Biography of Stalin- 4- Molotov

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Stalin, too, rose up in defence of the theoretical foundations of Marxism. He wrote a series of arti- cles expounding the theoretical tenets of the Marxist party dialectical and historical materialism. They were published in 1906 and 1907 in Georgian Bol- shevik newspapers. They explained 'the meaning of materialism and dialectics and the principles of his- torical materialism in simple and popular style, at the same time formulating and answering with pro- found penetration the fundamental questions of Marxist-Leninist theory: the inevitability and ina- vertibility of the Socialist revolution and the dictator- ship of the proletariat, and the necessity for a mili- tant proletarian party, a party of a new type, differ- ing from the old, reformist parties of the Second In- ternational. They also expounded the basic strategy and tactics of the Party. These articles are an im- portant contribution to the theory of Marxism- Leninism and form part of the ideological treasury of our Party. In their profound treatment of the theory of Marxism-Leninism in the light of the ur- gent tasks of the revolutionary class struggle of the proletariat they are exemplary. 

Stalin took an active part in the work of the Fifth Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., held in London in April and May 1907, at which the victory of the Bolsheviks over the Mensheviks was sealed. On his return, he published an article, "The London Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Notes of a Delegate) ," in which he examined the decisions and results of the Congress, justified the ideological and tactical position of the Bolsheviks, denounced the bourgeois-liberal line of the Mensheviks in the rev- olution and their policy of liquidating the Party, and revealed the class nature of Menshevism, show- ing that it was a petty-bourgeois political trend.

THE FIRST Russian Revolution ended in de- feat. Between the first and the second revolu- tions there intervened a period of ten years, during which the Bolsheviks worked perseveringly and indefatigably, with heroism and self-sacrifice to organize the masses, to foster in them the revolution- ary spirit, to guide their struggles and to prepare the ground for the future victory of the revolution. 

For Lenin and Stalin these were years of relent- less struggle for the preservation amd consolidation 

of the underground revolutionary Party, for the ap- plication of the Bolshevik line in the new conditions; they were years of strenuous effort to organize and educate the masses of the working class, and of un- usually stubborn conflict with the tsarist police. The tsarist authorities: sensed in Stalin an outstanding rev- olutionary, and were at great pains to deprive him of all opportunities of carrying on revolutionary work. Arrest, imprisonment and exile followed each other in swift succession. Between 1902 and 1913, Stalin was arrested seven times and exiled six times. Five times he escaped from exile. Scarcely had the tsarist authorities convoyed him to a new place of fexile than he would again be "at large," to resume his work of mustering the revolutionary energies of the masses. His last term of exile was the only one that was not cut short in this way; from that he was released by the revolution of February 1917. 

In July 1907 began the Baku period of Stalin's revolutionary career. On his return from the Fifth (London) Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., he left Tiflis and on the instructions of the Party settled in Baku, the largest industrial area in Transcaucasia and one of the most important centres of the working-class movement in Russia. Here he threw himself into the work of winning the Baku organization for Lenin's slogans and of rallying the working masses under the banner of Bolshevism. He organized the fight to oust the Mensheviks from the working-class districts of Baku (Balakhani, Bibi-Eibat, Chorny Gorod and Byely Gorod). He directed the Bolshevik publica- tions, illegal and legal (Bakinsky Proletary, Gudok and Bakinsky Rabochy). He directed the campaign in the elections to the Third Duma. The "Mandate to the Social-Democratic Deputies of the Third State Duma," written by Stalin was adopted at a meeting of representatives of the workers' curiae in Baku on September 22. Stalin guided the struggle of the Baku workers. The big campaign he organized in connec- tion with the negotiations for a collective agreement between the oil workers and the operators was a brilliant application of Lenin's policy of flexibly combining illegal and legal activities in the period of reaction. He secured the victory of the Bolsheviks in this campaign by skilfully applying Lenin's tac- tics of rallying the workers for a political struggle against the tsarist monarchy. Baku, where the pro- letarian struggle seethed, and whence the voice of Stalin's fosterlings, the legal Bolshevik newspapers, reverberated throughout Russia, presented an un- usual spectacle amid the gloomy night of the Stoly- pin reaction. "The last of the Mohicans of the mass political strikel"* was Lenin's comment on the he- roic struggle of the Baku workers in 1908. 

