Letters on Tactics

Lenin’s work on the revolutionary tactics and practical tasks of the Russian Proletariat, which was written between April 21 and 26, 1917. In April 1917, it was published as a pamphlet by “Priboi Publishers”. The Chinese translation is included in Vol. 29 of the second revised edition of Complete Works of Lenin.

In 1917, the “April Theses” was opposed by all bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties after its publication. It also caused differences among the ranks of the Bolshevik Party and within the editorial department of Pravda. To this end, Lenin wrote “Letters on Tactics” to further discuss and argue openly about the circumstances of the revolutionary situation, the prospects of the revolution and the tasks of the Party.

Lenin refuted the erroneous views that the so-called Russian bourgeois democratic revolution was not yet been completed and Russia was not mature enough to transit to socialist revolution. He stated that the proletarian parties must follow the basic principles of Marxism when determining the revolutionary tasks and form its activities: Marxism requires of us a strictly exact and objectively verifiable analysis of the relations of classes and of the concrete features peculiar to each historical situation. We Bolsheviks have always tried to meet this requirement, which is absolutely essential for giving a scientific foundation to policy.

He further stressed: “We should not simply take Marxist theory as the repetition of “formulas” which at best are capable only of marking out general tasks, which are necessarily modifiable by the concrete economic and political conditions of each particular period of the historical process. Lenin reiterated his views expressed in “Letters from Afar” and “April Theses”: according to Lenin the then situation in Russia was characterized by a transition from the first to the second stage of the revolution. In the first stage, the state power was seized by the bourgeoisie, so far as this is concerned, the Russian bourgeois-democratic revolution was completed. The new revolutionary task on the agenda was to make the transition from bourgeois democratic revolution to socialist revolution. “The person who now speaks only of a “revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry” is behind the times, consequently, he has in effect gone over to the petty bourgeoisie against the proletarian class struggle.” “Letters on Tactics” provided ideological materials for the 7th National Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.(B) held on May 7-12, 1917.