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Party for Socialism and Liberation

2026-06-16T09:31:35Z

Kasp: clarified psl's stance on china

{{Infobox political party|name=Party for Socialism and Liberation|logo=PSL.png|founded=June 2004|founders= [[Brian Becker]],<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org/global-times-interview-brian-becker-on-socialism-and-the-u-s-campaign-against-china/</ref> [[Richard Becker]], [[Gloria La Riva]],<ref>https://missionlocal.org/2019/08/local-socialists-see-the-fog-of-anti-communism-lifting/</ref> [[William Massey]],<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org/william-massey-presente-honoring-life-psl-founding-member/</ref> and others|newspaper=''[[Liberation News]]''|political_orientation=Claimed [[Marxism–Leninism]] [[Anti-imperialism]]|website=https://pslweb.org}}{{Communist parties}}
The '''Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)''' is a claimed [[Marxist-Leninist]] political party in the [[United States of America|United States]] founded in June 2004 after a split from the [[Workers World Party]]. Their platform is closely related to the broader [[The ANSWER Coalition|ANSWER Coalition]]. The PSL has funded numerous movements within the ANSWER Coalition including the movement to liberate [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] from [[United States imperialism|Statesian imperialism]].<ref>An article from the [https://www.answercoalition.org/actions_nationwide_to_demand_u_s_hands_off_cuba Answer Coalition] depicting their stance on Cuba, sponsored by the PSL</ref> The PSL held its first congress in February 2010 in Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ian Thompson|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=PSL’s First National Congress strengthens the struggle for socialism|date=2010-02-22|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/10-02-22-psls-first-national-congress-st-html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714145018/https://www.liberationnews.org/10-02-22-psls-first-national-congress-st-html/|archive-date=2019-07-14|retrieved=2022-08-08}}</ref>

== History ==
At its founding in 2004, the PSL held a two-part congress to establish publications and a party structure. Between 2004 and 2010, it held regular conventions that were open to all members to elect party leadership between conventions. In 2010, the party held its first delegated congress and adopted its constitution and program. The PSL held a second congress in 2013.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Building democratic centralism: stages of Party growth and internal development|date=2014-07-31|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/building-democratic-centralism-stages-party-growth-internal-development/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116082555/https://www.liberationnews.org/building-democratic-centralism-stages-party-growth-internal-development/|archive-date=2021-01-16|retrieved=2022-12-25}}</ref>

== Program ==

=== China ===
PSL stands in critical support of [[People's Republic of China|China]] but they hold that it has undergone a Revisionist turn, alleging that [[Deng Xiaoping]] took the PRC down a 'Capitalist Road'.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Liberation School|title=For the defense of China against counterrevolution, imperialist intervention and dismemberment|date=2007-05-31|url=https://www.liberationschool.org/for-the-defense-of-china-against-counterrevolution-imperialist-intervention-and-dismemberment/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505195411/https://www.liberationschool.org/for-the-defense-of-china-against-counterrevolution-imperialist-intervention-and-dismemberment/|archive-date=2016-05-05|retrieved=2024-12-16|quote=Characterized as “capitalist roaders” by the Mao faction during the activist phase of the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1969, the Deng faction took power in 1978.}}</ref> Repeating the unsourced myth that Mao denounced Deng as a Capitalist Roader. Despite this, they support China's socialist development and are sympathetic to [[Socialism with Chinese Characteristics]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ken Hammond|newspaper=Liberation School|title=The CPC 100 years on: Understanding China’s contemporary political economy|date=2021-7-1|url=https://liberationschool.org/the-cpc-100-years-on-understanding-chinas-contemporary-political-economy/|retrieved=2026-6-16|quote=People outside of China, especially those who hope to build a socialist future for their own people, who yearn for a world of justice, equality, and peace, should join in supporting the efforts being made to find a path to “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” We should be critical when necessary, recognizing and acknowledging the problems and the mistakes which may be made as China advances, “crossing the river by feeling the rocks.” But we should support China’s project of socialist development, support the leadership of the Party and its work to control and redress the abuses and errors which arise, support the hopes and the hard work of the Chinese people. Most importantly we need to defend China against the aggression of American-led imperialism, the rising tide of a new Cold War, the unremitting demonization of China.}}</ref>

PSL further stated that there was a new Capitalist Class grown within the PRC which collaborates even as it struggles with Imperialism. In 2023, Brian Becker reconfirmed PSL's 2007 stance of China.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ken Hammond, Brian Becker, Eugune Puryear|year=2023|title=China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future|chapter=Introduction|quote=After a two-year-long study and discussion, we published an internal document in 2007, “For the Defense of China Against Counterrevolution, Imperialist Intervention, and Dismemberment.” This was a detailed review of the progress made since the 1949 revolution and the contradictions facing contemporary China. This new PSL book, China's Revolution and the Quest for a Social ist Future, has a different thrust. Its core position is the same as the 2008 publication, but its function is to provide a historical survey of the Chinese Revolution. Its audience is wider. It retains an inherent polemical edge because the core political premise is reaffirmed|publisher=1804 Books}}</ref>

=== Anti-imperialism ===
The PSL supports immediate independence and reparations for [[Puerto Rico]] with freedom of travel between Puerto Rico and the United States. It also supports self-determination and potential independence of [[American Samoa]], [[Guam]], the [[Virgin Islands of the United States|Virgin Islands]], the [[Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands|Mariana Islands]], and indigenous nations on the U.S. mainland.<ref name=":0">{{News citation|newspaper=Party for Socialism and Liberation|title=Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation|date=2010|url=https://pslweb.org/program/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615034341/https://pslweb.org/program/|archive-date=2022-06-15|retrieved=2022-06-18}}</ref>

=== Social benefits ===
The PSL advocates for a 30-hour work week, up to two years of paid parental leave, a minimum of one month of paid vacation and 12 paid holidays. It also supports universal citizenship for everyone living in the United States, free education from preschool to college, and reducing housing costs to 10% of total income or less.<ref name=":0" />

== Publications ==
The party's main publication is the monthly paper ''[[Liberation News]]'',<ref>https://www.liberationnews.org</ref> which replaced a quarterly magazine, ''Socialism and Liberation''.<ref>[https://www.liberationnews.org/07-06-05-socialism-liberation-magazine-is-html/ "Socialism and Liberation magazine is changing"]. June 5, 2007. January 7, 2018.</ref> The PSL also publishes ''Breaking the Chains: A Socialist Perspective on Women's Liberation,'' a quarterly socialist and [[Feminism|feminist]] magazine,<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=|title=About Breaking the Chains|url=https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/about/|newspaper=Breaking the Chains|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-03}}</ref> and ''Reds In Ed'', a monthly newsletter initiated by teachers who are members of the PSL.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2020-03-13|title=Reds In Ed program|url=https://redsined.org/the-reds-in-ed-program/|newspaper=Reds in Ed|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-02}}</ref> Additionally, the PSL publishes ''Liberation School'', which publishes longer-form analysis, Party documents, interviews, and educational resources including study guides, curricula, and video and audio courses.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=|date=2022-01-02|title=Our mission|url=https://liberationschool.org/about/|newspaper=Liberation School|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2022-01-02}}</ref>

== Controversies ==

The PSL has been accused for decades of being cult-like in its organization methods and permitting sexual harassment and protecting sexual abusers (in locations across the country including Dallas, Philadelphia, Carbondale, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Albuquerque).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20240130021959/https://medium.com/@jacobscb/documentation-of-corruption-institutional-bigotry-and-high-control-group-cult-like-behavior-in-6afa65b8072e Medium post that is a directory of various accounts of PSL's bad behavior.]</ref><ref>[https://archive.is/yT5vp#selection-42.0-42.1 Writings of a PSL member who was allegedly abused by Steven Powers]</ref>

Some controversies have arisen in recent years regarding some of the affiliations of the PSL, as its prominence grows in the public eye. Among the more prominent examples is its association with [[Brian Becker]], who some critics allege hosted a radio show with "guests being either LaRouchite [[entryism|entryists]] or outright belonging to the [[fascism|far right]]," as well as multiple allegedly former CIA analysts.<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://medium.com/@dotcommunism/psls-brian-becker-loud-clear-radio-and-right-wing-entryism-349cf6f29aa4|title=PSL’s Brian Becker, Loud & Clear Radio, and Right-Wing Entryism|author=dotcommunism|date=2018-01-05}}</ref><ref>[https://medium.com/@dotcommunism/psls-brian-becker-loud-clear-radio-and-right-wing-entryism-349cf6f29aa4 Medium Article surrounding the actions of Brian Becker (with its own citations)]</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Communist parties]]
[[Category:Statesian communist parties]]

Peng Dehuai

2026-06-11T08:27:59Z

Kasp: Added a cultural revolution section for the page

{{Infobox person
|name=Peng Dehuai
|native_name=彭德怀
|image=General Peng Dehuai.jpg
|birth_date={{birth date|1898|10|24}}
|birth_name=彭清宗 (Péng Qīngzōng)
|birth_place=[[Shixiang]], [[Xiangtan County]], [[Hunan]], [[Qing Empire]]
|death_date={{death date and age|1974|11|29|1898|10|24}}
|death_place=[[Beijing]], [[People's Republic of China]]
}}

'''Peng Dehuai''' (1898 October 24 – 1974 November 29; formerly named Duhua)<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=Chinese Government Portal|title=Peng Dehuai|date=2007-11-16|url=http://www.gov.cn/test/2007-11/16/content_807448.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310042343/http://www.gov.cn/test/2007-11/16/content_807448.htm|archive-date=2023-03-10|retrieved=2023-03-18}}</ref> was a military leader who served in the [[Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]] and [[People's Liberation Army]], and commanded the [[People's Volunteer Army]].

Peng served as the [[Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China|defense minister]] of the [[People's Republic of China|PRC]] between 1954 and 1959.{{Citation needed}}

== Early Life ==
Peng Dehuai was born on October 24, 1898, in Xiangtan County of [[Hunan Province]]. He was a rough-hewn man of very humble beginnings. He had previously worked in coal mines and on lake dams. Due to his living conditions and the progressive influence of the [[Xinhai Revolution|1911 revolution]], he joined the Hunan warlords in 1916 and gradually rose through the ranks to become a senior officer. He later became a member of the [[Communist Party of China]], affirming his path of life devoted to [[revolution]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=China.org.cn|title=1898: Marshal Peng Dehuai was born|date=2012-10-24|url=http://www.china.org.cn/china/18th_cpc_congress/2012-10/24/content_26890462.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124075606/http://www.china.org.cn/china/18th_cpc_congress/2012-10/24/content_26890462.htm|archive-date=2012-11-24|retrieved=2023-03-18}}</ref>

== Wars ==

=== Korean War ===
On October 5, Peng was named the Commander and the [[Commissar of the People's Volunteer Army]] and held both titles until the [[Korean Armistice Agreement]] in 1953.

== Cultural Revolution ==
During the [[Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution|Cultural Revolution]], he was falsely accused and persecuted by [[Lin Biao]] and the [[Gang of Four]]. He was then subjected to severe abuse that led to his death.<ref name=":0" />

== See also ==

* [[Hundred Regiments Offensive]]

== References ==
[[Category:Military Commanders]]
[[Category:Soldiers]]
[[Category:Communists]]

Dialectical materialism

2026-04-14T08:43:13Z

Kasp: Added how Engels used the term materialist dialectic in ludwig feuerbach.

'''Dialectical materialism''' is a [[Philosophy|philosophical]] and [[Science|scientific]] worldview based on general principles derived from natural phenomena.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1883|title=Dialectics of nature|chapter=Notes and fragments|section=Dialectics|quote=Dialectics, so-called objective dialectics, prevails throughout nature, and so-called subjective dialectics, dialectical thought, is only the reflection of the motion through opposites which asserts itself everywhere in nature, and which by the continual conflict of the opposites and their final passage into one another, or into higher forms, determines the life of nature.}}</ref> It is a scientific methodology that studies objective reality, developed from the principles of [[dialectics]] and [[materialism]], and is one of the theoretical foundations of [[Marxism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1913|title=[[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]]|quote=But Marx did not stop at eighteenth-century materialism: he developed philosophy to a higher level, he enriched it with the achievements of German classical philosophy, especially of Hegel's system, which in its turn had led to the materialism of Feuerbach. The main achievement was dialectics, i.e., the doctrine of development in its fullest, deepest and most comprehensive form, the doctrine of the relativity of the human knowledge that provides use with a reflection of eternally developing matter. The latest discoveries of natural science—radium, electrons, the transmutation of elements—have been a remarkable confirmation of Marx's dialectical materialism despite the teachings of the bourgeois philosophers with their "new" reversions to old and decadent idealism.}}</ref> Dialectical materialism is also a development from [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s dialectical principles, which were influential to Marx but ultimately deviated towards [[idealism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]]|year=1873|title=[[Library:Capital,_vol._I#(1873)_Afterword_to_the_second_German_edition|Afterword to the second German edition of Capital, vol. I]]|quote=My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the life process of the human brain, i.e., the process of thinking, which, under the name of “the Idea,” he even transforms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos of the real world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of “the Idea.” With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought.

The mystifying side of Hegelian dialectic I criticised nearly thirty years ago, at a time when it was still the fashion. [...] The mystification which dialectic suffers in Hegel’s hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner. With him it is standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell.}}</ref>

Although it was a method conceived by [[Marx]] and [[Engels]], the term ''dialectical materialism'' was never actually used by either, but appropriately summarizes their philosophical outlook. In the preface and second chapter of [[Library:Socialism: utopian and scientific|''Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'']], Engels calls it "modern materialism," and in part four of [[Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy|Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy]], Engels calls it "materialist dialectic."

Per Wayne Au's [[Library:A Marxist Education Learning to Change the World|A Marxist Education]], a basic summary of dialectical materialism's elements:

* asserts that the material world exists outside of human consciousness, and human consciousness itself is within the realm of the material world;
* sees everything as in constant motion;
* understands contradiction as the basis for all movement, development, and change;
* sees everything as related and connected, where even opposites make up a relational whole;
* rejects “either/or” and instead sees “and/both,” relationally;
* sees quantity and quality, and their transformation [[Dialectical materialism#Transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa|into each other]], as part of the process of development;
* asserts that there are negative (destructive) and positive (conservative) sides to any contradiction;
* holds that the resolution of a contradiction contains within it both the negation (destruction) of the original relationship and the negation of that negation, which is a new relationship (synthesis) at a different level of development;
* understands the new relationship created in the resolution of a contradiction as carrying aspects of the old relationship within it ([[sublation]]);
* sees the external conditions of a process as playing a strong, sometimes determining role in which internal contradiction is resolved;
* asserts that the development of a process happens in a spiral, not in a straight line.

== History ==
<blockquote>''For more information, see [[idealism]] and [[materialism]].''</blockquote>In [[Ancient Greece]], dialectics was the term describing the art of argumentation. It was considered that in the course of an argument, rich in fertile ideas, the opinions of the disputing parties underwent a change and that something new and of a higher nature resulted. In other words, when two people debated with each other, each bringing their own idea (let's say ideas A and B respectively), over the course of the debate, a new idea C would emerge that both would reasonably adopt: this new idea was made possible by the synthesis of A and B, and could not have come to be if person B had been silently thinking to themselves about their opinion. It only came to be from the "clashing" together of A and B. While very basic, the idea of the dialectical contradiction was there: two things opposed, when resolved, give rise to a third new thing.

The ancient Greeks also theorized about the philosophy of materialism but to them, materialism was a bit different from the Marxist conception and referred to the idea that everything was made of certain matter. Some Greek philosophers believed that everything was made of tiny particles invisible to the naked eye, and that the properties of these atoms decided the properties of the resulting object. For example, atoms of oil were big and smooth, and atoms of vinegar were very small and pointy. They were not entirely wrong (we later discovered atoms and reused their term, but the properties of actual atoms and what the Greeks thought atoms were are very different), but their meaning of materialism was not any more developed than that.

The Ancient Greeks were but one example, and idealism still permeated their culture. They theorized, for example, that since everything was made of matter, then the gods must live on Earth as well -- i.e., rather than completely dispel the idea of deities (which is idealism), they tried to fit them into their philosophy.

In parallel, starting around the age of Enlightenment (late 18th century Europe), science emerged as a field -- with its own rules and methods -- mostly led by nobles who had the time and means to do scientific experiments. These nobles were the first modern materialists, though they practiced a ''[[Metaphysics|metaphysical]]'' (meaning "beyond physics", physics being the Greek word for ''nature'') materialism as they did not possess the full knowledge necessary to understand dialectics.

Later on, the philosopher [[Hegel]] used ''dialectics'' to describe the progress of ideas (thoughts) through contradiction, the process of their development toward a supreme and absolute spirit.<ref>'''V. Adoratsky'''. ''Dialectical materialism'' ''- the theoretical foundation of Marxism-Leninism'', pg. 22-23</ref> Hegel's fundamental question was: where do ideas come from? How come this or that person had the idea to invent, say, the telephone? How come we didn't have the idea for it earlier? By answering this question, he brought dialectics to a fuller form as compared to the Ancient Greek dialectics, though Hegelian dialectics were idealist; that is, Hegel's answer to "where do ideas come from?" was simply: God gives us our ideas. In this case, God should not be understood as the literal Christian God, but more as a concept that attempts to answer the question.

However, Hegelian dialectics by themselves lack this answer: in the idealist conception of history, our ideas happen before our material conditions. That is, we get ideas in our head, and then act upon them and change material conditions. Hegel himself asserted an external transcendental [[Geist]] (or Spirit) on its journey to [[Absolute Knowing]] through a dialectical process which was simultaneously materially conditioned in realization but transcendent in being. This however creates a rift, lying in the fact that the Geist, transcendental in being but materially conditioned in realization, there is no internal base rooted in what is to be transformed in the material realm, the material body thus does not carry the seeds of its own negation but is instead reconciled with an external and transcendental Geist making reconciliation impossible because of the rift in realms as the tools for building a material edifice are described as being above the very material edifice they seek to build.

