J. V. Stalin
Marxism and the National Question
From J. V. Stalin,Works,
Foreign Languages Publishing House,
Moscow, 1954,
Vol. 2, pp. 300-81
CONTENTS
1. The Nation
2. The National Movement
3. Presentation Of The Question
4. Cultural-National Autonomy
5. The Bund, Its Nationalism, Its Separatism
6. The Caucasians, The Conference Of The Liquidators
7. The National Question In Russia
Notes
The period of counter-revolution in Russia
brought not only "thunder and lightning" in its train, but also disillusionment
in the movement and lack of faith in common forces. As long as people believed
in "a bright future," they fought side by side irrespective of nationality
– common questions first and foremost! But when doubt crept into people's
hearts, they began to depart, each to his own national tent – let every
man count only upon himself! The "national question" first and foremost!
At the same time a profound upheaval was taking place in
the economic life of the country. The year 1905 had not been in vain: one
more blow had been struck at the survivals of serfdom in the countryside.
The series of good harvests which succeeded the famine years, and the industrial
boom which followed, furthered the progress of capitalism. Class differentiation
in the countryside, the growth of the towns, the development of trade and
means of communication all took a big stride forward. This applied particularly
to the border regions. And it could not but hasten the process of economic
consolidation of the nationalities of Russia. They were bound to be stirred
into movement.
The "constitutional regime" established at that time also
acted in the same direction of awakening the nationalities. The spread
of newspapers and of literature generally, a certain freedom of the press
and cultural institutions, an increase in the number of national theatres,
and so forth, all unquestionably helped to strengthen "national sentiments."
The Duma, with its election campaign and political groups, gave fresh opportunities
for greater activity of the nations and provided a new and wide arena for
their mobilization.
And the mounting wave of militant nationalism above and the
series of repressive measures taken by the "powers that be" in vengeance
on the border regions for their "love of freedom," evoked an answering
wave of nationalism below, which at times took the form of crude chauvinism.
The spread of Zionism [1] among the Jews, the increase
of chauvinism in Poland, Pan-Islamism among the Tatars, the spread of nationalism
among the Armenians, Georgians and Ukrainians, the general swing of the
philistine towards anti-Semitism – all these are generally known facts.
The wave of nationalism swept onwards with increasing force,
threatening to engulf the mass of the workers. And the more the movement
for emancipation declined, the more plentifully nationalism pushed forth
its blossoms.
At this difficult time Social-Democracy had a high mission
– to resist nationalism and to protect the masses from the general "epidemic."
For Social-Democracy, and Social-Democracy alone, could do this, by countering
nationalism with the tried weapon of internationalism, with the unity and
indivisibility of the class struggle. And the more powerfully the wave
of nationalism advanced, the louder had to be the call of Social-Democracy
for fraternity and unity among the proletarians of all the nationalities
of Russia. And in this connection particular firmness was demanded of the
Social-Democrats of the border regions, who came into direct contact with
the nationalist movement.
But not all Social-Democrats proved equal to the task –
and this applies particularly to the Social-Democrats of the border regions.
The Bund, which had previously laid stress on the common tasks, now began
to give prominence to its own specific, purely nationalist aims: it went
to the length of declaring "observance of the Sabbath" and "recognition
of Yiddish" a fighting issue in its election campaign. [2]
The Bund was followed by the Caucasus; one section of the Caucasian Social-Democrats,
which, like the rest of the Caucasian Social-Democrats, had formerly rejected
"cultural-national autonomy," are now making it an immediate demand. [3]
This is without mentioning the conference of the Liquidators, which in
a diplomatic way gave its sanction to nationalist vacillations. [4]
But from this it follows that the views of Russian Social-Democracy
on the national question are not yet clear to all Social-Democrats.
It is evident that a serious and comprehensive discussion
of the national question is required. Consistent Social-Democrats must
work solidly and indefatigably against the fog of nationalism, no matter
from what quarter it proceeds.
I.
THE NATION
What is a nation?
A nation is primarily a community, a definite community of
people.
This community is not racial, nor is it tribal. The modern
Italian nation was formed from Romans, Teutons, Etruscans, Greeks, Arabs,
and so forth. The French nation was formed from Gauls, Romans, Britons,
Teutons, and so on. The same must be said of the British, the Germans and
others, who were formed into nations from people of diverse races and tribes.
Thus, a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically
constituted community of people.
On the other hand, it is unquestionable that the great empires
of Cyrus and Alexander could not be called nations, although they came
to be constituted historically and were formed out of different tribes
and races. They were not nations, but casual and loosely-connected conglomerations
of groups, which fell apart or joined together according to the victories
or defeats of this or that conqueror.
Thus, a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration,
but a stable community of people.
But not every stable community constitutes a nation. Austria
and Russia are also stable communities, but nobody calls them nations.
What distinguishes a national community from a state community? The fact,
among others, that a national community is inconceivable without a common
language, while a state need not have a common language. The Czech nation
in Austria and the Polish in Russia would be impossible if each did not
have a common language, whereas the integrity of Russia and Austria is
not affected by the fact that there are a number of different languages
within their borders. We are referring, of course, to the spoken languages
of the people and not to the official governmental languages.
Thus, a common language is one of the characteristic
features of a nation.
This, of course, does not mean that different nations always
and everywhere speak different languages, or that all who speak one language
necessarily constitute one nation. A common language for every nation,
but not necessarily different languages for different nations! There is
no nation which at one and the same time speaks several languages, but
this does not mean that there cannot be two nations speaking the same language!
Englishmen and Americans speak one language, but they do not constitute
one nation. The same is true of the Norwegians and the Danes, the English
and the Irish.
But why, for instance, do the English and the Americans not
constitute one nation in spite of their common language?
Firstly, because they do not live together, but inhabit different
territories. A nation is formed only as a result of lengthy and systematic
intercourse, as a result of people living together generation after generation.
But people cannot live together, for lengthy periods unless
they have a common territory. Englishmen and Americans originally inhabited
the same territory, England, and constituted one nation. Later, one section
of the English emigrated from England to a new territory, America, and
there, in the new territory, in the course of time, came to form the new
American nation. Difference of. territory led to the formation of different
nations.
Thus, a common territory is one of the characteristic
features of a nation.
But this is not all. Common territory does not by itself
create a nation. This requires, in addition, an internal economic bond
to weld the various parts of the nation into a single whole. There is no
such bond between England and America, and so they constitute two different
nations. But the Americans themselves would not deserve to be called a
nation were not the different parts of America bound together into an economic
whole, as a result of division of labour between them, the development
of means of communication, and so forth.
Take the Georgians, for instance. The Georgians before the
Reform inhabited a common territory and spoke one language. Nevertheless,
they did not, strictly speaking, constitute one nation, for, being split
up into a number of disconnected principalities, they could not share a
common economic life; for centuries they waged war against each other and
pillaged each other, each inciting the Persians and Turks against the other.
The ephemeral and casual union of the principalities which some successful
king sometimes managed to bring about embraced at best a superficial administrative
sphere, and rapidly disintegrated owing to the caprices of the princes
and the indifference of the peasants. Nor could it be otherwise in economically
disunited Georgia ... Georgia came on the scene as a nation only in the
latter half of the nineteenth century, when the fall of serfdom and the
growth of the economic life of the country, the development of means of
communication and the rise of capitalism, introduced division of labour
between the various districts of Georgia, completely shattered the economic
isolation of the principalities and bound them together into a single whole.
The same must be said of the other nations which have passed
through the stage of feudalism and have developed capitalism.
Thus, a common economic life, economic cohesion, is
one of the characteristic features of a nation.
But even this is not all. Apart from the foregoing, one must
take into consideration the specific spiritual complexion of the people
constituting a nation. Nations differ not only in their conditions of life,
but also in spiritual complexion, which manifests itself in peculiarities
of national culture. If England, America and Ireland, which speak one language,
nevertheless constitute three distinct nations, it is in no small measure
due to the peculiar psychological make-up which they developed from generation
to generation as a result of dissimilar conditions of existence.
Of course, by itself, psychological make-up or, as it is
otherwise called, "national character," is something intangible for the
observer, but in so far as it manifests itself in a distinctive culture
common to the nation it is something tangible and cannot be ignored.
Needless to say, "national character" is not a thing that
is fixed once and for all, but is modified by changes in the conditions
of life; but since it exists at every given moment, it leaves its impress
on the physiognomy of the nation.
Thus, a common psychological make-up, which manifests
itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic features of a
nation.
We have now exhausted the characteristic features of a nation.
A nation is a historically constituted, stable community
of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic
life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
It goes without saying that a nation, like every historical
phenomenon, is subject to the law of change, has its history, its beginning
and end.
It must be emphasized that none of the above characteristics
taken separately is sufficient to define a nation. More than that, it is
sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be lacking and
the nation ceases to be a nation.
It is possible to conceive of people possessing a common
"national character" who, nevertheless, cannot be said to constitute a
single nation if they are economically disunited, inhabit different territories,
speak different languages, and so forth. Such, for instance, are the Russian,
Galician, American, Georgian and Caucasian Highland Jews, who, in
our opinion, do not constitute a single nation.
It is possible to conceive of people with a common territory
and economic life who nevertheless would not constitute a single nation
because they have no common language and no common "national character."
Such, for instance, are the Germans and Letts in the Baltic region.
Finally, the Norwegians and the Danes speak one language,
but they do not constitute a single nation owing to the absence of the
other characteristics.
It is only when all these characteristics are present
together that we have a nation.
It might appear that "national character" is not one of the
characteristics but the sole essential characteristic of a nation,
and that all the other characteristics are, properly speaking, only conditions
for the development of a nation, rather than its characteristics. Such,
for instance, is the view held by R. Springer, and more particularly by
O. Bauer, who are Social-Democratic theoreticians on the national question
well known in Austria.
Let us examine their theory of the nation.
According to Springer, "a nation is a union of similarly thinking
and similarly speaking persons." It is "a cultural community of modern
people no longer tied to the 'soil.'" [5] (our
italics).
Thus, a "union" of similarly thinking and similarly speaking people,
no matter how disconnected they may be, no matter where they live, is a
nation.
Bauer goes even further.
"What is a nation?" he asks. "Is it a common language which makes
people a nation? But the English and the Irish ... speak the same language
without, however, being one people; the Jews have no common language and
yet are a nation." [6]
What, then, is a nation?
"A nation is a relative community of character."
But what is character, in this case national character?
National character is "the sum total of characteristics which distinguish
the people of one nationality from the people of another nationality –
the complex of physical and spiritual characteristics which distinguish
one nation from another."
Bauer knows, of course, that national character does not drop from
the skies, and he therefore adds:
"The character of people is determined by nothing so much as by
their destiny.... A nation is nothing but a community with a common destiny"
which, in turn, is determined "by the conditions under which people produce
their means of subsistence and distribute the products of their labour."
We thus arrive at the most "complete," as Bauer calls it, definition
of a nation:
"A nation is an aggregate of people bound into a community of
character by a common destiny."
We thus have common national character based on a common destiny,
but not necessarily connected with a common territory, language or economic
life.
But what in that case remains of the nation? What common
nationality can there be among people who are economically disconnected,
inhabit different territories and from generation to generation speak different
languages?
Bauer speaks of the Jews as a nation, although they "have
no common language"; but what "common destiny" and national cohesion is
there, for instance, between the Georgian, Daghestanian, Russian and American
Jews, who are completely separated from one another, inhabit different
territories and speak different languages?
The above-mentioned Jews undoubtedly lead their economic
and political life in common with the Georgians, Daghestanians, Russians
and Americans respectively, and they live in the same cultural atmosphere
as these; this is bound to leave a definite impress on their national character;
if there is anything common to them left, it is their religion, their common
origin and certain relics of the national character. All this is beyond
question. But how can it be seriously maintained that petrified religious
rites and fading psychological relics affect the "destiny" of these Jews
more powerfully than the living social, economic and cultural environment
that surrounds them? And it is only on this assumption that it is possible
to speak of the Jews as a single nation at all.
What, then, distinguishes Bauer's nation from the mystical
and self-sufficient "national spirit" of the spiritualists?
Bauer sets up an impassable barrier between the "distinctive
feature" of nations (national character) and the "conditions" of their
life, divorcing the one from the other. But what is national character
if not a reflection of the conditions of life, a coagulation of impressions
derived from environment? How can one limit the matter to national character
alone, isolating and divorcing it from the soil that gave rise to it?
