THE PROGRAMME OF THE COMINTERN
Speech Delivered on July 5, 1928
The first thing we have to consider, comrades, is the size of the draft programme of the Comintern.[40]
Some say that the draft programme is too large, too ponderous. They demand that it be compressed to a half or a third. They demand that some general formulas should be given in the programme and nothing more, and that these formulas be called a programme.
I think that these demands are devoid of foundation. Those who demand that the programme be compressed to a half or even a third do not understand the tasks that confronted those who drew up the draft. The point is that the programme of the Comintern cannot be the programme of any one national party, or, say, a programme for only the "civilised" nations. The programme must cover all the Communist Parties of the world, all nations, all peoples, both white and black. That is the basic and characteristic feature of the draft programme. But how is it possible to cover the basic needs and basic lines of work of all the sections of the Comintern, both Eastern and Western, if the programme is compressed to a half or a third? Let the comrades try to solve this insoluble problem. That is why I think that to compress the programme to a half or a third would mean converting it from a programme into a mere list of abstract formulas without any value for the sections of the Comintern.
Those who drew up the programme were faced with a double problem: on the one hand, to cover the chief and basic features of all the Communist Parties of the world, and, on the other hand, to do so in such a way that the various propositions of the programme should not be empty formulas, but should provide practical guiding principles for the most diverse countries and peoples, for the most diverse Communist Parties and communist groups. You must agree that it is quite impossible to solve this double problem in a brief and concise draft.
What is most curious is that the very comrades who propose that the programme be compressed to a half or even a third, also put forward proposals which would tend to expand the present draft programme to twice, if not three times its size. In point of fact, if we are to give in the draft programme lengthy formulations on the trade unions, on the co-operatives, on culture, on the European national minorities and so on, is it not obvious that the effect of this cannot be to compress the programme? The size of the present draft would have to be doubled, if not trebled.
The same thing must be said of those comrades who demand either that the programme be a concrete instruction for the Communist Parties, or that it explain every possible thing, down to the individual propositions in it. In the first place, it is wrong to say that the programme must be only an instruction, or mainly an instruction.
That is wrong. That cannot be demanded of a programme, to say nothing of tbe fact that the result would be to enlarge the size of the programme incredibly. In the second place, a programme cannot explain every possible thing, down to its individual declarative or theoretical propositions. That is the business of commentaries to the programme. A programme must not be confused with a commentary.
The second question concerns the structure of the programme and the order of arrangement of the individual chapters within the draft programme.
Some comrades demand that the chapter on the ultimate aim of the movement, on communism, be transferred to the end of the programme. I think that this demand also is devoid of foundation. Between the chapter on the crisis of capitalism and the chapter on the transition period, there is in the draft programme a chapter on communism, on the communist economic system. Is this arrangement of chapters correct? I consider that it is quite correct. You cannot speak of the transition period without first speaking of the economic system, in this case the communist economic system, the transition to which the programme proposes. We speak of the transition period, the transition from capitalism to another economic system. But a transition to what, to what system exactly -- that is what must be first discussed before proceeding to describe the transition period itself. The programme should proceed from the unknown to the known, from the less known to the better known. To speak of the crisis of capitalism and then of the transition period, without first speaking of the system to which the transition is to be made, would confuse the reader and infringe an elementary requirement of pedagogy, one that is at the same time a requirement for the structure of the programme. Well, the programme should make it easier for the reader in leading him from the less known to the better known, and not make it more difficult for him.
Other comrades think that the paragraph on Social Democracy ought not to be included in the second chapter of the draft programme, which deals with the first phase of the proletarian revolution and with the partial stabilisation of capitalism. They think that they are thereby raising a question of the structure of the programme. That is not so, comrades. Actually, it is a political question that confronts us here. To delete the paragraph on Social-Democracy from the second chapter would be to commit a political mistake in regard to one of the basic questions of the reasons for the partial stabilisation of capitalism. It is not a matter here of the structure of the programme, but of the appraisal of the political situation in the period of partial stabilisation, an appraisal of the counter-revolutionary role of Social Democracy as one of the factors of this stabilisation. These comrades cannot but know that we cannot dispense with a paragraph on Social-Democracy in the chapter on the partial stabilisation of capitalism, because this stabilisation itself cannot be explained without describing the role of Social-Democracy as one of the major factors of the stabilisation. Otherwise, we should also have to exclude from this chapter the paragraph on fascism, and transfer it, like the paragraph on Social Democracy, to the chapter on parties. But to exclude these two paragraphs -- on fascism and on Social-Democracy -- from the chapter dealing with the partial stabilisation of capitalism would mean to disarm ourselves and deprive ourselves of all possibility of explaining the capitalist stabilisation. Obviously, we cannot agree to that.
