SHOWING THE BOLSHEVIK ATTITUDE TOWARD SOVIETS

LETTER OF OCTOBER 27 TO ALL PARTY ORGANIZATIONS

The Russian Social-Democratic party must at the present time openly step forward as the party of the Proletarian masses. In the way of such a manifestation it means politically vague and socialistically immature workers' organizations created by the spontaneously revolutionary proletariat. Each one of these organizations, presenting a certain stage in the political development of the proletariat in so much as this development stays within the ranks of social-democracy. But objectively such an organization faces at holding back the proletariat on a primitive political level and so subordinates it to bourgeois parties. 

One such organization is the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies. The tasks of Social-Democracy in its relation to the Soviet is to induce it to adopt the Social-Democratic program and tactical leadership. With these aims it is necessary to immediately mobilize all the Social-Democratic forces in the Soviet in order to put the Social-Democratic platform into practice within the Soviet. 

In its relations with such independent organizations, in as much as they attempt to take upon themselves the role of the political leaders of the proletarian masses, the tactics of the Social-Democrats should.be such: 

l) To persuade such organizations to ad.opt the program of the Democratic Party as the party in accord with the true interests of the proletarian masses. In adopting this program., they should actually define their relation to the Social-Democratic Party, recognize its leadership, and finally, dissolve itself into it. Ir these organizations should not strive for political leadership but merely remain pure trade organizations, they fulfill their definite purely technical role. 

2) In the case of the refusal by such organizations to adopt our party program. or their adoption of some other program, Social-Democrats should quit them and expose their anti-proletarian character. 

J) Finally, when the organizations refuse to adopt this or that certain program, but reserve for themselves the right to define their policy in each separate instance, Social-Democrats should remain within them and proving within these organizations as well as among the wide masses the absurdity of such political leadership and amplifying their own program and tactics.

M.I. Vasil'ev-Luzhin, 11 Moskovskii Sovet Rabochikh Deputatov v 1905"

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Proletarskaia Revoliutsiia, April 1925, pp. 89.90.