One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Crisis in our Party

by Vladimir Lenin

Translated from the text given in the "Collected Works" of V.I. Lenin, Vol. 7, Fourth Russian Edition, prepared by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C. C.P.S.U.Corrections have been made in accordance with the Fifth Russian Edition of the "Collected Works."

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Lenin, Russia, Theory, Russian Revolution

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Vladimir 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.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lenin examines the conditions that gave rise to the split between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks in the second party Congress. A detailed and thorough analysis of the various factions within the party at the time (1904) including diagrams and voting bloc information. Of interest to anyone investigating the Bolsheviks or Leninism as it gives a good understanding of the practical side of Leninist party politics. However its depth comes at the price of its readability for modern audience and the uninitiated, as they may find the dozens of names, newspapers, factions and complex inter-party relations obscure and confusing upon first read.

[Voyager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the aftermath of the Second Congress of the RSDLP from which was birthed the Bolshevik-Menshevik split or, as Lenin here puts it, the divide into "revolutionary" and "opportunist" wings, this book can be considered as a kind of sequel to Lenin's much more famous earlier work What is to be Done?, for it is here that Lenin builds upon the concept of vanguard party of the most educated, class conscious, dedicated elements of the proletariat as the general staff of the proletarian class first laid down in the aforementioned book and the article Where to Begin?, and sums up the experience of the newspaper Iskra in constructing the party.

Of primary significance today is Lenin's summing up of the discussions at the congress over the nature of party membership, wherein Lenin explains that “a member of the party is one who accepts its programme and supports the Party both financially and by personal participation in one of the party organisations” (p. 46), with the Mensheviks taking particular exception to the latter part of Lenin's requirements for party membership. Pair this with Lenin's words on how the party should conduct itself, what role it should play, in What is to be Done?, and one gets a good picture of what kind of a person is a member of the Leninist party of the new type and the special significance of Stalin's words in his eulogy of Lenin: “we Communists are people of a special mould. We are made of a special stuff” (Works, Vol. 6, p. 47, Foreign Languages Publishing House 1953).

Another great point of importance in this work, continuing from What is to be Done?, is how Lenin defends the necessity of democratic centralism against the Mensheviks, many of whom would adopt liquidationist views in the aftermath of this congress, who, in opposition, claimed that such an order of organsiation would stifle freedom of thought and action within the party. To the contrary, and history proved this lesson very well, the lofty "freedoms" sought by the Mensheviks would spell the emergence of liquidationist, anti-party trends and, continued by many opportunists outside of Russia into the present day, totally destroy many a party.

Beyond Lenin's great lessons in organisation offered here, there is much to be learned here in the development of the Bolshevik prorgamme, particularly as regards the peasantry. Lenin would later elaborate in his The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution the theory of the continuation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into socialist revolution with the proletariat being able to utilise the poor and middle peasant to form the vast reserve of the still numerically small proletariat and history, too, proved the correctness of this tactic. But it was at the second congress that this topic came to the fore: Menshevism rejected that the proletariat could and should be the leading class in the bourgeois-democratic revolution and that it should continue to the socialist revolution after the tasks of the bourgeois revolution were completed, dogmatically calling on a repitition of the bourgeois revolutions in France, America, and Britain instead. Against this, Lenin explained exactly why such a thing could not have unfolded in Russia and why it fell to the proletariat to take up the revolutionary banner and then push through to socialism.

On this point, the book prepares the reader for The Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution by showing where these debates began and giving the reader intimate knowledge of the dying ideas of the Mensheviks who wanted to cling at the coat tails of the bourgeoisie and the thorough bloodletting Bolshevism gave the Mensheviks on these questions.

All round, this book is of deciesive importance in grasping, firstly, the Leninist party of the new type in conjunction with What is to be Done?, by summing up the experience of Iskra in building the party (as per the "Iskra plan" of building the party around the newspaper) and clarifying the basis of party membership and duties against the Menshevik objections. And, secondly, in this book the reader is given a first-hand picture of the development of the Bolshevik programme on the eve of the 1905 Revolution and how plans were made to bring this line into practice during that revolution and, subsequently, the October Revolution. Needless to say, one should read What is to be Done? as well Where to Begin? and the Draft Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra before reading this book, and a could book to follow this with, I think, would be The Two Tactics.... To conclude, a book of great importance which no one can themselves a Leninist without having familiarised themselves with.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly a stand- in for Lenin's response to Luxemburg's jabs at One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. Or the entry in Marxist Internet Archive was an abridged version.

[Brian Napoletano]

Lenin's account of the political maneuvers employed by various factions in the party is interesting, but the number of people involved is somewhat difficult to follow. I'm setting this aside until I have the time to sit down and figure out what the different factions where and who belonged to what faction.

[A L]

It demands close reading and a lot of background knowledge, but this is a great blow-by-blow account of the struggle against the opportunist social-democrats; the lessons for organizing today are indispensable.

[Işıkgün Akfırat · Rating 4 out of 5]

1903'te Rusya Sosyal Demokrat İşçi Partisi'nin (RSDİP) ikinci kongresinde yaşanan "Bolşevik" (çoğunluk) ve "Menşevik" (azınlık) bölünmesinin izahatı. İkinci Kongre'nin ana teması, partinin gevşek bir gruplar koalisyonu olmaktan çıkıp disiplinli bir merkezi örgütlenmeye dönüşmesi. Meşhur ayrışmanın temelinde de buna dair tüzük meseleleri var.

