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p By C. D. OBICHKIN

p Lenin rendered a very great service to the Russian proletariat and the world working-class movement by creating a new type of proletarian party and working out, on scientific lines, a comprehensive theory of the Party. He substantiated the Party’s world historic role as the leader of the proletariat and all working people in their struggle to attain victory over landowners and capitalists, and to build socialism and communism. All through his political life, Lenin fought against attempts both to belittle the importance of the Party and its leading role, and to undermine its influence on the people. He saw that these attempts, under cover of various slogans, could aid only its enemies, whether intentionally or not.

p Lenin’s theory of a new type of proletarian party is one of the main elements of the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism. Lenin said that recognition of the need for the dictatorship of the proletariat is the criterion of adherence to Marxism. This holds true today, and we would be justified in adding that Lenin’s theory of the Party is now a touchstone for testing Communists. Any deviation from it leads to grave consequences. No wonder the avowed opponents of Marxism-Leninism and revisionists of all complexions fiercely attack Lenin’s theory of the Party, and try to undermine its importance with a variety of falsifications and distortions.

p Lenin’s theory of the Party was not developed overnight. It was conceived, enriched and formulated as the Party itself grew, as it extended its work of leading the working-class struggle. It would be wrong, therefore, simply to associate particular aspects of this theory with some work or other written by Lenin. He thrashed out the different questions of his theory in the light of 198 the various tasks of the Party under specific historical conditions. This must be taken into account if one is to see the link between Lenin’s theoretical work and the practical work of the Party. When the Party was in process of formation, the framing of its rules and programme was naturally the main task. The need to determine precisely the Party’s strategy and tactics arose as its work of directing the working-class struggle increased. And the role and tasks of the Party as a ruling party could obviously be best determined only when it actually headed the working class and peasantry in socialist construction.

Lenin showed that that aspect of Marxism which is of most interest at any one time is determined by "the aggregate of historical conditions”. This also applies to some extent to the theory of the Party. Although it is an integrated theory, the elaboration of each aspect of it and the promotion of each aspect to the forefront depend on historical conditions, i.e., on the objective laws of development of the working-class movement, the Party and its tasks in relation to it.

p Lenin had a good knowledge of the features of the new historical era, the era of imperialism, that began in the latter part of the last century and the early part of this century. Most Marxists in Russia and the West did not really notice the beginning of this era, nor did they grasp the new tasks facing the proletariat and its political organisation. Plekhanov was no exception to this. Lenin alone recognised the dawn of the new era and made a deep study of it. Imperialism meant the intensified exploitation of the working class, colonial plunder, the struggle between the leading capitalist countries for the redivision of an already divided world, and imperialist wars. The relatively peaceful and even development of capitalism came to an end and was succeeded by uneven, spasmodic development, the worsening of economic and political crises, the intensification of the class struggle, and the increased political activity of the proletariat and other sections of the working people—in short, the acute aggravation of all the contradictions of capitalism. Furthermore, as Lenin pointed out, imperialism also meant that capitalism, as a system, had prepared all the material prerequisites for socialism, and that it therefore represented the eve of the socialist revolution.

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p The old Social-Democratic parties, contaminated by opportunism, were unable to lead the working-class revolutionary struggle under these new conditions. A new type of proletarian party was called for, a party that was consistently revolutionary and capable both of heading the working class in its struggle for political power and in the radical transformation of society and the building of socialism and communism. That party was the Bolshevik Party, founded by Lenin and his comrades-in-arms. It was a new type of party compared to the Social-Democratic and Socialist parties of the Second International.

p Lenin said at the Second Congress of the Communist International: "What we want is new and different parties. We want parties that will be in constant and real contact with the masses and will be able to lead those masses."  [199•1  He also dealt in his "Notes of a Publicist" with the difficulties of transforming "the old type of European parliamentary party—which in fact is reformist and only slightly tinted with revolutionary colours—into a new type of party, into a genuinely revolutionary, genuinely Communist Party".  [199•2 

p Lenin once held the West European Social-Democratic parties, and particularly the German Social-Democratic Party, in high esteem. But as early as the 18905 he saw how opportunistic trends were arising and developing in those parties, and how their leaders were gradually emasculating the revolutionary essence of Marxism and beginning to interpret it in a liberal-bourgeois spirit. Lenin exposed the social roots, and the danger, of the opportunism of the West European parties. "Opportunism,” he wrote, "was engendered in the course of decades by the special features in the period of the development of capitalism, when the comparatively peaceful and cultural life of a stratum of privileged workingmen ’bourgeoisified* them, gave them crumbs from the table of their national capitalists, and isolated them from the suffering, misery and revolutionary temper of the impoverished and ruined masses."  [199•3 

