Every man to his trade -- though "there are hosts of people who would like to mix these two trades, we are not of their number."[181]
"And they," says the leading article in Rodnaya Zemlya, speaking of the Bolsheviks, "will now be even more isolated than ever; for those former boycottists, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, are now not only taking part in the elections, but are even in favour of a bloc with the Cadets."
This is new and interesting. We have already observed, on a former occasion, that on this question of electoral agreements the Socialist-Revolutionaries are not behaving like a political party, but like an intellectualist clique, for we heard of no open political action of their organisations on this question. And now, assuming that the newspaper for which Mr. Tan writes is not telling a down right lie and is not repeating an unverified rumour, we shall draw this further conclusion -- namely: in the matter of electoral agreements the Socialist-Revolutionaries are guilty of political dishonesty, or, at any rate, are displaying vacillation that amounts to a political danger.
Everyone knows that the Conference of the St. Petersburg Social-Democratic organisation rejected a bloc with the Cadets and offered to enter into an electoral agreement with the Trudoviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries against the Cadets. Our resolution was published in all the newspapers.
Negotiations between the St. Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and the appropriate bodies of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Committee of the Trudovik Group have already taken place. Differences arose over our exclusion of the Popular Socialists and over the distribution of seats. If, nevertheless, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who began negotiations with us after we had declared that we had definitely decided to give battle to the Cadets in St. Petersburg, have begun, or are continuing, negotiations with the Cadets for a bloc, then obviously, the Socialist-Revolutionaries are guilty of political dishonesty.
We openly declare: We are going to fight the Cadets. Who is on our side?
But the Socialist-Revolutionaries are negotiating both with us and with the Cadets!
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We repeat: We do not know whether the leading article in Rodnaya Zemlya told the truth or not. We cannot altogether ignore a direct statement made by an organ to which Mr. Tan, a member of the Organising Committee of the Popular Socialist Party, is a contributor. We have learned about the bloc between the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Popular Socialists from the press and from the communications made by the Socialist-Revolutionaries in their negotiations with us (although we are ignorant of the terms of this bloc and of its real nature; in this connection also something is going on behind the scenes).
Our duty, therefore, is to raise this question publicly and openly, so that all may know of the behaviour of a certain political party. Hitherto, in this country, the alignment of parties has been determined only by their programmes and literature -- but these, after all, are only words. The First Duma provided an opportunity of judging some parties by their actions. Now we must make use of the elections, too, and we shall use them for fully enlightening the masses as to the real nature of the parties.
That the Socialist-Revolutionaries are hiding something in their relations with the Popular Socialists is now a political fact. That the Socialist-Revolutionaries are now actually trailing in the wake of the opportunist party that has split off from them is also a fact. Hence, in regard to revolutionary independence and determination the Socialist-Revolutionaries are really much worse than they seem to be. And if they agree to enter into a bloc with the Cadets -- and to gain a seat not for themselves, but for the Popular Socialists -- we shall have excellent agitational material with which to explain to the workers of St. Petersburg the Marxist thesis of the utter instability and deceptive exterior of the petty-bourgeois (even if revolutionary) parties.
We not only think that it is a matter of honour for a Social-Democrat to "isolate" himself from such parties, but we think it is the only well-calculated policy to pursue. But our calculation is made not from the point of view of seats in the Duma, but from the point of view of the working class movement as a whole, from the point of view of the fundamental interests of socialism.
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But let us return to Rodnaya Zemlya. The following passage shows how frivolous that newspaper can be.
"Generally speaking, the decisions of the Bolshevik Conference appear to have been adopted hastily and rashly. After all in that respect are the Trudoviks better than the Popular Socialists?"
This "after all" is a real gem. The author is such an ignoramus in politics that he does not even realise that he is walking about naked, like an Australian savage. And these are the educated politicians of the petty bourgeoisie!
Well, there is nothing for it but to perform the "thankless task" of the publicist: to go over old ground and teach the ABC.
The Trudoviks, i.e., the Committee of the Trudovik Group, which was approached by the St. Petersburg Social-Democratic Conference, and the Popular Socialists, originated from the Trudovik Group in the First Duma. This Trudovik Group had two wings: one opportunist, the other revolutionary. The difference between them was most clearly revealed in the two Land Bills introduced by the Trudovik Group: the Bill of the 104, and the Bill of the 33.
Common to both Bills is that (1) they are in favour of transferring the land from the landlords to the peasants; (2) they are thoroughly permeated with the spirit of petty-bourgeois utopianism, the utopia of "equalising" small proprietors (in some respects, at least) in a society based on commodity production.
