Page 208
PART XIII
THE STRUCTURE OF THE TRANSITION PHASE
The transitional period of socialism will be marked by many characteristics--increased
productivity, incessant re-education of the masses, the progressive demise
of bourgeois hatreds and biases434
(racism, nationalism, sexism, etc.), less concern for self and greater
concern for others,435
less need for financial reward and greater desire to labor without
recompense, the gradual abolishment of the difference between mental and physical
labor, abolition of the antithesis between town and country,
436
much experimentation,437
the steady erosion of classes, and many other meaningful changes
438
which will emerge as time progresses439
and make life far more beautiful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
434 (Add) "As regards men's 'savage' sentiments and opinions,
these are not as eternal as some people imagine...."
435 (Add) "...we must abolish, we must eliminate as soon as
possible the accursed motto-every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost."
436 (a) "...Kautsky adheres to one of the fundamental propositions
of the theory of Marx and Engels, i.e., that the antithesis between town and
country destroys the necessary correspondence and interdependence between
agriculture and industry, and that with the transition of capitalism to a
higher form this antithesis must disappear."
(b) "The modern big cities, however, will be abolished only by the abolition
of the capitalist mode of production...."
(c) "The fact that we definitely recognize the progressive character of
big cities in capitalist society, however, does not in the least prevent
us from including in our ideal...the abolition of the antithesis between
town and country. It is not true to say that this is tantamount to
abandoning the treasures of science and art. Quite the contrary: this
is necessary in order to bring these treasures within the reach of the entire
people, in order to abolish the alienation from culture of millions of the
rural population, which Marx aptly described as 'the idiocy of rural life.' ...it is not an 'aesthetic sentiment' alone that demands it (the abolition
of this antithesis--Ed.). In the big cities people suffocate with the fumes
of their own excrement, to use Engels' expression, and periodically all who
can, flee from the cities in search of fresh air and pure water. Industry
is also spreading over the country-side; for it, too, requires pure water. The exploitation of waterfalls, canals and rivers to obtain electric power
will give a fresh impetus to this 'spreading out of the industry.' Finally--last,
but not least--the rational utilization of city refuse in general and human
excrement in particular...also calls for the abolition of the antithesis
between town and country."
(d) (Add) "The abolition of the antithesis between town and country is
no more and no less utopian than the abolition of the antithesis between
capitalists and wageworkers."
437 (a) "No form will be final until complete communism has
been achieved. We never claimed to know the exact road."
(b) (Add) "Experience has taught what folly it is to discuss and elaborate
the details of a future society."
(c) (Add) "We must not count on going straight to communism."
(d) (Add) "New things always had to experience difficulties and setbacks
as they grow. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that the cause of socialism
is all plain sailing and easy success, without difficulties and setbacks
or the exertion of tremendous efforts."
(e) (Add) "Marx and Engels, the founders of scientific socialism, always
said that the transition from capitalism to socialism would inevitably be
accompanied by prolonged birth pangs."
438 (Add) For example, the division of mankind caused by the
existence of so many languages will fade. "I have always adhered and
continue to adhere to the Leninist view that in the period of the victory
of socialism on a world scale, when socialism has been consolidated and become
the way of life, the national languages are inevitably bound to merge into
one common language, which, of course, will be neither Great-Russian nor German,
but something new."
439 (a) (Add) Socialism evolves. "Socialism is not a
ready-made system that will be mankind's benefactor. Socialism is the
class struggle of the present-day proletariat as it advances from one objective
today to another objective tomorrow for the sake of its basic objective (communism--Ed.),
to which it is coming nearer every day."
(b) (Add) "...it is important to realize how infinitely mendacious is the
usual bourgeois presentation of Socialism as something lifeless, petrified,
fixed once for all, whereas in reality, it is only with Socialism that there
will commence a rapid, genuine, real mass movement...."
Page 209
Because the socialist era is marked by the existence of class distinctions
440
and the class struggles they generate,441
a firm proletarian dictatorship under the guiding influence of the
party leadership will be maintained.442
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440 (a) "Classes have remained, and will remain everywhere
for years after the conquest of power by the proletariat."
(b) "We know perfectly well that classes have remained in our country and
will remain for a long time to come (in the socialist phase--Ed.)...."
(c) (Add) "But in order to achieve this we must remember the fundamental
postulate of the socialist revolution which the workers so often forget,
and that is, that in order to make a socialist revolution, in order to bring
it about, in order to liberate the people from oppression, it is not necessary
immediately to abolish classes...."
441 (a) "So long as there are classes, there is bound to be
class struggle. This is an inexorable law."
(b) "As long as classes exist, the class struggle is inevitable."
(c) "Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period.
In the historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class contradictions
and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and
the capitalist road, and there is the danger of capitalist restoration."