p Lenin further showed that the opportunism corroding the Social-Democratic parties was not an accidental phenomenon, and that it could not be reduced to a betrayal of the working-class cause by individual leaders of the Second International. He proved that it was the product of a whole historical epoch of the 200 relatively peaceful development of capitalism and the legal existence of the Socialist parties. When the First World War broke out and when new methods of party work, resolute revolutionary action and underground activities were called for, the leaders of the Socialist parties turned out to be complete political failures, unable and unwilling to rouse the working class to action against the imperialist governments and the imperialist war. The opportunists believed that the proletarian party should be a party of social reform, not the party of social revolution. This conception of the party’s tasks put the international working-class movement in mortal danger. "Europe’s greatest misfortune and danger is that it has no revolutionary party,” Lenin wrote. "It has parties of traitors like the Scheidemanns, Renauclcls, Hendersons, Webbs and Co., and of servile souls like Kautsky. But it has no revolutionary party."  [200•1  Lenin saw even then that such political leadership would be disastrous to the workers and working people of the whole world, and subsequent events bore this out.

p The West European Social-Democratic parties were not, therefore, models of truly revolutionary parties. And what had the revolutionary movement in Russia to offer? The Narodnik organisations during the period of revolutionary Narodism,  [200•2  for example, bore an exclusive and conspiratorial character, and, although their conspiratorial methods were worth borrowing, they could not serve as a model. The working-class organisations in Russia were not connected with the mass workers’ movement. They were but small and scattered independent groups and circles where Marxism was taught. Lenin therefore wrote: "The history of socialism and democracy in Western Europe, the history of the Russian revolutionary movement, the experience of our working-class movement—such is the material we must master to elaborate a purposeful organisation and purposeful tactics for our Party. ’The analysis’ of this material must, however, be done independently, since there arc no ready-made models to be found anywhere."  [200•3  This alone refutes the allegations made by various falsifiers of the history of the Soviet Communist Party that the Bolsheviks led by Lenin used Tkachov’s conspiratorial organisation as a model.

p Lenin set himself and carried out the great historical task of establishing a new type of proletarian party, a party that was 201 militant and revolutionary, capable of rousing the working class to action against the rule of the landowners and capitalists. In fulfilling this task Lenin had to keep up a fierce struggle not only against the opportunist leaders of the Second International, but against the opportunists in the Russian working-class movement, that is, the Economists,  [201•1  the Menshcviks and the Trotskyists. These enemies of Leninism, who took the West European opportunist parties as their ideal and model, tried to prevent the creation of a new type of proletarian party in Russia. "What appeals to the liquidators and Trotsky,” Lenin wrote, "is only the European models of opportunism, but certainly not the models of European partisanship."  [201•2 

p Lenin based his theory of the proletarian Party on the precepts of Marx and Engcls, on the practical experience of the political working-class organisations headed by them, and on the generalisation of that experience contained in their works. Marx and Engels were the first to prove that the proletariat could not accomplish its historic mission of eradicating capitalism and building communism without a party, and the first to formulate the basic principles of such a party. The Party’s role, importance and tasks arc expressed most clearly and saliently in the Manifesto of the Communist Party. In this work Marx and Engels wrote that Communists were the vanguard of the working class, and had no special interests of their own distinct from those of the proletariat. Communists safeguard the interests of the working-class movement as a whole in all the stages of its struggle against the bourgeoisie.

p The Matiifesto of the Communist Party stresses that Communists oppose sectarian principles which the working-class movement is made artificially to accept. The theoretical propositions of Marx and Engcls arc not inventions, but reflect the real processes involved in class struggle and historical development generally. Communists know where the working-class movement is leading to, and arc the most determined, purposeful and progressive vanguard of the movement.

p Marx and Engcls fought resolutely for the unity of the proletarian party and against deviations from revolutionary theory and the revolutionary principles of Party building. They worked out the principles of the Party’s organisational structure on the 202 basis of the obligatory submission of the minority to the majority and on the combination of strict discipline and inner-Party democracy. They believed that the Communists’ immediate aim was the "formation of the proletariat into a class, the overthrow of bourgeois supremacy, and the conquest of political power by the proletariat".  [202•1  They regarded the Communist Party as the leading force in the struggle to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.

p Marx and Engcls scorned stereotyped methods when defining the principles of the proletarian party’s tactics, but taught that immediate tasks must be subjected to ultimate aims, and that the proletariat’s national and international tasks must be interwoven. They advanced the great internationalist slogan "Workers of all countries, unite!”, the rallying cry of the world’s working class to this day.

p Marx and Engels founded the League of Communists—the first proletarian party in the world—and the First International, a great international political organisation of the working class. They helped progressive workers in many countries to set up their own parties; they did much, in particular, in the building of the German Social-Democratic Party and in putting its activity on a revolutionary footing, while strongly criticising both the Right-= wing and “Left-wing” deviations within it.

p The theoretical ideas of Marx and Engels, and their experience in leading the League of Communists and the First International, were the basis on which Lenin created the Bolshevik Party and worked out the theory of it. He held the Manifesto of the Communist Party in particularly high regard, and thought that this small booklet was "worth volumes”, as it inspired the proletariat in its life and struggle. Lenin proposed calling the proletarian party the Communist Party. "We must call ourselves the Communist Party,” he said, "just as did Marx and Engels.

p "We must repeat that we are Marxists and that we take as our basis the Communist Manifesto, which has been distorted and betrayed by the Social-Democrats. . . ."  [202•2  But under the new historical conditions the simple revival of the ideas of Marx and Engels on the proletarian party was not enough. Further elaboration of the theory of the new type of proletarian party was needed, in the light of the enormous and difficult tasks then facing the working-class movement.

