REVISIONISM IN RUSSIA TROTSKY AGAINST THE BOLSHEVIKS -1910-1911

Compass

1910: The January 1910 Central Committee Meeting

In January 1910, against the opposition of Lenin who considered the circumstances inopportune, a meeting of the Central Commiittee of the RSDLP was held in Paris, attended by representatives of the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, the "Party Mensheviks", the Social-Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, the Social-Democratic Party of the Latvian Region, the "Vperyod" group, the Viennese group, and the "Bund'. Lenin's opposition to the holding of the Central Committee at this time was due to his awareness that a number of Bolsheviks -- including Alexel Rykov, Solomon Lozovsky, Lev Kamenev, and Grigori Sokolnikov, had adopted a concilationist position.

Despite this, the Leninists were able to secure the unanimous adoption of a resolution which condemned both otzovism and liquidationism, although without specifically naming them.

"The historical situation of the Social-Democratic movement in the period of the bourgeois counter-revolution inevitably gives rise, as a manifestation of the bourgeois influence over the proletariat, on the one hand to the renunciation of the illegal Social-Democratic Party, this debasement of its role and importance, the attempts to curtail the programme and tactical tasks and slogans of consistent Social-Democracy, etc.; on the other hand, it gives rise to the renunciation of the Duma work of Social-Democracy and of the utilisation of the legal possibilities, the failure to understand the importance of either, the inability to adapt the consistent Social-Democratic tactics to the peculiar historical conditions of the present moment, etc. 

An integral part of the Social-Democratic tactics under such conditions is the overcoming of both deviations by broadening and deepening the Social-Democratic work in all spheres of the class struggle of the proletariat and by explaining the danger of such deviations".
(Resolution of Plenum of Central Committee of the RSDLP, January 1910, cited by V. I. Lenin: "Controversial Questions", in: "Selected Works", Volume 4; London; 1943; p. 129).

Lenin's draft resolution used the phrase "fight on two fronts", but this was altered by the meeting, on Trotsky's motion, to the phrase "overcoming . . by broadening and deepening":

"The draft of this resolution was submitted to the Central Committee by myself, and the clause in question was altered by the plenum itself . . on the motion of Trotsky, against whom I fought without success. . . . The words 'overcoming by means of broadening and deepening' were inserted on Trostsky's motion. . . " 

Nothing at the plenum aroused more furious – and often comical -- indignation than the idea of a 'struggle on two fronts'. . . . 

Trotsky's motion to substituite 'overcoming by means of broadening and deepening' for the struggle on two fronts' meet with the hearty support of the Mensheviks and the 'Vperyod'-ists. . . . 

In reality this phrase expresses a vague desire, a pious innocent wish that there should be less internal strife among the Social-Democrats! . . it is a sigh of the so-called conciliators."
(V. I. Lenin: "Notes of a Publicist', in: ibid.; p. 45, 47)

Despite it's dilution by the concilationists, Lenin considered this resolution as "especially important":

"This decision is especially important because it was carried unanimously: all the Bolsheviks, without exception, all the so-called 'Vperyod'-ists, and finally (this is most important of all) all the Mensheviks and the present liquidators without exception, and also all the 'national' (i.e., Jewish, Polish and Lettish) Marxists endorsed this decision".

(V. I. Lenin: "Controversial Questions ", in: ibid.; p. 128-9).

However, the conciliationists managed to secure the adoption of a number of other resolutions at the Central Committee meeting:1) to dissolve all factional groups; 

2) to discontinue the Bolshevik paper "Proletary" and the Menshevik paper "Golos Sotsial-Demokrata"; 

3) to grant Trotsky's Viennese "Pravda"' a subsidy from Party funds and to delegate a representative of the Central Committee to sit as co-editor along with Trotsky; 

4) to set up an editorial board for the Party's central organ, "Sotsial-Demokrat" (The Social-Democrat) consisting of two Bolsheviks (Lenin and Zinoviev), two Mensheviks (Martov and Dan, and one representative of the Polish Party (Waraki); 

5) to initiate a "Discussion Sheet" in conjunction with the central organ, open to representatives of trends which differed from the line of the Party; 

6) to establish the seat of the Central Commitee in Russia; 

7) to transfer all funds in the possession of factional centres to the general Party treasury.

So far as the last point was concerned, the Bolsheviks transferred their funds to three trustees - the leaders of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany, Karl Kautsky, Franz Mehring and Clara Zetkin -- until it could be shown that the other factions had carried out the decisions adopted at the Central Committee meeting.

The Leninists characterised this series of decisions as a conciliationist error, since it secured the dissolution of the Bolshevik faction in return for a worthless verbal promise from the other factions. 

