Chapter 17. Lenin

¹ Bukharin: Lenin as a Marxist, p. 5.

² Because of the greater accessibility of the ‘Little Lenin Library,’ references have, as far as possible, been confined to the volumes in that series, designated ‘L.L.L.’ in the footnotes.

¹ ‘Left Wing’ Communism, p. 49 (L.L.L. No. 16).

²Lenin: the Official Biography prepared by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, p. 32, quoting an article, Our Programme.

³ Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 20 (Little Stalin Library).

¹The Tasks of the Proletariat in our Revolution, p. 48 (L.L.L. No. 9).

² Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 10.

¹Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, p. 80 (L.L.L. No. 15).

²Ibid. p. 14.

³Ibid. p. 41.

⁴Ibid. p. 43.

⁵Ibid. p. 58.

⁶Ibid. p. 71.

⁷The War and the Second International, p. 23 (L.L.L. No. 2).

⁸ In one passage Lenin gives an attempted concise summary of the leading features of Imperialism which must be covered by any definition. In view of the importance attached to Imperialism in the theories of Lenin, it may be worth while to reproduce them here, even at the cost of a lengthy footnote. There are five essential features:

‘ 1. The concentration of production and capital, developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive rôle in economic life.

2. The merging of bank capital with industrial capital and the creation, on the basis of this ‘finance capital,’ of a financial oligarchy.

3. The export of capital, as distinguished from the export of commodities, becomes of particularly great importance.

4. International monopoly combines of capitalists are formed which divide up the world.

5. The territorial division of the world by the greatest capitalist powers is completed.’

Accordingly, this definition is offered: ‘Imperialism is capitalism in that stage of development in which the domination of monopolies and finance capital has taken shape; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world by the international trusts has begun, and in which the partition of all the territory of the earth by the greatest capitalist countries has been completed’ (Imperialism, p. 81 (L.L.L. No. 15)).

¹War and the Workers, p. 15 (L.L.L. No. 20).

²Socialism and War, p. 13 (L.L.L. No. 3).

³Imperialism, pp. 90, 92 (L.L.L. No. 15).

⁴Socialism and War, p. 13 (L.L.L. No. 3).

⁵Opportunism and Social-Chauvinism, p. 9 (L.L.L. No. 22).

⁶ Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 68.

¹Imperialism, p. 97 (L.L.L. No. 15).

²Opportunism and Social-Chauvinism, p. 6 (L.L.L. No. 22).

³The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 25 (L.L.L. No. 18).

⁴Ibid. p. 46.

⁵Ibid. p. 53.

⁶The War and the Second International, p. 6 (L.L.L. No. 2).

¹The War and the Second International, p. 37 (L.L.L. No. 2).

²The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 50 (L.L.L. No. 18).

³ Bukharin: Programme of the World Revolution, p. 89.

⁴The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 62 (L.L.L. No. 18).

⁵Ibid. p. 66.

⁶What is to be Done? p. 54 (L.L.L. No. 4).

⁷Ibid. p. 60.

⁸Ibid. p. 62.

⁹The War and the Second International, p. 45 (L.L.L. No. 2).

¹Socialism and War, p. 19 (L.L.L. No. 3).

² Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 78.

³The War and the Second International, p. 51 (L.L.L. No. 2).

⁴Socialism and War, p. 21 (L.L.L. No. 3).

⁵State and Revolution, p. 28 (L.L.L. No. 14).

¹Lenin and Stalin on the State, p. 45 (L.L.L. No. 23).

²Two Tactics, p. 38 (L.L.L. No. 17).

³On the Problems of Leninism, p. 124 in Stalin: Leninism.

¹ Lenin: State and Revolution; followed by Kautsky: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat; followed by Lenin: The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky,

² Kautsky: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, p. 43.

¹The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 19 (L.L.L. No. 18).

²The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution, p. 48 (L.L.L. No. 9).

³News from Afar, p. 27 (L.L.L. No. 8).

⁴State and Revolution, p. 46 (L.L.L. No. 14).

⁵The Tasks of the Proletariat in our Revolution, p. 16 (L.L.L. No. 9).