Marxist philosophical materialism collapses this rift by rooting the contradiction of the material world in the material world itself. The Marxist and dialectical materialist conception in contrast posits the following:<ref>{{Web citation|author=V.I. Lenin|newspaper=Marxists.org|title=Conspectus of Hegel’s Science of Logic, Book III (Subjective Logic or the Doctrine of the Notion)|date=1914-09 to 1914-12|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/cons-logic/ch03.htm|quote=The activity of man, who has constructed an objective picture of the world for himself, changes external actuality, abolishes its determinateness (= alters some sides or other, qualities, of it), and thus removes from it the fea-tures of Semblance, externality and nullity, and makes it as being in and for itself (= objectively true).}}</ref>

Material reality shapes consciousness -> Consciousness becomes a force that changes material reality -> New material reality shapes consciousness again -> The cycle continues. Being determines consciousness, but consciousness can then change being. Thoughts and awareness arise from material conditions (we don't think in a vacuum), once formed, consciousness becomes a real material force that can actually transform those same conditions. It's a feedback loop, not a one-way street. <blockquote>

The old materialism set out from a conception of man as part of nature but, not bringing materialism as far as history, it could not understand man in all his peculiarities as a product of labour transforming both the external world and man himself. By virtue of that the ideal could not be understood as the result and active function of labour, of the sensuously objective activity of social man, as the image of the external world arising in the thinking body not in the form of the result of passive contemplation but as the product and form of active transformation of nature by the labour of generations succeeding one another in the course of historical development.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Evald Ilyenkov|year=1974|title=DIALECTICAL LOGIC|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/essay8.htm|chapter=Part Two – Problems of the Marxist-Leninist Theory of Dialectics|section=8: The Materialist Conception of Thought as the Subject Matter of Logic|quote=The old materialism set out from a conception of man as part of nature but, not bringing materialism as far as history, it could not understand man in all his peculiarities as a product of labour transforming both the external world and man himself. By virtue of that the ideal could not be understood as the result and active function of labour, of the sensuously objective activity of social man, as the image of the external world arising in the thinking body not in the form of the result of passive contemplation but as the product and form of active transformation of nature by the labour of generations succeeding one another in the course of historical development. [...]
All general images, however, without exception, neither sprang from universal schemas of the work of thought nor arose from an act of passive contemplation of nature unsullied by man, but took shape in the course of its practical, objective transformation by man, by society. They arose and functioned as forms of the social-man determination of the purposive will of the individual, i.e. as forms of real activity. General images, moreover, were crystallised in the body of spiritual culture quite unintentionally, and independently of the will and consciousness of individuals, although through their activities. In intuition they appeared precisely as the forms of things created by human activity, or as ‘stamps’ (‘imprints’) laid on natural, physical material by man’s activities, as forms of purposive will alienated in external substance.|newspaper=|date=|url=}}</ref> </blockquote>

This understanding is what fundamentally distinguishes materialist dialectics from Hegelian idealism, Laplacean pre-determinism and Spinoza's determinism. This dialectical mediation separates Marxist philosophical materialism from crude materialists who go with the simple matter -> mind circuit, and in doing so, strip agency of individual actors within the wider law-governed (but not determinate) system. In fact, the very reason this dialectical mediation is important to acknowledge is because of the unity of theory and method wherein not acknowledging this leads to stagnation because of notions of revolutionary fatalism, and thus inaction. The materially conditioned revolutionary human will in historically conditioned circumstances is the general image that the dialectical materialist framework posits.

<blockquote>All general images, however, without exception, neither sprang from universal schemas of the work of thought nor arose from an act of passive contemplation of nature unsullied by man, but took shape in the course of its practical, objective transformation by man, by society. They arose and functioned as forms of the '''''social-man determination of the purposive will of the individual,''''' i.e. as forms of real activity. General images, moreover, were crystallised in the body of spiritual culture quite unintentionally, and independently of the will and consciousness of individuals, although through their activities. In intuition they appeared precisely as the forms of things created by human activity, or as ‘stamps’ (‘imprints’) laid on natural, physical material by man’s activities, as forms of purposive will alienated in external substance.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

This is the basis of how [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] rejected Spinoza, that history is essentially made of potential tendencies which arise from material conditions (say a revolutionary situation birthed from the inherent contradictions of class society), the realization of this potential tendency ultimately lies with actors within the system (of course the actors are not separate or merely observant within the system but rather within it and their tendency to act itself is materially conditioned towards materializing the potential tendency - understanding this is how dialectical materialism comes to reject both idealistic voluntarism and mechanical materialism).

<blockquote>Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Karl Marx|newspaper=Marxists.org|title=The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.|date=1852|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ch01.htm|quote=Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.}}</ref></blockquote>

Marx and Engels were first inspired by Hegel's works and ideas, but later developed a better understanding of reality and its progress and development by applying the dialectical logic to material reality, observing the historical development of society. They put dialectic back ''right-side up,'' by divorcing it from its idealist roots and correctly associating it with materialism. To the question of ''where do our ideas come from?'', dialectical materialists reply: from the brain, as the result of a chemical interaction. But the content processed in these chemical interaction itself comes from our material conditions; the reality in which we live. Indeed, we know for example that the Ancient Greeks had experimented with steam machines. Yet they didn't use them for industrial production, and steam only gained traction in the industrial revolution when we found out about its power output. Idealists would say that the idea already existed in the time of the Ancient Greeks, but the fact that they ''did not use steam technology'' (and it was limited to a couple experiments) shows us material conditions are more important than having the right idea. Essentially, the possibilities of steam did not fit into the Greek mode of production, whose societies by and large relied on slave labor, and couldn't have developed the industry necessary to run steam machines.

It would be wrong, however, to say that dialectical materialism is ''only'' the logical progression of Hegelian dialectics, it is better described as the extraction and liberation of the rational kernel from the mystical shell. Dialectical materialism has its own rules, methods and roots that set it apart from Hegel's idealist dialectics. It could not have existed meaningfully earlier in time, as the material conditions and the dialectic was not sufficiently advanced for these ideas to take hold. This is an entirely dialectical observation, and a good example of what material dialectics are.

Most of what dialectical materialism is, comes directly from Hegel. Where Marx and Engels innovated was in two major ways: the relationship between quantity and quality, and the reorientation of the the primary mover being the material, rather than spiritual, or ideal realm which transcends or stands outside of the material.<ref>{{Citation|author=Humphrey McQueen |year=year of publication unknown|title=from Hegel's Logic to Lenin's Imperialism and beyond |pdf=https://www.surplusvalue.org.au/McQueen/marxism/Hegels%20Logic.pdf}}</ref>

== Importance of dialectics to Marxist theory ==
Dialectics explain the rules of change, positing that things do not stay as they are forever (metaphysics). This is readily observable: people age, laws change, seeds grow into stems and fruit, borders get redrawn, etc. Where dialectics become important is that they explain how this change comes to be and, through the study of the [[contradiction]] and its surrounding laws, make us able to properly identify the driver of change. In studying the revolutionary conditions of a country, for example, we are able to draw upon its material conditions, the movements present, and, studying all of this dialectically, understand where they are positioned and how things will likely unfold. Since Marxism deals with objective reality, Marxists need the tools to observe and study this objective reality. In ''On Protracted Warfare'', Mao noted that:<blockquote>"Our war is not just any war, it is specifically a war between China and Japan fought in the Nineteen Thirties. '''Our enemy, Japan, is first of all a moribund imperialist power; she is already in her era of decline''' and is not only different from Britain at the time of the subjugation of India, when British capitalism was still in the era of its ascendency, but also different from what she herself was at the time of World War I twenty years ago. The present war was launched on the eve of the general collapse of world imperialism and, above all, of the fascist countries; that is the very reason the enemy has launched this adventurist war, which is in the nature of a last desperate struggle."<ref>{{Citation|author=Mao Zedong|year=1938|title=On protracted warfare|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:On_protracted_war|chapter=Refutation of the theory of national subjugation}}</ref></blockquote>By correctly studying the objective conditions of Japan at the time, he successfully argued against the "theorists of national subjugation" in China, who were urging China to surrender to Japan believing that they could never win a war against the empire.

Dialectical materialism is one of the three component parts of Marxism laid out by Lenin, along with the [[labor theory of value]] and the [[class struggle]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1913|title=The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Vladimir_Lenin/The_three_sources_and_three_component_parts_of_Marxism}}</ref>

The task of Marxists and scientific socialists is to uncover the objective nature of the world through the study of contradictions. Contradictions are not a given, and they are not made apparent to humans. We must struggle with contradictions to uncover them and analyze them correctly, which explains why sometimes, something may seemingly look like it has no contradiction: but in actuality, it just means we haven't found it yet.

Furthermore, dialectical materialism is intertwined with science, as science also strives to uncover the objective nature of the world and in doing so, dispels idealist notions that come from our limited human senses. While science under capitalism is usually practiced metaphysically (taking fields in isolation, e.g. a zoologist studies animals as they are today, while the paleontologist studies the ancestors to these animals), science itself takes on all of its meaning when it is practiced dialectically, and since dialectics are a law of nature just as much as the laws of physics are, scientific fields will naturally tend towards dialectics at some point if they wish to come to the correct explanations. This is why Marxists sometimes call dialectical materialism an "immortal science", as it is practiced scientifically (and in fact comes from science), and is immortal on virtue of always following with change and adapting to evolving material conditions.

== Laws of dialectics ==
Dialectics obey four broad laws that explain ''how'' things change.

=== Dialectical change ===

=== Transformation of quantity into quality and vice versa ===
Also called progress by leaps and bounds.

It should be understood that progress does not mean being progressive, but merely that ''things change;'' that something that once existed does not anymore, it has morphed into a new thing. Once a critical point is reached, change happens meaningfully. Feudalism for example was not deposed by reforms to the monarchy, but by decisive revolution headed by the [[bourgeoisie]]. Once a critical stage of the class struggle was reached (the bourgeoisie was sufficiently developed), qualitative change happened and the form of the state changed.

The same thing can be said about something as simple as water: when heated, water does not gradually make more steam the more it's heated. It will start off not making any steam, and then once it reaches a certain point, steam starts to come out of the boiling pot. This means something can stay still for years (such as a communist party not making any progress), and then suddenly make progress (such as the communist party suddenly seeing a surge in new members as the contradictions of capitalism worsen).

All change has a quantitative aspect, that is, an aspect of mere increase or decrease which does not alter the nature of that which changes. But quantitative change cannot go on indefinitely. At a certain point it leads to a qualitative change; and at that critical point, the qualitative change takes place relatively suddenly.

But once qualitative change has happened, we necessarily go back to quantitative change needing to happen before more qualitative change can take place. When the bourgeoisie took power from the feudal system and established capitalism (the qualitative change), they necessarily had to develop a proletariat so that they would have people to employ as workers. Over a century, rural communities were uprooted and urged into cities and factories to be proletarianized, breaking from their old feudal ways; quantitatively, an increase of the number of proletarians happened. This quantitative increase reinforces the proletariat as a class, creating qualitative change in the formation of communist parties and the dissemination of Marxist theory.

=== Unity and struggle of opposites ===
Everything exists only in relation to an opposite or contrary thing. The two opposites are therefore united by the interdependence on the existence of the other, yet also struggle against each other. This is also known as a [[contradiction]].

As [[Mao]] explained in ''On Contradiction'', there is a contradiction when two ''things'' are fundamentally opposed, but one cannot exist without the other. In this case a ''thing'' can be anything: ideas, concepts, commodities, fields of science, tangible items...

An example is the contradiction between theory and praxis. Theory can only exist in relation to practice with the real world (praxis), and praxis cannot exist without practicing theory. Theory without practice leads to [[metaphysics]] and unreliable ideas; praxis without theory leads to vulgar [[empiricism]] and ineffective action and therefore, theory and praxis are in contradiction as they struggle to adjust to reflect each other.

Once a contradiction is resolved, the resulting outcome necessarily finds a contradiction of its own. The resolution of contradictions is the engine of change, and what makes dialectical materialism what it is: a scientific theory that explains change and objective reality.

==== Negation of the negation ====
Everything carries within it the seeds of its own negation, essentially, what it is and the opposite of what it is. When a contradiction is resolved, it is negated. But this negation makes a new contradiction emerge, which will itself be negated eventually in order to be solved. Consider element A which exists in contradiction to element B; The resolution of this contradiction creates element C, and element C exists in contradiction to either element D or element B. For example, the feudal nobility (A) historically existed in contradiction to the bourgeoisie (B). As the bourgeoisie reinforced their power through employing, and thus creating, a proletariat workforce (C), it negated the nobility. Now the contradiction is between the bourgeoisie and proletariat: by strengthening its power, the bourgeoisie is creating its own gravediggers, i.e. its negation.

Since a contradiction needs two components to exist and creates a third component that previously did not exist when it is resolved, that third component will find its own contradiction, i.e. its diametrical opposite. For example, a seed contains within it the contradiction to become a plant: it has the potential to bloom, but does not exist as a plant while it exists in seed form. When the contradiction is resolved, the seed starts to sprout. This creates a (young) plant, which is the negation to the seed. The negation to the sprout is the mature plant that starts to bear flowers: the negation of the negation.

The plant cannot exist without the seed, and the seed can't exist without at least the potential to become a plant (otherwise it wouldn't be a seed; it would look like one, but it would not be a seed). This makes it a contradiction.

==== Distinction from dualism ====

Dialectical materialism is distinct from [[dualism]]. Dualism frames the world as a pair of mutually negating forces -- that of idea and matter, consciousness and being -- and that correspondingly, phenomena also fall into two categories: the ideal and the material, which negate each other, and contend against each other, so that the development of nature and society is a constant struggle between ideal and material phenomena. Dialectical materialism views these opposed forces as distinct parts of the whole substance. Like the two sides of a coin.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1907|title=Anarchism Or Socialism?|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Anarchism_or_socialism%3F|chapter=Chapter II The Materialist Theory|chapter-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Anarchism_or_socialism%3F#The_materialist_theory|city=Moscow|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1906/12/x01.htm}}</ref>

== Examples ==

=== An apple ===
An apple is not set in stone. It will not remain an apple forever. Before being an apple, the fruit was a flower, and before that a bud on a branch. As we can see, change has happened to the apple and will continue to happen. The apple will ripen, and later will fall off the tree and then start rotting, feeding more life. The ''process'' goes on forever even if, at some point, anyone looking at the apple will say "this isn't an apple anymore, it's just mush". The apple itself has stopped existing, but it was just one stage of an ongoing process and the process itself still exists. Incidentally, this is what metaphysical materialists don't understand. They will study the apple as it is an apple, not seeing the whole process. One branch of science will study the apple, and another will study the flower that later becomes the apple.<ref>{{Citation|author=Georges Politzer|year=1946|title=Elementary principles of philosophy|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Elementary_principles_of_philosophy|publisher=International Publishers}}</ref>

=== Class struggle ===
There is a very apparent contradiction in the [[class struggle]]. The bourgeoisie is fundamentally opposed to the proletariat -- as the former wants to extract more value from their employees, while the latter wants to retain more value from their employer. Yet one class cannot exist without the other: if the bourgeoisie did not have the proletariat to exploit, then they would change into another class over time. For a concrete example, we can look at the end of feudalism. The Bourgeoisie revolted against the old regime of the nobles and feudal masters and eventually took power (such as in France). Before that point, the bourgeoisie existed side-by-side with the nobles and both competed for the supremacy of their class (as in class society, there is always an exploiting class and exploitative class). Yet the proletariat did not exist side-by-side with the serfs. There were free cities, in which guilds operated and they employed workers by the day or week, but this is different from the proletariat (as seen in ''Principles of Communism''). It was only after the feudal order was abolished, with the bourgeoisie taking over the state, that the proletariat developed itself. Thus the contradiction mutated, and the class struggle moved from the nobles and serfs to the bourgeoisie and proletariat.

To exemplify another rule of dialectics, we also see that quantitative change leads to qualitative change. Essentially, as more people became either bourgeoisie or manufacture workers (the ancestor of the proletariat), their numbers grew -- quantitative change. When their numbers grew enough and it was impossible for them to develop as a class any longer, and they had a chance of seizing state power, they did -- and if it was successful, then this quantitative change led to qualitative change.

== Misconceptions ==

=== Dialectics only apply to political science ===
Some believe that dialectics and dialectical materialism only apply to political science, or even more specifically to Marxism alone and are just one way of seeing the world out of many competing but equally valid frameworks.

Dialectical materialism is the most advanced way to study and understand the world as of yet because it follows scientific principles, is derived from natural phenomena, and simply is the most able framework to explain the objective nature of the world (in terms of correct analyses and predictions). It is not specifically Marxist either and can be used by anyone. Dialectical materialism is a framework to study the world, and works as a "base" to act upon.

Dialectics, because they exist in the world, apply to everything that surrounds us and are not limited to any field of science or domain of use. Dialectics happen in every material phenomena, "material" meaning anything that exists in the material (natural) world. Since we know only the material world exists (the one we live in), everything that exists is by definition material and logically subject to dialectics.

=== Dialectics are too difficult to understand and not needed to organize ===
There is an effort in bourgeois academia to make philosophy remain the language of a few elites. Words can be daunting at first glance, and effort is spent to keep these words vague, difficult to understand, [[Mysticism|mystical]], and requiring years of study to even grasp their meaning.

Philosophy can be and is proletarian, it shouldn't belong solely to the bourgeoisie. It is not necessary to read Hegel to understand dialectics: what matters is understanding dialectics, and after that reading Hegel if one wishes. This requires revolutionaries to work towards demystifying philosophy and teach it in a proletarian manner, so that all workers may understand it. It was for this reason that when teaching philosophy, Georges Politzer didn't spend time walking the student through all idealist philosophers and their differences: he started directly at Berkeley, who had synthesized idealism in its most advanced form. When teaching dialectics, he used everyday examples of material phenomena that all of us have observed before.

Dialectics form the basis to an objective understanding of the world, which includes [[class society]] and the class struggle. Without the proper application of dialectics to analyze one's current material conditions in society, it is impossible to apply [[praxis]] effectively.

== See also ==

* [[Marxism]]
* [[Marxism-Leninism]]
* [[Quotes:Dialectical materialism]]

== Further Reading ==
[[Library:Elementary principles of philosophy|Elementary principles of philosophy]] by [[Georges Politzer]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Dialectical materialism]]

Madeline Pendleton

2026-04-13T15:32:59Z

Kasp: Fixed a lot of errors mainly to do with capitalization.

{{Infobox youtuber|nationality=Statesian|Ideology=Marxism-Leninism|channel_url=https://www.youtube.com/@MadelinePendleton|years_active=Dec 9, 2011 - present|subscribers=6.29K|views=498,844|location=Los Angeles, California}}

Madeline Pendleton is a [[Statesian]] [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] activist and influencer. She started out as an [[Anarchism|anarchist]] but later became a Marxism-Leninist due to insurmountable differences with the anarchist organizations that she was in and began reading theory, ultimately becoming aware of the [[Contradiction|contradictions]] within anarchism.