"Both the ideological merit of the plenum and its conciliationist error become clear. Its merit lies in its rejection of the ideas of liquidationism and otzovism; its mistake lies in indiscriminately concluding an agreement with persons and groups whose deeds do not correspond to their promises ( 'they signed the resolution')".
(V. I. Lenin: "The New Faction of Conciliators or the Virtuous", in: ibid.; p. 101).

"The conciliators recognised all and sundry tendencies on 'their mere promise to purge themselves, instead of recognising only those tendencies which are purging themselves (and only in so far as they do purge themselves) of their "ulcers". The 'Vperyod'-ists, the 'Golos' ites and Trotsky all 'signed' the resolution against otzovism and liquidationism -- that is, they promised to 'purge themselves' -- and that was the end of it! The conciliators 'believed' the promise and entangled the Party with non-Party grouplets, 'ulcerous' as they themselves admitted."
(V. I.. Lenin: 'The Climax of the Party Crisis' in. ibid; p. 115). 

The Violation of the CC Decisions 

The Bolsheviks dissolved their factional organisation and wound up their factional Paper 'Proletary' (The Proletarian), in accordance with the decisions of the January 1910 meeting of the Central Committee.

The Mensheviks, however, declined to dissolve their factional organisation, their factional paper "Golos Sotsial-Demokrata' (The Voice of the Social-Democrat) or to break with liquidationism. In fact, they began to publish in St. Petersburg a new legal monthly magazine called "Nasha Zarya" (Our Dawn) (which continued to appear until 1914) and continued to publish in Moscow their legal journal "Vozrozhdeniye" (Regeneration). And in August 1910 the Mensheviks began to issue in Moscow the magazine "Zhizn"(Life) (which, appeared until September 1910), while in January 1911 they began to issue in St. Petersburg the legal magazine "Dyelo Zhizni" (Life's Cause) 

(which appeared until October 1941).

In all these publications, as well as in "Golos Sotsial-Deniokrata"; which continued to appear regularly, the Mensheviks continued to put forward openly liquidationist views:"A party in the form of a complete and organised hierarchy of institutions does not exist"
(P. Potresov: Article in "Nasha Zarys", No. 2, February 1910, p. 61, cited in: V. I. Lenin: "Notes Of a Publicist", in: "Selected Works", Volume 4; London; l943; p. 53).

"There is nothing to wind up and -- we on our part would add -- the dream of re-establishing this hierarchy in its old underground form is simply a harmful reactionary utopia".
(Editorial in "Vozrozhdeniye", No. 5, April 12th., 1910, p. 51, cited in V.I.Lenin: ibid.; p. 53).

"The tactics which are to be observed in the activities of the so-called 'liquidators' are the 'tactics' which put the open labour movement in the centre, strive to extend it in every possible direction, and seek within this open labour movement and there only the elements for the revival of the party".
(Y.Martov: "Article in "Zhizn", No. 1, September 12th., 1910, p. 9-l0; cited in: V. I. Lenin: 'The Social Structure of State Power, the Prospects and Liquidationism"; in:ibid.; p. 84).

"In the new historical period of Russian life that has set in, the working class must organise itself not 'for revolution', not 'in expectation of a revolution', but simply for the determined and systematic defence of its special interests in all spheres of life; for the gathering and training of its forces for this many-sided and comlex activity; for the training and accumulation in this way of socialist consciousness in general; for acquiring the ability to find one's bearings -- to stand up for oneself".
(Y. Larin: "Right Turn and About Turn!", in: "Dyelo Zhizni", No. 2, p..18, cited in: V. I. Lenin: ibid.; p. 90).

"Great political tasks make inevitable a relentless war against anti- liquidationism. ., . Anti-liquidationism is a constant brake, constant disruption."
(F. Dan: "Article in "Nasha Zarya", No. 6, 1911, cited by: J. V. Stalin: "The Situation in the Social-Democratic Group in the Duma ", in: "Works", Volume 2; Moscow; 1953; p. 385).

In various articles from June 1910 onwards, Lenin drew attention to the fact that the liquidator Menshviks had failed to carry out the decisions of the January 1910 Central Committee meeting:

"During that year (1910), the 'Golos'-ites, the 'Vperyod'-ists, and Trotsky, all in fact, estranged themselves from the Party and moved precisely in the direction of liquidationism and otzovism-ultimatumism".
(V. I. Lenin: "The Climax of the Party Crisis", in: ibid; p. 116).