(d) "...there are classes and class struggle in all socialist countries
without exception."
(e) "The transition from capitalism to a socialist (read: communist--Ed.)
system entails a long and bitter struggle."
(f) "...we have always said that we cannot pass from capitalism to the
full victory of socialism (read: communism--Ed.) by the bloodless and easy
path of persuasion and conciliation, that we can only reach our goal as the
result of a furious struggle."
(g) (Add) "They will understand that after capturing state power the proletariat
does not thereby cease its class struggle, but continues it in a different
form and by different means."
(h) (Add) "The proletariat's conquest of political power does not put a
stop to its class struggle against the bourgeoisie; on the contrary, it renders
the struggle most widespread, intense, and ruthless."
(i) (Add) "In a socialist country, it takes a very long historical period
gradually to settle the question of who will win--socialism or capitalism....
...'the conquest of power by the working class is only the beginning of the
revolution, not its conclusion."
(j) (Add) "Theoretically, there can be no doubt that between capitalism
and communism there lies a definite transition period (socialism--Ed.)....
This transition period cannot but be a period of struggle between moribund
capitalism and nascent communism--or, in other words, between capitalism
which has been defeated but not destroyed and communism which has been born
but which is still very feeble."
(k) (Add) "In this respect, the question of which will win out, socialism
or capitalism, is still not really settled.... It will take a fairly
long period of time to decide the issue in the ideological struggle between
socialism and capitalism in our country."
442 (a) "The dictatorship of the proletariat does not signify
a cessation of the class struggle, but its continuation in new form and with
new weapons. This dictatorship is essential as long as classes exist...."
(b) "...the abolition of classes in general, including the class of proletarians,
requires the dictatorship of the proletariat."
(c) "The abolition of classes is impossible without the dictatorship of
the oppressed class, the proletariat."
(d) "But classes cannot be abolished all at once. And classes remain, and
will remain, in the era of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The
dictatorship will become unnecessary when classes disappear. Without
the dictatorship of the proletariat they will not disappear. ...The
class struggle does not disappear under the dictatorship of the proletariat;
it merely assumes different forms."
(e) (Add) "Classes will remain until we have got rid of the exploiters--the
big bourgeoisie and the landowners, whom we are ruthlessly expropriating....
We continue to stand for the ruthless expropriation of the landowners and
capitalists. Here we are ruthless, and we cannot agree to any conciliation
or compromise."
(f) (Add) "...the dictatorship of the proletariat is also a period of class
struggle, which is inevitable as long as classes have not been abolished....
The proletariat does not cease the class struggle after it has captured political
power, but continues it until classes are abolished...."
(g) (Add) "The dictatorship of the proletariat is not the end of the class
struggle but its continuation in new forms. The dictatorship of the
proletariat is class struggle waged by a proletariat which has been victorious
and has taken political power in its hands against a bourgeoisie that has
been defeated but not destroyed, a bourgeoisie that has not vanished, not
ceased to offer resistance, but that has intensified its resistance."
(h) (Add) "Lenin...teaches us that classes can be abolished only by means
of a stubborn class struggle, which under the dictatorship of the proletariat
becomes even fiercer than it was before the dictatorship of the proletariat."
(i) (Add) "War itself is always dangerous. There is not a moment
in time of war when you are not surrounded by danger. And what is the
dictatorship of the proletariat? It is war, much more cruel, much more
prolonged and much more stubborn than any other war has ever been. Here
danger threatens us at every step. ...but can you point to a single
path in revolution, to any stage and method that would not have its dangers? The disappearance of danger would mean that the war had come to an end, and
that the dictatorship of the proletariat had ceased."
(j) (Add) "Dictatorship is a big, harsh and bloody word, one which expresses
a relentless life-and-death struggle between two classes, two worlds, two
historical epochs."
(k) (Add) "The dictatorship of the proletariat is a fierce war."
(l) (Add) "Dictatorship is a state of intense war."
Page 210
With respect to economic activity, the basic means of production will
be owned by the entire society; resources will be allocated in a responsible,
prudent, even-handed manner;443
individuals will be paid according to work performed (value produced);
444
the synchronization of interests by a central planning agency
445
will replace cutthroat competition and overall planlessness;
446
satisfying society's needs will replace the creation of wealth for
the minority (profits) as the primary motivator and production to improve
all will replace production to improve a few.447
------------------------------------------------------------------------
443 (a) (Add) "...what socialism implies above all is keeping
account of everything."
(b) (Add) "Socialism means keeping account of everything."
(c) (Add) "Until the higher phase of communism arrives, the socialists
demand the strictest control of society and the state."
444 (Add) "Until the 'higher' phase of communism arrives, the
socialists demand the strictest control by society and the state."