She runs multiple and changing [[social media]] channels ([[TikTok]], now also twitch and [[YouTube|Youtube]], Instagram) as well as a podcast. She has also been a guest on multiple other communist podcasts like [[The Deprogram]] and [[Revolutionary Left Radio|Revolution Left Radio]].

== Content ==
A large portion of her content defends [[Actually Existing Socialism|AES]] states and explains socialist concepts to commenters on her videos. She lives in a backhouse in Los Angeles, [[State of California|California]] and runs a small cooperative fashion brand, called Tunnel Vision. She also wrote a book called "I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt."<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Amazon.com|title=Authors|url=https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CRHYTZVH}}</ref>. She recently traveled on a flotilla to [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]].

== Links ==

* [http://www.youtube.com/@MadelinePendleton Youtube]
* [https://www.instagram.com/madelinependleton/ Instagram]
* [https://www.tiktok.com/@madeline_pendleton Tiktok]
* [https://www.twitch.tv/madelinependleton Twitch]
* [https://linktr.ee/madelinependleton linktree]
* [https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ql5BxtaXJMh4rfGvz9zyH Podcast]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Communist YouTube channels]]
[[Category:Socialist media outlets]]

12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

2026-03-23T00:15:54Z

Kasp: Added the image I uploaded that got approved yesterday

[[File:The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.jpg|thumb|The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China]]
The 12th [[National congress of the Communist Party of China|National Congress of the Communist Party of China]] (中国共产党第十二次全国代表大会) was held in [[Beijing]] between September 1 and September 11, 1982. There were 1,600 full delegates and 149 alternate delegates that elected the 12th [[CPC Central Committee]] composed of 210 members and 138 alternate members, a Central Advisory Commission composed of 172 members and a Central Commission for Discipline Inspection composed of 132 members.

=== Goals ===
In his opening address, [[Deng Xiaoping]] put forward the idea that China should integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the reality of China and vow to build a socialist society with Chinese characteristics. The congress aimed to define the correct strategy for the construction of socialist modernization by summing up the historical victory since the 11th Party Congress and eliminating the chaos following the [[Cultural Revolution]]. The congress also outlined the general task of the Party to unite the people of all ethnic groups in working hard to achieve, the modernization of industry, agriculture, national defense and science and technology and to make China a culturally and ideologically advanced and highly democratic socialist country. It also set the economic goal for the period from 1981 to the end of this century, that being to quadruple the annual industrial and agricultural output value of the country, so that they could improve the standard of living. The congress also adopted a new Party Constitution.

=== Agenda ===
Hu Yaobang made a report on behalf of the 11th Central Committee. Ye Jianying and Chen Yun both delivered speeches about the cooperation between the senior and younger officials and the replacement of them by younger officials. Li Xiannian addressed the closing session.

=== Election Results ===
Hu Yaobang was elected as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|General Secretary]] of the Central Committee and Deng Xiaoping was appointed [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission]] as well as chairman of the CPC Central Advisory Commission.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=International Department of Central Committee of CPC|title=The Twelfth National Congress|url=https://www.idcpc.org.cn/english2023/tjzl/cpcjj/PartyCongresses/202307/t20230727_157824.html|retrieved=2026-3-22}}</ref>

12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

2026-03-22T05:02:51Z

Kasp: Created the page, added an introductory section, a goals section, and an agenda section.

The 12th [[National congress of the Communist Party of China|National Congress of the Communist Party of China]] (中国共产党第十二次全国代表大会) was held in [[Beijing]] between September 1 and September 11, 1982. There were 1,600 full delegates and 149 alternate delegates that elected the 12th [[CPC Central Committee]] composed of 210 members and 138 alternate members, a Central Advisory Commission composed of 172 members and a Central Commission for Discipline Inspection composed of 132 members.

=== Goals ===
In his opening address, [[Deng Xiaoping]] put forward the idea that China should integrate the universal truth of Marxism with the reality of China and vow to build a socialist society with Chinese characteristics. The congress aimed to define the correct strategy for the construction of socialist modernization by summing up the historical victory since the 11th Party Congress and eliminating the chaos following the [[Cultural Revolution]]. The congress also outlined the general task of the Party to unite the people of all ethnic groups in working hard to achieve, the modernization of industry, agriculture, national defense and science and technology and to make China a culturally and ideologically advanced and highly democratic socialist country. It also set the economic goal for the period from 1981 to the end of this century, that being to quadruple the annual industrial and agricultural output value of the country, so that they could improve the standard of living. The congress also adopted a new Party Constitution.

=== Agenda ===
Hu Yaobang made a report on behalf of the 11th Central Committee. Ye Jianying and Chen Yun both delivered speeches about the cooperation between the senior and younger officials and the replacement of them by younger officials. Li Xiannian addressed the closing session.

=== Election Results ===
Hu Yaobang was elected as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|General Secretary]] of the Central Committee and Deng Xiaoping was appointed [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission]] as well as chairman of the CPC Central Advisory Commission.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=International Department of Central Committee of CPC|title=The Twelfth National Congress|url=https://www.idcpc.org.cn/english2023/tjzl/cpcjj/PartyCongresses/202307/t20230727_157824.html|retrieved=2026-3-22}}</ref>

File:The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.jpg

2026-03-22T05:01:01Z

Kasp:

Picture of the 12 National Congress of the CPC

March of the Volunteers

2026-03-17T03:59:36Z

Kasp: Fixed a lot of translation errors by the previous translation source for the lyrics of the song.

The "'''March of the Volunteers'''",<ref group="lower-alpha">simplified Chinese: 义勇军进行曲; traditional Chinese: 義勇軍進行曲; pinyin: ''yìyǒngjūnjìnxíngqǔ''; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄧˋ ㄩㄥˇ ㄐㄩㄣㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄑㄩˇ</ref> originally titled the "'''March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers'''",<ref group="lower-alpha">simplified Chinese: 反满抗日义勇军进行曲; traditional Chinese: 反滿抗日]]義勇軍進行曲; pinyin: ''fǎnmǎnkàngrìyìyǒngjūnjìnxíngqǔ''; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄈㄢˇ ㄇㄢˇ ㄎㄤˋ ㄖˋㄧˋ ㄩㄥˇ ㄐㄩㄣㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄑㄩˇ</ref> has been the official national anthem of the [[People's Republic of China]] since 1978.

It was adopted as the PRC's provisional anthem in 1949 in place of the "Three Principles of the People" of the Republic of China (1912–1949) and the Communist "[[The Internationale|Internationale]]". In the Cultural Revolution, Tian Han was criticized and placed in prison, where he died in 1968. The song was briefly and unofficially replaced by "The East Is Red", then reinstated but played without lyrics, restored to official status in 1978 with altered lyrics, and finally the original version was restored in 1982.

== Lyrics ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Chinese
!Pinyin
!English
|-
|起来！不愿做奴隶的人们！
把我们的血肉，筑成我们新的长城！

中华民族到了最危险的时候，

每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。

起来！起来！起来！

我们万众一心，

冒着敌人的炮火，前进！

冒着敌人的炮火，前进！

前进！前进！前进！进！
|Qǐlái! Búyuàn zuò núlì de rénmen!
Bǎ wǒmen de xuèròu, zhùchéng wǒmen xīn de chángchéng!

Zhōnghuá mínzú dàoliǎo zuì wēixiǎn de shíhòu.

Měi ge rén bèi pòzhe fāchū zuìhòu de hǒushēng.

Qǐlái! Qǐlái! Qǐlái!

Wǒmen wànzhòngyìxīn,

Màozhe dírén de pàohuǒ, qiánjìn!

Màozhe dírén de pàohuǒ, qiánjìn!

Qiánjìn! Qiánjìn! Jìn!
|Arise! Those who refuse to be slaves,

With our flesh and blood, we shall build a new Great Wall!

The Chinese nation is at its greatest peril,

Everyone is forced to let out their final roar.

Arise! Arise! Arise!

All of us with one heart,

Braving the enemies' fire, March on!

Braving the enemies' fire, March on!

March on! March on! March on! On!
|}

== Notes ==
[[Category:Anthems]]
<references group="lower-alpha" />
[[Category:Leftist music]]

Amadeo Bordiga

2026-03-16T11:00:00Z

Kasp: Deleted an extra 'i' in with

{{Infobox politician|name=Amadeo Bordiga|image_size=200|birth_date=13 June 1889|birth_place=Resina, [[Kingdom of Italy]]|death_date=23 July 1970|death_place=Formia, Lazio, [[Italy]]|nationality=Italian|political_orientation=[[Left communism]]|political_party=[[International Communist Party]]|image=Amadeo Bordiga.png}}

'''Amadeo Bordiga''' (13 June 1889 – 23 July 1970) was an [[Italian Republic|Italian]] left communist who cofounded the [[Italian Communist Party]] with [[Antonio Gramsci]] and [[Nicola Bombacci]]. According to Gramsci, Bordiga believed that the [[Leninism|Leninist]] [[vanguard party]] and the [[Soviet (governmental body)|soviet]] system of party cells would degenerate into [[opportunism]].<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Antonio Gramsci]]|year=1925|title=Sterile and Negative Criticism|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/1925/09/sterile-negative.htm}}</ref>

Bordiga's [[dogmatism]] led him to declare support for the [[axis powers]], infamously declaring:<ref>{{Web citation|author=AnythingForProximity|newspaper=Libcom|title=Bordiga, the Leninist who put his hopes in the Axis|date=2017-12-27|url=https://libcom.org/forums/history/bordiga-leninist-who-put-his-hopes-axis-27122017}}</ref>

{{LQuote|If Hitler can make yield the odious powers of England and America, while making thus precarious the capitalist world balance, long live the butcher Hitler who works in spite of himself to create the conditions of the proletarian world revolution|[https://libcom.org/forums/history/bordiga-leninist-who-put-his-hopes-axis-27122017 Libcom "Bordiga, the Leninist who put his hopes in the Axis]}}

He has also been credited as the author of the article "Auschwitz, or The Great Alibi" which is a work of [[holocaust denial]] that claims the [[Nazi Party]] did not seek to exterminate [[Jewish people]], but rather the Jewish section of the [[Petite bourgeoisie|petit bourgeoisie]]<ref>{{Web citation|author=Mitchell Abidor|title=Bordiga’s “Auschwitz, or the Great Alibi”|url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/bordiga/auschwitz.htm|retrieved=2025/08/25}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:Italian Communist Party politicians]]
[[Category:Italian Socialist Party politicians]]
[[Category:Left communists]]

Dogmatism

2026-02-14T05:41:10Z

Kasp: Added a section on the Ultra-left adherence to dogmatism

{{Message box/Stub}}
[[File:Dogmatism.jpg|thumb|Visual representation of dogmatism]]
In [[Marxism|Marxist]] discourse, '''dogmatism''' is a methodological deviation characterized by the attempt to copy or repeat actions or tactics without considering the [[Historical materialism|historical material conditions]] of the situation.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Mao Zedong]]|year=1957|title=On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People|chapter=China's Path to Industrialization|quote=Now there are two different attitudes towards learning from others. One is the dogmatic attitude of transplanting everything, whether or not it is suited to our conditions. This is no good. The other attitude is to use our heads and learn those things which suit our conditions, that is, to absorb whatever experience is useful to us. That is the attitude we should adopt.|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_58.htm}}</ref> According to Vietnam’s Curriculum of the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism For University and College Students Specializing in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, the opposite of Dogmatism is Revisionism, and dogmatism is a form of "left-sided thinking" while [[revisionism]] is a form of "right-sided thinking". Dogmatism overemphasizes commonalities and rushes to prematurely draw correlations that may not apply, because they overlook individual characteristics or specific material conditions. <ref name="MET">{{Citation|author=Minister of Education and Training, in collaboration with Sự Thật, authors, with Associate Professor and Doctor of Philosophy Nguyen Viet Thong as chief editor|year=2008|title=Curriculum of the Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism Part 1|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Curriculum_of_the_Basic_Principles_of_Marxism-Leninism_Part_1|chapter=III. BASIC PAIRS OF CATEGORIES OF MATERIALIST DIALECTICS|chapter-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Curriculum_of_the_Basic_Principles_of_Marxism-Leninism_Part_1#III._BASIC_PAIRS_OF_CATEGORIES_OF_MATERIALIST_DIALECTICS|section=1. Private and Common|page=136-137|quote=Annotation 134:

Dogmatism and Revisionism in Relation to the Private and Common Dogmatism is the inflexible adherence to ideals as incontrovertibly true while refusing to take any contradictory evidence into consideration. Dogmatism stands in direct opposition to materialist dialectics, which seeks to form opinions and conclusions only after careful consideration of all observable evidence.

Dogmatism typically arises when the Common is overemphasized without due consideration of the Private. A dogmatic position is one which adheres to ideals about commonalities without taking Private subjects into consideration.

Dogmatism can be avoided by continuously studying and observing and analyzing Private subjects and taking any evidence which contradicts erroneous perceptions of “false commonalities” into consideration. This will simultaneously deepen our understanding of the Private while improving our understanding of the Common. For example: Sally might observe a few red apples and arrive at the conclusion: “all apples are red.” If Sally is then presented with a green apple, yet refuses to acknowledge it by continuing to insist that “all apples are red,” then Sally is engaging in dogmatism.

According to Vietnam’s Curriculum of the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism For University and College Students Specializing in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, the opposite of Dogmatism is Revisionism. Revisionism occurs when we overestimate the Private and fail to recognize commonalities. In failing to recognize common attributes and features between and within things, phenomena, and ideas, the Revisionist faces confusion and disorientation whenever they encounter any new things, phenomena, and ideas, because they lack any insight into essential characteristics of the subject and its relations with other subjects.

For example: if Sally has spent a lot of time studying a red apple, she may start to become confident that she understands everything there is to know about apples. If she is then presented with a green apple, she might become confused and disoriented and draw the conclusion that she has to start all over again with her analysis, from scratch, thinking: “this can’t possibly be an apple because it’s not red. It must be something else entirely.” Sally can avoid this revisionist confusion by examining the other common features which the red and green apples share before making any conclusions.|pdf=https://ia601604.us.archive.org/31/items/intro-basic-princ-marx-lenin-part-1-final/IntroBasicPrincMarxLenin_Part_1_Final.pdf|publisher=Banyan House|volume=1|trans-lang=Vietnamese}}</ref>

Dogmatic or "left-sided thinking" is eager to enact change but upholds unrealistic conceptions of change and development. Left-sided thinkers don’t have the patience for quantity accumulation which are prerequisite to quality shifts, or expect to skip entire stages of development which are necessary to precipitate change in the real world. An example of left-sided thinking would be believing that a capitalist society can instantly transition into a stateless, classless, communist society, skipping over the transitions in quantity and quality which are required to bring such a massive transformation in human society to fruition.<ref name="MET" />

== Ultra-leftism ==
It is because of this that dogmatism often serves as the theoretical basis for [[ultra-leftism]], as it depends on separating theory from [[praxis]], only changing based on internal logic and/or 'purity' rather than its role in practice. It sees all theoretical problems as already 'solved' and the praxis reduced to the mere application of the principles of Marxism.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Clay Newlin|newspaper=The Organizer|title=Dogmatism: the root of opportunism in our movement|date=1977-7|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-4/pwoc-dog-7.htm#:~:text=Once%20the%20fundamental%20principles%20of,tasks%20in%20the%20present%20period.|quote=In our opinion, the root error is dogmatism, because it is dogmatism which provides the theoretical basis for the ultra-left line. Generally speaking, it is dogmatism which has caused many basically honest communists to deviate from Marxism-Leninism.

Dogmatism separates theory from practice. It sees theory as existing apart from the living reality of the class struggle, as if theory had a life of its own independent from the social practice of the masses. It sees theory as a schema, a set of immutable propositions, whose veracity is determined only by their internal logic rather than by the sole criterion of practice.

Thus for the dogmatist the study of concrete conditions is negated in favor of quotation and pedantry. All one has to be able to do is “to pick out passages from a book like a scholar whose head is a card index box filled with quotations from books, which he picks out as he needs them; but if the situation arises which is not described in any book, he becomes confused and grabs the wrong quotation from the box.” (Lenin, Wks, Vol. 29, p. 364.)}}</ref> Thus turning it into a purity fetish of following their respective ideas of what 'true' [[socialism]] is, with no consideration of material conditions necessitating differing forms, making them deviate from Marxism and often leads to their skepticism or outright rejection of [[Actually Existing Socialism|AES]].

== See also ==

* [[Adventurism]]
* [[Opportunism]]
* [[Revisionism]]

== References ==
[[Category:Stubs]]

Library:Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1936)

2026-02-14T03:25:39Z

Kasp: Added the coat of arms and paragraphs to fit the expanded infobox

{{Library work|title=Constitution of the Soviet Union|image=Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1936–1946).svg|author=8th All-Union Congress of Soviets|written in=|published_date=1936|source=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1936)}}

=== Preface ===
The '''1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union''', often known as the '''Stalin Constitution''', was the constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adopted on 5 December 1936. The 1936 Constitution was the second constitution of the USSR, replacing the 1924 Constitution, which existed during the state-capitalist and immediate post-civil war era.

The 1936 Constitution ensured the creation of a democratic system of government in the USSR, based off a system of soviet (council) democracy and proletarian ownership of the means of production. The Constitution of 1936 would remain the fundamental law of the USSR until 1977, only seeing minor amendments in 1944.

{{Bookchapter|Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics}}

=== Chapter I : The Organization of Society ===
'''ARTICLE 1.''' The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a socialist state of workers and peasants.

'''ARTICLE 2.''' The Soviets of Working People's Deputies, which grew and attained strength as a result of the overthrow of the landlords and capitalists and the achievement of the dictatorship of the proletariat, constitute the political foundation of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 3.''' In the U.S.S.R. all power belongs to the working people of town and country as represented by the Soviets of Working People's Deputies.

'''ARTICLE 4.''' The socialist system of economy and the socialist ownership of the means and instruments of production, firmly established as a result of the abolition of the capitalist system of economy, the abrogation of private ownership of the means and instruments of production and the abolition of the exploitation of man by man, constitute the economic foundation of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 5.''' Socialist property in the U.S.S.R. exists either in the form of state property (the possession of the whole people), or in the form of cooperative and collective-farm property (property of a collective farm or property of a cooperative association).

'''ARTICLE 6.''' The land, its natural deposits, waters, forests, mills, factories, mines, rail, water and air transport, banks, post, telegraph, and telephones, large state organized agricultural enterprises (state farms, machine and tractor stations and the like) as well as municipal enterprises and the bulk of the dwelling houses in the cities and industrial localities, are state property, that is, belong to the whole people.