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p The enemies of Leninism allege that Lenin deviated from the views of Marx and Engels on the Party, but this is only another fabrication, as the facts show. Lenin developed the views of Marx and Engels on the Party and introduced many new ideas into the theory of the Party, probably more so than on any other question. This was made necessary by the greatly increased role of the proletarian party in the new era. And history has shown that its role continues to increase in the course of socialist and communist construction.

p Lenin based the role of the new type of proletarian party on the fact that it was, above all, the highest form of organisation of the working class, consisting of progressive workers, and the leader and organiser of the proletariat. "The Party,” Lenin said, "is the politically conscious, advanced section of the class, it is its vanguard."  [203•1 

p The Party became the vanguard of the proletariat by drawing the most politically conscious, steadfast and consistent workers into its ranks. That is why Lenin fought with resolve from the outset to prevent inconsistent, non-proletarian elements from flooding the Party. In his notes on the debates at the Second Congress of the RSDLP, Lenin wrote: "It is better not to call 10 working people members, than one loafer a member"  [203•2  Lenin demanded that the Party members should be courageous, firm, selflessly devoted to the revolutionary cause, and capable of sacrificing themselves for the cause of socialism and communism.

p Lenin pointed out that the whole working class could not be included in the Party, and that it could only admit truly steadfast and progressive workers. The history of the Communist Party, now over sixty years old, has shown that Lenin was right in insisting that the Party should be the militant political staff of the working class, and not a loose organisation of which anyone who wished could claim to be a member, as the Mensheviks wanted.

p Lenin taught that the Party, the vanguard of the working class, is the guiding force of all other working-class organisations. It introduces cohesion, class consciousness, discipline and the revolutionary spirit into all organisations by giving them common aims. But the Party can lead all other working-class organisations and become the political staff of the working class and the highest form of its organisation only because it is equipped with 204 revolutionary theory, and knows the laws of social development and the class and political struggle. "The role of vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory."  [204•1  The Party takes this theory to the people, and thus introduces it into the mass working-class movement.

p Lenin said that the Party’s main tasks were to organise the working class and lead it to the conquest of political power, and to guide all working people along the road to socialism, to the radical transformation of social life along socialist lines, and to establish and direct the new system. He gave a clear account of the Party’s historical role when fighting against anarcho- syndicalism in the Party. He wrote: "Marxism tcaches—and this tenet has not only been formally endorsed by the whole of the Communist International in the decisions of the Second (1920) Congress of the Comintern on the role of the political party of the proletariat, but has also been confirmed in practice by our revolution—that only the political party of the working class, i.e., the Communist Party, is capable of uniting, training and organising a vanguard of the proletariat and of the whole mass of the working people that alone will be capable of withstanding the inevitable petty-bourgeois vacillations of this mass and the inevitable traditions and relapses of narrow craft unionism or craft prejudices among the proletariat, and of guiding all the united activities of the whole of the proletariat, i.e, of leading it politically, and through it, the whole mass of the working people."  [204•2 

p Lenin further pointed out that if the proletariat is unable to topple the bourgeoisie without a revolutionary party, it would also be unable to retain political power and consolidate its dictatorship without such a party. The dictatorship of the proletariat is the continuation of the various forms of class struggle against the forces and traditions of the old society. Lenin wrote: "Without a party of iron that has been tempered in the struggle, a party enjoying the confidence of all honest people in the class in question, a party capable of watching and influencing the mood of the masses, such a struggle cannot be waged successfully."  [204•3 

p Some revisionists maintain that Lenin’s theory of the proletarian party is applicable only to the period of the proletariat’s struggle for power, and even then only with certain reservations. In Czechoslovakia, for example, the anti-socialist forces chose the 205 Communist Party as the main target of their attack in their attempt to put the country on a capitalist path of development. On this score Ivan Svitak, an ideologist of the counter- revolutionary forces, said: "Lenin’s conception of the Communist Party and its functions in the revolution was at one time a necessity, but today, in developed nations, it is unacceptable.” Like the authors of the "Two Thousand Words" he launched the frontal attack on Lenin’s conception of the Communist Party. He and his like-minded colleagues tried to disarm the working class, to dislodge the Communist Party from state power, from its leading role in the building of the new society. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resolutely opposed these most harmful anti-Party and anti-socialist statements and actions.

