Lenin’s Thought on Building of the Ruling Party

After the victory of the proletarian revolution, the status of the party and the tasks it faces changes greatly. How to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and achieve the victory of the cause of socialism and communism is a major issue of the building of the ruling party of the proletariat. Based on the practical experience of the Bolsheviks at that time, Lenin put forward some important principles for the building of the ruling party.

The ruling party and its cadres must oppose arrogance and bureaucratism. After the victory of the revolution, the Party’s prestige among the masses was high, and some Party members were easily overwhelmed by the victory and developed hubris and arrogance. Lenin severely criticized the “arrogance of communists” who thought they could use the name of a communist to give orders to solve all his tasks, listing it as the first of the three enemies. To prevent hubris and arrogance, the ruling party must be brave enough to engage in self-criticism. All the revolutionary parties that perished in the past did so because they were hubris and arrogant, unable to see where their strength lay, and afraid to speak out about their weaknesses. We will not perish, because we are not afraid to voice our weaknesses, and we can learn to overcome them. The status of the ruling party makes it easy for some party members and cadres to be tainted with bureaucratic habits. In response to the “petty-bourgeois tendency to degenerate the Soviets into a ‘parliament’ like in the western capitalist countries”, Lenin proposed to include in the party program a reference to the struggle against bureaucracy at the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (B) in 1919.

Later, Lenin pointed out that bureaucratism “serves as a most important source of grievances against the party” and that it “can perish us”. Lenin physically led the struggle against bureaucracy, dealt seriously with serious cases of bureaucracy, and advocated that the masses should be promoted to vigorously participate in the administration of state affairs.

The development of intra-party democracy. After the end of the civil war and the period of peaceful economic construction, Lenin emphasized the expansion of democracy in the party and gave full play to the enthusiasm and creativity of the whole party. In 1921, the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party (B) adopted the resolution “On Party Building”, which pointed out that with the shift in the focus of the Party’s work, it was necessary to change the “order and command system” to “workers’ democracy” and to give full play to internal Party democracy. It is necessary in intra-party life to carry out more extensive criticism of both local and central party institutions. The Central Committee is assigned to point out in a circular the ways for broadening intra-party criticism at general meetings. Literary organs are to be created capable of carrying out a more regular and extensive criticism of party mistakes and, in general, criticism within the party (discussion sheets, etc.); to combine collective leadership with individual division of responsibility, etc.

Strengthening the internal Party control (inspection). The Party’s Control Commissions at all levels should be “composed of the comrades with the greatest background in party affairs, the most experienced, the most impartial, and those best able to implement strict party control.” Here the Central Control Commission should not only be accountable to the Party Congress, and its members should not hold any position in any Council of People’s Commissars, in any of the competent organs, or any organ of Soviet power. The Control Commissions at each level must be parallel to the Party Committee at the same level and should have the right to accept and cooperate with the Central Control Commission in considering all complaints and, if necessary, to hold joint meetings with the Central Control Commission or to submit issues to the Party Congress. They should independently exercise their own supervisory powers without being bound by the resolutions of Party committees at the same level. Lenin advocated that the Central Control Commission should form a close collective, which should be “regardless of the sentiment”, and should take care not to let anyone’s prestige, whether it be the General Secretary or some other member of the Central Committee, prevent them from questioning and examining documents, to be absolutely informed and to keep matters strictly in accordance with the rules. The General Secretary and other members of the Central Committee should be careful not to let anyone’s prestige get in the way of their questioning and checking documents so that they can be absolutely informed and have everything done in strict accordance with the rules. The members of the Central Control Commission, under the leadership of their own Bureau, must constantly check all the documents of the Politburo.

Maintaining the Unity of the Party. “The Resolution On Party Unity”, drafted by Lenin and adopted at the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (B), provided for the immediate dissolution of all groups, regardless of their political platforms, without exception, and obliged all organizations to pay close attention to the prohibition of any factional activity. A member of the Central Committee who engaged in factional activities might be demoted to the rank of alternate members by a decision of a two-thirds majority of the votes of the Central Committee Plenum or even expelled from the Party by extreme measures. “The Resolution On Current Tasks of Party Construction”, adopted by the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (B), stated that: The general task in the Party is not to expand its ranks quantitatively but to improve its quality, to raise the consciousness of all its members, to strengthen their communist education. To develop their enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, and on this basis to achieve the unity of the entire Party ranks. Lenin stressed: “We do not need fictitious Party members even as a gift.” In Soviet Russia, a member of the Communist Party who committed a crime was subject to a greater punishment than an “ordinary person”. Deceitful, bureaucratic, disloyal, and uncommitted communists, as well as Mensheviks who had “changed their appearance” but remained true to themselves, had to be eliminated from the party at all times. In his “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder, Lenin summarized the law of the Party’s development, saying that Bolshevism developed, gained strength, and became steeled mainly in the struggle against opportunism, in the long struggle against the petty bourgeoisie revolutionism, and the struggle against the “Left” tendencies of his own Party. In the course of the struggle against opportunism and the long struggle against the petty bourgeoisie “revolutionism” and the “Left” tendencies within the party, Bolshevism developed, gained strength, and became steeled. This shows that the correct handling of party unity and struggle is a major issue in the construction of the Communist Party.