'''ARTICLE 7.''' Public enterprises in collective farms and cooperative organizations, with their livestock and implements, the products of the collective farms and cooperative organizations, as well as their common buildings, constitute the common, socialist property of the collective farms and cooperative organizations.

In addition to its basic income from the public, collective-farm enterprise, every household in a collective farm has for its personal use a small plot of land attached to the dwelling and, as its personal property, a subsidiary establishment on the plot, a dwelling house, livestock, poultry and minor agricultural implements - in accordance with the the statutes of the agricultural artel.

'''ARTICLE 8.''' The land occupied by collective farms is secured to them for their use free of charge and for an unlimited time, that is, in perpetuity.

'''ARTICLE 9.''' Alongside the socialist system of economy, which is the predominant form of economy in the U.S.S.R., the law permits the small private economy of individual peasants and handicraftsmen based on their personal labour and precluding the exploitation of the labour of others.

'''ARTICLE 10.''' The right of citizens to personal ownership of their incomes from work and of their savings, of their dwelling houses and subsidiary household economy, their household furniture and utensils and articles of personal use and convenience, as well as the right of inheritance of personal property of citizens, is protected by law.

'''ARTICLE 11.''' The economic life of the U.S.S.R. is determined and directed by the state national economic plan with the aim of increasing the public wealth, of steadily improving the material conditions of the working people and raising their cultural level, of consolidating the independence of the U.S.S.R. and strengthening its defensive capacity.

'''ARTICLE 12.''' In the U.S.S.R. work is a duty and a matter of honour for every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat."

The principle applied in the U.S.S.R. is that of socialism : "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."

=== Chapter II : The Organization of the State ===
'''ARTICLE 13.''' The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a federal state, formed on the basis of the voluntary association of Soviet Socialist Republics having equal rights, namely :

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic

The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic

The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic

The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic

The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Esthonian Soviet Socialist Republic

'''ARTICLE 14.''' The jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as represented by its highest organs of state authority and organs of government, covers :

a) Representation of the Union in international relations, conclusion and ratification of treaties with other states;

b) Questions of war and peace;

c) Admission of new republics into the U.S.S.R.;

d) Control over the observance of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. and ensuring conformity of the Constitutions of the Union Republics with the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.;

e) Confirmation of alterations of boundaries between Union Republics;

f) Confirmation of the formation of new Territories and Regions and also of new Autonomous Republics within Union Republics;

g) Organization of the defence of the U.S.S.R. and direction of all the armed forces of the U.S.S.R.;

h) Foreign trade on the basis of state monopoly;

i) Safeguarding the security of the state;

j) Establishment of the national economic plans of the U.S.S.R.;

k) Approval of the single state budget of the U.S.S.R. as well as of the taxes and revenues which go to the all-Union, Republican and local budgets;

l) Administration of the banks, industrial and agricultural establishments and enterprises and trading enterprises of all-Union importance;

m) Administration of transport and communications;

n) Direction of the monetary and credit system;

o) Organization of state insurance;

p) Raising and granting of loans;

q) Establishment of the basic principles for the use of land as well as for the use of natural deposits, forests and waters;

r) Establishment of the basic principles in the spheres of education and public health;

s) Organization of a uniform system of national economic statistics;

t) Establishment of the principles of labour legislation;

u) Legislation on the judicial system and judicial procedure; criminal and civil codes;

v) Laws on citizenship of the Union; laws on the rights of foreigners;

w) Issuing of all-Union acts of amnesty.

'''ARTICLE 15.''' The sovereignty of the Union Republics is limited only within the provisions set forth in Article 14 of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

Outside of these provisions, each Union Republic exercises state authority independently. The U.S.S.R. protects the sovereign rights of the Union Republics.

'''ARTICLE 16.''' Each Union Republic has its own Constitution, which takes account of the specific features of the Republic and is drawn up in full conformity with the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 17.''' To every Union Republic is reserved the right freely to secede from the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 18.''' The territory of a Union Republic may not be altered without its consent.

'''ARTICLE 19.''' The laws of the U.S.S.R. have the same force within the territory of every Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 20.''' In the event of a discrepancy between a law of a Union Republic and an all-Union law, the all-Union law prevails.

'''ARTICLE 21.''' A single Union citizenship is established for all citizens of the U.S.S.R.

Every citizen of a Union Republic is a citizen of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 22.''' The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic consists of the Altai, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Orjonikidze, Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories; the Archangel, Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kalinin, Kirov, Kuibyshev, Kursk, Leningrad, Molotov, Moscow, Murmansk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel, Penza, Rostov, Ryazan, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Stalingrad, Tambov, Tula, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Chjkalov and Yaroslavl Regions; the Tatar, Bashkir, Daghestan, Buryat-Mongolian, Kabardino- Balkarian, Kalmyk, Komi, Crimean, Mari, Mordovian, Volga German, North Ossetian, Udmurt, Chechen- Ingush, Chuvash and Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics; and the Adygei, Jewish, Karachai, Oirot, Khakass ans Cherkess Autonomous Regions.

'''ARTICLE 23.''' The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Vinnitsa, Volhynia, Voroshilovgrad, Dniepropetrovsk, Drohobych, Zhitomir, Zaporozhye, Izmail, Kamenets-Podolsk, Kiev, Kirovograd, Lvov, Nikolayev, Odessa, Poltova, Rovno, Stalino, Stanislav, Sumi, Tarnapol; Kharkov, Chernigov and Chernovitsi Regions.

'''ARTICLE 24.''' The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic includes the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Nagarno-Karabakh Autonomous Region.

'''ARTICLE 25.''' The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic includes the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the South Ossetian Autonomous Region.

'''ARTICLE 26.''' The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Ferghana and Khorezm Regions, and the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

'''ARTICLE 27.''' The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Garm, Kulyab, Leninabad and Stalinabad Regions, and the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.

'''ARTICLE 28.''' The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Akmolinsk, Aktyubinsk, Alma-Ata East Kazakhstan, Guriev, Jambul, West Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kzyl-Orda, Kustanai, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Semipalatinsk and South Kazakhstan Regions.

'''ARTICLE 29.''' The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Baranovichi, Byelostok, Brest, Vileyka, Vitebsk, Gomel, Minsk, Moghilev, Pinsk and Polessye Regions.

'''ARTICLE 29-a.''' The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Ashkhabad, Krasnovodsk, Mari, Tashauz and Charjow Regions.

'''ARTICLE 29-b.''' The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic consists of the Dzhalal-Abad, Issyk-Kul, Osh, Tien-Shan and Frunze Regions.

=== Chapter III : The Highest Organs of State Authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ===
'''ARTICLE 30.''' The highest organ of state authority of the U.S.S.R. is the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 31.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. exercises all rights vested in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in accordance with Article 14 of the Constitution, in so far as they do not, by virtue of the Constitution, come within the jurisdiction of organs of the U.S.S.R. that are accountable to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., that is, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. and the People's Commissariats of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 32.''' The legislative power of the U.S.S.R. is exercised exclusively by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 33.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. consists of two chambers : the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities.

'''ARTICLE 34.''' The Soviet of the Union is elected by the citizens of the U.S.S.R. according to electoral areas on the basis of one deputy for every 300,000 of the population.

'''ARTICLE 35.''' The Soviet of Nationalities is elected by the citizens of the U.S.S.R. according to Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Regions and national areas on the basis of twenty-five deputies from each Union Republic, eleven deputies from each Autonomous Republic, five deputies from each Autonomous Region and one deputy from each national area.

'''ARTICLE 36.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is elected for a term of four years.

'''ARTICLE 37.''' Both Chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities, have equal rights.

'''ARTICLE 38.''' The Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities have an equal right to initiate legislation.

'''ARTICLE 39.''' A law is considered adopted if passed by both Chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. by a simple majority vote in each.

'''ARTICLE 40.''' Laws passed by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. are published in the languages of the Union Republics over the signatures of the President and Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 41.''' Sessions of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities begin and terminate simultaneously.

'''ARTICLE 42.''' The Soviet of the Union elects a Chairman of the Soviet of the Union and two Vice- Chairmen.

'''ARTICLE 43.''' The Soviet of Nationalities elects a Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities and two Vice-Chairmen.

'''ARTICLE 44.''' The Chairmen of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities preside over the sittings of the respective Chambers and direct the procedure of these bodies.

'''ARTICLE 45.''' Joint sittings of both Chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. are presided over alternately by the Chairman of the Soviet of the Union and the Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities.

'''ARTICLE 46.''' Sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. are convened by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. twice a year.

Special sessions are convened by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. at its discretion or on the demand of one of the Union Republics.

'''ARTICLE 47.''' In the event of a disagreement between the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities, the question is referred for settlement to a conciliation commission formed on a parity basis. If the conciliation commission fails to arrive at an agreement, or if its decision fails to satisfy one of the Chambers, the question is considered for a second time by the Chambers. Failing agreement between the two Chambers, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. dissolves the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. and orders new elections.

'''ARTICLE 48.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. at a joint sitting of both Chambers elects the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., consisting of a President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., sixteen Vice- Presidents, a Secretary of the Presidium and twentyfour members of the Presidium.

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is accountable to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. for all its activities.

'''ARTICLE 49.''' The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. :

a) Convenes the sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.;

b) Interprets laws of the U.S.S.R. in operation, issues decrees;

c) Dissolves the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.in conformity with Article 47 of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. and orders new elections;

d) Conducts referendums on its own initiative or on the demand of one of the Union Republics;

e) Annuls decisions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. and of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republics in case they do not conform to law;

f) In the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., relieves of their posts and appoints People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. on the recommendation of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., subject to subsequent confirmation by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.;

g) Awards with decorations and confers titles of honour of the U.S.S.R.;

h) Exercises the right of pardon;

i) Appoints and removes the higher commands of the armed forces of the U.S.S.R.; j) In the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., proclaims a state of war in the event of armed attack on the U.S.S.R., or whenever necessary to fulfil international treaty obligations concerning mutual defence against aggression;

k) Orders general or partial mobilization;

l) Ratifies international treaties;

m) Appoints and recalls plenipotentiary representatives of the U.S.S.R. to foreign states;

n) Receives the credentials and letters of recall of diplomatic representatives accredited to it by foreign states;

o) Proclaims martial law in separate localities or throughout the U.S.S.R. in the interests of the defence of the U.S.S.R. or for the purpose of ensuring public order and state security.

'''ARTICLE 50.''' The Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities elect Credentials Commissions which verify the credentials of the members of the respective Chambers.

On there commendation of the Credentials Commissions, the Chambers decide either to endorse the the credentials or to annul the election of the deputies concerned.

'''ARTICLE 51.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. when it deems necessary, appoints commissions of enquiry and investigation on any matter.

It is the duty of all institutions and public servants to comply with the demands of these commissions and to submit to them the necessary materials and documents.

'''ARTICLE 52.''' A member of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. may not be prosecuted or arrested without the consent of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., and during the period when the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is not in session, without the consent of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 53.''' On the expiration of the term of office of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., or after the dissolution of the Supreme Soviet prior to the expiration of its term of office, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. retains its powers until the formation of a new Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. by the newly-elected Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 54.''' On the expiration of the term of office of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., or in the event of its dissolution prior to the expiration of its term of office, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. orders new elections to be held within a period not exceeding two months from the date of expiration of the term of office or dissolution of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 55.''' The newly-elected Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is convened by the outgoing Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. not later than one month after the elections.

'''ARTICLE 56.''' The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. at a joint sitting of both Chambers, appoints the Government of the U.S.S.R., namely, the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.

=== Chapter IV : The Highest Organs of State Authority of the Union Republics ===
'''ARTICLE 57.''' The highest organ of state authority of a Union Republic is the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 58.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic is elected by the citizens of the Republic for a term of four years.

The basis of representation is established by the Constitution of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 59.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic is the sole legislative organ of the Republic.

'''ARTICLE 60.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic :

a) Adopts the Constitution of the Republic and amends it in conformity with Article 16 of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.;

b) Confirms the Constitutions of the Autonomous Republics forming part of it and defines the boundaries of their territories;

c) Approves the national economic plan and also the budget of the Republic;

d) Exercises the right of amnesty and pardon of citizens sentenced by the judicial organs of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 61.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic elects the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic, consisting of a Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic, Vice-Chairmen, a Secretary of the Presidium and members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic.

The powers of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic are defined by the Constitution of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 62.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic elects a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman to conduct its sittings.

'''ARTICLE 63.''' The Supreme Soviet of a Union Republic appoints the Government of the Union Republic, namely, the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic.

=== Chapter V : The Organs of Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ===
'''ARTICLE 64.''' The highest executive and administrative organ of state authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 65.''' The Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. is responsible to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. and accountable to it; and in the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Soviet it is responsible and accountable to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 66.''' The Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. issues decisions and orders on the basis and in pursuance of the laws in operation, and supervises their execution.

'''ARTICLE 67.''' Decisions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. are binding throughout the territory of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 68.''' The Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. :

a) Coordinates and directs the work of the All- Union and Union-Republican People's Commissariats of the U.S.S.R. and of other institutions, economic and cultural, under its administration;

b) Adopts measures to carry out the national economic plan and the state budget, and to strengthen the credit and monetary system;

c) Adopts measures for the maintenance of public order, for the protection of the interests of the state, and for the safeguarding of the rights of citizens;

d) Exercises general guidance in respect of relations with foreign states;

e) Fixes the annual contingent of citizens to be called up for military service and directs the general organization and development of the armed forces of the country;

f) Sets up, whenever necessary, special Committees and Central Administrations under the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. for matters concerning economic, cultural and defence organization and development.

'''ARTICLE 69.''' The Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. has the right, in respect of those branches of administration and economy which come within the jurisdiction of the U.S.S.R., to suspend decisions and orders of the Councils of People's Commissars of the Union Republics and to annul orders and instructions of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 70.''' The Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. is appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. and consists of:

The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.;

The Vice-Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.;

The Chairman of the State Planning Commission of the U.S.S.R.;

The Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission;

The People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.;

The Chairman of the Committee on Arts;

The Chairman of the Committee on Higher Education;

The Chairman of the Board of the State Bank.

'''ARTICLE 71.''' The Government of the U.S.S.R. or a People's Commissar of the U.S.S.R. to whom a question of a member of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is addressed must give a verbal or written reply in the respective Chamber within a period not exceeding three days.

'''ARTICLE 72.''' The People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. direct the branches of state administration which come within the jurisdiction of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 73.''' The People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. issue, within the limits of the jurisdiction of the respective People's Commissariats, orders and instructions on the basis and in pursuance of the laws in operation, and also of decisions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., and supervise their execution.

'''ARTICLE 74.''' The People's Commissariats of the U.S.S.R. are either All-Union or Union-Republican Commissariats.

'''ARTICLE 75.''' The All-Union People's Commissariats direct the branches of state administration entrusted to them throughout the territory of the U.S.S.R. either directly or through bodies appointed by them.

'''ARTICLE 76.''' The Union-Republican People's Commissariats, as a rule, direct the branches of state administration entrusted to them through the corresponding People's Commissariats of the Union Republics; they administer directly only a definite and limited number of enterprises according to a list confirmed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 77.''' The following People's Commissariats are All-Union People's Commissariats :

Defence

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Trade

Railways

Post, Telegraph and Telephones

Maritime Fleet

River Fleet

Coal-Mining Industry

Oil Industry

Electric Power Stations

Electrical Engineering Industry

Iron and Steel Industry

Non-Ferrous Metals Industry

Chemical Industry

Aircraft Industry

Shipbuilding Industry

Munitions Industry

Armaments Industry

Heavy Machine-Building Industry

Medium Machine-Building Industry

General Machine-Building Industry

Navy

Agricultural Stocks

Civil Engineering Industry

Cellulose and Paper Industry.

'''ARTICLE 78.''' The following People's Commissariats are Union-Republican People's Commissariats :

Food Industry

Fishing Industry

Meat and Dairy Produce Industry

Light Industry

Textile Industry

Timber Industry

Agriculture State Grain and Livestock Farms

Finance

Trade

Internal Affairs

State Security

Justice

Public Health

Building Materials Industry

State Control.

=== Chapter VI : The Organs of Government of the Union Republics ===
'''ARTICLE 79.''' The highest executive and administrative organ of state authority of a Union Republic is the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 80.''' The Council of People's Commissars of a Union Republic is responsible to the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic and accountable to it; and in the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic it is responsible and accountable to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the respective Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 81.''' The Council of People's Commissars of a Union Republic issues decisions and orders on the basis and in pursuance of the laws in operation of the U.S.S.R. and of the Union Republic, and of the decisions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., and supervises their execution.

'''ARTICLE 82.''' The Council of People's Commissars of a Union Republic has the right to suspend decisions and orders of Councils of People's Commissars of Autonomous Republics, and to annul decisions and orders of Executive Committees of Soviets of Working People's Deputies of Territories, Regions and Autonomous Regions.

'''ARTICLE 83.''' The Council of People's Commissars of a Union Republic is appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic and consists of :

The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic;

The Vice-Chairmen;

The Chairman of the State Planning Commission;

The People's Commissars of :

Food Industry

Fishing Industry

Meat and Dairy Produce Industry

Light Industry

Textile Industry

Timber Industry

Building Materials Industry

Agriculture

State Grain and Livestock Farms

Finance

Trade

Internal Affairs

State Security

Justice

Public Health

State Control

Education

Local Industry

Municipal Economy

Social Maintenance

Motor Transport

The Chief of the Arts Administration;

The Representatives of the All-Union People's Commissariats.

'''ARTICLE 84.''' The People's Commissars of a Union Republic direct the branches of state administration which come within the jurisdiction of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 85.''' The People's Commissars of a Union Republic issue, within the limits of the jurisdiction of their respective People's Commissariats, orders and instructions on the basis and in pursuance of the laws of the U.S.S.R. and of the Union Republic, of the decisions and orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. and that of the Union Republic, and of the orders and instructions of the Union-Republican People's Commissariats of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 86.''' The People's Commissariats of a Union Republic are either Union-Republican or Republican Commissariats.

'''ARTICLE 87.''' The Union-Republican People's Commissariats direct the branches of state administration entrusted to them, and are subordinate both to the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic and to the corresponding Union- Republican People's Commissariats of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 88.''' The Republican People's Commissariats direct the branches of state administration entrusted to them and are directly subordinate to the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic.

=== Chapter VII : The Highest Organs of State Authority of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics ===
'''ARTICLE 89.''' The highest organ of state authority of an Autonomous Republic is the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

'''ARTICLE 90.''' The Supreme Soviet of an Autonomous Republic is elected by the citizens of the Republic for a term of four years on the basis of representation established by the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic.

