 First English edition, published by theExecutive Committee of the Communist International for delegates to its2nd World Congress[1] | |
| Author | Vladimir Lenin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Executive Committee of the Communist International (London) |
Publication date | 1920 |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Text | "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder atWikisource |
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (Russian:Детская болезнь "левизны" в коммунизме,Detskaya Bolezn' "Levizny" v Kommunizme) is a work byVladimir Lenin attacking assorted critics of theBolsheviks who claimed positions to their left. Most of these critics were proponents of ideologies later described asleft communism. The book was written in 1920 and published inRussian, German, English and French later in the year. A copy was then distributed toeach delegate at the2nd World Congress of the Comintern, several of whom were mentioned by Lenin in the work.[2] The book is divided into ten chapters and an appendix.
Lenin's manuscript wassubtitled "A Popular Exposition of Marxist Strategy and Tactics", but this was not applied to any edition brought out during his lifetime.[3]
Lenin argues that theRussian Revolution has considerable international significance and criticises the leaders of theSecond International, includingKarl Kautsky, for failing to recognize what he thought was the international relevance ofsoviet power as a revolutionary model. To illustrate their move away from revolutionary politics, he supplies a quote from a 1902 work of Kautsky which concludes that "Western Europe is becoming a bulwark of reaction and absolutism in Russia". Lenin asserts that in a war against thebourgeoisie "iron discipline" is an "essential condition". He continues by describing the circumstances that resulted in the Bolsheviks' successful assumption of state power in Russia.[4]
The third chapter divides the history of Bolshevism into the "years of preparation of the revolution" (1903–1905), the "years ofrevolution" (1905–1907), the "years of reaction" (1907–1910), the "years of rise" (1910–1914), the "first imperialist world war" (1914–1917) and the "second revolution in Russia". He describes the changing circumstances for revolutionaries in Russia and the reaction of the Bolsheviks to them.
Lenin describes the enemies of theworking class asopportunists,petty-bourgeois revolutionaries which he links toanarchism; and the "Left" Bolsheviks (expelled from the Bolshevik group in 1909), whom he links with those who criticised thePeace of Brest-Litovsk. He ends by criticizing theMensheviks,Socialist Revolutionaries and members of the Socialist International who were prepared to compromise with the German leaders in defence of acapitalist system.[5]
The fifth, sixth and seventh chapters discuss a section of theCommunist Party of Germany which split between the writing of the document and its publication to form theCommunist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD). As an example, he takesKarl Erler's article "The Dissolution of the Party". Lenin criticised the group's anti-trade union attitude, theiranti-parliamentarism and Erler's proposal of adictatorship of the masses as a counterpoint to the "dictatorship of the party" he claims the Russian Revolution has led to.
Lenin notes that theRussian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) rely on the Russian trade unions and that a reactionarylabour aristocracy is inevitable, but must be fought within the union movement. In contrast to the KAPD, he holds that so long as much of the proletariat holds illusions in parliaments, communists must work inside such reactionary organisations. Lenin then compares the anti-parliamentarism of the Dutch left and that ofAmadeo Bordiga.
Lenin then criticises the slogan "no compromises", noting that the Bolsheviks had made many compromises in their history. He believes that this is using theory asdogma, rather than as a "guide to action". Lenin also criticisesNational Bolshevism and some leftists for not recognising theTreaty of Versailles.[5]
Lenin critiques theWorkers Socialist Federation's opposition to parliamentary action and in particular to affiliation to theLabour Party through texts written bySylvia Pankhurst andWillie Gallacher. He proposes that all the main socialist groups in the country should form aCommunist Party of Great Britain and that they should offer anelectoral coalition with Labour. He concludes that the party would gain whether or not Labour accepted the offer. In a famous turn of phrase, he says that they should support Labour General SecretaryArthur Henderson "in the same way as the rope supports a hanged man".[5]
Lenin concludes that in each country, communism must struggle againstMenshevism and "Left-Wing" communism. He claims that communism has already won over the vanguard of the workers, but that to win over the masses it must relate to the differences between the Hendersons, theLloyd Georges (liberals) and theChurchills (conservatives). Despite certain defeats, he believes that the communist movement is "developing magnificently".
Lenin describes "Left-Wing" communism as the same mistake as that of thesocial democrats, but "the other way round", one that must be corrected; and that because "Left-Wing" communism is only a young trend, it is "at present a thousand times less dangerous and less significant than the mistakes of Right doctrinairism".[5]
Several appendices were added to the document before publication in response to new developments in Germany around the formation of the KAPD and new studies by Lenin of the Italian left. A final appendix acknowledged a letter on behalf of theCommunist Party of Holland in whichDavid Wijnkoop complained that the positions Lenin accorded to their organisation were only those of a minority in the group.[5]
Lenin invited Pankhurst and Gallacher to the Second Conference of theComintern. He convinced them to argue for their party, by then renamed theCommunist Party (British Section of the Third International), to join theCommunist Party of Great Britain. The CP(BSTI) did join and Gallacher remained a loyal member, although Pankhurst was expelled from the CPGB in 1921 and subsequently allied her remaining group with the KAPD, supporting theCommunist Workers' International.[6]
Herman Gorter replied to Lenin in anopen letter, arguing that the smaller numbers of peasants inWestern Europe constituted a key difference to the class struggle to that in Russia.[7] In the introduction, he stated:
It has taught me a great deal, as all your writings have done. [...] Many a trace, and many a germ of this infantile disease, to which without a doubt, I also am a victim, has been chased away by your brochure, or will yet be eradicated by it. Your observations about the confusion that revolution has caused in many brains, is quite right too. I know that. The revolution came so suddenly, and in a way so utterly different from what we expected. Your words will be an incentive to me, once again, and to an even greater extent than before, to base my judgement in all matters of tactics, also in the revolution, exclusively on reality, on the actual class-relations, as they manifest themselves politically and economically.
After having read your brochure I thought all this is right.
But after having considered for a long time whether I would cease to uphold this "Left Wing", and to write articles for the KAPD and the Opposition party in England, I had to decline.[8]
Besides other contexts, Lenin's"Left-Wing" Communism: an Infantile Disorder was the basic influence on contemporary Vietnamese official ideological language of "left-sided thinking" and "right-sided thinking."[9] "Left-sided thinking" refers to "dogmatic idealism" which has "unrealistic conceptions of change and development".[9] "Right-sided thinking" refers to "conservative resistance to change". According to theVietnam Encyclopedia published by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information, these are the "two main strands of opportunism", with the former giving rise to "extremism" and "adventurism", and the latter strand being "reformist", and "given to undue compromise with capital".[9]
