One Hundred Years Of The Bolshevik Party

Anil Biswas

ON JULY 30, a memorable event occurred in the history of the international communist movement.  One hundred years ago, on this day, a programme-based Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) (later named the Communist Party of the Soviet Union—CPSU-B [for Bolshevik]) was set up in the heartland of Russia.  The day saw the commencement of the second congress of the RSDLP.  The sessions started at Brussels in Belgium.  However, like in other such instances, the police broke up the conference.  The later sessions of the congress continued in London. 

The principal task before the congress was to draw up the programme of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).  In Lenin’s words, the task “is to create a real revolutionary workers’ party.”  However, the discussion sessions took such a compelling turn that the congress ended up adopting not merely a programme but a programme-based Party of a new kind.  The party that was thus born came to be known as the Bolshevik Party internationally.

This is not to suggest that no other communist party of a kind in some form had developed in some parts of the world.  Before the setting up of the Bolshevik Party, working class political parties had developed in countries like Germany, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland etc.  However, these parties had limited themselves to adopting an immediate politico-economic programme.  These working class parties had neither the backdrop nor the viable circumstances for developing in the correct manner.

Bolshevik Party was a real revolutionary workers’ party that came into existence with a programme. The Party created the right amount of enthusiasm across countries and thus acted as the inspirational hub for the setting up of communist parties and creation of party programmes.  The Bolshevik Party was principally built up, both organisationally and programmatically, for the November Revolution.  In the process, however, the theoretical issues that Lenin took up and resolved were never confined to the limits of Russia alone. The Leninist principles for communist parties went on to act as guidelines for the setting up of communist parties in the world.  A large part of the principles hold good even today.

Fifty-five years after the publication of the Communist Manifesto, the Bolshevik Party was set up.  The Communist Manifesto was the ideological base and the theoretical weapon for the building up of a party of the proletariat. Marx and Engels created a philosophical base for the setting of the Party.  Lenin materialised the philosophy by setting out the correct understanding, and vision, about what would be the programme of the party of the working class and what would be its organisational structure. He did this through setting up the Bolshevik Party.  It was a party with a difference in those times.  The effort to create the new kind of party was hardly an easy-going job.  Negotiating many hurdles, and working through a long ideological struggle, Lenin had to advance.

LANDMARK PROGRAMME

The principle task, as we have said, before the second congress of the RSDLP was to set up the programme of the Party.  There was no prior experience to guide the task of setting up the party programme. Thus, they had to start right from the beginning.  Lenin knew very well that the programme adopted by the RSDLP would serve as the basis for drawing up of party programmes by the communist parties in various countries. Thus, he started by setting out what was the programme of a communist party or the party of the working class.  Lenin wrote: “We are aware that the programme of a party of the working class is a short and scientific statement defining the objective and aim of the struggle of the working class.  At the same time, the programme contains a complete definition of the final goal of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat. It also describes at the same time the demands for the realisation of which the party has to wage struggles.”

Lenin did not arrive at this conclusion directly on the platform of the Party Congress. He had to wage struggles in several areas against different ideological-political points of view.  Lenin had commenced his struggle at least two years before the second congress of the RSLDP.  He was able to create a historical ideology through long debates and lengthy discussions.

Lenin did not remain aloof in any manner to the setting of the goal and aim of the party of the working class. He divided the programmatic goal of the working class into (i) a maximum programme; and (ii) a minimum programme.  The minimum programme was aimed at creating the grounds for the achievement of the ultimate goal.  The maximum programme dealt with the ultimate aim of the Party, namely, the socialist revolution, uprooting of capitalism, and establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. 

The minimum programme dealt with the immediate aims of the Party, namely, the overthrow of Tsarism, a bourgeois-democratic revolution, the establishment of a democratic republic, the introduction of an eight-hour working day, complete equality, the right to self-determination of all nations, and the abolition of the remnants of serfdom in the countryside.

The idea that Lenin created about the maximum and minimum programmes has formed the ideological basis in various countries in the task of the formation of party programmes.  The stages of revolution that different communist parties identify are based on the Leninist principles.  The Bolshevik Party programme set up the basis for the identification of the various stages of the revolution, which is one of the principal aspects of the Party strategy. Not satisfied with the mere drafting of the Party programme, Lenin also outlined a guideline on the build and the structure of the Party.  These have played a central role in the formation of the organisational structure of the Communist party in a great many countries.  Lenin insisted on setting up regular leadership institutions (committees) that would comprise regular party workers.  “The workers of this type should be professional revolutionaries, or, in other words, those who work only for the Party and the Party alone. They must possess a modicum of knowledge about Marxism, are rich in political experience, and possessed of organisational practice.”  The party, wrote Lenin, “admits into its ranks the finest members of the working class, the most class-conscious and the best organised, those who are selflessly devoted to the cause of the revolution.”  The process of selecting communist party workers across countries continues to follow the Leninist prescription.

VANGUARD FORCE

Lenin did not stop at formulating the build and structure of the Party alone in the second congress of the RSDLP.  The congress resolution delineated the characteristics of the new kind of political party, and the future role of the Party.  Lenin wrote: “The Marxist party is a part of the working class, its vanguard detachment.  The working class possesses many detachments.  Thus, the principal difference that marks the vanguard detachment from other detachments is that the vanguard detachment is the highest expression of class-consciousness of the proletariat; it absorbs the richest experience and the revolutionary traditions of the working class.  The Party is armed with the revolutionary theory of Marxism, with a knowledge of the laws of social development and of class struggle: that is what gives it the ability to lead the working class.”  

He also wrote: “The Party is not merely the vanguard detachment, or the class conscious detachment of the working class, it is the organised force of the working class.”  Lenin wrote: “The Party has its own structure of discipline. Every party member must abide by the disciplinary structure. Thus, party members must belong to one or the other party organisation.”  In delineating the characteristics of the various communist parties across the globe, this idea of Lenin has received the greatest importance.  One hundred years have passed from the formation of the Bolshevik Party in Russia.  In these one hundred years, hundreds of communist parties have been set up across the world. Party programmes have been formulated either at the time of the formation of the party or later after the party has been set up. Each party programme has identified the stages of revolution. Some parties have brought in changes in the concept of the stages of revolution. However, every communist party adheres to the maximum programme that Lenin established at the time of the formation of the Bolshevik Party, identifying the various strata.  Thus, on the issue of forming a programme-based Party, the Bolshevik Party is the guide.

The Bolshevik Party during its formation identified the nature of the communist party, the need for a Party with a difference for the working class, and which forces would constitute the Party.  These principles of party building are known as the Leninist principles.  The Leninist principles on party building continue to be immensely relevant.  The features and characteristics of a revolutionary party that Lenin identified continue to shape the revolutionary character of communist parties across the globe.  The manner in which the ideology of the Bolshevik Party has continued to enthuse the working class and to make the ranks indulge in the process of political-ideological and organisational thinking is indeed a rare phenomenon.