The question of NEP and war communism. NEP is a policy of the proletarian dictatorship which is designed to overcome the capitalist elements and to build a socialist economy by utilising the market and through the market, and not by direct products-exchange, without a market and apart from the market. Can capitalist countries, even the most highly developed, dispense with NEP in the transition from capitalism to socialism? I do not think that they can. In one degree or another, the New Economic Policy, with its market connections, and the utilisation of these market connections, will be absolutely essential for every capitalist country in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat .
We have comrades who deny this proposition. But what does denying this proposition mean?
It means, in the first place, to hold that immediately after the proletariat has come to power we shall have ready to function 100 per cent a machinery of distribution and supply between town and country, between industry and small-scale production, which will make it possible to establish at once direct products-exchange, without a market, without commodity circulation, and without a money economy. The matter has only to be raised to realise how utterly absurd such an assumption is.
It means, in the second place, to hold that after the seizure of power by the proletariat the proletarian revolution must adopt the course of expropriating the middle and petty bourgeoisie, must take upon its shoulders the incredible burden of finding work and assuring means of subsistence for an artificially created army of millions of new unemployed. The matter has only to be raised to realise how ridiculous and foolish it would be for the proletarian dictatorship to adopt such a policy. One of the good things about NEP is that it relieves the proletarian dictatorship of these and similar difficulties.
But it follows from this that NEP is an inevitable phase of the socialist revolution in all countries.
Can the same thing be said of war communism? Can it be said that war communism is an inevitable phase of the proletarian revolution? No, it cannot. War communism is a policy forced upon the proletarian dictatorship by a situation of war and intervention; it is designed for the establishment of direct products-exchange between town and country, not through the market but apart from the market, chiefly by measures of an extra-economic and partially military character, and aims at organising such a distribution of products as can ensure the supply of the revolutionary armies at the front and of the workers in the rear. Obviously, if there had not been a situation of war and intervention, there would have been no war communism. Consequently, it cannot be asserted that war communism is an economically inevitable phase of development of the proletarian revolution.
It would be incorrect to think that the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. began its economic work with war communism. Some comrades incline towards this opinion. But it is a wrong opinion. On the contrary, the proletarian dictatorship in our country began its constructive work not with war communism, but with the proclamation of the principles of what is called the New Economic Policy. Everyone is familiar with Lenin's pamphlet, The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Power,[41] which was published in the beginning of 1918, and in which Lenin first substantiated the principles of the New Economic Policy. True, this policy was temporarily interrupted by the conditions of intervention, and it was only three years later, when war and intervention had been ended, that it had to be resumed. But the fact that the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. had to return to the principles of the New Economic Policy, which had already been proclaimed at the beginning of 1918 -- this fact plainly shows where the proletarian dictatorship must begin its constructive work on the day fol]owing the revolution, and on what it must base its constructive work -- if, of course, it is economic considerations we have in mind.
Sometimes war communism is confused with the civil war, and the two are identified. That, of course, is incorrect. The seizure of power by the proletariat in October 1917 was undoubtedly a form of civil war. But it would be wrong to say that we began to apply war communism in October 1917. It is quite possible to conceive a state of civil war in which the methods of war communism are not applied, in which the principles of the New Economic Policy are not abandoned, as was the case in our country in the early part of 1918, before the intervention.
