Principles Underlying the Scientific Direction of Communist Construction - Objectivity and the Concrete Situation

SCIENTIFIC DIRECTION OF COMMUNIST CONSTRUCTION

Objectivity and the Concrete Situation

Social processes are governed by objective laws characterising what is most essential in the life and development of society. In giving practical leadership to the world’s first socialist state and to the building of socialism, Lenin’s point of departure was that administration was inconceivable without knowledge and skilful utilisation of objective laws. The paramount principle underlying scientific direction is that of objectivity, i.e., 196 strict adherence to the requirements of objective laws and due account for realistic potentialities and the actual state of society.

While emphasising that direction can be provided only on the basis of objective laws, Lenin at the same time made it clear that this direction should not be confined to general formulation of laws or to the drawing up of abstract patterns applicable to all cases in life. He said that it was necessary to study the concrete content of processes, as well as of the laws which mirror them, to see how laws operate and manifest themselves in specific circumstances and to draw correct conclusions from practical experience.

Any law and any formula (even the most precise and attractive) does not contain “indications” of the manifestation of its own substance in specific circumstances. A formula may be drawn only from experience, and experience alone takes it from realm of formulas into the realm of reality, endowing it with flesh and blood, making it concrete, and thereby modifying it.

It is extremely important to take this into account today when social life has become incomparably more complex, when laws as the predominant trend force a road for themselves through a mass of concrete and frequently contradictory phenomena that modify the operation of these laws and must be taken into consideration in the practice of applying them. For example, the law of planned development operates in the complex conditions of commodity monetary relations, and therefore the economy cannot be scientifically directed if these relations are not taken into consideration. The task before Soviet economists, sociologists and organisers is to study the relationship between the law of planned development and the law of commodity monetary relations, and the ways and means of directing them into a planned channel and thereby bringing them under the control of organs of administration.

From this proceeds the principle of the concrete situation, which is of the utmost importance to the science of administration. A concrete analysis of the concrete situation makes it possible to avoid subjectivism, harebrained schemes and arbitrariness in administration. To administer concretely means to administer on the basis of trustworthy and scientifically processed information on the inner state 197of the object as well as on the external conditions in which it functions. Errors and obstacles on the way to the goal may be noted and removed in good time, and the administration corrected and brought into line with objective changes only when trustworthy information is available, in other words, only when there is knowledge of the real, concrete processes taking place in society.

An important role in making trustworthy information available to organs of administration, studying the channels for receiving such information and evolving methods of scientifically processing the received information is played by statistics and concrete social research.

Naturally, the organs of administration may use solitary facts, but this is possible only when these facts are typical and mirror the substance of social processes. As a rule, however, administration is implemented on the basis of a generalisation of a host of facts and figures; it is therefore impossible to do without statistics and without concrete social research. Lenin made it a requirement that statisticians should not simply register facts, collecting information without a rigid system, but that they should scientifically analyse and compare information, draw practical conclusions and offer practical recommendations. “Statisticians,” he wrote, “must be our practical assistants, not engage in scholastics.” [197•*

The importance of concrete social research to the administration of society is that it helps to lay bare social processes in all their complexity, multiformity and concreteness and provides organs of administration with trustworthy information, thus enabling them to assess the efficacy of one system of administration or another and, when necessary, to choose the right method of changing it so that it conforms with new facts, phenomena and emergent trends. This research, like statistics, provides data for generalising and studying new laws, which, in their turn, may be utilised to improve the system of administration.

Lenin paid special heed to the working masses, who are the most trustworthy and direct sources of information. We know how attentive he was to envoys from workers, peasants and soldiers, who came to him from all parts of the 198 country, and how frequently and gladly he visited factories and offices in order to see and hear for himself, to get to the heart of things. Constant contact with the people and reliance on the masses are an indispensable condition for concrete, correct and effective scientific administration. In this connection Lenin wrote: “We can administer only when we express correctly what the people are conscious of.” [198•* 

Difficult as it is to organise, an information service is particularly important today when by virtue of the extraordinary complexity and diversity of social life and the huge scale of creative activity the volume of information has grown to gigantic proportions. This enormous volume of information can be processed only with the aid of the latest scientific and technological achievements, particularly modern mathematical methods and electronic computers.

The setting up of an efficient information service is linked up with the training of specialists in economics and mathematics and in the handling of modern electronic computers.

