The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 12, 1924, Page 9

Ths “Seack" Teli Grew into A Flanic By DAVID IVON JONES. ENIN’S newspaper, “Iskra,” (“The Spark”) formed the starting point for the formation of an organized par- “ty of the proletariat in Russia, when the words “Menshevik” and “Bolshe- vik” had not yet been coined. In order to understand the character and pur- pose of the journal, it is. necessary to go back a few years, When Lenin appeared in Petrograd in 1894, and began to form Social-De- mocratic groups of workers and intel- lectuals, the Social-Democratic idea,* which has then synonymous with revo- lutionary Marxism, had always been disseminated in Russia for about ten years, but only among isolated indi- viduals here and were Plekhanov and Axelrod, had formed the “group for the emancipation of Labor,” in Switz- erland. They worked, as it were, in the absence of a workers’ movement, when it was still a question of theory, as far as Russia was concernepl. They perforce confined themselves to the literary task of popularizing the Marxian principles among the Russian revolutionaries, who were in a state of disillusionment and disappointment at the failure of the “Narodvoltzi” (Populist) creed, which based its hopes upon the peasant. _ Lenin started the period of action in Russian Social-Democracy. But, as we saw in our previous article, he also most effectively of all, incarnated Marxism in the flesh of actual Rus- sian economic conditions. This he did in his controversy with the “narod- niki.” He left a monument to this con- troversy in his masterly work, “The Development of Capitalism in Russia.” But Lenin not only wrote. With him theory served to give replies to the problems arising out of the strug- gle. He formed groups of workers to organize agitation in the various work- shops of Petrograd. The agitation among the workers took the form of issuing leaflets in connection with a certain factory, flagellating the abuses and oppressions, the petty fines, etc., to which the workers were subjected. But Lenin’s group not only advanced particular economic demands, but also the struggle for the overthrow of Czarism, thus placing the workers in the forefront of the struggle for political freedom. And the workers readily responded. A wave of strikes dated from this time. The workers finally demonstrated their capacity for political struggle, which was of vast importance in winning over the revo- lutionary intelligentsia to Marxism. Needless to say, the agitation had to be carried on under the severest con- spirative conditions. The growing working class revolt roused the forces of the Czarist police to action, and, at the end of 1895, practically the whole of Lenin’s group, the “Group for the emancipation of the working class,” was arrested, including Lenin himself. In 1897, Lenin was exiled to Siberia. There, however, he managed to continue his literary work, his con- troversy with the legal “narodniki,” besides writing on the urgent tasks of the Social-Democrats in Russia in the light of the experience gained in the first attempts in Petrograd.** While Lenin was in exile, Social- Democratic groups were being formed in all the large cities of Russia, and an attempt was made to hold the first congress at Minsk, in 1898. But, as Lenin afterwards showed, the young Social Democrats were as yet inex- perienced in conspirative organiza- tion, and the central organizations set up by the Congress were broken up by the police as soon\as formed. Noth- ing remained but the Manifesto of the Congress. So that there was still no organized party. It remained an idea, a trend. There was no co-ordination among the groups. Each was a law * The word “Social-Democratic” is retained thruout the present article because it. then stood for revolution- ary Communism, and was so used by Lenin. ** New Leningrad. The old name is used in order to retain the historical perspective, especially as the subject is Lenin himself. 'to itself and each had a different in- terpretation of the Social-Democratic program, tactics and methods of strug- gle. This was the period of the groups or circles. Lenin returned from exile in 1900. In the five years since his arrest, the elemental uprising of the workers. had taken a mass character. This dis- quieted Lenin, even while it filled him with confidence in the working class, as all elemental uprisings without con- scious direction disquieted him. He saw the mass movement going ahead of the conscious Social-Democratic movement, and he sounded the alarm. He saw much that was contrary to Marxism in the tactics and teachings of the young groups. “A certain vul- garization of Marxism, a kind of “I. W. W.’ism,” had taken hold among the revolutionary youth during these five years. This trend was known as “eco- nomism.” The “economists” declared the economic struggle to be paramount. “Politics follow economics,” they said. “Leave politics to the liberal bour- geoisie; and all this talk about the overthrow