The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 17, 1926, Page 1

‘ 1 LENIN POINTS LABOR’S WAY TO POWER oe] (From Lenin’s Book, “State and Revolution’). HE first fact that has + established with compléte exactness by the whole theory of evolution, indeed by the whole of science # ewhich the utopians forgot, however, and which is now forgotten by the pres- ent opportunists, afrai @_ @ ‘jist revolution—is that, historically, there must undoubtedly be a special stage or epoch of tre Vent Rae “Halism to Communism. “PETWEEN capitalist. @ aciety,” says Karl Marx, “there lies a period of revolutionary trans- formation from the + 4 od A stage of political transition corresponds to this period, and the state during this period & < * 0 sn the REVOLUTIONARY DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLE- TARIAT.” @oF HIS conclusion Marx bases on an analysis of the role played by the proletariat in mod- ern capitalist society, on the facts of the development of this society and on the irreconcila- bility of the antagonistic inter- ests of the proletariat and the capitalist class. ARLIER. the question was crush them in order to free humanity from wage-slavery; their resistance must be broken by force. It is clear that where there is suppression there must also be violence, and-there cannot be liberty or democracy. POR MOCKACY for the vast majority of the nation, and the suppression by force—that is, the exclusion from democracy—of the exploiters and oppressors of the nation: this is the modification of democracy which we shall see during the transition from capitalism to Communism. Canty in Communist society, when the resistance of the capitalists has been finally broken, when the capi- talists have disappeared, when there are no longer any classes (that is, when there is no difference be- tween the members of society in respect of their social means of production), only then “does the state dis- appear and one can speak of freedom.” Only then will be possible and will be realized a really full democracy, ¢scime, Second Anniversary Lenin Memorial Edition = “=.” a democracy without any ex- ceptions. And only then will de- mocracy itself begin to wither away in virtue of the simple fact that, freed from capitalist slav- ery, from the innumerable hor- rors, savagery, absurdities and infamies of capitalist exploita- tion, people will gradually be- come accustomed to the obser- put thus: To attain its Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, IL vation of the elementary rules of social life, known for centur- emancipation the proletariat must overthrow the capitalist class, conquer political power and establish its own revolution- ary dictatorship. Now the ques- tion is put somewhat different- ly: The transition from capi- talist society developing to- wards Communism, to a Com- munist society, is impossible without a period of “political transition,” and the state in this period can only be the revolu- itionary dictatorship of the pro- ‘letariat. t HAT, then, is the relation of this dictatorship to democ- jracy? We saw that the Com- 'munist Manifesto simply places ‘side by side the two ideas: the “conversion of the proletariat into the ruling class” and the “conquest of democracy.” On the basis of all that has been said above, one can define more exactly how democracy changes in the transition from capitalism to Communism. U bog capitalist society, under the conditions most favorable to its development, we have,a more or less complete democracy in the form of a democratic repub- lic. But this democracy is al- ways bound by the narrow framework of capitalist exploit- ation, and, consequently, always remains, in’ reality, a democ- racy only for the minority, only ; for the possessing classes, only: ‘for the rich, Freedom in capi-. talist society always remains i more or less the same as it was iin the ancient Greek republics, that is, freedom for the slave owners. The modern wage- slaves, in virtue of the condi- tions of capitalist exploitation, remain to such an extent crugh- ed by want and poverty that they “cannot be bothered with democracy,” have “no time for ,politics”; that, in the ordinary peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is de- barred from participating in pulttic political life...» Pemocracy for an insignifi- ? cant minority, democracy for the rich—that is the democ- racy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the-mech- anism of capitalist democracy, everywhere—in the so-called y" details of the suffrage (the residential qualification, the exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the repre- sentative institutions, in the act- ual obstacles to the right of meeting (public buildings are -not for the “poor”), in the pure- ‘ly capitalist organization of the dutty press, etc., etc.