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Efficiency and Optimality

Administration presupposes a definite objective and the finding of the material manpower and financial resources for attaining that objective. These are an important aspect of administration. An objective may not be attained on schedule or it may never be reached at all even when there are sufficient materials and manpower and plenty of time. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance for the administration to ensure the most efficient and rational utilisation of material, manpower and financial resources. Efficiency therefore allows the objective to be reached within the shortest possible time and with the least outlay of material means and manpower. The administration, Lenin wrote, must secure the “greatest economy of forces and the most productive utilisation of manpower”. [198•** Exemplary organisation on scientific lines, i.e., the creation of the most rational and expedient relations between the different links of the social system (between territorial administrative units, spheres of social activities, branches of the economy, individual enterprises, and so on) is vital if the leadership of society is to be effective. Of fundamental 199importance in the socialist revolution is “the positive or constructive work of setting up an extremely intricate and delicate system of new organisational relationships extending to the planned production and distribution of goods....” [199•*

This brings to the fore the task of creating the most favourable conditions for human endeavour. Labour is the foundation of the life and development of man and society, the source of material and spiritual wealth; therefore, the success of communist construction depends chiefly on how labour is organised and how efficient and productive it is. Lenin regarded the scientific organisation of labour as indispensable for the building of the new society. His formula for this scientific organisation of labour was “organisation of labour in socialist fashion (agriculture+industry)”. [199•**

He advised drawing upon the capitalist experience of organising labour and was interested in, for example, the Taylor system and recommended that its positive and negative aspects should be taken into consideration. He was interested in the relationship between man and machines in the production process, in man’s place and role in the process of production or, as he put it, the physiological credit and debit in the human machine. He considered that methods of organising labour scientifically had to be mastered not only by leaders but also by the masses and suggested a contest for textbooks on labour organisation in general and on management in particular.

Ever conscious of the time factor, he was always careful not to waste other people’s time. He was a principled opponent of endless meetings, especially of ostentatious meetings into which a large number of people, let alone people who had nothing to do with the problem under discussion, were drawn. He did not allow people to spend their time uselessly at conferences, in waiting-rooms, in purposeless running around and in unnecessary paperwork. For efficient management the time factor must be taken into account in all matters, big and small. Deadlines must therefore be based on a sober account of the available forces.

The problems that Lenin worked out theoretically and resolved in practice with the purpose of ensuring efficient management of socialist construction included the planning of the economy as a whole and its individual branches, current and long-term planning, rigid dovetailing of different plans, rational distribution of productive forces and their uninterrupted improvement, scientific and technical progress, effective accounting and control, general principles of remuneration for labour and for stimulating labour, running enterprises on a self-supporting basis, profits and the monetary system.

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People’s Interests and Requirements

The task of administration is primarily that of directing people and organising their labour scientifically. But people are living, thinking and active beings. They have definite interests, aspirations and material and spiritual requirements. They work and participate in social, political and cultural activities under the influence of definite factors, which must be taken into consideration when these people are provided with leadership and organised for one task or another. Requirements are the most important factor stimulating people’s actions and creative work. “No one,” Marx wrote, “can do anything without at the same time doing it for the sake of one or other of his needs and for the sake of the organ of this need.” [200•*

Under socialism the measure of satisfying requirements is the quantity and quality of labour. In organising scientific administration, it is therefore extremely important to adjust the measure of the satisfaction of the requirements of each person to the degree of his labour activity, to the quantity and quality of the labour expended by him, to the size of his contribution to the social wealth. If he works well his requirements are satisfied more than those of the person who works poorly. If he has harmed the state he has to bear material responsibility and the satisfaction of his requirements is restricted. Under socialism that is the substance of personal material incentive dictated by the law of distribution according to work.

In socialist society, however, man works not alone but in 201a collective (factory, collective or slate farm, or other enterprise), and, therefore, the measure of his labour contribution and, correspondingly, the measure of the satisfaction of his requirements largely depend upon the labour contribution of the production collective as a whole. Consequently, personal material incentive is part and parcel of the collective material incentive. In its turn, an individual enterprise is only a link in the country’s economic system, and the welfare of the entire personnel of that enterprise and of each of its employees individually depends on the successes of the entire economy.

Far from belittling the role of moral incentives for work, Lenin insisted that material and moral incentives should be intelligently combined, and attached particularly great significance to material incentives. He wrote that the transition to communism can be effected not directly by enthusiasm but, “aided by the enthusiasm engendered by the great revolution, on the basis of personal interest, personal incentive and business principles”. [201•* Economic incentives, i.e., an account of the interests and requirements of people, derive from the requirements of objective laws and come forward as a major principle of the scientific management of production and administration of society as a whole. Scientific administration presupposes not only efficient planning founded on accurate computations but also improved economic incentives, the achievement of harmonious unity of the economic interests of society and of each individual enterprise and individual worker. These incentives take the economic interests of people into account, facilitate an increasingly fuller satisfaction of their material and spiritual requirements, and induce individuals and entire collectives to raise their labour productivity, introduce more efficiency in their organisation, spend material and financial resources rationally, improve qualifications and achieve a higher cultural level. This helps to expand and improve production, boost the national income and increase the share of the national income used for the people’s consumption. Moreover, the growth of production is accompanied by an improvement of all other aspects of social activity.