Further, what indeed distinguished the English nation from
the American nation at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
nineteenth centuries, when America was still known as New England? Not
national character, of course; for the Americans had originated from England
and had brought with them to America not only the English language, but
also the English national character, which, of course, they could not lose
so soon; although, under the influence of the new conditions, they would
naturally be developing their own specific character. Yet, despite their
more or less common character, they at that time already constituted a
nation distinct from England! Obviously, New England as a nation differed
then from England as a nation not by its specific national character, or
not so much by its national character, as by its environment and conditions
of life, which were distinct from those of England.
It is therefore clear that there is in fact no single
distinguishing characteristic of a nation. There is only a sum total of
characteristics, of which, when nations are compared, sometimes one characteristic
(national character), sometimes another (language), or sometimes a third
(territory, economic conditions), stands out in sharper relief. A nation
constitutes the combination of all these characteristics taken together.
Bauer's point of view, which identifies a nation with its
national character, divorces the nation from its soil and converts it into
an invisible, self-contained force. The result is not a living and active
nation, but something mystical, intangible and supernatural. For, I repeat,
what sort of nation, for instance, is a Jewish nation which consists of
Georgian, Daghestanian, Russian, American and other Jews, the members of
which do not understand each other (since they speak different languages),
inhabit different parts of the globe, will never see each other, and will
never act together, whether in time of peace or in time of war?!
No, it is not for such paper "nations" that Social-Democracy
draws up its national programme. It can reckon only with real nations,
which act and move, and therefore insist on being reckoned with.
Bauer is obviously confusing nation, which is a historical
category, with tribe, which is an ethnographical category.
However, Bauer himself apparently feels the weakness of his
position. While in the beginning of his book he definitely declares the
Jews to be a nation, he corrects himself at the end of the book and states
that "in general capitalist society makes it impossible for them (the Jews)
to continue as a nation," by causing them to assimilate with other nations.
The reason, it appears, is that "the Jews have no closed territory of settlement,"
whereas the Czechs, for instance, have such a territory and, according
to Bauer, will survive as a nation. In short, the reason lies in the absence
of a territory.
By arguing thus, Bauer wanted to prove that the Jewish workers
cannot demand national autonomy, but he thereby inadvertently refuted his
own theory, which denies that a common territory is one of the characteristics
of a nation.
But Bauer goes further. In the beginning of his book he definitely
declares that "the Jews have no common language, and yet are a nation."
But hardly has he reached p. 130 than he effects a change of front and
just as definitely declares that "unquestionably, no nation is possible
without a common language" (our italics).
Bauer wanted to prove that "language is the most important
instrument of human intercourse," but at the same time he inadvertently
proved something he did not mean to prove, namely, the unsoundness of his
own theory of nations, which denies the significance of a common language.
Thus this theory, stitched together by idealistic threads,
refutes itself.
II.
THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT
A nation is not merely a historical category
but a historical category belonging to a definite epoch, the epoch of rising
capitalism. The process of elimination of feudalism and development of
capitalism is at the same time a process of the constitution of people
into nations. Such, for instance, was the case in Western Europe. The British,
French, Germans, Italians and others were formed into nations at the time
of the victorious advance of capitalism and its triumph over feudal disunity.
But the formation of nations in those instances at the same
time signified their conversion into independent national states. The British,
French and other nations are at the same time British, etc., states. Ireland,
which did not participate in this process, does not alter the general picture.
Matters proceeded somewhat differently in Eastern Europe.
Whereas in the West nations developed into states, in the East multi-national
states were formed, states consisting of several nationalities. Such are
Austria-Hungary and Russia. In Austria, the Germans proved to be politically
the most developed, and they took it upon themselves to unite the Austrian
nationalities into a state. In Hungary, the most adapted for state organization
were the Magyars – the core of the Hungarian nationalities – and it was
they who united Hungary. In Russia, the uniting of the nationalities was
undertaken by the Great Russians, who were headed by a historically formed,
powerful and well-organized aristocratic military bureaucracy.
That was how matters proceeded in the East.
This special method of formation of states could take place
only where feudalism had not yet been eliminated, where capitalism was
feebly' developed, where the nationalities which had been forced into the
background had not yet been able to consolidate themselves economically
into integral nations.
But capitalism also began to develop in the Eastern states.
Trade and means of communication were developing. Large towns were springing
up. The nations were becoming economically consolidated. Capitalism, erupting
into the tranquil life of the nationalities which had been pushed into
the background, was arousing them and stirring them into action. The development
of the press and the theatre, the activity of the Reichsrat (Austria) and
of the Duma (Russia) were helping to strengthen "national sentiments."
The intelligentsia that had arisen was being imbued with "the national
idea" and was acting in the same direction....
But the nations which had been pushed into the background
and had now awakened to independent life, could no longer form themselves
into independent national states; they encountered on their -path the very
powerful resistance of the ruling strata of the dominant nations, which
had long ago assumed the control of the state. They were too late!...
In this way the Czechs, Poles, etc., formed themselves into
nations in Austria; the Croats, etc., in Hungary; the Letts, Lithuanians,
Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, etc., in Russia. What had been an exception
in Western Europe (Ireland) became the rule in the East.
In the West, Ireland responded to its exceptional position
by a national movement. In the East, the awakened nations were bound to
respond in the same fashion.
Thus arose the circumstances which impelled the young nations
of Eastern Europe on to the path of struggle.
The struggle began and flared up, to be sure, not between
nations as a whole, but between the ruling classes of the dominant nations
and of those that had been pushed into the background. The struggle is
usually conducted by the urban petty bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation
against the big bourgeoisie of the dominant nation (Czechs and Germans),
or by the rural bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation against the landlords
of the dominant nation (Ukrainians in Poland), or by the whole "national"
bourgeoisie of the oppressed nations against the ruling nobility of the
dominant nation (Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine in Russia).
The bourgeoisie plays the leading role.
The chief problem for the young bourgeoisie is the problem
of the market. Its aim is to sell its goods and to emerge victorious from
competition with the bourgeoisie of a different nationality. Hence its
desire to secure its "own," its "home" market. The market is the first
school in which the bourgeoisie learns its nationalism.
But matters are usually not confined to the market. The semi-feudal,
semi-bourgeois bureaucracy of the dominant nation intervenes in the struggle
with its own methods of "arresting and preventing." The bourgeoisie –
whether big or small – of the dominant nation is able to deal more "swiftly"
and "decisively" with its competitor. "Forces" are united and a series
of restrictive measures is put into operation against the "alien" bourgeoisie,
measures passing into acts of repression. The struggle spreads from the
economic sphere to the political sphere. Restriction of freedom of movement,
repression of language, restriction of franchise, closing of schools, religious
restrictions, and so on, are piled upon the head of the "competitor." Of
course, such measures are designed not only in the interest of the bourgeois
classes of the dominant nation, but also in furtherance of the specifically
caste aims, so to speak, of the ruling bureaucracy.
But from the point of view of the results achieved this is
quite immaterial; the bourgeois classes and the bureaucracy in this matter
go hand in hand – whether it be in Austria-Hungary or in Russia.
The bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation, repressed on every
hand, is naturally stirred into movement. It appeals to its "native folk"
and begins to shout about the "fatherland,'; claiming that its own cause
is the cause of the nation as a whole. It recruits itself an army from
among its "countrymen" in the interests of ... the "fatherland." Nor do
the "folk" always remain unresponsive to its appeals; they rally around
its banner: the repression from above affects them too and provokes their
discontent.
Thus the national movement begins.
The strength of the national movement is determined by the
degree to which the wide strata of the nation, the proletariat and peasantry,
participate in it.
Whether the proletariat rallies to the banner of bourgeois
nationalism depends on the degree of development of class antagonisms,
on the class consciousness and degree of organization of the proletariat.
The class-conscious proletariat has its own tried banner, and has no need
to rally to the banner of the bourgeoisie.
As far as the peasants are concerned, their participation
in the national movement depends primarily on the character of the repressions.
If the repressions affect the "land," as was the case in Ireland, then
the mass of the peasants immediately rally to the banner of the national
movement.
On the other hand, if, for example, there is no serious
anti-Russian nationalism in Georgia, it is primarily because there
are neither Russian landlords nor a Russian big bourgeoisie there to supply
the fuel for such nationalism among the masses. In Georgia there is
anti-Armenian nationalism; but this is because there is still an Armenian
big bourgeoisie there which, by getting the better of the small and still
unconsolidated Georgian bourgeoisie, drives the latter to anti-Armenian
nationalism. .
Depending on these factors, the national movement either
assumes a mass character and steadily grows (as in Ireland and Galicia),
or is converted into a series of petty collisions, degenerating into squabbles
and "fights" over signboards (as in some of the small towns of Bohemia).
The content of the national movement, of course, cannot everywhere
be the same: it is wholly determined by the diverse demands made by the
movement. In Ireland the movement bears an agrarian character; in Bohemia
it bears a "language" character; in one place the demand is for civil equality
and religious freedom, in another for the nation's "own" officials, or
its own Diet. The diversity of demands not infrequently reveals the diverse
features which characterize a nation in general (language, territory, etc.).
It is worthy of note that we never meet with a demand based on Bauer's
all-embracing "national character." And this is natural: "national character"
in itself is something intangible, and, as was correctly remarked
by J. Strasser, "a politician can't do anything with it." [7]
Such, in general, are the forms and character of the national
movement.
From what has been said it will be clear that the national
struggle under the conditions of rising capitalism is a struggle
of the bourgeois classes among themselves. Sometimes the bourgeoisie succeeds
in drawing the proletariat into the national movement, and then the national
struggle externally assumes a "nation-wide" character. But this
is so only externally. In its essence it is always a bourgeois struggle,
one that is to the advantage and profit mainly of the bourgeoisie.
But it does not by any means follow that the proletariat
should not put up a fight against the policy of national oppression.
Restriction of freedom of movement, disfranchisement, repression
of language, closing of schools, and other forms of persecution affect
the workers no less, if not more, than the bourgeoisie. Such a state of
affairs can only serve to retard the free development of the intellectual
forces of the proletariat of subject nations. One cannot speak seriously
of a full development of the intellectual faculties of the Tatar or Jewish
worker if he is not allowed to use his native language at meetings and
lectures, and if his schools are closed down.
But the policy of nationalist persecution is dangerous to
the cause of the proletariat also on another account. It diverts the attention
of large strata from social questions, questions of the class struggle,
to national questions, questions "common" to the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
And this creates a favourable soil for lying propaganda about "harmony
of interests," for glossing over the class interests of the proletariat
and for the intellectual enslavement of the workers.
This creates a serious obstacle to the cause of uniting the
workers of all nationalities. If a considerable proportion of the Polish
workers are still in intellectual bondage to the bourgeois nationalists,
if they still stand aloof from the international labour movement, it is
chiefly because the age-old anti-Polish policy of the "powers that be"
creates the soil for this bondage and hinders the emancipation of the workers
from it.
But the policy of persecution does not stop there. It not
infrequently passes from a "system" of oppression to a "system"
of inciting nations against each other, to a "system" of massacres
and pogroms. Of course, the latter system is not everywhere and always
possible, but where it is possible – in the absence of elementary civil
rights – it frequently assumes horrifying proportions and threatens to
drown the cause of unity of the workers in blood and tears. The Caucasus
and south Russia furnish numerous examples. "Divide and rule" – such is
the purpose of the policy of incitement. And where such a policy succeeds,
it is a tremendous evil for the proletariat and a serious obstacle to the
cause of uniting the workers of all the nationalities in the state.
But the workers are interested in the complete amalgamation
of all their fellow-workers into a single international army, in their
speedy and final emancipation from intellectual bondage to the bourgeoisie,
and in the full and free development of the intellectual forces of their
brothers, whatever nation they may belong to.
The workers therefore combat and will continue to combat
the policy of national oppression in all its forms, from the most subtle
to the most crude, as well as the policy of inciting nations against each
other in all its forms
Social-Democracy in all countries therefore proclaims the
right of nations to self-determination.
The right of self-determination means that only the nation
itself has the right to determine its destiny, that no one has the right
forcibly to interfere in the life of the nation, to destroy
its schools and other institutions, to violate its habits and customs,
to repress its language, or curtail its rights.
This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy will
support every custom and institution of a nation. While combating the coercion
of any nation, it will uphold only the right of the nation itself
to determine its own destiny, at the same time agitating against harmful
customs and institutions of that nation in order to enable the toiling
strata of the nation to emancipate themselves from them.
The right of self-determination means that a nation may arrange
its life in the way it wishes. It has the right to arrange its life on
the basis of autonomy. It has the right to enter into federal relations
with other nations. It has the right to complete secession. Nations are
sovereign, and all nations have equal rights.
This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy will
support every demand of a nation. A nation has the right even to return
to the old order of things; but this does not mean that Social-Democracy
will subscribe to such a decision if taken by some institution of a particular
nation. The obligations of Social-Democracy, which defends the interests
of the proletariat, and the rights of a nation, which consists of various
classes, are two different things.