Around Stalin rallied a sturdy band of tried Bolsheviks and Leninists Fioletov, Saratovets (Efi- mov), Vatsek, Bokov, Malygin, Orjonikidze, Djapa- ridze, Shaumyam, .Spandaryan, Khanlar, Memedov, Azizbekov, Kiazi-Mamed and others and finally he secured the complete triumph of Bolshevism in th6 Baku Party organization. Baku became a stronghold of Bolshevism. Under Stalin's leadership, the Baku proletariat waged a heroic struggle in the front ranks of the Russian revolutionary movement. 

The Baku period was of major importance in Stalin's life. This is what he himself says of it: 

"Two years of revolutionary activity among the workers in the oil industry steeled me as a practical fighter and as one of the practical leaders. Contact with advanced workers in Baku with men like Vatsek and Saratovets, on the one hand, and the storm of acute conflicts between the workers and oil

owners, on the other, first taught me what leading large masses of workers meant. It was in Baku that 

I thus received my second revolutionary baptism of fire."* 

* V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 3rd Russ. ed. f Vol. XV, p. S3* 

On March 25, 1908, Stalin was arrested and, after spending nearly eight months in prison, was exiled 

to Solvychegodsk, in the Province of Vologda, for a term of two years. But on June 24, 1909, he es- caped and made his way back to Baku, to continue his illegal work. He vigorously and unreservedly supported Lenin in his stand against the Liquidators and Otzovists. His historic "Letters from the Cau- casus" appeared in the central Party press, and for the newspaper Bakinsky Proletary he wrote "The Party Crisis and Our Tasks," "From the Party" and other articles in which he boldly criticized the state of the Party organizations and outlined a plan to put an end to the crisis in the Party. In these writ* ings Stalin subjected the Liquidators to withering criticism, using the example of the Tiflis Mensheviks to illustrate the renegacy of the Liquidators on ques- tions of program and tactics. He severely con- demned the treacherous conduct of the accomplices of Trotskyism, and formulated the immediate tasks of the Party, to which the Prague Party Conference subsequently gave effect, namely, the convocation of a general Party conference, the publication of a legal Party newspaper and the formation of an illegal Party centre to conduct the practical work in Rus- sia. 

* Pravda No. 136, June 16, 1926. 

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On March 23, 1910, Stalin was again arrested in Baku, and, after spending six months in prison, was convoyed ba<5k to Solvychegodsk. He established con- tact with Lenin from exile, and towards the end of 1910, wrote him a letter in which he expressed full solidarity with Lenin's tactic of forming a Party bloc of all who favoured the preservation and con- solidation of the illegal proletarian party. In this same letter he castigated the "rank unprincipledness" of Trotsky and outlined a plan for the organization of Party work in Russia. 

In the latter half of 1911 began the St. Peters- burg period of Stalin's revolutionary career. On Sep- 

tember 6 he secretly left Vologda for St. Petersburg. He established contact with the Party organization there, organized and gave directions for the fight against the Liquidators Mensheviks and Trotsky- iies and took measures to rally and strengthen the Bolshevik organizations. He was arrested on Sep- tember 9, 1911, and sent back to the Vologda Prov- ince, whence he again managed to escape in Feb- ruary 1912. 

Meanwhile, in January 1912, a momentous event had taken place in the life of the Party. The Prague Conference, having expelled the Mensheviks from the Party, inaugurated a party of a new type, a Leninist Party the Bolshevik Party. 

For this new type of party the Bolsheviks had been working ever since the days of the old Iskra working persistently and perseveringly, regardless of all obstacles. The whole history of the fight against the "Economists," the Mensheviks, the Trots- kyites, the Otzovists and the idealists of all shades, down to the empirio-criticists, had been paving the way for the formation of such a party. Of exclusive and decisive importance in this preparatory work were Lenin's What Is To Be Done?, One Step For- ward, Two Steps Back, Two Tactics of Social-De- mocracy in the Democratic Revolution, and Mate- rialism and Empirio-Criticism. Stalin fought side by side with Lenin in the struggle against innumerable enemies, and was his staunch support in the fight for a revolutionary Marxist party, a Bolshevik Party. 