Some say that the proletarian revolutions will take place in isolation from one another, and that therefore not a single proletarian revolution will be able to escape intervention, and hence war communism. That is not true. Now that we have succeeded in consolidating Soviet power in the U.S.S.R., now that the Communist Parties in the principal capitalist countries have grown and the Comintern has increased in strength, there cannot and should not be isolated proletarian revolutions. We must not overlook such factors as the increasing acuteness of the crisis of world capitalism, the existence of the Soviet Union, and the growth of communism in all countries. (A voice : "But the revolution in Hungary was isolated.") That was in 1919.[42] Now we are in 1928. It suffices to recall the revolution in Germany in 1923,[43] when the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. was getting ready to render direct assistance to the German revolution, to realise how utterly relative and conditional the arguments of some comrades are. (A voice : "The isolated revolution in Germany -- the isolation between France and Germany.") You are confusing spatial remoteness with political isolation. Spatial remoteness is, of course, a factor. Nevertheless, it should not be confused with political isolation.
And what about the workers in the interventionist countries? -- do you think they will remain silent if there is intervention in a German revolution, say, and will not strike at the interventionists from the rear?
And what about the U.S.S.R. and its proletariat? -- do-you think that the proletarian revolution in the U.S.S.R. will look calmly on at the misdeeds of the interventionists?
To injure the interventionists, it is by no means essential to establish spatial connection with the revolutionary country. It is enough to sting the interventionists at those points in their own territory which are most vulnerable to make them sense the danger and comprehend the full reality of proletarian solidarity. Suppose that we offended bourgeois Britain in the Leningrad area and caused her serious damage. Does it follow that Britain would necessarily take revenge on us in Leningrad? No, it does not. She might take revenge on us somewhere else, in Batum, Odessa, Baku, or Vladivostok, say. The same is true of the forms of assistance and support rendered by the proletarian dictatorship to a proletarian revolution in one of the countries of Europe, say, against imperialist interventionists.
But while it cannot be admitted that intervention, and hence war communism, must necessarily occur in all countries, it can and should be admitted that they are more or less probable. Therefore, while not agreeing with the arguments of these comrades, I do agree with their conclusion, namely, that the formula in the draft programme which speaks of the possibility, in definite international conditions, of war communism in countries where a proletarian revolution has taken place, might be replaced by a formula saying that intervention and war communism are more or less probable.
The question of the nationalisation of the land. I do not agree with those comrades who propose that the formula on the nationalisation of the land in the case of capitalistically developed countries should be altered, and who demand that in such countries the nationalisation of all the land should be proclaimed on the first day of the proletarian revolution.
Nor do I agree with those comrades who propose that nothing at all should be said about the nationalisation of all the land in the capitalistically developed countries. In my opinion, it would be better to speak, as the draft programme does, of the eventual nationalisation of all the land, with an addition to the effect that the right of the small and middle peasants to use of the land will be guaranteed.
Those comrades are mistaken who think that the more capitalistically developed a country is, the easier it will be to nationalise all the land in that country. On the contrary, the more capitalistically developed a country is, the more difficult will it be to nationalise all the land, because the stronger are the traditions of private ownership of the land in that country, and the harder, therefore, will it be to combat those traditions.
Read Lenin's theses on the agrarian question at the Second Congress of the Comintern,[44] where he explicitly warns against hasty and incautious steps in this direction, and you will understand how mistaken the assertions of these comrades are. In the capitalistically developed countries private ownership of the land has existed for centuries, which cannot be said of the countries less developed capitalistically, where the principle of private ownership of the land has not yet become deeply rooted in the peasantry. Here, in Russia, the peasants at one time even used to say that the land belonged to no man, that it was God's land. This, in fact, explains why as early as 1906, in expectation of a bourgeois-democratic revolution in our country, Lenin put forward the slogan of the nationalisation of all the land, with the proviso that the small and middle peasants should be guaranteed the use of the land, considering that the peasants would understand this and reconcile themselves to it.
Is it not noteworthy, on the other hand, that in 1920, at the Second Congress of tbe Comintern, Lenin himself warned the Communist Parties of the capitalistically developed countries not to put forward immediately the slogan of nationalising all the land, since the peasants of these countries, imbued as they are with the private property instinct, would not stomach such a slogan at once. Can we ignore this difference and refuse to pay heed to Lenin's recommendations? Obviously, we cannot.
The question of the inner substance of the draft programme. It appears that certain comrades consider that in its inner substance the draft programme is not quite international, because, they say, it is "too Russian" in character. I have not heard such objections put forward here. But it appears that such objections exist in some circles round about the Comintern.
