The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-06-05
LE.NIN
(5)
THE REVOLUTION OF 1905.


into notion When Lenin saw the first tele-
grams in the newspapers, he at once appreciated
the Importance of the events and started to take
practical steps, The bureau of the committees Of
the majority (Bolsheviks) sent out the call for
the congress. The Mensheviks declared the con-
yention unnecessary and did not come. The con-
vention was held in April in London, forty-two
delegates from twenty-one organization units. 1t
was up to it to decide the tactics in the reyolu-
ton.
In the Second international at that time the
opinion prevailed that "the general strike is gen
eral nonsense" and that eff we are strong enuf
to realize it it will be unnecessary" The BOlshe
vik convention explained that the general strike
was the question Of the day in Russia and it must
be completed with armed insurrection. The art
of rebellion was closely studied and explained
by Lenin and his comrades. Delegates were sent
to Russian centers in order to organize the move
ment
The relation to the liberals was now one of the
main issues. The Mensheviks explained that as
the revolution is bourgeois revolution, it must
be led by the bourgeoisie. The proletariat must
be the extreme opposition" Lenin showed how
the liberal bourgeoisie seeks compromise with
czarism and cannot be relied upon as the leader
of the revolution. The leader of the revolution
is the proletariat and its ally is the peasantry,
which we could call the revolutionary bour-
geoisie. The Mensheviks had their idea from the
French revolutions of 1880 and 1S4S, where the
bourgeoisie had formed the provisional govern
ments. Lenin showed that if that should hap
pen in Russia it would not be a complete demo-
cratic revolution. This would be the case only if
czarism is crushed in an open struggle and the
revolutionary people take the power into their
own hands. And then the place of the party of
the prOletariat is not in the opposition, but in
H. IL
government and complete the revolution. The
remnants of the czarist bureaucracy must be
wiped out; the resistance of the counter-revolu-
tiOnary forces must be crushed; the church must
be separated from the state; the peasants must
destroy the power of the nobility in the country
and take over their land. They cannot wait I'M
til the constituent assembly gives them something
from above; they must settle matters thru their
committees, and the constituent assembly
must then legalize the situation so created.
The program of the proletariat is the minimum
program: realization of democracy, civil liber-
ties, etc. The immediate realization of socialism
would be Utopia in Russia at the time. But
the democratic revolution would be complete
only if it is accomplished by the proletariat The
Menshevlks do not understand how things happen
in revolution. They are against the slogan
"the democratic dictatorship of workers and peas
ants" They do not understand that every revo-
lutiOnary government must be dictatoral 1t
must mercilessly do away with the old institu-
tons
Comrades Trotsky and Parvus came out with
their theory Of the permanent revolution" The
words were used by Marx in 1850 in his letter to
the German Communists at a time when Marx
still expected new wave of revolution. The slo-
gan in itself is not wrong-every revolutionary
must try to make the revolution permanent that
is, to last thru a whole period. But the content
Trotsky gave to the slogan was wrong. Trotsky
explained that the workers would not consent to
the "sef-limitation" which Lenin was supposed
to recommend to them They would realize their
own dictatorship. And as they were little mi
nority and as the peasants would go with the
bourgeoisie, the workers could realize their power
only with estate help" from the Western prole-
4;at Saa-; -l l;aal IL. 80 -