Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder

Lenin's important work on the strategy and tactics of proletarian parties. It was written in April 1920, and completed after some supplementary materials obtained from abroad in May. In June of the same year, Petrograd branch of the “State Publishing House” published a Russian version as a pamphlet. In July, it published three versions in English, French and German, which were distributed to the delegates attending the Second Congress of the Communist International held on July 1919, where the arguments and conclusions of the book served as the basis for the Congress's resolutions. In the second half of 1920, the German, Italian, English and French versions of the book were published in Berlin, Hamburg, Milan, London, New York and Paris respectively. The Chinese translation is included in the second revised edition of the Vol. 39 of the Complete Works of Lenin.

In March 1919, under the leadership of Lenin, the Communist International was founded. Under the leadership and promotion of the Communist International, the advanced elements in many countries split off from the social-democratic parties and have established independent communist parties, the workers' movements in the capitalist countries of Western Europe developed from economic struggle to political struggle, and even armed uprising, and the world proletarian revolutionary movement has entered into a new stage, thus the need for the leadership of mature proletarian political parties was particularly urgent. However, the newly established communist parties in many European and American countries lacked theoretical cultivation and political exercise, so they blindly copied the struggle experience of the Bolsheviks and made the mistake of “Left” dogmatism. In particular, they were unable to apply Marxism’s strategic and tactical ideas flexibly, brought the revolutionary fervor and anarchism of the petty bourgeoisie into the revolutionary ranks, practiced strategies and tactics divorced from the masses and put forward such childish and ridiculous slogans as quitting reactionary trade unions, boycotting bourgeois parliaments and rejecting all compromises. In the beginning of the 1920s, this “Left” tendency was increasingly rampant in Germany, Britain, Austria, the United States and other countries, which seriously hindered the development of the revolutionary movement. Against this background, in order to educate and guide the young communist parties in Western Europe to learn correctly from the successful historical experience of the Bolsheviks in the light of the concrete practice of their own revolutions, to overcome the infantile disorder of "leftism" and to build a genuine Marxist party in order to meet the new revolutionary climax, and also in order to further strengthen the leadership of the Bolshevik Party by summarizing the experience of the Russian Revolution, consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia, and smoothly carry out socialist construction, Lenin rushed to write this book on the eve of the Second Congress of the Communist International. There are ten chapters in the pamphlet, plus five additional chapters, wherein Lenin elaborated the international significance of Russia’s experience of the October Revolution, mainly summarized the basic experience of the Bolshevik Party in party-building, demonstrated the theory and strategy of struggle for winning over the masses as well as the basic principles of the proletarian party’s strategy and tactics, which are very rich in content.

(1) The basic experience of the Russian Communist Party (B) in party-building. Lenin pointed out that after the establishment of the Bolshevik Party, in the struggle to seize and consolidate the power, extremely rich experience in party building has been accumulated, mainly: (A) Party’s ideological and theoretical construction. Lenin stressed that a new proletarian party must adhere to the guidance of Marxist theory. He said that Russia’s progressive ideological circles had been eager to find correct revolutionary theories. In the fifty years from 1840s to 1890s, they experienced pain, showing sacrifice and unprecedented revolutionary spirit, they explored, studied and practiced with incredible perseverance and selfless spirit. They were disappointed, verified and referred to the European experience. In fact, it was through suffering that we found the only correct revolutionary theory of Marxism. The reason why Bolshevik party has the strength to win the revolutionary struggle is that it not only has a solid theoretical basis of Marxism, but also is good at combining the practical application with the development of Russia. (B) The construction of the party’s political line. Lenin pointed out that the proletarian party must, under the guidance of Marxism as well as in the light of its own reality, formulate a correct political line. He wrote: In the process of carrying out this political line, we often encounter interference from the right and the “Left”, so we must fight both the right and the “Left”. On the right are the opportunism of Second International, the Russian economist trend, the Mensheviks, the abolitionist trend and the social chauvinism. “Left” is mainly within the communist movement. The Bolshevik party grew up and matured in the struggle against both the right and the left. (C) The construction of the party’s organizational discipline. In view of the anarchist tendency of the “Left” in Western Europe to negate the party’s leadership and discipline, Lenin, basing on the 15 years of struggle experience of the Bolshevik party in Russia, profoundly expounded the importance of strengthening the party’s centralized and unified leadership and extremely strict organizational discipline. In the struggle of seizing and consolidating political power, proletarian parties need to have extremely strict iron discipline. This is not only because of the need to prevent the overthrown bourgeoisie from fighting back at all times, but also because of the need to resist and overcome the laxity of the petty bourgeoisie in the revolutionary ranks. The establishment of iron discipline requires three conditions: Firstly, the consciousness of the proletarian vanguard and its perseverance, self-sacrifice, heroism and loyalty to the revolution. Secondly, it depends on its ability to contact, approach, and even to some extent to integrate itself with the largest working masses, first with the proletarian working masses, but also with the non-proletarian working masses. Thirdly, it depends on the correct political leadership carried out by this vanguard, on its correct political strategy, and on the vast majority of masses convinced its correctness based on their own experience. Lenin pointed out that these conditions could not come into being all of a sudden, but rather guided by correct revolutionary theory, that is, Marxist theory, and closely combining the practice of true revolutionary movement with mass character for a long time. The mistake the “Left” communists made was that they did not understand thoroughly and were not good at following those principles at the critical moment of the proletarian revolution.

