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Party work in the masses: Articles and speeches
A collection of Lenin's works, taken from the greater body of his work. Printed in the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."
159 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1982
About the author
Vladimir Ilich Lenin
2,771 books1,893 followersVladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), statesman and political theorist. After the October Revolution he served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1924.
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January 5, 2026
As a selection of some of Lenin’s most important writings on the role of the Communist Party and its relationship to the working class (and various other classes), and arranged by order of date, this book offers a guide of sorts into the development and general work of the party at different periods and in connection with certain tasks, making this book particularly useful at a time when there are still no actual Communist Parties in most countries and the tasks of the communists closely resemble those faced by the communists in Lenin’s time.
Although this selection probably would’ve been helped by the addition of the articles “Where to Begin?”, “Draft Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra”, and perhaps a couple of chapters from “What is to be Done?” which offer some crucial lessons in building the party, the early writings, especially “The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement”, are a scathing condemnation of narrow circle attitudes which remain especially pertinent against the erroneous Maoist trend of “pre-party organisations”, showing that, instead, the party is built by merging communist thought with the workers’ movement and the activities of its propagation, namely through the revolutionary periodical — the “Iskra plan”.
In fact, much of this book offers a polemic against the various forms of sectarianism, from narrow circle mentalities to erroneous views on parliament work and daily agitation. The methods and stages of political development outlined by Lenin in the works contained show that the party can never confine its activities to simply one or two methods of reaching the workers (as is the practice of many reformists today), but that, as Lenin himself says, “all methods of struggle, provided they correspond to the forces at the disposal of the Party and facilitate the achievement of the best results possible under the given conditions” (p. 11-12), with Lenin naming but a few of such methods and how to properly utilise them and identify the time for their correct utilisation (e.g. parliamentarianism and boycotts).
Another outstanding feature of this volume is that in the works of Lenin selected is a great elucidation of the relationship of the party, as the party of the proletariat, to various classes and, namely, how it interacts with the workers on the road to socialist revolution. Lenin makes clear that “the proletarian revolution is impossible without the sympathy and support of the overwhelming majority of the working people for their vanguard—the proletariat. But this sympathy and this support are not forthcoming immediately and are not decided by elections. They are won in the course of long, arduous and stern class struggle. The class struggle waged by the proletariat for the sympathy and support of the majority of the working people does not end with the conquest of political power by the proletariat. After the conquest of power this struggle continues, but in other forms” (p. 81-82), and through the course of the various works contained shows how the level of support enjoyed by the party among the working class is to be gauged and contributes to defining what constitutes the “advanced” section of the working class. Here, Lenin also offers a great insight into the relationship of the Communist Party to the peasantry and petty-bourgeoisie, the former of which — as the history of the Russian Revolution teaches —- can become the vast reserve of the proletariat in socialist revolution and construction, explaining how to judge acceptable and unacceptable compromises concretely without falling into formulas and, in addition, the immense value of the liberties afforded by bourgeois-democracy for gauging support from the workers and peasants and allowing the party to conduct its work relatively freely.
Perhaps the final outstanding feature of this book is Lenin’s elucidations on leadership and the role of individuals in the party. Beyond the obvious reference to how leadership of the working class by the party works and in what forms this leadership manifests, Lenin speaks to the role of individual leaders of the party, describing what kind of traits they ought to exhibit and how personalities in the party should be judged, reminding that someone who may appear bad at working in the conditions of parliament may be sublime in illegal work and vice versa, all the while showing under what conditions such leaders are forged and what role they play in the party, shattering the S.R. and Narodnik ideas about “heroes making the masses”.
Although, I think, a few extra works should’ve been added, particularly from Lenin’s early life, this book is an excellent selection of Lenin’s works on the activity of the party, being a useful guide, and polemic against sectarianism and certain ultra-leftist tendencies.
Although this selection probably would’ve been helped by the addition of the articles “Where to Begin?”, “Draft Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra”, and perhaps a couple of chapters from “What is to be Done?” which offer some crucial lessons in building the party, the early writings, especially “The Urgent Tasks of Our Movement”, are a scathing condemnation of narrow circle attitudes which remain especially pertinent against the erroneous Maoist trend of “pre-party organisations”, showing that, instead, the party is built by merging communist thought with the workers’ movement and the activities of its propagation, namely through the revolutionary periodical — the “Iskra plan”.
In fact, much of this book offers a polemic against the various forms of sectarianism, from narrow circle mentalities to erroneous views on parliament work and daily agitation. The methods and stages of political development outlined by Lenin in the works contained show that the party can never confine its activities to simply one or two methods of reaching the workers (as is the practice of many reformists today), but that, as Lenin himself says, “all methods of struggle, provided they correspond to the forces at the disposal of the Party and facilitate the achievement of the best results possible under the given conditions” (p. 11-12), with Lenin naming but a few of such methods and how to properly utilise them and identify the time for their correct utilisation (e.g. parliamentarianism and boycotts).
Another outstanding feature of this volume is that in the works of Lenin selected is a great elucidation of the relationship of the party, as the party of the proletariat, to various classes and, namely, how it interacts with the workers on the road to socialist revolution. Lenin makes clear that “the proletarian revolution is impossible without the sympathy and support of the overwhelming majority of the working people for their vanguard—the proletariat. But this sympathy and this support are not forthcoming immediately and are not decided by elections. They are won in the course of long, arduous and stern class struggle. The class struggle waged by the proletariat for the sympathy and support of the majority of the working people does not end with the conquest of political power by the proletariat. After the conquest of power this struggle continues, but in other forms” (p. 81-82), and through the course of the various works contained shows how the level of support enjoyed by the party among the working class is to be gauged and contributes to defining what constitutes the “advanced” section of the working class. Here, Lenin also offers a great insight into the relationship of the Communist Party to the peasantry and petty-bourgeoisie, the former of which — as the history of the Russian Revolution teaches —- can become the vast reserve of the proletariat in socialist revolution and construction, explaining how to judge acceptable and unacceptable compromises concretely without falling into formulas and, in addition, the immense value of the liberties afforded by bourgeois-democracy for gauging support from the workers and peasants and allowing the party to conduct its work relatively freely.
Perhaps the final outstanding feature of this book is Lenin’s elucidations on leadership and the role of individuals in the party. Beyond the obvious reference to how leadership of the working class by the party works and in what forms this leadership manifests, Lenin speaks to the role of individual leaders of the party, describing what kind of traits they ought to exhibit and how personalities in the party should be judged, reminding that someone who may appear bad at working in the conditions of parliament may be sublime in illegal work and vice versa, all the while showing under what conditions such leaders are forged and what role they play in the party, shattering the S.R. and Narodnik ideas about “heroes making the masses”.
Although, I think, a few extra works should’ve been added, particularly from Lenin’s early life, this book is an excellent selection of Lenin’s works on the activity of the party, being a useful guide, and polemic against sectarianism and certain ultra-leftist tendencies.
Displaying 1 of 1 review