¹The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 34 (L.L.L. No. 18).

²State and Revolution, p. 67 (L.L.L. No. 14).

³The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky, p. 38 (L.L.L. No. 18).

⁴Ibid. pp. 60–61.

⁵State and Revolution, p. 73 (L.L.L. No. 14).

⁶ Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 45 (Little Stalin Library).

¹ ‘Left Wing’ Communism, pp. 27–28 (L.L.L. No. 16).

² Preface to The Deception of the People, p. 6 (L.L.L. No. 19).

³ Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 44.

⁴ Kautsky: Dictatorship of the Proletariat, p. 91.

⁵State and Revolution, p. 35 (L.L.L. No. 14).

⁶ E.g. The April Conference, p. 22 (L.L.L. No 10).

¹State and Revolution, p. 69 (L.L.L. No. 14).

²Ibid. See also Utters from Afar, p. 28 (L.L.L. No. 8).

³State and Révolution, pp. 70–71 (L.L.L. No. 14).

⁴Ibid. pp. 40, 74.

¹State and Revolution, p. 77. Equally emphatic is the passage in Will the Bolsheviks Maintain Power? p. 21 (L.L.L. No. 12).

²Will the Bolsheviks Maintain Power? p. 20 (L.L.L. No. 12).

³The Threatening Catastrophe, p. 33 (L.L.L. No. 11).

⁴Ibid. pp. 46–47.

¹ Stalin: On the Problems of Leninism, section v, p. 131 in Leninism.

²Ibid. p. 133.

³Ibid. pp. 134–135.

⁴Ibid. p. 135.

¹ Machiavelli, it may be recalled, supports the view that for an effective and total revolution a dictatorship is necessary, but it is the dictatorship of one man and of one mind: ‘E debbesi pigliare questo per una regola generale, che non mai, o di rado occorre che alcuna repubblica o regno sia da principio ordinato bene, o al tutto di nuovo fuori degli ordini vecchi riformato, se non è ordinato da uno; anzi e necessario che uno solo sia quello che dia il modo e dalla cui mente dipenda qualunque simile ordinazione’ (Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio, Book I, chap. 9). Machiavelli, however, was no indiscriminate ‘Smasher’ of the old State. He who desires to refashion or remake a State, he observes, ‘e necessitate a ritenere l'ombra almanco dei modi antichi, accio che ai popoli non paja avere mutato ordine, ancora che in fatto gli ordini nuovi fossero al tutto alieni dai passati’ (Discorsi, Book I, chap. 25). The leisured reader might very advantageously read Machiavelli and Lenin together.

² Stalin: Foundations of Leninism, p. 105.

³Lenin and Stalin on the State, pp. 43, 48 (L.L.L. No. 23).

¹ Kautsky: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat, p. 62.

²The Revolution of 1905, p. 59 (L.L.L. No. 6).

³Letters from Afar, p. 47 (L.L.L. No. 8).

⁴On the Eve of October, p. 12 (L.L.L. No. 13).

⁵The April Conference, p. 39 (L.L.L. No. 10).

⁶Two Tactics, p. 45 (L.L.L. No. 17).

⁷ Stalin: On the Problems of Leninism, pp. 155–158, in Leninism.

¹ Stalin: On the Problems of Leninism, p. 131, in Leninism. Foundations of Leninism, p. 43.

²Lenin and Stalin on Youth, p. 35 (L.L.L. No. 21).

³State and Revolution, p. 73: see also p. 64 (L.L.L. No. 14).

¹State and Revolution, p. 73 (L.L.L. No. 14).

² ‘Left Wing’ Communism, p. 33 (L.L.L. No. 16).

³State and Revolution, pp. 63, 68 (L.L.L. No. 14).

⁴Ibid. p. 78.

⁵Ibid. p. 74.

¹E.g. ‘(1) Never play at uprising, but once it is begun, remember firmly that you have to go to the very end.

(2) It is necessary to gather a great preponderance of forces in a decisive place at a decisive moment, otherwise the enemy, being better prepared and organized, will annihilate the insurgents....

(4) One must strive to take the enemy by surprise, to take advantage of a moment when his troops are scattered’ (Official Biography of Lenin, p. 125).