THE PRAGUE Conference had predicted a III revolutionary revival in the near future and  had taken all measures to prepare the Party for it. It elected a Bolshevik Central Commit- tee, set up a practical centre to direct the revolution- ary work in Russia (The Russian Bureau of the Central Committee), and decided to publish the Pravda newspaper. Stalin, who had been an agent of the Central Committee since 1910, was elected to the Central Committee in his absence. On Lenin's pro- posal, he was put in charge of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee. But Stalin was hi exile, and arrangements for his flight had to be made. On Lenin's instructions, Sergo Orjonikidze went to Vo- logda to inform Stalin of the decisions of the Prague Conference. Then, on February 29, 1912, Stalin 

again escaped from exile. He had a brief spell of liberty, which he turned to good account. On the instructions of the Central Committee, he toured the most important districts of Russia, made prepa- rations for the coming May Day demonstration, wrote the well-known May Day leaflet of the Central Committee, and edited the Bolshevik weekly Zvezda in St. Petersburg during the strikes that followed the shooting down of the workers in the Lena gold fields. 

A powerful aid to the Bolshevik Party in strength- ening its organizations and spreading its influence among the masses was the Bolshevik daily news- paper Pravda, published in St. Petersburg. It was founded according to Lenin's instructions, on the initiative of Stalin. It was under Stalin's direction that the first issue was prepared and the character of the paper decided. 

Pravda was born simultaneously with the new rise of the revolutionary movement. Its first issue ap- peared on April 22 (May 5, New Style), 1912. This was a day of real celebration for the workers. It is in honour of Pravda's appearance that it was later decided to celebrate May 5 as Workers' Press Day. 

"The Pravda of 1912," Comrade Stalin wrote on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the paper, 

"was the laying of the cornerstone of the victory of Bolshevism in 1917."* 

On April 22, 1912, Stalin was arrested on the streets of St. Petersburg. After several months in prison, he was exiled again, for a term of three years, this time to the remote region of Narym. But on September 1 he once more escaped and returned to St. Petersburg. Here he edited the Bolshevik Pravda and directed the Bolshevik campaign in the elections to the Fourth Duma. At great risk, for the police were constantly on his track, he addressed a number of meetings at factories. But the workers and their organizations kept close guard on Stalin and protected him from the police* * Prqvda Np. 9& May 5, 192& 

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A great part in this campaign, which culminated in a victory for the Party, was played by the "Man- date of the Workingmen of St. Petersburg to their Labour Deputy," written by Stalin. Lenin attached the highest importance to the Mandate; when send- ng the copy to the press, he wrote on the margin:

"Return without fail!! Keep clean. Highly important to preserve this document!" In a letter to the editors of Pravda, he wrote: "Publish this Mandate to the St. Petersburg Deputy without fail, in a prominent place in large type."* 

* V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Sard Russ. ed., Vol. XXIX

Stalin's Mandate reminded the workers of the unaccomplished tasks of the 1905 Revolution and summoned them to a revolutionary struggle, a struggle on two fronts' against the tsar- ist government and against the liberal bourgeoisie, which was seeking to come to terms with tsardom. After the elections Stalin guided the activities of the Bolshevik group in the Duma. With Stalin in St. Petersburg worked Y. Sverdlov and V. Molotov, who took an active part in the editorship of the Prauda, in the election campaign and in the guidance of the Bolshevik group in the Duma. At this period contact between Lenin and Stalin became closer than ever. In his letters Lenin expressed his entire approval of Stalin's activities and of his speeches and articles. On two occasions Stalin went abroad to Cracow, where Lenin was then residing: once in November 1912, and again at the end of December 1912, to attend a conference of the Central Committee with leading Party members. 

It was while he was abroad that Stalin wrote Marxism and the National Question, on which Lenin set the highest value. "The principles of the Social-Democratic national program," Lenin wrote, "have already been dealt with recently in Marxian literature (in this connection Stalin's article stands in the forefront)."* This treatise was one of the major Bolshevik pronouncements on the national question in the international arena in the pre-war period. It was a formulation of the Bolshevik theory and program on the national problem. Two methods, two programs, two outlooks on the national! ques- tion were sharply contrasted in this work that of the Second International and that of Leninism. Stalin worked with Lenin to demolish the opportun- ist views and dogmas of the Second International on this question. It was Lenin and Stalin who worked out the Marxist program on the national problem. 