of Czarism is not the con- cern of the workers. Talk to the work- liberal bourgeosie. Z Lenin now saw himself obliged ‘td carry forward the theoretical struggle from the domain of program (contro- vérsy with the narodniki) to the do- main of tactics and methods of organ- ization, namely, the fight with the “economists’. within the Social-Demo- crati¢ movement. On his return from exile Lenin, and a few others who held siimlar views, met at Pskov to consider the needs ofthe movement. It was decided to start an all-Russian Social-Democratic newspaper. There had been several previous attempts made to start a paper. Some had had a short-lived existence before being discovered and suppressed; others, like the “Rabbochi Dyelo” (“Work- ers’ Cause”), the first paper printed by Lenin’s group in 1895, had been seized by the police before leaving the press. The only hope of success was to establish what Lenin called a base of operations beyond the reach of the Czarist police, that is, abroad, and thereto establish a newspaper which would be an ideological guide for the movement, gathering the vari- ous groups together round the true Marxist tactics and methods of or- DAVID IVON JONES It is with the greatest sorrow that we have to record the loss of Comrade David Ivon Jones, who died recently in a sanatorium in the Crimea. Comrade Jones leaves behind him Altho taken from us when scarcely in his prime, a career of valuable service to the revolutionary labor movement and the Communist International. labor movement, devoting close tary to the Labor party, and the to found what was known as the in MéScow as a delegate to the Party and the struggle waged by ers about matters that promise palp- able results. Too much ideology, too much theory, etc., etc,’ How familiar all this is to any party worker no mat- ter in what part of the world he may be! Lenin sensed a great danger in this trend. With the air of being ultra- working class, the economists reduced working class politics into a tool of the bourgeoisie. For many at that time wanted the revolution who were not of the working class movement, but saw in the working class a force to be exploited politically. The liberal bourgeosie desired revolution of a sort. The petty bourgeoisie desired revolution. Whose revolution it was going to be, whether the proletariat should be a tool in the service of the bourgeosie, or whether it should re- tain the lead in the revolution, de- pended on the correct proletarian tac- tics and the correct methods of or- ganization in these critical days. The revolutionary intelligentsia were prone to say: “The proletariat is necessary for the revolution.” Plekhanov cor- rected them from his Geneva study: “No, on the contrary, the revolution is necessary for the proletariat.” Such were the “economists,” consciously or unconsciously reducing the role of the proletariat to an appendage of the _ i leadership of the party, which led to a split. Comrade Jones remained true to revolutionary principles in the face of all opposition and persecution. During this period he helped Born of working class parents in a Welsh village, he started life as a wage earner at the age of 13. to New Zealand, where he remained four years, working for the most time as an agricultural laborer. in South Africa, and here he threw hifgself whole heartedly into the At the age of 19 he emigrated In 1906 Comrade Jones arrived study to the revolutionary labor movement and to the Marxist theory, as well as actively participat- ing in the labor struggles and in general working class activity. In the severe striggles which took place in 1912 and 1913 Comrade Jones took a leading part. In 1914 he was elected as general secre- outbreak of the world war found him among the few-who set their face determinedly against it, as a result of which the chauvinist elements forced him from the Thruout the war International Socialist league, and became editor of its paper, the International. When the Communist International was founded in 1919, Jones was among the first to give it his allegiance and to urge that the South African workers become affiliated thereto. In 1921 he arrived Third World Congress, and since that time remained in Russia, where he devoted his time to the study of international questions and was a constant contributor to the press of the British sections of the Comintern. The article from his pen in the current number of our English brother organ, the Communist Review, shows to what good purpose he was able to put the results of his study of the early history of the Bolshevist Lenin against all deviations. The Comintern, and in particular the English speaking sections, will deeply feel the loss sustained in the early death of this com- rade, while his life will afford a splendid example of earnest and untiring service to the cause of Communism. ganization. For this purpose, Lenin was selected to go abroad and estab- lish contact with the Plekhanov group, enlisting their aid in the work. In this