Quiz: The Foundations of Leninism

14 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. 1. What feature of Russian industry does Stalin give as one cause of the working class’s political weight?

   Its dependence on small handicraft workshops Its location mainly in the countryside Its ownership by peasant co-operatives and artels Its high concentration in very large enterprises
2. 2. What does Stalin say is needed for the final victory of socialism, guaranteed against intervention?

   The completion of the first five-year plan in industry and agriculture A majority in the Soviets The victory of the revolution in at least several countries The support of the Russian peasantry alone, without outside aid
3. 3. Which of these is not one of the three contradictions of imperialism Stalin lists?

   The conflict between town and country The conflict between rival financial groups and imperialist powers The conflict between the dominant nations and the colonial peoples The conflict between labour and capital
4. 4. How does Stalin briefly define the dictatorship of the proletariat?

   As proletarian rule over the bourgeoisie, unbound by law, based on force As the rule of the peasantry over the towns and over their industrial workers As a free federation of producers’ co-operatives, without any state at all As the rule of a parliament elected by all classes equally, under a written constitution
5. 5. By what means does the Lenin passage quoted by Stalin say a fully socialised society could be established in Soviet Russia?

   Through concessions granted to foreign capitalists in heavy industry Through private capitalist farms, encouraged by cheap state credit Through the gradual return of land to the former landlords Through the co-operatives, with state power held by the workers
6. 6. What is the fourth demand of the Leninist method?

   The general strike as the main weapon Participation in coalition governments Self-criticism by the proletarian parties Abandoning parliamentary activity
7. 7. What “reservation” of Marx’s does Stalin say had become obsolete in the age of imperialism?

   That the revolution would come first in Russia and spread westward That the state machine had to be smashed only “on the Continent” That the colonies would never rise without help from Europe That the peasants could never be reliable allies of the workers in the revolution
8. 8. What is the first “dogma” of the Second International that Stalin rejects?

   That the proletariat may take power only when it is a majority of the people That theory must always be subordinated to the practical needs of the movement That the proletariat must smash the old state machine instead of taking it over That the peasantry is a revolutionary force and the natural ally of the workers
9. 9. Which two qualities make up the Leninist “style in work”?

   Russian revolutionary sweep and American practicality German discipline and French revolutionary élan Theoretical rigour and popular eloquence in mass agitation Party loyalty and the technical expertise of specialists
10. 10. What task does Stalin say was assigned to Leninism with respect to the Second International?

    Moving its headquarters to Moscow Writing its new programme Cleaning its Augean stables Reuniting it with the anarchists
11. 11. Which two places does Stalin suggest for the next breach in the imperialist front?

    Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary British India and Germany Japan and the Dutch East Indies Britain and the United States
12. 12. What does Stalin call the theory of spontaneity?

    The foundation of Leninist strategy and tactics The theory of permanent revolution The ideology of trade unionism, the theory of opportunism An invention of the anarchists
13. 13. What did Lenin mean by “communist vanity”?

    Pride in the party’s revolutionary past and its sacrifices Believing any task can be solved by issuing decrees Contempt for the peasants and their backward small farms Uncritical admiration for Western bourgeois art and culture
14. 14. What was the recruitment drive Stalin refers to?

    The Comintern’s Second Congress of 1920 The Lenin Enrolment of 1924 The October Enrolment of 1917 The Kronstadt amnesty of 1921