Political Parties in Russia and the Tasks of the Proletariat Index POLITICAL PARTIES IN RUSSIA AND THE TASKS OF THE PROLETARIAT 1) WHAT ARE THE CHIEF POLITICAL PARTY GROUPINGS IN RUSSIA? 2) WHAT CLASSES DO THESE PARTIES REPRESENT? WHAT CLASS STANDPOINT DO THEY EXPRESS? 3) WHAT IS THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS SOCIALISM? 4) WHAT FORM OF GOVERNMENT DO THEY WANT AT PRESENT? 5) WHAT IS THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS RESTORATION OF THE ROMANOV MONARCHY? 6) WHAT IS THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE SEIZURE OF POWER? WHAT DO THEY REGARD AS ORDER, AND WHAT AS ANARCHY? 7) SHOULD THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT BE SUPPORTED? 8) FOR UNDIVIDED POWER OR DUAL POWER? 9) SHOULD A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY BE CONVENED? 10) DOES THE STATE NEED THE USUAL TYPE OF POLICE AND A STANDING ARMY? 11) DOES THE STATE NEED A BUREAUCRACY OF THE USUAL TYPE? 12) SHOULD OFFICERS BE ELECTED BY THE SOLDIERS? 13) IS IT DESIRABLE FOR THE SOLDIERS, ON THEIR OWN DECISION, TO DISPLACE THEIR SUPERIORS? 14) FOR OR AGAINST THE PRESENT WAR? 15) FOR OR AGAINST THE PREDATORY INTERNATIONAL TREATIES BETWEEN THE TSAR, GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, ETC. (FOR THE SUBJUGATION OF PERSIA, THE PARTITION OF CHINA, TURKEY, AUSTRIA. ETC.)? 16) FOR OR AGAINST ANNEXATIONS? 17) FOR OR AGAINST THE LIBERTY LOAN? 18 ) FOR OR AGAINST THE CAPITALIST GOVERNMENTS ASCERTAINING THE PEOPLES’ WILL TO PEACE? 19) MUST ALL MONARCHIES BE ABOLISHED? 20) SHALL THE PEASANTS TAKE ALL THE LANDED ESTATES IMMEDIATELY? 21) CAN WE LEAVE LAND DISPOSAL AND ALL RURAL AFFAIRS IN THE HANDS OF THE SOVIETS OF PEASANTS’ DEPUTIES ALONE? 22) SHALL THE PEOPLE TAKE OVER THE LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL CAPITALIST MONOPOLIES, THE BANKS, THE SYNDICATES OF MANUFACTURERS. ETC.? 23) WHAT KIND OF SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL IMPLEMENTING A FRATERNAL UNION OF THE WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES DO THE PEOPLES NOW NEED? 24) SHOULD FRATERNISATION AT THE FRONT BETWEEN SOLDIERS OF THE BELLIGERENT COUNTRIES BE ENCOURAGED? 25) WHAT COLOUR BANNER WOULD BE IN CHARACTER WITH THE VARIOUS POLITICAL PARTIES? NOTES ALL PAGES 1917 V.I Lenin Share TweetPage 1 of 27"We are decidedly against all imperialist wars and all bourgeois governments waging such wars, including our own Provisional Government; we are decidedly against “revolutionary defencism” in Russia."PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIONThis pamphlet was written at the beginning of April 1917, before the coalition cabinet was formed. Since then much water has flown under the bridge, but the principal characteristics of the major political parties have held true in the course of all subsequent stages of the revolution—both during the coalition cabinet, which came into being on May 6, 1917, during the union between the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries in June (and July) 1917 against the Bolsheviks, during the Kornilov events, and during the October Revolution of 1917 and after it.The correctness of the characteristic given to the principal parties and their class foundations has been borne out by the whole course of the Russian revolution. Today the progress of the revolution in Western Europe shows that there, too, the line-up of the principal parties is the same. The role of Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries is being played by the social-chauvinists of all countries (socialists in word and chauvinists in deed) as well as by the Kautskyites in Germany, the Longuetists in France, and so on.N.LeninMoscow, October 22, 1918 Published according to the pamphlet textThe following is an attempt to formulate, first, the more important and then the less important questions and answers characterising the present political situation in Russia and the way it is understood by the various parties. Next