Stalin's treatise formulates the Marxist theory of na- tions, outlines the principles of the Bolshevik solu- tion of the national problem (which demands that it be treated as part of the general problem of the revolution and inseparably from the entire interna- tional situation in the era of imperialism), and lays down the Bolshevik principle of international work- ing-class solidarity. 

* V. I. l>nin, Collected Works, 3rd Russ. ed., Vol XVIJ, 

116. 

On February 23, 1913, Stalin was arrested at an evening arranged by the St. Petersburg Bolshevik Committee in the Kalashnikov Hall. This time the tsarist government exiled Stalin to the remote re- gion of Turukhansk, for a term of four years. At first he lived in the village of Kostino; but, at the beginning of 1914, fearful lest he should escape again, the tsarist gendarmes transferred him still further north, to the village of Kureika, on the very fringe of the Arctic Circle, where he lived for three years right down to 1916. Severer conditions of po- litical exile could scarcely have been found in all the remote expanses of the Siberian wilderness. 

In the summer of 1914, the imperialist war broke out. The parties of the Second International shame- 

fully betrayed the proletariat and joined the camp of the imperialist bourgeoisie. Only the Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin, remained true to the banner of in- ternationalism. Immediately and unhesitatingly, the Bolsheviks, alone of all parties, called for a resolute struggle against the imperialist war. And Stalin, cut off though he was from the outside world and iso- lated from Lenin and the Party centres, took up the same international stand as Lenin on the questions of war, peace, and revolution. He wrote letters to Lenin. He addressed meetings of exiled Bolsheviks in the village of Monastyrskoye (1915) where he stig- matized the cowardly and treacherous behaviour of Kamenev at the trial of the five Bolshevik members of the Fourth Duma. In 1916, he and other Bol- shevik exiles sent a message of greetings to the le- gally published Bolshevik magazine Voprosy Strakh- ovania (Insurance Questions), pointing out that it was the duty of this magazine "to devote all its ef- forts and energies to the ideological insurance of the working class of our country against the deeply cor- rupting, anti-proletarian preaching of gentry like Potressov, Levitsky and Plekhanov, preaching run- ning directly counter to the principles of interna- tionalism." 

In December 1916 Stalin, having been called up to the army, was sent under escort to Krasnoyarsk, and thence to Achinsk. There it was that he heard the first tidings of the revolution of February 1917. 

On March 8, 1917, he bade farewell to Achinsk on the way wiring a message of greetings to Lenin in 

Switzerland. 

On March 12, 1917, Stalin, not a whit the worse for the hardships of exile so bravely endured in Turukhansk, again set foot in Petrograd the rev- olutionary capital of Russia. The Central Commit- tee of the Party instructed him to take charge of the Pravda. 

The Bolshevik Party had just emerged from un- derground. Many of its most prominent and active 

members were still on their way back from remote prisons and places of exile. Lenin was abroad, and the bourgeois Provisional Government was putting every obstacle in the way of his return. The moment was critical, and Stalin set to work to rally the Party and fit it for the fight for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution to the Socialist rev- olution. Together with Molotov, he directed the activities of the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolshevik Party. In his articles the Bolsheviks found the guiding principles they needed in, their work. The very first article he wrote on his return- from exile, "The Soviets of Workers)' and Soldiers' Deputies," spoke of the main task of the Party, which, Stalin said, was "to consolidate these Soviets, make them universal, and link them together under the aegis of a Central Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies as the organ of revolutionary power of the people."* 

* Lenin and Stalin, 1917, p. 12, Moscow, 1038. 

In an article "The War," Stalin showed that the character of the imperialist war had not changed with the assumption of power by the Provisional Government, and that under the bourgeois Provi- sional Government the war of 1914-17 remained a predatory and unjust war. 

Stalin and Molotov, supported by the majority of the Party members, advocated a policy of "no con- 

fidence" in the imperialist Provisional Government, and denounced both the defencism of the Menshe- viks and Socialist-Revolutionaries and the semi-Men- shevik position of conditional support for the Pro- visional Government advocated by Kamenev and other opportunists.

Biography of Stalin -5 - Molotov