What can have furnished grounds for such an opinion?
Is it, perhaps, the fact that the draft programme contains a special chapter on the U.S.S.R.? But what can there be bad in that? Is our revolution, in its character, a national and only a national revolution, and not pre-eminently an international revolution? If so, why do we call it a base of the world revolutionary movement, an instrument for the revolutionary development of all countries, the motherland of the world proletariat?
There were people among us -- our oppositionists, for instance -- who considered that the revolution in the U.S.S.R. was exclusively or mainly a national revolution. It was on this point that they came to grief. It is strange that there are people round ahout the Comintern, it appears, who are prepared to follow in the footsteps of the oppositionists.
Perhaps our revolution is, in type, a national and only a national revolution? But our revolution is a Soviet revolution, and the Soviet form of proletarian state is more or less obligatory for the dictaforship of the proletariat in other countries. It is not without reason that Lenin said that the revolution in the U.S.S.R. had ushered in a new era in the history of development, the era of Soviets. Does it not follow from this that, not only as regards its character but also as regards its type, our revolution is pre-eminently an international revolution, one that presents a pattern of what, in the main, a proletarian revolution should be in any country?
Undouhtedly, the international character of our revolution imposes upon the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. certain duties towards the proletarians and oppressed masses of the whole world. This was what Lenin had in mind when he said that the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. exists in order to do everything possible for the development and victory of the proletarian revolution in other countries. But what follows from this? It follows, at least, that our revolution is part of the world revolution, a base and an instrument of the world revolutionary movement.
Undoubtedly, too, not only has the revolution in the U.S.S.R. duties towards the proletarians of all countries, duties which it is discharging, but the proletarians of all countries have certain fairly important duties towards the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. These duties consist in supporting the proletariat of the U.S.S.R. in its struggle against internal and external enemies, in war against a war designed to strangle the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R., in advocating that imperialist armies should directly go over to the side of the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. in the event of an attack on the U.S.S.R. But does it not follow from this that the revolution in the U.S.S.R. is inseparable from the revolutionary movement in other countries, that the triumph of the revolution in the U.S.S.R. is a triumph for the revolution throughout the world?
Is it possible, after all this, to speak of the revolution in the U.S.S.R. as being only a national revolution, isolated from and having no connection with the revolutionary movement throughout the world?
And, on the other hand, is it possible, after all this, to understand anything at all ahout the world revolutionary movement, if it is considered out of connection with the proletarian revolution in the U.S.S.R.?
What would be the value of the programme of the Comintern, which deals with the world proletarian revolution, if it ignored the fundamental question of the character and tasks of the proletarian revolution in the U.S.S.R., its duties towards the proletarians of all countries, and the duties of the proletarians of all countries towards the proletarian dictatorship in the U.S.S.R.?
page 160
That is why I think that the objections concerning the "Russian character" of the draft programme of the Comintern bear the stamp -- how shall I put it mildly? -- well, a bad stamp, an unpleasant flavour.
Let us pass to a few separate remarks.
I consider that those comrades are right who suggest amending the sentence on page 55 of the draft programme which speaks of the labouring sections of the rural population "who follow the proletarian dictatorship." This sentence is an obvious misunderstanding, or perhaps it is a proof-reader's error. It should be amended.
But these comrades are quite wrong when they propose the inclusion in the draft programme of all the definitions of the dictatorship of the proletariat given by Lenin. (Laughter.) On page 52 we have the following definition of the dictatorship of the proletariat, taken in the main from Lenin:
"The dictatorship of the proletariat is the continuation of its class struggle in new conditions. The dictatorship of the proletariat is a stubborn struggle -- bloody and bloodless, violent and peaceful, military and economic, educational and administrative -- against the forces and traditions of the old society, against the external capitalist enemies, against the remnants of the exploiting classes at home, against the shoots of a new bourgeoisie that spring from the soil of commodity production which has not yet been eliminated."[45]
The draft programme contains also a number of other definitions of the dictatorship, corresponding to the particular tasks of the dictatorship at various stages of the proletarian revolution. I think that this is quite sufficient. (A voice : "One of Lenin's formulations has been omitted.") Lenin has whole pages on the dictatorship of the proletariat. If they were all to be included in the draft programme, I am afraid it would be increased to at least three times its size.