The difference between these Bills is that the first is permeated with the small proprietor's fear of being too radical, of drawing too large a mass of poor people into the movement. This "spirit" of the Bill of the 104 was admirably expressed by one of its authors, one of the leaders of the Popular Socialists, Mr. Peshekhonov, in referring to the declaration of the "thrifty muzhiks" in the Duma: "We were sent here to get land, not to give it up." This means that in addition to the utopia of petty-bourgeois equalitarianism this wing of the Trudoviks clearly expresses the selfish interests of the more well-to-do section of the peasantry, who are afraid lest they might have to "give up" something (on the assumption that there will be general "equalisation", as socialism is conceived by the petty bourgeois). Take from the
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landlord, but give nothing to the proletarian, such is the motto of the party of the thrifty muzhiks.
On the other hand, the Bill of the 33 proposes the immediate and complete abolition of private property in land. It also contains the "equalitarian" utopia, and to the same degree, but it does not express the fear of having to "give up". This is the utopia, not of the opportunist but of the revolutionary petty bourgeois; not of the thrifty muzhik, but of the ruined muzhik. It is not a dream of profiting from the landlord to the detriment of the proletarian, it is a dream of making everybody, including the proletarians, happy by equalisation. It expresses, not the fear of drawing the broadest and poorest masses into the movement, but the desire to draw them into the struggle (the desire is there, but the ability or understanding how to do so is lacking).[*]
After the Duma this difference in the two trends among the Trudoviks led to the formation of two distinct political organisations: the Committee of the Trudovik Group, and the Popular Socialist Party. The former has earned an honour able place in the history of the Russian revolution by its July manifestoes. So far as public knowledge goes, it has not yet forfeited its good reputation, has never renounced its manifestoes or joined the chorus of moaners, grousers and renegades.
The second organisation took advantage of the period of the dissolution of the Duma to legalise itself under the Stolypin regime, to "berate" the above-mentioned manifestoes in the legal press, where it was shielded from criticism from the Left, to advise the people "for the time being" not to come into conflict with certain institutions of the old regime, and so forth. The Conference of the St. Petersburg Social-Democratic organisation was, if anything, rather mild in its criticism of this party when it spoke of its "evasive position on the fundamental questions of the struggle outside the Duma".
Thus, the political facts so far are that the petty-bourgeois or Trudovik parties have clearly split into the parties of
* Of these and many other petty-bourgeois revolutionaries we might say what an anarchist poet said about us: "Together we'll destroy, but not construct."[182]
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the revolutionary petty bourgeoisie (the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Committee of the Trudovik Group) and a party of the opportunist petty bourgeoisie (the Popular Socialists). Since for Social-Democrats the election campaign is a means for politically educating the masses, here too, by distinguishing two Trudovik parties from a third, we have compelled the ordinary man in the street to ponder over the reasons for this distinction. And after thinking it out and realising what it is all about he will make an intelligent choice.
In conclusion we must note that the naïve and ignorant leader-writer of Rodnaya Zemlya indulges also in amusing sophistries to support his case. It would not be amiss to analyse one of these sophistries, which is of a kind that just suits philistines:
"The Bolsheviks are wrong even if there is no Black-Hundred danger. For, in that case, there is no need for a bloc with the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Trudoviks, and the Socialist-Democratic Party could with great benefit to the purity of its class content come out in the elections quite independently."
See what clever fellows we are, thinks this radical -- we can even judge of the purity of class content!
Yes, the modern newspaper hack "can" make judgements about anything, but he lacks knowledge and understanding. It is not true to say that the need to preserve the purity of a class position precludes all agreements. To think so is to reduce the ideas of Marxism to absurdity, to make a caricature of them. And it is equally untrue to say that there is no need for a bloc with the Socialist-Revolutionaries if there is no Black-Hundred danger.
Complete independence of the Social-Democratic Labour Party in the election campaign is the general rule. But every live, mass party must allow certain exceptions, but only within reasonable and strictly defined limits. In the epoch of the bourgeois revolution all Social-Democrats sanctioned political agreements with the revolutionary bourgeoisie, when they worked together in the Soviets of Workers', Peasants', Soldiers', Railwaymen's, etc., Deputies, and when they signed the famous manifesto of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies (December 1905) or the July manifestoes (July
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1906). The leader-writer of Rodnaya Zemlya is evidently ignorant of the most generally known facts about the parts played by the various parties in the Russian revolution. The revolutionary Social-Democrats reject unprincipled agreements, they reject harmful and unnecessary agreements, but they would never think of tying their hands altogether and under all circumstances. That would be childish. The platform of the 14 delegates at the All-Russian Social-Democratic Conference is documentary proof of that.
