Socialism and Anarchism

“Socialism and Anarchism” is a short article written by Lenin, in which he exposed the essence and harm of anarchism. It was written on November 24, 1905, and published in Novaya Zhizn, issue No. 21, November 25, 1905; the Chinese translation is included in Vol. 12 of the second revised edition of Complete Works of Lenin. The article analyzed the nature of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies, made a clear distinction between socialism and anarchism and expounded on the main tasks of the Russian Revolution.

First of all, Lenin reiterated the essence of the “Executive Committee of Soviet of Workers’ Deputies”. He pointed out that the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies was not a workers’ parliament or or an organ of proletarian self-government , but a fighting organization with certain purposes. The Soviets of Workers’ Deputies was an unwritten broad fighting alliance of socialists and revolutionary democrats, joined by representatives of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (the proletarian socialist party), representatives of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party (the representatives of petty-bourgeois socialism, or the extreme left wing of the revolutionary bourgeois-democrats), and many representatives of non-Party workers and revolutionary peasants who were non-Party revolutionaries, who support the revolution and are willing to fight for its victory.

Second, Lenin explained the reasons for refusing anarchists to join the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies. He pointed out that there were no representatives of anarchists at all the congresses and social party meetings. Anarchists did not recognize that political struggle is the means to achieve their ideal, they will disintegrate and weaken the overall fighting force, and they may deny the urgency and importance of political reform. Only political parties have the right to elect representatives, and anarchists did not form any political parties. It was meaningless for anarchists to form political parties, organizations, groups, or free alliances. From the perspective and interests of the Russian Democratic Revolution, it was necessary to exclude anarchists from the fighting alliances engaged in the democratic revolution.

Finally, Lenin pointed out the essence of anarchism and reiterated the task of the proletarian party. The worldview of anarchists was a reformed bourgeois worldview. Their views expressed, not the future of bourgeois society, which is striding with irresistible force towards the socialization of labor, but the present and even the past of that society, the domination of blind chance over the scattered and isolated small producer. Their tactics, disunited the proletarians and converted them into passive participators in one bourgeois policy or another. Their individualist theories and ideals are in opposition to the ideals and goals of socialism. The task of the proletarian political was they should unite the proletariat and organize it to carry out political education and training for the working class. All methods of ideological struggle were to be adopted to reduce the influence of anarchists on Russian workers.

Lenin wrote on the question of anarchism and socialism twice, first in 1901 and second in 1905. This showed that Lenin insisted on the basic position and proposition of carrying out the Russian workers’ movement under the guidance of Marxist scientific theory and that he attached great importance to the elimination of the adverse influence of anarchism.