkets Da,
gen Politiken, March 10, 1879, the
trade union membership, from the end
Of 1917 to the end Of 1918 rose from
So millions to 6.6 millions, that is. an
increase Of 10 per cent. Towards the
end Of 1919 this number reached rs
millions. have not the correspond
ing figures at hand in regard to France
and Germany, but generally known
and Uncomfortable facts testify to an
immense growth in membership in the
trade unions of these countries also.
These facts speak with the utter.
most clearness Of a phenomenon con.
frmed by a thousand other fndica.
tons: the growth of class conscious
ness and the driving force towards or.
ganization existing among the prole.
tartan masses, the lowest level" the
backward. Millions of workers in Eng.
land, France and Germany are for the
first time passing from a complete lack
OF organization to the most elementary
the lowest, the simplest, and (for
those still imbued with bourgeois
prejudices) the most accessible form
Of organization, the trade union.
Contradictory RsvoIutIonisn,.
And the revolutionary bat foolish
left" stand around, crying. "the mass
es! the massesI"-and refuse to work
in the trade unions.
They refuse on the pretext OF the
"reactionary character" Of these IN
ionsl And then they invent nice.
brand new, pure little Workers Un-
ions" which are free from bourgeois
democratic prejudices, guiltless Of the
sins of trade and craft narrowness,
and which, they claim, are to be (are
to bell broad, and for participation in
which the only (onlyl) requirement is
to be the acceptance Of the SovieI
system and the Dictatorship
No Conditions to Bar Out Members
Anything more idotic, more harmful
to the revolution than this attitude of
the left" Communists cannot be i'm.
agined. Why, If now in Russia, after
two and a half years Of unparalleled
victories over the bourgeoisie OF Rus.
STA and the entente, we had demanded
that entrance into the trade unions be
conditional upon acceptance OF the
dictatorship" we should have commit.
ted an objectionable piece OF stupidity,
impaired our influence with the mass
es, and given aid and comfort to the
mensheviks
For the whole task Of the Commun
lists is just this-to be able 10 convince
the backward, to be able to work
among them, and not fence ourselves
of from them by manufactured, infant
lie, left slogans.