To proceed. The "necessity" of an agreement with the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Trudoviks in St. Petersburg arises from the Cadet danger. Had the author of the leading article in Rodnaya Zemlya been familiar with the subject which he undertook to discuss, he would have known that even among the Social-Democrats who support agreements with the Cadets there are highly influential bodies (the Bund, for example) which recognise the need for a bloc with the revolutionary bourgeoisie in case of a Cadet danger, when there is no Black-Hundred danger. In St. Petersburg, it would be possible not only to conduct an election campaign in the spirit of revolutionary and socialist education of the masses (we Social-Democrats will achieve this in any case), but to defeat the Cadets, if the Menshevik Social-Democrats did not betray us, and if all the revolutionary Trudoviks followed all the socialists. And Since we are conducting an election campaign, we have no right to miss any opportunity of achieving victory, as long as there is no violation of the principles of socialist tactics.
That the only important fight being waged in St. Petersburg is that between the Cadets and the Social-Democrats is proved by the election meetings (the same holds good for Moscow, and we may add that the results of all straw votes, such as that instituted by the newspaper Vek, or by the Shop Assistants' Union "Unity and Strength", have also confirmed this thesis).[183]
That an agreement with the Cadets means the ideological and political hegemony of the Cadets over their allies is borne out by the whole political press and by the whole character of the negotiations. The Cadets dictate the terms. The Cadets publicly lay down the significance of the agreements (recall their comments on the Mensheviks and the Pop-
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ular Socialists: "the moderate socialist parties", "the opposition bloc"). The Cadets are asked to agree to an equal distribution of seats as a maximum concession.
It is equally beyond doubt that an agreement between the Social-Democrats and the revolutionary-democratic parties means the hegemony of the Social-Democrats over the petty bourgeoisie. The Social-Democratic press has given an open, clear and all-round exposition of all its views, whereas the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Committee of the Trudovik Group have made no independent statement whatever on the question of agreements. The keynote is set by the Social-Democrats. The modification of their socialist views, of their class standpoint, is quite out of the question. When it comes to distributing the seats no one will think of offering them the smaller share. Their campaign in the workers' curia is proceeding quite independently, and is proving their preponderance.
Under such circumstances it would be simply absurd to be afraid to lead our revolutionary petty-bourgeois allies into battle against the Cadets. Under such circumstances we could even draw the Popular Socialists with us if the occasion required it. The principles of our Party would not suffer from this in the least: the political line would remain the same and the struggle against the leading party of the liberal-bourgeois conciliators would be waged with no less vigour. No sensible person would say that we were following the Popular Socialists (in conceding to them, together with the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Committee of the Trudovik Group, two seats out of six). On the contrary, it would be proof that the Social-Democrats were conducting a really independent campaign, and that we had deprived the Cadets of one of their appendages. Is it not obvious that if the semi-Cadets came on our list, their mobilisation against the Cadets would not merely not prejudice, but would, on the contrary, facilitate the task of fighting the latter?
The Conference of the St. Petersburg Social-Democratic organisation acted rightly in declaring openly and publicly its hostility towards the Popular Socialists. It was our duty to warn the revolutionary Trudoviks against such a pseudo-Trudovik party. If the revolutionary Trudoviks are
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dependent on the Popular Socialist Party, which is formally an entirely independent party, let them say so publicly. It is most important for us to drag this fact into the light of day, to make them admit it, and to draw all the conclusions that follow from it in our agitation among the mass of the workers, among the whole people.
Whether we get Trudoviks of a better or worse quality as our allies in the fight against the Cadets in St. Petersburg, is a question that we shall decide in a purely practical way. We have formulated our principles. In any case we shall go into the fight independently. We have openly disclaimed responsibility for the least reliable Trudoviks and placed this responsibility on others.
* *
*
The Left Cadets on Tovarishch tried to ridicule the Bolsheviks when the latter declared, as early as November, that three main parties were contending against each other in St. Petersburg: the Black Hundreds, the Cadets, and the Social-Democrats.
Rira bien qui rira le dernier (he who laughs last laughs best).
Our forecast has been proved correct.
There will be three lists for the Duma elections in St. Petersburg: the Black-Hundred, the Cadet and the Social Democratic.
Citizens, make your choice!