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The Main Link

Administration necessarily presupposes the solution of numerous interrelated problems. These problems are dissimilar with regard to their significance, place in the general chain of developments and the means and time of finding a solution for them. Lenin considered that the main link, the principal problem, whose solution provides the key to all other problems, should be pinpointed in this chain of developments. “It is not enough,” he wrote, “to be a revolutionary and an adherent of socialism or a Communist in general. You must be able at each particular moment to find the particular link in the chain which you must grasp with all your might in order to hold the whole chain and to prepare firmly for the transition to the next link; the order of the links, their form, the manner in which they are linked together, the way they differ from each other in the historical chain of events, are not as simple and not as meaningless as those in an ordinary chain made by a smith.” [202•* He had the gift of determining the main link and concentrating the efforts of the Party and the people on it. The development of trade, industrialisation and collectivisation were the main links of Lenin’s plan of building socialism at the different stages of the implementation of that plan.

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Democratic Centralism

In order to ensure the unity and integrity of socialist society and conscious, purposeful direction of socialist economy and social affairs as a whole there must be exemplary, scientifically organised administration of the individual links of the social system and social production—individual districts, enterprises, and so forth.

It is here, at the factories and collective and state farms that the means of existence are created, that the plans of socialist construction are carried out, that people show creative inspiration and initiative in their work, and that the practical experience of millions upon millions of people is accumulated.

How then is the administration of society as a whole combined with the administration of its individual links? What principle underlying administration most fully conforms to the nature of socialist society? This principle is 203 democratic centralism, which Lenin comprehensively elaborated and scientifically substantiated. He wrote: “Neither railways nor transport, nor large-scale machinery and enterprises in general can function correctly without a single will linking the entire working personnel into an economic organ operating with the precision of clockwork.”^^ [203•* ^^

As the fundamental principle underlying the direction of communist construction, democratic centralism issues from the very substance, the objective nature of socialism. Public ownership gives life to unity, integrity, centralisation and planning, on the one hand, and broad initiative and relative independence to the individual links of the social system, and the creative activity of millions of people, on the other.

Democratic centralism, Lenin wrote, ensures “absolute harmony and unity" in the function of different spheres of social life, of the different districts and regions of the country, but at the same time it “presupposes the possibility, created for the first time in history, of a full and unhampered development not only of specific local features, but also of local inventiveness, local initiative, of diverse ways, methods and means of progress to the common goal”. [203•**

This principle has nothing in common with stereotyped patterns, regimentation or anarchy. Unity in the main and in the essential should not violate but, on the contrary, secure multiformity in details, in local features, in the approach to work, in concrete methods of carrying out common tasks. At the same time, the relative independence of local authorities should not develop into efforts to be original or overstep the bounds of common purposes, the interests of communist construction, otherwise violations of relationships, disproportion in development and a sliding into anarchist separatism and parochialism are inevitable.

Lenin categorically opposed all manifestations of anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism, whose representatives regarded socialist society as a conglomerate of autonomous production communes. Under the spurious “banner” of defending independence and freedom, they came out against centralised administration and the planning of economic 204development, demanding complete autonomy for local government and economic organs, their independence from the centre, and thereby seeking to reverse social progress, to take it back to the workshop system, to feudal dismemberment and insulation. Lenin also combated the “Left Communists”, emphasising that the working people were called on to administer society in all its links and control the work of these links, and not lock themselves up in the narrow boundaries of their professions, their “own” branch of the economy, their individual factory or mill.

At the same time, Lenin did not tolerate contempt for “outlying districts" and the ignoring of local experience or of the creative initiative of the people. Coming out against the abundance of “general arguments" and “political fireworks”, he called for more concreteness in the study and dissemination of advanced local experience, for a more profound study of reality in the localities. The deeper we delve into living practice and distract our attention from bureaucratic instructions, the more successfully will the work proceed. The task is “to teach the people the art of administration, not from books, not from lectures or meetings, but from practical experience”. [204•*

In working out and introducing democratic centralism into practice, Lenin attached great importance to combining this principle with collective leadership and one-man administration of communist construction. He underscored the importance of collective leadership and demanded that there should be individual responsibility. He wrote: “There must be collective discussion, but individual responsibility.” [204•**

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Subject of Administration

The administration of social processes presupposes the existence not only of the object (society and its individual links) but also of the subject of administration—the centre, which unites all the links of the administration, co-ordinates their functions and corrects them, depending on changes in the external and domestic situation. On the scale of socialist 205society the subject of administration, the uniting centre, is the socialist state, which interacts with the complex system of mass organisations and non-state enterprises.

