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 27 of 27 NotesThis pamphlet was written at the beginning of April 1917. To the question whether it is out of date now, after May 6, 1917, after the formation of the “new”, coalition, government, my answer is: No, for the Contact Commission has not really disappeared, it has merely moved to another room, which it shares with the gentlemen of the cabinet. The fact that the Chernovs and the Tseretelis have moved to another room has rot changed their policy, nor the policy of their parties.[1] For the nature of these steps, see questions 20 and 22. —Lenin[2] Anarchy is the complete negation of State power, whereas the Soviets are themselves a state power. —Lenin This pamphlet was planned originally as a leaflet, owing to the fact that the Cadets, S.R.s and Mensheviks were making wide use of leaflets in their propaganda and pasted them up all over the town. Lenin believed that a Bolshevik leaflet explaining what every party was and what it stood for should be pasted alongside the anti-Bolshevik proclamations. The article was too long to be issued as a leaflet; it was published in the Helsingfors Bolshevik newspaper Volna, and then issued in pamphlet form by the Zhizn i Znaniye publishers in fifty thousand copies. The proprietors of the printing-press, who sympathised with the Cadets, held up publication, but with the help of the workers’ committee the pamphlet was issued on July 4(17). Owing to the July events, however, it was hidden away in the publishers’ warehouse. A few days later it began to circulate in the working-class quarters. The first edition sold out quickly and, according to the testimony of V.D. Bonch-Bruyevich, a reprint was put out.The pamphlet was issued with the following introductory text: “Explanation to the draft platform outlined by N. Lenin for discussion at meetings of the Bolsheviks. The printing of the draft itself has been held up owing to lack of printing facilities in Petrograd.”The pamphlet was published in English in the journal The Class Struggle (New York, November-December 1917, Vol. 1, No.4, pp. 49-59) as well as in The New York Evening Post, January 15, 1918.A second edition of was published in Moscow in 1918 with a foreword by Lenin." Source: Marxist Internet Archive. Prev