Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution
1. An Urgent Political Question
Section summary
Three trends face the question of a constituent assembly: the tsarist government, which offers at most a consultative body; the liberal bourgeoisie, which seeks a deal with the tsar; and the revolutionary proletariat, which demands the overthrow of tsarism and a provisional revolutionary government. Lenin defines tactics, lists the four questions a party must answer about such a government, and quotes in full the Third Congress resolution on it.
On the order of the day at the revolutionary moment we are living through stands the question of convening a popular constituent assembly. Opinions differ as to how this question should be settled. Three political trends are taking shape. The tsarist government admits the need to convene representatives of the people, but under no circumstances wants to allow their assembly to be popular and constituent. If newspaper reports of the work of the Bulygin commission are to be believed, it seems to agree to a consultative assembly elected without freedom of agitation and on a narrow property or narrow estate franchise. The revolutionary proletariat, in so far as it is led by Social-Democracy, demands the complete transfer of power to a constituent assembly, and to this end seeks not only universal suffrage and not only full freedom of agitation but, in addition, the immediate overthrow of the tsarist government and its replacement by a provisional revolutionary government. Finally, the liberal bourgeoisie, expressing its wishes through the leaders of the so-called “Constitutional-Democratic Party”, does not demand the overthrow of the tsarist government, does not put forward the slogan of a provisional government, and does not insist on real guarantees that the elections will be entirely free and fair, so that the assembly of representatives can become really popular and really constituent. In essence the liberal bourgeoisie, which alone is a serious social support of the trend of the Osvobozhdenie people, is seeking as peaceful a deal as possible between the tsar and the revolutionary people, and moreover a deal under which as much power as possible would go to it, the bourgeoisie, and as little as possible to the revolutionary people, the proletariat and the peasantry.
Such is the political situation at the present moment. Such are the three main political trends, corresponding to the three main social forces of present-day Russia. We have more than once spoken in Proletary (Nos. 3, 4 and 5) of how the Osvobozhdenie people cover with would-be democratic phrases their half-hearted policy, that is, to put it more plainly and simply, their policy of treason and betrayal of the revolution. Let us now see how Social-Democrats assess the tasks of the moment. Excellent material in this respect is provided by two resolutions adopted quite recently by the Third Congress of the RSDLP and by the “Conference” of the section of the party that has split away. The question of which of these resolutions assesses the political moment more correctly and defines the tactics of the revolutionary proletariat more correctly is of enormous importance, and every Social-Democrat who wishes to carry out his duties as propagandist, agitator and organiser consciously must study this question with the greatest attention, leaving entirely aside considerations that have nothing to do with the essence of the matter.
By the tactics of a party is meant its political conduct, or the character, direction and methods of its political activity. Tactical resolutions are adopted by a party congress in order to define precisely the political conduct of the party as a whole with regard to new tasks or in view of a new political situation. Such a new situation has been created by the revolution that has begun in Russia, that is, by the complete, decisive and open rupture between the vast majority of the people and the tsarist government. The new question is what the practical methods are of convening a really popular and really constituent assembly (theoretically the question of such an assembly was settled officially long ago by Social-Democracy, before all the other parties, in its party programme). If the people has broken with the government, and the masses have become conscious of the need to set up a new order, then a party that has set itself the aim of overthrowing the government must necessarily think about what government is to replace the old government that is being overthrown. A new question arises: that of a provisional revolutionary government. To give a complete answer to this question the party of the class-conscious proletariat must make clear: first, the significance of a provisional revolutionary government in the present revolution and in the whole struggle of the proletariat in general; second, its attitude towards a provisional revolutionary government; third, the precise conditions of Social-Democratic participation in this government; fourth, the conditions for bringing pressure to bear on this government from below, that is, in the event that Social-Democracy does not take part in it. Only when all these questions have been made clear will the political conduct of the party in this respect be principled, clear and firm.
Let us see, then, how the resolution of the Third Congress of the RSDLP settles these questions. Here is its full text:
1) that both the immediate interests of the proletariat and the interests of its struggle for the ultimate aims of socialism require the fullest possible political freedom, and consequently the replacement of the autocratic form of government by a democratic republic;
2) that a democratic republic can be established in Russia only as the result of a victorious popular uprising, whose organ will be a provisional revolutionary government, which alone is capable of securing full freedom of agitation during the election campaign and of convening, on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot, a constituent assembly that really expresses the will of the people;
3) that this democratic revolution in Russia, given its present social and economic order, will not weaken but strengthen the rule of the bourgeoisie, which will inevitably try, at a certain moment, stopping at nothing, to take from the Russian proletariat as many as possible of the gains of the revolutionary period,
a) that it is necessary to spread among the working class a concrete idea of the most probable course of the revolution and of the necessity, at a certain moment in it, of the appearance of a provisional revolutionary government, from which the proletariat will demand the realisation of all the immediate political and economic demands of our programme (the minimum programme);
b) that, depending on the relation of forces and on other factors that cannot be precisely determined beforehand, representatives of our party may take part in the provisional revolutionary government for the purpose of waging a relentless struggle against all counter-revolutionary attempts and of defending the independent interests of the working class;
c) that a necessary condition of such participation is strict control by the party over its representatives and the unswerving maintenance of the independence of Social-Democracy, which strives for a complete socialist revolution and is to that extent irreconcilably hostile to all bourgeois parties;
d) that, irrespective of whether Social-Democratic participation in the provisional revolutionary government proves possible, the idea must be propagated among the broadest strata of the proletariat that constant pressure must be brought to bear on the provisional government by the armed proletariat, led by Social-Democracy, for the purpose of safeguarding, consolidating and extending the gains of the revolution.”