History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)
Introduction
Chapter One: The Struggle for the Creation of a Social-Democratic Labour Party in Russia, (1883-1901)
1. Abolition of Serfdom and the Development of Industrial Capitalism in
Russia. Rise of the Modern Industrial Proletariat. First Steps of the
Working-Class Movement
2. Narodism (Populism) and Marxism in Russia. Plekhanov and His
“Emancipation of Labour” Group. Plekhanov’s Fight Against Narodism.
Spread of Marxism in Russia
3. Beginning
of Lenin’s Revolutionary Activities. St. Petersburg League of Struggle
for the Emancipation of the Working Class
4. 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
5. Lenin’s
Fight Against “Economism.” Appearance of Lenin’s Newspaper Iskra
Brief Summary
Chapter Two:
Formation of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. Appearance of
the Bolshevik and the Menshevik Groups Within the Party, (1901-1904)
1. Upsurge of the Revolutionary Movement in Russia in 1901-04
2. Lenin’s Plan for the Building of a Marxist Party. Opportunism of the
“Economists.” Iskra’s Fight for Lenin’s Plan. Lenin’s Book What Is To
Be Done? Ideological Foundations of the Marxist Party
3. Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.
Adoption of Program and Rules and Formation of a Single Party.
Differences at the Congress and Appearance of Two Trends Within the
Party: The Bolshevik and the Menshevik
4. Splitting Activities of the Menshevik Leaders and Sharpening of the
Struggle Within the Party After the Second Congress. Opportunism of the
Menshevik. Lenin’s Book, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.
Organizational Principles of the Marxist Party
Brief Summary
Chapter
Three: The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the Period of the
Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution, (1904-1907)
1. Russo-Japanese War. Further Rise of the Revolutionary Movement in
Russia. Strikes in St. Petersburg. Workers’ Demonstration Before the
Winter Palace on January 9, 1905. Demonstration Fired Upon. Outbreak of
the Revolution
2. Workers’ Political Strikes and Demonstrations. Growth of the
Revolutionary Movement Among the Peasants. Revolt on the Battleship
Potemkin
3. Tactical Differences Between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Third Party
Congress. Lenin’s Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution. Tactical Foundations of the Marxist Party
4. Further Rise of the Revolution. All-Russian Political Strike of
October 1905. Retreat of Tsardom. The Tsar’s Manifesto. Rise of the
Soviets of Workers’ Deputies
5. December
Armed Uprising. Defeat of the Uprising. Retreat of the Revolution.
First State Duma. Fourth (Unity) Party Congress
6. Dispersion of the First State Duma. Convocation of the Second State
Duma. Fifth Party Congress. Dispersion of the Second State Duma. Causes
of the Defeat of the First Russian Revolution
Brief Summary
Chapter Four: The Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks in the
Period of the Stolypin Reaction. The Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves
an Independent Marxist Party, (1908-1912)
1. Stolypin Reaction. Disintegration Among the Oppositional
Intelligentsia. Decadence. Desertion of a Section of the Party
Intelligentsia to the Enemies of Marxism and Attempts to Revise the
Theory of Marxism. Lenin’s Rebutal of the Revisionists in His
Materialism and Empirio-Criticism and His Defence of the Theoretical
Foundations of the Marxist Party
2. Dialectical and Historical Materialism
3. Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in the Period of the Stolypin Reaction.
Struggle of the Bolsheviks Against the Liquidators and Otzovists
4. Struggle of
the Bolsheviks Against Trotskyism. Anti-Party August Bloc
5. Prague
Party Conference, 1912. Bolsheviks Constitute Themselves an Independent
Marxist Party
Brief Summary
Chapter Five: The Bolshevik Party During the New Rise of the Working-Class
Movement Before the First Imperialist War
(1912-1914)
1. Rise of the Revolutionary Movement in the Period 1912-14
2. The
Bolshevik Newspaper Pravda. The Bolshevik Group in the Fourth State
Duma
3. Victory of the Bolsheviks in the Legally Existing Organizations.
Continued Rise of the Revolutionary Movement. Eve of the Imperialist
War
Brief Summary
Chapter Six: The Bolshevik Party in the Period of the Imperialist War.