"Since that very plenum of 1910, the above-mentioned principal publications of the liquidators. . have turned decidedly and along the whole line towards liquidationism, not only by 'belittling' (in spite of the decisions of the plenum) 'the importance of the illegal Party'; but directly renouncing the Party, calling it a 'corpse', declaring the Party to be already dissolved, describing the restoration of an illegal Party as a 'reactionary Utopia', heaping calumny and abuse on the illegal Party in the pages of the legal magazines".
(V. I. Lenin: Resolution on Liquidationism and the Group of Liquidators, Sixth Conference of the RSDLP, in: Ibid.; p. 152)

"All the liquidationist newspapers and magazines... after the most definite and even-unanimous decisions have been adopted by the Party, reiterate thoughts and arguments that contain obvious liquidationism. . . .
The truth proved by the documents I have quoted, which cover a period of more than five years (.1908-13), is that the liquidators, mocking all the Party decisions, continue to abuse and bait the Party, i.e., 'illegal work'".
(V.- I. Lenin: "Controversial Questions", in:. ibid.; p. l33-4).

The 'Vperyod'-ists, on the other hand, continued to support toleration of otzovism within the Party:"'Vperyod', No. 3 (May 1911) . . openly states that otzovism is a 'completely legitimate tendency within our Party' (p. 78)".
(V.I. Lenin: 'The New Faction of Conciliators Or the Virtuous', in; ibid.; p. 107).

In September 1910, Trotsky expelled Lev Kamenev, the officical representative of the Central Committee of the Party, from the editorial board of 'Pravda' denouncing:

"The conspiracy of the émigré clique (i.e., the Bolsheviks -- Ed.) against the Russian Social-Democratic Labour party";
(L. Trotsky: "Pravda', No. 21, 1910),

and adding threateningly:

"Lenin's circle, which wants to place itself above the Party, will find itself outside it'.
(L. Trotsky: ibid).

Lenin declared that Trotsky's expulsion of the CC representative from the editorial board of "Pravda" confirmed the already expressed view of the Bolsheviks that, under the guise of "non-factionalism", Trotsky was, in fact, endeavouring to form a faction:

"That Trotsky's venture is an attempt to create a faction is obvious to all now, after obvious to all now, after Trotsky has removed the representative of the Central Committee from 'Pravda'".
(V. I. Lenin: "The Historical Meaning of the Internal Party Struggle in Russia": In 'Selected Works'; Volume 3; London; 19~6; p. 517).

The fact that Trotsky's professed desire for unity of the factions concealed his support in practice for the Menshevik liquidators and otzovists is shown by his failure to condemn these factions for their repudiation of the conciliationist decisions to which all actions had agreed at the January 1910 meeting Central Committee.

As Trotsky's sympathetic biographer Isaac Deutscher expresses it:

"This was the occasion on which Trotsky, the champion of unity, should have spared the offenders against unity no censure. Yet in 'Pravda' he 'suspended judgement' and only mildly hinted at his disapproval of the Mensheviks' conduct.. . . Trotsky took his stand against the disciplinarians. Having done so, he involved himself in glaring inconsistencies. He, the fighter for unity, connived in the name of freedom of dissent at the new breach in the Party brought about by the Mensheviks. He, who glorified the underground with zeal worthy of a Bolshevik; joined hands with those who longed to rid themselves of the underground as a dangerous embarrassment. Finally, the sworn enemy of bourgeois liberalism allied himself with those who stood for an alliance with liberalism against those who were fanatically opposed to such an alliance. . . .
So self-contradictory an attitude brought him nothing but frustration. Once again to the Bolsheviks he appeared not just an opponent, but a treacherous enemy. . . Martov made him turn a blind eye more than once on Menshevik moves which were repugnant to him. His long and bitter quarrel with Lenin made him seize captiously on every vulnerable detail of Bolshevik policy. His disapproval of Leninism he expressed publicly with the usual wounding sarcasm. His annoyance with the Mensheviks he vented mostly in private arguments or in 'querulous' letters".
(I. Deutscher: "The Prophet Armed: Trotsky: 1879-1921"; London; 1970; p.. 195, 196).

Lenin expressed, himself more forthrightly on Trotsky's attitude in an article entitled "Judas Trotsky's Blush of Shame":

"At the Plenary Meeting Judas Trotsky made a big show of fighting liquidationism and otzovism. He vowed and swore that he was true to the Party. He was given a subsidy. . .
Judas expelled the representative of the Central Committee from 'Pravda' and began to write liquidationist articles in 'Vorwarts'. In defiance of the direct decision of the School Commission appointed by the Plenary Meeting to the effect that no Party lecturer may go to the 'Vperyod' factional school, Judas Trotsky did go and discussed a plan for a conference with the 'Vperyod' group. . . Such is Judas Trotsky's blush of shame".
(V. I. Lenin: "Judas Trotsky's Blush of Shame"; in: "Collected Works"; Volume 17; Moscow; l963; p.45) .

