Building the Party: Lenin 1893-1914

Lenin #1

by Tony Cliff

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the pivotal events in world history, and the Russian Bolshevik Party played a central role in that revolution. This book by British socialist Tony Cliff (1917-2000) traces the building of that party and, in particular, the work of its main architect, Lenin.

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

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Born in Palestine to Zionist parents in 1917, Ygael Gluckstein became a Trotskyist during the 1930s and played a leading role in the attempt to forge a movement uniting Arab and Jewish workers. At the end of of the Second World war, seeing that the victory of the Zionists was more and more inevitable, he moved to Britain and adopted the pseudonym Tony Cliff.

In the late 1940s he developed the theory that Russia wasn’t a workers’ state but a form of bureaucratic state capitalism, a theory which has characterised the tendency with which he was associated for the remaining five decades of his life. Although he broke from “orthodox Trotskyism” after being bureaucratically excluded from the Fourth International in 1950, he always considered himself to be a Trotskyist although he was also open to other influences within the Marxist tradition.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Building the party is a good general outline of the development of the Bolsheviks and Lenin’s thought. I think the main strengths are the lengthy Lenin quotes put into context and the description of how Menshevik and Bolshevik politics differ. Cliff’s chapters on the significance of 1905 are also good.

However, it has its drawbacks. The chapters on the splits in the RSDLP leave me confused with a lot of questions. I think his bending the stick analogy doesn’t make sense and Cliff uses it to avoid saying he disagrees with Lenin. (E.g. Cliff says what is to be done is a ‘mechanical overemphasis on organisation’ and then cliff says it was correct because it was ‘operationally useful’ for Lenin to ‘bend the stick’ in that direction instead of actually making an explicit argument about why he thinks Lenin is wrong). It’s such a brief history which is very limiting. Sometimes he just goes on romantic rambles about Lenin that aren’t very political.

[Feargal McGovern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Putting aside the 'Cliffismes' - in particular his overemphasis on role of students as harbingers of the revolution, this is a very thorough political biography of Lenin. It easily accessible for anyone without prior historical knowledge of the background of the russian revolution, as he also gives clear and simple explantions of the primary political tendencies - the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks of course, but also earlier tendencies such as the Narodnkis and the Economists. On that note, its a shame more attention wasnt given to the Socialist Revolutionaries, who were important in this period, particurlarly during the revolution 1905, and would become even more important during the revolution of 1917 - though this is a political biograhpy of Lenin afterall and his role in the Russian revolution(s), not a history of the revolution(s) itself.

Overall, A definite must read for anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge of the political thought of Lenin

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

se lee más fácilmente de lo que parece, solo que no nos daba la vida para más estos meses

[Göksal Caner Malatya · Rating 4 out of 5]

İngiliz SWP (Sosyalist İşçi Partisi) geleneğinin lideri Cliff, bu eserinde Lenin'in Bolşevik Partisi'ni Rusya'nın otokratik koşullarında nasıl inşa ettiğini inceler. Yazar, Lenin'i dogmatik bir diktatör olarak resmeden burjuva tarihçiliğine karşı çıksa da, eserde gizliden gizliye bir Troçkist öncülük ve parti eleştirisi sezilir. Demokratik merkeziyetçilik ilkesinin ve profesyonel devrimci kadro örgütlenmesinin, Çarlık koşullarındaki tarihsel zorunluluğunu görmek açısından önemlidir. Ancak Cliff'in, Sovyet devriminin sonraki aşamalarını "devlet kapitalizmi" olarak niteleyen teorik bagajı göz önünde bulundurularak okunmalıdır.

[Augusto Delgado · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a very peculiar biography, and a very impressive one.

Thoroughly documented and referenced, comrade Cliff accomplished an amazing task in reconstructing biographically how Lenin built the Bolshevik party. That's the purpose of this book, to familiarize the reader with the political acts and events during Lenin's life which through struggles, persecutions, revolutions and his relentless leadership, provided a route and a method to successfully have a mass party for the workers.

My only complain is that the Lenin quotes and references are exclusively from the dozens of tomes of his Collected Works, not always the author is specifying the book or pamphlet published separately that us skint proles barely possessed and read.