In fighting for the right of nations to self-determination,
the aim of Social-Democracy is to put an end to the policy of national
oppression, to render it impossible, and thereby to remove the grounds
of strife between nations, to take the edge off that strife and reduce
it to a minimum.
This is what essentially distinguishes the policy of the
class-conscious proletariat from the policy of the bourgeoisie, which attempts
to aggravate and fan the national struggle and to prolong and sharpen the
national movement.
And that is why the class-conscious proletariat cannot rally
under the "national" flag of the bourgeoisie.
That is why the so-called "evolutionary national" policy
advocated by Bauer cannot become the policy of the proletariat. Bauer's
attempt to identify his "evolutionary national" policy with the policy
of the "modern working class" is an attempt to adapt the class struggle
of the workers to the struggle of the nations.
The fate of a national movement, which is essentially a bourgeois
movement, is naturally bound up with the fate of the bourgeoisie. The -final
disappearance of a national movement is possible only with the downfall
of the bourgeoisie. Only under the reign of socialism can peace be fully
established. But even within the framework of capitalism it is possible
to reduce the national struggle to a minimum, to undermine it at the root,
to render it as harmless as possible to the proletariat. This is borne
out, for example, by Switzerland and America. It requires that the country
should be democratized and the nations be given the opportunity of free
development.
III.
PRESENTATION OF THE QUESTION
A nation has the right freely to determine
its own destiny. It has the right to arrange its life as it sees fit, without,
of course, trampling on the rights of other nations. That is beyond dispute.
But how exactly should it arrange its own life, what
forms should its future constitution take, if the interests of the
majority of the nation and, above all, of the proletariat are to be borne
in mind?
A nation has the right to arrange its life on autonomous
lines. It even has the right to secede. But this does not mean that it
should do so under all circumstances, that autonomy, or separation, will
everywhere and always be advantageous for a nation, i.e., for its majority,
i.e., for the toiling strata. The Transcaucasian Tatars as a nation may
assemble, let us say, in their Diet and, succumbing to the influence of
their beys and mullahs, decide to restore the old order of things and to
secede from the state. According to the meaning of the clause on self-determination
they are fully entitled to do so. But will this be in the interest of the
toiling strata of the Tatar nation? Can Social-Democracy look on indifferently
when the beys and mullahs assume the leadership of the masses in the solution
of the national question?
Should not Social-Democracy interfere in the matter and influence
the will of the nation in a definite way? Should it not come forward with
a definite plan for the solution of the question, a plan which would be
most advantageous for the Tatar masses?
But what solution would be most compatible with the interests
of the toiling masses? Autonomy, federation or separation?
All these are problems the solution of which will depend
on the concrete historical conditions in which the given nation finds itself.
More than that; conditions, like everything else, change,
and a decision which is correct at one particular time may prove to be
entirely unsuitable at another.
In the middle of the nineteenth century Marx was in favour
of the secession of Russian Poland; and he was right, for it was then a
question of emancipating a higher culture from a lower culture that was
destroying it. And the question at that time was not only a theoretical
one, an academic question, but a practical one, a question of actual reality....
At the end of the nineteenth century the Polish Marxists
were already declaring against the secession of Poland; and they too were
right, for during the fifty years that had elapsed profound changes had
taken place, bringing Russia and Poland closer economically and culturally.
Moreover, during that period the question of secession had been converted
from a practical matter into a matter of academic dispute, which excited
nobody except perhaps intellectuals abroad.
This, of course, by no means precludes the possibility that
certain internal and external conditions may arise in which the question
of the secession of Poland may again come on the order of the day.
The solution of the national question is possible only in
connection with the historical conditions taken in their development.
The economic, political and cultural conditions of a given
nation constitute the only key to the question how a particular
nation ought to arrange its life and what forms its future constitution
ought to take. It is possible that a specific solution of the question
will be required for each nation. If the dialectical approach to a question
is required anywhere it is required here, in the national question.
In view of this we must declare our decided opposition to
a certain very widespread, but very summary manner of "solving" the national
question, which owes its inception to the Bund. We have in mind the easy
method of referring to Austrian and South-Slav [8] Social-Democracy,
which has supposedly already solved the national question and whose solution
the Russian Social-Democrats should simply borrow. It is assumed that whatever,
say, is right for Austria is also right for Russia. The most important
and decisive factor is lost sight of here, namely, the concrete historical
conditions in Russia as a whole and in the life of each of the nations
inhabiting Russia in particular.
Listen, for example, to what the well-known Bundist, V. Kossovsky,
says:
"When at the Fourth Congress of the Bund the principles of the
question (i.e., the national question – J. St.) were discussed,
the proposal made by one of the members of the congress to settle the question
in the spirit of the resolution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party
met with general approval." [9]
And the result was that "the congress unanimously adopted" ...
national autonomy.
And that was all! No analysis of the actual conditions in
Russia, no investigation of the condition of the Jews in Russia. They first
borrowed the solution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party, then they
"approved" it, and finally they "unanimously adopted" it! This is the way
the Bundists present and "solve" the national question in Russia....
As a matter of fact, Austria and Russia represent entirely
different conditions. This explains why the Social-Democrats in Austria,
when they adopted their national programme at Brünn (1899) [10]
in the spirit of the resolution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party
(with certain insignificant amendments, it is true), approached the question
in an entirely non-Russian way, so to speak, and, of course, solved it
in a non-Russian way.
First, as to the presentation of the question. How is the
question presented by the Austrian theoreticians of cultural-national autonomy,
the interpreters of the Brünn national programme and the resolution
of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party, Springer and Bauer?
"Whether a multi-national state is possible," says Springer, "and
whether, in particular, the Austrian nationalities are obliged to form
a single political entity, is a question we shall not answer here but shall
assume to be settled. For anyone who will not concede this possibility
and necessity, our investigation will, of course, be purposeless. Our theme
is as follows: inasmuch as these nations are obliged to live together,
what legal forms will enable them to live together in the best
possible way?" (Springer's italics). [11]
Thus, the starting point is the state integrity of Austria.
Bauer says the same thing:
"We therefore start from the assumption that the Austrian nations
will remain in the same state union in which they exist at present and
inquire how the nations within this union will arrange their relations
among themselves and to the state."
Here again the first thing is the integrity of Austria.
Can Russian Social-Democracy present the question in this
way? No, it cannot. And it cannot because from the very outset it holds
the view of the right of nations to self-determination, by virtue of which
a nation has the right of secession.
Even the Bundist Goldblatt admitted at the Second Congress
of Russian Social-Democracy that the latter could not abandon the standpoint
of self-determination. Here is what Goldblatt said on that occasion:
"Nothing can be said against the right of self-determination. If
any nation is striving for independence, we must not oppose it. If Poland
does not wish to enter into lawful wedlock with Russia, it is not for us
to interfere with her."
All this is true. But it follows that the starting points of the
Austrian and Russian Social-Democrats, far from being identical, are diametrically
opposite. After this, can there be any question of borrowing the national
programme of the Austrians?
Furthermore, the Austrians hope to achieve the "freedom of
nationalities" by means of petty reforms, by slow steps. While they propose
cultural-national autonomy as a practical measure, they do not count on
any radical change, on a democratic movement for liberation, which they
do not even contemplate. The Russian Marxists, on the other hand, associate
the "freedom of nationalities" with a probable radical change, with a democratic
movement for liberation, having no grounds for counting on reforms. And
this essentially alters matters in regard to the probable fate of the nations
of Russia.
"Of course," says Bauer, "there is little probability that national
autonomy will be the result of a great decision, of a bold action. Austria
will develop towards national autonomy step by step, by a slow process
of development, in the course of a severe struggle, as a consequence of
which legislation and administration will be in a state of chronic paralysis.
The new constitution will not be created by a great legislative act, but
by a multitude of separate enactments for individual provinces and individual
communities."
Springer says the same thing.
"I am very well aware," he writes, "that institutions of this kind
(i.e., organs of national autonomy – J. St.) are not created in
a single year or a single decade. The reorganization of the Prussian administration
alone took considerable time.... It took the Prussians two decades finally
to establish their basic administrative institutions. Let nobody think
that I harbour any illusions as to the time required and the difficulties
to be overcome in Austria."
All this is very definite. But can the Russian Marxists avoid associating
the national question with "bold actions"? Can they count on partial reforms,
on "a multitude of separate enactments" as a means for achieving the "freedom
of nationalities"? But if they cannot and must not do so, is it not clear
that the methods of struggle of the Austrians and the Russians and their
prospects must be entirely different? How in such a state of affairs can
they confine themselves to the one-sided, milk-and-water cultural-national
autonomy of the Austrians? One or the other: either those who are in favour
of borrowing do not count on "bold actions" in Russia, or they do count
on such actions but "know not what they do."
Finally, the immediate tasks facing Russia and Austria are
entirely different and consequently dictate different methods of solving
the national question. In Austria parliamentarism prevails, and under present
conditions no development in Austria is possible without parliament. But
parliamentary life and legislation in Austria are frequently brought to
a complete standstill by severe conflicts between the national parties.
That explains the chronic political crisis from which Austria has for a
long time been suffering. Hence, in Austria the national question is the
very hub of political life; it is the vital question. It is therefore not
surprising that the Austrian Social-Democratic politicians should first
of all try in one way or another to find a solution for the national conflicts
– of course on the basis of the existing parliamentary system, by parliamentary
methods....
Not so with Russia. In the first place, in Russia "there
is no parliament, thank God." [13] In the second place
– and this is the main point – the hub of the political life of Russia
is not the national but the agrarian question. Consequently, the fate of
the Russian problem, and, accordingly, the "liberation" of the nations
too, is bound up in Russia with the solution of the agrarian question,
i.e., with the destruction of the relics of feudalism, i.e., with the democratization
of the country. That explains why in Russia the national question is not
an independent and decisive one, but a part of the general and more important
question of the emancipation of the country.
"The barrenness of the Austrian parliament," writes Springer, "is
due precisely to the fact that every reform gives rise to antagonisms within
the national parties which may affect their unity. The leaders of the parties,
therefore, avoid everything that smacks of reform. Progress in Austria
is generally conceivable only if the nations are granted indefeasible legal
rights which will relieve them of the necessity of constantly maintaining
national militant groups in parliament and will enable them to turn their
attention to the solution of economic and social problems."
Bauer says the same thing.
"National peace is indispensable first of all for the state. The
state cannot permit legislation to be brought to a standstill by the very
stupid question of language or by every quarrel between excited people
on a linguistic frontier, or over every new school."
All this is clear. But it is no less clear that the national question
in Russia is on an entirely different plane. It is not the national, but
the agrarian question , that decides the fate of progress in Russia. The
national question is a subordinate one.
And so we have different presentations of the question, different
prospects and methods of struggle, different immediate tasks. Is it not
clear that, such being the state of affairs, only pedants who "solve" the
national question without reference to space and time can think of adopting
examples from Austria and of borrowing a programme?
To repeat: the concrete historical conditions as the starting
point, and the dialectical presentation of the question as the only correct
way of presenting it – such is the key to solving the national question.
IV.
CULTURAL-NATIONAL AUTONOMY
We spoke above of the formal aspect of the
Austrian national programme and of the methodological grounds which make
it impossible for the Russian Marxists simply to adopt the example of Austrian
Social-Democracy and make the latter's programme their own.
Let us now examine the essence of the programme itself
What then is the national programme of the Austrian Social-Democrats?
It is expressed in two words: cultural-national autonomy.
This means, firstly, that autonomy would be granted, let
us say, not to Bohemia or Poland, which are inhabited mainly by Czechs
and Poles, but to Czechs and Poles generally, irrespective of territory,
no matter what part of Austria they inhabit.
That is why this autonomy is called national and not
territorial.
It means, secondly, that the Czechs, Poles, Germans, and
so on, scattered over the various parts of Austria, taken personally, as
individuals, are to be organized into integral nations, and are as such
to form part of the Austrian state. In this way Austria would represent
not a union of autonomous regions, but a union of autonomous nationalities,
constituted irrespective of territory.
It means, thirdly, that the national institutions which are
to be created for this purpose for the Poles, Czechs, and so forth, are
to have jurisdiction only over "cultural," not "political" questions. Specifically
political questions would be reserved for the Austrian parliament (the
Reichsrat).
That is why this autonomy is also called cultural,
cultural-national autonomy.
