Date: 1915-10-13
Source: ru:PSS/v32

Particularly interesting are those statements that explicitly had in mind the victory of a chauvinist (“defensive”) revolution. In “Social Democrat,”{44} published in Geneva as the Central Organ of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party and edited by Zinoviev and Lenin, No. 47, dated October 13, 1915, the editorial board published the following:

“…8) We regard revolutionary chauvinists as those who seek victory over autocracy in order to achieve victory over Germany—so that they may plunder other nations, consolidate the dominance of the Great Russians over the other peoples of Russia, and so forth. The foundation of revolutionary chauvinism lies in the class position of the petty bourgeoisie. It has always wavered between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Now it is wavering between chauvinism—which prevents it from being consistently revolutionary, even in the context of a democratic revolution—and proletarian internationalism. At present, the political representatives of this petty bourgeoisie in Russia are the Trudoviks,{45} the Socialist Revolutionaries, ‘Nasha Zarja’{46}, Chkheidze’s faction,{47} the OK, Comrade Plekhanov, and others. 9) Should revolutionary chauvinists triumph in Russia, we would oppose their defense of their ‘fatherland’ in the current war. Our slogan is: against the chauvinists—even if they are revolutionaries and republicans—against them, and for an alliance of the international proletariat in the cause of the socialist revolution. 10) To the question of whether the proletariat can play a leading role in the bourgeois Russian revolution, we answer: yes, it can—if, at decisive moments, the petty bourgeoisie swings to the left, and if what pushes it to the left is not only our propaganda but also a number of objective factors: economic, financial (the burdens of war), military, political, and the like. 11) To the question of what the party of the proletariat would do if the revolution were to place it in power during the present war, we reply: we would propose peace to all belligerents on the condition that colonies and all dependent, oppressed, and disenfranchised peoples be liberated. Neither Germany nor Britain and France, under their present governments, would accept this condition. In that case, we would have to prepare for and launch a revolutionary war—meaning that we would not only implement our minimum program with the most resolute measures but would also systematically incite to revolt all the peoples currently oppressed by the Great Russians, all the colonies and dependent territories of Asia (India, China, Persia, and the like), and—above all—would rouse the socialist proletariat of Europe to revolt against its own governments and in defiance of its social-chauvinist elements. There is no doubt that a victory of the proletariat in Russia would create extraordinarily favorable conditions for the development of the revolution both in Asia and in Europe. This was already demonstrated in 1905.{48} And the international solidarity of the revolutionary proletariat is a fact, despite the filthy froth of opportunism and social-chauvinism.”[4]

“Pravda,” No. 56, May 26 (13), 1917.

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Pravda.”