'''ARTICLE 91.''' The Supreme Soviet of an Autonomous Republic is the sole legislative organ of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

'''ARTICLE 92.''' Each Autonomous Republic has its own Constitution, which takes account of the specific features of the Autonomous Republic and is drawn up in full conformity with the Constitution of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 93.''' The Supreme Soviet of an Autonomous Republic elects the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Republic and appoints the Council of People's Commissars of the Autonomous Republic, in accordance with its Constitution.

=== Chapter VIII : The Local Organs of State Authority ===
'''ARTICLE 94.''' The organs of state authority in territories, regions, autonomous regions, areas, districts, cities and rural localities (stanitsas, villages, hamlets, kishlaks, auls) are the Soviets of Working People's Deputies.

'''ARTICLE 95.''' The Soviets of Working People's Deputies of territories, regions, autonomous regions, areas, districts, cities and rural localities (stanitsas, villages, hamlets, kishlaks, auls) are elected by the working people of the respective territories, regions, autonomous regions, areas, districts, cities or rural localities for a term of two years.

'''ARTICLE 96.''' The basis of representation for Soviets of Working People's Deputies is defined by the Constitutions of the Union Republics.

'''ARTICLE 97.''' The Soviets of Working People's Deputies direct the work of the organs of administration subordinate to them, ensure the maintenance of public order, the observance of the laws and the protection of the rights of citizens, direct local economic and cultural organization and development and draw up the local budgets.

'''ARTICLE 98.''' The Soviets of Working People's Deputies adopt decisions and issue orders within the limits of the powers vested in them by the laws of the U.S.S.R. and of the Union Republic.

'''ARTICLE 99.''' The executive and administrative organs of the Soviets of Working People's Deputies of territories, regions, autonomous regions, areas, districts, cities and rural localities are the Executive Committees elected by them, consisting of a Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, a Secretary and members.

'''ARTICLE 100.''' The ex ecutive and administrative organ of rural Soviets of Working People's Deputies in small localities, in accordance with the Constitutions of the Union Republics, is the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman and the Secretary elected by them.

'''ARTICLE 101.''' The executive organs of the Soviet s of Working People's Deputies are directly accountable both to the Soviets of Working People's Deputies which elected them and to the executive organ of the superior Soviet of Working People's Deputies.

=== Chapter IX : The Courts and Procurator's Office ===
'''ARTICLE 102.''' In the U.S.S.R. justice is administered by the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R., the Supreme Courts of the Union Republics, the Territorial and the Regional courts, the courts of the Autonomous Republics and the Autonomous Regions, the Area courts, the special courts of the U.S.S.R. established by decision of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., and the People's Courts.

'''ARTICLE 103.''' In all courts cases are tried with the participation of people's assessors, except in cases specially provided for by law.

'''ARTICLE 104.''' The Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. is the highest judicial organ. The Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. is charged with the supervision of the judicial activities of all the judicial organs of the U.S.S.R. and of the Union Republics.

'''ARTICLE 105.''' The Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. and the special courts of the U.S.S.R. are elected by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. for a term of five years.

'''ARTICLE 106.''' The Supreme Courts of the Union Republics are elected by the Supreme Soviets of the Union Republics for a term of five years.

'''ARTICLE 107.''' The Supreme Courts of the Autonomous Republics are elected by the Supreme Soviets of the Autonomous Republics for a term of five years.

'''ARTICLE 108.''' The Territorial and the Regional courts, the courts of the Autonomous Regions and the Area courts are elected by the Territorial, Regional or Area Soviets of Working People's Deputies of the Autonomous Regions for a term of five years.

'''ARTICLE 109.''' People's Courts are elected by the citizens of the district on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage by secret ballot for a term of three years.

'''ARTICLE 110.''' Judicial proceedings are conducted in the language of the Union Republic, Autonomous Republic or Autonomous Region, persons not knowing this language being guaranteed every opportunity of fully acquainting themselves with the material of the case through an interpreter and likewise the right to use their own language in court.

'''ARTICLE 111.''' In all courts of the U.S.S.R. cases are heard in public, unless otherwise provided for by law, and the accused is guaranteed the right to be defended by Counsel.

'''ARTICLE 112.''' Judges are independent and subject only to the law.

'''ARTICLE 113.''' Supreme supervisory power over the strict execution of the laws by all People's Commissariats and institutions subordinated to them, as well as by public servants and citizens of the U.S.S.R. is vested in the Procurator of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 114.''' The Procurator of the U.S.S.R. is appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. for a term of seven years.

'''ARTICLE 115.''' Procurators of Republics, Territories and Regions, as well as Procurators of Autonomous Republics and Autonomous Regions are appointed by the Procurator of the U.S.S.R. for a term of five years.

'''ARTICLE 116.''' Area, district and city procurators are appointed for a term of five years by the Procurators of the Union Republics, subject to the approval of the Procurator of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 117.''' The organs of the Procurator's Office perform their functions independently of any local organs whatsoever, being subordinate solely to the Procurator of the U.S.S.R.

=== Chapter X : Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens ===
'''ARTICLE 118.''' Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to work, that is, are guaranteed the right to employment and payment for their work in accordance with its quantity and quality.

The right to work is ensured by the socialist organization of the national economy, the steady growth of the productive forces of Soviet society, the elimination of the possibility of economic crises, and the abolition of unemployment.

'''ARTICLE 119.''' Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to rest and leisure.

The right to rest and leisure is ensured by the reduction of the working day to seven hours for the overwhelming majority of the workers, the institution of annual vacations with full pay for workers and employees and the provision of a wide network of sanatoria, rest homes and clubs for the accommodation of the working people.

'''ARTICLE 120.''' Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to maintenance in old age and also in the case of sickness or loss of capacity to work.

This right is ensured by the extensive development of social insurance of workers and employees at state expense, free medical service for the working people and the provision of a wide network of health resorts for the use of the working people.

'''ARTICLE 121.''' Citizens of the U.S.S.R. have the right to education.

This right is ensured by universal, compulsory elementary education; by education, including higher education, being free of charge; by the system of state stipends for the overwhelming majority of students in the universities and colleges; by instruction in schools being conducted in the native language, and by the organization in the factories, state farms, machine and tractor stations and collective farms of free vocational, technical and agronomic training for the working people.

'''ARTICLE 122.''' Women in the U.S.S.R. are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres of economic, state, cultural, social and political life.

The possibility of exercising these rights is ensured to women by granting them an equal right with men to work, payment for work, rest and leisure, social insurance and education, and by state protection of the interests of mother and child, pre-maternity and maternity leave with full pay, and the provision of a wide network of maternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens.

'''ARTICLE 123.''' Equality of rights of citizens of the U.S.S.R., irrespective of their nationality or race, in all spheres of economic, state, cultural, social and political life, is an indefeasible law.

Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights of, or, conversely, any establishment of direct or indirect privileges for, citizens on account of their race or nationality, as well as any advocacy of racial or national exclusiveness or hatred and contempt, is punishable by law.

'''ARTICLE 124.''' In order to ensure to citizens freedom of conscience, the church in the U.S.S.R. is separated from the state, and the school from the church. Freedom of religious worship and freedom of anti-religious propaganda is recognized for all citizens.

'''ARTICLE 125.''' In conformity with the interests of the working people, and in order to strengthen the socialist system, the citizens of the U.S.S.R. are guaranteed by law :

a) freedom of speech;

b) freedom of the press;

c) freedom of assembly, including the holding of mass meetings;

d) freedom of street processions and demonstrations; These civil rights are ensured by placing at the disposal of the working people and their organizations printing presses, stocks of paper, public buildings, the streets, communications facilities and other material requisites for the exercise of these rights.

'''ARTICLE 126.''' In conformity with the interests of the working people, and in order to develop the organizational initiative and political activity of the masses of the people, citizens of the U.S.S.R. are ensured the right to unite in public organizations - trade unions, cooperative associations, youth organizations, sport and defence organizations, cultural, technical and scientific societies; and the most active and politically most conscious citizens in the ranks of the working class and other sections of the working people unite in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), which is the vanguard of the working people in their struggle to strengthen and develop the socialist system and is the leading core of all organizations of the working people, both public and state.

'''ARTICLE 127.''' Citizens of the U.S.S.R. are guaranteed inviolability of the person. No person may be placed under arrest except by decision of a court or with the sanction of a procurator.

'''ARTICLE 128.''' The inviolability of the homes of citizens and privacy of correspondence are protected by law.

'''ARTICLE 129.''' The U.S.S.R. affords the right of asylum to foreign citizens persecuted for defending the interests of the working people, or for their scientific activities, or for their struggle for national liberation.

'''ARTICLE 130.''' It is the duty of every citizen of the U.S.S.R. to abide by the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, to observe the laws, to maintain labour discipline, honestly to perform public duties, and to respect the rules of socialist intercourse.

'''ARTICLE 131.''' It is the duty of every citizen of the U.S.S.R. to safeguard and strengthen public, socialist property as the sacred and inviolable foundation of the Soviet system, as the source of the wealth and might of the country, as the source of the prosperous and cultured life of all the working people.

Persons committing offences against public, socialist property are enemies of the people.

'''ARTICLE 132.''' Universal military service is law.

Military service in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is an honourable duty of the citizens of the U.S.S.R.

'''ARTICLE 133.''' To defend the fatherland is the sacred duty of every citizen of the U.S.S.R. Treason to the country - violation of the oath of allegiance, desertion to the enemy, impairing the military power of the state, espionage - is punishable with all the severity of the law as the most heinous of crimes.

=== Chapter XI : The Electoral System ===
'''ARTICLE 134.''' Member s of all Soviets of Working People's Deputies - of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., the Supreme Soviets of the Union Republics, the Soviets of Working People's Deputies of the Territories and Regions, the Supreme Soviets of the Autonomous Republics, the Soviets of Working People’s Deputies of Autonomous Regions, area, district, city and rural (stanitsa, village, hamlet, kishlak, aul) Soviets of Working People's Deputies - are chosen by the electors on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage by secret ballot.

'''ARTICLE 135.''' Elections of deputies are universal : all citizens of the U.S.S.R. who have reached the age of eighteen, irrespective of race or nationality, religion, educational and residential qualifications, social origin, property status or past activities, have the right to vote in the election of deputies and to be elected, with the exception of insane persons and persons who have been convicted by a court of law and whose sentences include deprivation of electoral rights.

'''ARTICLE 136.''' Elections of deputies are equal : each citizen has one vote; all citizens participate in elections on an equal footing.

'''ARTICLE 137.''' Women have the right to elect and be elected on equal terms with men.

'''ARTICLE 138.''' Citizens serving in the Red Army have the right to elect and be elected on equal terms with all other citizens.

'''ARTICLE 139.''' Elections of deputies are direct : all Soviets of Working People's Deputies from rural and city Soviets of Working People's Deputies to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., inclusive, are elected by the citizens by direct vote.

'''ARTICLE 140.''' Voting at elections of deputies is secret.

'''ARTICLE 141.''' Candidates for election are nominated according to electoral areas.

The right to nominate candidates is secured to public organizations and societies of the working people : Communist Party organizations, trade unions, cooperatives, youth organizations and cultural societies.

'''ARTICLE 142.''' It is the duty of every deputy to report to his electors on his work and on the work of the Soviet of Working People's Deputies, and he is liable to be recalled at any time in the manner established by law upon decision of a majority of the electors.

=== Chapter XII : Arms, Flag, Capital ===
'''ARTICLE 143.''' The arms of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics consists of a sickle and hammer against a globe depicted in the rays of the sun and surrounded by ears of grain with the inscription "Workers of All Countries, Unite!" in the languages of the Union Republics. At the top of the arms is a five-pointed star.

'''ARTICLE 144.''' The state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is of red cloth with the sickle and hammer depicted in gold in the upper corner near the staff and above them a five-pointed star bordered in gold. The ratio of the width to the length is 1:2.

'''ARTICLE 145.''' The capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the City of Moscow.

=== Chapter XIII : Procedure for Amending the Constitution ===
'''ARTICLE 146.''' The Constitution of the U.S.S.R. may be amended only by decision of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. adopted by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the votes cast in each of its Chambers.

== Appensices : Laws Adopted by the Tenth Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. ==

==== APPENDIX I ====

===== LAW =====

===== On Creating Troop Formations of the Union Republics and on Reorganizing the People's Commissariat of Defence in Connection therewith from an All-Union into a Union Republican People's Commissariat =====
With the object of strengthening the defence capacity of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decrees

1. To establish that the Union Republics shall organize troop formations of their respective Republics.

2. To introduce into the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. the following amendments :

a) to insert in ARTICLE 14g of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. after the words "Organization of the defence of the U.S.S.R. and direction of all the armed forces of the U.S.S.R.," the words - "establishment of the guiding principles of organization of the troop formations of the Union Republics," thus formulating this point as follows :

g) Organization of the defence of the U.S.S.R., direction of all the armed forces of the U.S.S.R., establishment of the guiding principles of organization of the troop formations of the Union Republics."

b) To add to the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

ARTICLE 18 -b, as follows :

ARTICLE 18-b Each Union Republic has its own Republican troop formations."

c) To add to ARTICLE 60 of the Constitution of of the U.S.S.R. sec. f, as follows :

f) Establishes the system of organization of the Republican troop formations."

3. To reorganize the People's Commissariat of Defence from an All-Union into a Union-Republican People's Commissariat.

'''''M. KALININ'''''

''President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.''

'''''A. GORKIN'''''

''Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.''

==== APPENDIX II ====

===== LAW =====

===== On Granting the Union Republics Plenipotentiary Powers in the Sphere of Foreign Relations and on Reorganizing the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in Connection Therewith from an All-Union into a Union Republican People's Commissariat =====
With the object of extending international connections and strengthening the collaboration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with other states and taking into consideration the growing requirements of the Union Republics in the matter of establishing direct relations with foreign states, the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decrees :

1. To establish that the Union Republics may enter into direct relations with foreign states and conclude agreements with them.

2. To introduce into the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. the following amendments :

a) To insert in ARTICLE 14a of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R., after the words "Representation of the Union in international relations, conclusion and ratification of treaties with other states," the words - "establishment of a uniform system in the relations between the Union Republics and foreign states," thus formulating this point as follows :

a) Representation of the Union in international relations, conclusion and ratification of treaties with other states, establishment of a uniform system in the relations between the Union Republics and foreign states."

b) To add to the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

ARTICLE 18-a, as follows :

ARTICLE 18-a "Each Union Republic has the right to enter into direct relations with foreign states, conclude agreements with them and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives."

c) To add to ARTICLE 60 of the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. sec. e, as follows :

e) Establishes representation of the Union Republic in international relations."

3. To reorganize the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs from an All-Union into a Union- Republican People's Commissariat.

'''''M. KALININ'''''

''President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.''

'''''A. GORKIN'''''

''Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.''

''Moscow, The Kremlin''

''February 1, 1944.''
----
[[Category:Official Documents]]
[[Category:Library documents from the Soviet Union]]

File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1936–1946).svg

2026-02-13T05:10:27Z

Kasp:

Coat of arms of the Soviet Union adopted in 1936 Constitution

Vladimir Lenin

2026-02-09T04:41:08Z

Kasp: Added a bit more and a source about Trotsky's admission that a will never existed.

{{Infobox revolutionary
| name = Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
| native_name = Владимир Ильич Ленин
| image = Vladimir Lenin.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| image_upright =
| image_alt =
| caption = Photo of comrade Lenin
| nationality = [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]][[Soviet Union|Soviet]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1870|4|22|df=yes}}
| birth_name = Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
| birth_place = Simbirsk, [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|1|21|1870|4|22|df=yes}}
| death_place = Gorki, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| political_line = [[Marxism]] (developed what is now known as [[Marxism–Leninism]])
|political_party=[[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party]]}}
'''Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov'''<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов</ref> (22 April 1870 — 21 January 1924), better known as '''Vladimir Lenin''', was a [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]] revolutionary leader, [[Political economy|political and economic]] theorist, philosopher and statesman. He was the main leader of the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]], which led to the establishment of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]], the first [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|workers' and peasants' state]].

Lenin's main contribution to [[Marxism|Marxist]] theory was his theory of [[imperialism]], the domination of monopolies and cartels. In many of his works, he also contributed greatly to the development of a Marxist [[praxis]], the strategy and tactics of the [[revolution]], the Marxist theory of [[state]], and the structuring of a proletarian organization through [[democratic centralism]].

Lenin's political and theoretical activity, his writings of the 1890s and the beginning of the 20th century, his resolute struggle against [[opportunism]] and [[Revisionism|revisionist]] attempts to distort Marxist theory, and his struggle for the creation of a revolutionary [[political party]] is considered the [[Leninism|Leninist]] contribution to Marxism, now commonly referred to as [[Marxism–Leninism]].