The Second Revolution in Russia
(1914-March 1917)
1. Outbreak and Causes of the Imperialist War
2. Parties of the Second International Side With Their Imperialist
Governments. Disintegration of the Second International into Separate
Chauvinist Parties
3. Theory and
Tactics of the Bolshevik Party on the Question of War, Peace and
Revolution
4. Defeat of the Tsarist Army. Economic Disruption. Crisis of Tsardom
5. The February Revolution. Fall of Tsardom. Formation of Soviets of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. Formation of the Provisional
Government. Dual Power
Brief Summary
Chapter
Seven: The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Preparation and Realization
of the October Socialist Revolution, (April 1917-1918)
1. Situation in the Country After the February Revolution. Party
Emerges from Underground and Passes to Open Political Work. Lenin
Arrives in Petrograd. Lenin’s April Theses. Party’s Policy of
Transition to Socialist Revolution
2. Beginning
of the Crisis of the Provisional Government. April Conference of the
Bolshevik Party
3. Successes of the Bolshevik Party in the Capital. Abortive Offensive
of the Armies of the Provisional Government. Suppression of the July
Demonstration of Workers and Soldiers
4. The
Bolshevik Party Adopts the Course of Preparing for Armed Uprising.
Sixth Party Congress
5. General Kornilov’s Plot Against the Revolution. Suppression of the
Plot. Petrograd and Moscow Soviets Go Over to the Bolsheviks
6. October Uprising in Petrograd and Arrest of the Provisional
Government. Second Congress of Soviets and Formation of the Soviet
Government. Decrees of the Second Congress of Soviets on Peace and
Land. Victory of the Socialist Revolution. Reasons for the Victory of
the Socialist Revolution
7. Struggle of
the Bolshevik Party to Consolidate the Soviet Power. Peace of
Brest-Litovsk. Seventh Party Congress
8. Lenin’s Plan for the Initial Steps in Socialist Construction.
Committees of the Poor Peasants and the Curbing of the Kulaks. Revolt
of the “Left” Socialist-Revolutionaries and Its Suppression. Fifth
Congress of Soviets and Adoption of the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R.
Brief Summary
Chapter Eight: The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Foreign Military
Intervention and Civil War
(1918-1920)
1. Beginning
of Foreign Military Intervention. First Period of the Civil War
2. Defeat of
Germany in the War. Revolution in Germany. Founding of the Third
International. Eighth Party Congress
3. Extension of Intervention. Blockade of the Soviet Country. Kolchak’s
Campaign and Defeat. Denikin’s Campaign and Defeat. A Three-Months’
Respite. Ninth Party Congress
4. Polish Gentry Attack Soviet Russia. General Wrangel’s Campaign.
Failure of the Polish Plan. Rout of Wrangel. End of the Intervention
5. How and Why the Soviet Republic Defeated the Combined Forces of
British-French-Japanese-Polish Intervention and of the
Bourgeois-Landlord-Whiteguard Counter-Revolution in Russia
Brief Summary
Chapter Nine: The Bolshevik Party in the Period of Transition to the Peaceful Work of Economic Restoration, (1921-1925)
1. Soviet
Republic After the Defeat of the Intervention and End of the Civil War.
Difficulties of the Restoration Period
2. Party Discussion on the Trade Unions. Tenth Party Congress. Defeat
of the Opposition. Adoption of the New Economic Policy (NEP)
3. First Results of NEP. Eleventh Party Congress. Formation of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Lenin’s Illness. Lenin’s
Co-operative Plan. Twelfth Party Congress
4. Struggle Against the Difficulties of Economic Restoration.
Trotskyites Take Advantage of Lenin’s Illness to Increase Their
Activity. New Party Discussion. Defeat of the Trotskyites. Death of
Lenin. The Lenin Enrolment. Thirteenth Party Congress
5. The Soviet Union Towards the End of the Restoration Period. The
Question of Socialist Construction and the Victory of Socialism in Our
Country. Zinoviev-Kamenev “New Opposition.” Fourteenth Party Congress.
Policy of Socialist Industrialization of the Country
Brief Summary
Chapter Ten: The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle for the Socialist
Industrialization of the Country
(1926-1929)
1. Difficulties in the Period of Socialist Industrialization and the
Fight to Overcome Them. Formation of the Anti-Party Bloc of Trotskyites
and Zinovievites. Anti-Soviet Actions of the Bloc. Defeat of the Bloc
2. Progress of Socialist Industrialization. Agriculture Lags. Fifteenth
Party Congress. Policy of Collectivization in Agriculture. Rout of the
Bloc of Trotskyites and Zinovievites. Political Duplicity
3. Offensive Against the Kulaks. The Bukharin-Rykov Anti-Party Group.
Adoption of the First Five-Year Plan. Socialist Emulation. Beginning of
the Mass Collective-Farm Movement
Brief Summary
Chapter Eleven: The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle for the Collectivization of
Agriculture, (1930-1934)
1. International Situation in 1930-34. Economic Crisis in the
Capitalist Countries. Japanese Annexation of Manchuria. Fascists’
Advent to Power in Germany. Two Seats of War
2. From the Policy of Restricting the Kulak Elements to the Policy of
Eliminating the Kulaks as a Class. Struggle Against Distortions of the
Party Policy in the Collective-Farm Movement. Offensive Against the
Capitalist Elements Along the Whole Line. Sixteenth Party Congress
3. Policy of Reconstructing All Branches of the National Economy.
Importance of Technique. Further Spread of the Collective-Farm
Movement. Political Departments of the Machine and Tractor Stations.