p Some other revisionists reduce the role of the Communist Party to that of a cultural, educational or other kind of mass organisation. All this is in contradiction to Leninism. Lenin constantly emphasised that the revolutionary party must also play the leading role in the period of the socialist transformation of society. "The Party,” Lenin said, "is the leader, the vanguard of the proletariat, which rules directly."  [205•1  Fighting against the attempts of opportunists to diminish the leading role of the Party in socialist construction, Lenin declared that an army of steeled revolutionaries was needed for administration, and that there was such an army— the Communist Party. Lenin foresaw the difficulties that would be involved in socialist and communist construction, and stressed that it would be impossible to succeed in it if the Party did not retain its leading position.

p Lenin thus rendered a great service to the international working-class movement by demonstrating the historic role of the new type of proletarian party as the leader and organiser of all working people, as their vanguard whose activity is based on scientific revolutionary theory.

p Lenin also worked out the Party’s organisational principles. The principle of democratic centralism is the mainstay of the organisational structure of the Party. It organically combines centralism with democracy, and ensures that the Party remains an active and creative body; and it gives strength to the Party by guaranteeing the freedom of initiative and work of all Party organisations and members, thus making their work more purposeful. Small wonder then that this principle has always been strongly attacked by revisionists and opportunists of all brands, 206 from the Economists and Mcnshcviks in the Russian working-= class movement to the present bourgeois falsifiers of the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. While turning a blind eye to the facts they lend a bureaucratic and even dictatorial character to the principle of democratic centralism, making it appear to be the very opposite of what it is. In their efforts to confuse the unenlightened, the enemies of Leninism assert that centralism and democracy are incompatible, that where there is centralism there can be no democracy. They use demagogy, sophistry and pseudo-scientific reasoning to cover up the glaring inconsistencies of their attacks on the Leninist organisational principles in Party building.

p Lenin formulated the basic principles of democratic centralism when the Party was being formed. He developed them in his book One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, which was written after the formation of the Bolshevik Party at the Second Congress of the RSDLP, and in the course of his struggle against the Mensheviks’ disruptive activities. He continued to develop the idea of democratic centralism in several of his later works.

p Democratic centralism means that Party organisations are directed from a single centre in accordance with the Party’s programme and rules. All primary organisations are subordinated to higher ones, and the minority to the majority. He attached decisive importance to centralism and fought resolutely all attempts to undermine it.

p Lenin coupled centralism with Party discipline. The refusal of a lower body to obey a higher body, or the breaking of Party Rules by a Party member, violates the very principles on which the Party is founded and is a manifestation of anarchistic tendencies. By violating the principles of Party building, such organisations and members virtually dissociate themselves from the Party. Lenin said that "refusal to accept the direction of the central bodies is tantamount to refusing to remain in the Party”,  [206•1  and he always emphasised that absolute centralism and strict discipline were the main prerequisites for the victory of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. History has shown that as soon as centralism is violated within the Party, it immediately loses its vitality and efficiency and its ranks are thrown into disarray; the Party, in essence, ceases to be a united, integrated organisation, and loses its leading role.

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p Centralism, however, is only one side of the coin. Lenin also wanted the Party to be a democratic organisation, and always sought to make it so. According to Lenin, the essence of Party democracy is expressed in the equality of all members, and in their broad initiative and activity, in the fact that all Party organs are subject to election and recall, in their accountability to the members of the Party, and in the responsibility of the Party itself to the working class and the people as a whole.

p Centralism and democracy do not work against each other within the Party, but combine harmoniously. At the same time democracy cannot be absolute. The degree of democracy in the Party is determined by the conditions under which it is operating. When the Party was being formed Lenin fought for centralism and insisted that Party branches should observe all the rules of secrecy. Lenin’s draft Party Rules, proposed and adopted at the Second Congress of the RSDLP (with the exception of the first paragraph), combined centralism with democracy.

p The Rules endorsed the supreme authority of the Party Congress, which determines Party policy and elects the central bodies of the Party. They also laid down that all Party organisations were accountable to the Central Committee and had an obligation to fulfil its decisions, and that the Central Committee had the right to approve local committees. The Rules also contained important stipulations that ensured the regular renewal of the central bodies, the settling of questions by a simple majority (with the exception of cooption), the autonomy of local committees in local affairs, and the right of a Party member to appeal to the Central Committee. Party democracy increased as the Party developed and became stronger.

p Lenin described inner-Party democracy in the following words in 1907:

p "The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party is organised on democratic lines. This means that all the affairs of the Party are conducted, either directly, or through representatives, by all the members of the Party, all of whom without exception have equal rights; moreover, all officials, all leading bodies, and all institutions of the Party are subject to election, are responsible to their constituents, and arc subject to recall."  [207•1 