== Early life (1870–1888) ==
[[File:Lenin family (1879).png|left|thumb|193x193px|Photograph of Lenin's family in 1879. The 9 year old Lenin is positioned in the bottom-right corner of the photo.]]
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was born in Simbirsk<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Симбирск The city of Simbirsk was the administrative center of Simbirsk Governorate, which was one of the administrative divisions of the [[Russian_Empire]]. The city is now known as Ulyanovsk, of the Ulyanovsk Region in the [[Russian_Federation]], in honor of Lenin.</ref> on 22 April 1870<ref group="lower-alpha">Current calendar (Gregorian)</ref>, the fourth of eight children of Ilya Ulyanov, a respected figure in public education and son of former serf, and Maria Alexandrovna, a woman who came from a family of nobility background.<ref>{{Citation|author=Tamás Krausz|year=2015|title=Reconstructing Lenin: an intellectual biography|chapter=Family|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=9781583674499|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5946304838C5CEC14E6E116873F3641A|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Although Lenin's father was not a revolutionary himself, he shared progressive views and opposed autocracies, and both his father and mother contributed greatly with his intellectual upbringing. Besides his mother and father, a big intellectual influence on Lenin was his brother Alexander, who first introduced him to [[Marxism|Marxist]] literature.<ref name="cpsubio1-22">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Childhood and youth. The beginning of revolutionary activity|section=The shaping of revolutionary views|page=15|quote=He was also greatly influenced by his elder brother Alexander, who was an incontestable authority to him. Young Vladimir took after his brother, and whenever asked to take a decision he answered: "I'd do what Alexander would do." This desire to model his conduct on his elder brother did not wear off but rather gained greater depth and meaning as time went on. It was from Alexander that Vladimir first learned about Marxist literature. And it was in Alexander's hands that he first saw Marx's Capital.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Lenin's youth and childhood coincided with a [[reactionary]] period in [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]], when civilians were commonly arrested for expressing criticism of the czarist regime.<ref name="cpsubio1-2">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Childhood and youth. The beginning of revolutionary activity|section=The shaping of revolutionary views|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In May 1887, when Lenin was 17 years old, his brother Alexander Ulyanov was publicly executed for an attempt to assassinate the tsar Alexander III, and event which had an impact in Lenin's radicalization towards revolutionary action.<ref>{{Citation|author=Robert Service|year=2000|title=A biography of Lenin|chapter=Deaths in the family|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=9780333726259|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=670A17751E9109CB908CBDE39731FE1F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Lenin was admitted to the Faculty of Law at Kazan University in 13 August 1886, and a month later he joined the Samara-Simbirsk Fraternity, a student society, at the time prohibited by the University Statutes and punishable by expulsion.<ref name="cpsubio1-2" /><ref name="krausz-1-2">{{Citation|author=Tamás Krausz|year=2015|title=Reconstructing Lenin: an intellectual biography|chapter=Who was Lenin?|section=Education|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=9781583674499|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5946304838C5CEC14E6E116873F3641A|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> A year after he began his studies, he joined student campaigns and demonstrations demanding that student societies be permitted, that students who had been expelled be reinstated and those responsible for their expulsion be called to account.<ref name="cpsubio1-2" /> As a result of participation in the student demonstrations, on December 1887, Lenin was arrested, expelled from University and exiled to a nearby village for one year, becoming under strict police surveillance since then.<ref name="cpsubio1-2" />

Throughout his exile in the village of Kokushkino, Lenin studied extensively [[political economy]] works and other literature. Later in his life, he wrote about this period: “I don't think I ever afterwards read so much in my life, not even during my imprisonment in St. Petersburg or exile in Siberia, as I did in the year when I was banished to the village from Kazan; I read voraciously from early morning till late at night.”<ref name="cpsubio1-2" />

In the autumn of 1888, Lenin was permitted to return to Kazan and shortly after returning, but unable to readmit to the university. He was also prohibited from attending universities abroad. Back in Kazan, he joined a Marxist study-circle organized by Nikolai Fedoseyev, beginning his political and revolutionary activities. It was during this period of 1888–89 that Lenin studied for the first time [[Karl Marx]]'s [[Capital, vol. I]].<ref name="cpsubio1-2" />

== Early revolutionary activities (1889–1895) ==
[[File:Vladimir Lenin (1891).png|thumb|227x227px|Lenin in 1891]]
In May 1889, the Ulyanov family moved to a village next to the city of Samara, with Lenin narrowly escaping another arrest by the secret police, which arrested and imprisoned members of Fedoseyev [[Marxism|Marxist]] study circles of Kazan a month later. In Samara, Lenin earned a living by giving lessons. Considering he was prohibited from attending university, Lenin sent several applications requesting permission to pass his university examinations without attending lectures, until 1890, when he received the permission to do so, along with the task of studying for 18 months independently. After hard work and intense study schedule, he took his examinations in 1891, achieving the highest marks in all subjects, receiving a first-class diploma.<ref name="cpsubio1-3">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Childhood and youth. The beginning of revolutionary activity|section=The Samara period|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Lenin began to practice law in the Samara Regional Court, and he appeared for defense in court about twenty times during the period of 1892–93. His legal practice, however, was secondary only to diligently studying Marxism to prepare himself for revolutionary work. In 1892, Lenin organized the first Marxist circle in Samara. The study group focused on the works of [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], the works of [[Plekhanov]] and others.<ref name="cpsubio1-3" /> Lenin's legal practice enriched his knowledge of the real world, as this enabled him to see concrete examples of class struggle from the perspective of the economically disenfranchised and the limits of the bourgeois law apparatus.<ref name="krausz-1-2" />

In 1893, Lenin wrote his earliest theoretical work titled ''New economic developments in peasant life'',<ref group="lower-alpha">The article is available on [https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1893/ned/index.htm Marxists Internet Archive].</ref> an analysis of Russia's economy based on data and statistics on [[Peasantry|peasant]] farming.<ref name="cpsubio1-3" /> During that time, Lenin corresponded with Nikolai Fedoseyev and exchanged views on Marxist theory and the economic and political developments of Russia.<ref name="cpsubio1-3" /> He had a deep affection for their friendship, and years later he wrote: "Fedoseyev played a very important role in the Volga area and in certain parts of Central Russia during that period; and the turn towards Marxism at that time was, undoubtedly, very largely due to the influence of this exceptionally talented and exceptionally devoted revolutionary."<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1922|title=A few words about N. Y. Fedoseyev|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/06.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

In August 1893, Lenin went to St. Petersburg, where he attended to several Marxist circle meetings, where the sharply criticized the [[Liberalism|liberal]] [[Narodniks]], serving as a basis for Lenin's 1894 book [[What the “friends of the people” are and how they fight the social-democrats? (1894)|''What the “friends of the people” are and how they fight the social-democrats?'']], which was illegally distributed in 3 parts throughout cities of Russia, laying down the theoretical foundation for the program and tactics of the Russian revolutionary social-democrats.<ref name="cpsubio2-2">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Leader of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia|section=The ideological defeat of Narodism|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><ref name="krausz-1-2" /> It was during this period that Lenin first met [[Nadezhda Krupskaya]], who was working as a teacher free of charge for workers.<ref name="cpsubio2-1">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Leader of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia|section=Among the St. Petersburg Proletariat|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

== Establishment of a united Marxist organization and arrest (1895–1897) ==
[[File:Lenin 1895.png|thumb|296x296px|Lenin in 1895]]
In March 1895,<ref>{{Citation|author=Gerda Weber & Hermann Weber|year=1974|title=Lenin: life and works|chapter=1895|section=|page=7|quote='''2 or 3 March''': Lenin takes part in a meeting of members of social democratic groups from St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Vilno. Passing from propaganda work in Marxist circles to mass agitation work is debated.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=A1E1DBFD69501D980DB42067D38129E3|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Lenin attended a conference in St. Petersburg of members of the social-democratic groups of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Vilno. The conference discussed the question of changing over from the propaganda of [[Marxism]] in narrow circles to mass political agitation, and of publishing popular literature for the workers and establishing close contact with them. It was decided to send two representatives abroad, and Lenin was one of them.<ref name="cpsubio2-4">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Leader of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia|section=The League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

From May to September, Lenin traveled abroad to meet the social-democrats in exile, mainly Plekhanov, in Berlin, Lenin first met [[Wilhelm Liebknecht]] a [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] social-democrat and in Paris, Lenin met [[Paul Lafargue]], [[Karl Marx|Marx]]'s son-in-law and socialist militant.<ref>{{Citation|author=Gerda Weber & Hermann Weber|year=1974|title=Lenin: life and works|chapter=1895|section=|page=7-9|quote='''15 May-8 June''': Lenin travels to Switzerland; he meets Potresov in Geneva and travels with him to see Plekhanov who is on holiday in the mountain village of Les Ormonts, near Les Diablerets. [...] '''Before 8 June''': Lenin travels to Paris and gets to know Paul Lafargue, Karl Marx's son-in-law, there. [...] '''14 September''': In a letter to Wilhelm Liebknecht, Plekhanov recommends Lenin as 'one of our best Russian friends' and requests that Lenin be received because of an 'important matter' as he is returning to Russia. Lenin visits Wilhelm Liebknecht in Charlottenburg between 14-19 September.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=A1E1DBFD69501D980DB42067D38129E3|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Tariq Ali|year=2017|title=The dilemmas of Lenin|chapter=Terrorism and utopia|section=The younger brother|page=44-45|quote=In Europe in 1895, he met the elders of Russian Marxism: Plekhanov and Axelrod in Switzerland, Paul Lafargue (Marx’s son-in-law) in Paris and Wilhelm Liebknecht in Berlin.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=https://www.libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=312CBA29B2B3D75677E927E2D61A0CF2|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><ref name="krausz-1-2" /> In the occasion of [[Friedrich Engels]]' death, in August 5, 1895, Lenin wrote a small pamphlet highlighting Engels' contribution to the proletarian cause.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1895|title=Friedrich Engels|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In the same year, the Marxist circles of St. Petersburg united into a single political organization under Lenin's leadership. In December this organization adopted the name of League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Союз борьбы за освобождение рабочего класса, ''lit.'' Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class</ref><ref name="cpsubio2-4" /> The organization had been active months earlier in agitating workers through pamphlets and participated in strikes, which led to the arrest of Lenin and other leaders of the League in 20 December, 1895. Lenin was accused of "crimes against the state" and was given fourteen months of solitary confinement followed by three years of Siberian exile.<ref name="cpsubio2-4" /><ref name="krausz-1-2" />

During his time in prison, Lenin continued to carry on his revolutionary work. He quickly found ways and means of establishing contacts with comrades who were not arrested and through them directing the activities of the League. Inside his cell, he managed to write the draft program for the first congress of the League and began to write and research for his book ''[[The development of capitalism in Russia (1899)|The development of capitalism in Russia]]'' evading censorship by using milk as invisible ink, which would reveal the writing once warmed or dipped in hot water.<ref name="cpsubio2-4" /><ref name="krupmilk">{{Citation|author=[[Nadezhda Krupskaya]]|year=1933|title=Reminiscences of Lenin|chapter=St. Petersburg|section=|page=|quote=They came written in milk every Saturday, which was book-receiving day. A glance at the secret mark would tell you that the book contained a message. Hot water for tea would be handed round at six o'clock, and then the wardress would conduct the non-political criminals to church. By that time you bad the letter cut up in strips, and your tea brewed, and the moment the wardress went away you would begin dipping the strips in the hot tea to develop the text.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/krupskaya/works/rol/rol01.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> [[Nadezhda Krupskaya|Krupskaya]] was able to exchange letters with Lenin by describing herself as Lenin's fianceé, and through her he maintained communication with the members of the League.<ref name="krupfiancee">{{Citation|author=[[Nadezhda Krupskaya]]|year=1933|title=Reminiscences of Lenin|chapter=St. Petersburg|section=|page=|quote=So-and-so had no one coming to visit him – it was necessary to get him a "fiancee": or so-and-so had to be told through visiting relatives to look for letters in such-and-such a book in the prison library, on such-and-such a page; another needed warm boots, and so on.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/krupskaya/works/rol/rol01.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

== Siberian exile (1897–1900) ==
After more than fourteen months of imprisonment Lenin was sentenced to three years in exile in the village of Shushenskoye in Eastern Siberia under police surveillance. The sentence was announced to him on February 13, 1897.<ref name="cpsubio3">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=|page=51|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In a 1897 letter to his mother and sister during his exile, Lenin asked them to bring him works written by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] published in French, [[The poverty of philosophy (1847)|''The poverty of philosophy'']], [[Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right (1843)|''Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right'']], and a chapter of [[Anti-Dühring (1878)|''Anti-Dühring'']].<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1897|title=December 21, 1897 letter to his mother and sister|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=I should like to have Saint-Simon and also the following books in French: K. Marx. Misère de la philosophie. 1896. Paris. Fr. Engels. La force et l’ économic dans le développement social. K. Marx. Critique de la philosophie du droit de Hegel. 1895. all these are from the “bibliothèque socialiste internationale” where Labriola came from. All the best, V. U.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1897/dec/21x.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> [[Nadezhda Krupskaya|Krupskaya]], who was in prison since August 1896 in the same case as Lenin, received permission to join Lenin in Shushenskoye by describing herself as his fianceé in December 1897,<ref name="krupshushenskoye">{{Citation|author=[[Nadezhda Krupskaya]]|year=1933|title=Reminiscences of Lenin|chapter=St. Petersburg|section=|page=|quote=I was banished to the Ufa Gubernia for three years, but obtained a transfer to the village of Shushenskoye in the Minusinsk Uyezd, where Vladimir Ilyich lived, by describing myself as his fiancee.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/krupskaya/works/rol/rol01.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> and in May 1898 she finally arrived, marrying Lenin a month later.<ref name="cpsubio-married">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=In Shushenskoye|page=54|quote=Krupskaya arrived in Shushenskoye early in May 1898 together with her mother Yelizaveta Vasilyevna. Lenin and Krupskaya were married on July 10. They set up house together, started a small kitchen garden, planted flowers and hops in the yard. The young couple lived in peace and harmony.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><ref name="krausz-krups">{{Citation|author=Tamás Krausz|year=2015|title=Reconstructing Lenin: an intellectual biography|chapter=Who was Lenin?|section=The personality of Lenin as a young man in exile and as an émigré|page=|quote=The name of his love, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya—who was arrested in the same case as Vladimir Ilyich albeit much later, on 12 August 1896—came up often in his letters. In his letters from 19 October, 10 December, and 21 December 1896 (from Shusha to Moscow, addressed to his mother, Manya, and Anyuta), he wrote to his relatives that Nadezhda Konstantinovna might join him soon, for she had received permission to choose Shushenskoye instead of northern Russia|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=9781583674499|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5946304838C5CEC14E6E116873F3641A|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

During his time in exile, Lenin developed two main works, ''[[The tasks of the Russian social-democrats (1898)|The tasks of the Russian social-democrats]],'' where he presented the practical works of the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]] social-democrats as spreading the teachings of [[scientific socialism]] and fighting against czarism,<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1898|title=The tasks of the Russian social-democrats|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The object of the practical activities of the Social-Democrats is, as is well known, to lead the class struggle of the proletariat and to organize that struggle in both its manifestations: socialist [...], and democratic [...] The socialist activities of Russian Social-Democrats consist in spreading by propaganda the teachings of scientific socialism, in spreading among the workers a proper understanding of the present social and economic system, its basis and its development, an understanding of the various classes in Russian society, of their interrelations, of the struggle between these classes, of the role of the working class in this struggle, of its attitude to wards the declining and the developing classes, towards the past and the future of capitalism, an understanding of the historical task of international Social-Democracy and of the Russian working class. [...] Let us now deal with the democratic tasks and with the democratic work of the Social-Democrats. Let us repeat, once again, that this work is inseparably connected with socialist activity. [...] Simultaneously with the dissemination of scientific socialism, Russian Social-Democrats set themselves the task of propagating democratic ideas among the working class masses; they strive to spread an understanding of absolutism in all its manifestations, of its class content, of the necessity to overthrow it, of the impossibility of waging a successful struggle for the workers’ cause without achieving political liberty and the democratization of Russia’s political and social system.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1897/dec/31b.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> and [[The development of capitalism in Russia (1899)|''The development of capitalism in Russia'']], a thorough and profoundly researched study on the economic development of Russia published in 1899 under a pseudonym. The book provided, through extensive analysis and ample statistical evidence, a well-reasoned argument in support of a revolutionary alliance between working class and peasantry, considering Imperial Russia's historical conditions, and showed that a process of economic differentiation had begun among the peasants, a few of which were becoming ''kulaks'', or the rural bourgeoisie.<ref name="cpsubio3-3">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=The development of capitalism in Russia|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

The first congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) was held in March, 1898 in Minsk, which founded the party and showed that the organization was growing withstanding the blows it received from the arrest of its leaders.<ref name="cpsubio3-1">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=In Shushenskoye|page=54|quote=|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Although the congress and its Manifesto were in many respects lacking,<ref>{{Citation|author=Vilhelm Knorin, Pyotr Pospelov & Yemelyan Yaroslavsky|year=1938|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|chapter=The struggle for the creation of a social-democratic labour party in Russia (1883–1901)|section=Lenin's struggle against Narodism and "legal Marxism." Lenin's idea of an alliance of the working class and the peasantry. First congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party|page=|quote=The First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. was attended by only nine persons. Lenin was not present because at that time he was living in exile in Siberia. The Central Committee of the Party elected at the congress was very soon arrested. The Manifesto published in the name of the congress was in many respects unsatisfactory. It evaded the question of the conquest of political power by the proletariat, it made no mention of the hegemony of the proletariat, and said nothing about the allies of the proletariat in its struggle against tsardom and the bourgeoisie.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch01.htm#4.|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> at the time, Lenin described the foundation of the RSDLP as "the biggest step taken by the Russian working-class movement in its fusion with the Russian revolutionary movement."<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1899|title=A retrograde trend in Russian social-democracy|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/dec/trend.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> With the publication of ''The development of capitalism in Russia'' in 1899, Lenin begun a struggle against the anti-Marxist ideologues known at the time as the Narodnik and the "legal Marxists",<ref>{{Citation|author=Vilhelm Knorin, Pyotr Pospelov & Yemelyan Yaroslavsky|doi=|quote=|trans-lang=|trans-title=|pdf=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/x01/ch01.htm#4.|lg=|publisher=|year=1938|city=|isbn=|chapter-url=|title-url=|chapter=The struggle for the creation of a social-democratic labour party in Russia (1883–1901)|page=|title=History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)|section=Lenin's struggle against Narodism and "legal Marxism." Lenin's idea of an alliance of the working class and the peasantry. First congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party}}</ref> represented especially by [[Eduard Bernstein|Bernstein]], whose ideas Lenin described as "an attempt to narrow the theory of Marxism, to convert the revolutionary workers' party into a reformist party".<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1899|title=A protest by Russian social-democrats|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The notorious Bernsteinism—in the sense in which it is commonly understood by the general public, and by the authors of the Credo in particular—is an attempt to narrow the theory of Marxism, to convert the revolutionary workers’ party into a reformist party. As was to be expected, this attempt has been strongly condemned by the majority of the German Social-Democrats. Opportunist trends have repeatedly manifested themselves in the ranks of German Social-Democracy, and on every occasion they have been repudiated by the Party, which loyally guards the principles of revolutionary international Social-Democracy. We are convinced that every attempt to transplant opportunist views to Russia will encounter equally determined resistance on the part of the overwhelming majority of Russian Social-Democrats.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/sep/protest.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

