The Myth of Lenin’s “Revolutionary Defeatism”(1953/1954) |
First published in New International, 1953/1954. [1]
© Center for Socialist History. Used with kind permission of the copyright holders.
Downloaded with thanks from the What Next? Website.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Introduction
The Content of the Myth
What Does Defeatism Mean?
Lenin’s Combination
I. The Marx-Engels–Second International Tradition
Marx’s Criterion in the Pre-Imperialist Epoch
The “Special Position” on War Against Tsarism
How Zinoviev Makes a Defeatist Out of Engels
How Zinoviev Invents a “Defeatism” for Plekhanov
Summary
II. Defeatism in the Russo-Japanese War
The Peculiarity of Zinoviev’s History
Zinoviev’s Fake Examples
Anti-War Moods in Russia
Pro-Japan Defeatism
Lenin’s Pro-Japan Position
Guesde and Hyndman
The 2nd International
The Mensheviks’ Position
The “Special Russian” Character of Lenin’s Line
Part 2. “Defeatism” During the First World War
III. Lenin’s Defeat-Slogan 1914-16
Formulation No.1: The “Lesser Evil” Formula
Rejection of Defeatism in the Bolshevik Ranks
Whittling Down the “Lesser Evil” Formula
Formulation No.2: “Defeat Facilitates ...”
Formulation No.3: “Wish Defeat in Every Country”
The Baugy Group’s Attack
Formulation No.4: “Don’t Halt Before the Risk ...”
Summary: The 4 Formulas
Trotsky’s Attack on the Defeat-Slogan
Lenin’s Polemic Against Trotsky on Defeatism
The Rest of the Record: Aug. 1915 to Nov. 1916
When Defeatism Was Not Put Forward
IV. First World War: Zinoviev, Trotsky, Luxemburg
On the “Lesser Evil”
The “Methodology of Social-Patriotism”
Defeat and the Interests of the People
Pseudonym for Revolution
The Social-Patriotic Version of Defeatism
Trotsky on “Neither Victory nor Defeat”
Rosa Luxemburg on Victory and Defeat
V. The Abandonment of Defeatism in 1917
“We Were Not Defeatists”
Bath in Social-Patriotism
Political Freedom and “Conscientious Defensism”
A Non-Defensist Program for the Defense of the Nation
New Attitude to Defeat
Summary
VI. After Lenin: Revival and Reinterpretation
The First Five Years of the C.I. – No Defeatism
How Zinoviev Revived Defeatism in 1924
Trotsky Sidesteps
Trotsky’s Formula in 1934
How Trotsky Hung on to the Term Defeatism
Exegesis in the Trotskyist Movement
Shachtman’s New Line
How Shachtman Explains Lenin’s Defeatism
What Does Shachtman’s Position Mean?
On Lenin’s Motivation
“One-Way” Defeatism?
1. This study was first published in New International, theoretical journal of the US Independent Socialist League. It appeared as a 3-part series in Vol.XIX No.5 (September-October 1953), Vol.XIX No.6 (November-December 1953) and Vol.XX No.1 (January-February 1954). We are grateful to Barry Buitekant for providing us with copies.
Last updated on 26.9.2004