Letter to an intransigent Oppositionist, December 1928

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Too Conciliatory a Line?

Like several other comrades, you ask whether we are taking too conciliatory a line in advancing such demands as the honest convening of the Sixteenth Congress, a reduction in the party budget to one-twentieth of its present size, publication of suppressed works by Lenin, and so on. It is of course clear to you that we are talking about the most immediate slogans on the internal party level. These are intended to be only first steps, the implementation of which would surely show the party that a serious change had been made in the regime. The question of how likely the slogans are to be realized under the present leadership by no means decides the fate of the slogans themselves. For all of us it is absolutely clear that (a) the present leadership is bankrupt, and (b) the above-mentioned minimal slogans of an internal party nature are not realizable so long as they depend upon the goodwill of the leadership. What we are talking about is the mobilization of the proletarian core of the party – the Bolshevik faction of the AUCP, so to speak – around certain very simple, indisputable, transitional demands. The resistance of the leadership to these demands will open the eyes of the party to the character of the leadership, and will augment the Bolshevik faction of the AUCP. In other words, the significance of the proposed demands in internal party life is the same as the significance of transitional demands in the Communist program in general.

But are these demands correct, even as transitional ones? It is possible to dispute their correctness only if one proceeds from the viewpoint that "the party is a corpse" (V. Smirnov), that is, if one denies the presence of the Bolshevik faction within the AUCP and the possibility of its growing very significantly. This question is decisive at the present stage. In order to evaluate the correctness and expediency of any transitional demand, it is necessary to place oneself mentally in the position of the worker-Oppositionist speaking at a cell meeting or a general factory meeting where party questions such as "self-criticism" are discussed. If the worker-Oppositionist wants to destroy himself and his cause, he will say: "The party is a corpse, and we can expect nothing from it." Such a position would be purely reactionary. Sectarianism, in attempting to come out into the broad arena, has often played and often will play a reactionary role. The sensible Oppositionist will say: "In order for 'self-criticism' to cease being half-comedy and half-provocation, it is necessary to provide for the implementation of the most elementary prerequisites of party democracy," and he will present the demands we have mentioned. He may, and even should, add openly: "I have no confidence at all that the present leadership will willingly implement these demands, and therefore I have not one bit of confidence in 'self-criticism.' But you, comrades, believe in 'self-criticism' or wish to believe it it. So let's test it out in the case of the demands I have proposed, which nobody could argue with." That is how a serious Oppositionist, seeking ways to reach the proletarian core of the party and the masses in general, will act. Our correctness alone will not suffice. Correctness which does not strive to become a mass force is totally worthless. Far be it from us to chase around trying to out-Smirnov Smirnov. At party meetings the followers of V. Smirnov simply will not know how to behave, or they will have to devote their speaking time to trying to prove that they never actually considered the party a corpse, etc.

One must not forget, of course, that partial slogans cover only a part of the problem. But the Platform remains, as do all our other documents. The system of demands elaborated there touches upon all the major problems of the activity of the AUCP and the Comintern. In this area we have not moderated anything. On the contrary, we have sharpened and deepened our position (in particular, in our documents sent to the [Sixth Comintern] Congress). But it is necessary to present our irreconcilable criticism and "unabridged" slogans to the party in such a way that the working class core feels that we wish to and are able to speak to them in language they can understand.

The working class core and the masses in general are not yet with us. We can't forget this. This is major and fundamental. The masses are dissatisfied, as is the working class core of the party, but they express their dissatisfaction in the conventional and false language which the bureaucratic apparatus has imposed on them, and a very important part of that is hostility to the Opposition, or simply fear of it. Without giving up anything essential, we must approach the party ranks in such a way as to help them find their way to genuine party principles, starting from their present positions. These are the aims which the above-mentioned slogans partially serve.