The Second Congress of the Communist International

Lenin's thesis:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jul/04.htm

"the idea, common among the old parties and the old leaders of the Second International, that the majority of the exploited toilers can achieve complete clarity of socialist consciousness and firm socialist convictions and character under capitalist slavery, under the yoke of the bourgeoisie (which assumes an inIinite variety of forms that become more subtle and at the same time more brutal and ruthless the higher the cultural level in a given capitalist country) is also idealisation of capitalism and of bourgeois democracy, as well as deception of the workers. In fact, it is only after the vanguard of the proletariat, supported by the whole or the majority of this, the only revolutionary class, overthrows the exploiters, suppresses them, emancipates the exploited from their state of slavery and immediately improves their conditions of life at the expense of the expropriated capitalists—it is only after this, and only in the actual process of an acute class strugg]e, that the masses of the toilers and exploited can be educated, trained and organised around the proletariat under whose influence and guidance, they can get rid of the selfishness, disunity, vices and weaknesses engendered by private property; only then will they be converted into a free union of free workers” <– how then is revolution possible, if by “revolution” we mean an action of the majority of population against a minority?

Victory over capitalism calls for proper relations between the leading (Communist) party, the revolutionary class (the proletariat) and the masses, i.e., the entire body of the toilers and the exploited.

"Finally, it is only after they have been really emancipated from the yoke of the bourgeoisie and of the bourgeois machinery of state, only after they have found an opportunity of organising in their Soviets in a really free way (free from the exploiters), that the masses, i.e., the toilers and exploited as a body, can display, for the first time in history, all the initiative and energy of tens of millions of people who have been crushed by capitalism. Only when the Soviets have become the sole state apparatus is it really possible to ensure the participation, in the work of administration, of the entire mass of the exploited, who, even under the most enlightened and freest bourgeois democracy, have always actually been excluded 99 per cent from participation in the work of administration. It is only in the Soviets that the exploited masses really begin to learn—not in books, but from their own practical experience—the work of socialist construction, of creating a new social discipline and a free union of free workers.” Here Lenin is wrong. It is not a matter of simply “Soviets” as a political form, but of a certain, rather high level of development of productive forces, and hence consciousness and general ability of the producers, their multiple skills, that they can become engaged in administration of public affairs.

Manifesto of the Communist International, 1920

https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/2nd-congress/2-Manifesto-2nd-Congress-CI-1920.pdf

Characterizes the state of international relations after WWI: France, England, USA, etc.

Special attention to the 2 dominant imperialist powers: England and the USA.

Soviet Russia in opposition to them.

Attitude to Soviet Russia is the touchstone by which all labor and communist organizations are tested. Today, this means the attitude to the war in Donbass.

# Terms of Admission into Communist International

V.I. Lenin

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/jul/x01.htm

3. In countries where a state of siege or emergency legislation makes it impossible for Communists to conduct their activities legally, it is absolutely essential that legal and illegal work should be combined. In almost all the countries of Europe and America, the class struggle is entering the phase of civil war. In these conditions, Communists can place no trust in bourgeois legality. They must everywhere build up a parallel illegal organisation, which, at the decisive moment, will be in a position to help the Party fulfil its duty to the revolution.” This applies directly to us. I feel I cannot say everything that I want to say because of the civil war now going on in the country, and I am “legal” and can easily be located and hit.

I absolutely don’t understand the situation in the world, and what must be done.

13. Parties belonging to the Communist International must be organised on the principle of democratic centralism. In this period of acute civil war, the Communist parties can perform their duty only if they are organised in a most centralised manner, are marked by an iron discipline bordering on military discipline, and have strong and authoritative party centres invested with wide powers and enjoying the unanimous confidence of the membership.