Lenin placed the Marxist party, the militant vanguard of the people, without which scientific leadership of communist construction is inconceivable, at the head of this aggregate of state organs and non-state organisations. “To govern,” he said, “you need an army of steeled revolutionary Communists. We have it, and it is called the Party.” [205•* Drawing upon its knowledge of objective laws and generalising and relying on the experience of the masses, the Party directs society’s economic, political and spiritual activities. It draws up a single line in all spheres of life and conducts organisational and ideological work to implement this line. The Party fulfils its leading role through a system of organs of state power, the trade unions, the co-operatives and youth, creative and sports organisations. Of the mass organisations, Lenin attached special importance to the trade unions, regarding them as a school of economic management, administration and communism.

The Party unites the activities of these organisations, directing them towards a single objective. Far from substituting for state and other organs, it does everything in its power to promote their initiative and secure the greatest possible democracy in their work. Through these organs it is linked up with the masses, teaches and educates them and learns from them. Together with the people, with the people’s state, the Party carries out the function of directing communist construction.

An important role in directing social processes is played by the state apparatus with its numerous economic, planning, cultural, educational and other institutions. Constant attention, Lenin stressed, had to be given to organising and improving this apparatus. He made high demands of employees of the state apparatus. The main demands were devotion to communism, a lofty sense of responsibility to the people, a principled approach to the work, and knowledge. In order to administer, he wrote, one must know one’s job. It is impossible to administer without competence, 206without skill in the art of administration. He demanded that employees of the state apparatus know the theory of Marxism and had special training, expert knowledge of modern methods of production, and ability. He considered that practical know-how, efficiency and organisation were the main thing in the work of the state apparatus.

The state apparatus has to operate according to a definite system. This means that its work must consist not of casual, unrelated measures but of a profoundly reasoned out totality of strictly regulated and interconnected measures drawn up on the basis of a careful analysis of concrete conditions, the situation and the tasks confronting society as a whole and its individual links. This presupposes specialisation of the functions of each organ of administration, co-ordination among them and the exclusion of duplication and unnecessary intermediate links. Absence of co-ordination in the work of local departments is one of the great evils hindering economic development. [206•*

Lenin paid special attention to the relationship between the administrative and scientific aspects of the work of the state apparatus. By scientific aspect we mean that organs of administration and leaders must master the foremost achievements of science and technology in the sphere under their jurisdiction, while the administrative aspect presupposes the ability to lead people, to draw and organise them for the achievement of the set goal.

However, the significance of the administrative aspect should not be exaggerated or substituted for the scientific aspect. Every organ of administration must combine these two aspects. As regards the head of an enterprise, he must possess the ability to attract people and have sufficient scientific and technical training to organise the work and verify its fulfilment by his subordinates. The scientific aspect of administration must be considered as basic because work cannot be correctly organised without science. At the same time, it is extremely important for the head of an enterprise to be skilled as an organiser.

Lenin could not stand the “communist” conceit of dabblers and bureaucrats and demanded that they “learn to put a value on science”, “learn to work systematically" and 207

make use of experience and practice. “The nerve of their trying, offhand, to pick holes in something it took an army of first-class specialists to produce! Isn’t it a shame to try to shrug it off with trite little jokes, and to put on airs about one’s right ’to withhold approval’?... We need more practical studies ... in place of the Tit Titych type of tactics (’I might give my approval, if I feel like it’).” [207•*

The Leninist requirement that managerial personnel be carefully selected is of paramount importance. His criterion for promotion to administrative and executive posts was not staid age, past services, high title or connections, but devotion to socialism combined with a sober and keen mind, considerable scientific and technological knowledge, organisational talent and the ability to run large enterprises smoothly without fuss. He considered only people of this calibre fit for promotion to “responsible posts of leaders of the people’s labour, leaders of administration”. [207•**

Administration is a sphere of subjective activity where it is not always possible immediately to take into account the constant changes in objective reality, in the object of administration and its surroundings. Organs of administration are called upon to note and rectify mistakes as quickly as possible, to bring the administration into line with the requirements of objective development. Haste, rashness and subjectivism must be avoided in the taking of decisions; in other words, organs of administration must painstakingly study practical experience, carefully, efficiently and perseveringly check what has been done and still more carefully and in a businesslike way rectify mistakes, “taking a step forward only when there is ample proof of the usefulness of a given method, system of management, proportion, selection of men, etc”. [207•***

Successful administration thus lies in the proper selection of personnel and executive control, collective leadership combined with personal responsibility, broad democracy and publicity, exacting criticism and self-criticism, and electivity and removability of officials of elective organs.