445 (a) (Add) "...the aim (and essence) of socialism--the transfer
of the land, factories, etc., in general, of all the means of production,
to the ownership of the whole of society and the replacement of the capitalist
mode of production by production according to a common plan in the interests
of all members of society--...."
(b) (Add) "Socialism demands the abolition of the power of the moneybag,
the power of capital, the abolition of all private ownership of the means
of production, the abolition of commodity economy (whereby individuals buy
and sell goods on an open market--Ed.). Socialism demands that the land
and the factories should pass into the hands of all the working people, who,
following an all-over plan, will organize large-scale--and not scattered and
small scale--production."
(c) (Add) "Socialism demands that the land and the factories should be
handed over to the working people organizing large-scale (instead of scattered
small-scale) production under a general plan."
(d) (Add) "...the dictatorship of the proletariat...by no means merely
consists in overthrowing the bourgeoisie or the landowners--that happened
in all revolutions--our dictatorship of the proletariat is the establishment
of order, discipline, labour productivity, accounting, and control by the
proletarian Soviet power.... The petty bourgeois...fear discipline,
organization, accounting, and control as the devil fears holy water."
(e) (Add) "...there is only one way of ending the exploitation of labour
by capital and, that is to abolish the private ownership of the instruments
of labour, to hand over all the factories, mills, mines, and also all the
big estates, etc., to the whole of society and to conduct socialist production
in common, directed by the workers themselves."
(f) (Add) "Kautsky was right when he said, long before he became a renegade,
that socialist society is one big cooperative."
(g) (Add) "Marx is a centralist.... Bernstein simply cannot conceive
the possibility of voluntary centralism.... Like all philistines,
Bernstein can imagine centralism only as something from above, to be imposed
and maintained solely by means of bureaucracy and militarism."
(h) (Add) "It is highly important to note that Engels, armed with facts,
disproves by telling example the superstition, very widespread especially
among the petty bourgeois democracy, that a federal republic necessarily
means a greater amount of freedom than a centralized republic. This
is not true."
446 (a) "With the seizing of the means of production by society.... Anarchy in social production is replaced by plan-conforming, conscious organization. The struggle for individual existence disappears. Then for the first
time man, in a certain sense, is finally marked off from the rest of the animal
kingdom, and emerges from mere animal conditions of existence into really
human ones."
(b) (Add) "...(under private property systems--Ed.) the total production
of society is regulated, not by a collectively thought-out plan, but by
blind laws, which operate with elemental force, in the last resort in the
storms of periodic commercial crises."
(c) (Add) "...the bourgeois reformist view that monopoly capitalism or
state-monopoly capitalism is no longer capitalism, but can already be termed
'state socialism,' or something of that sort, is a very widespread error.
The (capitalist--Ed.) trusts, of course, have not created, do not create
now, and cannot create full and complete planning."
447 (a) "In the old days, human genius, the brain of man, created
only to give some the benefits of technology and culture, and to deprive others
of the bare necessities, education and development. From now on all
the marvels of science and the gains of culture belong to the nation as a
whole, and never again will man's brain and human genius be used for oppression
and exploitation."
(b) "The articles produced by labour in common will then go to benefit
the working people themselves, while the surplus they produce over and above
their keep will serve to satisfy the needs of the workers themselves, to secure
the full development of all their capabilities and equal rights to enjoy
all the achievements of science and art.... To achieve that, however,
it is necessary that political power, i.e., the power to govern the state,
should pass from the hands of a government which is under the influence of
the capitalists and landowners, or from the hands of a government directly
made up of elected representatives of the capitalists, into the hands of the
working class."
(c) "...(the change to a socialist system entails--Ed.) the abolition of
private ownership of the means of production, their conversion into public
property and the replacement of the capitalist production of commodities
by the socialist organization of the production of commodities by society
as a whole, with the object of ensuring full well-being and free all-round
development for all its members."
(d) (Add) "Private appropriation, the goal of the individual to enrich
himself, will disappear in the production and distribution of the necessaries
of life...."
(e) (Add) "Our grandchildren will examine the documents and other relics
of the epoch of the capitalist system with amazement. It will be difficult
for them to picture to themselves how the trade in articles of primary necessity
could remain in private hands, how factories could belong to individuals,
how some men could exploit others, how it was possible for those who did not
work to exist."
Page 211
Private ownership of the means of production will not be allowed,
448
except for some small farms and businesses. Depending upon
the circumstances and providing they employ no more than a handful of laborers,
farm workers may be allowed to own a few acres and individuals may be permitted
to own small businesses. Anytime property owners can employ others,
there exists the distinct possibility of exploitation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
448 (a) "...as socialists, we demand the nationalization of
all the means of production."
(b) (Add) "The aim of socialism is to turn all the means of production
into the property of the whole people...."
(c) (Add) "The latter's (socialism--Ed.) task is rather only to transfer
the means of production to the producers as their common possession."
