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Lenin's Struggle Against International Opportunism: 1914-1917

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Lenin's Struggle Against International Opportunism: 1914-1917 sky (the foremost "socialist" of the time), claimed to be "neutral"—and con• structed a myriad of "Marxist" arguments to justify this massive betrayal of the international proletariat and the cause of socialism. At a time when confusion, panic and demoralization had spread throughout the ranks of socialists around the world, the Russian Bolshevik Party, led by V.I. Sit Lenin, firmly upheld the banner of revolutionary Marxism. In close alliance with left-wing forces in other countries, the Bolsheviks called for a revolutionary struggle against the imperialist govern• ments in all the belligerent countries. They branded the leaders of the Second International as traitors to socialism and called for the formation of a new pro• letarian International, the Third Inter• national. Alone among revolutionaries at war's outbreak, Lenin and the Bolshevik Party raised the slogan "turn the imperialist war into a civil war" and called for genuine socialists in all the im• perialist countries to work for the defeat of their own bourgeoisie. Lenin and the Bolsheviks set out on this difficult course at a time when the situation in what had been previously called the international socialist move• ment appeared to be very bleak, at a time when, other than the Bolshevik Party, there were only small and scat• tered forces who rallied to the defense of revolutionary Marxism at first. The Bol• sheviks were denounced as "splitters" and were ridiculed as a "sect" that had lost all touch with reality. Writing in the spring of 1915, Lenin noted trenchantly: "The war has led to a grave crisis in the whole of international socialism. Like any other crisis, the present crisis of socialism has revealed ever more clearly the inner contradictions lying deep within it; it has torn off many a Lenin's Struggle false and conventional mask, and has shown up in the sharpest light what is outmoded and rotten in socialism, and what its further growth and advance Against International toward victory will depend on."1 The counter-revolutionary betrayal of the proletariat had not dropped from the Opportunism: 1914-1917 sky, Lenin explained to those who thought it might have been a temporary mistake that could soon be rectified. In The outbreak of the First World War the Second International crumbled and fact, an abcess of reformism and oppor• in 1914 was the greatest test yet to face collapsed. tunism had been growing and festering revolutionary Marxists of that time. The overwhelming majority of the within the main parties of the Second In• Within three years, virtually all of the leaders of these parties capitulated to ternational during the relatively stable advanced capitalist countries, along their bourgeoisies and deserted the and peaceful years preceding the im• with many of their colonies, were em• cause of revolution. The overt social- perialist war, and with the crisis brought broiled in the war. The imperialists in chauvinists directly supported the on by the war, it had inevitably burst each country whipped up a tremendous predatory moves of their governments open into full-fledged social-chauvinism wave of national chauvinism, of uniting and called on the workers of their own and outright desertion to the with one's own imperialist government country to shoot down the workers of bourgeoisie. under the slogan of "defend the other countries as a patriotic duty; while As Lenin and the Bolshevik Party fatherland." In the face of this situation the covert social-chauvinists, like Kaut- clearly saw, the ability of socialism to 2 "advance toward victory" depended Lenin's time, the imperialist system in the struggle against the Tsarist first and foremost on rallying all revolu• worldwide is heading into deeper crisis, regime, the Bolsheviks found that most tionary Marxists to wage an uncom• world war, and a period of growing tur• of the leaders of the Second Interna• promising political and ideological moil and revolutionary struggle. And tional leaned heavily, and openly at struggle on the international level the outcome of the current struggle be• times, in the direction of the Men- against social-chauvinism and oppor• tween genuine Marxism and the rotting sheviks' bourgeois liberal political tunism. The hold of the Second Interna• forces of revisionism around the world line—an important part of which were tional's treacherous leaders on honest will be no less important than in their appeals for unprincipled "unity" in socialists and the masses of the people 1914-1917 in determining whether the the RSDLP. had to be broken in order to launch international proletariat will be able to Soon after the 1904 international revolutionary agitation and struggle in seize the great revolutionary oppor- socialist congress, which passed a the course of the war. Without this tunites that will arise. resolution that there should be only one historic struggle spearheaded by Lenin socialist party in every country, the and the Bolshevik Party, the earth- leaders of the Second International shaking victory of the 1917 October I. The Struggle in