On Proletarian Culture

Lenin’s critical work on the classical literature of proletarian culture school. It was written on October 8, 1920 as a draft resolution prepared for the First All-Russian Congress of the Proletcult Association. On the basis of this draft, the All-Russia Central Committee of the Communist Party published a letter on “Proletarian Culture Association” in Pravda on December 1 of the same year, which was published in the third issue of Red Virgin Soil journal in 1926. The Chinese translation is included in Vol. 39 of the second edition of the Complete Works of Lenin.

After the victory of the October Revolution in Russia, many cultural groups which aimed to promote proletarian culture rose rapidly and gained the leading power in the field of culture. Among them, the proletarian culture group, which was organized within the Proletarian Culture Association, had an important position and great influence. Founded in October 1917, the “Proletarian Culture Association” was a mass cultural organization with branches all over the country. After the October Revolution, there were as many as 1381 local branches, with its members ranging from 80,000 to 400,000. It had more than 20 publications and several publishing houses. The Proletarian Culture was the theoretical publication and the central organ of the Association.

In the spring of 1918, the bourgeois intellectuals led by Bogdanov controlled the leading organizations and publications of the “Proletcult Association”, which advocated “the proletariat is the creator of the future, not the successor of the past”, wanted to “completely break away from the old culture”, advocated the eradication of all the old culture of class societies, advocated a kind of “cultural laboratory work” divorced from reality, so as to create a special kind of vacuum condition for a “pure proletarian class culture”.

Series of fallacies and ultra-left approach prevalent in Russia seriously damaged the proletarian cultural and educational cause. In order to criticize and eliminate its harm, Lenin, following The Task of the Communist Youth League, further criticized the Proletcult trend of thought in this article, pointed out to the correct direction for the proletariat and the construction of new socialist culture.

Lenin stressed: all the experience of modern history and, particularly, the more than half-century-old revolutionary struggle of the proletariat of all countries since the appearance of The Communist Manifesto has unquestionably demonstrated that the Marxist world outlook is the only true expression of the interests, the viewpoint, and the culture of the revolutionary proletariat. Instead of abandoning the most valuable achievements of the bourgeois era, Marxism has assimilated and inherited as well as refashioned all the valuable achievements in the development of human thought and culture in the more than 2000 years. Lenin stressed that the entire educational cause of the Soviet Republic of workers and peasants, whether on the issue of general political education or cultural and artistic education, must adhere to the guidance of Marxism, critically assimilate and refashion all cultures created by human history, and build a genuine proletarian culture and education. Lenin criticized the mistaken practice of the Proletcult organizations attempting to invent their own particular brand of culture, remain isolated in self-contained organisations and pointed out that it was erroneous theoretically and harmful in practice. Lenin warned: not draw a line dividing the field of work of the People’s Commissariat of Education and the Proletcult, or set up a Proletcult "autonomy" within establishments under the People’s Commissariat of Education and so forth.

Proletcult organizations should fully consider themselves in duty bound to act as auxiliary bodies of the network of establishments under the People’s Commissariat of Education, and to accomplish their tasks under the general guidance of the Soviet authorities (specifically, of the People’s Commissariat of Education) and of the Russian Communist Party, as part of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship.

The Congress of the All-Russian Proletcult Association passed the draft resolution proposed by Lenin, which had a great influence on the members of the Association and played an important role in helping scholars and the masses to understand the seemingly revolutionary and actually absurd nature of the Proletcult trend of thought. Lenin always paid attention to the healthy development of proletarian culture. In his last article “Better Fewer, But Better” (March 2, 1923), he criticized the Proletcult movement for talking about “proletarian culture” too recklessly and extravagantly and he advised them that impetuosity and rashness would be the most harmful approach in treating the cultural issues. Subsequently, the views of Proletcult trend of thought gradually lost its influence. In 1932, the Proletarian Culture Association was officially dissolved by the All-Russia Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (B. ).