(d) (Add) "...taking collective possession of the means of production must
be fought for by all means at the disposal of the proletariat. The
common possession of the means of production is thus set forth here as the
sole principal goal to be striven for. Not only in industry, where
the ground has already been prepared, but in general, hence also in agriculture."
Page 212
In those instances where private property is allowed,
449
prices and wages will be closely supervised. When individuals
are allowed to buy and sell commodities on an open market in which prices
are established through bargaining, discussion or arguing, the emergence of
exploitation is a foregone conclusion.450
To give people the right to freely buy and sell privately owned
goods or commodities, including labour-power,451
according to prices established by collective bargaining is to give
them a permit to steal. If the party leaders do not effectively oversee
the amount of private ownership, the number of laborers privately employed,
the wages paid and the prices charged on the commodity markets,
452
they will have opened that Pandora's box453
which they were keeping from the masses and working so hard to keep
closed.
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449 (a) "We are not among those communists who believe that
a community in goods can be established, as if by magic, on the morrow of
victory. We know that mankind advances, not by leaps, but only step
by step. We cannot pass from an inharmonious society (capitalism--Ed.)
to a harmonious one (communism--Ed.) betwixt night and morning. A transitional
period (socialism--Ed.) will be needed, longer or shorter as circumstances
may dictate. Only by degrees can private property be transformed into
social property."
(b) "...the dictatorship of the proletariat, which will never be able,
at one stroke, to abolish private property completely...."
450 (a) "Freedom to trade is capitalism; capitalism is profiteering. It would be ridiculous to ignore this."
(b) "Exchange is freedom to trade; it is capitalism."
(c) "This freedom of exchange implies freedom for capitalism."
(d) "Every case of a sale of grain (or any other product--Ed.) on the open
market, of speculation and profiteering is the restoration of...capitalism."
(e) "Many intellectuals who have read Marx do not understand that freedom
to trade is a return to capitalism."
(f) "It is no use closing our eyes to this fact. Of course, a free
market means a growth of capitalism; there's no getting away from the fact.
And anyone who tries to do so will be deluding himself. Capitalism
will emerge wherever there is small enterprise and free exchange."
(g) "It is an incontrovertible truth, elementary to political economy,
which even the layman's everyday experience will confirm, that once you have
exchange the small economy is bound to develop the petty-bourgeois capitalist
way."
(h) "As Lenin says, the strength of capitalism lies 'in the strength of
small production. For unfortunately,...small production engenders capitalism
and the bourgeoisie continuously...and on a mass scale."
(i) "So long as you let the relation of wage labour to capital exist, it
does not matter how favorable the conditions under which the exchange of
commodities takes place, there will always be a class which will exploit
and a class which will be exploited."
(j) Marx once quoted the English author, Bray, to the effect that, "It
is plain that, establish whatever form of government we will...we may talk
of morality and brotherly love...no reciprocity can exist where there are
unequal exchanges. Inequality of exchanges, as being the cause of inequality
of possession, is the secret enemy that devours us." Later Bray said,
"So long as this system of unequal exchanges is tolerated, the producers will
be almost as poor and as ignorant and as hardworked as they are at present,
even if every governmental burthen be swept away and all taxes be abolished...nothing
but a total change of system--an equality of labour and exchange--can alter
this state of rights." And Bray closed by saying, "Where equal exchanges
are maintained, the gain of one man cannot be the loss of another; for every
exchange is then simply a transfer, and not a sacrifice, of labour and wealth."
(k) (Add) "'You can't sell without cheating' is the commercial slogan of
capitalism."
(l) (Add) "...we must take systematic action against all attempts by individuals
acting for themselves only, willing to pay any price to fill their own belly,
and who do not give a hang for anything else. We must not think and
act individually, each for himself, for that spells ruin. We must combat
such tendencies and habits, which have been fostered in all of us, in the
millions of working people, by capitalist private enterprise, by the system
of working for the market: 'I shall sell and make my bit; the more I make
the less I shall starve, and the more others will.' That is the accursed
legacy of private property, which left the people to starve even when there
was enough food in the country, when a measly minority grew rich both on wealth
and on poverty, while the people lived in want...."
(m) (Add) "And in order to prevent the restoration of the rule of the capitalists
and the bourgeoisie we must not allow profiteering, we must not allow individuals
to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest.... The old society
was based on the principle: rob or be robbed, work for others or make others
work for you...in short, a man who thinks only of himself, and doesn't give
a hang for anybody else. ...A Communist cannot have such a psychology
and such sentiments."
(n) (Add) "The enemy of whom I (Lenin--Ed.) have spoken is the anarchy
of the petty proprietors, whose life is guided by one thought: 'I grab all
I can--the rest can go hang.' This enemy is more powerful than all
the Kornilovs, Dutovs and Kaledins (Czarist generals--Ed.) put together."