Incorrect, too, is the objection raised by some comrades to the thesis on the neutralisation of the middle peasantry. In his theses at the Second Congress of the Comintern, Lenin explicitly states that on the eve of the seizure of power and in the first stage of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the capitalist countries the Communist Parties cannot count on anything more than neutralising the middle peasantry. Lenin explicitly states that only after the dictatorship of the proletariat has been consolidated can the Communist Parties count on organising a stable alliance with the middle peasant. Clearly, when compiling the draft programme, we could not ignore this directive of Lenin's, to say nothing of the fact that it coincides exactly with the experience of our revolution.
Incorrect, too, is the comment on the national ques tion made by a number of comrades. These comrades have no grounds for asserting that the draft programme ignores the national factors in the revolutionary move ment. The question of the colonies is fundamentally a national one. Imperialist oppression, oppression in the colonies, national self-determination, the right of na tions and colonies to secession, etc., are given sufficient prominence in the draft programme.
If it is the national minorities in Central Europe that these comrades have in mind, this may be mentioned in the draft programme, but I am opposed to the national question in Central Europe being given separate treatment in it.
Lastly, as to the remarks made by a number of comrades on the statement that Poland is a country representing the second type of development towards proletarian dictatorship. These comrades think that the classification of countries into three types -- countries with a high capitalist development (America, Germany, Britain), countries with an average capitalist development (Poland, Russia before the February Revolution, etc.), and colonial countries -- is wrong. They maintain that Poland should be included in the first type of countries, that one can speak only of two types of countries -- capitalist and colonial.
That is not true, comrades. Besides capitalistically developed countries, where the victory of the revolution will lead at once to the proletarian dictatorship, there are countries which are little developed capitalistically, where there are feudal survivals and a special agrarian problem of the anti-feudal type (Poland, Rumania, etc.), countries where the petty bourgeoisie, especially the peasantry, is bound to have a weighty word to say in the event of a revolutionary upheaval, and where the victory of the revolution, in order to lead to a proletarian dictatorship, can and certainly will require certain intermediate stages, in the form, say, of a dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry.
In our country, too, there were people, such as Trotsky, who before the February Revolution said that the peasantry was not of serious consequence, and that the slogan of the moment was "no tsar, but a workers' government." You know that Lenin emphatically dissociated himself from this slogan and objected to any underestimation of the role and importance of the petty bourgeoisie, especially of the peasantry. There were some in our country at that time who thought that after the overthrow of tsarism the proletariat would at once occupy the predominating position. But how did it turn out in reality? It turned out that immediately after the February Revolution the vast masses of the petty bourgeoisie appeared on the scene and gave predominance to the petty-bourgeois parties, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks. The Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, who had been tiny parties until then, "suddenly" became the predominating force in the country. Thanks to what? Thanks to the fact that the vast masses of the petty bourgeoisie at first supported the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
This, incidently, explains why the proletarian dictatorship was established in our country as a result of the more or less rapid growing over of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist revolution.
There is scarcely reason to doubt that Poland and Rumania belong to the category of countries which will have to pass, more or less rapidly, through certain intermediate stages on the way to the dictatorship of the proletariat.
That is why I think that these comrades are mistaken when they deny that there are three types of revolutionary movement on the way towards the dictatorship of the proletariat. Poland and Rumania are representative of the second type.
These, comrades, are my remarks on the draft programme of the Comintern.