(2) The tactics of the proletarian party. Lenin analyzed in detail the characteristics of the basic historical stages of the Bolshevik Party’s 15-year development and its rich experience in struggle. He expounded the party’s tactics and tactical questions in different historical stages, such as the revolutionary preparation period, the revolutionary period, the reactionary period, the climax period, the first imperialist world war and tactics during the second Russian Revolution. He pointed out that the success of the Bolshevik Party lies in its own painful experience to use the right tactics: It was good at mastering all forms of struggle and combining the firmness of principles with the flexibility in tactics. At the low tide of the revolution, it successfully retreated with the least loss to their “army” and carried out correct tactics of legal work in the most reactionary of parliaments, in the most reactionary trade unions, co-operative and insurance societies and similar organizations. During the years of revival of the revolution, overcoming unprecedented difficulties, the Bolsheviks thrust back the Mensheviks, implemented the correct tactics of combining illegal work with the utilisation of “legal opportunities”, all forms of struggle—legal and illegal, peaceful and violent, underground and open, group and mass, parliamentary and revolutionary—were alternately used according to the objective situation and in the elections to the arch-reactionary Duma, the Bolsheviks won the full support of the worker curia. Lenin regarded the diversity and flexibility of the forms and methods of struggle as an important part of the Communist Party’s strategy. Lenin argued that, the various mistakes in the international communist movement lie in not recognizing rich diversity and flexibility of forms and methods of struggle as an essential part of the tactic of the communists, which should be overcome. Right-leaning doctrinarism, which stubbornly recognizes only the old forms without regard to the new content, is completely bankrupt. Left-leaning doctrinarism, on the other hand, stubbornly and absolutely rejects certain old forms, failing to see that new content is opening up for itself in various forms. Lenin therefore urged the revolutionary parties that in order to defeat the bourgeoisie, they must know and learn to use the correct offensive and the correct retreat tactics, adopt flexible policies and be adept at skillful political struggle.

