Draft Resolution on the Present Political Situation | |
Auhtor: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin | |
| Language: english Published: 1907 Genres:political, revolutionary, social historyDownloads: 318 eBook size: 284Kb Review by Stephen M. Charme, March 2007 Rating: (*****) Copyright: Public Domain in the U.S. Please check the copyright status in your country. | |
Summary of the Book 'Draft Resolution on the Present Political Situation':
During the next few years Lenin was essentially dictator (a ruler with unquestionable authority) of Russia. The major task he faced was establishing this authority for himself and his party in the country. Most of his policies can be understood in this light even though he angered some elements in the population while satisfying others. Examples of such policies include the governments seizing of land from its owners and redistributing it to the peasants forming a peace treaty with Germany and the nationalization (putting under central governmental control) of banks and industry.
From 1918 to 1921 a fierce civil war raged which the Bolsheviks finally won against seemingly overwhelming odds. During the civil war Lenin tightened his partys dictatorship and eventually eliminated all rival political parties. Lenin had to create an entirely new political system with the help of inexperienced people. He was also heading a failing economy and had to create desperate means for putting people to work. He also created the Third (Communist) International an association of parties that promoted the spread of the revolution to other countries and that enforced the Soviet system as a model for this movement. Meanwhile he had to cope with conflict and criticism from his own party colleagues.
When the civil war had been won and the regime firmly established the economy was ruined and much of the population was bitterly opposed to the regime. At this point Lenin reversed many of his policies and instituted a reform called the New Economic Policy. It was a temporary retreat from the goal of establishing socialism at once. Instead the stress of the partys policies would be on economic rebuilding and on the education of a peasant population for life in the twentieth century. In the long run Lenin hoped both these policies would make the benefits of socialism obvious to all so the country would gradually grow into socialism.
On May 26 1922 Lenin suffered a serious stroke (a loss of consciousness due to the rupture or blockage of an artery in the brain). After recovering from this first stroke he suffered a second on December 16. He was so seriously ill that he could participate in political matters only occasionally. He moved to a country home at Gorki Russia near Moscow where he died on January 21 1924.
Excerpts from the Book 'Draft Resolution on the Present Political Situation':
... RESOLUTION ??ON THE PRESENT POLITICAL SITUATION[114] The Central Committee of the R.S.D.L.P., on the basis ...
... for the country to advance over many years in peace-time, without revolution and war. 2.?It becomes more and more apparent ...
... capital and in the large cities, and then the peasants, who realised more and more that the slander against the Bolsheviks is one of the main weapons ...
... of the bourgeois slander against the Bolshevik workers' party, the party of the true defenders of the poor. 5.?Had our Party refused ...
... other than a peaceful and organised demonstration with the slogan of transfer of all state power to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' ...
... of generals in the army, of the landowners in the countryside, and of the capitalists in the town. These policies were only revealed to the masses ...
... than by participating in the popular movement of July 3-4 with the slogan All power to the Soviets and with the aim of making the movement peaceful ...
... landowners and the bourgeoisie, headed by the Cadet Party, and the generals and officers who are on their side, have organised themselves they are ...
... and their profits. 10.?The workers and peasants of Russia have no other alternative than the most determined struggle against, and victory ...
... the greatest harm. At the same time, the critical situation is inevitably leading the working class - perhaps with catastrophic speed - to a situation ...
... and has done absolutely nothing substantial to democratise the armed forces and remove the counter-revolutionary commanders. Soviets, which tolerate ...
... new catastrophes. 13.?Only the working class, when it has gained power, will be able to pursue a peace policy, not merely in words, ...
... war - a revolution which is growing everywhere - that if the Russian revolution were to pass from impotent and pitiful yearning for peace to a forthright ...
... of secret treaties, etc., there are ninety-nine chances in a hundred that peace would quickly follow, that the capitalists would be unable to stand in ...
... Assembly will legalise the transfer, but it is not the peasants' fault that the Constituent Assembly is being delayed. The peasants daily become more ...
... see, know and feel that since July 5 the landowners have become arrogant in the villages and that it is necessary to curb them and render them harmless. ...
... is losing value. Peshekhonov's resignation after the fixed prices have doubled will aggravate the crisis, and it again shows the utter feebleness ...
... and Mensheviks, the two main parties responsible for introducing this policy of conciliation and bringing it to a culmination, there have been ...
... by Lenin for the plenary meeting of the Party's Central Committee set for September 3 (16). What took place on that date was not a plenum but a regular ...
... : A Characterisation of Economic RomanticismVladimir Ilyich Lenin : A Caricature of BolshevismVladimir Ilyich Lenin : A Contribution to the History ...