Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution

a pamphlet by V. I. Lenin in which he provides the theoretical foundation for the strategy and tactics of the Bolshevik Party and criticizes the opportunistic tactics of the Mensheviks during the Revolution of 1905–07 in Russia (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 11, pp. 1–131).

The work was written in Geneva in June and July 1905, at the time that the bourgeois democratic revolution was taking place in Russia. It was first published in Geneva in July 1905 by the Central Committee of the RSDLP. In that same year it was twice republished in Russia, once by the Central Committee of the RSDLP and once, separately, by the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP; a total of 10,000 copies were published. The pamphlet was illegally distributed in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Tbilisi, Baku, Perm’, and other cities. On Feb. 19, 1907, it was banned by the St. Petersburg Press Department, and on Dec. 22, 1907, a St. Petersburg court decreed that it be destroyed. In November 1907, Lenin published the work with additional footnotes, in his collection entitled Twelve Years, which appeared in St. Petersburg. Separate editions have been published continuously in the USSR and abroad. In all, the work has been published 174 times in the USSR with a total of 8,351,000 copies in 53 languages (according to data of July 1, 1971).

In the pamphlet Lenin provided the theoretical foundation for the resolutions of the Third Congress of the RSDLP, which took place in London Apr. 12–27 (Apr. 25-May 10), 1905. These resolutions dealt with questions of the strategy and tactics to be used by the Bolsheviks in the revolution. In the work Lenin also criticized the opportunistic resolutions of the Menshevik Conference, which was taking place in Geneva at the same time.

In creatively developing Marxism, Lenin examined a number of extremely important questions: the character and traits of the bourgeois democratic revolution in Russia, the leading role of the proletariat and its party in the democratic revolution, the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, the ways and means of achieving a democratic republic, and the development of a bourgeois revolution into a socialist revolution.

Lenin criticized the Mensheviks for their dogmatism in evaluating the character and driving forces of the Russian Revolution. Harking back to the experience of past bourgeois revolutions in Western Europe and not understanding the uniqueness of the new historical conditions under which the revolution in Russia was taking place, the Mensheviks asserted that in this revolution too the bourgeoisie should have the hegemony, that is, be the directing force. Proceeding from a profound scientific Marxist analysis of the disposition of the class forces in Russia in the new period, Lenin showed that in the revolution in Russia hegemony must be with the working class and that the bourgeoisie feared the revolution and was attempting to strike a bargain with tsarism. Whereas the Mensheviks did not believe in the revolutionary potential of the Russian peasantry, Lenin demonstrated that the peasant masses are the natural allies of the proletariat in the struggle for the victory of a democratic revolution.

The resolutions of the Menshevik Conference said nothing about organizing an armed uprising, about taking over a democratic republic, or about the role of a provisional revolutionary government. In contrast to the opportunistic aims of the Mensheviks, Lenin in his pamphlet developed the thesis of the necessity of preparing an armed uprising—the most important means for overthrowing tsarism. Furthermore, the pamphlet substantiated the slogan of the necessity of struggling to establish a revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, whose organ was to be a provisional revolutionary government that would arise with the victory of the bourgeois democratic revolution. Lenin explained that a decisive victory of the bourgeois democratic revolution would be advantageous to the working class, since it would give the working class greater opportunities in the subsequent struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution. Developing the ideas of K. Marx and F. Engels on uninterrupted revolution, Lenin in the pamphlet and in a number of other works set forth and elaborated the theory of developing a bourgeois democratic revolution into a socialist revolution. Lenin wrote that “the proletariat must carry the democratic revolution to completion, allying to itself the mass of the peasantry in order to crush the resistance of the autocracy by force and to paralyze the instability of the bourgeoisie. The proletariat must accomplish the socialist revolution, allying to itself the mass of semiproletarian elements in the population so as to crush by force the bourgeoisie’s resistance and to paralyze the instability of the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 11, p. 90).

Soon after the publication of Two Tactics, Lenin wrote in his article “Social Democracy’s Attitude Toward the Peasant Movement” that “from the democratic revolution we shall at once, and precisely in accordance with the measure of our strength, the strength of the class-conscious and organized proletariat, begin to pass to the socialist revolution. We stand for uninterrupted revolution. We will not stop halfway” (ibid., p. 222). According to Lenin, the hegemony of the proletariat allied with the peasantry during the bourgeois democratic revolution must, during the socialist revolution, grow into a hegemony of the proletariat allied with the peasant poor and other semiproletarian elements. The democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry develops into the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Leninist theory of revolution, as developed in Two Tactics, contrasted with the opportunistic views of the Mensheviks, as well as with the “leftist” theory of permanent revolution set forth by Parvus and Trotsky. The Trotskyite theory alleged that it was possible to bypass the stage of bourgeois revolution and to pass directly to the dictatorship of the proletariat. In denying the revolutionary role of the peasantry as the ally of the proletariat, Trotsky declared that the peasants would have a hostile attitude toward the working class and that the working class could not prevail without the direct state support of the proletariat of Western Europe. The Trotskyite theory led to the denial of the possibility of building socialism in Russia.

The entire development of the revolutionary movement in Russia, the victory of the February 1917 bourgeois democratic revolution, the victory of the Great October 1917 Revolution, and the successful building of socialism in the USSR have demonstrated the correctness of the Leninist theory of revolution.

The Marxist theory of revolution developed by Lenin in Two Tactics and in subsequent works armed the Bolshevik Party with a scientifically based strategy and tactics and indicated the victorious path of the struggle for democracy and socialism. Lenin’s pamphlet is an extremely important contribution to the ideological treasury of Marxism-Leninism. It has international significance because it arms Communist and workers’ parties with a correct understanding of the most important questions of revolutionary struggle.