As to the style of the draft programme, or of certain individual formulations, I cannot affirm that in this respect the draft programme is perfect. It is to be presumed that some things will have to be improved, more precisely defined, that the style, perhaps, will have to be simplified, and so on. But that is a matter for the Programme Commission of the Sixth Congress of the Comintern.[46]
[39] The plenum of the C.C., C.P.S.13.(B.), July 4-12, 1928, heard and took note of an information report on the questions to be discussed by the Sixth Congress of lhe Comintern, and approved in principle the draft programme of the Comintern. It adopted resolutions on grain procurement policy in connection with the general economic situation, on the organisation of new (grain) state farms, and on improving the training of new experts. At the sittings on July 5, 9 and 11, J. V. Stalin delivered the speeches which are published in this volume. (For the resolutions of the plenum, see Resolutions and Decisions of C.P.S.U. Congresses, Conferences and Central Committee Plenums, Part II, 1953, pp. 391-404.) [page 145]
[40] The draft programme of the Communist International, which had been discussed at the plenum of the C.C., C.P.S.U.(B.) in July 1928, was drawn up by the Programme Commission appointed by the Fifth Congress of the Cominlern (June-July 1924). J. V. Stalin was a member of the commission and directed the drafting of the programme. The draft, adopted by the Programme Commission of the E.C.C.I. on May 25, 1928, and approved by the July plenum of the C.C., C.P.S.U.(B.) formed the basis of Ihe Programme of the Communist International endorsed by the Sixth Congress of the Comintern (July-September 1928). Regarding the draft programme, see pp. 211-13 in this volume. [page 147]
[41] See V. I. Lenin, Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 27, pp. 207-46. [page 153]
[42] A Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Hungary on March 21, 1919. Its position from the very first was a very difficult one. The country was in the throes of a severe financial and food crisis and had to contend with internal counter-revolution and with the Entente, which organised an economic blockade of Soviet Hungary and armed intervention. The Hungarian Social-Democrats who had joined the government of the Hungarian Republic conducted treasonable undermining activities in the rear and at the front, and negotiated with Entente agents for the overthrow of the Soviet power. In August 1919 the Hungarian revolution was crushed by the joint efforts of the internal counter-revolution and the forces of intervention. [page 154]
[43] This refers to the profound revolutionary crisis in Germany in the autumn of 1923, when, as the result of a powerful revolutionary movement, workers' governments were set up in Saxony and Thuringia and an armed uprising of the workers took place in Hamburg. However, the revolution of 1923 in Germany was defeated. [page 154]
[44] V. I. Lenin, "Preliminary Draft of Theses on the Agrarian Question" (see Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 31, pp. 129-41). [page 156]
[45] See Draft Programme of the Communist International, Moscow and Leningrad, 1928, p. 52; see also V. 1. Lenin, Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 30, pp. 75-76, and Vol. 31, p. 27. [page 160]
[46] The Sixth Congress of the Comintern was held in Moscow, July 17-September 1, 1928. It discussed a report on the activities of the E.C.C.I. and reports of the Executive Committee of the Communist Youth International and of the International Control Commission, measures for combating the danger of imperialist wars, the programme of the Communist International, the revolutionary movement in the colonies and semi-colonies, the economic situation in the U.S.S.R. and the situation in the C.P.S.U.(B.), and endorsed the Rules of the Comintern. The congress drew attention to the growth of the internal contradictions of capitalism, which were inevitably leading to a further shaking of the capitalist stabilisation and to a sharp accentuation of the general crisis of capitalism. The congress defined the tasks of the Communist International springing from the new conditions of the working-class struggle. In its resolution on the situation in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and in the C.P.S.U.(B.), the congress took note of the achievements of socialist construction in the U.S.S.R. and their importance in strengthening the revolutionary positions of the international proletariat, and called upon the working people of the world to defend the Soviet Union. J. V. Stalin was elected to the Presidium of the congress, to the Programme Commission and to the Political Commission set up to draft the theses on the international situation and the tasks of the Communist International. [page 164]
[47] See Decisions and Resolutions of Congresses of Soviets of the R.S.F.S.R., Moscow 1939, p. 225. [p. 173]
[48] See V. I. Lenin, Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 33, p. 293. [p. 175]
[49] Bednota (The Poor ) -- a daily newspaper, organ of the C.C., C.P.S.U.(B.), published in Moscow from March 1918 to January 1931. [p. 176]
[50] See V. I. Lenin, Works, 4th Russ. ed., Vol. 33, p. 212. [p. 183]
[51] Krasnaya Gazeta (Red Newspaper ) -- a daily newspaper published by the Leningrad Soviet of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Men's Deputies from January 1918 to February 1939. [p. 189]
Comrades, the plenum of the Central Committee which has just concluded concerned itself with two sets of questions.