(o) (Add) "Yet it is obvious that a thief who steals the people's wealth
and undermines the interests of the national economy is no better, if not
worse, than a spy or traitor."
(p) (Add) "Hence, no society can for any length of time remain master of
its own production and continue to control the social effects of its process
of production, unless it abolishes exchange between individuals."
(q) (Add) "Socialism, as we know, means the abolition of commodity economy....
So long as exchange remains, it is ridiculous to talk of socialism."
(r) (Add) "...commodity economy, which necessarily begets competition among
the commodity producers, inequality, the ruin of some and the enrichment
of others."
(s) (Add) "It was only under capitalism that people argued, 'I shall trade,
I shall get rich. Every man for himself and God for all.' This was
the principle of capitalism and it engendered war; that is why the workers
and peasants were poor, and an insignificant number of people became millionaires."
(t) (Add) "The Trudoviks dream of freeing the masses from poverty, from
the exploitation of man by man, without destroying the commodity economy
(capitalism--Ed.)...."
451 "...capitalism means production of commodities, in which
labour-power is also transformed into a commodity.... Capitalists may
be small or big, foolish or clever, but this is not a criterion of capitalism. Capitalism means producing commodities and hiring wage-labour."
452 (Add) "The proletarian state may, without changing its
own nature, permit freedom of trade and development of capitalism only within
certain bounds, and only on the condition that the state regulates (supervises,
controls, determines the forms and methods of, etc.) private trade and private
capitalism. The success of such regulation will depend not only on the
state authorities, but also, and to a larger extent, on the degree of maturity
of the proletariat...on their cultural level, etc."
453 (Add) "We know that we have many small businesses. Petty proprietors are our opponents. The petty-bourgeois element is
our most dangerous enemy (because they could become big bourgeoisie and restore
capitalism--Ed.)."
Page 213
Not only economics and politics but other aspects of society will change
under socialism as well. Education will be revamped from top to bottom.
Science will replace mysticism; materialism will replace idealism;
454
dialectics will replace metaphysics, and accuracy will replace deception.
The educational changes that will occur are so vast and all-encompassing
that many volumes could be devoted to their description. Broadly speaking,
all bourgeois teachings in subjects involving man's relationship to man will
be reversed dramatically.455
In subjects such as economics, politics, literature, sociology,
philosophy, etc., bourgeois teachings place students 180 degrees from reality.
456
Student disruptions throughout the world of private property
reflect this fact. The irrelevance and inaccuracy of that which is taught
is sensed by the students and the resulting boredom, apathy, frustration,
indifference, and hopelessness generate a desire to seek meaning and purpose
in life through violence, escape (drugs, sex, etc.) and/or confrontation.
Discussing that which is irrelevant is especially difficult in times of social
disintegration and decay when people understandably feel impelled to remedy
social ills by becoming involved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
454 (Add) "Idealism in philosophy (which permeates capitalist
society--Ed.) is a defence, sometimes extremely elaborate, sometimes less
so, of clericalism, of a doctrine that places faith above science, or side
by side with science, or in some way or another gives faith a place."
455 (Add) "The Communist (read: socialist--Ed.) revolution
is the most radical rupture with traditional property relations; no wonder
that its development involves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas."
456 "...as long as the schools remain in the hands of the landlords
and capitalists, the young generation will remain blind and ignorant."
Page 214
An essential task of socialist leaders will be to correct this situation
by channeling education toward reality and not in other directions.
457
Just as the bourgeoisie maintained control by allowing any ideology to
circulate as long as capitalism was not effectively jeopardized, so socialist
leaders will allow only those ideas which do not endanger socialism.
458
------------------------------------------------------------------------
457 (a) (Add) "We must not take from the old school the system
of burdening young people's minds with an immense amount of knowledge, nine-tenths
of which was useless and one-tenth distorted."
(b) (Add) "One of the bourgeois hypocrisies is the belief that the school
can stand aloof from politics. You know very well how false this belief
is. The bourgeoisie themselves, who advocated this principle, made their
own bourgeois politics the cornerstone of the school system, and tried to
reduce schooling to the training of docile and efficient servants of the bourgeoisie,
to reduce even universal education from top to bottom to the training of
docile and efficient servants of the bourgeoisie, of slaves and tools of
capital. They never gave a thought to making the schools a means of
developing the human personality. And now it is clear to all that this
can be done only by socialist schools, which have inseparable bonds with
all the working and exploited people...."
(c) (Add) "The Communists have not invented the intervention of society
in education; they do but seek to alter the character of that intervention,
and to rescue education from the influence of the ruling class."
(d) (Add) "There are different kinds of social ideas and theories.
There are old ideas and theories which have outlived their day and which
serve the interests of the moribund forces of society. Their significance
lies in the fact that they hamper the development, the progress of society.