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p Democracy increased within the Party not only as a result of the political situation, but because of the laws of development of the Party itself, which had by then become a mass party. "In the spring of 1905,” Lenin wrote, "our Party was a league of underground circles; in the autumn it became the party of the millions of the proletariat."  [208•1  Under these conditions it became possible to implement the principle of democratic centralism to a greater extent, and this was reflected in the resolution adopted at the Tammerfors Conference. This resolution, entitled "The Reorganisation of the Party”, stated: " Recognising the principle of democratic centralism as incontestable, the Conference believes it necessary to implement a general elective principle and give the elected centres full power in ideological and practical leadership; at the same time they must be subject to recall, and must strictly account for their activity and make it public."  [208•2 

p The development of inner-Party democracy has depended both on the historical conditions in which the Party has operated and on the tasks it has had to fulfil. There was a great difference between the Party’s work when it was illegal and when it was legal; and the difference became even greater after the Party took power. Take, for example, the period of the Civil War and the military intervention in the new Soviet Republic between 1918 and 1920. The country became what was virtually a military camp, with centralist principles inevitably reinforced; and a system of “military” orders, issued by the higher bodies to lower ones, was established in the Party, with the result that inner-Party democracy was somewhat curtailed. Things are quite different now, under the conditions of communist construction, when the Party’s task is to give all-round encouragement to inner-Party democracy so that Party organisations work efficiently.

p Lenin always maintained that every Party member has a big role to play. He pointed out that although the Party is responsible for its every member, every member must be responsible for the Party, live the life of the Party and think about its tasks and its future. The creative work of Party members, and the extensive development of inner-Party democracy, stem directly from the principles of democratic centralism and from the very 209 nature of the Party as an active and independent organisation, a militant union of like-minded people who have voluntarily united together to carry out the revolutionary transformation of society on socialist lines.

p Lenin believed that Party members should work solely in the interests of the Party, and should fight resolutely for the implementation of Party decisions. "Only he is worthy of the lofty name of Party member,” Lenin wrote, "who really carries on his entire work among the masses in the spirit of the Party decisions."  [209•1 

p The principle of democratic centralism is of great importance in the day-to-day work of the Party. It is the main principle guiding the life of each Party branch, as of the Party as a whole, and is organically connected with Lenin’s principles and methods of Party leadership. Lenin promoted collective leadership and taught that Party organisations and the Party as a whole can function normally only when collective leadership is strictly adhered to; he regarded it as a guarantee against one-sided decisions, subjectivism and tyranny. Lenin insisted that the Congress, and the Party’s Central Committee between Congresses, are the Party’s supreme organs, its collective mind and mouthpiece. "The principles of the Party,” Lenin said, "are watched over between Congresses and interpreted by the Central Com- mittee."  [209•2  Lenin called the Central Committee a leaders’ collective.

p Lenin always paid great attention to the proper implementation of the principle of collective leadership. During Lenin’s lifetime plenary meetings of the Central Committee and Congresses were held regularly, at which the most important questions of Party activity were resolved jointly.

p In his speech at the Ninth Party Congress, Lenin said: "It must be emphasised from the very outset, so as to remove all misunderstanding, that only collective decisions of the Central Committee adopted in the Organising Bureau or the Political Bureau, or by a plenary meeting of the Central Committee—only these decisions were carried out by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party. The work of the Central Committee cannot otherwise proceed properly."  [209•3  Lenin regarded the strict 210 fulfilment of the Party’s will expressed in Congress decisions as a guarantee against anti-Party activities and the formation of factions.

p Lenin never imposed his views on his comrades, but tried to show them the correctness of his line by patiently expounding his views. He took pains to see that well-founded decisions were adopted collectively, and became angry at the idea of one person taking the place of a collective body. In reply to a letter of loffc’s, in which he equated Lenin with the Central Committee, Lenin wrote with indignation:

p "You are mistaken by repeating (often) that I am the Central Committee. That coulcl only have been written in a state of great nervous disorder and over-exhaustion."  [210•1 

p Lenin never made any decisions alone on questions which had to be discussed and decided in a body. This is evident, for example, from a letter which he wrote to Maria Andreyeva. "I cannot,” he wrote, "go against the will and decisions of my colleagues in the Council."  [210•2  He always valued and respected the views of his work-mates. When he thought, however, that the majority had come to a wrong decision on some question, he submitted to the decision but took the question to a higher body.

p At the same time Lenin emphasised that the joint solution of Party and state questions and the joint administration of the state do not free the individual from his personal responsibility for the work with which he is entrusted but, on the contrary, presupposes it. "Collective discussion and decision of all questions of administration in Soviet institutions,” Lenin wrote, "must be accompanied by the precisely defined responsibility of every person holding any Soviet post for the performance of definite, and clearly and explicitly specified, functions and practical jobs."  [210•3  He regarded it as a great evil to use collectivity as a cover for irresponsibility.

p The Party has re-established Lenin’s norms of Party life and principles of Party leadership, and overcome the consequences of the personality cult. The Twentieth and Twenty-Second Congresses of the CPSU were important in this respect. And the October and November 1964 plenary meetings of the Central Committee of the CPSU also stressed that the violation of 211 Lenin’s principle of collective leadership could not be tolerated.