Results of the Fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan in Four Years. Victory
of Socialism Along the Whole Front. Seventeenth Party Congress
4. Degeneration of the Bukharinites Into Political Double-Dealers.
Degeneration of the Trotskyite Double-Dealers Into a Whiteguard Gang of
Assassins and Spies. Foul Murder of S. M. Kirov. Measures of the Party
to Heighten Bolshevik Vigilance
Brief Summary
Chapter Twelve: The Bolshevik Party in the Struggle to Complete the Building of the
Socialist Society. Introduction of the New Constitution, (1935-1937)
1. International Situation in 1935-37. Temporary Mitigation of the
Economic Crisis. Beginning of a New Economic Crisis. Seizure of
Ethiopia by Italy. German and Italian Intervention in Spain. Japanese
Invasion of Central China. Beginning of the Second Imperialist War
2. Further Progress of Industry and Agriculture in the U.S.S.R. Second
Five-Year Plan Fulfilled Ahead of Time. Reconstruction of Agriculture
and Completion of Collectivization. Importance of Cadres. Stakhanov
Movement. Rising Standard of Welfare. Rising Cultural Standard.
Strength of the Soviet Revolution
3. Eighth
Congress of Soviets. Adoption of the New Constitution of the U.S.S.R.
4. Liquidation of the Remnants of the Bukharin-Trotsky Gang of Spies,
Wreckers and Traitors to the Country. Preparations for the Election of
the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. Broad Inner-Party Democracy as the
Party’s Course. Election of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.
Conclusion
Glossary
Introduction
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) has traversed a
long and glorious road, leading from the first tiny Marxist circles and
groups that appeared in Russia in the eighties of the past century to
the great Party of the Bolsheviks, which now directs the first
Socialist State of Workers and Peasants in the world.
The C.P.S.U.(B.) grew up on the basis of the working-class movement in
pre-revolutionary Russia; it sprang from the Marxist circles and groups
which had established connection with the working-class movement and
imparted to it a Socialist consciousness. The C.P.S.U.(B.) has always
been guided by the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism. In the
new conditions of the era of imperialism, imperialist wars and
proletarian revolutions, its leaders further developed the teachings of
Marx and Engels and raised them to a new level.
The C.P.S.U.(B.) grew and gained strength in a fight over fundamental
principles waged against the petty-bourgeois parties within the
working-class movement – the Socialist-Revolutionaries (and earlier
still, against their predecessors, the Narodniks), the Mensheviks,
Anarchists and bourgeois nationalists of all shades – and, within the
Party itself, against the Menshevik, opportunist trends – the
Trotskyites, Bukharinites, nationalist deviators and other
anti-Leninist groups.
The C.P.S.U.(B.) gained strength and became tempered in the
revolutionary struggle against all enemies of the working class and of
all working people – against landlords, capitalists, kulaks, wreckers,
spies, against all the hirelings of the surrounding capitalist states.
The history of the C.P.S.U.(B.) is the history of three revolutions:
the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1905, the bourgeois-democratic
revolution of February 1917, and the Socialist revolution of October
1917.
The history of the C.P.S.U.(B.) is the history of the overthrow of
tsardom, of the overthrow of the power of the landlords and
capitalists; it is the history of the rout of the armed foreign
intervention during the Civil War; it is the history of the building of
the Soviet state and of Socialist society in our country.
The study of the history of the C.P.S.U.(B.) enriches us with the
experience of the fight for Socialism waged by the workers and peasants
of our country.
The study of the history of the C.P.S.U.(B.), the history of the
struggle of our Party against all enemies of Marxism-Leninism, against
all enemies of the working people, helps us to master Bolshevism and
sharpens our political vigilance.
The study of the heroic history of the Bolshevik Party arms us with a
knowledge of the laws of social development and of the political
struggle, with a knowledge of the motive forces of revolution.
The study of the history of the C.P.S.U.(B.) strengthens our certainty
of the ultimate victory of the great cause of the Party of
Lenin-Stalin, the victory of Communism throughout the world.
This book sets forth briefly the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks).
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