And here is the text of the programme adopted by the Austrian
Social-Democratic Party at the Brünn Congress in 1899. [14]
Having referred to the fact that "national dissension in
Austria is hindering political progress," that "the final solution of the
national question... is primarily a cultural necessity," and that "the
solution is possible only in a genuinely democratic society, constructed
on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage," the programme goes
on to say:
"The preservation and development of the national peculiarities
[15] of the peoples of Austria is possible only on the
basis of equal rights and by avoiding all oppression. Hence, all bureaucratic
state centralism and the feudal privileges of individual provinces must
first of all be rejected.
"Under these conditions, and only under these conditions,
will it be possible to establish national order in Austria in place of
national dissension, namely, on the following principles:
"1. Austria must be transformed into a democratic state federation
of nationalities.
"2. The historical crown provinces must be replaced by nationally
delimited self-governing corporations, in each of which legislation and
administration shall be entrusted to national parliaments elected on the
basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage.
"3. All the self-governing regions of one and the same nation
must jointly form a single national union, which shall manage its national
affairs on an absolutely autonomous basis.
"4. The rights of national minorities must be guaranteed
by a special law passed by the Imperial Parliament."
The programme ends with an appeal for the solidarity of all the
nations of Austria. [16]
It is not difficult to see that this programme retains certain
traces of "territorialism," but that in general it gives a formulation
of national autonomy. It is not without good reason that Springer, the
first agitator on behalf of cultural-national autonomy, greets it with
enthusiasm; Bauer also supports this programme, calling it a "theoretical
victory" for national autonomy; only, in the interests of greater clarity,
he proposes that Point 4 be replaced by a more definite formulation, which
would declare the necessity of "constituting the national minority within
each self-governing region into a public corporation" for the management
of educational and other cultural affairs.
Such is the national programme of Austrian Social-Democracy.
Let us examine its scientific foundations.
Let us see how the Austrian Social-Democratic Party justifies
the cultural-national autonomy it advocates.
Let us turn to the theoreticians of cultural-national autonomy,
Springer and Bauer.
The starting point of national autonomy is the conception
of a nation as a union of individuals without regard to a definite territory.
"Nationality," according to Springer, "is not essentially connected
with territory"; nations are "autonomous unions of persons."
Bauer also speaks of a nation as a "community of persons" which
does not enjoy "exclusive sovereignty in any particular region."
But the persons constituting a nation do not always live
in one compact mass; they are frequently divided into groups, and in that
form are interspersed among alien national organisms. It is capitalism
which drives them into various regions and cities in search of a livelihood.
But when they enter foreign national territories and there form minorities,
these groups are made to suffer by the local national majorities in the
way of restrictions on their language, schools, etc. Hence national conflicts.
Hence the "unsuitability" of territorial autonomy. The only solution to
such a situation, according to Springer and Bauer, is to organize the minorities
of the given nationality dispersed over various parts of the state into
a single, general, inter-class national union. Such a union alone, in their
opinion, can protect the cultural interests of national minorities, and
it alone is capable of putting an end to national discord.
"Hence the necessity," says Springer, "to organize the nationalities,
to invest them with rights and responsibilities...." Of course, "a law
is easily drafted, but will it be effective? "... "If one wants to make
a law for nations, one must first create the nations..." "Unless the nationalities
are constituted it is impossible to create national rights and eliminate
national dissension."
Bauer expressed himself in the same spirit when he proposed, as
"a demand of the working class," that "the minorities should be constituted
into public corporations based on the personal principle."
But how is a nation to be organized? How is one to determine
to what nation any given individual belongs?
"Nationality," says Springer, "will be determined by certificates;
every individual domiciled in a given region must declare his affiliation
to one of the nationalities of that region."
"The personal principle," says Bauer, "presumes that the
population will be divided into nationalities.... On the basis of the free
declaration of the adult citizens national registers must be drawn up."
Further.
"All the Germans in nationally homogeneous districts," says Bauer,
"and all the Germans entered in the national registers in the dual districts
will constitute the German nation and elect a National Council."
The same applies to the Czechs, Poles, and so on.
"The National Council," according to Springer, "is the cultural
parliament of the nation, empowered to establish the principles and to
grant funds, thereby assuming guardianship over national education, national
literature, art and science, the formation of academies, museums, galleries,
theatres," etc.
Such will be the organization of a nation and its central institution.
According to Bauer, the Austrian Social-Democratic Party
is striving, by the creation of these inter-class institutions "to make
national culture ... the possession of the whole people and thereby unite
all the members of the nation into a national-cultural community."
(our italics).
One might think that all this concerns Austria alone. But
Bauer does not agree. He emphatically declares that national autonomy is
essential also for other states which, like Austria, consist of several
nationalities.
"In the multi-national state," according to Bauer, "the working
class of all the nations opposes the national power policy of the propertied
classes with the demand for national autonomy."
Then, imperceptibly substituting national autonomy for the self-determination
of nations, he continues:
"Thus, national autonomy, the self-determination of nations, will
necessarily become the constitutional programme of the proletariat of all
the nations in a multi-national state."
But he goes still further. He profoundly believes that the inter-class
"national unions" "constituted" by him and Springer will serve as a sort
of prototype of the future socialist society. For he knows that "the socialist
system of society... will divide humanity into nationally delimited communities";
that under socialism there will take place "a grouping of humanity into
autonomous national communities," that thus, "socialist society will undoubtedly
present a checkered picture of national unions of persons and territorial
corporations, and that accordingly "the socialist principle of nationality
is a higher synthesis of the national principle and national autonomy."
Enough, it would seem..
These are the arguments for cultural-national autonomy as
given in the works of Bauer and Springer.
The first thing that strikes the eye is the entirely inexplicable
and absolutely unjustifiable substitution of national autonomy for self-determination
of nations. One or the other: either Bauer failed to understand the meaning
of self-determination, or he did understand it but for some reason or other
deliberately narrowed its meaning. For there is no doubt a) that cultural-national
autonomy presupposes the integrity of the multi-national state, whereas
self-determination goes outside the framework of this integrity, and b)
that self-determination endows a nation with complete rights, whereas national
autonomy endows it only with "cultural" rights. That in the first place.
In the second place, a combination of internal and external
conditions is fully possible at some future time by virtue of which one
or another of the nationalities may decide to secede from a multi-national
state, say from Austria. Did not the Ruthenian Social-Democrats at the
Brünn Party Congress announce their readiness to unite the "two parts"
of their people into one whole? [17] What, in such a
case, becomes of national autonomy, which is "inevitable for the proletariat
of all the nations"? What sort of "solution" of the problem is it that
mechanically squeezes nations into the Procrustean bed of an integral state?
Further: National autonomy is contrary to the whole course
of development of nations. It calls for the organization of nations; but
can they be artificially welded together if life, if economic development
tears whole groups from them and disperses these groups over various regions?
There is no doubt that in the early stages of capitalism nations become
welded together. But there is also no doubt that in the higher stages of
capitalism a process of dispersion of nations sets in, a process whereby
a whole number of groups separate off from the nations, going off in search
of a livelihood and subsequently settling permanently in other regions
of the state; in the course of this these settlers lose their old connections
and acquire new ones in their new domicile, and from generation to generation
acquire new habits and new tastes, and possibly a new language. The question
arises: is it possible to unite into a single national union groups that
have grown so distinct? Where are the magic links to unite what cannot
be united? Is it conceivable that, for instance, the Germans of the Baltic
Provinces and the Germans of Transcaucasia can be "united into a single
nation"? But if it is not conceivable and not possible, wherein does national
autonomy differ from the utopia of the old nationalists, who endeavoured
to turn back the wheel of history?
But the unity of a nation diminishes not only as a result
of migration. It diminishes also from internal causes, owing to the growing
acuteness of the class struggle. In the early stages of capitalism one
can still speak of a "common culture" of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
But as large-scale industry develops and the class struggle becomes more
and more acute, this "common culture" begins to melt away. One cannot seriously
speak of the "common culture" of a nation when employers and workers of
one and the same nation cease to understand each other. What "common destiny"
can there be when the bourgeoisie thirsts for war, and the proletariat
declares "war on war"? Can a single inter-class national union be formed
from such opposed elements? And, after this, can one speak of the "union
of all the members of the nation into a national-cultural community"? Is
it not obvious that national autonomy is contrary to the whole course of
the class struggle?
But let us assume for a moment that the slogan "organize
the nation" is practicable. One might understand bourgeois-nationalist
parliamentarians endeavouring to "organize" a nation for the purpose of
securing additional votes. But since when have Social-Democrats begun to
occupy themselves with "organizing" nations, "constituting" nations, "creating"
nations?
What sort of Social-Democrats are they who in the epoch of
extreme intensification of the class struggle organize inter-class national
unions? Until now the Austrian, as well as every other, Social-Democratic
party, had one task before it: namely, to organize the proletariat. That
task has apparently become "antiquated." Springer and Bauer are now setting
a "new" task, a more absorbing task, namely, to "create," to "organize"
a nation.
However, logic has its obligations: he who adopts national
autonomy must also adopt this "new" task;
but to adopt the latter means to abandon the class position
and to take the path of nationalism.
Springer's and Bauer's cultural-national autonomy is a subtle
form of nationalism.
And it is by no means fortuitous that the national programme
of the Austrian Social-Democrats enjoins a concern for the "preservation
and development of the national peculiarities of the peoples." Just
think: to "preserve" such "national peculiarities" of the Transcaucasian
Tatars as self-flagellation at the festival of Shakhsei-Vakhsei;
or to "develop" such "national peculiarities" of the Georgians as the vendetta!
...
A demand of this character is in place in an outright bourgeois
nationalist programme; and if it appears in the programme of the Austrian
Social-Democrats it is because national autonomy tolerates such demands,
it does not contradict them.
But if national autonomy is unsuitable now, it will be still
more unsuitable in the future, socialist society.
Bauer's prophecy regarding the "division of humanity into
nationally delimited communities" is refuted by the whole course of development
of modern human society. National barriers are being demolished and are
falling, rather than becoming firmer. As early as the 'forties Marx declared
that "national differences and antagonisms between peoples are daily more
and more vanishing" and that "the supremacy of the proletariat will cause
them to vanish still faster." [18] The subsequent development
of mankind, accompanied as it was by the colossal growth of capitalist
production, the reshuffling of nationalities and the union of people within
ever larger territories, emphatically confirms Marx's thought.
Bauer's desire to represent socialist society as a "checkered
picture of national unions of persons and territorial corporations" is
a timid attempt to substitute for Marx's conception of socialism a revised
version of Bakunin's conception. The history of socialism proves that every
such attempt contains the elements of inevitable failure.
There is no need to mention the kind of "socialist principle
of nationality" glorified by Bauer, which, in our opinion, substitutes
for the socialist principle of the class struggle the bourgeois
"principle of nationality." If national autonomy is based on such
a dubious principle, it must be admitted that it can only cause harm to
the working-class movement.
True, such nationalism is not so transparent, for it is skilfully
masked by socialist phrases, but it is all the more harmful to the proletariat
for that reason. We can always cope with open nationalism, for it can easily
be discerned. It is much more difficult to combat nationalism when it is
masked and unrecognizable beneath its mask. Protected by the armour of
socialism, it is less vulnerable and more tenacious. Implanted among the
workers, it poisons the atmosphere and spreads harmful ideas of mutual
distrust and segregation among the workers of the different nationalities.
But this does not exhaust the harm caused by national autonomy.
It prepares the ground not only for the segregation of nations, but also
for breaking up the united labour movement. The idea of national autonomy
creates the psychological conditions for the division of the united workers'
party into separate parties built on national lines. The breakup of the
party is followed by the breakup of the trade unions, and complete segregation
is the result. In this way the united class movement is broken up into
separate national rivulets.
Austria, the home of "national autonomy," provides the most
deplorable examples of this. As early as 1897 (the Wimberg Party Congress
[19]) the once united Austrian Social-Democratic Party
began to break up into separate parties. The breakup became still more
marked after the Brünn Party Congress (1899), which adopted national
autonomy. Matters have finally come to such a pass that in place of a united
international party there are now six national parties, of which the Czech
Social-Democratic Party will not even have anything to do with the German
Social-Democratic Party.
But with the parties are associated the trade unions. In
Austria, both in the parties and in the trade unions, the main brunt of
the work is borne by the same Social-Democratic workers. There was therefore
reason to fear that separatism in the party would lead to separatism in
the trade unions and that the trade unions would also break up. That, in
fact, is what happened: the trade unions have also divided according to
nationality. Now things frequently go so far that the Czech workers will
even break a strike of German workers, or will unite at municipal elections
with the Czech bourgeois against the German workers.
It will be seen from the foregoing that cultural-national
autonomy is no solution of the national question. Not only that, it serves
to aggravate and confuse the question by creating a situation which favours
the destruction of the unity of the labour movement, fosters the segregation
of the workers according to nationality and intensifies friction among
them.