p Leiun’s principle of collective leadership is also laid down in the revised Party Rules, which say: "Collective leadership is the highest principle of Party leadership and an indispensable condition for the normal functioning of Party organisations, the proper training of personnel, and for developing the work and initiative of Communists. The personality cult and its attendant violations of inner-Party democracy cannot be tolerated in the Party, and they are incompatible with the Leninist principles of Party life.

p "Collective leadership does not remove the personal responsibility from Party workers for the tasks with which they arc entrusted."

p The strength of the Party resides mainly in the unity of its ranks, in its cohesion, founded on basic principles. From the time the Party was set up, Lenin showed great concern for its unity and solidarity. He considered any attempt to emasculate or undermine Party discipline as a grave offence. Lenin wrote: "Whoever brings about even the slightest weakening of the iron discipline of the party of the proletariat (especially during its dictatorship), is actually aiding the bourgeoisie against the proleta- riat."  [211•1 

p Lenin demonstrated the need to fight resolutely against all trends and anti-Party groups that oppose the collectively decided Party line, and demanded that the Party be purged of people holding anti-Party views. In his article "Party Organisation and Party Literature”, he wrote: "The Party is a voluntary association, which would inevitably break up, first ideologically and then physically, if it did not cleanse itself of people advocating anti-= Party views."  [211•2  The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has always been guided by this basic principle.

p Lenin and his comrades-in-arms fought tenaciously against opportunist groups that wanted to split the Party. Lenin first tried to convince these groups ideologically that their views and activities were erroneous and harmful to the cause of the working class. But when they offered resistance and stepped up their disruptive activities, he did not hesitate to have them expelled from the Party. With this long struggle against opportunism in mind, Lenin wrote in a letter: "There it is, my fate. One fighting campaign 212 after another—against political stupidities, philistinisni, opportunism and so forth.

p "It lias been going on since 1893. And so lias the hatred o( the philistincs on account of it. But still, I would not exchange this fate for ‘peace’ with the philistines."  [212•1 

p The enemies of Leninism and of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have always tried to portray Lenin as a dissident, and today various bourgeois falsifiers of Leninism are eagerly following in their footsteps. Lenin’s struggle against the opportunists in the Russian and international working-class movement was in fact a struggle for the unity of the working class on basic principles, and a struggle for the unity of the Party against the anti-= Party groups within it.

p In his struggle for the unity of the working class and of the Communist Party, Lenin exposed false appeals for unity which were used as a cover for its disruption. A past-master at such appeals was Trotsky, a so-called “conformist” who was in fact an inveterate dissident and splitter. Lenin explained the meaning of unity when he exposed Trotsky, who represented only himself and a small group in the working-class movement while brazenly accusing the Bolsheviks of disruptive activities. Lenin wrote: "Where the majority of the class-conscious workers have rallied around precise and definite decisions, there we shall find unity of opinion and action, there we shall find the Party spirit and the Party."  [212•2 

p Lenin made a thorough analysis of the Bolshevik Party’s struggle against Right-wing and “Left-wing” opportunists in his book “Left-Wing” Communism—an Infantile Disorder. He said that the Bolshevik Party arose out of the struggle against opportunism, the bitterest enemy of Bolshevism in the working-class movement, which still exists today on an international scale. But Bolshevism arose too, and was shaped and tempered, in the struggle against those petty-bourgeois revolutionaries who were akin to anarchists. As an example of this struggle, Lenin cited the Party s struggle against the Vperyodists  [212•3 , the otzovists  [212•4  in 1908 and the 213 “Left-wing” Communists during the conclusion of the Brest-= Litovsk Treaty in 1918. The experience gained by the Bolshevik Party in the struggle against Right-wing and “Left-wing” opportunists is of tremendous value to the world communist movement today.

p Lenin and the Party also waged a fierce struggle against Trotskyists, Bukharinists and anarcho-syndicalists over the role that trade unions should play during the period of transition to peace-= time economic construction after the rout of internal and foreign counter-revolutionaries. In the course of this struggle the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted, on Lenin’s suggestion, the resolution "On Party Unity”, which proved to be of great importance in Party life both during and after that struggle. In that resolution Lenin called for stringent measures, up to expulsion from the Party, against Central Committee and rank-and-file Party members who carried on disruptive activities. He expressed his irreconcilable opposition to all those who undermined the Party by their disruptive activities in his writings dealing with the preparation of the Tenth Congress of the RCP(B) and the struggle against the dissidents. He insisted that factionalism be eradicated at all costs.

p Lenin’s principles of Party unity are written into the Party Rules as follows:

p "The ideological and organisational unity of the Party, the solidity of its ranks, and a high sense of duty of all Communists are an immutable law of Party life. Any manifestation of factionalism and clannishncss is incompatible with Marxist-Leninist partisanship and with Party membership."

p The idea of the revolutionary party being tied to the people, relying on the people and receiving the support of the people, is a key idea in Lenin’s theory of the Party. The Communist Party is the party of the people, and its historic mission is to lead and organise them, train them politically and ideologically and to develop their initiative by enlisting their support in the fulfilment of its great tasks.

p The Party derives its strength mainly from its ties with the broad sections of the population. The stronger and wider these ties, the more successfully it performs its role of the political leader of the working people. But it becomes an exclusive grouping, fenced off from the people, losing both its strength and its position as leader, when its ties with them are weakened.