The idea of creating of a single, united Marxist party in Russia occupied a central place in Lenin's writings at the time of his exile in Siberia. Lenin wrote three articles for the ''Workers' Gazette'',<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Рабочая Газета</ref> which had been adopted as the official newspaper organ of the RSDLP, on the question of founding a Marxist party, ''Our programme,<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1899|title=Our programme|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=It made clear the real task of a revolutionary socialist party: not to draw up plans for refashioning society, not to preach to the capitalists and their hangers-on about improving the lot of the workers, not to hatch conspiracies, but to organize the class struggle of the proletariat and to lead this struggle, the ultimate aim of which is the conquest of political power by the proletariat and the organization of a socialist society.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/articles/arg2op.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Our immediate task,''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1899|title=Our immediate task|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=It is the task of the Social-Democrats, by organizing the workers, by conducting propaganda and agitation among them, to turn their spontaneous struggle against their oppressors into the struggle of the whole class, into the struggle of a definite political party for definite political and socialist ideals. This is some thing that cannot be achieved by local activity alone.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/articles/arg3oit.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> ''An urgent question''.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1899|title=An urgent question|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The main objection that may be raised is that the achievement of this purpose first requires the development of local group activity. We consider this fairly widespread opinion to be fallacious. We can and must immediately set about founding the Party organ—and, it follows, the Party itself—and putting them on a sound footing. The conditions essential to such a step already exist: local Party work is being carried on and obviously has struck deep roots; for the destructive police attacks that are growing more frequent lead to only short interruptions; fresh forces rapidly replace those that have fallen in battle. The Party has resources for publishing and literary forces, not only abroad, but in Russia as well. The question, therefore, is whether the work that is already being conducted should be continued in “amateur” fashion or whether it should be organised into the work of one party and in such a way that it is reflected in its entirety in one common organ.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1899/articles/arg4auq.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> These articles were published only in 1925, because the Central Committee was arrested and the newspapers organ of the RSDLP was destroyed.<ref name="cpsubio-married2">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=The plan for a Marxist party|page=65-66|quote=While in exile Lenin gave much thought to the plan of founding a Marxist party. He expounded it in his articles "Our Programme", "Our Immediate Task" and "An Urgent Question" written for Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers' Gazette) . In the autumn of 1 899, Lenin accepted an offer to be the editor of this newspaper and then to contribute to it. The paper was recognised by the First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. as the official organ of the Party, but the police closed it shortly after. In 1899, an attempt was made to resume publication. But the attempt failed and Lenin's articles remained unpublished. They first saw light of day in 1925.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> At the end of his exile, Lenin didn't have his term prolonged, but was prohibited from residing in university cities or large industrial centers. Lenin chose a place of residence close to St. Petersburg.<ref name="cpsubio-married22">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=Siberian exile|section=The plan for a Marxist party|page=67-68|quote=At the end of his exile Lenin’s thoughts were occupied with the problem of putting into effect his plan for creating a revolutionary- proletarian party. Lenin looked forward eagerly to the day when his term of exile would be over, fearing that the tsarist authorities, as often happened, might prolong his term. He became nervous, slept poorly and lost weight. He longed to be doing active work. Luckily, Lenin’s apprehensions proved groundless – his term was not prolonged. Early in January 1900, the Police Department sent Lenin a notice to the effect that the Minister of the Interior had forbidden him to reside in the capital and university cities and large industrial centres after the completion of his term of exile. Lenin chose Pskov as his place of domicile to be nearer to St. Petersburg.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

== Development of a proletarian party (1900–1903) ==
Once out of exile, Lenin had to establish connections with the social-democratic organizations, but on his way from Siberia to Pskov he first stops at the Ufa Gubernia to see his wife [[Nadezhda Krupskaya|Krupskaya]] and his mother-in-law to help them get settled for the rest of Krupskaya's exile.<ref name="cpsubio-married222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=|page=69|quote=Only one thing shadowed the joy of complete freedom for revolutionary activity: the necessity of separation from his wife, who had still a year to spend in exile in Ufa Gubernia. How would she live this year, in what conditions? On the way back from Siberia Lenin stopped off in Ufa with his wife and mother-in-law and helped them to get settled.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> There, he also began meeting with social-democrats who were then living in exile in the region and presented them his plan for setting up a revolutionary newspaper to broaden possibilities for the activities of the Russian [[Marxism|Marxists]].<ref name="cpsubio-married2222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=Preparations for founding an all-Russia
newspaper|page=69|quote=On his first day in Ufa Lenin met with A. Tsyurupa, V. Krokh mal and A. Svidersky, Social-Democrats living in exile in that city, and acquainted them with his plan for setting up a revolutionary newspaper which opened up broad possibilities for the activities of the Russian Marxists.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Lenin spent most of the year 1900 traveling inside Russia and abroad to meet with social-democrats discussing the publication of a Russian Marxist newspaper and magazine.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marxists Internet Archive|year=2003|title=The life and work of V.I. Lenin|chapter=1900|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/lifework/worklife/1900.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> During this time, he wrote a draft of the editorial board declaration of the ''Iskra''<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Искра ''(Spark)''</ref> and ''Zarya,''<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Заря ''(Dawn)''</ref> in which he described the task of establishing an all-Russian social-democratic newspaper as the "the first step" on the road to open political struggle.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1900|title=Draft of a Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra and Zarya|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=Russian Social-Democracy is already finding itself constricted in the underground conditions in which the various groups and isolated study circles carry on their work. It is time to come out on the road of open advocacy of socialism, on the road of open political struggle. The establishment of an all-Russian organ of Social-Democracy must be the first step on this road.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1900/apr/draft.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

In the summer of 1900, Lenin discussed with Plekhanov the publication of Iskra, to which Plekhanov demanded a privileged position on the editorial board and this triggered a heated debate with Lenin to the point his relationship with Plekhanov became severely strained.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=Preparations for founding an all-Russia newspaper|page=69|quote=Plekhanov, like the other members of his group, approved the idea of such Marxist periodicals. But he considered himself entitled to a privileged position on the editorial board, and his arrogance was such as to exclude the possibility of normal collective work. Lenin, who stood always for collective effort, could not accept this stand. The programme of the newspaper and magazine and the problems of publication and of joint editorial work were discussed at conferences held in Belrive and Corsier (near Geneva). The disagreement with Plekhanov came out with particular force during the conference at Corsier, attended by Lenin, Plekhanov, Zasulich, Axelrod and Potresov. The discussion here was very heated, and relations were strained almost to the breaking point.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Plekhanov's arrogant and petty behavior profoundly affected Lenin, as described in his writing ''How the "Spark" was nearly extinguished'', where his disappointment with Plekhanov's irate, confused and manipulative behavior is detailed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1900|title=How the "Spark" was nearly extinguished|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=There was also “friction” over questions concerning the tactics of the magazine, Plekhanov throughout displaying complete intolerance, an inability or an unwillingness to understand other people’s arguments, and, to employ the correct term, insincerity. We declared that we must make every possible allowance for Struve, that we ourselves bore some guilt for his development, since we, including Plekhanov, had failed to protest when protest was necessary (1895, 1897). Plekhanov absolutely refused to admit even the slightest guilt, employing transparently worthless arguments by which he dodged the issue without clarifying it. This diplomacy in the course of comradely conversations between future co-editors was extremely unpleasant.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1900/sep/spark.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> At the end of the year, in spite of the misfortunes, Lenin had managed to establish an agreement with Plekhanov's Emancipation of Labour group<ref name="cpsubio-married222223">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=Preparations for founding an all-Russia newspaper|page=72-73|quote=The negotiations with the Emancipation of Labour' group finally ended in agreement that until some system of formal relationships could be worked out Lenin, Plekhanov, Zasulich, Axelrod, Martov and Potresov would be co-editors, Plekhanov having two votes. It was decided that Iskra be put out in Germany, though Plekhanov and Axelrod, who wanted the newspaper to be under their direct management, and all contacts with Russia to be handled by them, had insisted on Switzerland. Lenin considered it essential that the newspaper be kept at a distance from the emigrant centre, and thoroughly secretised. That was of tremendous importance for security of communication with Russia.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> and Lenin wrote the ''Declaration of the editorial board of Iskra'', presenting the tasks of uniting the disorganized social-democrat groups into a strong party under the single banner of revolutionary social-democracy, and establishing ideological unity against opportunist trends.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1900|title=How the "Spark" was nearly extinguished|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The following practical conclusion is to be drawn from the foregoing: we Russian Social-Democrats must unite and direct all our efforts towards the '''formation of a strong party which must struggle under the single banner of revolutionary Social-Democracy.''' This is precisely the task laid down by the congress in 1898 at which the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party was formed, and which published its Manifesto. [...] Before we can unite, and in order that we may unite, we must first of all draw firm and definite lines of demarcation. Otherwise, our unity will be purely fictitious, it will conceal the prevailing confusion and binder its radical elimination. It is understandable, therefore, that we do not intend to make our publication a mere storehouse of various views. On the contrary, we shall conduct it in the spirit of a strictly defined tendency. This tendency can be expressed by the word Marxism, and there is hardly need to add that we stand for the consistent development of the ideas of Marx and Engels and '''emphatically reject the equivocating, vague, and opportunist “corrections”''' for which Eduard Bernstein, P. Struve, and many others have set the fashion. But although we shall discuss all questions from our own definite point of view, we shall give space in our columns to polemics between comrades. Open polemics, conducted in full view of all Russian Social-Democrats and class-conscious workers, are necessary and desirable in order to clarify the depth of existing differences, in order to afford discussion of disputed questions from all angles, in order to combat the extremes into which representatives, not only of various views, but even of various localities, or various “specialities” of the revolutionary movement, inevitably fall.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1900/sep/spark.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> The first publication of Iskra introduced an article by Lenin titled ''The urgent tasks of our movement'', where he declares the main task of the social-democrats at the time was the overthrow of autocracy and spreading the ideas of scientific socialism into the masses.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1900|title=The urgent tasks of our movement|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The entire history of Russian socialism has led to the condition in which the most urgent task is the struggle against the autocratic government and the achievement of political liberty. Our socialist movement concentrated itself, so to speak, upon the struggle against the autocracy. On the other hand, history has shown that the isolation of socialist thought from the vanguard of the working classes is greater in Russia than in other countries, and that if this state of affairs continues, the revolutionary movement in Russia is doomed to impotence. From this condition emerges the task which the Russian Social-Democracy is called upon to fulfill — to imbue the masses of the proletariat with the ideas of socialism and political consciousness, and to organize a revolutionary party inseparably connected with the spontaneous working-class movement. Russian Social-Democracy has done much in this direction, but much more still remains to be done.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1900/nov/tasks.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Lenin spent the whole year of 1901 managing and writing articles for Iskra,<ref>{{Citation|author=Marxists Internet Archive|year=2003|title=The life and work of V.I. Lenin|chapter=1901|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/lifework/worklife/1901.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> among which was ''Where to begin''?, where Lenin mentions that the role of the newspaper "is not limited solely to the dissemination of ideas, to political education, and to the enlistment of political allies. A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organizer". In this article, he also reinforces the need for an all-Russian newspaper and an united revolutionary social-democratic party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1900|title=Where to begin?|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/may/04.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> At the end of 1901, Vladimir Ilyich had begun using "Lenin" as pseudonym, with no particular reasoning behind the name.<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The spark will kindle a flame|page=78|quote=It was at the end of 1901 that Vladimir Ilyich began to use the pseudonym "Lenin" in some of his writings. People often ask what lay behind the choice of name. Pure chance, most probably, as was the case with the other names, Lenin's associates would reply.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

During the period of 1901–1902, the editorial board of the Iskra was drafting a programme for the RSDLP in preparation for the Second Congress of the party. Sharp ideological differences between Plekhanov and Lenin arose, and they wrote different drafts for the programme, which was later united into a single programme by a dedicated committee. Most notably, Lenin insisted on advocating the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] as an essential condition of the revolution in the party programme.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The spark will kindle a flame|page=79-80|quote=In January 1902, Lenin presented critical remarks on Plekhanov's draft. He strongly criticised, also, the second draft that Plekhanov submitted. The ideas presented; Lehin pointed out, were formulated far too abstractly, particularly in the parts dealing with Russian capitalism. Further, the second draft omitted "reference to the dictatorship of the proletariat"; it failed to stress the leading role of the working class as the only truly revolutionary class ; it spoke, not of the class struggle of the proletariat, but of the common struggle of all the toiling and exploited; it did not sufficiently bring out the proletarian nature of the Party.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In 1902, Lenin published his famous work, ''[[Library:What is to be done?|What is to be done?]]'', presenting a thorough analysis of the international opportunist trends in social-democratic organizations of Europe.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=What is to be done?|page=83|quote=Disclosing the international nature of opportunism, Lenin showed that, while assuming different forms in different countries, in its content opportunism remained everywhere the same. In France it found expression in Millerandism; in England, in trade-unionism; in Germany, in Bernsteinism; in Russian Social-Democracy, in Economism.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In this book, he also addressed organizational questions and issues of the Russian social-democracy at the time, reinforcing the need for a united social-democratic revolutionary party.<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=What is to be done?|page=86|quote=A considerable part of What is to be done? was devoted to organizational questions, on which, too, Lenin gave battle to the Economists. Restricting the concept of the political tasks of the proletariat, the Economists belittled the leading role of the party in the working-class movement, depreciated its organizational tasks. They justified the amateurish methods, petty practicality, and lack of unity of the local organizations. Lenin once more comprehensively substantiated the necessity for building up a centralised, united organization of revolutionaries. To achieve that, he pointed out, it was necessary that every attempt to depreciate the political tasks and restrict the scope of organizational work be denounced by the mass of the party's practical workers.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

The draft of the programme for the RSDLP was published in Iskra in June, 1902, and in the Second Congress of the RSDLP, held in July–August 1903, the party adopted the programme with minor changes. The adopted programme was the party's programme until after the revolution, in 1919.<ref>{{Citation|author=Marxists Internet Archive|year=2003|title=Material for the preparation of the programme of the R.S.D.L.P|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The draft programme of the R.S.D.L.P. drawn up by the Editorial Board of Iskra and Zarya was published in Iskra, No. 21, June 1, 1902, and the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., held July 17-August 10 (July 30-August 23), 1903, adopted the Iskra draft programme of the Party, with minor changes. The programme of the R.S.D.L.P. existed until 1919, when a new programme was adopted at the Eighth Congress of the R.C.P. (B.). The theoretical part of the programme of the R.S.D.L.P., which described the general laws and tendencies of capitalist development, was included in the new programme of the R.C.P.(B.), on V. I. Lenin’s proposal.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/lifework/worklife/1901.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> The Second Congress' agenda included a discussion of the party programme, the party organization, the election of the central committee and the editorial board of the party's central newspaper organ. In this congress, Lenin set a resolute struggle against the persisting opportunist trends of the "Economists" on the basis of ideological and organizational principles.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=At the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P|page=94-95|quote=The Congress agenda included twenty items, the most important of these being: the Party Programme; the organisation of the Party (adoption of the Party Rules); and election of the Central Committee and of the editorial board of the Central Organ. [...] Lenin, and with him the firm Iskrists, fought at the Congress for the building of the Party on the basis of ideological and organizational principles advocated by Iskra, for a solid and militant party, closely bound up with the mass working-class movement – a party of a new type, differing fundamentally from the reformist parties of the Second International. Lenin and the Iskrists sought to found a party that would be the vanguard, class-conscious, organized detachment of the working class, armed with revolutionary theory, with a knowledge of the laws of development of society and of the class struggle, with the experience gained in the revolutionary movement.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> As a result of this congress, Lenin's supporters received the majority of votes in the Party election and they began to be known as Bolsheviks,<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Большевики, from большинство, 'majority'</ref> while the opportunists in minority became known as [[Mensheviks]].<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Меньшевики, from меньшинство, 'minority'</ref>

== Initial struggles against Menshevik opportunism inside the RSDLP (1903–1905) ==
After having their positions defeated at the Second Congress in 1903, the newly-formed opportunist Menshevik faction frequently disregarded the congress decisions, sabotaged party work, and began to attempt to gain control of the party's central bodies. Having sided with the Mensheviks, Plekhanov co-opted to the editorial board of Iskra all of its former editors, disregarding the congress resolutions. As a response, Lenin resigned from Iskra's editorial board and worked closely with the Central Committee, in an effort to shield it from opportunist trends.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=One step forward, two steps back|page=100|quote=After the Congress the struggle within the Party flared up with renewed force. Defeated at the Congress, the Mensheviks did every thing in their power to sabotage its decisions, to disorganize Party work, and to gain control of the Party's central bodies. The old opportunists – the Economists – had been routed; but, as Lenin clearly realized, the Party now had to deal with a new brand of opportunists, the Mensheviks. And Plekhanov now sided with the Mensheviks. Flouting the will of the Party Congress, Plekhanov decided to co-opt to the editorial board all the former editors of Iskra. Lenin demanded that the Congress decisions be observed. He could not agree to their violation in factional interests. He therefore decided to resign from the Iskra editorial board and to entrench himself in the Central Committee, thence to campaign against the opportunists.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Under Menshevik control, the editorial board of Iskra launched a campaign against Lenin and the Bolsheviks.<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=One step forward, two steps back|page=101|quote=Beginning with its 52nd issue Iskra came under Menshevik control. On the pages of this new, opportunist Iskra, the Mensheviks launched a venomous campaign against Lenin and the Bolsheviks.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Lenin briefly exposed these opportunist tactics of the Mensheviks and their disrupting activities during and after the Second Congress in an open letter titled ''Why I resigned from the Iskra editorial board.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1903|title=Why I resigned from the Iskra editorial board|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1903/dec/15a.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>''

The Bolsheviks were faced with the necessity of thoroughly exposing the Mensheviks' anti-party activities and the internal struggles the party was facing against opportunism since the Second Congress. To this end, Lenin published in May, 1904 the book ''[[One step forward, two steps back (1904)|One step forward, two steps back]]'', where he carefully reviewed the minutes and resolutions of the Second Congress and exposed the rise of an opportunist trend.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=One step forward, two steps back|page=101-102|quote=The Bolsheviks were faced with the urgent necessity of exposing the Mensheviks' anti-Party activities, their distortion of the facts of the struggle within the Party both at the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. and after the Congress. This Lenin did in his book One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (The Crisis in Our Party), written in February to May 1904 and published in Geneva in May 1904. In writing this book, Lenin thoroughly reviewed the minutes and resolutions of the Second Congress, the political groupings which had taken shape at the Congress, and the documents of the Central Committee arid the Council of the Party.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In this work, Lenin also developed standards for a healthy party life, namely strict observance of party rules, common party discipline for all party members, consistent application of democratic centralism, inner-party democracy, development of independent activity of the masses of party membership and development of criticism and self-criticism, all under the principle of collective leadership.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=One step forward, two steps back|page=104|quote=In One Step Forward, Two Steps Back Lenin worked out very definite standards for Party life, standards which became law for all the Party's subsequent activities. Of these standards, the most important are: strict observance of the Party Rules and a common Party discipline by all Party members without exception; consistent application of the principles of democratic centralism and inner Party democracy; utmost development of the independent activity of the broad masses of the Party membership; development of criticism and self-criticism. Further, Lenin considered that Party organizations, and the Party as a whole, could function normally only on the condition of strict observance of the principle of collective leadership, which would secure the Party against the adoption of chance or biased decisions.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> In the final and concluding passage of the book, Lenin mentions the importance of the organization of the working class: "In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization."''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1903|title=One step forward, two steps back|chapter=A few words on dialectics. Two revolutions|section=|page=|quote=In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization. Disunited by the rule of anarchic competition in the bourgeois world, ground down by forced labour for capital, constantly thrust back to the “lower depths” of utter destitution, savagery, and degeneration, the proletariat can, and inevitably will, become an invincible force only through its ideological unification on the principles of Marxism being reinforced by the material unity of organization, which welds millions of toilers into an army of the working class. Neither the senile rule of the Russian autocracy nor the senescent rule of international capital will be able to withstand this army. It will more and more firmly close its ranks, in spite of all zigzags and backward steps, in spite of the opportunist phrase-mongering of the Girondists of present-day Social-Democracy, in spite of the self-satisfied exaltation of the retrograde circle spirit, and in spite of the tinsel and fuss of intellectualist anarchism.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1904/onestep/r.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>''

