The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-31
BY N. LENlN.

o0N~~~A@RN Af@NA0N~~N@~-N
consider the basic principles of the
literature Of the workers party, in or
der to develop these principle and ex-
press them in their most complete
form. These principles are in con-
trast with bourgeois customs, with
the commercialized bourgeois press,
with the individualism of the ambi-
tious adventures Of bourgeois liter
AZURE and their splendid freedom"
and with the scramble for profits.
What do these principles consist Of?
Not only that the literature Of the
proletariat should no longer be a
means of enriching groups or indi-
vidual character nor be Independent of
proletarian control. No more mon
party" writer's; no more literary SUI
permen!
Literary activity should be part of
the whole work Of the proletariat 1t
should be a cog in the great machine
which will be put in motion by the
whole vanguard of the working class
Literature should become one part Of
the work of the party, organized
thought out, unified, and revolution
airy.
CAN comparisons limp" says Ger
man proverb. 1t is so of my comparl-
son of literature with cog IN the ma
chine of the movement. There will be
no lack of historical inteIIectuals to
yelp in distress at this conception,
which, according to them, will debase
will destroy, will "bureaucratize" anf
make mechanical the free struggle
minds" free criticism, free '1iterar!
endeavor," etc. Their laments will
be nothing but an expression Of bour-
geois intellectual individualism.
Obviously, literature is the last
thing to be treated mechanically; it
cannot easily be graded by, or sub
NIT to, the decisions of the majority
In this matter, one ought, undoubted-
ly, to allow a great deal Of scope for
individual initiative, for personal in
clination, for inspiration and imagin-
alton, in form and content.
ALI this is indisputable, but It proves
only one thing; that the literary side
of the party's work cannot be me-
chanically identified with the other
sides Of proletarian activity.
This by no means destroys the
truth-incomprehensible and strange
as it may seem to intellectuals and
bourgeois democrats-that literary
work ought to be most strictly bound
to the rest of the socialist work of
the party. Writers ought to enter the
party without making any stipuIa-
+ tions. Publishing establishments.
bookshops, reading-rooms, libraries,
everything to do with literature ought
to be placed under the control of the
party.
The organized socialist proletariat
ought to supervise and control all this
work; it should infuse into it the vital
spirit of the workers, and in this
sphere, should throw off the outlook
of the mercenary bourgeoisie, who
see in the writer only the man who
sells his writings to earn his living.
and in the reader simply a customer
who brings in money.
Naturally we do not imagine that
this change in literature can be
brought about at one swoop; in this
Russian literature, which has for so
long been crippled by an "Asiatic"
censorship, and corrupted by a Eu-
ropeanized bourgeoisie. We are far
from expecting any panacea whatever
In the shape Of decisions and resoIu-
tons settling the whole thing in an
arbitrary manner. That is not the
point. What concerns US, is that our
class conscious proletariat should
understand that here is a new prob
lem that has to be faced frankly, and
everything possible done to solve it.
After having delivered ourselves
from the chains Of censorship, we do
not want to be the captives of bour-
geois commerce and its relationships.
We want to create a press that is