214

p Lenin always fought against sectarianism and all trends anil attempts to fence nrf the Party from the masses. Sectarian trends were covered up mainly by “Left-wing” catch-phrases and bombastic “revolutionary” slogans. He skilfully exposed the pseudo-= revolutionary spirit of such slogans, and showed that they in fact led to opportunism. Lenin repeatedly said that the Party must live in the midst of the people, know their mood, know everything about them. It must know how to approach the people, and win their absolute, respect. Leaders must not cut themselves off from the people they lead; the vanguard must not cut itself off from the army of labour.  [214•1 

p The Party needs the support of the working class and all working people to carry out its policy and programme. But the people support the Party only when it pursues a sound policy and expresses their vital interests. "In the sea of people,” Lenin said, "we are after all but a drop in the ocean, and we can administer only when we express correctly what the people are conscious of."  [214•2 

p Lenin attributed the successes of the Communist Party to the working people, who gave their whole-hearted support to its policies and the measures taken in their interest. The Party came into closer contact with the people and received greater support from them when it faced increasing difficulties in the construction of the new society. This is why the Party is invincible. "The mass of the working people,” Lenin said, "are with us. That is where our strength lies. That is the source of the indestructible power of world communism. More new workers from among the masses for the ranks of the Party to take an independent part in building the new life—that is our method of combating all difficulties, that is our path to victory."  [214•3 

p Society can be transformed radically along socialist lines only with the active participation of the people, since they are the decisive force in history. Lenin showed that the Party must always base itself on the collective experience of the masses; that, in undertaking socialist innovations, the Party cannot foresee beforehand what forms they will take and what their pace of development will be. "Collective experience, the experience of millions can alone give us decisive guidance in that respect."  [214•4  215 Socialism cannot be implemented by a minority, by the Party alone. "It can be implemented,” Lenin wrote, "only by tens of millions when they have learned to do it themselves."  [215•1 

p Lenin pointed out that every Party decision and step is presented to the people for judgement, and that the Party relies solely on the initiative of the working people themselves. The success of socialism is guaranteed by the fact that the Party always turns to the people and is able to show them the need to concentrate their efforts now on this, now on that aspect of their work. The Party must be able to inspire the people with vigour, courage and enthusiasm, and to focus their energy on the main tasks in hand.

p The principle of proletarian internationalism is one of Lenin’s most important propositions. Lenin fought relentlessly against all attempts to introduce nationalist ideas into the Party and to divide Party organisations along national lines. Lenin took pride in the fact that the Party had always upheld the principles of proletarian internationalism. During the First World War, when nearly all Social-Democratic parties took a social-chauvinist stand, the Bolshevik Party fulfilled its international duty by marching in the van of all other parties and taking a consistent internationalist stand. The international structure of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, its consistent struggle against all manifestations of nationalism, and its implementation of the great principle of proletarian internationalism in the internal and external policies, ensured that the working people of all the nations of Russia were brought up in a spirit of unity and solidarity, strengthening the friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union and contributing significantly to the unity of the world communist movement.

p Lenin had to conduct a long struggle against nationalism in the working-class movement of Russia, particularly against Bundist nationalism. By demanding the establishment of a special political organisation for Jewish workers which would be isolated from the general Party organisation, the Bundists sowed discord and disunity among the Russian workers and openly trampled underfoot the great slogan, "Workers of all countries, unite!" In exposing the Bundists’ harmful nationalistic views and activities, Lenin wrote: "One who has adopted the standpoint of nationalism naturally arrives at the desire to erect a 216 Chinese Wall around his nationality, his national working-class movement; he is unembarrassed even by the fact that it would mean building separate walls in each city, in each little town and village, unembarrassed even by the fact that by his tactics of division and dismemberment be is reducing to nil the great call for the rallying and unity of the proletarians of all nations, all races and all languages."  [216•1 

p Lenin proved the need to establish a united organisation which could be supported by all workers, regardless of differences in language and nationality. He said: "We must not set up organisations that would march separately, each along its own track; we must not weaken the force of our offensive by breaking up into numerous independent political parties; we must not introduce estrangement and isolation and then have to heal an artificially implanted disease with the aid of these notorious ’federation’ plasters."  [216•2 

p Communists must fight against national pettiness, exclusiveness and aloofness, against the national ego. "We are opposed to ‘adapting socialism to nationalism’,"  [216•3  said Lenin, stressing, however, that while the proletariat must not allow any consolidation of nationalism, it must respect national feelings and special national features.