The first set consists of questions relating to major problems of the Communist International in connection with the impending Sixth Congress.
The second set consists of questions relating to our constructive work in the U.S.S.R. in the sphere of agriculture -- the grain problem and grain procurements -- and in the sphere of providing a technical intelligentsia, cadres of intellectuals coming from the ranks of the working class, for our industry.
Let us begin with the first set of questions.
1. MAJOR
PROBLEMS OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS
OF THE COMINTERN
What are the major problems which confront the Sixth Congress of the Comintern at the present time?
If one looks at the stage passed through between the Fifth and Sixth Congresses, it is necessary first of all to consider the contradictions which have ripened in this interval within the imperialist camp.
What are these contradictions?
At the time of the Fifth Congress very little was said about the Anglo-American contradiction as the principal one. It was even the custom at that time to speak of an Anglo-American alliance. On the other hand quite a lot was said about contradictions between Britain and France, between America and Japan, between the victors and the vanquished. The difference between that period and the present period is that, of the contradictions in the capitalist camp, that between American capitalism and British capitalism has become the principal one. Whether you take the question of oil, which is of decisive importance both for the development of the capitalist economy and for purposes of war; whether you take the question of markets, which are of the utmost importance for the life and development of world capitalism, because goods cannot be produced if there is no assured sale for them; whether you take the question of spheres of capital export, which is one of the most characteristic features of the imperialist stage; or whether, lastly, you take the question of the lines of communication with markets or sources of raw material -- you will find that all these main questions drive towards one principal problem, the struggle between Britain and America for world hegemony. Wherever America, a country where capitalism is growing gigantically, tries to butt in -- whether it be China, the colonies, South America, or Africa -- everywhere she encounters formidable obstacles in the shape of Britain's firmly established positions.
This, of course, does not do away with the other contradictions in the capitalist camp: between America and Japan, Britain and France, France and Italy, Germany and France and so on. But it does mean that these contradictions are linked in one way or another with the principal contradiction, that between capitalist Britain, whose star is declining, and capitalist America, whose star is rising.
With what is this principal contradiction fraught? It is very likely fraught with war. When two giants come into collision, when they find the earth too small for both of them, they strive to cross swords in order to decide their dispute over world hegemony by war.
That is the first thing to bear in mind.
A second contradiction is that between imperialism and the colonies. This contradiction existed at the time of the Fifth Congress too. But only now has it assumed an acute character. We did not at that time have such a powerful development of the revolutionary movement in China, such a powerful shaking up of the vast masses of the Chinese workers and peasants as occurred a year ago and as is occurring now. And that is not all. We did not at that time, at the time of the Fifth Congress of the Comintern, have that powerful stirring of the labour movement and the national-liberation struggle in India which we have now. These two major facts bring squarely to the fore the question of the colonies and semi-colonies.
With what is the growth of this contradiction fraught? It is fraught with national wars of liberation in the colonies and with intervention on the part of imperialism.
This circumstance also must be borne in mind.
There is, lastly, a third contradiction -- that between the capitalist world and the U.S.S.R., one that is growing not less but more acute. Whereas at the time of the Fifth Congress of the Comintern it could be said that a certain equilibrium, unstable, it is true, but more or less prolonged, had been established between the two worlds, the two antipodes, the world of Soviets and the world of capitalism, now we have every ground for affirming that the days of this equilibrium are drawing to a close.
It goes without saying that the growth of this contradiction cannot fail to be fraught with the danger of armed intervention.
It is to be presumed that the Sixth Congress will take this circumstance also into consideration.
Thus all these contradictions inevitably lead to one principal danger -- the danger of new imperialist wars and intervention.
Therefore, the danger of new imperialist wars and intervention is the main question of the day.
The most widespread method of lulling the working class and of diverting it from the struggle against the danger of war is present-day bourgeois pacifism, with its League of Nations, its preaching of "peace," its "prohibition" of war, its talk of "disarmament" and so forth.
Many think that imperialist pacifism is an instrument of peace. That is absolutely wrong. Imperialist pacifism is an instrument for the preparation of war and for disguising this preparation by hypocritical talk of peace. Without this pacifism and its instrument, the League of Nations, preparation for war in the conditions of today would be impossible.