Can't wait to read the crucial years 1914 -1917 in the next tome.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding work, charting the history both of Lenin's political evolution to become a Marxist, and the formation and growth of the Bolshevik party into a mass, working class, revolutionary party on the eve of the first world war. By examining the events occurring, decisions made, and debates had over 100 years ago, ad the contexts of these, there are many lessons to be learnt by activists today wanting to change the world for the better.

[Dan Sharber · Rating 4 out of 5]

first volume in the lenin bio. this one is a little slow but explains the genesis of lenin's ideas and his vision for a fighting social democratic party that could beat the czar and install a workers govt

[Phil Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally published as the first part of Tony Cliff's biography of Lenin. It looks at how Lenin (and others) built the Bolshevik Party in Russia in the years leading up to the First World War.

Tony Cliff is best known as the Marxist who fully developing the theory that Stalinist Russia and the other so-called "communist" states were actually forms of bureaucratic state capitalism. Cliff showed that these Stalinist tyrannies had/have nothing in common with genuine socialism or communism, and nor were they even "degenerated" or "deformed" workers' states, as the orthodox Trotskyists claimed.

But Cliff also dedicated his life to the building of a revolutionary Marxist party, and he believed that lessons for today could be learnt from Lenin's party-building. Cliff's politics are embodied in the Socialist Workers' Party (Britain) and its sister organisations in other countries. So, of course, those on the Right or the Stalinist or sectarian "Left" who are hostile to the SWP will be equally hostile to this book.

For Cliff, building a party was one of what he called "the four key pillars of Marxism". (For more on this, see my Amazon review of Ian Birchall's biography of Cliff.) Cliff emphasised the need for a revolutionary Marxist party rooted in the working class which could win the leadership of that class by involving itself in working class struggles. The ultimate aim is to win the majority of the working class to support this party, as the Bolsheviks did in Russia in 1917.

For Marxists (but not for Stalinists, of course) the revolutionary party must be democratic. And Cliff shows that the Bolshevik Party was indeed democratic, and not the undemocratic monolith under Lenin's total control that it is usually painted as being. Lenin also believed that the democracy of a workers' state would be based on the "soviets" (originally highly democratic workers' councils). The revolutionary party should compete with other parties to win the majority on the soviets. The fact that the soviets later ended up as being a one-party system was a sign of the FAILURE of the revolution: it was not what Lenin had intended.

It is claimed by anti-Marxist historians that Leninism led directly to Stalinism. But Stalin actually had to DESTROY the last vestiges of genuine Leninism in order to consolidate his counter-revolution. Incidentally, given that it was the isolation of the Russian Revolution which ultimately led to its demise under Stalin, it was not the politics of Lenin's Bolsheviks which led to Stalinism, it was the LACK of mass Leninist parties in other countries.

I first read this book when it was originally published in the 1970s. That was the period when capitalism was reverting to crisis after the long boom of the post-war years. Today the crisis has got even worse. In the 1930s the crisis of capitalism led to economic collapse, fascism and war. We are now faced with the same dangers again, and that is why the politics of Lenin (and Cliff) are still very relevant.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot Development The plot of this work develops gradually, without any sudden jumps or unexpected turns. The transitions between chapters are logical and consistent with the general theme. Readers who prefer a methodical approach to storytelling will find it interesting. Follow the link to see a full breakdown of the plot structure. >>> https://script.google.com/macros/s/AK...

[Brenmlaws · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an important if limited look at Lenin's life and his efforts in honing the politics and action needed to build a revolutionary policy. Cliff has some gaps in his analysis of theory, bending the stick for his own ends in writing this during the workers upturn in Britain, that his party was being built out of, but he does a great job at analysing Lenin's dogged party building.

[Callum Trew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of Cliff's writing style in this; the whole 'bending the stick' thing was very frustrating however. Overall though, Cliff does a really good job of analysing Lenin’s role in 'Building the Party', and he makes it very clear how important the task of building a revolutionary mass party is.

[Jacob Woocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative but also quite dry examination of Lenin's thoughts and organizing -- and, just as importantly, the conditions in which these occurred -- during the years covered. What a guy.

[James Benni Brookfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing xx

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sure this is just a bit too complimentary but so well written and exciting and good vibes. I love this book.

[Becca]

And this time... I am actually discussing it!

[Shane · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a boring, mundane, and mind numbing exercise in ideological masturbation.

[Kaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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