(3) Marxist theory and strategy of striving for the masses. Lenin pointed out that if the proletariat wants to achieve victory in the struggle, it must win over the masses, first the working class, and next the working masses, both proletarian and non-proletarian. Lenin, using the historical materialism and Marxist theory of political parties, comprehensively and deeply analyzed the mistakes of the “Left” communists in denying political parties, disciplines, democratic centralism, to work in trade unions, to be in parliamentary activities and any sort of compromise, and systematically expounded the Marxist theory and strategy of striving for the masses. (A) Lenin criticized the “Left” faction for not understanding the dialectical relations among leaders, political parties, classes and the masses, while denying party’s leading role and the role of leaders, putting the party against the class, leaders and the masses, declaring the anarchic slogan of “overthrow the dictatorship of leadership, long live the mass dictatorship”. And then he scientifically expounded Marxist theory about relationship of masses, classes, political parties and leaders and the principle of democratic centralism inside the party. He pointed out that the masses are divided into classes; in most cases, at least in modern civilized countries, classes are led by political parties; political parties are usually presided over by relatively stable groups composed of people who have the most prestige, influence and experience. They are the leaders elected to the most important positions. The leaders, political parties, classes and the masses experience normal and simple relationships. “Overthrowing the leader” is tantamount to completely disarming the proletariat, helping the bourgeoisie to oppose the proletariat, and certainly destroying revolutionary movement of the proletariat. (B) Lenin severely criticized the wrong view of the “Left” elements for refusing to work in the trade unions on the pretext that the workers' unions were influenced by the right-wing leaders of the Social-Democratic Party and criticized them for advocating the creation of a new trade union organization based on the principle of recognition of Soviet power and the dictatorship of the proletariat, which should be untainted by bourgeois prejudices. Lenin instead pointed out that the proletarian dictatorship and the proletarian party must be in close relationship with all kind of trade unions. In Russia, for example, the dictatorship is achieved and realized by the proletariat organized in the Soviets, which are led by the Bolshevik Communist Party. It is through the trade unions that the dictatorship of the class and the administration of the state can be realized under the leadership of the Party. The withdrawal of the "leftists" from the trade unions on the pretext that they are reactionary and the creation of a new, clean-cut red trade union shows that they confuse a few bureaucratic elements in the upper echelons of the trade unions with the masses of workers and have confuse the trade unions with the Party, thus abandon the masses of workers. It is therefore necessary to strengthen extremely close links with the trade unions. The strategy and tactics of the true communists is to work wherever there are masses, and to work in the trade unions, including the reactionary ones, in order to win over the masses of workers. (C) Lenin refuted the frivolous and harmful tactics of the “Left” who preached that the parliamentary system was politically and historically obsolete and refused to participate in bourgeois parliaments in order to resist the despicable behavior of the leaders of the Second International in parliament in so-called "revolutionary spirit", stressing that for the Communists, the correct use and treatment of bourgeois parliaments is an important tactical means of winning over the masses. Lenin pointed out that it was wrong to confuse the historical obsolescence of parliamentarism with its political obsolescence. Parliamentarism is indeed historically obsolete, because the era of the dictatorship of the Soviet proletariat has come into being since the October Revolution. But parliamentarism is not politically obsolete, because the majority of the working class in capitalist countries still trusts parliament. Lenin also pointed out that parliamentarism was obsolete for the party’s theory, but not for the class at the moment. Lenin believed that communists could in principle participate in parliament. The aim of communists in bourgeois parliaments was not to go about normal legislation work, as the parties of the Second International did, seeing the parliamentary struggle as the only and main form of class struggle, but to see the parliamentary struggle as a means of complementing the class struggle outside the parliament, to use parliament as a forum through which to expose the reactionary policies of the bourgeoisie and to firmly and patiently educate, guide and win over the masses. This is the task of the parliament group of communists. The claim that communists could in principle take part in bourgeois parliaments did not mean that they should do so at all times. The Bolshevik Party's flexible strategy of resisting parliamentary struggle and the Duma parliament at high tide of revolution and taking part in it at low tide, and the convening and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly after the seizure of power were both examples of the skillful use of bourgeois parliaments. (D) Lenin criticized some “leftists” in Western Europe for opposing all kind of compromises indiscriminately, claiming that compromise is opportunism, and that to admit making compromises would tarnish the purity of Marxism. Lenin pointed out that the communists could not reject compromise across the board and that whether or not to compromise depended on the nature of the compromise. As long as it is beneficial to the revolutionary movement, the Communist Party can apply the approach of maneuver, accommodation and compromise to other parties, including bourgeois parties, and must make good use of this strategy to raise the general level of the proletariat's consciousness, revolutionary nature, and its ability to fight and ability to win. However, a distinction must be made between two kinds of compromise: one is the compromise forced by external objective conditions in order to develop the revolutionary cause. The other is the compromise of those traitors who, through greed for personal gain, cowardice and fear, willingly submits to and appeals to the capitalists. The former type of compromise, which is necessary to avoid an obviously unfavorable battle and to choose retreat in order to advance, should be allowed. The latter kind of compromise is a treacherous opportunistic compromise that endangers the interest of the revolutionary class. We should make every effort to expose this kind of compromise and fight with it resolutely. The “Left” do not understand that there are two kinds of compromises with different natures, so while opposing opportunistic compromises; they practically object and oppose every kind of compromise as a whole. The essence of compromise is to make use of the problems of “temporary fellow travelers” and such coalition allies; in a strategic sense, it is to carry out the tactic of roundabout, indirect attack. If the Communists want to win the cause of communism, they should not only use the tactic of direct attack, but also the tactic of roundabout, indirect encirclement.

(4) Lenin criticized the “Left” dogmatism of the young Communist parties in Europe and in the United States on the fundamental experiences of the success of the Bolsheviks in Russia. He expounded that the basic principles of Marxism must be combined with the specific revolutionary practices of various countries, and that the proletarian parties of various countries must determine the important principles of policies according to their own national conditions. He pointed out that the “Left” Communists, who equated the conditions of Russia with those of Western Europe, did not know how to combine the basic principles of Marxism with specific practices, but instead they mechanically interpreted the universal characteristics of the October Revolution and thus making the experience of the October Revolution a fixed dogma. In response to this erroneous tendency, Lenin stressed that the theoretical and tactical principles of Soviet power and Bolshevism had universal international significance, only in a narrow sense, i.e., in terms of their basic principles. The main task of the communist parties in various countries is to apply the basic principles of the communism (Soviet power and the dictatorship of the proletariat) in such a way as to grasp the peculiarities and characteristics of their own society, they should adapt and innovate these basic principles in detail and correctly, and be good at studying and exploring the specific path of revolution and way of revolutionary struggle, and not deviate from the reality of their own country and copy others mechanically. Lenin’s work enriched and developed the strategic and tactical thoughts of Marxism, this work is still a powerful ideological weapon for the Communists of the whole world to oppose “Left” opportunism and promotes the construction of Marxist political parties.

During the new democratic revolution period, Mao Zedong paid special attention and focus to Lenin’s two works: Two Tactics of the Social-Democratic Party in the Democratic Revolution and “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder. Mao Zedong fought against the right opportunism in the Party with the former book and “Left” opportunism in the party with the latter book.