Such is the harvest of national autonomy.
V.
THE BUND, ITS NATIONALISM,
ITS SEPARATISM
We said above that Bauer, while granting the
necessity of national autonomy for the Czechs, Poles, and so on, nevertheless
opposes similar autonomy for the Jews. In answer to the question, "Should
the working class demand autonomy for the Jewish people?" Bauer says that
"national autonomy cannot be demanded by the Jewish workers." According
to Bauer, the reason is that "capitalist society makes it impossible for
them (the Jews – J. St.) to continue as a nation."
In brief, the Jewish nation is coming to an end, and hence
there is nobody to demand national autonomy for. The Jews are being assimilated.
This view of the fate of the Jews as a nation is not a new
one. It was expressed by Marx as early as the 'forties, [20]
[21] in reference chiefly to the German Jews. It was
repeated by Kautsky in 1903, [22] in reference to the
Russian Jews. It is now being repeated by Bauer in reference to the Austrian
Jews, with the difference, however, that he denies not the present but
the future of the Jewish nation.
Bauer explains the impossibility of preserving the existence
of the Jews as a nation by the fact that "the Jews have no closed territory
of settlement." This explanation, in the main a correct one, does not however
express the whole truth. The fact of the matter is primarily that among
the Jews there is no large and stable stratum connected with the land,
which would naturally rivet the nation together, serving not only as its
framework but also as a "national" market. Of the five or six million Russian
Jews, only three to four per cent are connected with agriculture in any
way. The remaining ninety-six per cent are employed in trade, industry,
in urban institutions, and in general are town dwellers; moreover, they
are spread all over Russia and do not constitute a majority in a single
gubernia.
Thus, interspersed as national minorities in areas inhabited
by other nationalities, the Jews as a rule serve "foreign" nations as manufacturers
and traders and as members of the liberal professions, naturally adapting
themselves to the "foreign nations" in respect to language and so forth.
All this, taken together with the increasing re-shuffling of nationalities
characteristic of developed forms of capitalism, leads to the assimilation
of the Jews. The abolition of the "Pale of Settlement" would only serve
to hasten this process of assimilation.
The question of national autonomy for the Russian Jews consequently
assumes a somewhat curious character: autonomy is being proposed for a
nation whose future is denied and whose existence has still to be proved!
Nevertheless, this was the curious and shaky position taken
up by the Bund when at its Sixth Congress (1905) it adopted a "national
programme" on the fines of national autonomy.
Two circumstances impelled the Bund to take this step.
The first circumstance is the existence of the Bund as an
organization of Jewish, and only Jewish, Social-Democratic workers. Even
before 1897 the Social-Democratic groups active among the Jewish workers
set themselves the aim of creating "a special Jewish workers' organization."
[23] They founded such an organization in 1897 by uniting
to form the Bund. That was at a time when Russian Social-Democracy as an
integral body virtually did not yet exist. The Bund steadily grew and spread,
and stood out more and more vividly against the background of the bleak
days of Russian Social-Democracy.... Then came the 1900's. A mass
labour movement came into being. Polish Social-Democracy grew and drew
the Jewish workers into the mass struggle. Russian Social-Democracy grew
and attracted the "Bund" workers. Lacking a territorial basis, the national
framework of the Bund became too restrictive. The Bund was faced with the
problem of either merging with the general international tide, or of upholding
its independent existence as an extra-territorial organization. The Bund
chose the latter course.
Thus grew up the "theory" that the Bund is "the sole representative
of the Jewish proletariat."
But to justify this strange "theory" in any "simple" way
became impossible. Some kind of foundation "on principle," some justification
"on principle," was needed. Cultural-national autonomy provided such a
foundation. The Bund seized upon it, borrowing it from the Austrian Social-Democrats.
If the Austrians had not had such a programme the Bund would have invented
it in order to justify its independent existence "on principle."
Thus, after a timid attempt in 1901 (the Fourth Congress),
the Bund definitely adopted a "national programme" in 1905 (the Sixth Congress).
The second circumstance is the peculiar position of the Jews
as separate national minorities within compact majorities of other nationalities
in integral regions. We have already said that this position is undermining
the existence of the Jews as a nation and puts them on the road to assimilation.
But this is an objective process. Subjectively, in the minds of the Jews,
it provokes a reaction and gives rise to the demand for a guarantee of
the rights of a national minority, for a guarantee against assimilation.
Preaching as it does the vitality of the Jewish "nationality," the Bund
could not avoid being in favour of a "guarantee." And, having taken up
this position, it could not but accept national autonomy. For if the Bund
could seize upon any autonomy at all, it could only be national autonomy,
i.e., cultural-national autonomy; there could be no question of
territorial-political autonomy for the Jews, since the Jews have no definite
integral territory.
It is noteworthy that the Bund from the outset stressed the
character of national autonomy as a guarantee of the rights of national
minorities, as a guarantee of the "free development" of nations. Nor was
it fortuitous that the representative of the Bund at the Second Congress
of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, Goldblatt, defined national autonomy
as "institutions which guarantee them (i.e., nations – J. St.)
complete freedom of cultural development." [24] A similar
proposal was made by supporters of the ideas of the Bund to the Social-Democratic
group in the Fourth Duma....
In this way the Bund adopted the curious position of national
autonomy for the Jews.
We have examined above national autonomy in general. The
examination showed that national autonomy leads to nationalism. We shall
see later that the Bund has arrived at the same end point. But the Bund
also regards national autonomy from a special aspect, namely, from the
aspect of guarantees of the rights of national minorities. Let us
also examine the question from this special aspect. It is all the more
necessary since the problem of national minorities – and not of the Jewish
minorities alone – is one of serious moment for Social-Democracy.
And so, it is a question of "institutions which guarantee"
nations "complete freedom of cultural development" (our italics – J.
St.).
But what are these "institutions which guarantee," etc.?
They are primarily the "National Council" of Springer and
Bauer, something in the nature of a Diet for cultural affairs.
But can these institutions guarantee a nation "complete freedom
of cultural development"? Can a Diet for cultural affairs guarantee a nation
against nationalist persecution?
The Bund believes it can.
But history proves the contrary.
At one time a Diet existed in Russian Poland. It was a political
Diet and, of course, endeavoured to guarantee freedom of "cultural development"
for the Poles. But, far from succeeding in doing so, it itself succumbed
in the unequal struggle against the political conditions generally prevailing
in Russia.
A Diet has been in existence for a long time in Finland,
and it too endeavours to protect the Finnish nationality from "encroachments,"
but how far it succeeds in doing so everybody can see.
Of course, there are Diets and Diets, and it is not so easy
to cope with the democratically organized Finnish Diet as it was with the
aristocratic Polish Diet. But the decisive factor, nevertheless,
is not the Diet, but the general regime in Russia. If such a grossly Asiatic
social and political regime existed in Russia now as in the past, at the
time the Polish Diet was abolished, things would go much harder with the
Finnish Diet. Moreover, the policy of "encroachments" upon Finland is growing,
and it cannot be said that it has met with defeat....
If such is the case with old, historically evolved institutions
– political Diets – still less will young Diets, young institutions,
especially such feeble institutions as "cultural" Diets, be able to guarantee
the free development of nations.
Obviously, it is not a question of "institutions," but of
the general regime prevailing in the country. If there is no democracy
in the country there can be no guarantees of "complete freedom for cultural
development" of nationalities. One may say with certainty that the more
democratic a country is the fewer are the "encroachments" made on the "freedom
of nationalities," and the greater are the guarantees against such "encroachments."
Russia is a semi-Asiatic country, and therefore in Russia
the policy of "encroachments" not infrequently assumes the grossest form,
the form of pogroms. It need hardly be said that in Russia "guarantees"
have been reduced to the very minimum.
Germany is, however, European, and she enjoys a measure of
political freedom. It is not surprising that the policy of "encroachments"
there never takes the form of pogroms.
In France, of course, there are still more "guarantees,"
for France is more democratic than Germany.
There is no need to mention Switzerland, where, thanks to
her highly developed, although bourgeois democracy, nationalities live
in freedom, whether they are a minority or a majority.
Thus the Bund adopts a false position when it asserts that
"institutions" by themselves are able to guarantee complete cultural development
for nationalities.
It may be said that the Bund itself regards the establishment
of democracy in Russia as a preliminary condition for the "creation
of institutions" and guarantees of freedom. But this is not the case. From
the report of the Eighth Conference of the Bund [25]
it will be seen that the Bund thinks it can secure "institutions" on
the basis of the present system in Russia, by "reforming" the Jewish
community.
"The community," one of the leaders of the Bund said at this conference,
"may become the nucleus of future cultural-national autonomy. Cultural-national
autonomy is a form of self-service on the part of nations, a form of satisfying
national needs. The community form conceals within itself a similar content.
They are links in the same chain, stages in the same evolution." [26]
On this basis, the conference decided that it was necessary to
strive "for reforming the Jewish community and transforming it by
legislative means into a secular institution," democratically organized
(our italics – J. St.).
It is evident that the Bund considers as the condition and
guarantee not the democratization of Russia, but some future "secular institution"
of the Jews, obtained by "reforming the Jewish community," so to speak,
by "legislative" means, through the Duma:
But we have already seen that "institutions" in themselves
cannot serve as "guarantees" if the regime in the state generally is not
a democratic one.
But what, it may be asked, will be - the position under a
future democratic system? Will not special "cultural institutions which
guarantee," etc., be required even under democracy? What is the position
in this respect in democratic Switzerland, for example? Are there special
cultural institutions in Switzerland on the pattern of Springer's "National
Council"? No, there are not. But do not the cultural interests of,
for instance, the Italians, who constitute a minority there, suffer for
that reason? One does not seem to hear that they do. And that is quite
natural: in Switzerland all special cultural "institutions," which supposedly
"guarantee," etc., are rendered superfluous by democracy.
And so, impotent in the present and superfluous in the future
– such are the institutions of cultural-national autonomy, and
such is national autonomy.
But it becomes still more harmful when it is thrust upon
a "nation" whose existence and future are open to doubt. In such cases
the advocates of national autonomy are obliged to protect and preserve
all the peculiar features of the "nation," the bad as well as the good,
just for the sake of "saving the nation" from assimilation, just for the
sake of "preserving" it.
That the Bund should take this dangerous path was inevitable.
And it did take it. We are referring to the resolutions of recent conferences
of the Bund on the question of the "Sabbath," "Yiddish," etc.
Social-Democracy strives to secure for all nations
the right to use their own language. But that does not satisfy the Bund;
it demands that "the rights of the Jewish language" (our italics
– J. St.) be championed with "exceptional persistence," and the
Bund itself in the elections to the Fourth Duma declared that it would
give "preference to those of them (i.e., electors) who undertake to defend
the rights of the Jewish language."
Not the general right of all nations to use their
own language, but the particular right of the Jewish language, Yiddish!
Let the workers of the various nationalities fight primarily for
their own language: the Jews for Jewish, the Georgians for Georgian, and
so forth. The struggle for the general right of all nations is a secondary
matter. You do not have to recognize the right of all oppressed nationalities
to use their own language; but if you have recognized the right of Yiddish,
know that the Bund will vote for you, the Bund will "prefer" you.
But in what way then does the Bund differ from the bourgeois
nationalists?
Social-Democracy strives to secure the establishment of a
compulsory weekly rest day. But that does not satisfy the Bund; it demands
that "by legislative means" "the Jewish proletariat should be guaranteed
the right to observe their Sabbath and be relieved of the obligation to
observe another day. "*
It is to be expected that the Bund will take another "step
forward" and demand the right to observe all the ancient Hebrew holidays.
And if, to the misfortune of the Bund, the Jewish workers have discarded
religious prejudices and do not want to observe these holidays, the Bund
with its agitation for "the right to the Sabbath," will remind them of
the Sabbath, it will, so to speak, cultivate among them "the Sabbatarian
spirit. "...
Quite comprehensible, therefore, are the "passionate speeches"
delivered at the Eighth Conference of the Bund demanding "Jewish hospitals,"
a demand that was based on the argument that "a patient feels more at home
among his own people," that "the Jewish worker will not feel at ease among
Polish workers, but will feel at ease among Jewish shopkeepers."
Preservation of everything Jewish, conservation of all
the national peculiarities of the Jews, even those that are patently harmful
to the proletariat, isolation of the Jews from everything non-Jewish, even
the establishment of special hospitals – that is the level to which the
Bund has sunk!
Comrade Plekhanov was right a thousand times over when he
said that the Bund "is adapting socialism to nationalism." Of course, V.