Russian made the first of several attempts to Revolution in Russia would not have unite the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. been possible. Furthermore, it was only Social Democracy and the The Mensheviks readily accepted a pro- -\ in the course of waging a common International Socialist posal to submit their differences to a political and ideological struggle against court of arbitration, while the )' opportunism that it was possible to Movement Prior to Bolsheviks correctly maintained that unite genuine revolutionary forces inter• World War 1 there would be no purpose in holding nationally around the key political ques• unity negotiations unless the Men• tions dividing Marxism and interna• The shape of the historic struggle that sheviks repudiated their opportunist tionalism from revisionism and social took place within the international lines on key questions. As a result, the chauvinism, and on a basis of principled socialist movement from 1914-1917 was Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP led by political unity, to advance as rapidly as conditioned to no small degree by the Lenin entered the 1905 Revolution with possible towards the formation of the struggle which had broken out between a compact organization of professional Third International. The fruits of the revolutionary Marxism and oppor• revolutionaries united around a revolu- \ struggle were realized with the suc• tunism prior to World War I. While tionary Marxist line. cessful founding in 1919 of the Com• Lenin and the Bolsheviks (who were at In the following years, the Bolsheviks munist International, an international that time the majority of the Russian played an increasingly active role in the center to lead the struggle against im• Social-Democratic Labor Party) paid congresses of the Second International perialism. primary attention to the development of and in the work of the I SB, where they were In the face of savage repression and the class struggle in Russia and to generally viewed as sectarian Russian extremely difficult conditions, Lenin building the party, the ideological strug• emigres who didn't understand the in• directed the work of the Bureau of the gles they waged during the 1903-1914 tricacies and delicate questions involved Bolshevik Central Committee Abroad, period against the Economists, Men- in organizing mass socialist parties in which was based in Switzerland from sheviks and Liquidators brought them the "more cultured" countries of 1914 to early 1917, and tirelessly fought into the thick of the battles that were. Europe. In the course of this, Lenin to advance this line on the imperialist raging within the European socialist drew attention to the fact that there war and the urgent revolutionary tasks parties of the Second International. were "opportunist and revolutionary that were set before the proletariat and Leading Bolsheviks attended several wings of the international Social- genuine Marxists worldwide. They important international socialist con• Democratic movement on a number of utilized every possible opportunity to do gresses before the war that debated the cardinal issues"2—as he did in his sum• so, including struggling actively within questions of militarism and war, col• mation of the 1907 Conp- >ss held in the Zimmerwald anti-war movement onialism, and revolutionary tactics. Stuttgart, Germany. that developed in 1915. Lenin himself was a member of the In• The Stuttgart Cor • ^ss was especially In the course of these years Lenin and ternational Socialist Bureau (ISB) of the significant in view of the formation of the Bolsheviks paid closest attention to Second International from 1905 to 1914, rival imperialist blocs among the Euro• rallying left-wing forces from various where he became well acquainted with pean "great powers," accompanied by a countries and forging the greatest its chief leaders. rising tide of militarism and sharpening amount of unity among them ideologi• In Europe, the early 1900's were a battle for control of the colonies.. The cally, politically and organizationally. largely peaceful period which provided majority of the German delegation at The victories that were achieved in that fertile soil for the development of Stuttgart, led by Bernstein and David, struggle, though they might have seem• parliamentary cretinism, reformism and in league with Dutch and other ed to be small and insignificant at the open "revisionism" of the kind cham• chauvinists, proposed a "socialist col• time, in fact paved the way for the pioned by Bernstein in Germany and onial policy." Though this resolution greatest advances that had been made Jaures in France. In the battle to con• was rejected, Lenin commented that the by the proletariat and the oppressed solidate the RSDLP around the revolu• debate clearly revealed that full fledged people of the world to that date. tionary Iskra line in 1903, Lenin viewed "socialist opportunism" was rearing its This historic struggle waged by the the Economists as the Russian represen• head—opportunism which he linked to Bolshevik Party during World War 1, in tatives of this international opportunist the development of imperialism in pro• alliance with other revolutionary forces, trend.
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