—on all ‘sides we shall see restrictions ‘upon restrictions of democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor, seem light—especially in the eyes of one who has himself never known want, and has never lived in close contact with the oppressed class in their hard life, and nine-tenths, if not ninety-nine hundredths, of the bourgeois pub- licists and politicians are of this class! But in their sum these restrictions exclude and thrust out the poor from politics and from an active share in ~ democracy. Marx splendidly grasped the essence of capitalist democracy, when, in his analysis of the experience of the Commune he said that the oppressed are allowed, once every few years, to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them in parliament! Bt from this capitalist democracy—inevitably narrow, stealthily thrust- ing aside the poor, and therefore to its core, hypocritical and treacher- ous—progress does not march along a simple, smooth and direct’ path to “greater and greater democracy,” as the lil | professors and the lower middle class opportunists would have us believe. No, progressive develop- ment—that is, towards Communism—marches thru the dictatorship of the proletariat; and cannot do otherwise, for there is no one else who can break the resistance of the exploiting capitalists, and no other way of doing it. “AN? the dictatorship of the proletariat—that is, the organization of the advance-guard of the oppressed as the ruling class, for the purpose of crushing the oppressors—cannot produce merely an expansion of dem- ocracy. Together with an immense expansion of democracy—for the first time becoming democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the rich folk—the dictatorship of the proletariat will produce a series or restrictions of liberty in the case of the oppressors, exploiters and capitalists. We must ‘Forward to Victor \ ¥ ies, repeated for thousands of years in all sermons. They will become accustomed to their ob- servance without force, without constraint, without subjection, without the special apparatus for compulsion which is called the state, HE expression “the state withers away,” is very well chosen, for it indicates the grad- ual and elemental nature of the process. Only habit can, and undoubtedly will, have such an effect: for we see around us mil- lions of times how readily people get accustomed to observe the necessary rules of life in com- mon, if there is no explaitation, if there is nothing that causes indignation, that calls forth pro- test and revolt and has to be suppressed. THs. in capitalist society, we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false; a democracy only for the rich, for the minority. “The dictatorship of the proletariat, the period of transition of Communism, will, for the first time, produce a democracy for the people, for the majority, side by side with the necessary suppression of the minority constituted by the exploiters. Communisrn alone is capable of giving a really complete democracy, and the fuller it is the more quickly will it become unnecessary and wither away of-itself. In other~ words, under capitalism we have a state in the proper sense of the word: that is, a special instrument for the suppression of one class by another, and of the majority by the minority at that. Naturally, for the suc- cessful discharge of such a task as the systematic suppression by the minority of exploiters of the majority of exploited, the great- est ferocity and Savagery of suppression is required, and seas of blood are needed, thru which humanity has to direct its path, in a condition of slavery, serf- dom and wage labor. ASAIN. during the transition from capitalism to Com- munism, suppression is still necessary; but in this case it is the suppression of the minority of exploiters by the majority of exploited. A special instrument, a special machine for suppres- sion—that is, the “state”—is necessary, but this is now a transitional state, no longer a state in the ordinary sense of the term. For the suppression of the minority of exploiters by the majority of those who were but yesterday wage slaves, is a matter comparatively so easy, simple and natural that it will cost far less bloodshed than the suppression of the risings of the slaves, serfs or wage laborers, and will cost the human race far less. And it is compatible with the diffusion of democracy over such an overwhelming majority of the nation that the need for any special machinery for sup- pression will gradually cease to exist. The exploiters are un- able, of course, to suppress the people without a most complex machine for performing this duty; but the people can sup- press the exploiters even with a very simple “machine”—almost without any “machine” at all. Without any special apparatus —by the simple organization of the armed masses (such as the Councils of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, we may remark, anticipating a little). INALLY, only under Communism will the state become quite unnecessary, for there will be no one to suppress—“no one” in the sense of a class, in the sense of a systematic struggle with a definite section of the population. .... HE MEANS OF PRODUCTION ARE NOW NO LONGER THE PRIVATE PROPERTY OF INDIVIDUALS. THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION BELONG TO THE WHOLE OF SOCIETY. y in America Under Guidancé of Leninism! ct nA ET LL