Kossovsky and Bundists like him may denounce Plekhanov as a "demagogue"
[27] [28] – paper will put up with
anything that is written on it – but those who are familiar with the activities
of the Bund will easily realize that these brave fellows are simply afraid
to tell the truth about themselves and are hiding behind strong language
about "demagogy. "...
But since it holds such a position on the national question,
the Bund was naturally obliged, in the matter of organization also, to
take the path of segregating the Jewish workers, the path of formation
of national curiae within Social-Democracy. Such is the logic of national
autonomy!
And, in fact, the Bund did pass from the theory of "sole
representation" to the theory of "national demarcation" of workers. The
Bund demands that Russian Social-Democracy should "in its organizational
structure introduce demarcation according to nationalities." From "demarcation"
it made a "step forward" to the theory of "segregation." It is not for
nothing that speeches were made at the Eighth Conference of the Bund declaring
that "national existence lies in segregation."
Organizational federalism harbours the elements of disintegration
and separatism. The Bund is heading for separatism.
And, indeed, there is nothing else it can head for. Its very
existence as an extra-territorial organization drives it to separatism.
The Bund does not possess a definite integral territory; it operates on
"foreign" territories, whereas the neighbouring Polish, Lettish and Russian
Social-Democracies are international territorial collective bodies. But
the result is that every extension of these collective bodies means a "loss"
to the Bund and a restriction of its field of action. There are two alternatives:
either Russian Social-Democracy as a whole must be reconstructed on the
basis of national federalism – which will enable the Bund to "secure"
the Jewish proletariat for itself; or the territorial-international principle
of these collective bodies remains in force – in which case the Bund must
be reconstructed on the basis of internationalism, as is the case with
the Polish and Lettish Social-Democracies.
This explains why the Bund from the very beginning demanded
"the reorganization of Russian Social-Democracy on a federal basis." [29]
In 1906, yielding to the pressure from below in favour of
unity, the Bund chose a middle path and joined Russian Social-Democracy.
But how did it join? Whereas the Polish and Lettish Social-Democracies
joined for the purpose of peaceable joint action, the Bund joined for the
purpose of waging war for a federation. That is exactly what Medem, the
leader of the Bundists, said at the time:
"We are joining not for the sake of an idyll, but in order to fight.
There is no idyll, and only Manilovs could hope for one in the near future.
The Bund must join the Party armed from head to foot." [30]
It would be wrong to regard this as an expression of evil intent
on Medem's part. It is not a matter of evil intent, but of the peculiar
position of the Bund, which compels it to fight Russian Social-Democracy,
which is built on the basis of internationalism. And in fighting it the
Bund naturally violated the interests of unity. Finally, matters went so
far that the Bund formally broke with Russian Social-Democracy, violating
its statutes, and in the elections to the Fourth Duma joining forces with
the Polish nationalists against the Polish Social-Democrats.
The Bund has apparently found that a rupture is the best
guarantee for independent activity.
And so the "principle" of organizational "demarcation" led
to separatism and to a complete rupture.
In a controversy with the old Iskra [31]
on the question of federalism, the Bund once wrote:
"Iskra wants to assure us that federal relations between
the Bund and Russian Social-Democracy are bound to weaken the ties between
them. We cannot refute this opinion by referring to practice in Russia,
for the simple reason that Russian Social-Democracy does not exist as a
federal body. But we can refer to the extremely instructive experience
of Social-Democracy in Austria, which assumed a federal character by virtue
of the decision of the Party Congress of 1897."
That was written in 1902.
But we are now in the year 1913. We now have both Russian
"practice" and the "experience of Social-Democracy in Austria."
What do they tell us?
Let us begin with "the extremely instructive experience of
Social-Democracy in Austria." Up to 1896 there was a united Social-Democratic
Party in Austria. In that year the Czechs at the International Congress
in London for the first time demanded separate representation, and were
given it. In 1897, at the Vienna (Wimberg) Party Congress, the united party
was formally Liquidated and in its place a federal league of six national
"Social-Democratic groups" was set up. Subsequently these "groups" were
converted into independent parties, which gradually severed contact with
one another. Following the parties, the parliamentary group broke up –
national "clubs" were formed. Next came the trade unions, which also split
according to nationalities. Even the co-operative societies were affected,
the Czech separatists calling upon the workers to split them up. [32]
We will not dwell on the fact that separatist agitation weakens the workers'
sense of solidarity and frequently drives them to strike-breaking.
Thus "the extremely instructive experience of Social-Democracy
in Austria" speaks against the Bund and for the old Iskra.
Federalism in the Austrian party has led to the most outrageous separatism,
to the destruction of the unity of the labour movement.
We have seen above that "practical experience in Russia"
also bears this out. Like the Czech separatists, the Bundist separatists
have broken with the general Russian Social-Democratic Party. As for the
trade unions, the Bundist trade unions, from the outset they were organized
on national lines, that is to say, they were cut off from the workers of
other nationalities.
Complete segregation and complete rupture – that is what
is revealed by the "Russian practical experience" of federalism.
It is not surprising that the effect of this state of affairs
upon the workers is to weaken their sense of solidarity and to demoralize
them; and the latter process is also penetrating the Bund. We are referring
to the increasing collisions between Jewish and Polish workers in connection
with unemployment. Here is the kind of speech that was made on this subject
at the Ninth Conference of the Bund:
"... We regard the Polish workers, who are ousting us, as pogromists,
as scabs; we do not support their strikes, we break them. Secondly, we
reply to being ousted by ousting in our turn: we reply to Jewish workers
not being allowed into the factories by not allowing Polish workers near
the benches.... If we do not take this matter into our own hands the
workers will follow others" (our italics – J. St.)
That is the way they talk about solidarity at a Bundist conference.
You cannot go further than that in the way of "demarcation"
and "segregation." The Bund has achieved its aim: it is carrying its demarcation
between the workers of different nationalities to the point of conflicts
and strike-breaking. And there is no other course: "If we do not take this
matter into our own hands the workers will follow others...."
Disorganization of the labour movement, demoralization of
the Social-Democratic ranks – that is what the federalism of the Bund
leads to.
Thus the idea of cultural-national autonomy, the atmosphere
it creates, has proved to be even more harmful in Russia than in Austria.
VI.
THE CAUCASIANS,
THE CONFERENCE OF THE LIQUIDATORS
We spoke above of the waverings of one section
of the Caucasian Social-Democrats who were unable to withstand the nationalist
"epidemic." These waverings were revealed in the fact that, strange as
it may seem, the above-mentioned Social-Democrats followed in the footsteps
of the Bund and proclaimed cultural-national autonomy.
Regional autonomy for the Caucasus as a whole and cultural-national
autonomy for the nations forming the Caucasus – that is the way these
Social-Democrats, who, incidentally, are linked with the Russian Liquidators,
formulate their demand.
Listen to their acknowledged leader, the not unknown N.
"Everybody knows that the Caucasus differs profoundly from the
central gubernias, both as regards the racial composition of its population
and as regards its territory and agricultural development. The exploitation
and material development of such a region require local workers acquainted
with local peculiarities and accustomed to the local climate and culture.
All laws designed to further the exploitation of the local territory should
be issued locally and put into effect by local forces. Consequently, the
jurisdiction of the central organ of Caucasian self-government should extend
to legislation on local questions.... Hence, the functions of the Caucasian
centre should consist in the passing of laws designed to further the economic
exploitation of the local territory and the material prosperity of the
region." [33]
Thus – regional autonomy for the Caucasus.
If we abstract ourselves from the rather confused and incoherent
arguments of N., it must be admitted that his conclusion is correct.
Regional autonomy for the Caucasus, within the framework of a general state
constitution, which N. does not deny, is indeed essential because
of the peculiarities of its composition and its conditions of life. This
was also acknowledged by the Russian Social-Democratic Party, which at
its Second Congress proclaimed "regional self-government for those border
regions which in respect of their conditions of life and the composition
of their population differ from the regions of Russia proper."
When Martov submitted this point for discussion at the Second
Congress, he justified it on the grounds that "the vast extent of Russia
and the experience of our centralized administration point to the necessity
and expediency of regional self-government for such large units as Finland,
Poland, Lithuania and the Caucasus."
But it follows that regional self-government is to
be interpreted as regional autonomy.
But N. goes further. According to him, regional autonomy
for the Caucasus covers "only one aspect of the question."
"So far we have spoken only of the material development of local
life. But the economic development of a region is facilitated not only
by economic activity but also by spiritual, cultural activity."... "A culturally
strong nation is strong also in the economic sphere. "... "But the cultural
development of nations is possible only in the national languages."...
"Consequently, all questions connected with the native language are questions
of national culture. Such are the questions of education! the judicature,
the church, literature, art, science, the theatre, etc. If the material
development of a region unites nations, matters of national culture disunite
them and place each in a separate sphere. Activities of the former kind
are associated with a definite territory."... "This is not the case with
matters of national culture. These are associated not with a definite territory
but with the existence of a definite nation. The fate of the Georgian language
interests a Georgian, no matter where he lives. It would be a sign of profound
ignorance to say that Georgian culture concerns only the Georgians who
live in Georgia. Take, for instance, the Armenian church. Armenians of
various localities and states take part in the administration of its affairs.
Territory plays no part here. Or, for instance, the creation of a Georgian
museum interests not only the Georgians of Tiflis, but also the Georgians
of Baku, Kutais, St. Petersburg, etc. Hence, the administration and control
of all affairs of national culture must be left to the nations concerned.
we proclaim in favour of cultural-national autonomy for the Caucasian nationalities."
[34]
In short, since culture is not territory, and territory is not
culture, cultural-national autonomy is required. That is all N.
can say in the latter's favour.
We shall not stop to discuss again national-cultural autonomy
in general; we have already spoken of its objectionable character. We should
like to point out only that, while being unsuitable in general, cultural-national
autonomy is also meaningless and nonsensical in relation to Caucasian conditions.
And for the following reason:
Cultural-national autonomy presumes more or less developed
nationalities, with a developed culture and literature. Failing these conditions,
autonomy loses all sense and becomes an absurdity. But in the Caucasus
there are a number of nationalities each possessing a primitive culture,
a separate language, but without its own literature; nationalities, moreover,
which are in a state of transition, partly becoming assimilated and partly
continuing to develop. How is cultural-national autonomy to be applied
to them? What is to be done with such nationalities? How are they to be
"organized" into separate cultural-national unions, as is undoubtedly implied
by cultural-national autonomy?
What is to be done with the Mingrelians, the Abkhasians,
the Adjarians, the Svanetians, the Lesghians, and so on, who speak different
languages but do not possess a literature of their own? To what nations
are they to be attached? Can they be "organized" into national unions?
Around what "cultural affairs" are they to be "organized"?
What is to be done with the Ossetians, of whom the Transcaucasian
Ossetians are becoming assimilated (but are as yet by no means wholly assimilated)
by the Georgians, while the Cis-Caucasian Ossetians are partly being assimilated
by the Russians and partly continuing to develop and are creating their
own literature? How are they to be "organized" into a single national union?
To what national union should one attach the Adjarians, who
speak the Georgian language, but whose culture is Turkish and who profess
the religion of Islam? Shall they be "organized" separately from the Georgians
with regard to religious affairs and together with the Georgians
with regard to other cultural affairs? And what about the Kobuletians,
the Ingushes, the Inghilois?
What kind of autonomy is that which excludes a whole number
of nationalities from the list?
No, that is not a solution of the national question, but
the fruit of idle fancy.
But let us grant the impossible and assume that our N.'s
national-cultural autonomy has been put into effect. Where would it lead
to, what would be its results? Take, for instance, the Transcaucasian Tatars,
with their minimum percentage of literates, their schools controlled by
the omnipotent mullahs and their culture permeated by the religious spirit....
It is not difficult to understand that to "organize" them into a cultural
national union would mean to place them under the control of the mullahs,
to deliver them over to the tender mercies of the reactionary mullahs,
to create a new stronghold of spiritual enslavement of the Tatar masses
to their worst enemy.
But since when have Social-Democrats made it a practice to
bring grist to the mill of the reactionaries?
Could the Caucasian Liquidators really find nothing better
to "proclaim" than the isolation of the Transcaucasian Tatars within a
cultural-national union which would place the masses under the thraldom
of vicious reactionaries?
No, that is no solution of the national question.
The national question in the Caucasus can be solved only
by drawing the belated nations and nationalities into the common stream
of a higher culture. It is the only progressive solution and the only
solution acceptable to Social-Democracy. Regional autonomy in the Caucasus
is acceptable because it would draw the belated nations into the common
cultural development; it would help them to cast off the shell of small
nation insularity; it would impel them forward and facilitate access to
the benefits of higher culture. Cultural-national autonomy, however, acts
in a diametrically opposite direction, because it shuts up the nations
within their old shells, binds them to the lower stages of cultural development
and prevents them from rising to the higher stages of culture.
