Those Who Fought For Our Communist Future Are Kindred Spirits-Every January We Honor Lenin, Luxemburg, And Liebknecht-The Three Ls- Lenin

 

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EVERY JANUARY WE HONOR LENIN OF RUSSIA, ROSA LUXEMBURG OF POLAND, AND KARL LIEBKNECHT OF GERMANY AS THREE LEADERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS MOVEMENT.

BURNING QUESTIONS OF OUR MOVEMENT, INDEED!

BOOK REVIEW

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?-BURNING QUESTIONS OF OUR MOVEMENT, V. I. LENIN. International Publishers, New York, 1969

Every militant who wants to fight for socialism, or put the fight for socialism back on the front burner, needs to read this book. Every radical who believes that society can be changed by just a few adjustments needs to read this book in order to understand the limits of such a position. Thus, it is necessary for any politically literate person of this new generation to go through the arguments of this classic of Marxist literature in order to understand the strategic perspective for socialism in the 21st century. Older militants can also benefit from a re-reading of this work. Except for an obvious change of names and organizations from those that Lenin argued against on my re-reading of this document I was astonished by the appropriateness of the arguments presented.

Militants of my generation, the Generation of ‘68, came late to an appreciation of the importance of this work and spent a lot of wasted time and energy on other strategies. Those so-called New Left theories that ran the gamut from mild social reform to revolutionary terror had, however, one common axis- denial of the centrality of the working class as the motor force for revolution, especially in the advanced capitalist countries. Once the most thoughtful of us came understand the bankruptcy of our previous strategies Lenin’s little book became compulsory reading. Lenin’s What Is To Be Done? Thus takes it place as one of the basic documents of the revolutionary Marxist movement along with Marx and Engel’s Communist Manifesto.

 Although the book was written to address the disputes among socialists at the beginning of the 20^th century the arguments presented have relevance today. And what are those arguments. There are three main points which are interrelated; the need for a fight between a reformist and a revolutionary perspective for establishment of a socialist order; the need for a revolutionary organization of professional revolutionaries to lead the vanguard of the working class to socialism; and, the necessity for an independent vanguard in its relationship to the working class as a whole and to other social classes. Although the political opponents that Lenin was polemizing against, and this document is a polemic, are long gone and his literary style would not be to today’s taste these were and continue to be the defining issues of revolutionary strategy today.

After the experience of one hundred years of reformist socialist practice under capitalism it is hard to believe that the fight against such a limitation of the socialist program was a central argument that animated not only the Russian revolutionary movement but the international social democracy as well. The fight against revision of the Marxist program of class struggle and the need to change the structure of society that began in that period seeped into the Russian movement and so it was therefore necessary to polemize against it. Lenin, and others, rose to the occasion. Their argument, in short, was do you fight to the finish against the old social order or not? In Lenin’s case we know the answer. The reader can decide for him or herself.

The nature of the organization necessary to lead the masses to socialism has been varied over time from revolutionary conspiracy to revolutionary terror to mass reformist parties. Lenin brought a new concept to the organization question among Marxists not only for Russia but witness the Communist International for international strategy. Simply put, if you do not want to make a revolution you do not need a vanguard party. If you do, you need to address the organization question. The challenge is

At that time the question of who will lead the revolution and what forces will it rely on was a central question, especially in the Russian socialist movement. In the West at the time that was obvious that the working class was the central agency and that it would rely on the urban and rural petty bourgeoisies. In Russia, however, that had not experienced a bourgeois revolution the central dispute which did not get resolved until October, 1917 when the Bolsheviks relying on the peasantry, and especially the peasant soldier resolved the issue. The results, of that resolution, as they say, are the subject for another discussion. What s noteworthy here is how skeptical Lenin this early was of the liberal bourgeoisie as any kind of ally in the revolutionary struggle. That skepticism should be a signpost for today’s militants. This is one of the political textbooks you need to read if you want to change the world. Read it.