Monday, January 22, 2007

How to Make Socialists: Lenin’s View

This article below from the Socialist Standard February 1933  is a timely reminder to workers and others that some of the tactics and methods which left -wing parties claim are orthodox,"boring from within" workers struggles,concentrating upon," immediate demands", and so on,do not always stem directly from Lenin ,but may indeed be distortions of his own writing on the matter.There are of course different interpretations and Lenin himself often contradicted in action his own previous statements as events dictated to him.The links in the text allow you to make up your own mind as they take you to the work in question.
M.C.

How to Make Socialists: Lenin's View

Most of the Communists who say that the way to make Socialists is not to theorise, but to concentrate on "immediate demands" in the day to day struggle against the employers are quite unaware of Lenin's view on the subject. He set it out at some length in an article, "The Working Class as Champion of Democracy," written apparently about 1901 and recently republished in What is to be done (Martin, Lawrence, Ltd., 175 pages, 2s.).Wikipedia Commentary


In this article Lenin vigorously rejects the policy of concentrating on immediate demands. He

points out that any trade union secretary does this work admirably (he mentions Robert Knight, who was a Boiler Makers' official well-known in England). He contrasts Knight, the trade union secretary who "conducts the economic struggle against the employers and the Government" with Liebknecht, who "engaged more in the propaganda of brilliant and finished ideas." Lenin plumps for Liebknecht's method and rejects Knight's.


Lenin writes: —


"The economic struggle merely brings the workers 'up against' questions concerning the attitude of the Government towards the working class. Consequently, however much we may try to 'give the economic struggle itself a political character,' we shall never be able to develop the political consciousness of the workers ... by confining ourselves to the economic struggle, for the limits of this task are too narrow." — (Page 76.)


"The workers can acquire class political consciousness only from without, that is only outside of the economic struggle, outside of the sphere of the relations between workers and employers." — (Page 76.)


"Robert Knight engaged more in 'calling the masses to certain concrete actions,' while Liebknecht engaged more in 'the revolutionary explanation of the whole of modern society or various manifestations of it.'" — (Page 78.)


The whole article is well worth reading. It will be noticed that here, as on certain other questions, Lenin's view was nearer to the S.P.G.B.'s view than to that of the Communist Parties.


(Socialist Standard, February 1933).

2 comments:

ajohnstone said...

In a footnote Lenin asks:-

"Can Martynov cite an instance in which leading the trade-union struggle alone has succeeded in transforming a trade-unionist movement into a revolutionary class movement?"

Reading that , I'm immediately Reminds me of the SWP(IS)cadres in the Rank and File movements during the 60s and 70s who could well have been the target for Lenin's criticism and how even now they and their likes swarm on to striking workers picket lines like a plague of locusts , brandishing their Party papers and placards .

Matthew Culbert said...

Old habits die hard, ssPers do likewise,if we look at the SSP opportunism over the NCR debacle we see same crap afoot.
"Whether it is though occupation or campaigning to keep the assets of the factory in Dundee there are a number of political options available to them."
http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/stories/ncr.html
http://colinfoxmsp.blogspot.com/index
.html
Actually there aren't too many options.Workers have just got to get the best deal they can inside capitalism,maximise their situation economically,and look to the real solutions which lie outside of capitalism in establishing common ownership.Certainly they may decide to occupy plant to increase bargaining power and make it difficult for employers to sell it off but only the local workers on the ground can make these decisions.We dont dish out advice here.