²What is to be Done? p. 117 (L.L.L. No. 4).

³ ‘Left Wing’ Communism, p. 74 (L.L.L. No. 16).

⁴What is to be Done? pp. 105–106 (L.L.L. No. 4).

⁵Ibid. p. 128.

⁶Ibid. p. 131.

⁷Ibid. p. 131.

⁸Ibid. pp. 27–28.

⁹Ibid. p. 41.

¹Official Biography, p. 166.

² ‘Left Wing’ Communism, p. 52 (L.L.L. No. 16).

³Ibid. p. 21.

⁴Ibid. p. 53.

⁵Ibid. p. 38.

⁶Ibid. p. 44.

⁷What is to be Done? p. 21 (L.L.L. No. 4).

⁸Lenin on Religion, p. 5 (L.L.L. No. 7).

¹Lenin on Religion, p. 9.

² The formula ‘No A without B; and no B without A’ is an undeniably effective way of presenting a proposition when it is true: but that is no justification for expressing in this, or a similar manner, a proposition which is either untrue or absurd. Marx, in La Misère de la Philosophie, quotes a forgotten economist who is alleged to have said: Jésus-Christ, c'est le free-trade; le free-trade, c'est Jésus-Christ.’ Theology and economics have strange meeting-places.

³Lenin on Religion, pp. 12,20.

⁴Ibid. p. 14.

⁵Ibid. p. 15.

¹Lenin on Religion, p. 17.

²Ibid. p. 19.

¹ Bukharin: Programme of the World Revolution, p. 74.

² The Bukharin view, of course—to come nearer home—is substantially in agreement with the opinions expressed by Thomas Paine, who might, with some reason, complain of his total exclusion from this volume. Though not a professing atheist, he would have concurred with Owen regarding the erroneousness (or worse) of all ‘known’ religions. ‘All national institutions of Churches,’ he says, ‘whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolise power and profit.’ Paine, discoursing on the Scriptures in The Age of Reason, is a curious spectacle in these days: but, as he is chiefly engaged in barking up insignificant and immaterial trees, he cannot be regarded as a very successful disturber of the faith, unless indeed where faith is already so disturbed as to be non-existent. Few, to take one example at random, will be impressed by the argument based on Joshua's astronomical ignorance as revealed by his action in ordering the sun and moon about, whereas ‘he should have commanded the earth to have stood still.’ This more enlightened procedure, as a matter of fact, was the course adopted by Mr. Wells’ hero who worked miracles—-with disastrous results, as will be recalled by those who have seen the film which embodies the fable. Or again, take his comments on the ‘ignorance’ of the author (or authors) of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, in speaking of three days and three nights before there was any sun, ‘when it is the presence or the absence of the sun that is the cause of day and night.’ This is indeed the ‘higher criticism.’

¹ It may be too trivial for the larger type of the text; yet Lenin's references to (e.g.) the Fabians are interesting and illustrating. When he describes them as a ‘band of bourgeois humbugs,’ there may be no sudden outcry of dissent, especially from those who have recently been sharing a school-bench with the Intelligent Woman. Besides, we are probably all humbugs, and in that universal ‘bourgeoisification’ which is one of England's most disquieting features, we are most certainly all bourgeois. When he calls Fabianism ‘the lowest and vilest form of social chauvinism,’ we feel that he is just going too far. But to call them ‘filthy froth on the surface of the world labour movement’ is just to betray a complete lack of all sense of proportion. No doubt the greatest of all the Fabians has been accused of froth before now—but not of this kind of froth.

¹ That a socialism which begins by denying the ‘Fatherland’ may nevertheless in the end develop a new and stronger patriotism is perhaps not a new phenomenon. Riccardo Bacchelli, who, in his novel II Diavolo al Pontelungo, has presented a fascinating study of Bakunin in his old age, draws attention to the point in connection with the influence of Italian socialism of the ‘seventies of last century: ‘Finalmente l'amore del popoio ebbe una nuova patria da quelle idee che s'eran mosse per distruggerne pure il concetto’ (vol. 2, p. 17).