The liquidator Menshevik members of the Central Committee, now based in Russia by the decision of the January 1910 meeting of the Central Committee and so compelled to function illegally, refused to attend the CC on the grounds that all illegal organisations were "objectionable" and "harmful". The conciliationist members of the Central Committee refused to agree to meetings of the Central Committee without the liquidator Mensheviks, on the grounds that such meetings would be "unrepresentative"."And what about the work in Russia? Not a single meeting of the Central Committee was held during the whole year! Why? Because the members of the Central Committee in Russia (conciliators who well deserved the kisses of 'Golos Likvidatorov') kept on 'inviting' the liquidators for a year and a quarter but never got them to 'accept the invitation'".
(V. I. Lenin: "The Climax of the Party Crisis", in: Ibid.; p.116).

The result was that for a considerable period after the January 1910 meeting of the Central Committee, all practical Party work was carried out by the Bolsheviks and the Party Mensheviks", the latter led by Georgi Plekhanov."All Party work .. during the whole of that year (i.e., 1910 -- Ed.) was done by the Bolsheviks and the Plekhanovists. . .
This Party work (in literature, which was accessible to all) was conducted by the Bolsheviks and the Plekhanovists in spite.. of the 'conciliatory' resolutions and the collegiums formed by the plenum, and not in conjunction with the 'Golos'-ites and the 'Vperyod'-ists, but against them (because it was impossible to work in conjunction with the liquidators and otozovists-ultimatumists)".
(V. I. Lenin: ibid.; p. 115, 116).

1910-1911: The Bolsheviks Re-form their Faction

Considering in September l910 that the repudiation of the January 1910 Central Committee decisions had been sufficiently demonstrated; in this month the Bolsheviks funded their own factional nowspaper "Rabochaya Gazeta"' (Worker's Newspaper), published in Paris under the editorship of Lenin. The Sixth Party Confercnce in January 1912, transformed this paper into the official organ of the Party's Central Committee, and it continued to appear until August 1912."The first factional step the Bolsheviks took was to found "Rabochaya Gazeta" in September 1910". 

(V. I. Lenin. "The New Faction of Conciliators or the Virtuous", in "Selected Works" Volume 4; London; l943; p. 102).

In December 1910 the Bolsheviks announced formally that they considered themselves released from all the obligations imposed by the January 1910 Central Committee meeting since its decisions had been consistently flouted by the liquidator Mensheviks."By their 'declaration' of December 18, 1910, the Bolsheviks openly and formally declared that they cancelled the agreement with all the other factions. The violation of the 'peace' made at the plenum, its violation by 'Golos', 'Vperyod' and Trotsky, had become a fully recognised fact". 

(V.I. Lenin: "The Climax of the Party Crisis", in ibid.; p.117.

In the same month, December 1910, the Bolsheviks began publication in Russia of' the legal newspaper "Zvezda" (The Star) - published at first weekly and then two or three times a week, in St. Petersburg until its suppression by the tsarist government in April 1912. "Zvedzda", was succeeded by "Nevskaya Zvezda" (The Neva Star) , until this too was suppressed in October 1912. They also began to issue the legal magazine "Mysl" (Thought), published monthly in Moscow until April 1911. 

In May 1911 the Bolsheviks broke off relations with the Central Corrinittee Bureau Abroad, which was dominated by liquidator Mensheviks.

"For a year and a half, from January 1910 to June 1911, when they had a majority in the Foreign Bureau of the Central Committee and faithful 'friends' in the persons of the conciliators in the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee, they did nothing, absolutely nothing to further the work in Russia!"
(V. I. Lenin: 'The Climax of the Party Crisis", in: ibid.; p. 121).

"The rupture between the Bolsheviks . . . and the Foreign Bureau of the Central Committee is a correction of the conciliationist mistake of the plenum. The rapprochement of the factions which are actually fighting against liquidationism end otzovism will now proceed despite the forms decided on by the plenum, for these forms did not correspond to the content".
(V. I. Lenin: "The New Faction of Conciliators or the Virtuous", in: ibid.; p. 101).

1911: The June 1911 Meeting of CC Members Living Abroad

In June 1911, on the initiative of Lenin, a meeting of Central Committee members living- abroad was held in Paris, attended by representatives of the Bolsheviks, the "Party Mensheviks" the Social-Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, and the Social-Democratic Party of the Latvian Region.

The meeting set up an Organising Commission Abroad, charged with the calling of an All-Russian Conference. This, in turn, set up a Technical Comminion Abroad, to deal with technical questions such as publishing, transport, etc.

From its inception the Organising Commission Abroad had a majority of conciliationist members and, to avoid bringing about a break with the liquidator Mensheviks, it did not proceed with the work of calling a conference. In November 1911 therefore, the Bolshevik members withdrew from it.

Next 1911-1912