Lenin, oldukça tafsilatlı bir şekilde kongre tartışmalarındaki pozisyonları, grupların kongre sırasında ve sonrasında aldıkları tutumların niteliğini açıklıyor. Sosyal Demokratlar arasındaki bölünmeyi, devrimciler (İskra örgütü) ve oportünistler (diğerleri) arasındaki bölünme olarak özetliyor.

Devrimciliğin ve oportünizmin ayrışmasının, en temelde merkeziyetçilik ve anarşizme varan özerklik arasında olduğunu söylüyor. Bu eğilime aristokratik (bireyci, ayrıcalıklı konumdan ötürü) anarşizm, Jirondenizm (biraz da karşı tarafın Jakoben suçlamasına cevaben) gibi isimler veriyor.

Bu bölünmenin farklı koşulların rağmen tüm dünyadaki sosyal demokrat partilerde yaşandığı vurgusu da dikkate şayan. Kitabın farklı yerlerinde bunun sınıf temellerine, burjuva entelektüellerin partiler içinde kazandığı ağırlığa ve bunların proletarya ile çelişmelerine dikkat çekiyor.

Parti kongresinin yapılmasını "bir devrim" ve Rus sosyal demokrasisi tarihinde "eşsiz bir olay" olarak anıyor. Sebebi, illegal bir partinin tüm grupları birleştirip tüzüğü, programı, tartışmalarıyla ortaya çıkmasının başarılması. Ancak sonrasında (böyle demese de) bir "karşı devrim" geliyor.

Kitaba adını veren "bir adım ileri, iki adım geri", merkezi parti örgütü konusunda kazanılan çoğunluğun, sonraki tartışmalarda kaybedilmesi. Bunun neticesinde de partinin merkez organı İskra'nın oportünistlerin eline geçmesi. Kitap, partiyi ve etki alanındaki geniş kesimleri, bu "geçici" gerilemenin içeriğine dair ikna etmek ve "Bolşevikleri" tekrar hakim kılmak üzere yazılmış.

[Iñigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

El II congreso de Partido Obrero Social Demócrata Ruso (POSDR) pasó a la historia por ser el momento en el que el ala izquierda o revolucionaria del partido se separó del ala derecha, convirtiéndose en el grupo que pasaría a conocerse como “bolchevique” (“mayoría” en ruso, dado que los partidarios de Lenin ganaron el congreso tras retirarse varios delegados del Bund y los economicistas).

En este texto, Lenin analiza detalladamente las actas del congreso para exponer los motivos de esta ruptura y aclarar por qué las cuestiones de organización son tan importantes para constituir el partido.

Al hacer este análisis, critica las posiciones de lo que más tarde serían los mencheviques (fundamentalmente Martov y Axelrod), y ahonda en lo que ya expusiera en textos como el “¿Qué hacer?” O “Carta a un Camarada”. También explica por qué surgieron debates tan enconados en torno a cuestiones aparentemente menores y por qué considera un avance la clarificación ideológica, pero un retroceso la aprobación del primer artículo de los estatutos con el redactado de Martov (votación que perdieron por 23-28 votos), ya que supone una debilidad organizativa, al permitir la adhesión al partido a personas que no se sometan completamente a su disciplina.

[Efrén Ayón · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lenin relata con excesivo detalle las divergencias tempranas en el partido obrero socialdemócrata ruso entre su vena oportunista (menchevique) y revolucionaria (bolchevique). Es largo, engorroso, y no guarda, a mi parecer, muchas enseñanzas generales para la organización obrera, y las pocas que podrían estar ahí permanecen escondidas en un manantial de descripciones ultra específicas de ese momento y ese lugar. No lo recomendaría prácticamente bajo ninguna circunstancia, parece más un documento para que los historiadores tomen como referencia que un texto de divulgación para la formación socialista. Me vi tentado a dejarle una sola estrella, pero creo que le daré el beneficio de la duda a la intención original que encierra su publicación.

[RoMaAg, es decir, El Ro™ · Rating 4 out of 5]

La verdad, se me ha hecho raro, al principio iba bastante perdido pero a medida que he ido avanzando he ido perfilando lo que Lenin me intentaba explicar y al final creo haber comprendido grandes cosas sobre el hacer de Partido, así que bien.

[Lentšik Tiiger Linin]

Jatsin mitu korda pooleli jne, suht mid oli aga jallegi kuna lugesin seda laisakt/panin pikaks ajaks korvale siis ei saa ausalt rateda.

See arutles kongressi protokolli yle aga mees see oli deep

[Gamal soliman · Rating 1 out of 5]

هنا هاجم لينين
فكره الديمقراطيه التى تتيح حكم الشعب للشعب والذى كان يخشى من خروج حزب شيوعى اخر موازى له ولفكره واكد ع التنظيم المستمر داخل صفوف الشيوعيه

[Jonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pequeños disgustos no deben empañar un gran placer" porque la historia sigue hacia delante necesariamente

[Floyd K · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's probably some worthwhile stuff in it, and the title is great, but I'm not going to lie, the bit I've just read is all bickering with different groups and individuals at a party conference

[Fran Alcázar · Rating 2 out of 5]

🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬

[Feargal McGovern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lenin as spicy as ever

[karen fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rated the wrong book