This struggle cost much for Lenin's mental health, urging him to take a rest from his work.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222223">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=103|quote=The bitter struggle against the Mensheviks undermined Lenin's health. From the opening day of the Second Congress, his nerves had been strained to breaking point. Constantly agitated, taking deeply to heart the Mensheviks' intrigues, he became a victim of complete insomnia. Over-fatigue compelled him, in the end, to drop everything for a time. After a week of rest in Lausanne, he and Krupskaya, knapsack on back, set out into the mountains, fol lowing wild trails into the most remote retreats.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> He and [[Nadezhda Krupskaya|Krupskaya]] spent a month in the mountains hiking, which was enough for Lenin to regain his energy.<ref>{{Citation|author=|year=|title=Lenin Collected Works, vol. 37|chapter=|section=|page=659|quote=Krupskaya recalls the following in connection with this holiday. “At the end of June 1904, Vladimir Ilyich and I took our rucksacks and set off for a month in the mountains, following our noses. [...] The winter of 1903-04 had been a particularly difficult one, our nerves were in a bad state and we wanted to get away from people and forget for the time being all business and alarms. The mountains helped us. The changing impressions, the mountain air, solitude, healthy tiredness and healthy sleep were a real cure for Vladimir Ilyich. His strength and vivacity and high spirits returned to him. In August we lived on Lac de Bret, where Vladimir Ilyich and Bogdanov evolved a plan for the further struggle against the Mensheviks.”|pdf=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/cw/pdf/lenin-cw-vol-37.pdf|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Back from his rest, Lenin discussed with his comrades plans to start a publication of a Bolshevik newspaper organ and to launch a campaign calling for a Third Congress of the RSDLP.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222232">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=106|quote=With A. Bogdanov and M. Olminsky, who were also summering here, Lenin discussed plans for further work. It was decided to start publication of a Bolshevik organ abroad, and to launch extensive agitation in Russia for the calling of the Third Congress.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Since 1904, a war had broken out between the [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian]] and the [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] empires. Lenin wrote an agitative leaflet a week after the outbreak of war that the Russian proletariat had nothing to gain from the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] [[Imperialism|imperial]] ambitions of tsarist Russia,''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1904|title=To the Russian proletariat|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=But how do the Russian people benefit from these new lands whose acquisition has cost so much blood and sacrifice and is bound to cost even more? For the Russian worker and peasant the war holds out the prospect of fresh calamities, the loss of a host of human lives, the ruin of a mass of families, and more burdens and taxes. The Russian army leadership and the tsarist government believe that the war holds out the promise of military glory. The Russian merchant and the millionaire-industrialist think the war is necessary to secure new marketing outlets for their goods and new ports in an unrestricted ice-free sea for the development of Russian trade. You can’t sell much at home to the starving muzhik and the unemployed worker, you must look for marketing outlets in foreign lands! The riches of the Russian bourgeoisie have been created by the impoverishment and the ruin of the Russian workers—and so now, in order to multiply these riches, the workers must shed their blood to give the Russian bourgeoisie a free hand in conquering and enslaving the Chinese and the Korean working man.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1904/feb/03.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>'' and that the war would sprout revolutionary movements against the autocratic government.''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1904|title=To the Russian proletariat|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=The tsarist government has plunged so deep into this reckless military gamble that it has at stake a great deal too much. Even in the event of success, the war against Japan threatens total exhaustion of the people’s forces—with the results of the victory being absolutely negligible, for the other powers will prevent Russia from enjoying the fruits of victory as they prevented Japan from doing so in 1895. In the event of defeat, the war will lead above all to the collapse of the entire government system based on popular ignorance and deprivation, on oppression and violence. They who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind! Long live the fraternal union of the proletarians of all countries fighting for complete liberation from the yoke of international capital! Long live Japanese Social-Democracy protesting against the war! Down with the ignominious and predatory tsarist autocracy!|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1904/feb/03.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>'' As a result of war, social and revolutionary unrest began to rise in Russia, prompting Lenin to work to prepare the Party for the approaching revolution.<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232222222322">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=106|quote=In Russia, at this time, a revolutionary crisis was brewing. For many months now the country had been plunged into the Russo Japanese War, which had laid bare all the vice, all the rotten core, of the tsarist autocracy. Lenin wrote that the shameful end of this shameful war was not far off; that it would intensify the revolutionary unrest in the country and would call for the most determined offensive measures on the part of the party of the proletariat. And he worked to prepare the Party for the approaching revolution.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1904|title=To the party|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=Comrades, the grave crisis in our Party life is dragging on and on, and no end is in sight. The strife keeps growing, breeding dispute after dispute, and the Party’s positive work all along the line is hampered by it to the utmost. The energies of the Party, still young and not yet consolidated, are being grievously dissipated. Yet the present historical juncture makes vast demands on the Party, vaster than ever before. The revolutionary unrest among the working class is growing, and so is the ferment among other sections of society; the war and crisis, starvation and unemployment are with elemental and inevitable force undermining the foundations of the autocracy. A shameful end to the shameful war is not far off; and it is bound to heighten the revolutionary unrest still more, it is bound to bring the working class face to face with its enemies, and it will require of the Social-Democrats tremendous effort, a colossal exertion of energy to organize the last decisive fight against the autocracy.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1904/aug/15a.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> The Mensheviks, however, persisted with their disruptive activities, having gained control of some Party organs to pursuit their own factional interests.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222223222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=107|quote=As the immediate tasks of the Party, Lenin listed the establishment of ideological and organizational unity among the Bolsheviks, both in Russia and abroad; support of the publishing house for mass Party literature organized abroad; the struggle against the opportunism of the Mensheviks, who had seized control of the central bodies of the Party; preparations for the Third Party Congress, and assistance to the local Party committees. Lenin drew the Bolsheviks' attention to the danger of the position that had arisen in the Party and the need for the most resolute struggle against the Mensheviks who were insolently mocking both the Party and the principles.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Lenin resolutely called out the Bolsheviks to break with the Mensheviks and organize to convene a Third Congress.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|doi=|quote=The Mensheviks have no scruples and, having seized the C.C., the Central Organ and the Council, will pursue a line which will leave the Majority completely Out of the picture. This is no battle of principles. It is the most outrageous mockery of the Party and principles. This is why we began to publish our own organ. There is a complete split in the Party and there must be no procrastination if we do not wish to reconcile ourselves to the sacrifice of Party principle to clannishness, to absence of principle prevailing in the Party for a long time to come, or its being thrown back to Economism and the Rabocheye Dyelo approach.|trans-lang=|trans-title=|pdf=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1904/dec/25cb.htm|lg=|publisher=|year=1904|city=|isbn=|chapter-url=|title-url=|chapter=|page=|title=Letter to the Caucasian Bureau of the RSDLP|section=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|doi=|quote=I repeat: the centres have put themselves '''outside''' the Party. There is no middle ground; one is either with the centres or with the Party. It is time to draw the line of demarcation and, unlike the Mensheviks, who are splitting the Party secretly, to accept their challenge openly. Yes, a split, for you have gone the whole hog with your splitting. Yes, a split, for we have exhausted all means of delay and of obtaining a Party decision (by a Third Congress). Yes, a split, for everywhere the disgusting squabbles with the disorganizers have only harmed the cause.|trans-lang=|trans-title=|pdf=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/jan/18.htm|lg=|publisher=|year=1905|city=|isbn=|chapter-url=|title-url=|chapter=|page=|title=A letter to the Zurich group of Bolsheviks|section=}}</ref> The Bolsheviks held a meeting in Geneva on December 12, 1904 discussing the founding a Bolshevik periodical, ''Vperyod,''<ref group="lower-alpha">Russian: Вперёд ''(Forward)''</ref><ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222223223">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=108|quote=At a meeting of Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin, held in Geneva on November 29 (December 12), the question of founding a Bolshevik Party organ was finally decided. The meeting endorsed Lenin's suggestion for the name of the newspaper - Vperyod (Forward) - and the text of the announcement of its publication. The name Lenin had chosen for the paper expressed the Bolsheviks' determination to push ever forward in the work of consolidating the Party and of organizing the working-class movement, whereas the Mensheviks were trying to drag the Party back to the outlived stage of organizational disunity and the circle principle. The meeting set up the editorial board of the paper – Lenin, V. Vorovsky, M. Olminsky and A. Lunacharsky – and discussed the articles prepared for the first issue. As V. Karpinsky, a participant in the meeting, recalls, this free discussion and frank criticism, a striking manifestation of inner-Party democracy, deeply impressed the rank-and-file Party members.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> in preparation to the Third Congress of the RSDLP. It was published the first time in January 4, 1905.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222232232">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=For a proletarian party of a new type|section=The campaign for the convocation of the Third Congress|page=109|quote=The first issue of Vperyod came out in Geneva on December 22, 1904 (January 4, 1 905). The issue included several articles written by Lenin, among them "The Autocracy and the Proletariat" ( editorial), "Good Demonstrations of Proletarians and Poor Arguments of Certain Intellectuals" and "Time to Call a Halt!". Lenin stressed the fact that "the line of Vperyod is the line of the old 'Iskra'. In the name of the old Iskra, Vperyod resolutely combats the new Iskra". Under Lenin's guidance the newspaper Vperyod played an important part in the struggle to consolidate the Party and in the preparations for the Third Congress.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

== First Russian revolution (1905–1907) ==
In Russia, a series of local strikes evolved into a general strike in 7 January, 1905, beginning the [[Russian revolution of 1905]].<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232222222322322">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=|page=111|quote=The year 1905 began with events that were destined to make history. On January 3, a strike broke out at the Putilov Works in St. Petersburg, involving 13,000 workers. The Putilov strike was supported by the workers of other St. Petersburg factories. On January 7, the strike became general.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> The Third Congress was held between 25 April and 10 May, 1905, and the Mensheviks were absent, even though they were invited.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222223223222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=The Third Party Congress|page=117|quote=The collective experience of all Party members, Lenin felt, was of vital importance to the proper solution of the questions of organization and tactics raised by the revolutionary movement. He proposed that all the Party committees, both Bolshevik and Menshevik, be invited to the Congress. But the Mensheviks refused to participate in the Third Congress. Instead, acting as a body entirely split away from the Party, they called a congress of their own, in Geneva.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> One of the resolutions of the Third Congress approved by the Bolsheviks was the task of organizing the proletariat for an armed uprising against tsarist autocracy.''<ref>{{Citation|author=Central Comittee of the RSDLP|year=1905|title=The Third Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.|chapter=Resolution on the armed uprising|section=|page=|quote=Therefore, the Third Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. holds that the task of organizing the proletariat for direct struggle against the autocracy by means of the armed uprising is one of the major and most urgent tasks of the Party at the present revolutionary moment.|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/3rdcong/7.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>'' During the months of June and July, Lenin wrote the book ''[[Library:Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution|Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution]]'', in which he detailed the theoretical considerations behind the resolutions in the Third Congress and heavily criticized the Menshevik political line.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222232232222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution|page=120-121|quote=In June-July 1905 Lenin wrote the book Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution. It was published in Geneva at the beginning of August. In Two Tactics Lenin set forth the theoretical considerations behind the Third Congress decisions, behind the Bolsheviks' strategic plan and tactical line in the revolution. [...] At the same time he subjected to devastating criticism the tactical line adopted by the Mensheviks at their Geneva conference, and pointed out the basic difference between the Bolshevik and the Menshevik tactics in the revolution.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

Lenin returned to Russia in 21 November 1905 and began working extensively with other Bolsheviks to prepare for an armed uprising.<ref name="cpsubio-married2222232222222322322222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=In revolutionary Russia|page=127|quote=Lenin arrived in St. Petersburg on November 8 (21), 1905, and immediately launched vigorous revolutionary activity, directing the work of the Central and St. Petersburg Bolshevik committees, addressing meetings and conferences in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, conferring with Party functionaries, writing articles for the Bolshevik press. Under his leadership, the Bolsheviks carried on energetic preparations for an armed uprising.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Together with the newly formed worker councils ([[Soviet (governmental body)|Soviets]]), the Bolsheviks declared a general strike in 5 December and began an armed struggle against tsarist troops. However, by 16 December, the revolutionary forces were being consistently suppressed and a decision was passed to end the uprising to preserve revolutionary forces.<ref name="cpsubio-married22222322222223223222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=In revolutionary Russia|page=130-131|quote=A most important place in the Revolution of 1905-07 is held by the December armed uprising in Moscow. An outstanding role in it was played by the Moscow Soviet and the district Soviets of Workers' Deputies led by the Bolsheviks. They consistently pursued a revolutionary policy and acted as the militant organs of the leadership of the uprising.
[...]
By 16 December the superiority of the government forces had become obvious. The Moscow Committee of Bolsheviks and the Executive Committee of the Moscow Soviet passed a decision to end the uprising in order to retreat in an organized fashion and preserve the revolutionary forces.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Lenin analyzed the experiences of the uprising and outlined basic tactics that should guide the Party in case of another armed uprising.''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1906|title=Lessons of the Moscow Uprising|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/aug/29.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>''

After the 1905 revolution, the tsarist government became more and more repressive, to the point that Lenin was obligated to leave Russia to avoid getting arrested after noticing he was being followed. He managed to travel to [[Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917)|Finland]] avoiding authorities, and stayed there up until December 1907, traveling back and forth between the city of Kuokkala and St. Petersburg.<ref name="cpsubio-married222223222222232232222222">{{Citation|author=Pyotr Pospelov & Institute of Marxism-Leninism|year=1965|title=Lenin: a biography|chapter=The first assault on the tsarist autocracy|section=Victory at the Fifth Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.|page=136|quote=One evening towards the end of February Lenin spoke on work in the countryside at a meeting of Party functionaries held in the home of a St. Petersburg barrister. Leaving the house after the meeting, Lenin noticed that he was being followed, and decided not to go home. Not without difficulty had he shaken off his pursuers and left for Finland.
[...]
Towards the end of the summer of 1906 Lenin settled down at Vasa, a country-house in Kuokkala occupied by the Bolshevik G. Leiteizen and his family. Situated in a secluded spot at the edge of a wood, Vasa was very convenient as a hiding-place. Lenin lived there, on and off, up to December 1907, making secret trips, to St. Petersburg.|pdf=|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers, CC CPSU|isbn=|doi=|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=EB243CBDFE643F26EEB1360F866F261F|mia=|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref>

== Self-exile (1907–1917) ==

== Second Revolution (1917) ==
[[File:Lenin proclaims Soviet power.png|thumb|Lenin proclaiming soviet power in 1917. Behind him are Stalin, [[Yakov Sverdlov|Sverdlov]], and [[Felix Dzerzhinsky|Dzerzhinsky]].]]
In March 1917, Lenin called for the liberation of all [[Colonialism|colonized]] and oppressed nations.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The Empire of Japan|page=38|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref> In April, he published the [[April Theses]], which denounced the [[First World War|Great War]] and called for another revolution to overthrow the [[Russian provisional government|provisional government]] and establish a [[soviet republic]] and [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Third International]].<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Red October|page=28–29|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== Soviet government (1918–1923) ==
[[File:Dzerzhinsky and Lenin painting.png|thumb|Painting of Lenin and Dzerzhinsky during the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]]]]
In June 1920, Lenin met with two [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] journalists: [[K. Fussa]] and [[M. Nakahira]]. He asked them questions about Japanese history and society. He was happy when he learned that corporal punishment of children was rare in Japan, as the Soviet government had banned it three years earlier.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Eastern Graves|page=16–17|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== Declining health and death (1923–1924) ==
Lenin suffered his first stroke in May 1922 and another in December. Following the second stroke, his doctors tried to isolate him from politics because they feared it could cause another attack. Lenin's state worsened in February 1923 and he became unable to work.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=The young Stalin forges his arms|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=21–25}}</ref>

=== Lenin's 'will' ===
Lenin composed his last writing in late December 1922 with a postscript from January 1923. [[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]] and [[Anti-communism|anti-communists]] claim that this was Lenin's 'will', but [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]] himself admitted in 1925 that there had never been a concealed testament, and that those that said that there had been one were lying.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Leon Trotsky|newspaper=Marxist Internet Archive|title=Letter on Eastman’s Book|date=1925-7-1|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1925/07/lenin.htm|quote=The bourgeois and Menshevik press generally understand under the designation of “Testament” one of Comrade Lenin’s letters (which is so much altered as to be almost unrecognizable) in which he gives the party some organizational advice. The Thirteenth Party Congress devoted the greatest attention to this and to the other letters, and drew the appropriate conclusions. All talk with regard to a concealed or mutilated “Testament” is nothing but a despicable lie, directed against the real will of Comrade Lenin and against the interests of the party created by him.}}</ref>

The document called for increasing the number of Central Committee members from 50 to 100 in order to prevent a split in the party. It also evaluated five party leaders: [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], Trotsky, [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]], [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]], and [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]]. Lenin criticized Trotsky for being bureaucratic and egocentric and said that Bukharin did not fully understand [[dialectics]]. He accused Zinoviev and Kamenev of treason during the October Revolution. The postscript criticized Stalin for being rude to Krupskaya.<ref name=":0" />

==Library works==

*(1902) [[Library:What is to be done?|What is to be done?]]
*(1905) [[Library:Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution|Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution]]
*(1908) [[Library:Materialism and empiriocriticism|Materialism and empiriocriticism]]
*(1913) [[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]]
*(1916) [[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]]
*(1917) [[Library:The state and revolution|The state and revolution]]
*(1918) [[Library:The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky|The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky]]
*(1920) [[Library:"Left-wing" communism, an infantile disorder|“Left-wing” communism, an infantile disorder]]

==References==
<references />

===Notes===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

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