In this way national autonomy counteracts the beneficial
aspects of regional autonomy and nullifies it.
That is why the mixed type of autonomy which combines national-cultural
autonomy and regional autonomy as proposed by N. is also unsuitable.
This unnatural combination does not improve matters but makes them worse,
because in addition to retarding the development of the belated nations
it transforms regional autonomy into an arena of conflict between the nations
organized in the national unions.
Thus cultural-national autonomy, which is unsuitable generally,
would be a senseless, reactionary undertaking in the Caucasus.
So much for the cultural-national autonomy of N. and
his Caucasian fellow-thinkers.
Whether the Caucasian Liquidators will take "a step forward"
and follow in the footsteps of the Bund on the question of organization
also, the future will show. So far, in the history of Social-Democracy
federalism in organization always preceded national autonomy in programme.
The Austrian Social-Democrats introduced organizational federalism as far
back as 1897, and it was only two years later (1899) that they adopted
national autonomy. The Bundists spoke distinctly of national autonomy for
the first time in 1901, whereas organizational federalism had been practiced
by them since 1897.
The Caucasian Liquidators have begun from the end, from national
autonomy. If they continue to follow in the footsteps of the Bund they
will first have to demolish the whole existing organizational edifice,
which was erected at the end of the 'nineties on the basis of internationalism.
But, easy though it was to adopt national autonomy, which
is still not understood by the workers, it will be difficult to demolish
an edifice which it has taken years to build and which has been raised
and cherished by the workers of all the nationalities of the Caucasus.
This Herostratian undertaking has only to be begun and the eyes of the
workers will be opened to the nationalist character of cultural-national
autonomy.
* * *
While the Caucasians are settling the national
question in the usual manner, by means of verbal and written discussion,
the All-Russian Conference of the Liquidators has invented a most unusual
method. It is a simple and easy method. Listen to this:
"Having heard the communication of the Caucasian delegation to
the effect that... it is necessary to demand national-cultural autonomy,
this conference, while expressing no opinion on the merits of this demand,
declares that such an interpretation of the clause of the programme which
recognizes the right of every nationality to self-determination does not
contradict the precise meaning of the programme."
Thus, first of all they "express no opinion on the merits" of the
question, and then they "declare." An original method....
And what does this original conference "declare"?
That the "demand" for national-cultural autonomy "does not
contradict the precise meaning "of the programme, which recognizes the
right of nations to self-determination.
Let us examine this proposition.
The clause on self-determination speaks of the rights of
nations. According to this clause, nations have the right not only of autonomy
but also of secession. It is a question of political self-determination.
Whom did the Liquidators want to fool when they endeavoured to misinterpret
this right of nations to political self-determination, which has long been
recognized by the whole of international Social-Democracy?
Or perhaps the Liquidators will try to wriggle out of the
situation and defend themselves by the sophism that cultural-national autonomy
"does not contradict" the rights of nations? That is to say, if all the
nations in a given state agree to arrange their affairs on the basis of
cultural-national autonomy, they, the given sum of nations, are fully entitled
to do so and nobody may forcibly impose a different form of political
life on them. This is both new and clever. Should it not be added that,
speaking generally, a nation has the right to abolish its own constitution,
replace it by a system of tyranny and revert to the old order on the grounds
that the nation, and the nation alone, has the right to determine its own
destiny? We repeat: in this sense, neither cultural-national autonomy nor
any other kind of nationalist reaction "contradicts" the rights of nations.
Is that what the esteemed conference wanted to say?
No, not that. It specifically says that cultural-national
autonomy "does not contradict," not the rights of nations, but "the
precise meaning" of the programme. The point here is the programme
and not the rights of nations.
And that is quite understandable. If it were some nation
that addressed itself to the conference of Liquidators, the conference
might have directly declared that the nation has a right to cultural-national
autonomy. But it was not a nation that addressed itself to the conference,
but a "delegation" of Caucasian Social-Democrats – bad Social-Democrats,
it is true, but Social-Democrats nevertheless. And they inquired not about
the rights of nations, but whether cultural-national autonomy contradicted
the principles of Social-Democracy, whether it did not "contradict"
"the precise meaning" of the programme of Social-Democracy.
Thus, the rights of nations and "the precise meaning"
of the programme of Social-Democracy are not one and the same thing.
Evidently, there are demands which, while they do not contradict
the rights of nations, may yet contradict "the precise meaning" of the
programme.
For example. The programme of the Social-Democrats contains
a clause on freedom of religion. According to this clause any group of
persons have the right to profess any religion they please: Catholicism,
the religion of the Orthodox Church, etc. Social-Democrats will combat
all forms of religious persecution, be it of members of the Orthodox Church,
Catholics or Protestants. Does this mean that Catholicism, Protestantism,
etc., "do not contradict the precise meaning" of the programme? No, it
does not. Social-Democrats will always protest against persecution of Catholicism
or Protestantism; they will always defend the right of nations to profess
any religion they please; but at the same time, on the basis of a correct
understanding of the interests of the proletariat, they will carry on agitation
against Catholicism, Protestantism and the religion of the Orthodox Church
in order to achieve the triumph of the socialist world outlook.
And they will do so just because there is no doubt that Protestantism,
Catholicism, the religion of the Orthodox Church, etc., "contradict the
precise meaning" of the programme, i.e., the correctly understood interests
of the proletariat.
The same must be said of self-determination. Nations have
a right to arrange their affairs as they please; they have a right to preserve
any of their national institutions, whether beneficial or harmful – nobody
can (nobody has a right to!) forcibly interfere in the life of a
nation. But that does not mean that Social-Democracy will not combat and
agitate against the harmful institutions of nations and against the inexpedient
demands of nations. On the contrary, it is the duty of Social-Democracy
to conduct such agitation and to endeavour to influence the will of nations
so that the nations may arrange their affairs in the way that will best
correspond to the interests of the proletariat. For this reason Social-Democracy,
while fighting for the right of nations to self-determination, will at
the same time agitate, for instance, against the secession of the Tatars,
or against cultural-national autonomy for the Caucasian nations; for both,
while not contradicting the rights of these nations, do contradict
"the precise meaning" of the programme, i.e., the interests of the
Caucasian proletariat.
Obviously, "the rights of nations" and the "precise meaning"
of the programme are on two entirely different planes. Whereas the "precise
meaning" of the programme expresses the interests of the proletariat, as
scientifically formulated in the programme of the latter, the rights of
nations may express the interests of any class – bourgeoisie, aristocracy,
clergy, etc. – depending on the strength and influence of these classes.
On the one hand are the duties of Marxists, on the other the rights
of nations, which consist of various classes. The rights of nations and
the principles of Social-Democracy may or may not "contradict" each other,
just as, say, the pyramid of Cheops may or may not contradict the famous
conference of the Liquidators. They are simply not comparable.
But it follows that the esteemed conference most unpardonably
muddled two entirely different things. The result obtained was not a solution
of the national question but an absurdity, according to which the rights
of nations and the principles of Social-Democracy "do not contradict" each
other, and, consequently; every demand of a nation may be made compatible
with the interests of the proletariat; consequently, no demand of a nation
which is striving for self-determination will "contradict the precise meaning"
of the programme!
They pay no heed to logic....
It was this absurdity that gave rise to the now famous resolution
of the conference of the Liquidators which declares that the demand for
national-cultural autonomy "does not contradict the precise meaning" of
the programme.
But it was not only the laws of logic that were violated
by the conference of the Liquidators.
By sanctioning cultural-national autonomy it also violated
its duty to Russian Social-Democracy. It most definitely did violate "the
precise meaning" of the programme, for it is well known that the Second
Congress, which adopted the programme, emphatically repudiated cultural-national
autonomy. Here is what was said at the congress in this connection:
"Goldblatt (Bundist): ...1 deem it necessary that special
institutions be set up to protect the freedom of cultural development of
nationalities, and I therefore propose that the following words be added
to § 8: 'and the creation of institutions which will guarantee
them complete freedom of cultural development.'" (This, as we know,
is the Bund's definition of cultural-national autonomy. – J. St.)
"Martynov pointed out that general institutions must
be so constituted as to protect particular interests also. It is impossible
to create a special institution to guarantee freedom for cultural
development of the nationalities.
"Yegorov: On the question of nationality we can adopt
only negative proposals, i.e., we are opposed to all restrictions upon
nationality. But we, as Social-Democrats, are not concerned with whether
any particular nationality will develop as such. That is a spontaneous
process.
"Koltsov: The delegates from the Bund are always offended
when their nationalism is referred to. Yet the amendment proposed by the
delegate from the Bund is of a purely nationalist character. We are asked
to take purely offensive measures in order to support even nationalities
that are dying out."
In the end "Goldblatt's amendment was rejected by the
majority, only three votes being cast for it."
Thus it is clear that the conference of the Liquidators did "contradict
the precise meaning" of the programme. It violated the programme.
The Liquidators are now trying to justify themselves by referring
to the Stockholm Congress, which they allege sanctioned cultural-national
autonomy. Thus, V. Kossovsky writes:
"As we know, according to the agreement adopted by the Stockholm
Congress, the Bund was allowed to preserve its national programme (pending
a decision on the national question by a general Party congress). This
congress recorded that national-cultural autonomy at any rate does not
contradict the general Party programme." [35]
But the efforts of the Liquidators are in vain. The Stockholm Congress
never thought of sanctioning the programme of the Bund – it merely agreed
to leave the question open for the time being. The brave Kossovsky did
not have enough courage to tell the whole truth. But the facts speak for
themselves. Here they are:
"An amendment was moved by Galin: 'The question of the national
programme is left open in view of the fact that it is not being examined
by the congress.' (For – 50 votes, against – 32.)
"Voice: What does that mean – open?
"Chairman: When we say that the national question
is left open, it means that the Bund may maintain its decision on this
question until the next congress" [36] (our italics.
– J. St.).
As you see, the congress even did "not examine" the question of
the national programme of the Bund – it simply left it "open," leaving
the Bund itself to decide the fate of its programme until the next general
congress met. In other words, the Stockholm Congress avoided the question,
expressing no opinion on cultural-national autonomy one way or another.
The conference of the Liquidators, however, most definitely
undertakes to give an opinion on the matter, declares cultural-national
autonomy to be acceptable, and endorses it in the name of the Party programme.
The difference is only too evident.
Thus, in spite of all its artifices, the conference of the
Liquidators did not advance the national question a single step.
All it could do was to squirm before the Bund and the Caucasian
national-Liquidators.
VII.
THE NATIONAL QUESTION IN RUSSIA
It remains for us to suggest a positive solution
of the national question.
We take as our starting point that the question can be solved
only in intimate connection with the present situation in Russia.
Russia is in a transitional period, when "normal," "constitutional"
life has not yet been established and when the political crisis has not
yet been settled. Days of storm and "complications" are ahead. And this
gives rise to the movement, the present and the future movement, the aim
of which is to achieve complete democratization.
It is in connection with this movement that the national
question must be examined.
Thus the complete democratization of the country is the basis
and condition for the solution of the national question.
When seeking a solution of the question we must take into
account not only the situation at home but also the situation abroad. Russia
is situated between Europe and Asia, between Austria and China. The growth
of democracy in Asia is inevitable. The growth of imperialism in Europe
is not fortuitous. In Europe, capital is beginning to feel cramped, and
it is reaching out towards foreign countries in search of new markets,
cheap labour and new fields of investment. But this leads to external complications
and to war. No one can assert that the Balkan War [37]
is the end and not the beginning of the complications. It is quite possible,
therefore, that a combination of internal and external conditions may arise
in which one or another nationality in Russia may find it necessary to
raise and settle the question of its independence. And, of course, it is
not for Marxists to create obstacles in such cases.
But it follows that Russian Marxists cannot dispense with
the right of nations to self-determination.
Thus, the right of self-determination is an essential
element in the solution of the national question.
Further. What must be our attitude towards nations which
for one reason or another will prefer to remain within the framework of
the whole?
We have seen that cultural-national autonomy is unsuitable.
Firstly, it is artificial and impracticable, for it proposes artificially
to draw into a single nation people whom the march of events, real events,
is disuniting and dispersing to every corner of the country. Secondly,
it stimulates nationalism, because it leads to the viewpoint in favour
of the "demarcation" of people according to national curiae, the "organization"
of nations, the "preservation" and cultivation of "national peculiarities"
– all of which are entirely incompatible with Social-Democracy. It is
not fortuitous that the Moravian separatists in the Reichsrat, having severed
themselves from the German Social-Democratic deputies, have united with
the Moravian bourgeois deputies to form a single, so to speak, Moravian
"kolo." Nor is it fortuitous that the separatists of the Bund have got
themselves involved in nationalism by acclaiming the "Sabbath" and "Yiddish."