There are naïve people who think that since there is imperialist pacifism, there will be no war. That is quite untrue. On the contrary, whoever wishes to get at the truth must reverse this proposition and say: since imperialist pacifism and its League of Nations are flourishing, new imperialist wars and intervention are certain.
And the most important thing in all this is that Social-Democracy is the main channel of imperialist pacifism within the working class -- consequently, it is capitalism's main support among the working class in preparing for new wars and intervention.
But for the preparation of new wars pacifism alone is not enough, even if it is supported by so serious a force as Social-Democracy. For this, certain means of suppressing the masses in the imperialist centres are also needed. It is impossible to wage war for imperialism unless the rear of imperialism is strengthened. It is impossible to strengthen the rear of imperialism without suppressing the workers. And that is what fascism is for.
Hence the growing acuteness of the inherent contradictions in the capitalist countries, the contradictions between labour and capital.
On the one hand, preaching of pacifism through the mouths of the Social-Democrats in order more effectively to prepare for new wars; on the other hand, suppression of the working class in the rear, of the Communist Parties in the rear, by the use of fascist methods, in order then to conduct war and intervention more effectively -- such are the ways of preparing for new wars.
Hence the tasks of the Communist Parties:
Firstly, to wage an unceasing struggle against Social-Democratism in all spheres -- in the economic and in the political sphere, including in the latter the exposure of bourgeois pacifism with the task of winning the majority of the working class for communism.
Secondly, to form a united front of the workers of the advanced countries and the labouring masses of the colonies in order to stave off the danger of war, or, if war breaks out, to convert imperialist war into civil war, smash fascism, overthrow capitalism, establish Soviet power, emancipate the colonies from slavery, and organise all-round defence of the first Soviet Republic in the world.
Such are the principal problems and tasks confronting the Sixth Congress.
These problems and tasks are being taken into account by the Executive Committee of the Comintern, as you will easily see if you examine the agenda of the Sixth Congress of the Comintern.
2. THE PROGRAMME OF THE COMINTERN
Closely linked with the question of the main problems of the international working-class movement is the question of the programme of the Comintern.
The cardinal significance of the programme of the Comintern is that it scientifically formulates the basic tasks of the communist movement, indicates the principal means of accomplishing these tasks, and thus creates for the Comintern sections that clarity of aims and methods without which it is impossible to move forward with confidence.
A few words about the specific features of the draft programme of the Comintern submitted by the Programme
Commission of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. At least seven such specific features might be noted.
1) The draft provides a programme not for particular national Communist Parties, but for all Communist Parties taken together, covering what is common and basic to all of them. Hence it is a programme based on principle and theory.
2) It was the custom formerly to provide a programme for the "civilised" nations. The draft programme differs from this in that it is intended for all the nations of the world -- both white and black, both of the metropolitan countries and of the colonies. Hence its all-embracing, profoundly international character.
3) The draft takes as its point of departure not some particular capitalism of some particular country or portion of the world, but the entire world system of capitalism, counterposing to it the world system of socialist economy. Hence its distinction from all hitherto existing programmes.
4) The draft proceeds from the uneven development of the capitalist countries and draws the conclusion that the victory of socialism is possible in separate countries, thus envisaging the prospect of the formation of two parallel centres of attraction -- the centre of world capitalism and the centre of world socialism.
5) Instead of the slogan of a United States of Europe, the draft puts forward the slogan of a federation of Soviet Republics which consists of advanced countries and colonies that have dropped, or are dropping, out of the imperialist system, and which is opposed in its struggle for world socialism to the world capitalist system.
6) The draft stresses opposition to Social-Democracy as the main support of capitalism in the working class and as the chief enemy of communism, and holds that all other trends in the working class (anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, guild socialism,[55] etc.) are in essence varieties of Social-Democratism.
7) The draft puts in the forefront the task of consolidating the Communist Parties both in the West and in the East as a preliminary condition for ensuring the hegemony of the proletariat, and then also the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The plenum of the Central Committee approved in principle the draft programme of the Comintern, and charged comrades having amendments to the draft to submit them to the Programme Commission of the Sixth Congress.
So much for questions concerning the Comintern.
Now let us turn to questions concerning our internal development.