Then there are new and advanced ideas and theories which serve the interests
of the advanced forces of society."
458 (a) "The Communist International cannot under any circumstances
recognize freedom and equality for all who wish to subscribe to certain statements,
irrespective of their political conduct. To Communists this would be
no less suicidal both as regards theory and practical politics than...."
(b) (Add) "We have been accused thousands and millions of times of having
violated the freedom of the press and of having renounced democracy.
Our accusers call it democracy when the capitalist can buy out the press
and the rich can use the press in their own interests. We call that
plutocracy and not democracy. Everything that bourgeois culture has
created for the purpose of deceiving the people and defending the capitalists
we have taken from them in order to satisfy the political needs of the workers
and peasants."
(c) (Add) "The Soviet system is the destruction of that bourgeois falsehood
known as 'freedom of the press'--i.e., freedom to bribe the press, freedom
for the rich, the capitalists, to buy up newspapers, freedom for the capitalists
to buy up hundreds of newspapers and in this way fabricate so-called public
opinion."
(d) (Add) "Freedom of the press in capitalist society means freedom to
trade in publications and in their influence on the masses. Freedom
of the press means that the press, a powerful medium for influencing the
masses is maintained at the expense of the capitalists. Such is the
freedom of the press that the Bolsheviks violated (in the Russian revolution
of 1917--Ed.) and they are proud of having produced the first press free
of the capitalists, ...that does not depend on a handful of rich men and
millionaires--a press that is devoted entirely to the struggle against capital,
the struggle to which we must subordinate everything."
(e) (Add) "The bourgeoisie (all over the world) is still very much stronger
than we are. To place in its hands yet another weapon like freedom
of political organization (=freedom of the press, for the press is the core
and foundation of political organization) means facilitating the enemy's
task, means helping the class enemy. We have no wish to commit suicide,
and therefore, we will not do this. We clearly see this fact: 'freedom
of the press' means in practice that the international bourgeoisie will immediately
buy up hundreds and thousands of...writers, and will organize their propaganda
and fight against us. That is a fact. 'They' are richer than we
are and will buy a 'force' ten times larger than we have, to fight us. No, we will not do it; we will not help the international bourgeoisie.... Freedom of the press will help the force of the world bourgeoisie. This
is a fact. 'Freedom of the press' will not help to purge the Communist
Party...of a number of its weaknesses, mistakes, misfortunes, and maladies...because
this is not what the world bourgeoisie wants. But freedom of the press
will be a weapon in the hands of this world bourgeoisie. It is not dead;
it is alive. It is lurking nearby and watching."
(f) (Add) "We never pledged ourselves to grant freedom of the press to
all classes, to make all classes happy."
(g) (Add) "Every class-conscious worker who has not broken with his class
will readily appreciate the absurdity of promising freedom of assembly to
the exploiters at a time and in a situation when the exploiters are resisting
the overthrow of their rule and are fighting to retain their privileges."
(h) (Add) "We say that to grant freedom of assembly to the capitalists
would be a heinous crime against the working people; it would mean freedom
of assembly (or speech--Ed.) for counterrevolutionaries. We say to
the bourgeois intellectual gentlemen, to the gentlemen who advocate (bourgeois--Ed.)
democracy--you lie when you throw in our face the accusation of violating
freedom. When your great bourgeois revolutionaries made a revolution
in England in 1649, and in France in 1792-93 (or Germany in 1848--Ed.), they
did not grant freedom of assembly for royalists (mainly feudal landowners--Ed.)....
And we shall do the same thing with the capitalist gentlemen; for we know
that in order to emancipate the working people from the yoke of capital
we must deprive the capitalist of freedom of assembly; their freedom must
be abolished, or curtailed.... When the world is inhabited only by
those who work, and when people have forgotten that it was possible for idlers
to have been members of society--this will not be very soon, and the bourgeois
and bourgeois intellectual gentlemen are to blame for the delay--we shall
then be in favor of freedom of assembly for all. At the present time,
however, freedom of assembly would mean freedom of assembly for the capitalists,
for counter-revolutionaries. We are fighting against them, we are resisting
them, and we say that we deprive them of this freedom."
(i) (Add) "The enemies of socialism may be deprived for a time not only
of inviolability of the person, and not only of freedom of the press, but
of universal suffrage as well.... The good of the revolution, the good
of the working class, is the highest law."
Page 215
What is dangerous and what is not was determined by the bourgeoisie under
capitalism and will be determined by the proletariat under socialism.