There are no Bundist deputies yet in the Duma, but in the Bund area there
is a clerical-reactionary Jewish community, in the "controlling institutions"
of which the Bund is arranging, for a beginning, a "get-together" of the
Jewish workers and bourgeois. Such is the logic of cultural-national autonomy.
Thus, national autonomy does not solve the problem.
What, then, is the way out?
The only correct solution is regional autonomy, autonomy
for such crystallized units as Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, the Caucasus,
etc.
The advantage of regional autonomy consists, first of all,
in the fact that it does not deal with a fiction bereft of territory, but
with a definite population inhabiting a definite territory. Next, it does
not divide people according to nations, it does not strengthen national
barriers; on the contrary, it breaks down these barriers and unites the
population in such a manner as to open the way for division of a different
kind, division according to classes. Finally; it makes it possible to utilize
the natural wealth of the region and to develop its productive forces in
the best possible way without awaiting the decisions of a common centre
– functions which are not inherent features of cultural-national autonomy.
Thus, regional autonomy is an essential element in
the solution of the national question.
Of course, not one of the regions constitutes a compact,
homogeneous nation, for each is interspersed with national minorities.
Such are the Jews in Poland, the Letts in Lithuania, the Russians in the
Caucasus, the Poles in the Ukraine, and so on. It may be feared, therefore,
that the minorities will be oppressed by the national majorities. But there
will be grounds for fear only if the old order continues to prevail in
the country. Give the country complete democracy and all grounds for fear
will vanish.
It is proposed to bind the dispersed minorities into a single
national union. But what the minorities want is not an artificial union,
but real rights in the localities they inhabit. What can such a union give
them without complete democratization? On the other hand, what need
is there for a national union when there is complete democratization?
What is it that particularly agitates a national minority?
A minority is discontented not because there is no national
union but because it does not enjoy the right to use its native language.
Permit it to use its native language and the discontent will pass of itself.
A minority is discontented not because there is no artificial
union but because it does not possess its own schools. Give it its own
schools and all grounds for discontent will disappear.
A minority is discontented not because there is no national
union, but because it does not enjoy liberty of conscience (religious liberty),
liberty of movement, etc. Give it these liberties and it will cease to
be discontented.
Thus, equal rights of nations in all forms (language,
schools, etc.) is an essential element in the solution of the national
question. Consequently, a state law based on complete democratization of
the country is required, prohibiting all national privileges without exception
and every kind of disability or restriction on the rights of national minorities.
That, and that alone, is the real, not a paper guarantee
of the rights of a minority.
One may or may not dispute the existence of a logical connection
between organizational federalism and cultural-national autonomy. But one
cannot dispute the fact that the latter creates an atmosphere favouring
unlimited federalism, developing into complete rupture, into separatism.
If the Czechs in Austria and the Bundists in Russia began with autonomy,
passed to federation and ended in separatism, there can be no doubt that
an important part in this was played by the nationalist atmosphere that
is naturally generated by cultural-national autonomy. It is not fortuitous
that national autonomy and organizational federalism go hand in hand. It
is quite. understandable. Both demand demarcation according to nationalities.
Both presume organization according to nationalities. The similarity is
beyond question. The only difference is that in one case the population
as a whole is divided, while in the other it is the Social-Democratic workers
who are divided.
We know where the demarcation of workers according to nationalities
leads to. The disintegration of a united workers' party, the splitting
of trade unions according to nationalities, aggravation of national friction,
national strikebreaking, complete demoralization within the ranks of Social-Democracy
– such are the results of organizational federalism. This is eloquently
borne out by the history of Social-Democracy in Austria and the activities
of the Bund in Russia.
The only cure for 'this is organization on the basis of internationalism.
To unite locally the workers of all nationalities of Russia
into single, integral collective bodies, to unite these collective
bodies into a single party – such is the task.
It goes without saying that a party structure of this kind
does not preclude, but on the contrary presumes, wide autonomy for the
regions within the single integral party.
The experience of the Caucasus proves the expediency of this
type of organization. If the Caucasians have succeeded in overcoming the
national friction between the Armenian and Tatar workers; if they have
succeeded in safeguarding the population against the possibility of massacres
and shooting affrays; if in Baku, that kaleidoscope of national groups,
national conflicts are now no longer possible, and if it has been possible
to draw the workers there into the single current of a powerful movement,
then the international structure of the Caucasian Social-Democracy was
not the least factor in bringing this about.
The type of organization influences not only practical work.
It stamps an indelible impress on the whole mental life of the worker.
The worker lives the life of his organization, which stimulates his intellectual
growth and educates him. And thus, acting within his organization and continually
meeting there comrades from other nationalities, and side by side with
them waging a common struggle under the leadership of a common collective
body, he becomes deeply imbued with the idea that workers are primarily
members of one class family, members of the united army of socialism. And
this cannot but have a tremendous educational value for large sections
of the working class.
Therefore, the international type of organization serves
as a school of fraternal sentiments and is a tremendous agitational factor
on behalf of internationalism.
But this is not the case with an organization on the basis
of nationalities. When the workers are organized according to nationality
they isolate themselves within their national shells, fenced off from each
other by organizational barriers. The stress is laid not on what is common
to the workers but on what distinguishes them from each other. In this
type of organization the worker is primarily a member of his nation:
a Jew, a Pole, and so on. It is not surprising that national federalism
in organization inculcates in the workers a spirit of national seclusion.
Therefore, the national type of organization is a school
of national narrow-mindedness and stagnation.
Thus we are confronted by two fundamentally different
types of organization: the type based on international solidarity and the
type based on the organizational "demarcation" of the workers according
to nationalities.
Attempts to reconcile these two types have so far been vain.
The compromise rules of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party drawn up in
Wimberg in 1897 were left hanging in the air. The Austrian party fell to
pieces and dragged the trade unions with it. "Compromise" proved to be
not only utopian, but harmful. Strasser is right when he says that "separatism
achieved its first triumph at the Wimberg Party Congress." [38]
The same is true in Russia. The "compromise" with the federalism of the
Bund which took place at the Stockholm Congress ended in a complete fiasco.
The Bund violated the Stockholm compromise. Ever since the Stockholm Congress
the Bund has been an obstacle in the way of union of the workers locally
in a single organization, which would include workers of all nationalities.
And the Bund has obstinately persisted in its separatist tactics in spite
of the fact that in 1907 and in 1908 Russian Social-Democracy repeatedly
demanded that unity should at last be established. from below among the
workers of all nationalities. [39] The Bund, which began
with organizational national autonomy, in fact passed to federalism, only
to end in complete rupture, separatism. And by breaking with the Russian
Social-Democratic Party it caused disharmony and disorganization in the
ranks of the latter. Let us recall the Jagiello affair, [40]
for instance.
The path of "compromise" must therefore be discarded as utopian
and harmful.
One thing or the other: either the federalism of the
Bund, in which case the Russian Social-Democratic Party must re-form itself
on a basis of "demarcation" of the workers according to nationalities;
or an international type of organization, in which case the Bund
must reform itself on a basis of territorial autonomy after the pattern
of the Caucasian, Lettish and Polish Social-Democracies, and thus make
possible the direct union of the Jewish workers with the workers of the
other nationalities of Russia.
There is no middle course: principles triumph, they do not
"compromise."
Thus, the principle of international solidarity of the
workers is an essential element in the solution of the national question.
Vienna,
January 1913
K. Stalin
NOTES
[1] Zionism – A reactionary nationalist
trend of the Jewish bourgeoisie, which had followers along the intellectuals
and the more backward sections of the Jewish workers. The Zionists endeavoured
to isolate the Jewish working-class masses from the general struggle of
the proletariat.
[2] See "Report of the Ninth Conference
of the Bund."
[3] See "Announcement of the August
Conference."
[4] See "Announcement of the August
Conference."
[5] See R. Springer, The National
Problem, Obshchestvennaya Polza Publishing House, 1909, p. 43.
[6] See O. Bauer, The National
Question and Social-Democracy, Serp Publishing House, 1909.
[7] See his Der Arbeiter und die
Nation, 1912.
[8] South-Slav Social-Democracy operates
in the Southern part of Austria.
[9] See V. Kossovsky, Problems
of Nationality, 1907.
[10] The Brünn Parteitag, or
Congress, of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party was held on September
24-29, 1899. The resolution on the national question adopted by this congress
is quoted by J. V. Stalin in the chapter IV, "Cultural-National Autonomy."
[11] See Springer, The National
Problem.
[12] See Bauer, The National
Question and Social-Democracy.
[13] "Thank God we have no parliament
here" – the words uttered by V. Kokovtsev, tsarist Minister of Finance
(later Prime Minister), in the State Duma on April 24 1908.
[14] The representatives of the
South-Slav Social-Democratic Party also voted for it. See Discussion
of the National Question at the Brünn Congress, 1906.
[15] In M. Panin's Russian translation
(see his translation of Bauer's book), "national individualities" is given
in place of "national peculiarities." Panin translated this passage incorrectly.
The word "individuality" is not in the German text, which speaks of nationalen
Eigenart, i.e., peculiarities, which is far from being the same
thing.
[16] Verhandlungen des Gesamtparteitages
in Brünn, 1899.
[17] See Proceedings of the Brünn
Social-Democratic Party Congress.
[18] See Chapter II of the Manifesto
of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
[19] The Vienna Congress (or Wimberg
Congress – after the name of the hotel in which it met) of the Austrian
Social-Democratic Party was held June 6-12 1897.
[20] See K. Marx, "The Jewish Question,"
1906.
[21] The reference is to an article
by Karl Marx entitled "Zur Judenfrage" ("The Jewish Question"), published
in 1844 in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher.
[22] See K. Kautsky, "The Kishinev Pogrom
and the Jewish Question," 1903.
[23] See Forms of the National
Movement, etc., edited by Kastelyansky.
[24] See Minutes of the Second
Congress.
[25] The Eighth Congress of the
Bund was held in September 1910 in Lvov.
[26] Report of the Eighth Conference
of the Bund, 1911, p. 62.
[27] See Nasha Zarya, No.
9-10, 1912, p. 120.
[28] In an article entitled "Another
Splitters' Conference," published in the newspaper Za Partiyu, October
2 (15) 1912, G. V. Plekhanov condemned the "August" Conference of the Liquidators
and described the stand of the Bundists and Caucasian Social-Democrats
as an adaptation of socialism to nationalism. Kossovsky, leader of the
Bundists, criticized Plekhanov in a letter to the Liquidators' magazine
Nasha Zarya.
[29] See Concerning National
Autonomy and the Reorganizatzon of Russian Social-Democracy on a Federal
Basis, 1902, published by the Bund.
[30] Nashe Slovo, No. 3,
Vilno, 1906, p. 24.
[31] Iskra (The Spark) –
The first all-Russian illegal Marxist newspaper founded by V. I. Lenin
in 1900.
[32] See the words quoted from a brochure
by Karl Vanek in Dokumente des Separatismus, p. 29. Karl Vanek was
a Czech Social-Democrat who took an openly chauvinist and separatist stand.
[33] See the Georgian newspaper
Chveni Tskhovreba (Our Life), No. 12, 1912. Chveni Tskhovreba
was a daily paper published by the Georgian Mensheviks in Kutais from July
1 to 22 1912.
[34] See the Georgian newspaper
Chveni Tskhovreba, No. 12, 1912.
[35] Nasha Zarya, No. 9-10,
1912, p. 120.
[36] See Nashe SIovo, No.
8, 1906, p. 53.
[37] The reference is to the first
Balkan War, which broke out in October 1912 between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece
and Montenegro on the one hand, and Turkey on the other.
[38] See his Der Arbeiter und
die Nation, 1912.
[39] See the resolutions of the
Fourth (the "Third All-Russian") Conference of the R.S.D.L.P., held November
5-12 1907, and of the Fifth (the "All-Russian 1908") Conference of the
R.S.D.L.P., held December 21-27 1908 (January 3-9 1909). (See Resolutions
and Decisions of the C.P.S.U.(B.) Congresses, Conferences and Central Committee
Plenums, Vol. 1, 6th Russ. ed., 1940, pp. 118-31.)
[40] E. J. Jagiello – A member
of the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.) was elected to the Fourth State
Duma for Warsaw as a result of a bloc formed by the Bund, the Polish Socialist
Party and the bourgeois nationalists against the Polish Social-Democrats.
By a vote of the seven Menshevik Liquidators against the six Bolsheviks,
the Social-Democratic group in the Duma adopted a resolution that Jagiello
be accepted as a member of the group.