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Notes

[205•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 62.

[206•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, p. 386.

[207•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, pp. 141–42, 145.

[207•**] Ibid., Vol. 27, p. 263.

[207•***] Ibid., Vol. 32, p. 90.

4. Improvement of the System of Administration—an Important Condition for the Success of Communist Construction

The Soviet Union has extensive experience of planning social reforms and scientifically directing social processes. The content and organisational forms of administration are constantly improved in the process of building socialism and communism, this being accompanied by changes in society’s class pattern and the growth of the economy and the cultural level of the people.

Guided by the Marxist-Leninist teaching on society and by Leninist principles of administration, and led by the Communist Party the Soviet people have scored outstanding achievements in the most diverse fields of social development. The Soviet Union is the first country in the world to have completed the building of socialism, a highly organised society with a modern economy, developed social relations and rich spiritual life.

The building of this new society was not devoid of difficulties, shortcomings and errors in leadership, particularly errors and distortions of a subjective nature. The Communist Party brought to light and rectified mistakes, surmounted difficulties and shortcomings and thereby adapted the direction of social processes to the requirements of life, to the objective course of development.

Lenin regarded scientific direction of social processes as one of the basic tasks of communist construction. He not only worked out the principles for giving scientific direction to these processes, but also consistently implemented them. He was convinced that socialism would triumph over capitalism in methods of administration as well.

At the present stage of communist construction—due to the growth of socialist economy, the improvement of social relations, the development of culture and the country’s colossal achievements and plans—administration has become an extremely complex matter. Today, as never before, there is a need for a searching and comprehensive analysis of the trends of social development, of the intricate intertwining and interaction of the various aspects of social life, and for paying scrupulous attention to the requirements of 209objective laws and their operation under concrete conditions and in concrete sectors of construction. That is why the Communist Party attaches such tremendous importance to the problems involved in scientifically administering society and gives these problems its closest attention.

The Party is determined to develop and improve the Leninist principles of administration in line with presentday requirements. This is testified to by its latest decisions on economic, political and inner-Party problems, and by the fact that scientific and realistic direction of social processes is becoming firmly rooted in the practice of the Party and the government.

The measures charted by the Party further develop the principle of democratic centralism. The ramified, strictly centralised management of industry founded on a single state plan is combined with broader operational and economic independence of the individual enterprises, with greater local initiative, with the extension of the democratic foundations of management and with the creation of conditions enabling the people to participate more actively in economic management and to exert a greater influence on social processes.

The Leninist, efficient and scientific method of directing communist construction is gaining a firm foothold in all spheres of social activities, ensuring fresh achievements and the elimination of errors and shortcomings. While improving the forms and methods of directing communist construction, the Party is steadfastly cleansing these forms and methods of elements of voluntarism, subjectivism, harebrained schemes, ostentation and political fireworks. It is giving them a solid, strictly scientific foundation and 211bringing them into line with the requirements of the objective laws of socialism.

The Party is activating the role played by the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies and mass organisations in the promotion of economic, political and cultural development and taking steps to improve the organs of administration and consistently apply democratic principles in their work, and further encourage the people’s initiative. The consistent implementation of Leninist principles of administration, the steady improvement and development of these principles and the working out of new forms and methods of administration in conformity with the present-day level of social development and the achievements of science and technology are the earnest of the success of communist construction.

Let us now turn to the concrete tasks of the building of communism and to the ways and means of carrying them out.

Notes

[197•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 35, p. 498.

[198•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 304.

[198•**] Ibid., Vol. 28, p. 351.

[199•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 241.

[199•**] Ibid., Vol. 35, p. 430.

[200•*] K. Marx and F. Engels, The German Ideology, Moscow, 1964, p. 276.

[201•*] Lenin. Collected Works, Vol. 33, p. 58.

[202•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 274.

[203•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 27, p. 212.

[203•**] Ibid., p. 208.

[204•*] Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 28, p. 427.

[204•**] Ibid., Vol. 33, p. 70.