Those holding incorrect beliefs or ideologies (religion, etc.) will not be
bothered459
as long as they do not attempt to spread their beliefs to others
and do not resist the institution of socialism. Responsible party leaders
will only ask that they do not attempt to bring back the old system either
overtly or covertly.460
As increasing numbers of the young are given a far more accurate
description of the world461
and material conditions become more humane for all, incorrect ideologies
will fade along with their adherents.462
The employment of logic, immense data, precise verification
and analysis by growing numbers of scientifically-minded citizens will be
quite conducive to the enhancement of dialectical materialism and the eradication
of its opposition.
To rely upon force instead of persuasion to abolish those beliefs which
will unavoidably linger on from the previous era would be a foolish policy
indeed. The feelings, attitudes and traditions of misguided people
must be taken into account;463
otherwise, leaders would become impersonal machines stepping on that
which others hold dear with little regard for ultimate consequences or the
fundamentally humanitarian principles of socialism.
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459 (Add) "Engels no less resolutely condemns Duhring's pseudo-revolutionary
idea that religion should be prohibited in socialist society."
460 (Add) "...on the basis of our scientific, materialist philosophy
to which all prejudice is alien, on the basis of the general aims of our struggle
for the freedom and happiness of all working people, we Social-Democrats have
a negative attitude toward the doctrines of Christianity. But, having
said that, I consider it my duty to add, frankly and openly, that the Social-Democrats
are fighting for complete freedom of conscience, and have every respect for
any sincere conviction in matters of faith, provided that conviction is not
implemented by force or deception."
461 (Add) "The most important thing...is to know how to awaken
in the still undeveloped masses an intelligent attitude toward religious questions
and an intelligent criticism of religions."
462 (a) "The religious reflex (or other idealistic theories--Ed.)
of the real world can, in any case, only then finally vanish, when the practical
relations of everyday life offer to man none but perfectly intelligible and
reasonable relations with regard to his fellowmen and nature."
(b) "Engels insisted that the workers' party should have the ability to
work patiently at the task of organizing and educating the proletariat, which
would lead to the dying out of religion, and not venture into a political
war on religion."
463 (a) "The proletarian dictatorship must consistently effect
the real emancipation of the working people from religious prejudices, doing
so by means of propaganda and by raising the political consciousness of the
masses but carefully avoiding anything that may hurt the feelings of the religious
section of the population and serve to increase religious fanaticism."
(b) "The Party's object is to completely destroy the connection between
the exploiting classes and organized religious propaganda and really liberate
the working people from religious prejudices. For this purpose it
must organize the most widespread scientific education and anti-religious
propaganda. It is necessary, however, to take care to avoid hurting
the religious sentiments of believers, for this only serves to increase religious
fanaticism."
(c) "We must be extremely careful in fighting religious prejudices; some
people cause a lot of harm in this struggle by offending religious feelings.
We must use propaganda and education. By lending too sharp an edge
to the struggle we may only arouse popular resentment; such methods of struggle
tend to perpetuate the division of the people along religious lines, whereas
our strength lies in unity. The deepest source of religious prejudice
is poverty and ignorance; and that is the evil we have to combat."
Page 216
Far greater stress must be laid on discussion and improved material conditions
than violence and coercion.464
If the latter approach took precedence over the former in regard
to most of the population, the system would soon be teetering on the verge
of collapse and a mockery would be made of socialism. If the Vietnamese
guerrillas or any other group of liberation fighters had based their movement
upon force and terror rather than persuasion, good deeds, and the improvement
of conditions, their destruction would have been difficult to avoid.
Force and terror have definite limitations and should be applied sparingly
and with restraint. Terror is negative in tone; persuasion and material
improvement are positive and progressive. Terror should only be employed
against the most recalcitrant465
and steadily reduced as their numbers diminish through lack of support. Since the ruling classes have not hesitated to employ a tremendous amount
of torture, bribery, terror, and intimidation to suppress revolutionary activities,
Marxists would be very unwise to renounce all use of terror.
466
Realistically, there is only one overall strategy by which society can
evolve smoothly from the revolution, through socialism to communism.
While party leaders incessantly, effectively and accurately inform the masses
as to what furthers their interests and does not contribute to the reinstitution
of private property, the masses must become increasingly knowledgeable and
alert to revisionist policies by their leadership and increasingly involved
in the performance of administrative functions without reducing the latter's
effectiveness.467
If either side fails to uphold its responsibilities, the road
to communism will be rocky indeed. Class struggle will continue during
the socialist phase and if caution and awareness are not sufficiently maintained,
a capitalist restoration could result.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
464 (a) "Our comrades must understand that ideological remoulding,
involves long-term, patient and painstaking work, and they must not attempt
to change people's ideology, which has been shaped over decades of life, by
giving a few lectures or by holding a few meetings. Persuasion not compulsion
is the only way to convince them. To try to convince them by force
simply won't work."
(b) "Struggle by reasoning and not by coercion or force should be applied
even in dealing with bourgeois Rightists."
