How Lenin Speaks about Protecting Minorities

(This article does not mention that Lenin's attitude for the "minority rights" here is related to pre-revolution and before the dictatorship under the leadership of the Party. Two different condition and situation. He should write another article with Lenin's view on "minority rights" within the party.) (E.A)

Zhang Muliang    Published: 2010-04-09  

 The implementation of democracy must reflect the will of the majority, but when requiring the minority to obey the majority, Lenin paid great attention to protecting the rights of the minority to adhere to their own views and wrote it into the party constitution to establish it as a system.　

After the Second Party Congress, the Mensheviks ignored the Party’s organizational discipline and carried out sabotage activities at will. Within a year, the Russian Party fell into a state of division. The two factions each had their own central committee and their own official newspaper. The arrival of the 1905 Revolution presented the proletariat with a series of practical problems that needed to be solved, such as organizing an armed uprising, overthrowing the Tsarist government, how to treat the peasants, and how to treat the liberal bourgeoisie. It was urgent for the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party to formulate a unified and thorough strategy. For this reason, it was necessary to hold a Third Congress to formulate a unified strategy. 

However, the Mensheviks opposed the convening of the Third Congress, believing that the majority of the party members opposed them and that holding the Third Congress would be disadvantageous to them . [1] In the end, they refused the invitation to participate in the Third Congress. Lenin originally thought that as long as the Menshevik minority participated in the Third Congress and conscientiously implemented the decisions adopted by the Congress, they could fully enjoy the rights they deserved. As early as one year before the Third National Congress was held, in May 1904 , Lenin wrote to several Central Committee members that he was absolutely willing to "guarantee to the minority that all their works will be published at the party's expense, without modification or comment" and "pass a special resolution to guarantee the rights that the minority particularly and urgently demands." [2] When the Third National Congress was held in April and May 1905 , although the minority did not attend, the congress still made a special provision in the party constitution , saying that "any organization approved by the congress or the Central Committee has the right to publish party books and periodicals under its own name."

 The so-called publishing of party books and periodicals means that all books and periodicals published are approved by the party and published at the party's expense. This shows that despite the absence of the minority, the Third National Congress was still vacant and the majority was still creating conditions to work with the minority. Lenin explained that although the Third National Congress considered the opportunist tendencies of the minority to be wrong, it still "clearly stipulated in the Party Constitution, which must be observed by all Party members, a clear guarantee of the rights of any minority. The minority now has the absolute right guaranteed by the Party Constitution to uphold its own views and engage in ideological struggle, but arguments and differences of opinion must not lead to sabotage, hinder normal work, disperse our forces, or hinder our concerted efforts to fight against the autocracy and capitalists . " [3] More than half a year after the Third National Congress was held, when both factions agreed to hold a unified congress to formulate a unified strategy, Lenin once again talked about the issue of protecting the rights of the minority in his article "The Strategy of the State Duma and the Social Democratic Party" in January 1906. He said: At the future unified congress, when the minority is required to obey the resolutions on strategy adopted by the majority of the congress in political action, "it is necessary to guarantee the freedom of the minority to criticize the resolutions of the congress and to advocate the convening of a new congress." [4]

However, fate is unpredictable. When Lenin sincerely formulated special policies for the minority and made repeated guarantees, he never imagined that it would be the Bolsheviks themselves who would play the role of the minority at the future unified congress. The Fourth Unified Party Congress was held in April 1906 , after the failure of the December 1905 armed uprising . Since the Bolshevik organizations were mostly in large cities and industrial centers, they were either severely weakened by the destruction or were organizing uprising teams and fighting and retreating. Therefore, they could only send a small number of delegates to the congress. The Mensheviks, on the other hand, had many organizations in non-industrial areas and were able to send more delegates to the congress. As a result, the Mensheviks became the majority at the congress, while the Bolsheviks became the minority. As a minority, they have the freedom to criticize the resolutions of the congress, but they must act in unison and not cause a split in the party. This is the rule. The Bolsheviks abided by this rule. [5] The Mensheviks did not follow the rules. They tried to take advantage of the situation and reduce the rights that the Bolsheviks should enjoy as a minority. The original provisions of the Third Congress stipulated that a new congress could be called if more than half of the votes of the entire party were obtained. However, when drafting the Fourth Congress, the Mensheviks raised the threshold for calling a new congress, from half of the votes of the entire party to two-thirds of the votes of the entire party . It was only because of the firm opposition of Lenin and the Bolsheviks that the Mensheviks were forced to restore the provisions of the Third Congress. [6] Since the Menshevik Central Committee adopted an opportunistic stance on basic strategic issues after the Fourth Congress, it aroused the indignation of the vast majority of local organizations in the party. At their request, the Fifth Congress of the Party was held in May 1907. At this congress and the Central Committee elected by it, the Bolsheviks firmly won the majority, thus ending the abnormal situation in which the Bolsheviks had a majority in the entire party but a minority in the highest party organs.

Implementing democracy requires the minority to obey the majority, but the truth is sometimes in the hands of a minority. In order to prevent the truth from being stifled, it must first be given the opportunity to reveal itself. If it is the truth, it will naturally be accepted by the majority. If it is not the truth, it will naturally be abandoned by the majority. When requiring the minority to obey the majority, Lenin paid attention to protecting the minority's right to adhere to their own views, which was his development and innovation of the democratic system.

Notes :

[1] . The Collected Works of Lenin, 2nd Chinese edition , Vol .

44 , p. 450. [2] . Ibid., Vol . 8 , p .

429. [3] . Ibid., Vol. 10 , p .

201. [4] . Ibid., Vol . 13 , p . 55 , footnote; Vol. 12 , p. 157.

[ 5] . Ibid., Vol. 12 , p . 362. [ 6] . Ibid., Vol. 13 , pp . 54-55 .