task Lenin had brilliant suc- cess. He established the now famous newspaper, “Iskra,” (The Spark), and the “Iskra” organization for the dis+ semination of the paper. The paper became not noly a theoretical guide, but an organizational center, to which group after group adhered, to form the basis for an All-Russian Party of the Proletariat. : But, needless to say, “Iskra” met with considerable opposition from the “economists” within the movement. For, was it not formed to wage un- compromising war on Economism, which exalted the immaturity of the movement into a considered policy? In its first announcement, the paper declared: “Before we unite, and in order that we unite, it is necessary first of all resolutely and definitely to divide.” Here, however, there was no question of splitting any organization, for a centrally organized party did not yet exist. It was “Iskra’s” task to form it. But, first of all, it was neces- sary to delimit, fix boundaries, define the Social-Democratic method and those who belonged to it, and label OP those who departed from it; separat- ing the tares from the wheat. And the tares at this time were the “eco- nomists.” Plekhanov, Martov, Axelrod and others were on the “Iskra” editorial committee, But “Iskra” was essential- ly Lenin’s paper. Of all these, Lenin alone had clear, impelling ideas as to what the movement needed. He put forward the celebrated idea of an “organization of professional revolu- tionaries.” He had seen group after group broken up by the police, every forward movement thwarted by whole- sale arrests because of what Lenin called a “tinkering” view of the in- credibly difficult task of counteracting the political police, A broken up having no link with a central organ- ization, left no trace whereby its ac- tivities could be speedily revived. Lenin demanded a centrally directed organization of comrades as scienti- fically equipped as the police in the art of conspiracy—” profesional revo- lutionaries” the ironsides of an All- Russian Party, of the Proletariat. “Iskra” also elaborated in detail the . plan of such a party, and not only proposed this, but proceeded to carry its ideas into practice, gatherivz round itself group after group of ad- herents in the various industrial cen- ters of Russia. In 1902, a year after starting “Iskra,” Lenin issued hi s epoch-mak- ing brochure, entitled, “What Must We Do?” This he describes as a synopsis of the “Iskra” tactics and methods of organization. The book became a veritable storm center in Russian So- cial Democracy, not only because of its campaign against “economism,’ but also because it laid down prin- ciples of party organization which went much further than the fight against “economism.” “What Must We Do?” cleared “economism” off the field, but it raised new issues, a new conflict on a higher plane, which a year later crystallized in the division of the movement into Menshevism and Bolshevism. Meanwhile “economism,” degrading the political role of the proletariat, found its kindred expression in Bern- stein’s revisionism. At first glance the latter had little in common with the slogans of opportunism. The “eco- nomists” chafed at the rigorours of “orthodox” Marxism, and demanded, like ‘heir German contort character- istic of the uncompromising revolu- tionary: “People who are really con- vinced that they carry science a step forward would demand, not ¢qual freedom for the new theory along with the old one, but the substitution of the old by the new,” and, in the first chapter of “What Must We Do?” he adds: “Oh, yes, messieurs, you are free to invite, and, not only to invite, but to go where you please, even to the morass; we even think that the bog.is your proper place, and we are prepared to lend you every support for your migration thereto.” Lenin believed in giving the confirmed op- portunist a push to the right! At this time, using the terminology of the French revolution, “Iskra” de- clared the existence of the Mountain and the Gironde in the Russian prole- tarian movement. Indeed, Plekhanov, some time before Lenin’s arrival in the “emigration,” had broken with the “Union for the Emancipation of Labor,” because of its “economism” and had formed the “League of Social Democrats.” But Lenin does not seem to have suspected (or else deemed it unwise to reveal his suspicions), that the final cleavage should take place on a line between him and his. “Iskra” colleagues, Plekhanov, Martov, Axel- rod, and others. But this amazing “right-about-face” to opportunism, constituting one of the most striking studies in the psychology of menshey- ism, must form the subject of a sep- arate article, devoted to the Men- shevik split. ; “What Must We Do?” in spite of the familiarizing of Leninism by the Com- munist International, has still much that is new and startling to the Eng- lish reader, and it is to be héped that these early Lenin brochures will soon be published in the English language. (Continued Next Week.) ER Py PE EE Se eee ES a EN a ll