p Lenin’s propositions on proletarian internationalism arc of cardinal importance for the contemporary world communist movement and its cohesion in struggle against imperialism and the underhand schemes of the imperialists in the socialist countries.

p The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is a contingent of the world communist and workers’ movement, which is the most influential political force of the present day. Loyal to Lenin’s behests, it consistently adheres to the principle of proletarian internationalism, and never fails to fulfil its internationalist duty; it fights for the unity and cohesion of the world communist and workers’ movement. This was conclusively demonstrated by the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, held in Moscow in June 1969.

p Lenin taught that the strategy, tactics, and policy of the Party must be based on objective facts and on full recognition of actual historical conditions. "Marxism requires of us,” he said, "a 217 strictly exact and objectively verifiable analysis of the relations of classes and of the concrete features peculiar to each historical situation. We Bolsheviks have always tried to meet this requirement, which is absolutely essential for giving a scientific foundation to policy."  [217•1 

p Lenin’s work “Left-Wing" Communism—an Infantile Disorder was a great contribution to the theory of the strategy and tactics of the world communist movement. Although written in 1920, it has retained all its significance, and some of the propositions in it have acquired greater importance today.

p Lenin tried to show the need for a creative approach by every Communist Party to tactical matters, and to caution them against any dogmatic and stereotyped adaptation of truisms to particular tasks. The common international task of all Communist Parties is to overthrow capitalism and build a socialist society. But that task must be carried out with regard to the specific economic and political conditions in every country, and to the political maturity of the proletariat and its allies. The Communist Party must "seek out, investigate, predict, and grasp that which is nationally specific and nationally distinctive in the concrete, manner in which each country should tackle a single international task".  [217•2 

p Lenin attacked hasty action which did not take objective conditions into account when struggling against reformism, which denied the necessity for resolute revolutionary action by the proletariat, the need for socialist revolution. Lenin’s letter of October 19, 1921, entitled "To the Polish Communists”, is important in this respect. In this letter Lenin told the Polish Communist Party leaders that "the Government and the bourgeoisie must be prevented from strangling the revolution by bloody suppression of a premature uprising. You must not be provoked,” he said. "You must wait for the tide to rise to its highest: it will sweep everything away and give victory to the Communists. . . .

p "The revolution must be allowed to grow to the lull ripening of the fruit."  [217•3 

p These instructions arc of universal application, and history has shown that disregard of them leads to grave consequences. The recent events in Indonesia have shown that. Lenin himself 218 did not pursue a policy of armed insurrection until October 1917, when all the objective and subjective conditions were ripe for it, and this determined its victorious outcome.

p The Communist Party of the Soviet Union adheres to Lenin’s strategy and tactics, and fights consistently against Right-wing and “Left-wing” deviations. Such deviations are particularly dangerous when they are linked to nationalism, chauvinism and hcgemonism in the world communist movement.

Every Communist Party bases its work on the tasks lacing the working people in their own country. But Lenin’s main propositions on the role of the Party, its leadership, Party building, the rules of Party life, and strategy and tactics are guidelines for all Parties. This was clearly expressed in the Statement of the 1960 Meeting, in the speeches of fraternal delegates at the new Meeting of 1969 and in its decisions.

p Lenin’s theory of the proletarian party of a new type is permeated with a creative spirit, and rules out both dogmatism and a stereotype approach in its conception of the Party’s organisation, methods and tactics.

p The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is developing Lenin’s theory of the Party and giving it concrete expression in conformity with the new historical conditions. The Party has generalised its experience in the building of socialism and communism in the Soviet Union, and has come to the important conclusion that its leading role is increasing in the present period. This is because of the larger scale and the complicated tasks of communist construction, which call for a higher level of political and organisational leadership in all aspects of public life and for more vigorous ideological work.

The Twenty-Third Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was extremely important in this respect. The decisions of the Congress arc aimed at strengthening the Party organisationally, ideologically and politically, at greater democracy within the Party, at increasing the leading role of Communists and their responsibility for the tasks with which they are entrusted, and at expanding and consolidating the ties between the Party organisations and the broad sections of the population. This enables the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to carry out the great and difficult tasks set by the Congress, to direct the construction of communism in the Soviet 219 Union, and to take a worthy place in the great fraternal family of the Communist and Workers’ Parties. Lenin’s theory of the Marxist proletarian party of a new type is a truly valuable contribution to the treasure-house of Marxism and to the theory and practice of the world communist and working-class movement. The CPSU is a party of Leninism. It is strong because Lenin laid down its foundations, developed and fostered it; it is strong because it has always been guided by his ideas and precepts in all its activities. Jt fully justifies Lenin’s dictum that it represents "the intelligence, honour and conscience of our times".  [219•1