(c) "We cannot abolish religion by administrative decree or force people
not to believe in it. We cannot compel people to give up idealism,
any more than we can force them to believe in Marxism. The only way
to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among
the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism,
of persuasion and education and not by the method of coercion or repression."
(d) "Inevitably, the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie will give expression
to their own ideologies. Inevitably they will stubbornly express themselves
on political and ideological questions by every possible means. You
cannot expect them to do otherwise. We should not use the method of
suppression and prevent them from expressing themselves, but should allow
them to do so and at the same time argue with them and direct appropriate
criticism at them. We must undoubtedly criticize wrong ideas of every
description."
(e) (Add) "...but it is our duty to utter the most serious warning against
being diverted by terror, against seeing in it the chief and basic means
of struggle...."
(f) (Add) "It is wrong to accuse us of wanting to introduce socialism by
force."
(g) (Add) "In the early post-liberation days, we provided work for all
the old bourgeois intellectuals except those who openly opposed the revolution.
The Party's policy is to let them work...and, in the course of this, gradually
remould their bourgeois world outlook until they accept the world outlook
of the proletariat. The bourgeois world outlook, however, is deep-rooted
among the intellectuals from the old society. They are linked to the
foundation of the old society in a hundred and one ways. For them to
accept the world outlook of the proletariat means completely changing every
thought in their heads, which is very painful and very difficult."
465 (a) (Add) "When a revolutionary class is fighting the propertied
classes that offer resistance, the resistance must be crushed. And we
shall crush the resistance of the propertied classes, using the same means
as they used to crush the proletariat--no other means have been invented.'
(b) (Add) "Yes, the terror and the Cheka are absolutely indispensable."
(c) (Add) "You know that the only way in which we could reply to them was
by merciless, swift and instant repression, with the sympathy and support
of the workers and peasants. That is the merit of our Cheka....
...Our only response is through an institution aware of the plotters's every
move and able to retaliate immediately instead of engaging in persuasion.
As long as there are exploiters in the world, who have no desire to hand
over their landowner and capitalist rights to the workers on a platter, the
power of the working people cannot survive without such an institution."
(d) (Add) "Either the whiteguard, bourgeois terrorism of the American,
British (Ireland), Italian (the fascists), German...and other types, or Red,
proletarian terrorism. There is no middle course, no 'third' course,
nor can there be any."
(e) (Add) Engels once said the following about the use of force and terror.
"Have these gentlemen ever seen a revolution? A revolution is certainly
the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of
the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets,
and cannon...and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain,
it must maintain rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the
reactionaries.'
(f) (Add) "The state is a sphere of coercion. It would be madness
to renounce coercion, especially in the epoch of the dictatorship of the
proletariat...."
(g) (Add) "The courts must not ban terror--to promise that would be deception
or self-deception--but must formulate the motives underlying it, legalize
it as a principle, plainly, without any make-believe or embellishment.
It must be formulated in the broadest possible manner, for only revolutionary
law and revolutionary conscience can more or less widely determine the limits
within which it should be applied."
(h) (Add) "...it is beyond doubt that the Commune fell only because it
did not make proper use of armed force at the right moment, although it won
undying fame in history, for it was the first to put the idea of dictatorship
of the proletariat into practice."
(i) (Add) "...and we shall use terror again if necessary, if you try it
again. Not a single worker, not a single peasant doubts the need for
it, no one doubts it but screaming intellectuals."
(j) (Add) "We must stop at nothing. Everybody and everything must
be used to save the rule of the workers and peasants, to save communism (read:
socialism--Ed.)."
(k) (Add) "...the means of struggle should be...(agitation, revolutionary
organization, transition at 'a suitable moment' to determined attack, not
rejecting, in principle, even terror)...."
(l) (Add) "What does Crispien say about terror and coercion? He has
said that these are two different things. Perhaps such a distinction
is possible in a manual of sociology, but it cannot be made in political
practice...."
(m) (Add) "Under certain circumstances violence is both necessary and useful,
but there are circumstances under which violence cannot produce results."
466 "The dictatorship of the proletariat implies a recognition
of the necessity to suppress the resistance of the exploiters by force, and
the readiness, ability and determination to do it. The bourgeoisie,
even the most republican and democratic bourgeoisie (for instance, in Germany,
Switzerland and the U.S.A.), have regular recourse to pogroms, lynching, assassination,
armed violence and terror against Communists and actually against all revolutionary
steps taken by the proletariat (or peasants--Ed.); to reject force or terror
under such circumstances is tantamount to turning into a snivelling petty
bourgeois, to spreading reactionary petty-bourgeois illusions about social
peace and, to put it concretely, is tantamount to fear of the belligerent
army officer."
467 (Add) "Our idea is that a state is strong when the people
are politically conscious. It is strong when the people know everything,
can form an opinion of everything and do everything consciously."
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